My Masterful Mix of Majestical Music

This year one of the presents I gave people was a mixtape of music that I felt was good, and unknown to them. I spent a decent amount of time putting this mixtape together, and I think it shows just that. Each one of these songs struck me in a way that I had to put them on my mixtape, and I hope you're able to feel the same thing. I've decided to go through it track-by-track, giving a little commentary on each song, and what i feel about it.


Now, on to the mixtape....

Track 1. Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining (Intro)
Now, I kinda cheated on this song. I noticed that my mixtape was getting a little too long, when I decided to add this song. So instead of cutting a different song off, I cut out the "intro" part from this song and used it instead of the whole song.

Track 2. Okkervil River - Another Radio Song
To me, this is a masterpiece of a song. Although, as my reviews progress, you'll probably see that I'm easily impressed, but this song deserves to be called such. I'm still new to Okkervil River, but I've still heard my fair share of their stuff; and when I heard this song, I immediately fell in love with it. Will Sheff's voice is haunting throughout the song, and the chanting vocals at the very end always astound me with their.........ummm........beauty. As a whole, this song is just so powerful. It has the vibe of a protest song that you want to chant your heart out repeating over and oer again, trying to get it's message across. His voice is so penetrating and everything he says is so precise that it makes you want to follow everything he says. The song is even the perfect length, had it been longer it'd take away from its power; if it was any shorter, there wouldn't be enough time for it to get to its peak. Also, no matter how many times I hear it, I never get tired of it.

Track 3. Olivia Tremor Control - Hilltop Procession (Momentum Gaining)
This is just a fun poppy song, that comes from a band that pull off sounding like the Beatles, without being criticized for it. This is probably due to the fact that no one (at least no one i know) knows who they are. That is also the dilemma, this band is good, catchy, and likable, and if people knew about them, I'm sure they would soon get a large and loyal fanbase.

Track 4. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
The way this song builds, always amazes me. I find myself loving the layers of vocals, and the "spacey" feeling they give. This song feels like it should be the theme song of Astronauts everywhere, and that's what I love about it.

Track 5. Tokyo Police Club - Nature of the Experiment
This sing is just pure energy from the word "go", literally. I always find myself air-drumming along, or even dancing sometimes (I'm not normally that kind of person). This is just a feel-good, pure-energy song that deserves some credit.

Track 6. The Harlem Shakes - Carpetbaggers
Now I'm not sure what a "carpetbagger" is, and I'm too lazy to look it up, or try to figure it out from "breaking down the word", but whatever it is, it should be happy to have this song named after it. Another "pure-energy" song, this is what fun sounds like. the only reason I ever found out about this band, was one day asked a bunch of people about some recommendations of some lesser-known bands. This was one of the recommended, and It came with a lot of support from people. So I checked them out, and I've been in love with this song since.

Track 7. Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
Just a gorgeous song. I love the way it goes from mellow to all out power/anger at near the end. I just find that this is another catchy, fun song that I had to put on the mix.

Track 8. Regina Spektor - Fidelity
This song is this year's quintessential pop song. I can't do this song justice in so few words, so if you really want to know what I feel about it, read here: http://wilcovian-river.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-first-post.html

Track 9. John Paul White - I Can't Get This Out of My Head
For once, i can honestly say that I am thankful for the show The OC. The recent covers record that the show put out, while not the best material, definitely had some good songs; this being one. I love how creepy the song feels, and I especially like the feeling given by the use of strings as the background instruments, along with an acoustic guitar.

Track 10. Tom McRae - My Vampire Heart
Another creepy/pretty song, that I find myself liking. That simple.

Track 11. First Coat - Try Again
Yet another catchy, simple, and fun song to listen to. Again, my reasoning is just that simple.

Track 12. Arms - Shitty Little Disco
This band is a side project of The Harlem Shakes, and although I don't find myself liking them as much as The Harlem Shakes, this song is simply incredible. There is something about these two members bands that makes them different and yet the same as other modern bands, and I find myself liking whatever that thing is.

Track 13. Travel By The Sea - I Won't Let You Down
Another pretty song with a point, from a band that I was fortunate enough to have found out about.

Track 14. Shearwater - Hail Mary
Another side-project band that I find myself liking just as much as the original, Shearwater has two of the members of Okkervil River, and as much promise. To quote myself, " I can't do this song justice in so few words, so if you really want to know what I feel about it, read here: http://wilcovian-river.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-first-post.html "

Track 15. The Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies
In my opinion, The Magnetic Fields have one of the best songwriters out of any other "modern rock band." Even having that doesn't automatically make their music good, and yet it is; a great thing to be able to achieve in today's world. I love the combination of vocals and the use of bells on this song, I find they make this mood that is so bright and happy for a song that says in the first line "makes me want to kill myself." This band is truly a great band.

Track 16. British Sea Power - Carrion
A brilliant song, their best. 'Nuff said.

Track 17. Neutral Milk Hotel - In An Airplane Over The Sea
Just a great song from a great band.

Track 18. Mountain Goats - You and Your Memory
One of my favourite subdued songs on the album. The Mountain Goats show that they can be just as fun with an acoustic guitar as any band with an electric guitar.

Track 19. Gomez - 1000 Times
Gomez astound me with every single one of their songs, this included. With three different singers, I find I like the style of each. This song is one of my favorites of theirs; it is just that pretty. His voice is can get so haunting on some songs, and then on songs like this, you get to see how pretty he can make it. This song perfectly shows why Gomez is one of, if not my favorite band of all time.

Track 20. The Divine Comedy - Through a Long and Sleepless Night
This has the best ending of any song that I have heard to date. The ending of this song makes me want to go see them live, just to see what they'd do with this song; how dramatic they could make it...




*zip file of the mix..................IS HERE!!!!!!!
My Masterful Mix of Majestical Music