Summer Mixtape (Labor Day Edition)

This may be the final mixtape of the season–it’s become instantly cooler since August ended and suddenly, the hot weather complaining is turning into hot weather nostalgia. It will soon be time to say goodbye to jorts, t-shirts and mini skirts, so it’s important that we get another playlist in before you start hibernating with Bon Iver and that Fleet Foxes record that everyone went gaga over. Alas, do not worry, this mix will help you hang on to summer at least through Halloween.

Let’s hear it for New York.

Jay-Z (featuring Alicia Keys) – Empire State of Mind
Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up
Michael Jackson (Telepopmusik Remix) – Remember the Time
Crystal Castles – Vanished
The xx – Heart Skipped a Beat
Camera Obscura – The Sweetest Thing
St Vincent – The Party
Cat Power – Fool
Broken Social Scene – I’m Still Your
Feist – Major Label Debut (live)

I Am Leaving

Another summer song. I love the layered vocals and the the wall-of-sound synths. Beneath these production additions is a simple folk-pop song, in the same way Annie Clark becomes St Vincent with a band and a keyboard. I think the first time you hear a St Vincent album, the distorted guitars can be slightly shocking and conflicting with Annie’s sweet voice. In this Blue Roses song, the synths complement the melodic lines. Two ways to slice a cake I suppose.

Blue Roses – I Am Leaving

St Vincent – The Strangers

“Blue Roses is to be found, kept and cherished; it is to be absent as the dust begins to settle, and longed for as ambience resumes. Blue Roses is the serendipity that can only happen when you thought you’d stopped looking; as you realise how life sounds without it, you begin again.” Read the rest on her website.

Summer Sounds Mixtape I

More than any other season, summer seems to naturally grow into its own soundtrack. This kind of natural association that forms between a track or album and a time was the primary motivation for this blog when it began. I really can’t explain why summer is the most likely season to become its own musical genre, maybe it’s major chords, or maybe it’s just sunshine.

So here it is, with as little pretense as possible, after all, a mixtape like this makes itself.

Grizzly Bear and Dead Prez – Two Weeks of Hip-Hop (The Hood Internet Mash-up)
Dirty Projectors – Stillness is the Move
YACHT – Psychic City
The Hundred in the Hands – Dressed in Dresden
Phoenix – Lisztomania (Classixx Remix)
Passion Pit – The Reeling
Santigold – Lights Out (Tepr Emo Remix)
Kleerup featuring Lykke Li – Until We Bleed
Camera Obscura – French Navy
St Vincent – The Party
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll