guest tape: snuff mix - april 2, 2009

Today I'm pleased to introduce our first guest tape. Katie has prepared for you, our dear readers, a charming meander that we call "Snuff Mix for Kath at the Hands of Cagefighter".

To explain: my pheromones have once more betrayed me and a 35-year old cagefighter (who does, actually, have a heart of gold) has become taken with me to the point of telling me about dreams he has had about me and that once I am "put in my place once, just once, I will be that much better." After a bourbon-, gin-, and beer-soaked night, we decided that a really funny idea would be to create a mix for my eventual demise at the hands of this cagefighter (because, logically, what else could putting me in my place mean other than a truly horrifying combination of sex and death). Thus, dear readers, track how the mix progresses from charming seduction to the cagefighter stroking the cheek of my still-warm corpse. On the bright side, Katie has informed me that I will not hear more than the first few tracks.

And I'd just like to interject - really? Two consecutive tracks about being hungry? An oblique reference to American Psycho? Infinite Lost Highway songs? Goddammit.

01. "Uptown Girl" - Billy Joel (An Innocent Man);
02. "Hungry Like the Wolf" - Duran Duran (Arena);
03. "Hungry Eyes" - Eric Carmen (Dirty Dancing OST);
04. "Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye (Let's Get It On);
05. "Magic Spells" - Crystal Castles (Crystal Castles);
06. "This Love" - Cocteau Twins (Cruel Intentions OST);
07. "In the Air Tonight" - Phil Collins (American Psycho OST);
08. "I Put A Spell On You" - Marilyn Manson (cover);
09. "Girlfriend in a Coma" - The Smiths (Strangeways, Here We Come);
10. "This Magic Moment" - Lou Reed (Lost Highway OST);
11. "Heirate Mich" - Rammstein (Lost Highway OST).

it's all happening - february 22, 2009

Those who regularly monitor Torrey and I's mixes on Cassette Shelf have, most likely, come to be sure of one thing above all others: Torrey's mixes will be a fun, witty mix of indie rock and pop, and mine will be depressing, or at the very least low-key and mellow. Today, dear readers, is the day that this changes. I had one of those weeks where good thing after good thing happens; I got startled by my own genuine happiness, a friend fell in love, intelligent friends received copious amounts of monetary validation. good things, in short.

So this is a genuinely happy, ecstatic, euphoric mix. This is the music that erupts out of your stereo when things seem to be going right in all the most unexpectedly right ways. Don't confuse this with manic happiness, or the happiness that comes from one extremely good thing happening, but only to you. This mix is for pervasive happiness; for when good things seem to come in fives and sixes and to you and everyone you know, when you become convinced that there are high pressure zones of good karma moving into low pressure zones and everyone you love is right in good karma's path. Put more simply, in the immortal words of Penny Lane (yes - immortal, deal with it), it's all happening.

original track list
01. "Mr. Blue Sky" - E.L.O. (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind OST);
02. "Lovers in Japan / Reign of Love" - Coldplay (Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends);
03. "The Crane Wife 3" - The Decemberists (The Crane Wife);
04. "My Slumbering Heart" - Rilo KIley (The Execution of All Things);
05. "Fidelity" - Regina Spektor (Begin to Hope);
06. "T-Shirt Weather" - The Lucksmiths (T-Shirt Weather);
07. "Scenic World" - Beirut (The Gulag Orkestar);
08. "Get Lost" - Patrick Wolf (The Magic Position);
09. "Elevator Love Letter" - Stars (Heart);
10. "60B (Etown Theme)" - Nancy Wilson (Elizabethtown);
11. "Quiet Houses" - Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes);
12. "Old Old Fashioned" - Frightened Rabbit (The Midnight Organ Fight);
13. "Major Label Debut (Fast)" - Broken Social Scene (Broken Social Scene);
14. "The Year in Review" - Her Space Holiday (Xoxo Panda and the New Kid Revival); *
15. "Chariot" - Page France (Hello, Dear Wind);
16. "Solsbury Hill" - Peter Gabriel (In Good Company OST);
17. "Fresh Feeling" - Eels (Souljacker);
18. "Dry the Rain" - The Beta Band (High Fidelity OST);
19. "Agoraphobia" - Deerhunter (Microcastle);
20. "Sweet Darlin'" - She & Him (Volume One);
21. "Oh Heart" - Jill Barber (Oh Heart);
22. "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters" - Elton John (Almost Famous OST).

exercises in self-evisceration -- january 18, 2009

One of my favorite parts of High Fidelity is the idea that our attachment to music is largely autobiographical. I am never quite sure if my attachment to a song at a particular emotional crux in my life is because I had said emotion and then the song fulfilled it, or if I heard the song and felt said emotion in a devastatingly complete way. Put differently, is music my autobiography or am I music's autobiography? If Prufrock measured out his life in coffee spoons, what does it mean that I measure mine out in chords and verses? And if I make decisions based on the intersection of one particular song into my life at one particular moment, do I still have agency?

In other words, enjoy the self-evisceration. Real emotion makes for good production value.

original track list:

01. "Cath..." - Death Cab for Cutie (Narrow Stairs);
02. "Neither of Us, Uncertainly" - Deerhunter (Microcastle); *
03. "Skinny Love" - Bon Iver (For Emma, Forever Ago);
04. "New Romantic" - Laura Marling (My Manic & I);
05. "It's Not" - Aimee Mann (Lost in Space); *
06. "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" - Coldplay (cover);
07. "I Will Not Sing a Hateful Song" - The Constantines (Kensington Heights);
08. "Crowd Surf Off a Cliff" - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton (Knives Don't Have Your Back);
09. "Teeth" - Kristin Hersh (Hips and Makers); *
10. "Lost in the Zoo" - Goddamn Electric Bill (Swallowed by the Machines);
11. "Remember Me As a Time of Day" - Explosions in the Sky (How Strange, Innocence);
12. "90-Mile Water Wall" - The National (Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers);
13. "Never Is a Promise" - Fiona Apple (Tidal);
14. "Have to Explode" - The Mountain Goats (Tallahassee);
15. "About Today (Live)" - The National (The Virginia EP);
16. "Little Person" - Jon Brion (Synecdoche, New York OST). *

NOTE: I forget to check that the tracks were all correct. "Cath..." is now actually "Cath...".

Housekeeping

This post is going to take care of some housekeeping for the blog.

Mixwit is unfortunately closing down. We are hoping they may return with some form of paid service, which I would be crazy enough to pay for, but in the meantime we are going to attempt to transition over to Seeqpod. We will see how well this goes, and I may even attempt to convert our old mixtapes into a still-listenable format in Seeqpod as well. (When infinite time presents itself, of course.)

Second, I do not have a mixtape because my computer's hard drive kicked the bucket and my external hard drive is halfway across the country. Hence, I cannot deliver to ye faithful readers the proliferate tapes I had hoped to.

But, here's a video from one of our favorite new bands of 2008 to take you into 2009. God bless Sub Pop.

Top 5 Videos for Melancholy Insomniac Nostalgia

These are videos I would rather watch than attempt to work. I would go so far as to call them my 5 favorite videos right fucking now. Not all of them are official because that doesn't really matter, does it? How many artists have made shite videos of fantastic songs? And for some reason, right now moody songs set to film noir appeals to me on a very visceral level.

Top 5 Videos for Melancholy Insomniac Nostalgia

"Violet Hill" - Coldplay: The way that Chris Martin looks at the camera near the end makes me forgive him for x&y, as does the way he thrusts that hammer towards the camera to his phenomenal drum beat. and that faded out sepia is, somehow, intensely moving for me, as are his clumsy steps in that snow.



"Bohemian Like You" - The Dandy Warhols: my mother has pictures in this washed out 70s film. she is not naked in them. i do not think this video could be better for this song. i do not think i could know every single one of those people more than i feel i already do.



"Slow Show" - The National: This is a Godard film, Masculine Feminine, which I will now see. When the frames slow down, you breathe deeply.



"I Will Possess Your Heart" - Death Cab for Cutie: I believe that this song, and this video, may be briefly perfect. watch how melted snow flies off the drums.



"Lucky You"- The National: I don't know what film noir movie this is, but it's about 12:21 am and I have so far watched this three times. All that movement and the close-ups of that girl's cheek. I love nothing more than any video camera that caresses faces in fragmentary focus: just one cheek, then just the brow.

good morning, midnight -- november 24, 2008

I have a belief that mixtapes exist for three main reasons: the mixtape for a new relationship, the mixtape for a break-up, and the mixtape for a fucking awesome night. This is the third. To be specific: the nights that start off awesome and then somehow just manage to constantly take the most awesome, least plausible route, until you end up somewhere surreal, unbelievable, and ... awesome. And you think, "if I ever forget this, it would have to be because of a head injury."

Note: title is taken from a novel by Jean Rhys named Good Morning, Midnight. There is absolutely no overlap between subject matter. Her novel is about an alcoholic woman in Paris. Mine is about rocking good times. All they have in common is alcohol.

original track list:
01. "Campus" - Vampire Weekend (s/t);
02. "At & T" - Pavement (Wowee Zowee); *
03. "On to You" - The Constantines (Shine a LIght);
04. "Halfway Home" - TV on the Radio (Dear Science...);
05. "Of Moons, Birds & Monsters" - MGMT (Oracular Spectacular);
06. "Tbtf" - Kevin Drew (Spirit If);
07. "The First Big Weekend" - Arab Strap (The Week Never Starts Round Here);
08. "You Only Live Once" - The Strokes (First Impressions of Earth);
09. "Camaro" - Kings of Leon (Because of the Times);
10. "Slow West Vultures" - The Mountain Goats (We Shall All Be Healed);
11. "The Killing Moon" - Echo & the Bunnymen (Donnie Darko OST);
12. "Highway of Endless Dreams" - M83 (Saturdays = Youth);
13. "The Story Of" - Yo La Tengo (I Am Not Afraid Of You and I Will Beat Your Ass);
14. "Civil Twilight" - The Weakerthans (Reunion Tour);
15. "Stay Put!" - The Blood Arm (Lie Lover Lie);
16. "Massive Nights" - The Hold Steady (Boys and Girls in America);
17. "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie" - Belle & Sebastian (Lazy Line Painter Jane);
18. "Fighting in a Sack" - The Shins (Chutes Too Narrow);
19. "Don't You Evah" - Spoon (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga);
20. "All the Wine" - The National (Alligator);
21. "New Country" - The Walkmen (You & Me); *
22. "Tinsel and Sawdust" - Jason Collett (Idols of Exile);
23. "Gold" - Interference (Once OST);
24. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" - The Arcade Fire (Funeral);
25. "Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)" - Broken Social Scene (s/t).

News.

Okay, so big news here, guys - if you are still listening, because we are the worst bloggers ever.



We've been nominated for an award. And because both Torrey and I have been stupidly, stupidly busy (more on that later), we're just telling you. So (although we don't really entertain the possibility of winning - we are modest/realistic, after all) vote for us if you'd like.

Second order of business:



We are basically doing exactly what William Miller is not. And we hate it. And it's paper season. And - just - we will try to update, but life is kicking our asses right now. We still have deep love and high hopes for Cassette Shelf, but right now academic demands are being our high-maintenance girlfriends.

Please still love us. I'm pretty sure I have professors that are freaking me out more than Frances McDormand. And I'm not Russell Hammond, so I have few consolations in life.

falls from grace -- october 22 / 2008

So, goddamn it, Mixwit and I are going to have some words. I would dearly love to make some joke about how it ain't turning tricks like it used to, but that would be inappropriate and would probably lose readership. But, really - apparently it really hates this mix. I found practically none of my songs. And, in my opinion, this is my best mix yet, so fucking seriously, ask me for it.

In short, the idea of the mix came from listening to the song "Jacob's Ladder" by Patrick Wolf (not provided here; fuck you very much, Mixwit), and thinking in an offhand manner that it sounded like Satan falling from heaven in Milton's Paradise Lost. All these songs try to reflect that sort of dark, twisted atmosphere: a fallen angel with burnt wings, a sense of nobility remnant amidst the horrors of hell, and various other misshapen figures scattered in the wreckage. So it's really very creepy but in a cerebral, brooding way. This isn't the shock value horror film, it's the psychological one that seeps through under your skin, like Rosemary's Baby.

Next mix, look for an auditory approximation of Faulkner. No, really, don't. That's a joke. Don't even think of holding me to that.

original track list

01. "Elephant Woman" - Blonde Redhead (Misery Is a Butterfly);
02. "Jacob's Ladder" - Patrick Wolf (Wind in the Wires); *
03. "Airships" - Metallic Falcons (Desert Doughnuts);
04. "New Dawn Fades" - Joy Division (Unknown Pleasures);
05. "I Would Hurt a Fly" - Built to Spill (Perfect from Now On);
06. "Twill" - Elliott Brood (Ambassador); *
07. "Our Hell" - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton (Knives Don't Have Your Back);
08. "Turn Smile Shift Repeat" - Phantom Planet (The Guest); *
09. "Picky Bugger" - Elbow (Leaders of the Free World);
10. "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" - Modest Mouse (The Moon and Antarctica);
11. "Black Mirror" - The Arcade Fire (Neon Bible);
12. "I Saw a Light" - Bat for Lashes (Fur and Gold);
13. "Deportation/Iguazu" - Gustavo Santaolalia (Babel OST);
14. "Liquid Diamonds" - Tori Amos (From the Choirgirl Hotel);
15. "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down" - Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights);
16. "Our Dance" - Wax Tailor (Tales of Forgotten Memories);
17. "Charlie Big Potato" - Skunk Anansie (Post Orgasmic Chill);
18. "Death to Death" - Stars (Heart);
19. "Paranoid Android" - Radiohead (OK Computer);
20. "Broken Up a Ding Dong" - The Beta Band (Igby Goes Down OST); *
21. "The Wrong Way" - TV on the Radio (Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes); *
22. "Soap Opera" - 54 Seconds (Coma); *
23. "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" - The Smashing Pumpkins (Watchmen Trailer);
24. "The Great Western Road" - David Byrne (Lead Us Not into Temptation). *

music for libraries -- september 27/08

"Music for Libraries" is perhaps the most obviously themed mixtape Cassette Shelf has featured so far. In my defense, I would like to state that, as an English honours student, I am swimming (alright, fine: drowning) in reading assignments, papers, and theory at the moment and the thought of coming up with a mixtape idea independent of everything that is filling my brain right now seemed difficult. You should probably understand that this mixtape is my brain. The songs generally all have some relation to literature or academics, whether through the obvious reference to books or the much more vague literary allusions. Plus "Almost Crimes", because it's a kick-ass song and I should probably mention that all of these books and words make me happy on a deep personal level. And this mix is actually pretty damn cohesive: it starts off on an ominous foot, full of brooding and modernistic angst, proceeds to an energetic little jig akin to how I feel walking through campus in the fall with an armful of textbooks, and finishes quietly and wistfully. So don't judge this mixtape by its gimmick-y tendencies, it's got a lot to offer.

original track list
01. "Bad Education" - Tilly and the Wall (Bottoms of Barrels);
02. "Cordelia" - The Tragically Hip (Yer Favourites);
03. "Sailing to Byzantium" - Liars (s/t);
04. "Bukowski" - Modest Mouse (Good News for People Who Love Bad News);
05. "Neon Bible" - The Arcade Fire (Neon Bible);
06. "Reading in Bed" - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton (Knives Don't Have Your Back);
07. "Theologians" - Wilco (A Ghost is Born);
08. "Wrapped Up in Books" - Belle & Sebastian (Dear Catastrophe Waitress);
09. "Bookshop Casanova" - The Clientele (God Save the Clientele);
10. "Poetaster" - Miracle Fortress (Five Roses);
11. "My Favourite Book" - Stars (In Our Bedroom After the War);
12. "School Books" - Fields (Everything Last Winter);
13. "Academia" - Sia (Some People Have Real Problems);
14. "Jake's Classroom" - Terence Blanchard (The 25th Hour OST); *
15. "Sovay" - Andrew Bird (The Mysterious Production of Eggs);
16. "Pressed in a Book" - The Shins (Oh, Inverted World!);
17. "Almost Crimes" - Broken Social Scene (You Forgot It in People);
18. "The Book I Write" - Spoon (Stranger than Fiction OST);
19. "The Sun Also Sets" - Ryan Adams (Easy Tiger);
20. "Tragedy" - Brandi Carlile (s/t);
21. "Family Happiness" - The Mountain Goats (The Coroner's Gambit);
22. "Oedipus" - Regina Spektor" (Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories);
23. "Virginia Woolf" - Indigo Girls (Rites of Passage);
24. "A Place Called Home" - Kim Richey (Rise);
25. "The Vivian Girls Are Visited In the Night by Saint Dargarius and his Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies" - Sufjan Stevens (The Avalanche);
26. "Hows About Tellin A Story" - Devendra Banhart (Cripple Crow);
27. "The Professor & La Fille Danse" - Damien Rice (B-sides);
28. "At Last the Secret Is Out" - Carla Bruni (No Promises);
29. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" - Sufjan Stevens (Seven Swans);
30. "Sylvia Plath" - Ryan Adams (Gold).

goodbye songs -- september 11/08

Due to inexplicable reasons that have since become even more mysterious to me, I chose to go to university literally at the other end of Canada. I'm being facetious - there were, and are, decent and understandable reasons, not the least of which was that particular and desperate need to escape various phantoms and start over. What one doesn't realize when one makes this decision, however, is the peculiar sort of limbo this permanent transit creates. I am not really ever at home. I am usually always saying goodbye. When I am here at school I miss my home province in the most essential ways: I miss its landscape, its weather, its winds and intangible vagrancies. During the summer, I miss the detachment of school from the scattered jetsam that I have accumulated. This mixtape is a collection of these various goodbyes and longings, I have listened to these songs in airplanes.

Yeah, I got all personal there, how un-snobby. Also, apparently Mixwit hates me today and has decided to have none of my favorite songs on this mix. Fine. I bite my thumb at you, Mixwit. Ask me for the mix if you want it, yada yada.

original track list
01. "Grow Up and Blow Away" - Metric (Grow Up and Blow Away);
02. "405" - Death Cab for Cutie (We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes);
03. "Parachutes (Funeral Song)" - Mates of State (Team Boo);
04. "Coughing Colors" - Tilly and the Wall (Bottoms of Barrels); *
05. "The Wooden Sky" - The Wooden Sky (When Lost at Sea);
06. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (I'm Not There OST);
07. "Pictures of Success" - Rilo Kiley (Takeoffs & Landings);
08. "Kelly Brown" - The Earlies (Skins OST); *
09. "NYC" - Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights);
10. "Cadillac Dust" - Elliott Brood (Tiny Type);
11. "Leaving Home" - The Mountain Goats (Ghana); *
12. "Look into the Air" - Explosions in the Air (How Strange, Innocence);
13. "You've Gone Away Enough" - Mirah (C'mon Miracle);
14. "Moongirl" - stellastarr* (s/t); *
15. "High Speed" - Coldplay (Parachutes);
16. "Muzzle of Bees" - Wilco (A Ghost Is Born);
17. "The Great Escape" - Patrick Watson (Close to Paradise);
18. "At the Hop" - Devendra Banhart (Nino Rojo);
19. "Oh My Sweet Carolina" - Ryan Adams (Heartbreaker);
20. "A Tender History in Rust" - Do Make Say Think (You, You're a History in Rust);
21. "Devil Town" - Tony Lucca (Friday Night Lights OST).

je vois la vie en rose. -- august 19/08

I have a deep and enduring love for Audrey Hepburn. This is not unusual. To me, and to most people I believe, she embodies a simplicity and grace of spirit that is wholly, unfailingly comforting. She and her most well-known movies (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, Roman Holiday) seem to be enchanted mementoes of a time in which people hoped without reservation or secrecy, in which idealism was not a state of mind but a tender undefeated fact. Each time Holly Golightly finds Cat in the rain, I briefly forget the possibility of disappointment.

""People associate me with a time when movies were pleasant, when women wore pretty dresses in films and you heard beautiful music. I always love it when people write me and and say 'I was having a rotten time, and I walked into a cinema and saw one of your movies, and it made such a difference.'"

So this mix are all the songs I could find that communicate even an iota of that delicate, transcendent calm. These are not hipster show-off songs; this may be viewed by some as a dull mix. Don't try to do chores to this mix. Instead - fall asleep to this mix. Be comforted by this mix. I could think of no better title for it than the obvious.

original track list
01. "Reflections After Jane" - The Clientele (Suburban Light);
02. "Quelqu'un m'a dit" - Carla Bruni (Quelqu'un m'a dit);
03. "A Sunday Smile" - Beirut (The Flying Club Cup);
04. "Vein of Stars" - The Flaming Lips (At War with the Mystics);
05. "A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill" - Jens Lekman (Oh You're So Silent Jens);
06. "Maybe Lately" - Miracle Fortress (Five Roses);
07. "The Aspidistra Flies" - Stars (The Comeback);
08. "Dogs" - Damien Rice (9);
09. "Gold in the Air of Summer" - Kings of Convenience (Riot on an Empty Street);
10. "Weigh Me Down" - Royal Wood (A Good Enough Day);
11. "She's Always a Woman" - Billy Joel (The Stranger);
12. "La Valse d'Amelie (piano)" - Yann Tiersen (Amelie OST);
13. "The Only Living Boy in New York" - Simon & Garfunkel (Garden State OST);
14. "Moon River" - Audrey Hepburn" (Breakfast at Tiffany's OST);
15. "You Really Got a Hold on Me" - She & Him (Volume One);
16. "Grace Cathedral Hill" - The Decemberists (Castaways & Cut-outs);
17. "You Belong to Me" - Jason Wade (Shrek OST);
18. "Those to Come" - The Shins (Chutes Too Narrow);
19. "We Put a Pearl in the Ground" - St. Vincent (Marry Me); and
20. "La Vie En Rose" - Edith Piaf (Sabrina OST).

sweat, sunset (sex you regret already) -- july 15 / 08

First, a caveat: so many songs are missing on the Mixwit incarnation of this mixtape that it actually pains me to post it. For the sake of aesthetics, I'm still posting the nifty little tape, but if you even remotely like what you hear/see on the playlist, ask me, and I will give you the zip, because there are some gems of obscure little songs that generally comprise the heart of the mood. (anyone playing a drinking game with this blog: drink!) Consider this mixtape a spin-off in a different direction from the brash (and awesome) "Bend Over".

This mix is one part obsession, one part dilemma; two parts a humid summer night and beads of sweat standing distinct and potent on a shoulder blade; three parts the act; all regret. It begins with a tangled sense of euphoria and impending disaster, and almost revels in the glory of misdeeds, the regret already tangible but suffused with heat. The second half finds, subdued, the gritty taste of consequence and self-loathing. This is how physical contact becomes martial, a study in subdued aching violence.

"Betrayals in war are childlike compared with the betrayals during peace. New lovers are nervous and tender, but smash everything. For the heart is an organ of fire."

original track list
o1. "Sticky" - Willard Grant Conspiracy (Mojave);
02. "Tonight" - Ryan Adams (Cold Roses); *
o3. "I've Made Enough Friends" - The Wrens (Secaucus);
o4. "Like a Friend" - Pulp (Great Expectations OST);
o5. "The Moth" - Aimee Mann (Lost in Space);
o6. "Strong Chemistry" - David Wilcox (Big Horizon); *
o7. "I'm Your Man" - Leonard Cohen (The Essential Leonard Cohen);
o8. "Yes" - Coldplay (Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends);
o9. "Playhouses" - TV on the Radio (Return to Cookie Mountain);
10. "Mess We're In" - PJ Harvey feat. Thom Yorke (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea);
11. "Rapture" - Pedro the Lion (Control);
12. "Obstacle 1" - Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights);
13. "Beautiful Lie" - Yoav (Charmed and Strange);
14. "One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)" - Stars (Set Yourself on Fire);
15. "Title Track" - Death Cab for Cutie (We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes);
16. "Skin Is, My" - Andrew Bird (The Mysterious Production of Eggs);
17. "Whitewashed" - Lilium (Short Stories); *
18. "The First Time You're Unfaithful" - Arab Strap (Philophobia); *
19. "Wrong Choice" - The Lovely Feathers (EP);
20. "Fuck Was I" - Jenny Owen Youngs (Batten the Hatches);
21. "What's a Girl to Do?" - Bat for Lashes (Fur and Gold);
22. "How Soon Is Now?" - The Smiths (Singles);
23. "As Ugly As I Seem" - The White Stripes (Get Behind Me Satan);
24. "Scotch Grove" - The Mountain Goats (The Coroner's Gambit);
25. "Dirty Half" - David Byrne (Lead Us Not into Temptation); *
26. "A Thousand Kisses Deep" - Leonard Cohen (The Essential Leonard Cohen);
27. "Leave You on the Pavement" - Catherine Feeny (s/t);
28. "Start a War" - The National (Boxer); and
29. "9 Crimes" - Damien Rice (9);

NOTE: Cassette Shelf only endorses mixtape repeats of the same artist if said artist is: Leonard Cohen and the Beatles.
ALSO NOTE: Yes, Kath will have The Mountain Goats on every tape.

kerouac attack -- july 5 / 08

Consider Jack Kerouac and his travels cross-country. Now take out the hangovers, the sense of immediacy; this is perhaps too happy a mix to be accurately called "Kerouac Attack". But since it was made for our friend undertaking a cross-country motorcycle road trip, the comparison was too tempting. So, in general: roads, wind, white lines, sore feet, road signs. fading into sunset, motel rooms, hostels, deep sleeps.

original track list
o1. "Lost!" - Coldplay (Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends);
o2. "Abattoir Blues" - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Abattoir Blues);
o3. "I Was a Daughter" - Basia Bulat (Oh, My Darling);
04. "Ventura Highway" - America (Homecoming);
o5. "Most of Us Prizefighters" - A.C. Newman (The Slow Wonder); *
o6. "So You Did It Again" - Ane Brun (Live in Scandinavia); *
o7. "Good Weekend" - Art Brut (Bang Bang Rock & Roll);
o8. "July, July!" - The Decemberists (Castaways & Cutouts);
o9. "A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity to Be Free" - Elliott Smith (From a Basement on the Hill);
10. "Fake Palindromes" - Andrew Bird (The Mysterious Production of Eggs);
11. "Postcards from Italy" - Beirut (Gulag Orkestar);
12. "American Kids (instrumental)" - Bloc Party; *
13. "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" - Matt Pond PA (cover);
14. "Pictures of Success" - Rilo Kiley (Take-offs & Landings);
15. "English Girls Approximately" - Ryan Adams (Love Is Hell);
16. "She's a Jar" - Wilco (Summerteeth);
17. "Soon Enough" - The Constantines (Tournament of Hearts);
18. "Neverending Math Equation" - Sun Kil Moon (Tiny Cities);
19. "Cotton" - The Mountain Goats (We Shall All Be Healed);
20. "America" - Simon & Garfunkel (Bookends); and
21. "Hard Sun" - Eddie Vedder (Into the Wild OST).