Best of 2006 Vol. 1

Here's the original mix, made in December of 2006. It was fun to make that second mix as it allowed me to include songs from 2006 albums that I was not into at the time (Mission of Burma, the Hold Steady, TV on the Radio, Jay Reatard, Destroyer, Grizzly Bear, and Liars.) Man, what was I thinking?

Best of 2006 - Vol. 1

1. Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
2. I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona
3. The Gothic Archies - Scream and Run Away
4. Islands - Rough Gem
5. Sunset Rubdown - Stadiums and Shrines
6. Beirut - Postcards from Italy
7. Band of Horses - The Funeral
8. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
9. Danielson - Did I Step On Your Trumpet
10. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - You are What You Love
11. Oh No! Oh My! - Jane is Fat
12. Tilly & the Wall - Bad Education
13. Yo La Tengo - Beanbag Chair
14. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife 3
15. Bob Dylan - When the Deal Goes Down
16. Cat Power - The Greatest
17. Joanna Newsom - Cosmia
18. Sufjan Stevens - Majesty Snowbird

People were so excited over the live Sufjan song that I included as the last track. This led to speculation that he would have a new album the following year. That was 2007. Now it's 2009. The guy needs to get his shit together! I mean he got SO MUCH PRESS about the whole 50 States project, and now it's been 4 years since he's released something. Still, "You Are The Blood" from the Dark Was the Night compilation was really good.

Best Songs of 2006 Vol 2.

Well, here's a minor throwback. Recently I've been re-organizing the music on my hard drive. I made sure that all of my artist folders contained the artist's name only- not their name and the name of the album, the year, the source, etc. Then upon opening the folder, all of the albums would be organized with the year in parentheses first, and the album name second. Thus if I were looking the Beat Happening album "Dreamy," I would first open the Beat Happening folder, and then find "(1991) Dreamy". Very simple, yet very effective. Also, for making yearly lists, something that I frequently do, it really is helpful to have your music files tagged by year.

Anyways, while in the process, I re-discovered a bunch of in progress mixes that I never completed. One of them was a second Best of 2006 mix. My first Mix does not exist on this blog, yet is rather over at my last.fm page, as I used to post mixes in my journal over there before this blog. Well I decided to complete the mix, and it's pretty rad. That was a great year for music. Here's the mix:

Best of 2006 - Vol 2.

1. Mission of Burma - 2wice
2. The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations
3 . TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
4. Jay Reatard - Blood Visions
5. Sonic Youth - Incinerate
6. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes
7. Islands - Don't Call me Whitney, Bobby
8. Destroyer - Your Blood
9. Built to Spill - Goin Against Your Mind
10. Morrissey - You Have Killed Me
11. M. Ward - Chinese Translation
12. Grizzly Bear - Knife
13. Joanna Newsom - Sawdust & Diamonds
14. Liars - The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack
15. Animal Collective - People
16. Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks
17. Animal Collective - People
18. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

I'll repost the first edition of the mix soon. Also coming up soon will be the second volume of the Essential Built to Spill, and a Summer Songs mix.

The Essential Built to Spill vol. 1

Here's the first volume of a custom "best of" Built to Spill compilation that I made. It includes much of their best known tracks, as well as fan favorites. Yes, it contains nothing from their debut, Ultimate Alternative Wavers or the very underrated compilation The Normal Years, though I will certainly drawn from those for future volumes. I think it works very well as an introduction to the band, or a brief overview of their most popular albums. Their second, There's Nothing Wrong with Love is my personal favorite. Unlike most of my other "essential" mixes, the songs here are not in chronological order, though I still made sure everything still flows together well as a whole.

The Essential Built to Spill Vol. 1

1. Big Dipper [There's Nothing Wrong with Love]
2. Strange [Ancient Melodies of the Future]
3. Carry the Zero [Keep it Like a Secret]
4. I Would Hurt a Fly [Perfect from Now On]
5. You Were Right [Keep it Like a Secret]
6. The Plan [Keep it Like a Secret]
7. Car [There's Nothing Wrong with Love]
8. Else [Keep it Like a Secret]
9. Kicked it in the Sun [Perfect from Now On]
10. Center of the Universe [Keep it Like a Secret]
11. Conventional Wisdom [You in Reverse]
12. Stop the Show [Perfect from Now On]
13. Time Trap [Keep it Like a Secret]
14. Liar [You in Reverse]
15. Distopian Dream Girl [There's Nothing Wrong with Love]
16. The Weather [Ancient Melodies of the Future]

Built to Spill @ Up Records
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