The day is finally here.  In a few hours I’m going to be a married man and this is the mix that we are giving out as CD favors (along with a few random musings that I included in a booklet) to the guests.   I want to thank all my readers for the kind words over the years about me and Celeste, and for reading what I have to say here.  I’m going to be gone for a week, honeymooning, but I hope you enjoy this mix while I’m away. Huzzah!

1. Sleeping At Last - Umbrellas MP3
This is “our song”.  I proposed to Celeste at a Sleeping At Last concert while this song was playing, after a special dedication from the band.  We also shared our first dance to “Umbrellas”.

2. Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla MP3
“Hoppipolla” (which is Icelandic for “Jumping Into Puddles”) is the song that played during the recessional and is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.

3. Iron & Wine - Love and Some Verses MP3
Iron & Wine is Celeste’s favorite band and this is one of their prettiest love songs.  Sean and Whitney gave a lovely performance of this song at our ceremony.

4. The Frames - Falling Slowly MP3
This beautiful track is the theme to the film Once, it won best original song last year at the Oscars and is one of our favorite love songs.

5. The The - This Is The Day MP3
This is an awesome wedding song and who doesn’t love accordian solos?

6. Nada Surf - Always Love MP3
We both love the lyrics to this infectious song: “Always love , Hate will get you everytime”.   Not bad advice, right?

7. Feist - Mushaboom MP3
Feist is most famous for her “1234 “ iPod commercial, but this song is her best.  The lyrics are about starting your life together and not having much other than love.  Sounds like us!

8. U2 - Unchained Melody MP3
This is U2’s enchanting version of the classic Righteous Brothers’ love song.

9. Barry Louis Polisar- All I Want MP3
A cutesy folk tune with some clever love metaphors and a zippy harmonica solo.

10. Sufjan Stevens - Dress Looks Nice On You MP3
Sufjan Stevens is my favorite singer/songwriter (take note, music appreciators) and I love just about everything he’s done.  This gorgeous acoustic piece is no exception.

11. Stars - Ageless Beauty (The Most Serene Republic Mix) MP3
This is the acoustic version of one of my all-time favorite songs.  Brings a huge smile to my face every time I hear it.

12. Bob Dylan - I Want You MP3
This is probably Dylan’s most accessible, irony-free track, and it’s one of his best.

13. Islands  - Jogging Gorgeous Summer MP3
This mix needed a bit more tropical flair.  I love the lyric “Millions of sunsets but the one I remember, the one where you told me you’d love me forever”.

14. Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life MP3
This is a folky love song that deserves the title of modern classic.  It’s a heart-tugging, extremely honest track and the melody is lovely.

15. R.E.M. - At My Most Beautiful MP3
One of my favorite ballads.  This song is just completely heartwarming.

16. Headlights - Cherry Tulips MP3
Headlights is an awesome band from Champaign, IL and friends of ours. This gushing love song was just released this year and it’s already one of my favorite indie pop songs.

17. Belle & Sebastian - Funny Little Frog MP3
One of my personal favorite bands, I could pick a dozen tracks from Scotland’s Belle & Sebastian to add to this list. This is such a easygoing, irresistable love song.  What other band can rhyme court with throat so convincingly?

18. Wilco - On and On and On MP3
Wilco is another wonderful band that is very meaningful to me personally. “On and On and On” is their ode to marriage.  The end of this song is simply magnificent.

19. U2 - Can’t Help Falling In Love MP3
U2 closed all their shows on their Zoo TV tour with this passionate, gorgeous cover.  I get chills every time I hear Bono hit that falsetto.  It’s the perfect song to end our mix.

This post is mostly a forewarning that there won’t be much happening on this blog for the next week and a half.  Why you may ask?  Well, I’m getting married on Saturday (that’s two days).  And then I’ll be honeymooning in Florida for a week.  It’s gonna be an experience, for sure.  I’m excited.  I’m going to be posting a wedding mix on Saturday along that we’re also handing out as favors to guests.  I’ll also have pictures once they become available.  It’ll be just like you’re there. Until then, here’s some things that I’m finding awesome this week:

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Okkervil River’s latest album The Stand-Ins (aka The Stage Names: Part Two) leaked this week and I’ve been slowly letting it sink in.  It’s very good, much better than just a Stage Names B-Sides collection, but not as great as Shearwater’s Rook.  So far, The stand-outs on the album are the duet between Sheff and Meisburg (who recently left Okkervil River for good to focus on Shearwater) on “Lost Coastlines”, as well as the epic “Blue Tulip” and the triumphant closing track.

MP3 Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines

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Rumors are saying that Obama might be at Lollapalooza this year at either Wilco or Kanye West’s set (both of which I’m planning on being at).   I think seeing Obama on stage with Kanye both singing “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” would be particularly mind-blowing.

MP3 Kanye West - Can’t Tell Me Nothing

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I’ve still been jamming to Stay Positive on a daily basis.  Such a great album.  The Hold Steady’s performance of “Sequestered in Memphis” on Letterman last night was particularly impressive (I’m still looking for the skit they did). If you haven’t gone out and got this album yet, you’re crazy.  I’m really hoping the band will come back to Chicago on a day that I’m not saying “I do”.

MP3 The Hold Steady - Sequestered in Memphis

I just started Season 2 of The Wire (which is on iTunes now) a few days ago which chronicles the War on Drugs in Baltimore (which you can’t even really call a war, because wars end).  I also started listening to the band, The War on Drugs, on a number of notable bloggers recommendations and the realization that they were on the Secretly Canadien label who always put out something worth listening to.  I’ve been completely entranced with the rich and detailed rock songs that seem to take from Springsteen and Tom Petty as much as they do from Sonic Youth and the Arcade Fire, while creating something that sounds fresh and unique.

The song that brought me in hook, line, and sinker was “Taking The Farm”.   The opening for the song is just perfect, as the song lays down all the key pieces to the instrumentation one by one.  It’s such a well-crafted intro, I’ve listened to it alone dozens of times just to try to understand it’s intricacies.  The whole song is just as amazing.  “Taking The Farm” is the albums catchiest and most anthemic song and features an extremely memorable vocal performance (that even has some very song-appropriate stuttering).  The tempo and execution of the track reminds me of “Antichrist Television Blues” but it might actually be better.

Another song that I’m loving is “Arms Like Boulders” which opens the Wagonwheel Blues with another fantastic song arrangement that mixes chiming guitars and Dylan-esque vocals.  The band has a way of making you feel like you’re listening to something important, that I absolutely love.  I would highly recommend picking up the album if not for anything else, for these two songs alone.

MP3 The War On Drugs - Taking The Farm
MP3 The War On Drugs - Arms Like Boulders

Buy Wagonwheel Blues on emusic / amazon.

Today I have new music from three “The” bands for you.  The first is from Twin Cities’ finest and bar-band embracers, The Hold Steady. Let me preface this by saying, when I first heard this band I was a bit thrown by their rough sound and rougher vocals, but I really warmed up to Boys and Girls in America and now I’m a fan of their whole catalogue.  After multiple listens I can safely say that Stay Positive is my favorite album from the band and one of the best of the year.  Almost every song could be a single, but my current favorite (this probably will change) is the nostalgic sing-a-long jam “Stay Positive”.  Every line of this song is instantly memorable and the call-and-response chorus is incredible.  No other song makes me want to jump around the room singing and jamming more than this one right now.

(I had to stream this one, because the Web Sheriff is working overtime taking Hold Steady MP3s down, if you really can’t find this song anywhere else and want a sample let me know).

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There always seems to be two or three songs that I love from each The Walkmen album while rest I find are just ok.  “The Rat”, “Little House of Savages”, “Thinking of a Dream” from Bows + Arrows, “Lost in Boston” and “Another One Goes By” on A Hundred Miles Off.  I don’t know if that’s the way it’s going to be for their next album, You & Me, but if so, then “In The New Year” will most assuredly come out on the love it side.  There’s so much dramatic flair to this song, the vocal performance is off the charts, and mixed with some truly inspired instrumentation of guitar, strings, and organ it makes for what is easily one of the band’s best tracks.

MP3 The Walkmen - In The New Year

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Interestingly enough, when I saw The Walkmen last they were touring with The Broken West, who also has a new song out there.  I was a big fan of The Broken West’s last album I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, which is still a great power-pop album and perfect for sunny day driving.  “Perfect Games” continues in the trend with a bright, upbeat melody, hopeful lyrics about “righting every wrong”, and jangly, shimmering guitar that’s reminscent of their previous single “Down in the Valley”.  That is to say, it’s another brilliant song from the band.

MP3 The Broken West - Perfect Games

I found this song downloading random 2008 mixes online, and I was caught off guard by how different Cheap Time’s “People Talk” was from the standard indie fare or any other new music that I’ve been listening to.  The song is a whirlwind of straight up rock and roll.  Extremely fuzzy, lo-fi, poorly recorded rock and roll.  The song marries an awesome riff with an even awesomer chorus that consists of saying the phrase “people talk” 10 times fast followed by “na na na”.  They also somehow fits in a rad guitar solo into it’s 2 minute and 12 second running time.

MP3 Cheap Time - People Talk

So after having my face rocked by “People Talk”, I looked up the band responsible for this and found it to be part of an emerging punk/garage scene in Tennesee that was being led by someone I’ve heard of but haven’t really given a chance, Jay Reatard.  I’ve listened to about half of his latest Singles collection and while nothing has struck me like Cheap Time’s aforementioned song, I am liking what I’m hearing.  “Let It All Go” is my favorite so far.  Buzzed-out riffs, rolling drums, and a hints of new wave make it a great track.

MP3 Jay Reatard - Let It All Go

I saw Wall-E last week and absolutely loved it.  I’m a huge fan of everything Pixar’s done (except for Cars, which was just ok) and this film is right up there with Toy Story as my favorite Pixar film.  I actually got choked up in a couple parts, it was a completely wonderful movie experience.  There were so many iconic moments in the film that I know will be remembered for years to come. If you haven’t seen it yet, I urge you to check it out.

The movie inspired me to look to my music collection for applicable songs and make a 10 song mix for the film. I’ll point out what the song has to do with the Wall-E’s story while keeping it as spoiler-free as possible. Right-click the song title to download the songs.  Enjoy!

The Futureheads - Robot

Wall-E is a Robot.

Smashing Pumpkins - Tales of a Scorched Earth

The first half of the Wall-E takes place on Earth which has turned into a deserted wasteland.

Radiohead - Paranoid Android

Wall-E meets another Robot named EVE who is at first very paranoid.  Also, like Thom, Wall-E often curiously wonders “What’s there?”

Daft Punk - Digital Love

Aww, Robots falling in love.  Adorable!

The Snake The Cross The Crown - Electronic Dream Plant

We soon find out EVE’s eco-friendly purpose.

Eluvium - Indoor Swimming at the Space Station

Wall-E follows EVE to a Space Station.  Where people ride around on floating chairs and go to the pool.

Sufjan Stevens - Dear Mr. Supercomputer

There’s a very Hal-9000 type of presence on this ship.

King Harvest - Dancing in the Moonlight

Probably my favorite scene of the movie is when the two Robots are dancing in Outer Space.  It’s a gorgeous scene.

Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand In Mine

All Wall-E wants is someone to hold his robot hands (the album title here is also relevant - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place).

Guided By Voices - Gold Star for Robot Boy

Wall-E saves the day.  Gold Star!

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Read the Ridiculously Positive Reviews of Wall-E (19 perfect scores at Metacritic)
Sign up to pre-order Wall-E on DVD.

Have a great 4th of July, everyone!

From the David Vandervelde songs I had previously heard, I had pegged him as a glam rock revivalist.  His new album, Waiting For The Sunrise, shows me a whole new side of his artistry though.  There’s a very laid back, 70’s AM Gold type of sound here complete with vintage organ and plucked acoustic guitar.  It makes for a fantastic summer album, perfect for relaxing on the porch with a summery drink of your choice in hand.

After the first few listens, the standout track for me is “Someone Like You”.  There’s something instantly appealing about the song that I can’t put my finger on.  I love the melody, the gorgeous instrumentation, the colorful lyrics, and wonderfully placed cooing background vocals.  The song floats along in such an easy-going manner, that once it’s over you won’t even notice its been six minutes.  “I Will Be Fine”, the opening track to the album, is another lovely, sunny song that adds twinkling piano to the mix.  Download both below.

MP3 Someone Like You
MP3 I Will Be Fine

Pre-order Waiting For The Sunrise

I made this mix a few weeks back of some of my favorite songs of 2008 so far just for personal listening and I think it’s one of the best mixes I’ve made.  I’m actually on a family vacation now which is why the posting has been a bit light but I have the mix uploaded and I’d love for you guys to download it, listen to it, and tell me what you think.  This isn’t a definitive best songs list from me, just some of my favorites of the year that I thought sounded good together.  And a picture of Arnold giving a thumbs up.  Click here to download.

1. The Lodger - The Good Old Days MP3
2. Cut Copy - Feel The Love
3. The Mae Shi - Run To Your Grave MP3
4. Cloud Cult - When Water Comes To Live MP3
5. Evangelicals - Midnight Vignette
6. Vampire Weekend - M79  MP3
7. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Think I Wanna Die MP3
8. These United States - First Sight
9. Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood MP3
10. Quinn Walker - Save Your Love For Me MP3
11. Ladytron - I’m Not Scared MP3
12. Wolf Parade - Language City MP3
13. Shearwater - Leviathan Bound MP3
14. Barton Carroll - Dark Place
15. Mates of State - The Re-Arranger MP3
16. The Epochs - Opposite Sides MP3
17. Okay - My
18. Islands - I Feel Evil (Creeping In)
19. M83 - Graveyard Girl MP3

Total Time: 1.2 Hours

Download Full Mix Here

We’re quickly approaching the halfway point to 2008, and that can only mean one thing.  It’s time for midway-through-the-year lists. I’ve been relistening to all my favorites from the year and deciding which ones were worthy of a much-heralded list placement.  It wasn’t easy, but I settled on 12 (and a half) favorite albums for this year.  I also made a nifty graphic that includes visuals from all the albums I have listed.  I noticed there was a theme for album covers this year: Disembodied Body Parts, Chandeliers, and Clouds (every album has at least one of these items. odd right?).

These 12 and a half albums (because it’s half of 25) are listed in chronological order and only include albums physically released in the first half of this year (sorry Girl Talk, Hold Steady).

Evangelicals - The Evening Descends
This was a big grower album for me.  I loved “Skeleton Man” from the beginning but it took seeing their absolutely wild live show and spending some time with the album to realize that the rest of the album is just as amazing.  Dripping with horror b-movie film references and delicous psychedelia, The Evening Descends is an incredible album from a still-developing band.

MP3 Skeleton Man

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
If you take away all the crazy hype that this band has received, you still have a 11 ridiculously catchy tunes. It’s amazing how strong people’s opinions are of this actually fairly unassuming, fun pop album.  I still listen to it and enjoy it on a regular basis, and I’m of the opinion that M79 is one of the best songs of the year.

MP3 M79

Quinn Walker - Laughter’s An Asshole / Lion Land
This is my one oddball pick on the list, but if you’ve ever listened to Quinn Walker’s music you probably realize that this double-album, his first ever official release, begs to be recognized.  Quinn’s music ranges from psychedelic tribal folk to epic post-rock to highly-orchestrated baroque-pop, sometimes in the same song.  There’s also moments of breathtaking, transcendent beauty here like “Smile For Me”. I honestly can’t recommend this guy enough.

MP3 Save Your Love For Me
MP3 Smile For Me

British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Easily the most anthemic, epic rock album released this year.  If you answered “yes” to the album title’s question and can listen to huge choruses and even huger guitar riffs without immediately making silly comparisons to U2, you need to pick up this album.  This music is powerful, majestic, vast, sublime and explosive.  It’s also probably my most listened to album of the year.

MP3 Waving Flags

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
John Darnielle is a ridiculously talented guy, both musically and especially lyrically and this album is one of the best of his illustrious career.  Unlike Get Lonely (which I loved) there’s a lot of variety on this album, especially thematically. Heretic Pride features some absolutely gorgeous instrumentation, some much-needed rocking out moments, and some of Darnielle’s best vocal performances ever.

MP3 Sax Rohmer #1

Sun Kil Moon - April
Sun Kil Moon is a band I had no knowledge of going into the year.  After hearing April I rushed out to get the rest of the band’s albums and am now glad to call myself a fan.  These songs are intimate, hypnotic, and beautifully played with lush acoustic guitar, piano, and string flourishes. From the sprawling ten-minute epic “Lost Verses” that opens the album to the plucked acoustic greatness of closing track, “Blue Orchids”, everything on April is drop-dead gorgeous.

MP3 Lost Verses

Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
After last year’s outstanding, breathtaking album The Meaning of 8, Cloud Cult shot up to “new favorite band” ranks in my book.  I obviously was very excited when the band released Feel Good Ghosts so soon afterwards.  The album doesn’t match the greatness of 8, but there’s plenty on here to love including some of the most jubilant and triumphant songs the band has recorded.  Seeing many of these songs being played lived, raised my already sky-high appreciation for this band and this album.

MP3 When Water Comes To Life

Islands - Arms Way
This is an album that takes some time to fully appreciate how awesome it is.  Return to Sea was a more immediately catchy, but Islands have fully expanded their sound here and created a much darker, theatrical, epic album.  Arm’s Way is filled with bombastic instrumentation and elaborate compositions, but also leave room for some of the completely infectious melodies that made fans fall in love with them in the first place.

MP3 Abominable Snow

Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
It’s true, Re-Arrange Us is not as breathtakingly original and spectacular as Bring It Back, but I still can’t get enough of this album.  The unbelievably catchy melodies are there, and they still do boy/girl harmonies better than any other band out there.  This album is easier on the ears then anything they’ve done before (a good or bad thing depending on who you ask) and features a more varied musical palette, which on awesome songs like “Re-Arrange Us”,  “Get Better”, and “You Are Free” is a very good thing.

MP3 Re-Arrange Us

Shearwater - Rook
I loved Shearwater’s last album, Palo Santo, which was a breakthrough album for the band and Rook improves upon the band’s sound in almost every way.  Johnathon Meisburg’s vibrant vocals alone are enough to bring someone to tears and matched with the dynamic, enchanting instrumentation you have one of the most beautiful albums of the last few years.  If you can listen to a song like “Leviathan Bound” without getting chills, you probably don’t deserve to have ears.

MP3 Leviathan Bound

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Dan Broekner and (especially) Spencer Krug are two of the best songwriters in indie rock today, so you know this album is going to be good, but At Mount Zoomer surpasses all my expectations and provides an album that will likely go down along with their debut as one of the best indie albums of the decade.  The album is thrilling ride of proggy explosions and rock opera anthems.  More accessible than anything from Sunset Rubdown or Handsome Furs, this album combines the best parts of both frontmen into glorious triumph.

MP3 Language City

Sigur Rós - Með suð i eyrum við spilum endalaust
Sigur Ros haven’t ever made anything close to a bad album, and they’re not about to start now.  The first single “Gobbledigook” sent fans into a excited frenzy about the band’s new sound, but the album has shown that the band hasn’t at all abandoned their massive scope of music.  They’ve just evolved their sound to be much more jubilant and spirited that we saw in smaller doses on Takk… and now is fullly-realized in incredible songs like “Við spilum endalaust” and “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur”.  There’s still flashes of the longer, drawn-out epics like the beautiful “Festival” but it seems more of the band efforts have gone into making shorter, livelier tracks which I couldn’t be more happy with.

MP3 Inní mér syngur vitleysingur

Favorite EP of the 2008 (so far):
Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant EP
I decided to include Fleet Foxes Sun Giant EP as the half of my twelve and a half favorite albums, partly because I didn’t have the room to put the full-lenghth on here and because it is, in it’s own right a fantastic collection of acoustic chamber pop songs that is still revealing itself to me.  I still can’t get over the lovely, gospel-like qualities of the vocals in songs like “Sun Giant” and “Drops In The River”.  Easily one of the best new bands of the year.

MP3 Drops In The River

Just Missed:
Jamie Lidell - Jim
Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Honorable Mentions:

Los Campesinos - Hold On Now Youngster
Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
The Dodos - Visiter
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
M83 - Saturdays=Youth
No Age - Nouns
Okay - Huggable Dust

Let me know your favorites of the year (so far) in the comments!