Mixology: Lighten Up, Francis

Mixology is a recurring feature in which I take a look at one of the many mix tapes (or CDs) I made over the years. Some are better than others, but all of them are fun to revisit.

Lighten Up, Francis (April 2009)

Sometimes an old mix can really pick you up. Tuesday night, I had to go pick up my mom from the airport because her flight had been canceled due to the impending snowmageddon. It was 9:30 p.m. and I had been looking forward to a nice relaxing evening, but had to jump in the van and head to the airport.

I grabbed this mix randomly as I was running out the door, with no idea of what was on it because I never took the time to print out a track listing. One of the opening songs, Art Brut's "Alcoholics Unanimous," was my favorite song of that year. And it was a good year for music, indeed. It was nice to be greeted with one kickass song after another, all collected during April of '09.

Contrast this with last weekend, when we drove up to my mom's place. I didn't grab any CDs, opting instead to just listen to the radio. Problem is, between commercials and crappy songs, I tend to do a lot of jumping around with the radio dial. This, of course, drives my wife nuts. But I have no patience for ads and crap anymore. Why do you think I started making mixes all those years ago?

Easy - Deer Tick
Angela - Jarvis Cocker
Alcoholics Unanimous - Art Brut
Son of a Gun - The Vaselines
Watch This! - Dananananaykroyd
Prophets - A.C. Newman
Gauze - Red Red Meat
Vampire - The Pink Mountaintops
Idiot Heart - Sunset Rubdown
Black Hearted Love - PJ Harvey and John Parish
Halfmast - The Dears
Frozen in My Tracks - The Tragically Hip
I'm Sorry, Baby, but You Can't Stand in My Light Anymore - Bob Mould
Sacred Trickster - Sonic Youth
Fate to Fatal - The Breeders
I Want You to Know - Dinosaur Jr.
Divinations - Mastodon
Halcyon Days - And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead


Alcoholics:


Black Hearted: