yesterday was crazy – fire in the fridge, hail pelting from the midsummer sky, sheets of rain and typhoon-force winds snapping my tomato plants and uprooting clark park up into a post-apocalista-flockhart leaf-strewn jungle. today is back to bright blue and breezy midsummer. but two months ago (jesus!..) the warmmother sun erupted for the first time to declare SPRING! and it was a new season like i had never experienced. t-shirt weather should be self-explanatory. this is just like all those other summer mixtapes, except that it's a spring mixtape (which i've also done before of course), it's just that spring never felt this much like what it is, which is, basically, the idealized version of summer...and with the music to match:
(so wake up wake up it's)
T-SHIRT WEATHER!
T-SHIRT WEATHER!
title: t-shirt weather
date: april 2010
date: april 2010
packaging: just draw a little sunshine t-shirt for the "T" of the title.
1. The Lucksmiths: "T-Shirt Weather"
2. V.V. Brown: "Shark In The Water"
3. Love Is All: "The Birds Were Singing With All Their Might" [love that title]
4. Mariachi El Bronx: "Cell Mates"
5. Sambassadeur: "Days"
6. Title Tracks: "Every Little Bit Hurts"
7. Malachai: "Another Sun"
8. Mayer Hawthorne: "Love Is Alright"
9. Javelin: "Oh! Centra"
10. Daedelus: "Fair Weather Friends"
11. Little Dragon: "Runabout"
12. Grovesnor: "Drive Your Car"
13. Alphabeat:
14. Bonobo: "We Could Forever"
15. Hot Chip: "Hand Me Down Your Love"
[eta:] 16. Tunng: "Hustle"
22. Tindersticks: "Keep You Beautiful"
almost all titles from early 2010, except for the opening title track (a new-to-me chestnut), and a couple mild stragglers. a little bit of pretty/giddy/swoony/croony indie-pop, bouncy fun rock, fantastical faux-mexicana, goofball hip-hop, fuzzy-hot electro, crunchy-creamy neo-funk, smooth grooving chill-out, sweet-tooth synth-soul (with some definite overlap among those last four categories), a couple of pure, beautiful love songs, just a touch of full-on diva-house (swapped out alphabeat's "DJ," which has an even more classically blinding groove and belongs to my pet genre of songs addressed to the dj, in favor of the more seasonally appropriate and almost-as-pumping "Heatwave"), and plus the actual world-conquering feel-good real-pop hit of the season (actually, what kind of music even is "Rude Boy"? r&b? electro-pop?), and then a couple of pillowy softies to cushion the comedown.
mmmmmm. this one might just bring a bit of springtime any time of year. (it might be just about time for a summer mix now though...i'll let you know by fall i promise)
***
and then – bonus mix – as april drew to a close, i made this for e, which was initially untitled but then i decided could be called:
our spring is sweet not fleeting
1. baby dee: april day [i know what let's do...]
2. joanna newsom: easy [we could rest and remain here]
3. blossom dearie: they say it's spring [this magic we share together]
4. of montreal: our spring is sweet not fleeting
5. the beach boys: help me, rhonda
6. jj: let go [i'll never be alone again]
7. primary 1: elsa says
8. jens lekman: happy birthday, dear friend elsa
9. jonathan richman & the modern lovers: new england [i might be prejudessed...]
10. adiam dymott: john denver [you and me, driving down a country road]
11. an horse: camp out [a song for the one that i love]
12. paris hilton: stars are blind [let's see what this love can do]
13. javelin: unforgettable super lady
14. georgia anne muldrow: indeed [i love the mess out the children]
15. the mynabirds: ways of looking [it can be easy if you just let it]
16. birdie busch: hey precious [does your heart have a home?]
17. darren hayman: pram town [how could you live anywhere else?]
18. jeffrey lewis: moving
19. the tallest man on earth: honey won't you let me in
20. devon sproule: ain't that the way [fonder and fonder]
21. nellie mckay: the very thought of you [foolish though it may seem]
22. mirah: million miles [lie in the garden and watch the weeds grow]
23. jonathan richman: no más por fun [es libertad, nuestro amor]
24. stephin merritt: one april day
25. tunng: weekend away [let it be beautiful when we sing the last song]
26. low: sunshine [you make me happy]
