About a month and a half ago, I posted a snOMG mix in honor of having somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 inches pile down in the grand old seat of Washington DC…not exactly a place deemed a Winter Wonderland. Well, if you’ve been watching the news or the weather at all this week…we actually topped the crazy snowfall that inspired the snOMG mix. We got two feet of snow this weekend…with at least one more foot on the way starting tomorrow. I haven’t been to work since Friday morning and I doubt I’ll go back to work before Thursday. The vacation is nice and I very much needed the break but, really, enough already. By tomorrow, I’ll probably run out of chores to do and I’m already running out of beer and the makings of grilled cheese. As such, here’s my Cabin Fever Mix: A tribute to everyone in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and all points in between who are going out of their fucking minds and getting ready to roast them some groundhog.

Super Furry Animals :: Cabin Fever
The Magnetic Fields :: Absolutely Cuckoo
Gnarls Barkley :: Crazy
Pixies :: Where Is My Mind?
Georgie James :: Long Week
Pavement :: Rattled By the Rush
Velocity Girl :: Crazy Town
Jay Reatard :: Rotten Mind
Supergrass :: Lose It
The Magnetic Fields :: (Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy
Sparklehorse :: Almost Lost My Mind
The Clean :: Crazy
Sonic Youth :: Schizophrenia
Wilco :: Outta Mind (Outta Sight)
Prince :: Let’s Go Crazy

I understand that this is a blog based out of Salt Lake City and that there are now TWO contributors out in this mountainous snowy wonderland. But I’m from a beach and spent most of my life in fairly warm climates, so when I found out last week that I’d be stuck in my house as two feet of snow piled itself upon my panicked city…my first reaction was…”Wait…whaaaat?” My second reaction was to make this playlist which came from cherry picking tunes that showed up when I typed “winter” and “snow” into my iTunes library. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is a relatively low key mix best enjoyed with hot chocolate, at least up until “Winter Wonder Land” which seems like the signal to put the mix down and start up a snowball fight.

The Dismemberment Plan :: Spider in the Snow

Fleet Foxes :: White Winter Hymnal

Animal Collective :: Winter’s Love

Elliott Smith :: Angel in the Snow

Why? :: Eskimo Snow

Comet Gain :: Moments in the Snow

Belle & Sebastian :: The Fox in the Snow

Real Estate :: Snow Days

Iron & Wine :: Faded from the Winter

Yeasayer :: Wait for the Wintertime

Q and not U :: Snow Patterns

Atlas Sound :: Winter Vacation

The Twilight Sad :: Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters

Animal Collective :: Winter Wonder Land

Image: Flickr

Reading all of the news, emails and just about everything else revolving around SXSW has me a little sad that I once again (three times straight since I started blogging) am not able to partake in this year’s proceedings.  As always, I say to myself “Hey, maybe next year!” but for the time being I will just stew here in my chair until next week. Knowing that isn’t really productive, I figured why not make a little mix to cheer myself up?  What else can turn a frown upside down than a bunch of fun pop songs, or even for a random, lazy Sunday afternoon.  Hope this finds you in happy spirits!

MP3: A Sunny Day in Glasgow :: “Best Summer Ever”
Scribble Mural Comic Journal (2007)
MP3: Jens Lekman :: “I Don’t Know If She’s Worth 900 kr”
You Deserve Someone Better Than A Bum Like Me EP (2005)
MP3: Pants Yell! :: “Magenta and Green”
Alison Statton (2007)
MP3: Camera Obscura :: “Let’s Get Out Of This Country”
Let’s Get Out Of This Country (2006)
MP3: Heavenly :: “C Is The Heavenly Option”
Le Jardin de Heavenly (1992)
MP3: The Divine Comedy :: “Something For The Weekend”
Casanova (1997)
MP3: The Lucksmiths :: “Untidy Towns”
Happy Secret (1999)
MP3: Belle & Sebastian :: “Lazy Line Painter Jane”
Lazy Line Painter Jane EP (1997)

For many, Christmas means a time for frivolous, regrettable spending.  It’s also a time for the most important things in life like holiday-themed cereal.  This year I find myself in a precarious position where my family’s children actually expect gifts from me.  Not a big deal, except that all of them want a damn Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, or Xbox 360.  What the hell happened?  Crayons and Ninja Turtles not good enough anymore?  I never got crap like that when I was a kid.

I remember a number of years where all I would get were some underwear and socks for Christmas; something I vow never to do, as I think I would roll over and die if I saw a kid’s face after I gave them a fresh new pack of Fruit of the Looms.  Is it sad to say that I secretly want to be that cool, older relative that gives out kick-ass presents?  Because I really want to be that guy.  Even though I may have to settle for those packs of underwear this year….well, maybe spring a couple more bucks for Ninja Turtle underwear.

So yeah, Christmas mixes.  Always fun to put together, and this year is no exception.  Though, instead of the usual batch of holiday songs you happen to see every year (ex. Sufjan Stevens – he’s been done to death!), I wanted to go in a different direction.  As you can see – it’s an indiepop-themed Christmas mix!  When you think about it, could any other two entities work so well together?  I seriously doubt it.  May

If you’re still aching for more Christmas songs, my mix from last year is still up and the MP3 files are still in working order.  A majority of which you’ve probably already heard many times over.  Counting all of these together, you have approximately 30+ songs, which is just a sickening amount to be honest.  Anyways, hope enjoy all of these and happy holidays!

Download .zip file [65mb]

MP3: Rose Melberg and Gregory Webster :: “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)”
MP3: Saturday Looks Good To Me :: “Hands In The Snow”
MP3: Summer Cats :: “Plastic Christmas Trees”
MP3: Eux Autres :: “Merry Xmas Everybody”
MP3: El Perro Del Mar :: “You Can’t Steal a Gift”
MP3: Velocity Girl :: Merry Xmas, I Love You”
MP3: The Garlands :: “Christmas Song”
MP3: Celestial :: “Saving Up Her Wishes (For Another Christmas)”
MP3: Fireflies :: “X-mas Song”
MP3: The Raveonettes :: “Come On Santa”
MP3: Irene :: “Christmas on the Beach”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian :: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
MP3: Glo-Worm :: “Holiday”
MP3: The Aislers Set :: “The Snow Doesn’t Fall”
MP3: The Magnetic Fields :: “Mr. Mistletoe”

Yeah, I know, it’s not as cool as PJ’s “Happy Halloween” post. Rather than candy, on election day you get a little sticker, and rather than getting to wear costumes you get to vote for guys that wear costumes 365 days a year. But, in any case, you ought to get out there and let your opinion be known.

And, just in case you’re stuck in a long line, here are some election-based (in some way or another) tunes to stick on the old iPod:

MP3: The Submarines: “Vote”
MP3: Elbow: “Leaders of the Free World”
MP3: Death Cab for Cutie: “President of What?”
MP3: Kinky: “Presidente”
MP3: Blackalicious: “Paragraph President”
MP3: Radiohead: “Electioneering”
MP3: Sunset Rubdown: “They Took A Vote And Said No

Halloween is always a fun night to be had, regardless of whatever age you happen to be.  Though, as i’m typing this at around 2:30 am, i’m sort of befuddled as I had a couple (actually, around five or six) of trick or treaters come to my door.  I normally don’t buy candy until the actual day of Halloween, so I sorta felt terrible about telling these kiddies that I didn’t have any candy.  But who the hell goes trick or treating the day before Halloween?  If I were a kid and my parents told me to the night before, than I would be pretty pissed since I wouldn’t expect to get any sort of candy….except maybe some pity candy.

Anyways, whatever ghoulish activities you may happen to get yourselves into tonight, here’s a little themed compilation of songs to hopefully kick off this wicked holiday in the right fashion.  It’s always difficult to differentiate these Halloween mixes from year to year, but you pretty much get the gist of it from the song titles.  Hope you have an exciting and safe Halloween!

MP3: Danny Elfman :: “This Is Halloween”
MP3: Siouxsie & The Banshees :: “Halloween”
MP3: Morrissey :: “Halloween with Morrissey”
MP3: Evangelicals :: “The Halloween Song”
MP3: Burial :: “Archangel”
MP3: RJD2 :: “The Horror”
MP3: Starlight Mints :: “Seventeen Devils”
MP3: Beach House :: “Tokyo Witch”
MP3: Jeff Buckley :: “Witches’ Rave”
MP3: Of Montreal :: “Chrissy Kiss the Corpse”
MP3: Blitzen Trapper :: “Devil’s A-Go-Go”
MP3: The Fiery Furnaces :: “Cabaret Of The Seven Devils”
MP3: Architecture In Helsinki :: “Cemetary (New Buffalo Mix)”
MP3: Charlotte Gainsbourg :: “Little Monsters”
MP3: DeVotchka :: “This Place Is Haunted”
MP3: Doves :: “Lost Souls”
MP3: Explosions in the Sky :: “Welcome, Ghosts”
MP3: British Sea Power :: “No Lucifer”
MP3: Tegan & Sara :: “Walking With A Ghost”

Although we’re hardly one of the blogs out here on the interwebs that specializes in remixes, but we have our favorite DJs and we’re not afraid to post about them. So, we’re feeling extremely privileged and lucky to premiere this remixtape from Atlanta DJ Black Dominoes. (Well, I feel privileged and lucky…the guys had no idea that I had this up my sleeve.) I got an opportunity during SXSW to see him at work in the most intimate setting I encountered at the entire festival…a diminutive smoky motel room. He had to leave the festival early (which was truly sad because he’d become our de facto SXSW guide) but I watched him and Rachael (who also appears on one of the remixes featured here) tinker with the little nuances that make a mix powerful. Naive as this sounds, I hadn’t realized the level of artistry and detail that goes into a good DJ set (well…not of this variety…college radio = not the same thing.) Still, it was easy to see just from those couple of hours in the Rodeway Inn…this guy was good.

Since then, I’ve seen his remix of Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” show up everywhere from the BBC to NPR and I’ve sold the music snobs at my second job on his remix of Yeasayer’s “Sunrise.” This, however, is a little more. He’s described it as like a Hollertronix mixtape on steroids which, honestly, isn’t a bad comparison. He pulls in songs as disparate as Sergio Mendes and Santogold and can make artists Diplo and Spoon blend seamlessly. Besides, when was the last time you heard The Magnetic Fields at a DJ set? Despite all of these eclectic sources, the mix never loses focus. Try playing it for your next summer party or four. I’ve listed the full tracklist below.

MP3: Black Dominoes :: “Black Dominoes and The Light Touch”

Tracklist for Black Dominoes and The Light Touch

Intro/Boarding
Shawty Lo- Dey Know
Shawty Lo- Dey Know (Ross Hogg remix)
Natasja Saad- Calabria
Hall and Oates- Private Eyes (Black Dominoes BuffetLibre remix)
Holy Ghost- Hold On!
Sergio Mendes- Magdalenha
Fujiya and Miyagi- Collarbone
War- Me and Baby Brother
Crystal Castles vs Health- Crimewave
Santogold- L.E.S. Artistes (XXXchange remix)
Mavado- Wah Dem I Do (Biggie Nasty Girl/Wamp Wamp acapella)
Samim- Heater
Eurythmics- Sweet Dreams (Pretty Titty edit)
Dizzee Rascal- Cringeworthy (acapella)
Everyone Nose- Pharrell/N.E.R.D. (Scotty B remix)
Photek- Love And War (LA Riots remix)
DJ Tameil- Shake Yr Body Like A Tamborine/Body Bodied
Magnetic Fields- Strange Powers
Otis Redding- Shout Bamalama
Bag Raiders- Nil By Mouth (Black Dominoes refix)
Roy Ward- Horse With A Freeze
Herve- I Can Get Down
Diplo- Scrappy Chief
Spoon- Take The Fifth
Digitalism- Idealistic (A-Trak remix)
Yeasayer- Sunrise (Black Dominoes remix)
AutoKratz- Pardon Garcon
Wiley- Wearing My Rolex
Burial- Archangel
Burial- Archangel (8-Bit Boy remix)
Matt & Kim- No More Long Years (radioclit remix)
Lil Wayne- Lollipop
Surkin- White Night Two (Black Dominoes Atlanta Version)
Scotty B- Hood Nigga
The Rapture- No Sex For Ben
Vampire Weekend- Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Black Dominoes remix)
Dizzee Rascal- Fix Up Look Sharp
Grandmaster Flash- The Message (Rachael and Kellen remix)
DSL- Invaders (Busy P remix)
13th Floor Elevators- You’re Gonna Miss Me
Outro/Deplane

Well, shit. I started this mix last night and since then – everyone else beat me to their own picks and I’m not even getting the damn thing up on Valentine’s Day proper! So I’m having to adjust my contribution a little bit, (geez, Pablo!) and I also don’t want to copy last year’s picks so here we go – my way of having fun with the day that Zales and Hallmark built. Hence the a-two-year-old-could-have-made-this graphic.

Love – Building On Fire – The Talking Heads

Playground Love – Air

Eros’ Entropic Tundra – Of Montreal

Love – Simian Mobile Disco

We’ll Make a Lover of You – Les Savy Fav

Digital Love – Daft Punk

Kissability – Sonic Youth

Skinny Love – Bon Iver

Lovesong of the Buzzard – Iron & Wine

Romantic Rights – Death From Above 1979

How Will You Love Me – Nina Nastasia & Jim White

The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts – Sufjan Stevens

Girl Friend – The Modern Lovers

I Was a Lover – TV on the Radio

This Heart’s On Fire – Wolf Parade

Pieces of the People We Love – The Rapture

World Love – The Magnetic Fields

Length of Love – Interpol

Touched – My Bloody Valentine

I Love A Magician – The Dismemberment Plan

The New Romance – Pretty Girls Make Graves

Well, it’s Valentine’s Day… again. It may be a happy day of love or a crappy day of its absence, but at least we have some good tunes. These songs have two things in common- 1)the word “love” in the title, and 2) I like them… Enjoy!

“We’re Looking for a Lot of Love” – Hot Chip

“I Think I’m In Love” – Beck

“I Wanna Be Your Lover (Bob Dylan Cover)” – Yo La Tengo

“No One’s Gonna Love You” – Band Of Horses

“Lover’s Spit (Redux)” – Broken Social Scene

“Love During Wartime” – The Main Drag

“Killing For Love (Jose Gonzalez vs. Cirez D)” – Party Ben

“And Your Love (Feat. Ed Harcourt)” – Jonna Lee

“It’s Cool To Love Your Family” – Feist

“If You Find Yourself Caught In Love” – Belle and Sebastian

“Who Do You Love?” - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

“I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You (Spoolwork Remix)” – Jens Lekman

I just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays, as i’ll be going out of town for a few days. I have just a few minutes to post this Christmas mix, so i’ll keep this brief. A lot of these you might notice from last year, but i’ve gotten plenty of emails over the past few months asking to repost a lot of them. So for all of you who emailed, these are for you!

I’ve also included a few new ones that i’ve come across from this month as well. From everyone here at The Yellow Stereo, we wish you a safe and merry christmas! See you in a few days.

“Anorak Christmas (OK Ikumi Remix)” :: Sally Shapiro

“Ipod X-mas” :: Hello Saferide

“I’ll Be Home For Christmas” :: Aimee Mann

“O Little Town Of Bethlehem” :: Belle & Sebastian

“Donna And Blitzen” :: Badly Drawn Boy

“Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight)” :: Asobi Seksu

“Winter Wonderland” :: Cocteau Twins

“Christmas Cake” :: Rilo Kiley

“Oh! What A Christmas” :: El Perro Del Mar

“The Last Christmas On Earth” :: Evangelicals

“Winter Wonderland” :: Radiohead

“Spotlight On Christmas” :: Rufus Wainwright

“Christmas Reindeer” :: The Knife

“The Spirit Of Giving” :: The New Pornographers

“Fairytale Of New York” :: Stars

“Carol Of The Bells” :: The Polyphonic Spree

“Last Christmas (live)” :: Travis