this mix is the standard new stuff that i love/old stuff that fits the mood.
Title:Snow Day
1. Teenage Dream (Katy perry cover)~Rescues
-i first heard this cover on a YouTube video and fell in love instantly. i wont deny my love for KP, and a four part harmony gets me every time.
2. Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover)~Allison Crowe
-i wanted to real quick double check some counting crows lyrics a few weeks ago, and when i googled them, this video was the first thing that popped up. another instance of wanting everything i could find by her immediately after the first note. This song is an emotional one to begin with (how many of you tear up when you hear it? i know i do. every time.) but her voice adds complexity and emotion to it that i hadn't heard before.
3. Trying my best to love you~Jenny Lewis
-so the thing about jenny Lewis is that she can pretty much do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. lately, in one form or another (rilo kiley, solo work, or jenny & johnny), she has made an appearance on every mix I've made. its just a matter of picking the right song. this mix has an overall theme of sadness, and i thought this song embodied that.
4. Here comes a regular~the replacements
-so i know that i suck for not paying any attention to this band before this month. i don't know what i was thinking. and if it weren't for "one tree hill" they probably still wouldn't even be on my radar. also, holy shit this is a depressing song. so good, but so depressing.
5. A lack of color~Death cab for cutie
-i love this song. i love this album. its one of my top ten favorite albums of all time, ever. this song's sadness seemed to fit the mood of this mix. "i call at 7:03/and on your machine/i slur a plea for you to come home/but i know that its too late/i should have given you a reason to stay" hearing Ben belt those lyrics gets me right in my core.
6.When snow starts to fall~the never
-i saw the never a few years back on tour with manchester orchestra, dead confederate and annuals. i liked what i heard enough to come home and look them up. a song about snowfall seemed fitting for a mix about the snow. "when the snow starts to fall/I'm gonna play in it/stop everything and lay in it."
7. Boyfriend~best coast
-um, all i have to say about best coast is why the hell didn't i pay attention to the buzz when i first heard it? better late than never, i guess.
8. Flume~Bon Iver
-how could i not include Justin Vernon? i hold the belief that Bon Iver is the epitome of winter. sad, depressing, cold and alone. also, he lived in a cabin in the woods all alone when he wrote this.
9. Snow is falling~Darker my love
-Target kind of rules a little bit. you know all of those catchy-as-hell Christmas tunes they use in their commericals? welp, they decided that in the spirit of the season, they'd offer them all up as a free download. pretty cool, Target. pretty cool.
10. Omaha (live)~Counting Crows
-i have been in love with this band and this song since i was 14. wow. i just googled it, and Ive been wrong all these years...i was 13 when that CD came out. damn. anyway, this song has always stuck with me, especially the lines "get right to the heart of matters/its the heart that matters more."
11. Turn on me~the shins
-i have been on a huge james mercer kick this year, but broken bells was far too upbeat for this mix, so i went with the shins. i keep my cellphone on vibrate most of the time, but when its actually turned up, "turn on me" is my ringtone. that is commitment right there.
12. Brick by boring brick (acoustic)~paramore
-i spent a while thinking it was wrong of me to like paramore, because indie kids don't do that kind of thing, but then i realized fuck that. i like who i like. i still hate paramore live because i really don't think Haley can hold a note on her own, but i find the lyrics catchy enough that i still bob along, and i really like her studio-produced sound.
13. This time of year~better than ezra
-this is a song more about fall than about winter, but the idea of a certain time of year always takes me right to Christmas, regardless of what time of year is actually being referenced. better than ezra is another band that has stuck around for a really long time, though their impact on me wasn't as strong as the counting crows, i definitely haven't forgotten about them, either.
14. Boxer~the gaslight anthem
-i am from jersey, so there is a specific sound that i grew up having drilled into my brain. you probably know it. its the Bruce Springsteen idea of rock and roll. its why i like the hold steady, and because the gaslight anthem are from jersey themselves, its why i doubly like them. this is an acoustic track of the song from their latest effort "American slang."
15. Splitting up Christmas~Kevin Devine
-i just cant say enough good things about Kevin devine. i adore him. this song makes me super sad, but since that's what we are going for here, it really works. "and at some point ill call you/and tell you i miss you/and that you are the point of my day"
16. Mushaboom~Feist
-last winter was brutal. we had a lot of snow. i had to drive in it a lot for work, and i freaked out. a lot. get the idea? this song single-handedly kept me sane on those excruciatingly long drives back and forth to work in snow that was taller than my car. id just keep hitting repeat and imagine that i was living the life she sings about in this song, and not the one that forced me to drive in that snow to get to a thankless job. this is a bright spot in a mostly depressing mix.
17. Holding down the laughter~Bad Books
-when i heard the news that Manchester Orchestra and Kevin Devine were going to collaborate on a project, i couldn't contain my excitement. I've seen these guys tour together often and they always play together, so i figured this would be awesome. i had such high expectations for this disk that when i finally did hear it, i was disappointed in how mediocre it was. its been out for a few months now and i feel like I'm settling into a comfortable relationship with this disk. this song is one of my favorites from the effort.
18. Faded from the winter~Iron & wine
-typically Iron & wine is a summer band for me, but this song is much more of a winter jam. i guess that makes sense, since its got winter in the title.
if i have to drive in the dumb snow, at least ill have some good music to guide me.
