61 x 25

I told her she could edit me, and she said “someone should.” Like “SOMEONE should” is how she meant it. She told me to consider a cap. She caused me to calculate an average word count for my blog posts (it’s 1476, I believe). She got me a little self-conscious.

And then she asked me to create a mix and I offered to do program notes for it. Then I thought, “but how many words is too many?” Being completely unable to cap the number of tracks in the mix – I ended up with 61 – I needed to find another way to limit the damage.

So here it is: program notes for a 61-track 6-disc mix, 25 words or less per track.

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Disc 1

Morphine – “Buena”
Mark Sandman evokes so much with two bass strings. The slow build to the grinding sax-bass bridge expertly flouts the 90s Pixies-esque soft-loud conventions.

M. Ward – “Vincent O’Brien”

Sadness has never sounded so driven, yet Ward plays off the eighth notes with lilting, halting grace, closing with a deliciously reckless solo.

Sugarcubes – “Motorcrash”
Even Einar’s part fits on this swift, tragic, yet celebratory jaunt. Bjork alternates between pleading and confident wails with ease.

My Bloody Valentine – “To Here Knows When”
Many have attempted to duplicate this combination of breathy vocals, angular harmonies, and the disconcerting feeling that your airplane is experiencing turbulence. None have succeeded.

Chris Bell – “I Am The Cosmos”

Organ and guitar weave seamlessly and with stoic determination, backed by Bell’s striving vocals in perfect sync with the wall of sound.

Okkervil River – “A Stone”

“Beaten down” is a badge of honor for Will Sheff. He sounds like a modern-day balladeer in the corner of a saloon.

Elliott Smith – “Ballad of Big Nothing”
When Smith sings “you can do what you want to, whenever you want to,” it’s like he’s hitting you with those words.

Art Brut – “Bad Weekend”
Eddie Argos hits you with basically every word. Relentless walkdowns make you feel like you’re being repeatedly run down.

New Pornographers – “It’s Only Divine Right”
Power pop lives today solely because of the beautiful arrangements that exist on New Pornographers songs. Perfect harmonies and everything’s just where it should be.

Pixies – “Hey”
Whores and babies breaking never sounded so groovy. I suppose that’s what Frank Black had in mind when he decided to apply surrealism to rock.

Disc 2

Guided by Voices – “My Valuable Hunting Knife”
It sounds like this song was played in a hunting blind late at night. A love affair with a tool never sounded so poignant.

The National – “Brainy”
For once, this guy’s overdrumming actually enhances the song, stretching the tension under Bryce Dessner’s stalker voice.

LCD Soundsystem – “All My Friends”

Perfect catharsis song. Long build, seemingly endless emotional climax, clatter to the ground.

Matthew Sweet – “Someone to Pull the Trigger”
Heartbreak and suicide work well in a wholesome country-pop crooner, don’t you think? I’m not gonna beg her for my life, either.

Bon Iver – “For Emma”
Out-of-tune Salvation Army band at 3 a.m. with freezing homeless man trying to warm himself by the fire of a burning trash can.

Beulah – “Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand”

From the tablas to the string arrangements to the horns, an epic, sprawling mess that never sounds messy.

The Octopus Project – “I Saw The Bright Shinies”
Were ingeniously harmonized theremins in every song, the world would be a more magical place. Instead, you can find the magic only here.

My Morning Jacket – “War Begun”

A world-weary-sounding Jim James lopes through a heartfelt busker paean to solidarity.

Latin Playboys – “Lemon’n'Ice”
This is simply tasty. I hope that’s all I have to say about this.

Radiohead – “All I Need”
This is the warmest Thom Yorke’s robotic stalker persona will ever sound, and yet he still frightens me.

Disc 3

Aceyalone and RJD2 – “Solomon Jones”

Not often do you have such a perfect combination of vocals and backing track in hip-hop.

Pavement – “Rattled by the Rush”
Wowee Zowee is still the best Pavement album. This halting rock rabblerouser is both undercut and saved by Stephen Malkmus’ ghoulish howls mid-solo.

Soul Coughing – “Soundtrack to Mary”
This track has a solid groove that boosts it where other songs might fail in a spectacular top-40 sort of way.

Spouse – “Relocation Tactics”

There is Maine-based indie rock worth owning. Jose Ayerve’s voice is among the most unique I’ve heard.

Tom Waits – “Downtown Train”
Rod Stewart stole this song from Tom Waits. I’m stealin’ it back. And giving it to Tom Waits.

Beck – “Hollywood Freaks”

I don’t know from special area codes or realistic tears, but I know self-aware mockery, and this is it. Beats are hot too.

The Flaming Lips – “The Sparrow Looks Up At the Machine”
The sound mirrors the title; machine-like rhythm and squeaks framing gentle nests of synth fluff. Amazing how they nailed the title.

Broken Social Scene – “Lover’s Spit”
It’s time this epic got more attention for how perfectly it matches hopeful Springsteen-esque arrangements with disgusting imagery.

Sufjan Stevens – “Casimir Pulaski Day”
The saddest song of the last ten years.

Yo La Tengo – “Pablo and Andrea”

The greatest guitar solo of all time. Period.

Disc 4

The Arcade Fire – “(Antichrist Television Blues)”
This would be a great Dire Straits album opener if it weren’t so murderous at the end. That’s the part I love.

Spoon – “My Mathematical Mind”
This song maintains a single tension line through the use of the same piano octave throughout, yet the jagged guitars somehow boost that tension.

Stars – “The Vanishing”

Abandonment after a cross-country flight never sounded so cheery.

Sonic Youth – “Shoot”
Kim Gordon takes orgasmic pleasure in vengeance against an abusive lover, then basks nicely in the afterglow.

Prince Paul – “MC Hustler”
This track backs the desperation of street life with funhouse organs that never quite resolve. Deeply disconcerting.

Basehead – “Brand New Day”
Michael Ivey was a genius ensconced in his Howard Univ. dorm room throwing together comedic gold like this.

Spoon – “Anything You Want”
A relationship short on time, long on history, encapsulated perfectly.

Daft Punk – “Teachers”
I love it when adjusting the tone knob is a major part of a song’s arrangement.

RJD2 – “2 More Dead”
This guy really knows how to weave a narrative without an MC.

Rufus Wainwright – “April Fools”
Indulging his wildest Beatles-on-Broadway fantasies, Rufus delivers a spectacular romantic pop gem.

Disc 5

Thievery Corporation feat. The Flaming Lips – “Marching the Hate Machines (into the Sun)”
Wayne Coyne knows how good a bad situation can feel, and vice versa. Here he explores this in an unearthly, dawn-of-time kind of way.

Mercury Rev – “Holes”
Spooky, space arrangements brought home by a singing saw? What could you possibly hate about this?

Handsome Boy Modeling School feat. Miho Hatori and Mike D. – “Metaphysical”

I love Mike D. as Miho’s hype man, even if he’s the only one we can hear or he gets words wrong.

M. Ward – “Post-War”
I love the B-dim-7 to G-major change (where’s that? 1:54-1:55, 4:04-4:05).

Sonic Youth – “Antenna”
I love this from the new album because it is what it is; not a postmodern puzzle but a perfect blissed-out near-ballad.

The Black Keys – “thickfreakness”
This song’s title and the song itself speak for themselves. Title nails it.

Barkmarket – “Visible Cow”
This song plays on both common slide blues and techno motifs in its brief three minutes. I’m telling you, these guys were geniuses.

M. Ward – “Requiem”
Whereas “Post-War” sounds like it should be happy but is melancholy, this is the most rousing song about a dead guy ever.

The Spinanes – “Reach V. Speed”
Sam Prekop and Rebecca Gates thrust and parry expertly over a background of sprawling guitars.

M. Ward – “Today’s Undertaking”

In under two-and-a-half minutes, Ward goes from flamenco guitars to symphonic heights.

Sonic Youth – “Sympathy for the Strawberry”
I could listen to this prog-post-rock and its furtive are-we-sure-we-want-these-in-here organs all day.

Disc 6

Yo La Tengo – “Our Way to Fall”

Awkward snowbound lovers sing this song to each other.

Wilco – “Summer Teeth”
This song hits all the right pop notes in particularly stunning fashion.

Sparklehorse – “Gold Day”
Mournful French horns, even if mellotron-generated, should end many many more songs.

The Middle East – “Lonely”

As an overall song, it loses momentum frequently, but the emotional climax is everything this kind of catharsis should be. And much much more. Gorgeous.

Yo La Tengo – “I Heard You Looking”
After finally watching Ira Kaplan flop like a Muppet all over stage, it is fun to imagine him recording this noisy cadenza.

Sonic Youth – “Cross the Breeze”
Moore and Ranaldo were – are – fantastic guitar players. Please witness and say hallelujah.

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper – “Comet Flies Over the Underbelly”
Aly Spaltro sings like a broken angel about food and love. Yes, it’s delicious.

Sonic Youth – “Shadow of a Doubt”
Kim wants you to have nightmares. Please put this on repeat and watch the goosebumps crawl all over your flesh.

Spoon – “Finer Feelings”
Britt Daniel offers respite here, and yet I’m sure no matter how catchy his hooks, he will likely never find love in commercial appeal.

Pixies – “Gouge Away”
The Pixies are as deserving as anyone of having the final say. They still scare me.

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iTunes cooperated this evening by making this mix much more difficult to complete than it should have been. Thanks for the old-school nod, Apple.

I sincerely hope to have an update shortly from my editor on how this cap sat with her.

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Speaking of mixtapes, I think the Portland group would be wisely put together around the same concept as the San Francisco Mixtape Society mentioned in Annie’s Tuesday post. I am fascinated by the idea that friends still do this for each other. Honestly, it helps round out my savant-ish tendencies when I can offer a musical greeting rather than trying to, you know, be me. Maybe people would come back for a second meeting…?