Theme Mixes

One of the things I enjoy doing is creating mix C Ds on a theme. "Christmas Music I Can Stand To Listen To", "Spring Is Here", "Songs I Want Played at My Funeral", that sort of thing. And sometimes, I just like reading other people's track lists to see what they come up with.

So this thread is for posting track lists of mixes you've put together on a theme, discussion of mixes that have been posted, and theme requests you'd like someone to make a track list for.

...And I'm being called away for the day, so I'll post my "Lights in the Sky" list when I get home!

"It's Midnight, And The Raindrops On Your Window Reflect The Lamplight"

A 20-track playlist in two parts. Both on Grooveshark, both unfortunately one track short.

Part 1

• Her Name Is Calla - Moss Giant
• Emeralds - Double Helix
• DM Stith - Braid Of Voices
• Sigur Ros - Svefn-g-englar
• Olan Mill - The Prescribed Individual
• Le Loup - To The Stars! To The Night!
• Stars Of The Lid - Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage
• Emphemetry - Isaac's Dream Of Tired Streets
• Pantha Du Prince - Im Bann
• Jóhann Jóhannsson - How We Left Fordlândia

Part 2

• Tim Hecker - The Piano Drop
• Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life
• Oneohtrix Point Never - Stress Waves
• Four Tet - Sing
• Bas Van Huizen - Plooibaars
• Mark McGuire - The Vast Structure Of Recollection
• Hammock - Mono No Aware
• Grouper - Alien Observer
• Fuck Buttons - Flight Of The Feathered Serpent
• Mogwai - Music For A Forgotten Future (The Singing Mountain)

edited 29th Apr '11 12:04:02 PM by Saeglopur

Listen to Music with Tropers at The Troper Turntable!

At some point, I want to make a mix CD of songs all about the subject of time, but I haven't found enough that I want to use.

As it is, I did make a mix disc entirely of versions of the song Can't Seem to Make You Mine by the Seeds. As done by:

1. The Seeds (original version)
2. The Ramones
3. Alex Chilton
4. Murder City Devils
5. The Seeds (live version)
6. Johnny Thunders
7. Perfect Daze
8. Sky Saxon
9. Garbage
10. Color Slides
11. Yo La Tengo

For no reason other than I really like that song.

no one will notice that I changed this

The Morning After the World's Last Night: Back in 2006, some dude asked for a mix in which "The last surviving human pokes through humanity's detritus and wonders where it all went wrong", so this is what I made. I could provide a zip file if anyone wanted to give it a listen. (EDIT: Here it is.)

1. "Goodbye, Goodnight" by Jars Of Clay
2. "Hello, Mannequin" by Joy Electric
3. "Sundown" by Starflyer 59
4. "A Song for Christine" by Anathallo
5. "Snow Motion" by Sky High
6. "Ceviche" by the Absynth Quintet
7. "Minas de Cobre (Acoustic Version)" by Calexico
8. "Worst Days (Live)" by Havalina
9. "My Russia (Standing on Hands)" by Woven Hand
10. "The Attic" by Fair
11. "Year of the Dragon" by Sufjan Stevens
12. "Burn It Down!" by Jonezetta
13. "Get Your Riot Gear" by Five Iron Frenzy
14. "Hollywood (Is Burning Down)" by Calibretto 13
15. "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" by Dimmu Borgir
16. "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash
17. "The World's Last Night" by The Dingees
18. "Rising Tide (excerpt)" by William Grant Still

edited 4th May '11 7:46:50 PM by MetaFour

My Holiday Season 2010 Mix CD... Lights In the Sky

1. Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In—The 5th Dimension
2. New Morning Sun 436—S. Whitt Denson
3. Strawberry Sunrise—Robot Monster Weekend
4. Sunshine In the Mountain—The Carter Family
5. Blue Blast-Winning the Rainbow—The Black Mages
6. Epsilon Eridani—Jon O'Bergh
7. Fireworks—Nicholas Hooper
8. Flaming Star—Elvis Presley
9. The Glow-Worm—Spike Jones
10. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity—Gustav Holst
11. Looking at a Rainbow Through a Dirty Window—Calum Stewart
12. Pegasus Fantasy—Yoko Ishida
13. Somewhere Over the Rainbow—Manfred Krug
14. Spanish Stars—America's Musical Heritage
15. Star Bells: Bells of Contention—Tin-Shi Tam
16. Violet Stars Happy Hunting!—Janelle Monae
17. Twilight Sun—Leaves' Eyes
18. The Rising of the Moon—The Clancy Brothers
19. Waltz from Another World—Ruth Barnes
20. Halo 'Round the Moon—Steve Earle
21. Mr. Moonlight—Various Artists
22. Sailor Moon—Osaka Popstar
23. Waltz for the Moon—Final Fantasy Eight Soundtrack
24. Wintermoon—Lau
25. Beanie Lullaby (Hearts in Starlight)—Various Artists

Anyone need liner notes?

edited 29th Apr '11 9:03:53 PM by SKJAM

This is a mix I made a long time ago with songs about space travel (and outer space in general). I'm grabbing the tracklist from my artofthemix.org account, but instead of just linking to it, I'll post the tracks here too.

Launching Ashlee Simpson Into Space

The Langley Schools Music Project - Space Oddity
Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine
Babylon Zoo - Spaceman
William Shatner - Rocket Man
Seksu Roba - Telstar
David Bowie - I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship
The Pixies - Planet Of Sound
They Might Be Giants - Destination Moon
Weezer Blast Off
I Mother Earth - One More Astronaut
The Police - Walking On The Moon
Cracker - I'm A Little Rocket Ship
Modest Mouse - Space Travel Is Boring
Failure - Another Space Song
Air - Surfing On A Rocket
XTC - Another Satellite
Moxy Fruvous - Laika
The Flaming Lips - They Punctured My Yolk
B.C. Sterrett with Janae Olson - Somewhere In Space

Sort of amusing story about the title: When I originally burned this I was running out of cd-rs, so I ended up using one that was blank, yet for some reason was already labeled "Ashlee Simpson" in my sister's handwriting. So I amended that to "Launching Ashlee Simpson Into Space".

Wait, that theme sounds familiar... Are / were you on the Truth And Beauty Bombs message board?

edited 29th Apr '11 10:53:08 PM by MikeK

Yes, indeed. Tom Meade / inseutculnaime was the guy who gave me the prompt to make that mix.

And here's another one he inspired me to make: "A postmodern interpretation of Homer's Odyssey". 2007.

Disc 1 (here)

1. The Johnny Richards Orchestra — "Ofu"
2. Danielson — "Two Sitting Ducks"
3. The Deluxtone Rockets — "2000 Miles"''
4. Muse — "Starlight"
5. Demon Hunter — "Through the Black"
6. Starflyer 59 — "Wherever You Go (First Space Song)"
7. Aireline — "Traveling Through Dangerous Scenery"
8. Havalina — "Bullfighter"
9. Switchfoot — "Edge of My Seat"
10. Joy Electric — "Misfortune's Apprentice"
11. Brave Saint Saturn — "Titan"
12. Newsboys — "It's All Who You Know"
13. Woven Hand — "Swedish Purse"
14. Sufjan Stevens — "In the Devil's Territory"
15. John Hartford — "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow"
16. Anathallo — "Genessaret (Going Out Over 30000 Fathoms)"
17. Mae — "Someone Else's Arms"
18. Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass — "Love Potion #9"
19. Joy Electric — "The White Songbook"

Disc 2 (here)

1. Lightning Splits the Bark — "He's a-Comin'"
2. Plankeye — "This Is"
3. The Brothers Martin — "The Plot that Weaves"
4. Shapes and Sizes — "Wilderness (Davide Loi Remix)"
5. The W's — "Where Should I Go"
6. mewithoutYou — "Gentlemen"
7. Mute Math — "Reset"
8. Starflyer 59 — "She's the Queen"
9. Polarboy — "One Bad Date"
10. Coconut Monkeyrocket — "Shopping for Explosives"
11. delirious? — "Metamorphis"
12. Pilotdrift — "Elephant Island"
13. Jars of Clay — "The Edge of Water"
14. Blindside — "Road"
15. Starflyer 59 — "Unbelievers"
16. Joy Electric — "Ministry of Archers"
17. Showbread — "Dead by Dawn"
18. Mariachi Champana Nevin — "Czardas"
19. Kevin Max — "Return of the Singer"

edited 5th May '11 4:55:08 PM by MetaFour

yesplz

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

Uploading at the moment. Will post link as soon as it's finished.

TMATWLN

edited 4th May '11 7:42:23 PM by MetaFour

Yet more themed mixes. This particular series is my favorite: my personal soundtrack for Gunnerkrigg Court.

Book 1 (here)

1. My Brightest Diamond — "Something of an End"
2. MAP — "Rachel Dreams"
3. Sufjan Stevens — "Year of the Dog"
4. Furthermore — "Being a Ghost Isn't That Great"
5. Joy Electric — "Parlor Inventor"
6. Chasing Furies — "Thicker"
7. Woven Hand — "Dirty Blue"
8. Calibretto — "Don't Go in the Woods"
9. Havalina Rail Co — "Rivers of Russia"
10. The Absynth Quintet — "Green Fairy (Live)"
11. The Dingees — "Could Be Worse (Dub Mix)"
12. runforyerlife — "adoline"
13. Joker — "Before the Storm"
14. Over the Rhine — "Jacksie"
15. Jaga Jazzist — "Plym"
16. Havalina Rail Co — "Changes and Forms"
17. Muse — "Invincible"

Book 2 (here)

1. Gileah — "The Golden Planes"
2. Sufjan Stevens — "The Black Hawk War..."
3. Flogging Molly — "Within a Mile of Home"
4. Joy Electric — "Wolf in the Bend (Sheltershed Remix)"
5. Universal Hall Pass — "Ring of Fire"
6. Scouts of St. Sebastian — "The Order of Things"
7. Starflyer 59 — "Concentrate"
8. makeShift:shelter — "Seek Better Counsel"
9. Xera — "Valdescabres"
10. Calexico — "Attack, el Robot! Attack!"
11. John Reuben — "Curiosity"
12. Starflyer 59 — "Dual Overhead Cam (Live)"
13. Xera — "Inda"
14. Woven Hand — "Kicking Bird"
15. entertainment for the braindead — "colours"
16. Moosefrog — "Strange tree"
17. Sufjan Stevens — "Majesty, Snowbird (Live)"
18. Gileah & the Ghost Train — "The Light Princess"

Book 3 (here)

1. Joy Electric — "Starcadia"
2. The Church — "Under the Milky Way"
3. D Fast — "The idea behind a creation"
4. Calexico — "Two Silver Trees"
5. Gipsy Kings — "Bolerias"
6. Les gosses de la rue — "Le fils du facteur"
7. Doug Burr — "In the Garden"
8. DJ Technorch — "Machine's Scream"
9. A Hawk and a Hacksaw — "A Black and White Rainbow"
10. Korpiklaani — "Running with Wolves"
11. Entertainment for the Braindead — "Roadkill"
12. Elizabeth & the Catapult — "Hit the Wall"
13. Calexico — "Black Heart"
14. Pretty Lights — "Future Blind"
15. Jaga Jazzist — "I have a ghost, now what?"
16. Bond — "Duel"
17. Anathallo — "The River"

I found an old DJ setlist of mine. Some of these are rather hard to find, though. This isn't a playlist per se, since songs to be mixed together and such, where applicable I'll note what I used if I can remember.

• The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band Reprise (drums, slowed down, iirc)
• Teen Titans Original Soundtrack - Terra's Theme
• The Fiery Furnaces - Birdie Brain (synthesizer)
• Panzer Dragoon Orta Soundtrack - "Fallen Ground" theme
• The Winstons - Amen Brother! (take a random guess)
• El Producto featuring Aesop Rock, Ill Bill of Nonphixion and DJ Abilities - The Delorean (a capella)
• Vast Aire - Seven Lashes
• Aesop Rock - Shere Khan ("reverse the curse til my fellow lost children disperse")
• Raymond Scott - Mellonball Bounce (synthesizer)
• ???? - New Orleans Style (some jazz ensemble recording. I think I used the horns)
• Mega Ran - Robot City (Extended Version featuring Jesse Dangerously & Ytcracker)

aaand the piece of paper this is written on is torn here.

So I don't know where the rest is.

edited 7th May '11 1:05:24 PM by SpainSun

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

This is based on a mix I made with the suggested theme of "technically adept songs being performed by technically less adept artists". It's not an exact replication of that track list, because there were things I couldn't find and other things I added to make up for that. Kind of a subjective theme, but I basically went for covers that are sloppier, more minimalist, or just weirder than the originals.

Wanna Run Through That One Again?

• Dokaka - Smells Like Teen Spirit
• The Slits - I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
• Mudhoney - Editions Of You
• Anal Cunt - Staying Alive
• The Minutemen - Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
• The Replacements - Mr. Whirly *
  ^{Yeah, I'm counting this as a Beatles cover}
• Pavement - 5-4=Unity *
  ^{Yeah, I'm counting this as a David Brubeck cover}
• Yo La Tengo - Roundabout
• The Raincoats - Lola
• Half Japanese - Movin' On Up
• The Flaming Lips - Communication Breakdown
• The Germs - Round And Round
• Sebadoh - Pink Moon
• The Langely Schools Music Project - Band On The Run
• The Sex Pistols - My Way

edited 7th May '11 4:27:19 PM by MikeK

Oh yeah, I ended up making a grooveshark mix of songs that came out in 1994, which turned out to have 28 damn songs on it. Maybe when I'm less lazy I'll actually put the track list here.

Here's the mix I sent out as presents this Christmas...

MIGHTY WATERS

1. The Calm Waterside—Blue Dragon Piano
2. Breathing Underwater—Jenessy
3. The Sunleth Waterscape—Final Fantasy XIII
4. Cool Water—Johnny Cash
5. The Song of the High Seas—Robert Russell Bennett
6. Lonesome Water—Joe Bethancourt
7. Underwater—Mary's Danish
8. Wade in the Water—The Harmonizing Four
9. Harbour—Chris Christian
10. Water Shows the Hidden Heart—Enya
11. Boats Up the River—Old Sledge
12. Caura River—Anand Yankaran
13. Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea—Various Artists
14. Moon River—Dave Koz
15. River Crossing—Carter Burwell
16. The Color of Rain—William Brittelle
17. River Flows—Iona
18. River of Life Feelgood Remix—Marcome
19. Bridge Over Troubled Waters—Le Ann Rimes

I made a couple things that fit this category since this came back from the dead. The first was an attempt at a "kid friendly" mix for a friend who recently had a baby. The second was inspired by the Covered Up page.

The World Is Made Of Energy

1. Songs To Wear Pants To – Wake Up
2. Me First & The Gimme Gimmes – The Rainbow Connection
3. Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – I’m A Little Airplane
4. Weezer – All My Friends Are Insects
5. The Apples In Stereo – Energy
6. Cake – Mahna Mahna
7. They Might Be Giants – Clap Your Hands
8. Billy Bragg & Wilco – Hoodoo Voodoo
9. Ween – Loop De Loop
10. Georgia And August Greenberg – Georgia Sings Yes
11. Beck – Funky Lil’ Song
12. Space Balloons – Grapes
13. Charles Spearin – Vittoria
14. Belle And Sebastian – The Monkeys Are Breaking Out The Zoo
15. Brak – I Love You Baby
16. The Irish Rovers – The Unicorn Song
17. The Terrible Twos – Amelia Minor
18. The Beach Boys – Vegetables
19. Julia Nunes – Pizza
20. The Free Design – Kites Are Fun
21. Andrew Bird – Bein’ Green
22. Syd Barrett – Effervescing Elephant
Lullaby Suite:
23. Ben Folds - Golden Slumbers
24. Mark Kozelek - Bedtime Lullaby
25. The Terrible Twos - Whispering The Melody
26. Dean & Britta - Making Me Smile
27. Cornelius - Sleep Warm
28. Tom Waits - Bend Down The Branches
29. The Beatles - Good Night

Uncovered

1. The Nerves - Hangin' On The Telephone
2. Paul Pena - Jet Airliner
3. Bruce Springsteen - Blinded By The Light
4. Gloria Jones - Tainted Love
5. Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog
6. Ednaswap - Torn
7. Tom Waits - Downtown Train
8. Badfinger - Without You
9. The Natural History - Don't You Ever
10. Robert Hazard - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun *

11. Platinum Blonde - Not In Love
12. The Knife - Heartbeats
13. Iggy Pop - China Girl
14. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World
15. Dionne Warwick - (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me
16. Bob Dylan - All Along The Watchtower
17. Indio - Hard Sun
18. The Lover Speaks - No More "I Love You"s
19. Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
20. Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You

edited 1st Jun '12 12:03:53 PM by MikeK

I've been acting as central mailer for a mix exchange, and decided to do a tribute to Ray Bradbury.

MARS WEEPS: A RAY BRADBURY TRIBUTE

1. . At Sunrise—The Themes
   • Opening with a natural scene.
2. . Pure Imagination—Gene Wilder
   • Welcome to the candy factory of fantasy writing. Bright colors, tempting flavors; but there are dangers too, and lessons to be learned.
3. . Ahmran (Song of the Winds)—Leaves' Eyes
   • Mostly here because it's pretty.
4. . Rocket Boogie—Pete Johnson
   • "R Is For Rocket".
5. . Ascent—Richard Shindell
   • Sometimes what happens to the protagonists just doesn't make sense to them.
6. . Teenagers From Mars—The Nutley Brass
   • "And staring back at them, they saw the Martians."
7. . Blood Like Lemonade—Morcheeba
   • Some of Bradbury's stories get a little gruesome.
8. 8. Carnival—Tempest
   • Not quite as disturbing as Mr. Dark's carnival in "Something Wicked This Way Comes" but twisted nonetheless.
9. . The World Has Gone Insane—Anthony Warlow
   • How Guy Montag feels about two-thirds of the way into "Fahrenheit 451."
10. . Time's Scar—Yasunori Mitsuda
    • The theme of a game about divergent timelines for "A Sound of Thunder."
11. . Under the Blasted Oak—George Formby
    • Ray Bradbury had a sense of humor too.
12. . Creeping Misterioso—Lan Adomian
    • Lurking horror.
13. . Smallville Pastorale—Rudy Schrager
    • Bradbury's beloved smalltown setting, Green Town.
14. . Dr. Frankenstein—Jack Savoretti
    • Is technological progress for its own sake the best use of humanity's time?
15. . Fiesta en el Camino—A New Andean Era
    • Another pretty piece for happier stories.
16. . No One Takes the Train Anymore—Holly Dunn
    • "I sometimes think drivers don't know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly."
17. . Fire In the Sky—Kristoph Klover
    • Space has its own poetry.
18. . A Mushroom Cloud—Sammy Salvo
    • The Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation had their echoes in Bradbury's work, such as "There Will Come Soft Rains."
19. . The Golden Rocket—Hank Snow
    • Bradbury's protagonists often have difficult relationships with their wives or loved ones.
20. . Lonesome Water—Joe Bethancourt
    • Pastoral fantasy...but there's a bite even there.
21. . Here Comes the Sun—Charlie Dore
    • "All of Summer In a Day."
22. . Key of the Twilight—See-Saw
    • I keep returning to these stories.
23. . The Parting Glass—Liam Clancy
    • And a beautiful song of farewell to an old friend.

The other four mixes were:

• Folk Songs for Yuppies
• A Story of Unfulfilled Hopes and Dreams
• Writing Music
• Traveling.

I guess this would be more of a "vibe mix" than a "theme mix". I put together this languid, kind of trippy mix that's meant to be listened to on really hot, lazy summer days. It's called The Humid Press Of Days and it's named after a Camper Van Beethoven song that's not actually on the mix itself:

Boards Of Canada – Dayvan Cowboy
The Jesus And Mary Chain – Just Like Honey
Beck – Hollow Log
Pavement – Newark Wilder
Big Star – Kanga-roo
Pelican – Ataxia
Syd Barrett – Terrapin
Quetzalcoatlus – If I Had Ideas
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Sun Lips
Sven Libek And His Orchestra – Misty Canyon
Neon Indian – If I Knew, I’d Tell You
Lida Husik - Persinthia Lawdro & John
Prefuse 73 – Pentagram
The Smashing Pumpkins – Suffer
Janes Addiction – Summertime Rolls
Sonic Youth – Cotton Crown
Camper Van Beethoven – June
Red Red Meat – There’s Always Tomorrow
The Flaming Lips – Sleeping On The Roof

This is what I will be listening to when the fireworks start tonight, as an alternative to hearing Katy Perry again - I actually looked up how long the Boston firework display is scheduled for and tried to get a playlist of about that length:

1. The Stars And Stripes Forever - Jean-Jacques Perrey & Dana Countryman
2. America, Fuck Yeah - Team America World Police soundtrack
3. Young Americans - David Bowie
4. American Music - Violent Femmes
5. Lake Of Fire - Meat Puppets
6. Fourth Of July - Soundgarden
7. The Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix

I wish I could find this version of "Stars And Stripes Forever" on youtube to demonstrate how deliberately goofy it is - there's gratuitous animal sound effects, mocking laughter in time with part of the music, and the overall effect is that it sounds like it should be scoring a wacky Yakety Sax-esque chase scene.

edited 4th Jul '12 8:28:43 AM by MikeK