Favorite Mixes (or “Playlists”, but I refuse to call them that!)

   I was working out the other day and listening to some of my favorite mixes on my iPod and thought that I should share them on the blog (I also wrote about them once before on Facebook. Music is a favorite subject of mine!). I LOVE discovering new music, so I thought it was a good opportunity to put some songs out there that people might not be familiar with or may have forgotten about over the years. Apparently, I title my mixes on one of three things: 1) the person’s name who gave me the mix 2) the time period when I made the mix or 3) the name of where I worked at the time the mix was made. I’m not sure why, I guess it’s the only way for me to organize them in my head.

Anyhow, without further ado, the mixes (in no particular order)…

1. Chicks-Russ’s Mix: This is a mix that a friend and former coworker of mine created for me in college. He was an excellent piano player and I sang, so we used to kill time in between classes by going into one of the music rooms at the university and jamming. At the time, I mostly listened to male singer/songwriters and I didn’t have any female singers in my song repertoire. In an effort to make me become more familiar with some female artists, he made me a mix of what he considered to be “chick songs.” After all of these years, I still love this mix! I think the music is excellent (although I must admit, I usually skip #3 and #9) and it reminds me of fun early college memories.

1. Can’t Be Sure-The Sundays

2. Carmella-Beth Orton

3. Mother Heroic-Bjork

4. Hideous Towns-The Sundays

5. Half Acre-Hem

6. Never Do That Again-Ivy

7. Nothing Sweet-The Sundays

8. Stay-Lisa Loeb

9. Smoke-Natalie Imbruglia

10. She-The Sundays

11. Spinning-The Innocence Mission

12. Destiny-Zero 7

2. Husband’s Mix: This mix was in heavy rotation when I first met my husband. He had it on almost every time I got into his car. It reminds me of that first crazy summer together.

1. This Bouquet-Ani DiFranco

2. Chan Chan-Buena Vista Social Club

3. Pitseleh-Elliot Smith

4. Needle in the Hay-Elliot Smith

5. Revelator-Gillian Welch

6. Midnight Radio-from Hedwig and the Angry Inch

7. Could You Be the One-Husker Du

8. Ce Charmant Coeur-Julie Doiron

9. Failure-Kings of Convenience

10. Bonnie and Clyde-Serge Gainsbourg duet with Brigitte Bardot

11. Lost in Space-Luna

12. Blown a Wish-My Bloody Valentine

13. Hey Oh! Let’s Go!-The Ramones

14. Cold Blooded Old Times-Smog

15. Entire-The Spinanes

16. Brakhage-Stereolab

17. I’ll Be Your Mirror-Velvet Underground

18. Island in the Sun-Weezer

19. Say It Ain’t So-Weezer

20. Speeding Motorcycle-Daniel Johnston

3. June 2003 Mix: More fun college times that involved a lot of “Reservoir Dogs” and John Cusack marathons.

1. Wrong Way-Sublime

2. Stuck in the Middle-Stealers Wheel

3. I Gotcha-Joe Tex

4. Fool in the Rain-Led Zeppelin

5. It’s Your Thing-The Isley Brothers

6. Kid Things-Counting Crows

7. You Rock My World-Michael Jackson

8. Lime in the Coconut-Harry Nilsson

9. Losing Lisa-Ben Folds

10. Last Goodbye-Jeff Buckley

11. If You Could Only See-Tonic

12. Bittersweet Symphony-The Verve

13. Come Pick Me Up-Ryan Adams

14. When the Stars Go Blue-Ryan Adams

15. When the Stars Go Blue-Ryan Adams cover by Bono and The Corrs

16. Jolene-Dolly Parton cover by Mindy Smith

4. Orlans Mix: I used to swap iPods with some of my friends at one of my jobs, so this ended up being a little bit of a mix of everything from the various iPods I borrowed. I also threw some of my old favorites.

1. My Moon My Man-Feist

2. I Feel It All-Feist

3. Sunrise-Norah Jones

4. I Miss You-Incubus

5. Shiver-Coldplay

6. Mr. Blue Sky-Electric Light Orchestra

7. Who Needs You-Queen

8. Sweet Nadine-The Arc Angels

9. Alison-Elvis Costello

10. Amber-311

11. Take a Picture-Filter

12. Everything You Want-Vertical Horizon

13. Love Song-311

14. I’m So Sick-Flyleaf

5. Winter 2011 Mix: A few recommendations from my brother.

1. Lovely and Blue-Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

2. England-The National (words can’t describe how much I LOVE this song)

3. Slippery-Vetiver

4. Brainy-The National

5. Cemetery Hill-Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

6. More of This-Vetiver

7. I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman-k-os

6. High School Mix: A compilation of various mixes from high school.

1. Kiss Me-Sixpence None the Richer

2. Ooh La La-Rod Stewart

3. In Your Eyes-Peter Gabriel

4. Angel Eyes-The Jeff Healey Band

5. Hanging By A Moment-Lifehouse

6. Mellow Yellow-Donovan

7. Magic Carpet Ride-Steppenwolf

8. D-yer Maker- Led Zeppelin

9. It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over-Lenny Kravitz

10. She Talks to Angels-The Black Crowes

11. You Spin Me Right Round (Like A Record)-Dead or Alive

12. Build Me Up Buttercup-The Foundations

13. Joker-Stever Miller Band

14. Classical Gas-Mason Williams

The list could be so much longer but I think that’s it for now. Hopefully you’ll discover something new that you will love!