My buddy Rich has gotten me into the habit of making mix CDs at the end of the year. He explains how he does it here, and he gets as many friends as he can to join in. He used to do two CDs – one of music that came out in the year in question and one of music that he found in that year, but so many of us are too lazy to do that (or don’t have enough music to do that) that he seems to have given up on that and now just says to pick songs that “mean” the year in question to you.
I’ve collected about 30 songs that were new to me in 2006, and am now fiddling with their order on the mix CD (I’m going to burn 2 audio CDs for those who insist on that format; everyone else gets a CD with MP3s and a playlist on it).
Here’s the playlist, with notes on each song. Yay.
- Peaches: – Fuck or Kill: This 49 sec shorter is a great start off. I’m thinking of titling the mix “2006: Explicit Content” or something because 1) so much happened this year that made me swear a lot and 2) I am including several songs with naughty words. The gist of this piece is that Peaches would rather fuck who she wants than kill who she’s told to, and if you don’t like that you should impeach her Bush. Hee.
- Thorn Coyle – Present: This is another political protest song, but with a more gentle bent. I’m studying with Thorn at the moment and really admire her a lot.
- Ani DiFranco – Paradigm: I finally got off my ass and bought a CD by Ani this year (“Knuckle Down”) and this is my favorite song off it. I love how hopeful it is for Democracy.
- Rose Berlin – Coraline: This beautiful, eerie song is from the collection Where’s Neil When You Need Him? which is full of songs inspired by Neil Gaiman’s work. This is based on his young adult book Coraline, which is about a girl whose parents ignore her. She finds a door into a mirror world where there is Other Mother, a woman who looks a lot like her mother and says she is her mother… but Other Mother is very, very scary. Coraline has to figure out what to do.
- Hungry Lucy – We Won’t Go: Another from “Where’s Neil When You Need Him?” This is based on The Wolves in the Walls, a children’s book.
- Patti Smith – Dancing Barefoot: Finally got a Patti Smith album this year too (“Land”) and love it. I am pretty sure I’d heard this song before but this is the first time I’d owned a copy of it.
- Emerald Rose – Fire in the Head: Emerald Rose rocks. Pagan folk-rock, lots of fun, heavy Celtic inspiration. Yay. I was so pleased to find them on Emusic! (a lot of the music in this year’s mix is from Emusic. What can I say, I’m cheap but honest.)
- Here are the Facts you Requested – Lush: HATFYR is the band of one of my coworkers. It’s weird, weird music, and I dig it. I think this is my favorite song of the ones of theirs I have.
- That Handsome Devil – Elephant Bones: A song from Guitar Hero II, which is trying to destroy my will to live. Not the song – I like the song. The game is trying to kill me.
- Matisyahu – Chop ’em Down: Jewish Reggae. Enough said.
- Gogol Bordello – Start Wearing Purple: This is weird stuff, and I love it. It was recommended to me by a friend who knows I love Red Elvises.
- The White Stripes – My Doorbell: Finally got some White Stripes this year, and wound up with this song stuck in my head off and on for weeks. Damn you, Jack White!
- 7 Seconds of Love – Ninja: The guy who does RatherGood.com is in 7 Seconds of Love, and does videos for ’em. I love their stuff. It’s ska, but weird. And the videos are a hoot.
- Värttinä – Aijo: I can’t really describe Varttina, except to say they are freaking awesome and awesomely freaky. They sing in Finnish, I believe, but I love ’em anyway.
- Goddess of Desire – Awaken Pagan Gods: Title track off one of the first heavy-metal albums I was inspired to download by watching Metalocalypse. Fun, over the top stuff. Rawk.
- Dethklok – Thunderhorse: This song is in Guitar Hero too, and is part of the reason I watch Metalocalypse (the other part is that Rich told me I should, because it reminded him of me). It’s pretty awesome. (pssst! You can get all the songs from the show here!)
- Coq Roq – Bob Your Head: Yeah, it’s Burger King advertising, but I liked Coq Roq a hell of a lot more than The King, who is just creepy.
- Dethklok – Fan Song: OK, how meta is this? A fake band from a TV show write a song about how much their fans suck, and I (a fan of the show AND the band in the show) include it on a mix. My brain hurts.
- Peaches – Two Guys (For Every Girl): Peaches again. She rules. Any gal who’d write a song about how much she likes threesomes with two guys rocks.
- 1337 g33k b3at – 1800 n00biez: Yay, nerdcore rapped by a gal! This is one of the tracks MC Router did as part of the duo before they each went solo. “You don’t got game, and you don’t geek speak! you’ll never beat us, we’re 1337 g33k b3at! … LAN equals Ladies Are n00bs, do I have to spell it out for you? S! T! F! U!”
- mc chris – FTW: mc chris finally came out with a new album this year (“Dungeon Master of Ceremonies”, hee!) AND toured! I even got to meet him! WOOO! FTW indeed!
- Futuristic Sex Robotz – Fuck the MPAA: I discovered FSR this year and love ’em. They are hilarious and awesome. Nerdcore to the max!
- mc chris – Kingdom Farts: mc chris goes on about gaming online. One of my faves off the new album.
- Beefy – Nerd: I discovered Beefy this year, and really like his stuff a lot. He’s awesome. This song is totally a nerd anthem, dood.
- mc chris – OMC: OMC, won’t you rap for me one time? Another off the new album. Yeah, I suck. But I love mc chris. Deal with it.
- Futuristic Sex Robotz – Snakes on a Plane: You didn’t think I could make a mix for 2006 that didn’t include one of the songs from the Snakes on a Plane fan song contest, did you?
- Jonathan Coulton – Re: Your Brains: This was the first Jonathan Coulton song I heard. I heard it on The Seanachai and loved it, and tracked it down on his site, where I learned he wrote tons and tons of stuff as part of his Thing a Day project. Awesome!
- Richard Cheese – Closer: Richard Cheese rules. I finally got one of his albums this year (sense a theme there, do ya?). This is one of the songs on the album that invariably sends me into fits of laughter. The other is:
- Richard Cheese – Nookie/Break Stuff: Lounge meets Limp Bizkit. What’s not to love?
- The User – [ ]: Music made using the sounds of dot matrix printers. Awesome. Oh, Emusic, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
