January Mixtastic

I love my iPod. Perhaps too much. I see myself as my iPod's (named Madrox Jr.) overprotective parent who has all sorts of strict rules on their child, placed out of love. I obsessively correct album information (no greatest hits on Madrox, all that is broken up into the respective albums or singles!), years (I know the Zombies didn't have a single in 1997!), and album artwork (my Features bootlegs have no artwork? I'll fix that with photoshop!). I spend way too much time with this thing.

This has also stretched to playlists. I have "Best Of" compilations for my top 20 favorite artists featuring their 20 best songs. I have a SmartPlayList filled with songs rated 4 or 5 stars that last between 1:45 and 2:15. I have all sorts of playlists designed to introduce me to newer songs, newer songs I haven't listened to, and newer songs that I immediately enjoyed. This has been done to avoid the pesky problem of hitting shuffle and then shuffling my way through hundreds of songs.

The pride and joy of my playlists has to be my monthly mix, my autobiographical journey through song that I compile on the last day of every month and then listen to on the first day of the next. The rules are simple: 30 songs that have been played during the month, 1 per artist, rating of 4 or 5 stars, and no song appearing on any monthly mix more than once (unless special personal reasons apply).

So, for the month of January 2007, the month that started 2007: Kill The Beast, here is the mix and the reasons...

Shout Out Louds "The Comeback" (played @ UCB)
Oasis "Half The World Away" (Emo Personal Junx)
The Rolling Stones "Let's Spend The Night Together" (danced on a bar bench at a birthday party)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" (on my best of 70s mix I made this month)
Belle & Sebastian "She's Losing It" (bought on iTunes this month)
Turncoats "Shoot That Girl" (Murfreesboro band done good, my homesick jam)
Of Montreal "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" (big huge Emo Personal Junx)
The Kinks "Waterloo Sunset" (Emo Personal Junx)
XTC "Rocket From A Bottle" (bought "Black Sea" this month)
Cold War Kids "Hospital Beds"
The Apples in Stereo "Energy" (made available for download this month)
The Polyphonic Spree "Section 18 (Everything Starts at the Seam)"
The Beatles "Savoy Truffle"
Fiona Apple "Better Version Of Me"
Rage Against The Machine "Testify" (because I testified this month!)
The Pipettes "We Are The Pipettes" (played @ UCB)
The Futureheads "Back To The Sea" (Emo Personal Junx)
Talking Heads "Cities" (I listened to my Talking Heads mix this month)
Jonathan Fire*Eater "When The Curtain Calls For You" (I tried to get into JF*E this month)
The Shins "Turn On Me" (got the new album this month)
M.I.A. "U.R.A.Q.T."
Roxy Music "Triptych" (discovered that Country Life is the first Roxy music album I love from start to finish)
The New Pornographers "Breakin' The Law"
The Strokes "Reptilia"
Arcade Fire "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" (played @ UCB as well as Emo Personal Junx)
Beck "Bad Cartridge [E-Pro Remix]" (played @ UCB)
Clinic "Harvest (Within You)" (got the new album this month)
The Decemberists "The Engine Driver" (Emo Personal Junx)
The Walkmen "Little House Of Savages"
The Buzzcocks "Ever Fallen In Love?" (got the album at the same time as Emo Personal Junx and it's a brilliant song)


January has been a good year for music so far and it's been documented accurately. Hmm...maybe a little too accurately...