A new mix I made from old stuff I used to listen to.  Tried to aim around 8th grade or so, like the ID in the picture says (yes, that’s me omg).  Didn’t include parental influenced stuff because I can do a whole mix on that.  I dunno, it was a weird time. I was strangely kind of popular and on the brink of high school.  Also keep in mind that the internet wasn’t what it is today and I wasn’t really on it in 2000.  Well, I guess I was… AIM and stuff… but still, not like it is today.  Shout out to my two older sisters because half of this stuff I stole from them.

TRACKLIST

1. Time To Relax by The Offspring (Smash): Thought this would put a good frame on the times we’ll be going back to.
2. Surf Wax America by Weezer (Blue): Early Weezer.  Nuff said.
3. She by Green Day (Dookie): I swiped Dookie from my sisters a loooot.  I think it’s in my actual possession now, haha…
4: Real World by Matchstick Twenty (Yourself or Someone Like You): My sisters were really into like, mid to late 90′s alternative?  So, lots of stuff like this.  For better or worse it influenced me.  It was an era, what can I say, I was a part of it.
5. Selling the Drama by Live (Throwing Copper): Same explanation as above.  Sisters. I will say that Throwing Copper is one of my all time favorite album covers though – Dookie too, now that I think of it.
6. Zero by Smashing Pumpkins (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness): Infinite Sadness goes in the same category as Dookie.  Swiped it a lot and stuff.
7. In The End by Linkin Park (Hybrid Theory): I remember being at a party, this coming on the boom-box or whatever it was and me saying that it would be a single.  I think Crawling was really big at the time and no one really believed me.  Also pretty sure no one cared because half the people were making out (omg makeout party!). Eventually it was #1, and I gloated about it for a solid day or two… and still, no one cared. BUT I DID #defiantly
8. You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi (Crossroads): One of the better artists I can peg being sister-influenced.  Also, seeing Bon Jovi at Veteran’s Stadium is still the best arena show I’ve seen. It was also the Vet’s last show ever.  On the drive home the radio DJs were saying it was his best concert in ten years. It was cool (frame of reference: I believe it was his “It’s My Life” tour, so, his comeback, basically).
9. Layla by Eric Clapton (Layla): One of my better friends in grade school was really into Clapton. And uh, osmosis happened, I guess.
10. Spiderwebs by No Doubt (Tragic Kingdom): This was the first CD my cousin ever owned and I’m pretty sure the first CD I ever burned on a computer. It was the 90′s.
11. Absolutely (Story of a Girl) by Nine Days (The Madding Crowd): Admit it or not, everyone listened to this song when it hit.  EVERYONE.
12. Long Way Down by the Goo Goo Dolls (About A Boy): Another sister influence.  I actually delved a little more into them not too long ago and was shocked to see how, well, punk they were in their early days.
13. Bottles to the Ground by NOFX (Pump up the Valuum): Heading into high school I really wanted to be a punk.  Of course, being a sheltered suburban Catholic white boy this wasn’t going to happen, but I made some half-decent punky friends and they would occasionally tell me to listen to stuff.  NOFX was, for better or worse, my definition of what ‘punk’ was, and still more or less is to this day.
14. Man Overboard (live) by Blink 182 (Mark, Tom and Travis Show): See punk comments above.  Also, Blink 182, I think that sums it up.  Surprisingly, I think blink has held up really well over time.  Back then I was ashamed to listen to them because all punk kids hated blink, but now?  Now I can listen and not be ashamed because guess what, all those punk kids secretly listened to blink too.
15. Heart Attack by Sum 41 (All Killer No Filler): Again, see punk comments.  Unlike blink, though, I was never ashamed of liking Sum 41.  Heck, I still like Sum 41. Chuck is an amazing album and their other stuff is just, I dunno, fun.
16. Wonderful by Everclear (Songs from an American Movie…): No real explanation, I just like this song.  Pretty sure the big reason I dug it back when was because ‘Star Wars’ was in the lyrics.  No lie.
17. Some Fantastic by Barenaked Ladies (Stunt): Stunt was the first CD I ever owned.  Barenaked Ladies are to this day one of my favorite bands ever and this song is one of my favorite songs ever.  My life is divided into two musical sections, pre-BNL and post-BNL.  I discovered them when One Week was huge and fell in love with them when I realized their other stuff was, frankly, a whole lot better. Never been without since.

Honorable Mentions:  A few items that I didn’t include because they didn’t work with the set, but are still pretty darn important to this ‘era’ of my life.

1. The Black Album, Metallica: Listened the shit out of this album. End of story.
2. Everything by Lifehouse ( No Name Face): This was my first, “our song”.  You know, guy, girl, “our song”?  It’s been over a decade since I went with that girl and I still can’t bring myself to play this song.  Still, it deserves including.
3. The Ever Passing Moment (album) by MXPX: Another punky band I got from a friend and listened to non-stop.  I was shocked years later to discover MXPX is a Christian punk band. How such a thing can exist is still beyond me.

TRACK BREAKDOWN:

1. Empty, by Metric (Live It Out): I don’t think Metric has left my music rotation since I discovered them.  Metric is amazing.
2. I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need To Be Nicer, by The Cardigans (Super Extra Galaxy): Finally decided to give The Cardigans a chance after hearing many good things about them.  It’s early yet, but they seem pretty swell.
3. Summertime, by Beck (Scott Pilgrim Soundtrack): I pre-ordered the soundtrack the day I knew it was available.  The actual record doesn’t hit until August 10th but downloaders got this cool single from Beck.  I’m pumped.
4. Red Travelin’ Socks, by Malcolm Middleton (Waxing Gibbous): A find from One-Track-Mind.com. It’s cool, I like it.
5. Know Better Learn Faster by Thao with the Get Down Stay Down (Know Better Learn Faster): First heard Thao through the Kill Rock Stars Best Sampler Ever compilation, though I believe I got this track from OTM… or somewhere else? Even though I’ve been listening to the same two Thao songs for ages (and super like them) I haven’t yet gotten around to properly checking ‘em out.  It’s on my list.
6. Postage Stamp World, by Rogue Wave (Out of the Shadow): A nice slow song from Rogue Wave. It’s been a while since they’ve been in the rotation and I missed them.
7. Allison and the Ancient Eyes, by The Shaky Hands (KRSBSE): Another one found through the KRSBSE compilation.  This gets stuck in your head very easily. You’ve been warned.
8. Dream City, by Free Energy (Stuck On Nothing): Free Energy is sort of like a modern version of The Cars, with little bits of Thin Lizzy and other classic arena bands tossed in.  Top that with their super poppy charm and the fact that they’re from my neck of the woods and yeah, pretty cool, yo.
9. Big Ideas, by LCD Soundsystem (Big Ideas – Single): If it sounds familiar then you’ve likely seen a Scott Pilgrim trailer… or um, heard it before this, obviously. Chill song. I am on an anything-associated-to-Pilgrim kick. This certainly fits the bill.
10. Strange Solar System/Dance Floor, by The Apples in Stereo (Travelers in Space and Time): I absolutely adore this album. ADORE IT.  I knew off the bat when making this mix I would include a song from the album, but I couldn’t choose.  I literally put the album in its own set list, closed my eyes for ten seconds and scrolled around blindly.  Strange Solar System won, which is a lead-in for Dance Floor, so I included them both. Aren’t you lucky.
11. MYSTERY TRACK!! (IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FINAL SCOTT PILGRIM BOOK AND DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED DO NOT HIGHLIGHT AND READ THE FOLLOWING!!)
START=>- -11. I’m A Believer, by The Monkees (More of the Monkees): Okay, so, at the very end of the book we see Kim and Scott jamming in their new band with Knives and no-longer-young Neil watching.  They’re playing a crappy cover of I’m a Believer.  When they finish Knives and Neil critique them. Knives struggles to say they have potential. Neil bluntly states, “That was an extremely bad cover of I’m A Believer by The Monkees”.  This completely flipped my shit.  It was like, I can barely even describe it.  I grew up with the Monkees.  I love them.  To see a book like this, nay, a series like this (which I totally and obviously adore) toss a Monkees nod AT THE VERY END.  I dunno, in a weird way it feels like this little journey of mine these past few years has been validated?  Like this is the universe telling me I’m on the right track.  Like I said, it’s hard to put into words.  It was a very cool feeling for me.  And now I can add even more bubbly feelings to the other bubbly feelings I have whenever I hear the Monkees. – -<=END

Notes:

- If the album image looks familiar that’s because it is!
- The From-A-Basement-Under-Trees mixtapes have been deleted.  On purpose.

Have I mentioned how much I love this album?

All In Good Time, the first studio album from Barenaked Ladies minus co-founder Steven Page, dropped earlier this week.  And I’ve been listening to it all week, trying to figure out how I feel about it.  It’s easily the most somber album they’ve done.  It’s shaky.  It sounds like they’re trying to find themselves in a post-Page world.  All of which is expected, but I was secretly hoping this album would be loud and confident and, really, play to Ed’s strengths.  Instead I think they tried to prove that they could perform traditional Steven songs without him, and while I don’t think they necessarily failed, I also feel like you can call every song Page would’a sung and that every one would have been considerably better for it.

It’s not a bad album, it’s obviously not their best; amusingly enough I think this effort makes their last ‘soft’ album, Are Me, sound particularly great.  Sort of in a you-don’t-know-what-you-had-until-it’s-gone way.  Except we knew what we had with Steven Page and cherished what he brought to the table.  Steven has one of the best voices in the business, if not thee best, and he’ll be missed.  He already is.

I think BNL needed this album to vent, and the potential for them to survive and thrive is surely evident here.  They simply need to amp up their classic fun and goofy charm next time.

Early Standouts:
1. You Run Away (which has really grown on me, though I still feel Steven would’a hit it out of the park)
2. Four Seconds (clearly and heavily influenced by their children’s album, Snacktime, which amuses me )
3. On The Lookout
4. Every Subway Car
5. Golden Boy

From a Basement Under Trees was a mix-tape series I did in 2009.  I was planning to finish off the series in December with a ten track finale (thus equaling a 50 song set), but never got around to it until now.  Below are track listings for every volume, along with new album art for each.  The symbols are A, E, I, O, U and Y in a Wingdings font, and each are now titled respectively.

Yes, I agree, this was way too much effort.
(Clicking the album art will take you to 8tracks.com, where you can freely listen to said songs.)

UPDATE: ALL SONGS HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM 8TRACKS.COM.  BECAUSE I DELETED THEM.

*Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist Original Soundtrack

]]> http://www.harrymyland.com/from-a-basement-under-trees-the-whole-fn-collection/feed/ 0