My Mix CD for the WV Bloggers CD Swap

I made this CD for Iremonger.

1. When You Go Dancing – The Ballet
I just like this song. It’s happy and bouncy and I can’t help doing a little pavement dancing when it comes on and I’m out walking or running with my iPod.

2. Feel So Free – Ivy
I like Ivy. Her sound is smooth and girly and oddly edgy. I like all of her music, and wanted to include something of hers on this mix, but couldn’t decide which song to add. I decided on this one because it’s been on frequent rotation in a playlist I listen to a lot when I’m working on my own art.

3. Human Love – Dirty Vegas
I found this song when I was looking for tracks to play at the Peepshow – an art exhibit I participated in last spring. You might remember Dirty Vegas from “Days Gone By,” which was in the Volkswagen commercial with the girl breaking and popping in the passenger seat. I like them a lot. Their music is good to dance to.

4. Remembrance Day – God is an Astronaut
I heard this song for the first time on Radio Paradise, an online radio station I listen to a lot. It has an almost cinematic sound to it. In fact, I have an idea for a video that I might make for it some day, just for fun, to use in my classroom.

5. Timebomb – Beck
This is a brand spankin’ new Beck track. I can’t make a mix CD and not include at least one Beck track. He’s so versatile! And yet, he has his own distinct sound.

6. Everyday I Love You Less and Less – Kaiser Chiefs
Sad as it is, this song makes me laugh. I love the Kaiser Chiefs. Actually, I love a lot of the music coming from Britain these days – Maximo Park and the like.

7. Little Soldier of Time – Sophe Lux
I found Sophe Lux in a review in Wired magazine, and looked her up because I liked the album art. I’m glad I did! Her album is glam rock at its best. I would love to see her act live! This song is a little different for her – this one’s almost punk like. It reminds me of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Le Tigre.

8. Fake French – Le Tigre
Speaking of Le Tigre, this is a good track of theirs. It’s got a head-bounce quality to it. It just feels good. I caught my daughter singing it one time. The kid has taste!

9. Sci Fi Wasabi – Cibo Matto
This song is actually the ringtone on my cellphone right now. This is my favorite Cibo Matto song of all time, but they have so many songs that I just love. Still, this is the best. It combines two of my favorite things – New York City and cheesy Japanese Science Fiction.

10. Gold Lion – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Another song that I can’t help bouncing my head to. I have no idea what it’s about, but it’s a fun song. I actually found myself walking through a Food Lion singing it, but exchanging “Gold Lion” to “Food Lion.” Who would name a store “Food Lion” anyway? That’s just so strange.

Anyway…

11. Get Over It – OK GO
I get so tired of listing to people whine about the 9,392,391 reasons they can’t function, can’t get ahead, can’t get what they want, etc… There are lots of reasons every one of us could just give up and quit, but we don’t. I find myself singing this song in my head a lot. It’s cheaper than therapy.

12. How We Operate – Gomez
I was immediately pulled in by the banjo. Yes, the banjo. It’s such an odd instrument to hear in this sort of music, but it just works. I think this was on some Grey’s Anatomy mix a kid gave me. I don’t even watch that show, but the mix was awesome!

13. Art – Louque
I found this song while randomly looking for songs about art for a classroom mix. It’s got a nice laid-back groove, and my students always ask me what the song is so they can download it, themselves.

14. Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking – Snow Patrol
This was on another mix given to me by a different student. I like Snow Patrol. I really didn’t like this song at first, but she begged me to add it to my classroom mix, so I did, and it kind of grew on me. Now whenever I listen to it, I think of her class. They were all seniors so they didn’t come back this year, and I miss them.

15. Una Notte di Napoli – Pink Martini
My Dad’s family is Italian, and came from a small town near Florence, Italy. I’ve always wanted to go there. I feel really drawn to visit that city someday – more so than some of the other places of my heritage. When I was younger, I tried to teach myself Italian using an Italian/English dictionary. Of course, that didn’t work so well, but I do still want to learn the language. This song makes me think of pictures I’ve seen of that tiny town, and of old pictures of nameless ancestors who came from there. I can just imagine tooling around Florence on a Vespa, wearing lots of black and feeling like a true hipster.

16. Chicago – Sufjan Stevens
This was on the same mix as the Snow Patrol song. I loved it, immediately! I was really surprised to see that it was Sufjan, because I didn’t like his music at first. I think the first songs I heard from him were probably his hardest-to-appreciate. This one’s easy to love.