As I mentioned way back when I started this series of blog entries (and the fact that I’m still doing this has to be a testament to my social life), my current mix process involves making quarterly mixes over the course of each year. Basically, I have a playlist called “New” which is filled with music I’m currently listening to, both old and recently released. At this point I actually have a backlog of music to listen to, so I also have a playlist called “Next” which I use to reload “New” at the end of every quarter. New releases, however, generally move to the top of the list.
So as the months go by, I start putting my favorite songs on a playlist called “Year Part Whatever.” I don’t pay attention to how many songs are going on it at that point. And, as I make my way through albums, I remove them from “New.” Rare is the month where I have to add more songs from “Next,” but it has happened.
Anyway, round about the middle of the final month, I add the last of my favorite songs to “Year Part Whatever” and go about thinning it down to the length of one CD. Sure, this is a process that will be obsolete someday (probably the next time I buy a car), but for now it’s what I do so I can listen to the mix while I drive. I cut down and organize the mix, then burn it onto a CD, which gives me the last two weeks of the month to listen to it, basking in the last three months of my musical month.
I mention all this because I did exactly that for “2009 Part Three” today.
And now, back to some post-college angst.
“Cut” by Pinback
“Understanding In a Car Crash” by Thursday
“Sever” by Karate
“Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta” by the Getto Boys
“B.O.B.” by Outkast
“Beautiful” by Flickerstick
“Life In a Glass House” by Radiohead
“Schism” by Tool
“The Authority Song” by Jimmy Eat World
“Never Say Never” by That Dog
“You Gave Your Love to Me Softly” by Weezer
“Wrecking Ball” by Creeper Lagoon
“Sing” by Travis
“The Best Deception” by Dashboard Confessional
“Sparks” by Coldplay
“Drive” by Incubus
“Outside the Aviary” by Burning Airlines
“Travel By Telephone” by Rival Schools
“Chop Suey!” by System of a Down
A few, obvious influences show up in this mix. The first is the fact that I was living in Atlanta, and if you think Outkast was big, you should have been living in Atlanta; they were everywhere, and they were everywhere well before they were anywhere else. It was a little strange, actually, to move to a city and discover this band that was really big there, only to watch them blow up nationally just a few months later.
Then there was the VH1 reality show “Bands On the Run.” I was addicted and, to this day, I’m shocked it never got a second season. But I followed it religiously when it was on, and that’s how the band Flickerstick ended up on this mix.
It’s funny to look ahead. Atlanta managed to inject at least a little bit of hip hop into my mix, and I saw Coldplay perform in an old church in the ATL before they’d really taken off, which is how they ended up on this mix. But Atlanta wouldn’t have nearly the influence on me that my coming move to Los Angeles would.
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