All-Time, Deserted Island, Top Songs For a Mix Tape

My All-Time, Deserted Island, Gotta Have, Top Songs for a Mix Tape (CD now) are as follows:

1....

Wait, wait, wait. I think it may be necessary to give a little explanation to the following selection of songs. That is, I think it is necessary to let you all know why I chose the songs I did and why I make mixes in the first place. Whenever I make a mix for someone it is usually someone I care a good deal about. Sometimes even for people I care a great deal about.

This seemingly random assortment of songs I put together help me to say things that may be too hard to say face to face. Or they represent some time from the past we shared together. Or maybe I just really like the song.

Whatever it may be each song has a purpose and a meaning. Every time I make a mix I put a little bit of myself into it, I imbue each song with my own being, my spirit, my essence. Well, that all sounds a little silly now that I think about it, but suffice it to say if I or anyone else takes the time to make you a mix you should be thankful. It's a lost art these days, so yeah, here we go.

1. I Need You Back - Ben Kweller

This song is the perfect way to open a mix. It starts off slow and simple and before you know it whether you're sitting in your car or in your shower (my two favorite places to dance) you're making a fool of yourself dancing around. The song clocks in at about three and a quarter minutes long which is nice too, the first song of a mix shouldn't bog you down like some Decemberists and Brand New epics do...that will come later.

2. My Hands Are Shaking - Sondre Lerche

This song is so great because it has a great chorus, is super catchy and is very sweet and simple at the same time. It transitions easily from most songs into the mix and sets up a slower song or a faster song equally. Sondre Lerche is also just an amazing musician.

3. To The Dogs Or Whoever - Josh Ritter

While I mostly only know of Ritter's, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, I feel like that may be enough. This song is the perfect start to that album and fits in perfectly after Lerche. It has a certain subdued energy to it. Almost like Ritter is winding up the Jack-In-The-Box with every verse and letting him punch us in the face with every chorus of, "I thought I heard somebody calling, In the dark I thought I heard somebody call."

4. Taper Jean Girl - Kings of Leon

I hate to admit that this is one of my ex-girlfriends favorite Kings of Leon songs, but it is so good that it trumps how much of an ass she is. There is an instrumental start to the song like the few before it, but what sets it apart from those songs is Caleb Followill's slightly off but perfect voice for this modern southern sickly sweet music. It is nearly impossible to sit still while this song is playing.

5. Mirror Kissers - The Cribs

I found out about this band when I saw them open for Death Cab For Cutie in 2005. They're certainly a different vibe than DCFC but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. This song fits really well after Taper Jean Girl, it keeps up with the catchy, up-beat feeling we get from KOL and is a little easier to sing a long too.

(On a side not, I feel it's important to have some continuity to your mix. You can't put a song like Tiny Dancer after Justify My Thug...wait a second...no...but maybe...hmmm...continuity is key, but honestly this is my All-Time Top songs for a mix so if I want to mix Elton John and Jay-Z I will! Damnit!) On to...

6. My Sweet Fracture - Saves The Day

I love Saves The Day. Well, I love Saves The Day prior to their last three albums. In Reverie was the start of their fall and Under The Boards is the continuation of their demise. It's OK though, we still have Through Being Cool, Stay What You Are and Ups and Downs. Back to this song though. It is currently the longest on the mix clocking in at 3:54, and is one of the best, "Fuck You" songs ever. "Could you tell me the next time that you're choking? I'll run right over to shove some dirt right down your throat." Ahh, I love it.

7. The Heinrich Maneuver - Interpol

I really like this song. It starts straight off with vocals and has a much more produced sound than the last couple of songs. I saw this band at the Coachella music festival a few years ago and every time I hear them and incidentally Kings Of Leon, I always think of the desert. There is a certain calming effect this song has over me while making me feel a sense of longing at the same time. It also builds up this energy in me, like I'm running down an alley from someone but I can't quite make out if someone is actually behind me or not. That suspenseful feeling really drives this song. I think it's also a good transition away from the faster paced songs that make up the beginning of the mix.

8. Reunion - Stars

Stars is one of those bands that feels like they should be so much bigger than they actually are. This song lets me exhale all that built up tension I get from Interpol. Once the song starts I literally feel like I can relax, like I was at a high school dance standing against the wall too scared to move and for some reason the embarrassment didn't matter anymore. I slowly got off the wall and just enjoyed myself. This song lets me breathe.

9. Hummingbird - Wilco

I love piano driven music. Wilco, my absolute favorite Ben Kweller, Ben Folds, Jack's Mannequin, even Queen. This song is great because it is fun and catchy while not being overpowering. It doesn't bear down on you but it isn't too slow at the same time. It's a good middle of the mix song, remember what I was talking about earlier? Continuity? Here we go, my words in action.

10. A Certain Shade Of Green (Acoustic Version) - Incubus

There are so many great Incubus songs to chose from (Stellar, Talk Shows on Mute, Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) but I recently fell in love with this version of this great song from S.C.I.E.N.C.E. The original is much faster paced and frenetic really, but this version plays perfectly at this part of the mix and shows how good of song it really is.

11. Runaway - Mae

Mae is another one of those bands that deserves more commercial success than they get. They're a great alternative rock band...I feel weird using that label just to let you know. It is so vague and wide-ranging, how could you possibly determine what kind of music this band plays just from that description? I have a hard time classifying them as something else though, I don't know if that's a bad thing or not, but this song as well as most of their other songs is just really good, catchy, melodic rock music. The lyrics have meaning to them and it's not the usual radio friendly mixture of three power chords and a stupid hook to keep the masses entertained. ( Like anything by Staind, Creed, Nickleback, Papa Roach, and countless other shitty bands. Oh and if you're my friend and you like any of the bands just mentioned please reconsider talking to me again. Thank you.)

12. Godlovesugly - Atmosphere

If you've never heard of Atmosphere, even if you don't like hip-hop or rap or any of that, you need to listen to them. There have been two times in my life, the time before I started listening to Atmosphere and the time after I've listened to them. Seriously, they're that good. Godlovesugly is just a great example of how rap doesn't have to be about what almost every mainstream rapper makes it about. Slug (the MC) tells stories. About himself, the people he's met, people he's made up and everyone in between. "I wear my scars like the rings on a pimp. I live life like the captain of a sinking ship." To say I have been influenced by Atmosphere in my own writing would be an understatement. But this song specifically fits in well after Mae. The piano driven beat plays well after Runaway and the song itself has a certain melodic and deliberate sense to itself.

13. Lack Of Colour - Death Cab For Cutie

Maybe a bit of an abrupt change from Atmosphere, but sometimes you have to kick somebody in the mouth with a sad song. Transatlanticism seriously got me through high school. Heart ache was somehow made easier to swallow listening to Ben Gibbard sing about all his fucked up relationships. It made feeling sorry for myself poetic and right, it justified my wallowing in sadness because I knew Gibbard had it way worse than me. But honestly I never thought about it like that back then, we were the same. And knowing someone else had gone through the same shit I did made it better.

14. Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright

This is one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs I've ever heard. Wainwright's voice has such a majestic feel to it, like classy but common place at the same time, like he could sing on the corner for spare change or at Carnegie Hall (which he has coincidentally enough done). Every other cover I've heard of this song hasn't been as good as this one. I don't care if it was on a Shrek soundtrack, it is a great song and definitely deserves a spot on this mix.

15. Tragic Mirror - Sondre Lerche

I know what you're thinking, two songs by the same artist, but like I said earlier it's my mix so I'm gonna put what I want on it. Tragic Mirror has a more insightful feel to it than My Hands Are Shaking. They're both simple acoustic songs but Mirror has the opposite effect that the previous Lerche song has. It's a little sad, it doesn't talk about unabashed love and what it does to you. It talks about how love ruins you, how it gets to your head and how it breaks you down. It's catchy but it's a sad tale.

16. The Swiss Army Romance - Dashboard Confessional

Ahhh, Dashboard Confessional. Good ol' Chris Carrabba pluckin away at his acoustic guitar while his wrists bleed and his hair hangs ever so slightly over one eye. OK, he's not that emo but you would be hard pressed to find many more musicians as emotional as he is. Saying that, earlier DC was really good. I had a similar experience with DC that I had with Death Cab For Cutie. I was young, I didn't know how to really express the way I was feeling in my own words and these great musicians sang everything I was feeling. They articulated my thoughts in a way I thought to be impossible. Of course now I am a bit more bold with a keyboard and how I feel, but that's the whole point of a mix isn't it? Using other people's words to express something we can't. I think that's why I write, to give other people the opportunity to find someone who can help them feel like they have a voice. Even if that voice is coming out of someone else's mouth.

17. Wait For Love (You Know You Will) - Josh Ritter

This is the second time I've used two songs by the same artist on this mix and I feel justified in my decision. Like the first two songs by Sondre Lerche, these two songs do have similarities but they have different meanings. The whole mix shouldn't portray one exact emotion or sentiment. With this song Ritter sings about having someone in his life willing to love him and be there for him and his acknowledgment that he loves someone else that makes him wait for that love. "I wait for love, I wait for love. I got someone on my mind, and she don't make me wait the way you do. Time, all she loves me all the time and she don't make me wait the way you do. Wait for love, some days we all have to wait for love."

It is a terrible thing having someone who is willing to love you yet for some reason you can't stop thinking about that someone else. It is terrible and wonderful at the same time, because even though you're hurting the person ready for you, you know in your heart your love for that someone else is true. In the end you'll most likely end up with neither though, but where would we get sad songs if everyone had a happy ending?

18. Play Crack The Sky - Brand New

This song is one of my all-time favorite songs. It is stripped down and honest, scared and beguiling. Brand New has gone from angsty-teen, love scorned punk to jarring, heavy, dark
punch-you-in-the-nose kind of rock. This song fits somewhere in the middle of all that. A simple and sincere song that is a perfect ending track to this mix. Every time I hear this song I can't help but take stock of everything in my life, I want to call my parents and tell them I love them for fear I won't get another chance to do so in person. I think of love lost and love never had. Of women who have not even given me a second look to those who cried leaving me in the middle of the night. Telling me they love me but they can't do it anymore. This song always leaves me a little shaken up, but it is so beautiful and right I don't mind at all.

So there you have it. My All-Time, Deserted Island, Top Songs to put in a mix. Of course depending on my mood or the person I'm making the mix for some of the songs might change. I kept the track list to 18 songs because it fits right under the usual amount of space on a blank CD. If I had more time and limitless space there are countless songs I would add to this, but for the sake of this blog, and my sanity, 18 will do it for now.

I suggest also if you have not heard of any of these bands or songs that you quickly remedy that situation. And remember, anyone can make a mix, whether it's good or not doesn't necessarily matter. It's the fact that you took the time to compile a smattering of your favorite music to give to someone else that is important. The mix tape or CD is a lost art, help me bring it back.