Out the Other

Out the Other is FIVE!

Would you believe that I started blogging on Out the Other five years ago today?  Seriously, I can't believe you guys keep reading, and tuning in to the radio show, and pretending to care what I babble about as long as you get to hear the good, good tunes. 

So happy birthday, Out the Other.  You've been good to me these past five years.  And lieu of gifts, I will happily welcome stories about good bands and tunes you were introduced to via this humble little blog.

In honor of the occasion, I dipped into the archives (yowza, some of those early posts are painful) and pulled together a selection of songs that were posted in the first few months of OtO's existence.  Some things change, and some things never do.

[ download .zip ]

1.  Wheat - I Met a Girl (mp3)
2.  Say Hi To Your Mom - Laundry
3.  Bleu - I Won't Go Hollywood
4.  Hot Hot Heat - Goodnight Goodnight
5.  Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
6.  !!! - Hello? Is This Thing On? (mp3)
7.  The Black Keys - Grown So Ugly (mp3)
8.  Kyle Andrews - Amos In Ohio
9.  Stars - Calendar Girl
10.  Ben Kweller - In Other Words
11.  Robbers On High Street - Spanish Teeth
12.  Bloc Party - Banquet  (mp3)
13.  LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
14.  Brendan Benson - Tiny Spark
15.  The Cloud Room - Hey Now Now (mp3)

Sounds Electric

I've been sitting on this mix for a little while - in fact, if you remember me gushing about Phantogram on the show a few weeks back, you'll probably remember me talking about this.  Sounds Electric was born one night at the gym (and on the drive home from the gym), when I first fell head over heels for the Phantogram song that kicks off this mix.  After listening to the track several times in a row, I decided to create a playlist of electronic-laced tunes that would complement the elements that made me immediately love "When I'm Small." From old playlist staples - like James Figurine's "All the Way to China" and Fujiya & Miyagi's "Collarbone" - to brand new favorites - like Broken Bells' "The Ghost Inside" and particularly Hot Chip's "Alley Cats" (one of my absolute favorite songs so far this year) - I think this turned out to be a nice collection of songs that sound a bit electric.

[ download .zip ]

1.  Phantogram - When I'm Small (mp3)
2.  Fol Chen - Winter, That's All
3.  Errors - Mr. Milk
4.  Fujiya & Miyagi - Collarbone
5.  Phoenix - Holdin' On Together (mp3)
6.  James Figurine - All the Way To China
7.  Hot Chip - Alley Cats (mp3)
8.  The Whitest Boy Alive - Fireworks
9.  LCD Soundsystem - Too Much Love (mp3)
10.  Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside**
11.  The Diggs - Everyone's Starting Over (Cassetes Won't Listen remix)
12.  The Blow - Fists Up
13.  Junior Boys - Dull To Pause
14.  Gold Panda - Heaps (mp3)

**The Broken Bells track has been removed by request - you'll have to wait until the album comes out on 3/9.

LOST Season Six Mix

Tomorrow marks the premiere of the sixth and final season of my favorite television show, LOST.  Over the past month, I've been re-watching the entire series to prep myself for its (hopefully) grand conclusion, and I've been so excited I can barely stop to breathe.  I'm serious - there has never been a TV show that has gripped me so tightly, occupied so many square inches of my brain, and kept me on the absolute tippiest part of my toes, about to fall straight off my seat.  CAN'T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW.

To celebrate the premiere, the final season, and one of the best shows to ever appear on a television screen, I present Out the Other's LOST Season Six Mix.

[ download .zip ]

1.  The Features - Still Lost
2.  Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (mp3)
3.  Andrew Bird - Fiery Crash
4.  The Whitest Boy Alive - Island
5.  Ben Folds Five - Kate (mp3)
6.  Howlies - Smoke
7.  Ryan Adams - I See Monsters (mp3)
8.  Novisplit - Doctor
9.  Soul Coughing - So Far I Have Not Found the Science  (mp3)
10.  The Boy Least Likely To - Faith (George Michael cover)
11.  Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For the Others (mp3)
12.  Blitzen Trapper - Black Rock
13.  Generationals - Angry Charlie
14.  Iko - Numbers
15.  The Gerbils - Penny Waits
16.  John Vanderslice with Spoon - Time Travel Is Lonely (mp3)
17.  Chin Up Chin Up - Get Me Off This Fucking Island (mp3)
18.  Phoenix - Lost and Found (mp3)

(thanks to yewknee for the awesome artwork!)

Behind Bars: A Summer Mix Series Mix

I had so much fun with the last themed mix, I decided to immediately make another.  Behind Bars is -- you guessed it -- a collection of songs that revolve around a prison theme, and it was crazy fun to make.  Turns out there are all kinds of songs about jails and law-breaking and finally getting sprung, and I think I found a good balance of the old and the new, the serious and the sort of silly. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

[ download .zip ]

1.  Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
2.  Toots and The Maytals - 54-46 (That's My Number)
3.  The Mountain Goats - Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into the Water, Triumph Of (mp3)
4.  The Standells - Have You Ever Spent the Night In Jail (mp3)
5.  Gomez - Get Myself Arrested
6.  The Byrds - Life In Prison (mp3)
7.  M. Ward - Jailbird
8.  The Kinks - Holloway Jail
9.  Hellsongs - Breaking the Law
10.  The Zombies - Care of Cell 44 (mp3)
11.  Nancy Sinatra - Hutchinson Jail (mp3)
12.  Iron and Wine and Calexico - Prison on Route 41
13.  Smog - River Guard
14.  The Clash - I Fought the Law
15.  Turbo Fruits - Murder (mp3)
16.  Cold War Kids - Saint John
17.  Vernon Wray - Prison Song
18.  The Offspring - When You're In Prison

Weather Systems: A Summer Mix Series Mix

Every summer, Mr. Eades hosts his spectacular Summer Mix Series, a website project that collects enough user-submitted mixes to easily soundtrack your entire summer.  As I write this, there are nearly 100 mixes currently listed on the website, and I expect they'll keep trickling in until the project's end date of August 23.

This year, Michael challenged all mix-ers to be rather creative with their theming, which definitely sparked some excellent concepts - like Sounds Vintage, Don't Call It Inadequate, Kill Me Softly and Songs to Frag By.  And I definitely had trouble coming up with my own creative idea - I pretty much peaked with Whistle While You Work two years ago (which I still listen to pretty regularly) and was stumped when it came to another well-themed mix.

Weather Systems is the result of my eventual light bulb - a mix (kind of) about the weather. But instead of filtering down the 3,000 songs with "rain" in the title, I decided to go with all songs that actually include weather sounds - whether rain, thunder, or both.  My inspiration was two songs that are in pretty constant rotation around here - Paul and Linda McCartney's "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and one of my all-time favorite Spoon songs, "They Never Got You."

[ download .zip ]

1.  The Temptations - I Wish It Would Rain
2.  The Move - Flowers In the Rain
3.  Paul & Linda McCartney - Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
4.  Spoon - They Never Got You (mp3)
5.  The Kinks - Rainy Day in June (mp3)
6.  Cat Power - Say (mp3)
7.  The Smiths - Well I Wonder
8.  Beach House - Some Things Last a Long Time
9.  ELO - Rain Is Falling (mp3)
10.  The Ronettes - Walking in the Rain
11.  The Arcade Fire - Ocean of Noise (mp3)
12.  Moby - The Rain Falls and the Sky Shudders

Be sure to check out the rest of the submissions in the Summer Mix Series. And remember you still have time to submit your own!

Oh Oh It's Magic

Yup, so the new Harry Potter movie - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out tomorrow, and it's safe to say I'm psyched.  While I'm not going to see it at midnight, I AM skipping out on work tomorrow afternoon so I can catch a matinee (and also so I can participate in a day-long b-day celebration, but I'm the one who added wizardy fun to the day's festivities).

To get myself in the mood, I decided to listen to a few magical tunes, which turned into me throwing together a mix to share via twitter. (Are you following me on twitter yet, by the way? You should be - http://twitter.com/outtheother. I do awesome things like tweet Harry Potter mixes. And you know, let you know about shiz going on around town.)  The mix is pretty random and haphazard, but the tunes pretty much rock and I think it works.

1.  Harry and the Potters - "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!"
2.  Pilot - "Magic"
3.  Architecture in Helsinki - "The Owls Go"
4.  Paul McCartney - "My Brave Face"
5.  Double Dragon - "To Be a Hero!"
6.  The Cars - "Magic"
7.  Nina Simone - "I Put a Spell On You"
8.  Nick Drake  - "Magic"
9.  Bat For Lashes - "The Wizard"
10.  Steve Miller Band - "Cool Magic"
11.  Bay City Rollers - "Yesterday's Hero"
12.  Draco and the Malfoys - "Voldemort Is Awesome"

By Request: Gigax Mix

Soooo as most of my friends know, one of my favorite things in the world is introducing people to new music - which is basically why I'm both a DJ and a music blogger, of course.  But for friends, that tends to go a step above and beyond - I love to make personal recommendations, and share music, and make mixes that I think people will like based on their taste.

While at SXSW last month, my friend Jason Gigax (the tour manager for OtO faves How I Became the Bomb) and I started chatting - and I'm sure there was lots of drinking going on so I'm fuzzy on the details, but I think the gist of it was a conversation about new music, great bands at SXSW, and me offering to share with him some things I think he'd like.  Last week he sent me a note with some of his favorites, and here we are today with what I'm pretty sure is Out the Other's first officially published, made-to-order mix.

Just so you know, I went off of a list of favorites that included:  The Unicorns, Aqueduct, Built to Spill, Nick Lowe, OMD, Broken Social Scene, Hidden Cameras, Magnetic Fields, Arcade Fire, Crystal Castles, Figurines, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, Ra Ra Riot, and the Make Out With Violence soundtrack.  I chose some things that would appeal to a fan of those acts, some songs by artists that are standby OtO recommendations, and a good handful of brand new stuff I've been digging on lately.  Hopefully both Jason and you guys will dig it.

So here you go - the Gigax Mix.

[ download .zip ]

1.  Elvis Perkins - Doomsday
2.  White Rabbits - Percussion Gun (mp3)
3.  Doves - House of Mirrors (mp3)
4.  Handsome Furs - Evangeline
5.  Phoenix - 1901
6.  Maritime - Calm
7.  Empire of the Sun - Walking On a Dream (mp3)
8.  Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
9.  Menomena - Wet and Rusting
10.  Errors - Mr. Milk (mp3)
11.  The Dodos - Fools
12.  J. Tillman - No Occasion
13.  Grizzly Bear - Cheerleader
14.  Does It Offend You Yeah - Dawn of the Dead
15.  Professor Murder - Free Stress Test
16.  Yeasayer - 2080
17.  Thee Oh Sees - Enemy Destruct (mp3)
18.  Delta Spirit - Children

Monday afternoon extended mini-mix (part 24)

WAY too busy to blog.  Here's a mini-mix from recent shuffles instead.

***Ooh and a note - busy or not busy, tonight's show will go on, and the featured album will be Elvis Perkins in Dearland.  Tune in at 7!

Spoon - "Monkey Feelings" (from Sister Jack)
Mike Doughty - "Looks" (from Skittish)
Mobius Band - "You Don't Know How It Feels" (from Empire of Love)
Beck - "The New Pollution" (from Odelay)
Paul Simon - "Run That Body Down" (from Paul Simon)
Vampire Weekend - "Ottoman" (from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist)
The A-Sides - "Sidewalk Chalk" (from Hello, Hello)
The Features - "Contrast" (from Contrast)
The Beatles - "When I'm Sixty-Four" (from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Misha - "Weatherbees" (from Teardrop Sweetheart)

Beach Bound

Sheesh, have I really not posted a workout mix since June 2007?  That seems weird to me, because I always seem to have at least one in the works - and there are usually two or three gym-friendly playlists going on my iPod, as I tend to rotate tracks though as I fall in love with and then grow tired of them. And although I've been sick for a week and therefore skipping any activity that requires more effort than it takes to make a cup of tea, I have still been taking mental notes on everything new I've listened to this week, with an ear on whether it will motivate me on an elliptical or a run around the neighborhood.

Anyway, we'll remedy this right now with Beach Bound, the latest mix I've been rockin' to at the gym, because it's far too ridiculous and awesome not to share.  Clocking in at just under 35 minutes, the mix kicks off with a danceable ode to Christian Bale's freakout, and moves on to blasts from the past from Prince, Basement Jaxx, Hall & Oates, 69 Boyz and The Rolling Stones.  Plus there are a few newish tunes from Ladyhawke, Franz Ferdinand and Jensen Sportag thrown in for good measure.  It's a shorty but it kicks ass.

And why's this one called Beach Bound?  'Cause I started working on it the week I put down my deposit for a week in Florida later this year.  Nothing keeps you on the elliptical like the promise of sand, surf and sunshine.

[ download .zip ]

1.  The Mae Shi - R U Professional? (4 Xtian) (mp3)
2.  Ladyhawke - Professional Suicide (mp3)
3.  Prince - Erotic City (Morsy Mix)
4.  Basement Jaxx - Red Alert (mp3)
5.  Franz Ferdinand - Live Alone
6.  Oliver Dodd - I See You (Hall & Oates Private Eyes Remix) (mp3)
7.  69 Boyz - Tootsee Roll
8.  The Rolling Stones - Satisfaction (DiscoTech Remix)
9.  Jensen Sportag - Mapquest

The November Mix

Okay, we are 100% due for a new mix. I'm not going to get all fancy with the cover art and title and whatnot - this is just a collection of songs I've been digging on lately.  After being slightly underwhelmed by any and all newness that has crossed my path for a while, I decided the best thing to do was to take a step back and just fall in love with music again.

On that note, I'd like to present the November Mix.

[ download .zip ]

1.  Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance
2.  Badly Drawn Boy - Once Around the Block
3.  Radiohead - Palo Alto (mp3)
4.  Paul Simon - Peace Like a River
5.  M. Ward - So Much Water (mp3)
6.  1910 Fruitgum Company - 1, 2, 3 Red Light (mp3)
7.  The Concretes - Say Something New
8.  Soul Coughing - Sugar Free Jazz
9.  The Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait (mp3)
10. The Non-Commissioned Officers - No Means No
11. Devendra Banhart - Lover
12. Hal - Don't Come Running
13. Wilco - Hate It Here (mp3)
14. George Harrison - What Is Life