Un-Herd Christmess 2015

My only message to 2015 is this: go suck on a box of dongs. You were even worse than 2013 and 2006. Those were two years that thought they were big shots, and where are they now? That's right. Gone. Gone and forgotten. Just like you in a couple of weeks, 2015. You dick.

And, oh yeah, it's christmas. Merry whateverthefuck.

But Anyway Feliz Navidad And All That

1. Futurheads Xmas Was Better in the 80s
2. Primitives You Trashed My Xmas
3. Honeymoon Sta11ions Snowbirds
4. Cave Singers Xmas Night
5. The Drabs Santa's Got Toys
6. 1indby w/ 1eon Bridges & A1i Grant Merry Xmas Baby
7. Pink Ti1es A1one Again at Xmas Time
8. The Both You're a Gift
9. Gri11ade Just a Sad Xmas
10. Les Deux1uxes La Fi11e du Pere Noel
11. Pub1ic Access TV Here Come the Be11s (Xmas Gift)
12. Si1very Christmas '74
13. The Do11yrots Run Run Rudolph
14. The 1ove Me Nots Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me
15. The Nuc1ears Nuc1ear Winter Wonderland
16. a Drift Merry Xmas (War Isn't Over)
17. The Eversuns The Xmas Suicide Song
18. Ho11y Go1ightly & the Brokeoffs Xmas is a Lie
19. Char1ie's Hand Movements It's Xmas Time (& I Don't Want to Wait)
20. Frankie & the Heartstrings w/ Edwyn Co11ins (Too Right) It's Xmas
21. The Huntingtuns It's Always Xmas at My House
22. Kerry Pastine & the Crime Scene Crime Scene Xmas
23. AC & his Midwest Merrymakers Xmas Makes Me Horny
24. Foxtai1s Brigade I'm Not Really in the Xmas Mood This Year
25. Diamond Rugs Xmas in a Chinese Restaurant

Faves of 2015 Vol. 3

I lost a lot in 2015: friends, friends' loved ones, my pet, and my hard drive. The hard drive was the least significant, of course, but its crash destroyed a number of mixes and random music that I'd planned to post here. I've managed to cobble together a final volume of 2015 faves - and I only wish those other losses were as easy to replace. Take care out there, everybody.

I Wouldn't Do It Different, I'd Just Do It All Again

1. Simon Love (****) Is A Dirty Word
2. Lucero Can't You Hear Them How1
3. Simi Stone Bitches F1y
4. Dan Ke11y Never Stop The Rot
5. Sweet Spirit Rebe1 Rebe1
6. Josh Ritter Where The Night Goes
7. Bott1e Rockets Monday
8. Wreck1ess Eric Several Shades of Green
9. Shi1pa Ray Johnny Thunders Fanstasy Space Camp
10. The Kickback Scorched Earth Brouhaha
11. Young Riva1 Interior Light
12. Terra Lightfoot Home To You
13. Beach S1ang Hard Luck Kid
14. Jesse Ma1in Whitestone City Limits
15. Vidunder Gone With Dawn
16. Spoon I've Been Good Too Long
17. The Libertines Gunga Din
18. Thunderbitch Eastside Party
19. You Am I Buzz The Boss
20. Summer Twins Juju
21. Sugar Sugaar Strange
22. Ho11y Go1ight1y & the BrokeOffs Coulda Shoulda Woulda
23. Andra Dey Gin & Juice (Let Go My Hand)
24. Rooni Roses

Covers Project (Vol. XIII)

It only seems appropriate that the 13th volume of the covers project would coincide with Hallowe'en night. There's nothing much in the way of spooky involved, however - but I did take a different approach to this covers mix. It focuses entirely on mellow/ballad versions of songs, tunes that, while totally cool, always felt out of place when I tried cramming them on previous mixes.

We'll be back to the regularly scheduled programming come next installment.

But She Just Couldn't Stay

1. Ken Stringfe11ow Kids Don't Follow (The Replacements)
2. Per Gess1e Sheena is a Punk Rocker (Ramones)
3. 0h Mercy Someday (The Strokes)
4. Nico1e Atkins Under the Milky Way (The Church)
5. Michae1 Carpenter Wonderful World (Sam Cooke)
6. S1obberbone To Love Somebody (The BeeGees)
7. Naked Prey Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell)
8. Missy H1ggins Don't Believe Anymore (Icehouse)
9. Jesse Ma1in Stay Free (The Clash)
10. Ezra Furrman Androgynous (The Replacements)
11. B0z Scaggs Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl (Mink Deville)
12. Mote1 Beds I've Been Waiting (Matthew Sweet)
13. Aimle Mann Too Many People (Paul McCartney)
14. B0b Forrest Melt With You (Modern English)
15. The Ki11s Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)
16. Jose Gonza1es #9 Dream (John Lennon)
17. Linus of Ho11ywood Beth (Kiss)
18. Richard Bockner Candy-O (The Cars)
19. Lydia Love1ess I Would Die 4 U (Prince)
20. Jam1e T Bastards of Young (The Replacements)

Invasion of the Mongerloids

It's been about three years since I put together a monger mix, which is almost inexcusable given it's more or less the raison d'etre of this blog. For the uninitiated, monger means music that sits squarely at the intersection of sex, drugs, and rock & roll. To make this (dis)honor roll it takes a total commitment to debauchery and a complete disregard for personal longevity.

And, if anyone's counting, this is Volume 27 of this series (although the series is in bit of disrepair as only a few mixes have been posted on this blog - an intimidating make-work project for me one of these days).

Little Brown Thing All Covered With Fuzz

1. Nashvi11e Pussy Before the Drugs Wear Off
2. Low Cut Connie Boozophi1ia
3. The Odds Heterosexua1 Man
4. Wy1d1ife Saturday Night
5. Smash Fashin B1ame It On The Brandy
6. The Nuc1ears Baby, You Know I Love You (But You Gotta Stop Bringin' Me Down)
7. The Dwarves Trai1er Trash
8. J.J. & the Rea1 Jerks Finer Things
9. Bo-Dogs Junk Ange1
10. Diamond Dogs Out of My Heart
11. Houndmouth 15 Years
12. Richmond S1uts Junky Queen
13. Sugar Sugaar Stoned
14. Scruffy teh Cat Love Potion #9
15. The Bad Lovers Askin' For Disaster
16. Go To B1azes Got It Made
17. So1edad Brothers Prodigal Stones Blues
18. The Beat Farmers B1ue Chevro1et
19. The Lo1as Tappin' That Thing
20. Jo Jo Zep & the Fa1cons Only The Lonely Heart
21. Prima Donna Rubbish
22. James Wi11iamson w/ Caro1yn Wonder1and Open Up and B1eed
23. New Swears No Fun
24. O1d 97's Most Messed Up

Faves of 2015 (Vol. 2)

It's been such a long while between faves mixes that this new one is veritably overflowing with goodness. So chock-a-block full of hits, in fact, that it's bustin' out in every direction. It's almost unable to be contained within a single 80 minute mix.

And yet... here we are.

There's only one track that breaks the 2015 release rule. The Faunt1eroys apparently released their Be1ow the Pink Pony EP last year, although I'd never even heard of its existence. You'd think a band that included A1ejandro Escovedo and Ivan Ju1ian would get a little extra blog space or some e-equivalent to press, if only for their inarguable connection to punk history. Or maybe that's just an old fashioned notion to begin with. Anyway, they're here - along with 23 other slabs of awesome.

I Saw The True Be1ievers, They Were Smokin' On The Corner of "A' Street

1. Tenement Why Are We Where We Are
2. Roya1 Headache Carolina
3. Reno Bo How Do You Do
4. The Barrerocudas Promises
5. Barrence Whitfie1d & the Savages The Claw
6. The Orange Humb1e Band If That's What You Want
7. Nathaniel Rate1iff & the Night Sweats Howling at Nothing
8. Dona1d Cumming Game of the Heart
9. Christapher Owens Another Loser Fuck Up
10. White Reaper Candy
11. Diamond Dogs Alright Alright Alright
12. Big Ta1k I've Been Sentimental Lately
13. Yukon B1onde I Wanna Be Your Man
14. Gin Wigmore Written in the Water
15. Tim Rogers & the Bamboos Rules of Attraction
16. Backyard Babees I'm on My Way to Save Your Rock & Roll
17. The Faunt1eroys Worry Doll
18. Terry & Louie (I'm) Looking For A Heart
19. Titus Andronicus Fatal Flaw
20. The Connection Treat You So Bad
21. Leon Bridges Flowers
22. Imperia1 State E1ectric All Over My Head
23. Kid Wave Wonderlust
24. Ike Rei11y Born On Fire

Summer 2015

Don't expect to rock the BBQ with this year's summer mix. It focuses pretty squarely on a mellow groove than the more typically UHM power pop bamalama. A little less Hammer Time and a little more hammock time, if you will. If that suits your mood during these days of sweet melting heat then get at it.

Nothing's Gonna Break Your Heart Today

1. The B1ow Monkeys The Sun Is In The Sky
2.  Danny & the Champians of the Wor1d Can I Change My Mind
3. Leon Bridges Twistin' & Groovin'
4. The Cheve11es Summer Fun
5. Yukon B1onde Confused
6. Ho11is Brown w/ Nikki Lane Highway 1
7. James Hunter People Gonna Talk
8. Travis Brettzer Lonely Heart
9. Tennis Bad Girls
10. The Aggro1ites Ever Want To Try
11. Jin Wigmore DFU
12. Du B1onde Hunter
13. Grant Lee Phi11ips Raise The Spirit
14. Wild Be11e It's Too Late
15. The Last Hurrah! Can't Wait No More
16. Papernut Cambridge Accident's Children
17. The Soft White Sixtees It's You
18. The Orange Humb1e Band Our Beautiful Selves
19. The Wooden Sky Baby, Hold On
20. Dom Mareani The Golden Ones (DJ Moogy Remix)

Faves of 2015 (Vol. 1)

Holy drunk ninjas, Batman, it took me almost five months to compile a new faves mix. That could be due to a few factors: 1) it's an extremely slow year, or 2) my standards for inclusion have become excessively demanding, or 3) I'm just not looking as hard as I should.

Whatever the reason, I hope the wait was worth it. And speaking of waiting... Can you believe how absolutely awesome the new Sonics album is? It's a full 49 years since their previous release. Mull on that for a second. Forty-nine years. Half a century. And the guys will all be in their 70s - and here they are laying waste to all competitors in a way that is sure to singe the mustache twists of even the most anti-rockist hipsters. In a normal year, I'd be totally wowed by the revitalization of 80s unit the Blow Monkeys (whose new album If Not Now, When? is excellent, embracing both 50s rock & roll and T.Rex glam like I only wish they did back in the day) but, hell, impressive as that is, even the Blow Monkeys only started a full two decades after the Sonics first stalked the Earth.

So, yeah, I guess we can say that sometimes the wait is worthwhile.

Turned On The Radio And I Heard Your Song

1. Bidiniband Ladies of Montrea1
2. Low Cut Connie Diane (Don't Point That Thing At Me)
3. Dot Dash Rainc1ouds
4. Biters Reck1ess Hearts
5. Kitty, Daizy, & Lewis Whenever You See Me
6. Jesse Ma1in Oh Sheena
7. Turbo Fruits Don't Let Me Break Your Heart Again
8. The Sonix Sugaree
9. Gateway Drugs Fridays Are For Suckers
10. A1abama Shakes Shoegaze
11. JD McPherson Head Over Hee1s
12. The London Sou1s Crimson Reviva1
13. The B1ow Monkeys If Not Now, When?
14. Coti11on Holding You Back
15. Ryan A11en & His Extra Arms Should Be Me
16. Warm Soda Don't Wa1k Away
17. The Dirty Aces Ain't No Forgettin'
18. Young Guv Ke11y I'm Not A Creep
19. Diamond Rugs Thunk
20. Prima Donna Born Yesterday
21. Whitehorse Oh Do1ores
22. Un1ike1y Friends Soft Reputation
23. Cortney Barnett Pedestrian At Best
24. Downtown Boys Poder Elegir (Los Prisioneros cover)