The Mixtape 6/12/09

Today's the day!!! Get digital or get lost in the technological shuffle. TV officially (finally) moves to the digital age today. Sure, it was supposed to happen in Februrary, but no one was ready. Hell, plenty of people still aren't, but change waits for no one.

As for The Mixtape, not too much in the way of change this week. Camera Obscura is on top for a second week with "French Navy." Grizzly Bear moves from #3-2 with "Two Weeks" and, wait...this just in...change is indeed present on this week's 'Tape. After entering last week at 23, Handsome Furs' "Radio Kaliningrad" leaps up to 3. It's so hard to deny one-half of the Wolf Parade sound. YACHT is this week's other new top ten entry at #9 with "Psychic City," up from #12 last week.

Spotlight Singles:

Radio Kaliningrad / Handsome Furs (#3)

Dan Boeckner is better known (at least in some circles) as half of the vocal duo that gives Wolf Parade its distinctive sound. With his wife, Alexei Perry, Boeckner moonlights as Hansome Furs. "Radio Kaliningrad" is off their second album, Face Control - a semi-conceptual piece revolving around the Russian practice of turning away bar patrons based soley on appearance, also known as Face Control. The song can't be denied. Boeckner's voice and the tune's moodiness evokes some of Wolf Parade's finest moments, and really, almost all Wolf Parade moments are F-I-N-E fine. My apologies for the Aerosmith reference for those who catch it. I swear I've heard the melody before. I just can't place it among the static.

21st Century Breakdown / Green Day (#7)

Granted, this song sounds better in the context of GD's album of the same name, but this song is a great summation of Billie Jo, Mike, and Tre's influences; spanning anthemic, stadium ready rock, Ziggy Stardust-esque ambition and emotion, skewed punk ala Flogging Molly and The Clash, and back to the stadium for a big finish, all the while sounding very Green Day. All within a five-minute window.

I Want You To Know / Dinosaur Jr. (#22)

Death and taxes aside, few things are a given in this life. As time has taught us all, one unavoidable inevitablility is the cylcic nature of nostalgia. It seems like we work in 15-2o year cycles. I'll save the details for a future post, but rock and roll is definitely looking back to the 90s right now as a touchstone for inspiration.

Silversun Pickups are what Billy Corgan wishes the Smashing Pumpkins still were. Camera Obscura draws from the same sense of timelesness that made Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs critical and fan favorites. Hell, Sonic Youth, Dino Jr, and Green Day, all on this week's chart, were all on a pre-internet version of The Mixtape 15 or so years ago. If you're too young to remember, check out Dirty, Where You Been, and Dookie respectively. They all still kill most of what passes for "alternative" these days. Or maybe I'm just nostalgic.

But back to Dinosaur Jr, this track sounds like J. Mascis and co. have a time machine that enables them to ignore each and every musical trend that's been born and faded away the last decade-and-a-half. Thankfully, "I Want You to Know" has the same slanted pop sensibilities peeking out behind walls of guitar aesthete that endeared "Feel The Pain" and "Out There" to a flannel-clad generation of Lollapalooza-goers in the early Nineties.

Have a great week and Kill Your Television! Or at least upgrade the dang thing. The economy sucks...there must be a sale somewhere. Here's this week's Mixtape:

1. French Navy/ Camera Obscura (2 weeks @ #1) iTunes MySpace
2. Two Weeks / Grizzly Bear iTunes MySpace
3. Radio Kaliningrad / Handsome Furs iTunes MySpace
4. It's Nice to Know You Work Alone / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
5. Summertime Clothes / Animal Collective iTunes MySpace
6. Rain On/ Woods iTunes MySpace
7. 21st Century Breakdown/ Green Day iTunes MySpace
8. Panic Switch / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
9. Psychic City/ YACHT iTunes MySpace
10. Catch and Release / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
11. Chillin' / Wale ft. Lady Gaga iTunes MySpace
12. Murder City / Green Day iTunes MySpace
13. Satellite Skin / Modest Mouse iTunes MySpace
14. Borderline/ Flaming Lips iTunes MySpace
15. Zero / Yeah Yeah Yeahs iTunes MySpace
16. Cheerleader / Grizzly Bear iTunes MySpace
17. Seaside / Kestrels iTunes MySpace
18. Walking on a Dream / Empire of the Sun iTunes MySpace
19. Skeletons / Yeah Yeah Yeahs iTunes MySpace
20. Kind of a Girl / Tinted Windows iTunes MySpace
21. From the Hips / Cursive iTunes MySpace
22. I Want You to Know/ Dinosaur Jr. iTunes MySpace
23. Devotion / Viva Voce iTunes MySpace
24. Statues / Clap Your Hands Say Yeah iTunes MySpace
25. Fire / Kasabian iTunes MySpace
26. Houses / Great Northern iTunes MySpace
27. Heavy Cross / The Gossip iTunes MySpace
28. Sacred Trickster / Sonic Youth iTunes MySpace
29. Raindrops / Basement Jaxx iTunes MySpace
30. Buddy / Iran iTunes MySpace
31. Dream City / Free Energy iTunes MySpace
32. 100 Little Curses / Street Sweeper Social Club iTunes MySpace
33. Since We've Been Wrong / The Mars Volta iTunes MySpace
34. Stay Wide Awake / Eminem iTunes MySpace
35. Kinda Like a Big Deal / Clipse ft. Kanye West iTunes MySpace
36. Now We Can See / The Thermals iTunes MySpace
37. Silver Among the Gold / Grand Archives (NEW) iTunes MySpace
38. Easy / Deer Tick (NEW) iTunes MySpace
39. It Ain't Gonna Save Me / Jay Reatard (NEW) iTunes MySpace
40. The End Is Near / The Fiery Furnaces (NEW) iTunes MySpace