Mixtape Monday (4): Holiday

I haven't had a lot of inspiration the past few weeks: I was busy finishing work and living my life (went to see Blur last Friday, OMG!, might write a bit about that later). The lovely weather inspired me to make this holiday/ summer mixtape, I hope you like it. I took some timeless classics (Alice Cooper is my standard end-of-year-yay-no-more-kids tune and I simply love Katrina & the Waves and the Kinks) and combined them with a bunch of personal favourites (such as the Dandy Warhols and Queens of the Stone Age).

You can find the list HERE

1. Queens of the Stone Age - Feel Good Hit Of The Summer
2. Alice Cooper - School's Out
3. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Let's Pretend It's Summer (luckily, we don't have to pretend!)
4. M. Ward - Here Comes The Sun Again
5. Allah- Las - Busman's Holiday
6. The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon
7. Magnus - Summer's Here
8. Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
9. Billie Holiday - Summertime (another classic!)
10. Vampire Weekend - Holiday
11. Yeasayer - Sunrise
12. Katrina & the Waves - Walking On Sunrise
13. The Decemberists - Summersong
14. The Dandy Warhols - Every Day Should Be A Holiday

Mixtape Monday (3): X

The theme of this mixtape was suggested by my friend Adrianne, who gave me the challenge of “X”. I interpreted that X in the following ways: kiss, cross, maths, quit and ‘unknown’. Of course, the first one is easiest, there are a lot of lovesongs around but I didn’t want a sappy tape ;)
You can find the playlist HERE

1. Robert Johnson – Crossroad Blues - Some good ol' blues!
2. Jamie Lidell – Multiply - I've always liked this song, especially in summer.
3. Bright Eyes – Nothing gets crossed out - I just love this song.
4. Eagles of Death Metal – Kiss the Devil - Because I love contrasts and this is such an awesome band.
5. Gossip – Heavy Cross - What can I say. Beth Ditto is amazing.
6. Elliott Smith – Waltz #2 (XO) - One of my favourite Elliott songs.
7. The Baseballs – Quit Playing Games - Because it's summer! (sort of).
8. Black Keys – Unknown brother - One reason: guitarssss.
9. Sixpence None the Richer– Kiss Me - Actually the first song that came up in my head. Lovely classic.
10. White Stripes – Black Math - This was my theme song for Maths in my final year at secondary school. I just didn't get it.
11. The Hollies - Jesus was a crossmaker - I like to listen to the Elizabethtown OST when driving, this is on it.
12. Queens of the Stone Age – You Can’t Quit Me Baby - I've been a QOTSA fangirl the past few weeks so they had to be on it. Killer Song!
13. Laura Marling – Cross Your Fingers - Another lovely contrast ;) Cute song.
14. Guillemots – Last Kiss - I think this is one of the few decent songs on their second album Red.
15. Horse Feathers – Elergy for Quitters - Beautiful little piece of music to close it off.

Well, I hope you enjoy it and I'd like to know your opinion/ suggestions for the next one! XO!

Mixtape Monday (2): lyrics

I’m a sucker for lyrics. I like listening to them, looking them up and I always want to know what someone's singing. This mixtape has a lot of "sad" songs, whenever I feel sad it's just good to know other people are worse ;)
It was hard to pick 15 songs, because there are so many good lyrics around. (And I've probably forgotten a lot of "classics"...)

1. Leonard Cohen – Avalanche “I stepped into an avalanche and it covered up my soul” --> gets me every time I hear it. Damn. Mr. Cohen is godlike.
2. Patrick Wolf - The Tinderbox “dark to one spark and I have your heart”. I love the fact it is about one of my favourite fairy tales :)
3. The Mountain Goats – Never Quite Free “It's so good to learn that from right here the view goes on forever/ And you'll never want for comfort, and you'll never be alone”. This song gives me hope.
4. M. Ward – Poor Boy, Minor Key. Just love the line “one day they’ll be as giants/ stronger than the sun/ but that day ain’t yet come”.
5. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the aeroplane over the sea. “how strange it is to be anything at all”. Jeff Mangum writes amazing lyrics. Fact. Listen to the entire album, it’s soooo good.
6. The Low Anthem – The Ballad of the Broken Bones “So my friends if you're worried / Don't worry about me /The grasses are green here /The winters are mild/ And the hunger is passing /It's just a sensation/ And over the world am I”(Reminds me of the movie Into The Wild)
7. Andrew Bird – Armchairs. One of the most cryptic songwriters I know, and I love the fact his lyrics can be interpreted in many ways. This song makes me tear up every time, and the image of “a cosmonaut of the space between our chairs” is just amazing.
8. Johnny Flynn – The Wrote and the Writ. Mr. Flynn is a true troubadour, a storyteller. This is his masterpiece!
9. The Tallest Man on Earth – The Gardener. Cool song about a guy who kills the new love of his girl and buries him in his garden ;) “Death will grow my jasmine”
10. Of Montreal – The Past is a Grotesque Animal “in its eyes you see/ how completely wrong you can be”. I once heard a live version of this song, it’s got a lot of lyrics but it just grabs you.
11. Mark Lanegan – Bombed. A perfect love song, in just 1:08. Marvellous.
12. Bowerbirds – the Ticonderoga. “Dreaming on my pillow – of high tide”. That’s been my motto for quite a while.
13. Megafaun – The Longest Day. Banjo FTW, but the lyrics are even more win. Perfect song for when you miss someone dearly.
14. Phosphorescent – Wolves. Another example of lyrics that can be interpreted in many ways. I like to think of a person who’s in trouble (mentally) and turns to someone (his mother, because that’s what we all do, don’t we?) for help. Mom knows best.
15. Bright Eyes – Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Loved and to be loved). Truly amazing (and political) song, from 2002 – when Conor Oberst still wrote decent songs ;) Don’t care much for his recent material.

Enjoy! You can find the Spotify list here.

Mixtape Monday (1): covers

I enjoy making mixtapes, but haven't done many in the past few years. I used to be active on a forum where we made anonymous mixtapes for each other and wrote reviews. Each round had its theme, and I found it a good opportunity to (re)discover my music library and find the perfect songs to match the taste of my 'victim'.

A couple of days ago I found one of those mixtapes (in the beginning we sent them through post, how DIY!) and I said to myself: there has to be a way to revive this on my blog! Of course, there are no "victims" in this case and making it anonymous would be hard (I don't want to do anything illegal by uploading a bunch of songs, at least I won't take any risks). So I decided to give myself a theme (feel free to give me suggestions!) and make a nice mix of songs. It's, of course, all my taste but I've really tried to include lesser-known bands.

The first theme I gave myself is "covers", since I was listening to a bunch of them when I came up with the idea of "Mixtape Monday" (I'm a sucker for alliteration, please forgive me...). I like covers that are completely different from the original, and I must admit that sometimes, I don't even know (or appreciate) the original ;)

The 'rules': a maximum of 15 songs, only 1 song per artist and it has to be on Spotify. Without further ado, here it is!

Cat Power – New York (Sinatra)
Band of Horses – Plans (Grizzly Bear)
Ryan Adams- Wonderwall (Oasis)
The Low Anthem- Home I’ll Never Be (Tom Waits)
M. Ward – Let's Dance (David Bowie)
Israel Nash Gripka – Revolution Blues (Neil Young)
Andrew Bird – Don’t Be Scared (Handsome Family)
Death Cab for Cutie – All is Full of Love (Bjork)
Tunng – The Pioneers (Bloc Party)
Johnny Cash – Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)
Imelda May – Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
Scissor Sisters – Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Phosphorescent – Reasons to Quit (Willie Nelson)
Under Byen – Er Jeg Din Mand (Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man)

I've got some other great covers I really want to share with you, but they aren't on Spotify..


Owen Pallett- Sweet Fantasy. Amazing Mariah Carey cover!


James Vincent McMorrow- Wicked Game (Chris Isaak). Don't care much for the original but this version breaks my heart

I hope you enjoy the mix I made! Let me know what you think and feel free to drop some suggestions below ;)