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I think 2010 is starting off with quite a bang for me.. Just got back from Cannes for MIDEM (still trying to recover from the hangover.. oof).

Anyway, this mix is quite.. um, lively, I think..

It starts off with Earworm’s tribute to the top 25 hits of 2009 — I can’t really stand that Black Eyed Peas song after the NRJ awards effectively hammered it into my head for hours on end, but the mashup itself is kinda catchy and a pleasure to listen to.

Caesar is an awesome track by Sting’s 19-year old daughter, “I Blame Coco” (whose name is strangely timely in light of all of the Leno vs. Conan stuff).

And then.. number 3, Brooklyn band Sleigh Bell’s “Crown On The Ground.” It’s a LOUD song. It sounds like the levels are mastered WAY too high, and actually sounds like your speakers are crapping out. But, for some strange reason, I love it.

So, as a palate cleanser, I thought M.A.G.I.C. was a nice choice — just picture unicorns floating across a rainbow filled sky as you listen to that one.

Dr. Rosen Rosen’s remix of Weezer is kind of awesome, but actually, all of his remixes are pretty incredible. I really didn’t mean for this mix to be all mashups and remixes, but I guess that’s just what I’ve been listening to a lot lately.

Ok, nobody really is reading this are they? Just go listen to the mix.

Enjoy.

Happy New Year everyone.. 2010 is well on its way, so I’ve put together a little mix to get it started… 2009 was an amazing year for new music. Whoever said that the digital age is killing music obviously isn’t actually out there listening to the stuff.

The year opened for me with a whole lotta Bon Iver, whose Blood Bank EP was an awesomely haunting way to open the new year. Then, pretty much most of my 2009 was spent listening to Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.. man, that entire album is insanely awesome. And then, just as 2009 was about to close, the xx stormed the scene.

2009 was also the year of the remix for me, aided with the hype machine, remixes (good AND bad) are flooding out more than ever. Yes, it takes time to sort through the crap to find the gems, but once you do, it’s quite rewarding. Also, if you haven’t heard the brazilian remixing duo, The Twelves, yet.. I highly suggest you go and check them out. Now.

Anyway, I’m rambling.. so, without further adieu, here’s my picks for best songs of 2009.

Enjoy.

As long as I have your attention, I might as well also list out the live shows that I saw for 2009:

• The Bird & The Bee @ The Independent
• rjd2 @ 103 Harriet and Vessel
• Toshio Hirano @ The Rite Spot
• Ratatat @ The Fillmore
• Band Of Horses @ The Fox
• Jason Reeves, Brendan James, Amber Rubarth @ Cafe du Nord
• Emilie Simon @ Le Poisson (NYC)
• Bon Iver @ The Fox
• Dawes (opening for Langhorne Slim, but I left after seeing Dawes) @ The Independent
• Joan As Policewoman @ Knitting Factory (Brooklyn)
• Friendly Fires & The xx @ The Independent

Not a bad take for this year, I suppose.. I got to see 2 of my top 3 acts of 2009 — Phoenix actually played the Warfield, but I refuse to go to that venue cuz I hate it.. yuck. Clearly, The Independent is my favorite place to go see shows this year (and I’ll be back there for Miike Snow soon). Strangely though, no shows at the Greek for 2009.. Weird.

Anyway — hats off to a super awesome musical 2009.

Happy New Year all.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Mine was spent with family up in Tahoe. After pigging out on Turkey with all of the fixin’s, we marked the official start of the holiday season by putting up the tree.. Nature cooperated by dusting Tahoe with a few inches of white, fluffy snow. Awesome!

And, to put the whole room in the mood, I played my xmas mix.. Yes, I had originally thought that last year’s xmas mix would be the last one, but people keep putting out new, fantastic renditions of holiday classics. Even Bob Dylan did a holiday album this year.. I love ya Bob, but.. um.. yah, not my favorite, sorry. Anyway, here’s this year’s mix:

1. 12 Days Of Christmas – The Bird And The Bee
2. Baby, It’s Cold Outside – The Trekky Yuletide Orchestra
3. All My Bells Are Ringing – Lenka
4. All That I Want for Christmas (Is to Give My Love Away)- The Rescues
5. Please Come Home for Christmas – Charles Brown
6. Come On Santa – The Raveonettes
7. Winter Wonderland – Jason Mraz
8. Christmas Day – RuRu
9. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love
10. Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming – Feist
11. I Heard The Bells – Desert Noises
12. Let it Snow – Her Space Holiday
13. Fa La Freezing – My First Earthquake
14. Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas – The Eels
15. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – The Pretenders
16. O Holy Night – Weezer
17. White Christmas – Jason Castro
18. Christmas Will Be Another Lonely Day – Brenda Lee
19. First Noel – My American Heart
20. Lonely Without You (This Christmas) – Mick Jagger
21. Kissin’ by the Mistletoe – Aretha Franklin
22. A Marshmallow World – Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin
23. O Come All Ye Faithful – Pomplamoose and Wade Johnston
24. Christmas Must Be Tonight – The Band
25. Silent Night – Sarah McLachlan

Anyway, if you want a cd/downloadable link — tell me and I’ll get it to you.

Previous years’ xmas mixes:

• 2008
• 2007

Happy Holidays!

So, I just posted my fall mix:

Track List:

Basic Space, by The xx
Fables, by The Dodos
HUNGRY, HUNGRY HIPPOS, by Harperactive
The Lucky Ones, by Tim Myers
Lisztomania (Classixx Version), by Phoenix
RadioheadChopin, by Jack Conte
Melody, by Kate Earl
I Want You To Want Me, by Damhnait Doyle
From South Carolina, by Her Space Holiday
I Don’t Know What To Do, by Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
Grey Skies, by Alexa Wilkinson
Fun Stuff, by Frightened Rabbit
Tired, by Adele
Exit Music (For a Film), by Vampire Weekend
Save Me, by Aimee Allen
Somewhere, by Vic Chesnutt & Liz Durrett
Psychic City (Voodoo City), by YACHT
Rome (Neighbors remix feat. Devendra Banhart), by Phoenix
When Will Be The End, by The Ethiopians

This one is quite mellow.. even the electronicky songs are kind of mellow. I suppose I’m in a mellow mood or something. And the other thing I noticed is how many covers are on this one. Maybe it’s cuz I just saw Joan As Police Woman on her “Cover” album tour. (Check out the CD that she signed for me). Anyway, there are a ton of covers on this mix — definitely check out “I Want You To Want Me,” it’s a great version. And yes, there are two Phoenix songs on this mix, breaking a cardinal rule that I have (don’t repeat artists on an album), but I also arguably have the same Radiohead song twice (Jack Conte and Vampire Weekend) and that’s an even bigger rule I’ve broken. But, rules are made to be broken, so whatever.

And yes, it’s that Scarlett Johansson.. Her new cd is.. ok. I blame Anna’s review for me buying her cd, but I like that track.

I was just chatting with Masnick last night about how much frikkin’ good music is coming out lately. I mean, I consume a lot of music as it is, but with sites like The Sixty One, RCRD LBL and Hype Machine, it’s getting easier to find awesome new music (and with SonicLiving, easier to see them live). Anyway.. this year has been awesome so far for music.

Next up.. the 2009 xmas cd.. I know you are waiting for it with bated breath.

Ok… I’ve been meaning to make a podcast out of this, but.. I’m lazy. So, here’s just the tracks..

clicky clicky: dennis’ august 2009 mix.

It opens with Lisztomania, by Phoenix, which you may recognize from the Brooklyn ratpack video that I posted awhile back. Damn, I love this song, it just gets me in a good mood every time. Cool in the Cool Way is a local band here in SF, made up of a bunch of my brother’s CMU classmates. Its video ironically bashes hipsters, which, in and of itself, is kind of inherently hipster. (Whoa, how meta.)

Moth’s Wings, by Passion Pit, and Velvet, by The Big Pink are two tracks that I found whilst listening to my favorite XM station, XMU. I still think that it was better when Toby was around, but whoever is running it now is getting better at finding good stuff. Except the lazy-voiced dude in the mornings. I can’t stand him.

Any one of my mixes is bound to be sprinkled with a liberal dose of female folky indie chicks, and this one is no exception. Blue Lips is one of my favorite tracks off Regina Spektor’s newest album, Far, and Bitter Heart by Zee Avi is a lovely tune sent to me by my friend Jason, who knows I’m a fan of this genre.

Definitely check out Blue Motorbike, by Moto boy, who I found through my work at Techdirt — we’re featuring some great things from Moto boy in the Techdirt Music Club that we’re currently selling, so go check that out. And buy it.

I was introduced to The Real Tuesday Weld by the movie Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist — their song, Last Words, was in the movie, and from there, and this track, It’s a Wonderful Li(f)e has that same dreamy, hopeful yet melancholy quality that I loved in Last Words. If you’re a fan of Indie music and Michael Cera, you should definitely go see Nick & Norah.

Quiet Little Voices is an epic post-rocky track from We Were Promised Jetpacks, from Scotland. Thick, luscious sound. Good. Hat tip to my friend, Ali, for this one. Kettering by the Antlers seemed to continue the epic tone that WWPJ had set, so I threw that in here as well. Closing out the triplet, and bringing us nicely back into a happier, lighter land, is Andrew Bird with Take Courage.

From there, Landon Pigg paints a light hearted picture of Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop — although if you’ve been to a coffee shop lately, I don’t know if that can really happen anymore, since everyone there seems engrossed in their laptops nowadays.

Wee.. music. Love it.

Update:

I just found another track that I’m going to add.. She & Him’s cover of the Smiths song, Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want. Zooey is da awesomes.

I gotta get my gimpy self to the movie theater and see 500 days of summer… in the meantime, this new music video will have to do.

sure looks like fun.

ps. if you haven’t checked out Phoenix’s new album.. you should, it’s good.

pps. and their site has a SECRET section.

And.. now that you’ve enjoyed the podcast, here’s the whole summer mix all of its sound and fury.

18 tracks ranging from electro-dancey-indie to folky-country to some old school ska to some classics.. yeehaa giddyup.

Enjoy. And, happy summer!!!

So it’s officially summer now, and that means that it’s time for yet another mix.. But, I decided to do something a little different this time and actually make a little podcast to accompany the mix.

Unlike the ska podcast that I did with Mike, this time I recorded the entire podcast in GarageBand, which actually worked out quite well. I picked 7 songs out of the 18 that are on the whole summer mix, since I wanted the podcast to be only about half an hour..

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, so maybe I’ll do some more..

Anyway.. I also am uploading my entire summer mix up to 8tracks, so after that’s done, I’ll post that, but for now, you have to listen to the podcast.

So.. years and years ago, I made my radio hosting premiere at WVBR in Ithaca, when I hosted “Ithaska” with Audris on a blustery Saturday night..

Masnick came over this weekend, and we recorded the third episode of his podcast..

Have a listen. I think the levels of the music are a little off, but oh well.. lesson learned for the next ones.. Masnick has the full set list on his site, but it was fun and now I’m inspired to record more podcasts..