Spring Cleaning

As the title would suggest, the following mix was inspired by the changing of the seasons (more in theory than in practice at the time). So, for your listening pleasure, here is the Spring Cleaning Mix:

1. The Story of "The Rite of Spring" Pt. 1
2. Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most- Kat Edmonson
3. Springtime is the Season - of Montreal
4. Love Goes Home to Paris in the Spring - The Magnetic Fields
5. Spring 2008 - Architecture in Helsinki
6. The Story of "The Rite of Spring" Pt. 2
7. Month of May - Arcade Fire
8. Hummingbird - Imaginary Cities
9. The Story of "The Rite of Spring" Pt. 3
10. So Fresh, So Clean - OutKast
11. Keep It Clean - Camera Obscura
12. Coming Clean - We Are Scientists
13. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem

Clean up here.

Greatest Hits: The Senses

So, one morning as we were carpooling to work, we decided it might be fun to do a "greatest hits" series of carpool mixes where the pooler could pick a previous theme of their choice, and do their own version of it. So, here is my "senses" mix. As the previous pooler who worked on this mix mentioned, it was hard to find songs about the sense of smell! Anyway, from my point of view, this mix sounds like a good one. I can't put my finger on it, but if it was food, it would taste, and smell like something wonderful!

The Great Carpool Challenge Greatest Hits: The Senses
1. Pinball Wizard - The Who
2. I saw her standing there - The Beatles
3. Lookin' out my backdoor - CCR
4. Don't look back - Boston
5. Looking for a place to happen - The Tragically Hip
6. Eat my brain - Odds
7. Taste - Phish
8. That Smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd
9. Listen to the Music - The Doobie Brothers
10. (Listen to the) Flower People - Spinal Tap
11. Can't you hear me knocking - The Rolling Stones
12. Hear about it later - Van Halen
13. Oh What a Feeling - Crowbar

Listen to it here!

421: The Drug Mix

So, in honour of 420, I was given the theme "drugs". The mix was officially unveiled on April 21st (hence the name). Given that there is very little drug use in the music industry I really had to scrounge for tracks to use... Okay. So there was a literal plethora of tracks to choose from as drug use runs rampant throughout the music industry. What I enjoyed most about making this mix is that I was able to use several songs that I really like that I didn't realize were veiled (or not so veiled) drug references. In some ways I also found that kind of sad. Anyway, there are also some parody tracks thrown in for fun. After listening to this mix, I thought it was pretty good. Then I listened to it again, just to make sure. The next morning, I needed a hit of it again. Pretty soon, I couldn't start my day without listening, and I had to have a listen to end my day and before bed. Now I listen to it to relax and before heading out on the town.... I think I have a problem.

421: The Drug Mix

1. Sensimilla street
2. Because I got High - Afroman
3. I want a new drug - Huey Lewis and the News
4. Cocaine - Eric Clapton
5. Cocaine Cowgirl - Matt Mays & El Torpedo
6. One way Ticket - The Darkness
7. The Needle and the Damage done - Neil Young
8. Mr. Brownstone - Guns N' Roses
9. Hash pipe - Weezer
10. This is a call - Foo Fighters
11. I'm Waiting for the Man - The Velvet Underground
12. The Pusher - Steppenwolf
13. Casey Jones - The Grateful Dead
14. 30 Days in the Hole - Humble Pie
15. Let's go smoke some pot - Dash Rip Rock

Spark it up here

CP Challenge - Escape

Not much to say about this one...it begins with escapes from reality, then moves into more literal escapes. The two video game songs included come from games where escape is part of the back story of the game; for example, who knew when you were playing Arkanoid, you were actually trying to escape from a time-space distortion!

For a larf I also added a secret track to the CD that I played in the car, because one of the 'poolers was in a band that recorded a song called "Escape to the Cape". It's not in the zip file, but if you want to hear it, you can download their whole album HERE. And here is the tracklist for my mix:

01 Mike Sammes Singers - Heineken

02 Alan Feanch - Drunk Man Ballad

03 Cylob - What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?

04 Girlsareshort - Pinacolada

05 Beem - Don’t Bogart That Can, Man

06 Bibio - Puffer

07 Christian Fennesz - Codeine

08 Oval - Dream Over

09 Leafcutter John - Escape from the Globus Playpen

10 Martin Galway - Theme from Arkanoid

11 Rob Hubbard - Auf Wiedersehen Monty

12 Escapehawaii - Crusty Ghosts

13 Mike Vickers - Getaway Car

14 Alan Parker - The Free Life

15 Donnacha Costello - And I got Left Behind

Download and enjoy!

The Weaponry Mix

I'm not really sure how this theme came to be... or why the other poolers were thinking about weapons, but weaponry was the theme. There seemed to be plenty of tracks to choose from and I wound up leaving out several songs that I had thought I would use. I enjoyed making this mix as it allowed me to revisit some songs from bands that were favorites of mine back in high school. Nice to reminisce! During the process, I discovered that AC/DC has many songs that have themes of weaponry, and so, just to annoy some in the pool, I toyed with the idea of making an all AC/DC mix. And, just to prove that it can be done, I'm going to include it as a secondary play list. (I probably won't have time to include this list for download) Hope that you enjoy.

The Weaponry Mix

1. Weapon of Choice - Fatboy Slim

2. Goodbye Blue Sky - Pink Floyd

3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer - The Beatles

4. One Gun - 54-40

5. Bullet the Blue Sky - U2

6. Guns in the Sky - INXS

7. Gone Shootin' - AC/DC

8. Midnight Rambler - The Rolling Stone

9. I'll Believe in You (or I'll be leaving you tonight) - The Tragically Hip

10. Banditos - The Refreshments

11. God save the Queen - The Sex Pistols

12. Cortez the Killer - The Dave Matthew's Band ft: Warren Haynes

Get the mix here.... Draw!!

The Weaponry Mix: AC/DC alternate version

1. Gone Shootin'

2. Heatseeker

3. Fire your guns

4. Big Gun

5. Night Prowler

6. Jailbreak

7. Shoot to Thrill

8. Thunderstruck

9. Shot down in Flames

10. T.N.T.

11. The Razor's Edge

12. For those about to rock (we salute you)

CP Challenge - Construction

I thought this mix would be a lot easier than it was. There are so many words you could associate with construction: building, concrete, cement, bricks, sledgehammer, etc., but finding songs that aren't corny (read: Pink Floyd & Peter Gabriel) or so corny they're awesome again, proved to be difficult.

I also like some consistency in the mixes, so this one is kinda chunked into electronic, library electronic, then library, 60s rock, then current stuff/Rob Crow. The song titles definitely tell a story though.

01. Mars Production Library - New Homes

02. Maddalena Fagadini - Ideal Home Exhibition

03. Marcel Turkowsky - Another Dreamhouse

04. Pastels - Attic Plan (Mouse on Mars rmx)

05. Phil Young - Science and Industry

06. Ron Geesin - Industrial Jungle

07. Teddy Lasry - Economy

08. T&G Sadler - Metal (full)

09. Davies & Ried - Muscle and Heat

10. John Scott - Rock Breaker

11. Dave Gold - Manpower

12. Group 1850 - Steel Sings

13. Collectors - We Can Make It

14. The Left Banke - Men are Building Sand

15. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Lists, plans

16. Thingy - Blueprint

17. Other Men - Kind of Off to the Side a Bit

D-Load it here!

Plagiarism? I Wrote And Performed Each Of These Songs!

"Inspired" by a number of recent copy/paste indiscretions around our workplace this week's mix is focused upon plagiarism.

I personally would define plagiarism as "the wrongful appropriation, close imitation, or purloining and publication, of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, and the representation of them as one's own original work."[1][2] The modern concept of plagiarism as immoral and originality as an ideal emerged in Europe only in the 18th century, while in the previous centuries authors and artists were encouraged to "copy the masters as closely as possible" and avoid "unnecessary invention."[3][4][5][6][7]

The 18th century new morals have been institutionalized and enforced prominently in the sectors of academia and journalism, where plagiarism is now considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics, subject to sanctions like expulsion and other severe career damage. Not so in the arts, which have resisted in their long-established tradition of copying as a fundamental practice of the creative process, with plagiarism being still tolerated by 21st century artists.[8][9]

Plagiarism is not a crime but is disapproved more on the grounds of moral offence.[3][10]

I googled "indie rock blog mp3" and gave myself no more than 20 clicks of the mouse to "create" this "original" piece of "work".

I Wrote And Performed Each Of These Songs.

1. Braids – Lemonade
2. Shigeto – Bakers Blunt Basics
3. A-Trak – Trizzy Turnt Up
4. Twin Tigers – Everyday(Bear In Heaven Remix)
5. Lali Puna – Fast Forward
6. Kaki King – 2 O’Clock
7. The Tallest Man On Earth – King Of Spain
8. Jason Lytle – Yours Truly, The Commuter
9. Wavves – So Bored
10. Kaiser Chiefs – Never Miss A Beat (Yuksek Remix)
11. Tapes ‘n Tapes – Freakout
12. Local Natives – Sun Hands
13. Salim Nourallah– Western Hills

Get the mix here