My City's Still Breathing: A Bittersweet Night

Image Credits [L-R]: Rio and loulou of Polanoid.net

There was this one night where we ached for the city streets.

We all had places to be and parts of our lives that needed to be packed into boxes and labelled with black permanent markers, but we needed company more than cardboard. So we went out.

The street lights stared down at us. Someone brought whiskey and our stupid voices and soft drunk laughs bounced around the alleyways we shuffled through. We passed the bottle around, burning our lips that planted alcohol kisses on the warm cheeks of whoever happened to stand beside us. And we went on in this way; lipstick like loving warpaint smeared across our faces.

And sometimes when we had nothing to say, we made music. Humming. Running sticks along chainlink fences. Rapping the tops of metal garbage cans. Other times we merely fell into an agreed silence, listening to the sloppy footfalls around us.

We crossed paths with other night wanderers and shook their hands because we had all sunk into the same spacious midnight. We were all leaving trails behind us of bruised pavement and glowing breath.

But eventually the horizon began to show milky blue and the stars were slowly being erased by the oncoming day, so we started home.

People stumbled up porch steps, reduced to hands waving from inside doorways, breaking off like I was the shore and they were small, ebbing tides. I buried my face into the rough suede of a last friend's jacket and then released; watched the spark of yellowing room lights as he made his way through his house; then the last sparking in his bedroom window.

And I set off, alone, in the direction of my house -- hands deep in my pockets against the morning cold, the fresh ghost of a bittersweet night lost in the air above my head.

Left clicks, night wanderers.

Talking in Code by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's
Cindy by Ola Podrida
Where Gravity is Dead by Laura Veirs
Black Flowers by Yo La Tengo
Twilight by Elliott Smith
Saw You in the Wild by Great Lake Swimmers
NYC by Interpol
Echo Park by Joseph Arthur
Lay Lady Lay [Bob Dylan cover] by Magnet
Bright End of Nowhere by Matt Good
See You Soon by Coldplay
Have to Explode by Mountain Goats
Gold World by Aloha
The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel
Boys of Melody by Hidden Cameras **
I Go to the Barn Because I Like The by Band of Horses
Poke by Frightened Rabbit
Moments of Protest by The Remains of Brian Borcherdt
Capsized by Sarah Harmer
Left and Leaving by The Weakerthans


Thanks for stopping by,
Alie

** Check out the amazing take away show of this song which follows the gorgeous procession of the band and a crowd of hand-clapping, candle-holding luckies as they music their way along the Canal Saint Martin in Paris.

What a Folkin' Morning

Image Credit: SteveTilbury of Polanoid.net

This is a completely different feel than yesterday's post, but today I woke up and was in one of those phantom summer morning moods where I could lay in bed for hours, watching the soft light split itself into shafts through my blinds; where the oscillating fan at the end of my bed breathes through my thin August sheets; where the air is cool, but the scant layer of sweat across my forehead hints at a grass-burning, shimmering pavement kind of afternoon heat.

And on these mornings I always wish that I have a mix of quiet, lilting, mainly acoustic songs to accompany me as I waste time stretching and yawning languorously. So I made myself such a mix, to share with you.

Left clicks, sleepyheads.

Break of Dawn by The Wuffs
Pilgrim by The Long Goodbye
Place to Be by Nick Drake
Starting to Show by Jill Barber
At the Hop by Devendra Banhart
Keep it Clean by Camera Obscura
Rhythm by Page France
Star Mile by Joshua Radin
For the Widows in Paradise by Sufjan Stevens
Amory by Tom Brosseau


Thanks for stopping by,
Alie

In Which I Trip the Light Fantastic

I'm not sure if it's because a] I've finally succumbed to the bombastic bass-ladden pressures of hipshits, b] my friends and I have been having basement danceterias more often than usual, c] MGMT has opened my musical peepers or d] this particular genre has been sneaking vitamin Awesome shots, but over the past week I have developed a strange affliction, throwing me into a foreign land of re-whatevers, sunglasses at night and songs with brackets.

In short, Alie like dance music.

Left clicks, hipshits.

Vuvuvu by MSTRKRFT
Little Bit [Diego Chavex remix] by Lykke Li
Revolte at 22h10 by Danger
Skitzo Dancer [Justice remix] by Scenario Rock
Yeah Yeah [feat. Luciana] by Bodyrox
Dance With You [Twelves remix] by Black Kids
One More Time to Pretend [Immuzikation remix] MGMT vs. Daft Punk
Woman [MSTRKRFT remix] by Wolfmother
Haircutz by Pony Pants
D.A.N.C.E. [MSTRKRFT remix] by Jusice

And here's a couple from the lads that I suspected started me on this whole shaking-tail-feather-spin...

Kids
Of Moons, Birds and Monsters


Thanks for stopping by,
Alie

What the Mux, Mate?

This is probably old news, but I just happened across a cool website by the name of Muxtape.com.

So here's the basic idea in four sentences:

1] It's essentially a file hosting website that's formatted like an electronic mixtape,
2] There's a twelve song limit,
3] You can place the songs in whatever order you please, delete, and upload new songs as many times as you like, and
4] This isn't a downloading service; you can play the songs in the browser, but they will not be taking up residence in your computer.

It's super easy to make an account and the upload time is schpeedy.

That being said, I decided to make my own Muxtape, figuring that I'll probably change the tracklist every couple weeks or so. Mostly, the playlist will cover all the songs that I've been listening to a lot but don't necessarily feel like writing full posts about 'cuz I'm lazy.

RIDE OFF INTO THE MUXSET


Thanks for stopping by,
Alie