Mixtape 1: Early January 2005

1. Bright Eyes/Britt Daniel – Let the Distance Bring Us Together
2. Pixies – Bam Thwok
3. Animal Collective – Who Could Win a Rabbit (Video)
4. The Decemberists – On the Bus Mall
5. Ludacris – Get Back
6. The Zombies – The Way I Feel Inside
7. Neutral Milk Hotel – Song Against Sex (Stream)
8. TV on the Radio – Mr. Grieves
9. Radiohead – Palo Alto
10. Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel

* * * * *

I was only just getting into the hang of these things at this point. Most of these songs are also carry overs from 2004, because let's be realistic about this, I had two weeks in early January. I did, however, discover some invaluable techniques:

• Rap in the middle. People love it.
• You don't have to start huge. It's okay for the big riffy song to be second, or third. I see that now.
• If the centerpiece is in the center, you fucked up.

I remember making this and thinking that I would never ever top it, as a sort of snapshot of two weeks of my life. I was still coming off the high of seeing The Life Aquatic for the first time, and so there was the Zombies track. The Decemberists album had just leaked, and so there was "On the Bus Mall" (which I would later disown along with its album, but more on that in March). The TV on the Radio track combined my love for bizarre but gorgeous cover songs with that of the Pixies. I really did think it couldn't be topped. Of course, now I see it as this experiment's awkward but well-intentioned beginning.
They grow up so fast.