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Going through my 3rd listen now.
1. The Standard - "Queen and Subject". I think this is my first time actually hearing this band. I'd heard of them and had them recommended to me but never actually listened to them. Anyway, it's a decent song, I suppose. Not crazy about the quavery, overly emotive vocals, and it doesn't quite hook me. It has a pretty good overall sound, though. Nicely thick and crunchy.
2. +/- - "Ill Advised". Now this sounds like quintessential early-'00s indie to me. Maybe it's because I actually listened to this a lot at the time but haven't actually pulled it out in the past several years. But it's definitely got that sort of quirky, glitchy production going on. Lots of different acoustic guitar parts abruptly edited in and out, busy percussion. I mean, I still like it, and I really need to revisit this +/- album. I really dug it at the time, and this is a reminder that I never really followed up on this band or their parent band, Versus.
3. Elk City - "Cherries in the Snow". Very New Pornographers type of sound here. It's OK, but I've never really been a New Pornos fan.
4. Internal/External - "The Skin". This also wears its year-2000 release date pretty openly. I can't quite place what exactly it reminds me of, but it has a pretty good deep groove going on. Sort of dark, paranoid, and disorienting. Not bad.
5. Tweaker - "Happy Child" (Featuring Will Oldham). Never heard Will Oldham do anything like this before, but maybe I can see why. This just doesn't quite work for me. The production seems kinda cheesy.
6. K. - "Reminder". Some cool things going on here musically. Seems to have more potential in the beginning than it ultimately lives up to, but I still like the playing throughout. Vocals are a little meh, but that's OK.
7. Libraness - "No Separation". I would never have guessed that this was the guy from Polvo. Sounds very Sebadoh-like. I like it.
8. Fleet Foxes - "Anyone Who's Anyone". I had no idea that Fleet Foxes had an EP that preceded Sun Giant, but thanks so much for pointing that out by way of this song. Right off the bat, the guitar intro here is great. This song is much punchier (almost Fleet Foxes with balls?) than their more well-known stuff. It's rollicking and fun. I downloaded that EP the other day, and I'm going to listen to it right after this mix. Again, thanks. (This is probably the highlight of the mix, too.)
9. The Black-Eyed Snakes - "Chicken-Bone George". Fuzzed-out blooze. Not really my bag. Fairly innocuous.
10. Cropduster - "Lower East Side Blues". Hm, I dunno. Just not very interesting, I guess. I can't really place who this singer sounds like, and it's kind of bothering me.
11. Tulsa - "Shaker". The mix starts to get a little boring around here. None of these songs are bad, but it's not the kind of thing I'd go out of my way to listen to. Although I can't really find any faults with this. I mean it's a little on the sleepy side, but that can be fine. The guitar is kinda nice. Somehow this reminds me of a more subdued Supergrass. Or a few parts of it do.
12. Sunless Day - "Wicked King Wicker". Again, it's not something I can really get into, but I have no real problem with it (that I can articulate).
13. Owls - "Everyone Is My Friend". Ah, Tim Kinsella. Thought I recognized that voice. I honestly like most of the stuff of his I've heard, but that isn't much (Cap'n Jazz and a few scattered things, almost no Joan of Arc). This sounds like exactly what it is, I guess. A more mature, polished, and restrained Cap'n Jazz. I like the squelchy guitar. The mix begins a brief recovery here.
14. Night Rally - "The Day That Devin Pissed Blood". Nice Slint-like bassline here. Pretty decent track. I like the sort of "cascading" ending. What's the story with this band?
15. Arson Welles - "Dead Satellites". Another one that reeks of the early '00s. This one in not such a good way. It's that stuttering percussion and the breathy vocals that date it, I guess. The synths are kinda nice when they take the foreground. The rest I could do without.
16. Atombombpocketknife - "The Unofficial Guide to Backstabbing". Good guitar on this one. Kinda math/emo/post... something late '90s, I dunno. Vocals/lyrics leave a little to be desired. I don't really like the chorus or the bridge, but the verses are pretty good.
17. Feral Children - "Jaundice Giraffe". I've got problems with that song title. I mean some of these have been pretty wacky, but shouldn't it be "Jaundiced" with a "d"? And giraffes are yellow anyway, haha, get it? Ugh. So... the song. The minimal build-up with all the "oo-oo-woo-oo"s is pretty neat. It'd be better if it went somewhere.
18. Schneider TM - "Reality Check". Are they saying "beware of the matrix"? I guess this is my first time hearing Schneider TM, but I've seen the name around. This is OK, overall. Again, kinda dated pretty clearly to the early '00s.
19. Kaada - "Go Brown". Hm. This kinda reminds me of some older Ninja Tune stuff, like Funki Porcini or something. It's pretty entertaining.
20. Swearing at Motorists - "Flying Pizza". Another band I've heard of but never actually heard. This is a little Weezer-y. Is this emo? It's alright.
All in all, a pretty enjoyable mix. There's a lot of stuff on here I wasn't familiar with before. Thanks for sending it me.
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