Xmas Tears--An Aggregatibacter Video Mixtape

These are some of my favorite depressing Xmas songs to balance out the Xmas cheer delivered in the last post.

Long Live Rock, Rock is Dead--An Aggregatibacter Video Mixtape

It's been a while since I did one of these Mixtapes. I've been listening to The Who all morning and want to start this with "Eminence Front." It's a risky way to start and this has the potential to become very corny, very fast. Let's just see where it goes...

Killing Yourself To Live Soundtrack: 85% Of An Aggregatibacter Mixtape

I was pretty sick for most of this month and one of the books I read while laying in bed bored out of my mind was Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself To Live: 85% Of A True Story. It's a tough book to put down. It's the story of a cross-country road trip Klosterman took while writing an article for Spin magazine about why death is often the best career move musicians can make. Along the way he meets up with, and contemplates his relationships with, the main loves of his life, snorts coke on the site of the Station fire where about a hundred rockers where killed by Great White's pyrotechnics, listens to all the KISS solo records, and recalls a story in which his brother broke a deer's neck with his bare hands. This is all while traveling to various sights where rock stars have kicked the bucket: Kurt Cobain's greenhouse, the farm where Lynrd Skynrd's plane crashed, the apartment where Replacement's guitarist Bob Stinson drank himself to death, etc. As a rock critic and record nerd, he talks about and listens to a lot of music along the way. He brought 600 records on the 2 week trip. What I like about rock critics is their ability to give the reader an idea of what a record will sound like by comparing the band's sound to a conglomeration of different culture artifacts that are simultaneouely important, well-known, and oddly related to this new work they are describing. I can't do this, which is why all my posts here have links to the records themselves and videos of songs from the records I talk about. Anyway, Killing Yourself To Live, shows cirtics not only do that with the records they review, but with every aspect of their lives. They compare girlfriends to certain songs or members of KISS, sum up the entirety of major terrorist attacks by going track-by-track through an album released before said terrorist attack occurs, compare their relationship to a town to Ozzy Osborne's relationship to Randy Rhodes. They see the world through music, often making very deep, truthful realizations by making absurd comparisons. To make this point, I've chosen some of the more ridiculous songs referenced in the book. Klosterman writes about hundreds of songs, albums, and recording artists in the book. I chose one song that was specifically mentioned in each chapter to make this "soundtrack" to the book. I usually picked the silliest track mentioned, but not exclusively. Sometimes I picked a song that really summed up the events of the chapter, or that effectively created an image, or that I just liked a whole lot. Oddly, as I look over the track list, very few of these songs were written by the dead artists who were the subject of the article he was researching as the events chronicled in the book take place. Many are songs he used to describe ex-girlfrends and most are just off-the-wall references that paint a perfect picture of whatever it is he's trying to describe at the time. If you decide to read the book while you read this, you may find yourself comparing it to High Fidelity, but KYTL is a much better book with a much stranger soundtrack.

Chapter 1: Bodies--The Sex Pistols

Chapter 2: I Can't Explain--The Scorpions

Chapter 3: Jolene--Dolly Parton

Chapter 4: Chantilly Lace--The Big Bopper

Chapter 5: My Drug Buddy--The Lemonheads

Chapter 6: Crazy in Love--Beyonce (feat. Jay-Z)

Chapter 7: Downtown--Petula Clark

Chapter 8: Sit Down, Stand Up--Radiohead

Chapter 9: Hollywood Nights--Bob Seger

Chapter 10: Rock Me Amadeus--Falco

Chapter 11: Camel Walk--Southern Culture On The Skids

Chapter 12: More Than Words--Extreme

Chapter 13: I Don't Want To Know--Fleetwood Mac

Chapter 14: Bastards of Young--The Replacements

Chapter 15: Dancefloors--My Morning Jacket

Chapter 16: Stay With Me--Faces

Chapter 17: Trampled Under Foot--Led Zeppelin

Chapter 18: New York Groove--KISS (Ace Freehley Solo Album)

Chapter 19: Lithium--Nirvana

Chapter 20: Something in the Way--Nirvana

Buy Book.

For the Birds--An Aggregatibacter Mixtape

Love-->Building on Fire--Talking Heads

Nice Weather for Ducks--Lemon Jelly

Battered Old Bird--Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Details of the War--Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

More Yellow Birds--Sparklehorse

Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days--Sunset Rubdown

Birdie Hop--Sid Barrett

News--Tune-Yards

Surfin' Bird--The Trashmen

Birdfeed--The Cramps

Blue Bird--The Rosebuds

Guess I'm Doin' Fine--Beck

Story of Isaac--Leonard Cohen

Blackbird--Magnolia Electric Co.

His Eye Is On The Sparrow--Fred Lowery

Chicken Yiamas--Von Sudenfed

Chin Chin & Muck Muck--Devendra Banhart

You're A Big Girl Now--Bob Dylan

Old Black Crow--Michael Hurley

Get Together--The Youngbloods

When Doves Cry--Prince

Big Bird In A Small Cage--Patrick Watson

Trembling Peacock--Destroyer

Pigeon--Maps & Atlases

Lonesome Hunter--Timber Timbre

Little Bird--Eels

Journey of the Featherless--Cloud Cult

Doves--The Black Angels

Blue Bird--Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions

Leaving The Nest (It's A long Way Down)--Benjy Ferree

Birdland-Patti Smith

Jockey Full Of Bourbon--Tom Waits

April 13th, 2007--Paleo

Flamingo Baby--Violent Femmes

Gather, Form and Fly--Megafaun

Swan, Swan, H--R.E.M.

If You Want To Be A Bird (Bird Song)--Holy Modal Rounders

The Youtubes & The Tweetsters--An Aggregatibacter Viral Video Mixtape

I should me doing homework, so of course I'm wandering around on an endless chain of related (and not quite related) YouTube videos. Here are some of the highlights of my trip. It starts with a top hat and a harmonica and it ends with a top hat, a harmonica, and a gun.

Cool Water (For Monica)--An Aggregatibacter Mixtape

Across America: 50 Songs about 50 States -- An Aggregatibacter Mixtape

This is a cross-country musical road trip for anyone who wishes they were on the road, but is stuck in front of a computer instead. Or for those lucky people who really are on the road with a iPhone wired up to the car stereo. There are also two talking tracks I couldn't help but add. Track list below.

Alabama-It's Hard to be Humble (When You're from Alabama)-Phosphorescent

Alaska-Anchorage-The Church

Arizona-Yuma-Justin Townes Earle

Arkansas-Arkansas-Damien Jurado

California-California Zephyr-Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar (Lyrics by Jack Kerouac)

Colorado-Denver-Clem Snide

Connecticut-Kylie from Connecticut-Ben Folds

Florida-Florida-Vic Chesnutt

Georgia-West of Rome-Sparklehorse (Vic Chesnutt cover)

Hawaii-Rock-A-Hula Baby-Elvis Presley

Idaho-Idaho-Inara George and Van Dyke Parks

Illinois-The Giant of Illinois-The Handsome Family

Indiana-Indiana-Cymbals Eat Guitars

Iowa-Sioux City-The Jayhawks

Kansas-Kansas City-Wilbert Harrison

Kentucky-Kentucky Bourbon-Murder By Death

Louisiana-Mardi Gras in New Orleans-Professor Longhair

Maine-Maine Island Lovers-Okkervil River

Maryland-Baltimore-The Tamlins

Massachusetts-Girlfriend-The Modern Lovers

Michigan-Motor City is Burning-MC5

Minnesota-News from Central Minnesota-The State

Minnesota-X-Mas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis

Mississippi-Tupelo-Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Missouri-Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey-Little Richard

Montana-The Red Headed Stranger-Willie Nelson

Nebraska-Nebraska-Bruce Springsteen

Nevada-Viva Las Vegas-Dead Kennedys

New Hampshire-New Hampshire-Sonic Youth

New Jersey-Jersey's Where it's At-Belle & Sebastian

New Jersey-A More Perfect Union-Titus Andronicus

New Mexico-Albuquerque-Neil Young

New York-Shattered-The Rolling Stones

North Carolina-Nirvana-Tom Waits (Lyrics by Charles Bukowski)

North Dakota-Hard Travelin'-Woody Guthrie

Ohio-Ohio-Devo

Oklahoma-Oklahoma, USA-The Kinks

Oregon-Portland-The Replacements

Pennsylvania-Allentown-Billy Joel

Rhode Island-RI is Famous for You-Blossom Dearie

South Carolina-Carolina Drama-The Raconteurs

South Dakota-Reno Dakota-The Magnetic Fields

Tennessee-Memphis in June-Nina Simone

Texas-Dallas-Silver Jews

Utah-The History of Utah-Camper Van Beethoven

Vermont-Moonlight in Vermont-Captain Beefheart

Virginia-East Virginia Blues-Gob Iron

Washington-Seattle, Washington-Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

West Virginia-I Wanna Go Back to West Virginia-Spike Jones & His City Slickers

Wisconsin-Wisconsin-Bon Iver

Wyoming-Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans-Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart

Sun-Drenched Weekend -- An Aggregatibacter Mixtape

I really should be sleeping or doing homework, but instead I've wasted the evening making this mix tape. I hope somebody out there enjoys it. Just a few sunny (and not-so-sunny) songs to go with this beautiful weather.

Leave a comment if you like it...or even if you hate it...is there anybody out there?

Tracklist below...

Tracklist:

You Can Never Hold Back Spring-Tom Waits

Lovely Day-Alex Chilton

Fat Old Sun-Pink Floyd

Hello Sunshine-Damien Jurado & Richard Swift

Sun-Donovan

Rainbows-Dennis Wilson

Maui Chimes-Mike Hanapi

Lay Back In The Sun-Spiritualized Electric Mainline

Bustin' Surfboards-The Tornadoes

Surf City (Revisited)-The Black Angels

Tropicalia-Beck

Sad Vacation-Johnny Thunders

The Mermaid Parade-Phosphorescent

Gulf Shores-Bonnie "Prince" Billy

Summersong-Roy Orbison

Deadbeat Summer-Neon Indian

Summertime-Girls

Beach Foam-Future Islands

Sunday Beach Mambo-Charles Iwebue & His Archibogs

Secret Picnic Spot-Beat Happening

Seasonal Delicacies-Andrew Graham & Swarming Branch

Ice Cream Man-The Modern Lovers

Melted-Ty Segall

Kauoha Mai-Sol Hoopi

Blue Corolla-Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

County Fair-Bruce Springsteen

Saints-The Breeders