She Can Say

I like to make the occasional mix CD, for a few reasons:

1. CDs do actually sound better in my car. My FM transmitter is convenient, but the sound quality isn’t as good as a CD. When I really want to jam a particular song, I need to burn a copy on CD to max out the quality.
2. A good mix CD stays fresh for a long time. I have a few fairly polished mixes that I keep in constant rotation. I’m not a big fan of completely random music because 9 times out of 10 the next random song is not one I want to hear.

I also have a few rules for making a mix CD that treat me well:

1. Make every mix as though it will be played at a party. Ask yourself: “would this song clear out the room?” or “would my CD get turned off when this song comes on?” Even if your mix will never get played at a party, I’ve found that the mixes I love the most are ones that live and die by this rule.
2. Don’t overstay your welcome. Just because a CD can hold more than an hour of music doesn’t mean your mix should be that long. I think the sweet spot is 12-13 songs and/or 45-50 minutes of music.

I was inspired to make a new mix tonight after hearing the absolutely fantastic theme song from HBO’s new show, How To Make It In America. It’s a song called “I Need A Dollar” by Aloe Blacc, and – wonder of wonders – Stones Throw has a free download of the song on their website. Run, don’t walk (digitally, of course) and get to downloading.

As for the mix, it’s called “She Can Say“:

I may continue tweaking it, but for now I think that it is at least presentable. If nothing else, it has some of my most favorite songs of the moment on it. Also, Lala may not let you listen to the whole thing, so let me know if you want to hear the rest of it.

A Finely Crafted Long-Player

I feel like my music collection is stuck in a bit of a rut lately. Nothing I’ve got on the ‘Pod is really catching my fancy and requiring constant listening and re-listening. The only real exception is Black and White Town by Doves, which is an absolutely fantastic song, but I am very much an album listener. I love nothing more than the ebb and flow of a finely crafted long-player. Don’t get me wrong – some great music has been released this year, but all of the albums I have on hand are feeling a bit stale. Any good recommendations?

A Belated Best Of

It’s a bit late, but I’ve decided to finally throw together my “best albums of 2008″ list. I spent too long thinking about it, and then spent some time procrastinating after that, and now it’s March of 2009 and I feel a bit silly. To make up for that, I’ve dug up representative videos for each album, some of them offical and some of them fan made (but interesting). All of these albums are still in heavy rotation on my iPod. 2008 was a good year for music.

2008 was also a good year for buying music on Amazon Mp3, which has become my digital music destination of choice simply because of the daily deals they have. For example, the newest Lily Allen album was $3.99 on the day it came out. I’ve also bought several pretty great albums for $1.99 a pop when they were on sale. Everything in the list below is available on the site, and a decent number of the albums are less than $10 to purchase.

My list and a collection of music videos follows after the jump…

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Losing Out

I absolutely love the production on this track. Both of Black Milk‘s albums so far are pretty solid, and I recommend them both.

Her Morning Elegance

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie.