Yearly Mix, Part III
This is a continuation of Yearly Mix, Part II, a new song mix where every track represents a single year. That post covered up to 1999; for the full list you can view all of them together at wetz.net.
We Ought To Find a Better Nickname
- 2000 - Elliott Smith - Figure 8 - Can't Make a Sound
- 2001 - Old 97s - Satellite Rides - Nervous Guy
- 2002 - Weezer - Maladroit - Slob
- 2003 - My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves - Steam Engine
- 2004 - Gomez - Split the Difference - These 3 Sins
- 2005 - Gorillaz - Demon Days - Feel Good Inc.
- 2006 - The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers - Steady, As She Goes
- 2007 - Son Volt - The Search - Circadian Rhythm
- 2008 - Radiohead - In Rainbows - Reckoner
- 2009 - White Rabbits - It's Frightening - Percussion Gun
The decade starts off strongly, both in quality and plenty of diverse genres and sounds. While I would listen to any of the leftover songs, I had to go with a track off one of my favorite albums. It's not unusual for it to stay in my car (which has a CD player! Remember those?) for months at a time. That said, it was incredibly tough passing on the Bragg + Wilco track, as that's one of my favorite songs (the lyrics are worth a read).
As the Old 97s have become one of my favorite bands of late, I certainly wanted to include them in the fun. This meant leaving off Ben Folds first solo album; ack.
2002 is a bit of odd favoritism: I left out one of my favorite albums (Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) because I used them a few years earlier. Similarly, Weezer's best album (the blue one) came out in 1994, and there was no way it was going to beat out Jeff Buckley's album. So, even though I prefer their earlier albums, I still slot in Weezer here. But I do really like this song so it's not a total wimp out, I swear.
The next year goes back to a favorite album of mine, so I can't really complain. I suppose “Seven Nation Army” is more iconic, however I rarely play it anymore in part because it's now a common stadium song at sporting events. Besides, in a few years I include one of Jack White's many bands.
I finally get Gomez on the mix, which of course I was trying to do every year they had a release. Other quality songs released that year, but had to get them in and this seemed like the best fit.
Next up is Gorillaz; still love how weird and quirky they are, fake cartoon band and all. I went with the happy song, rather than the sort of dark spoken word one that I also really like.
Hey look, it's a Jack White band! If I'm not mistaken, this was around the start of him playing with 50 different bands a year and releasing new albums every 37 days. Either way, the chosen track is a nice little catchy pop song.
After that it's back to trying to fit in a band I've listened to for ages; I first picked up Son Volt as a used CD back in college and then rediscovered them once I got into Wilco. Tough call as that left off Spoon and other tracks I might have otherwise used.
And finally I get to include Radiohead.
The decade closes out with a lively band that I like; it's a great psych up song.
Leftovers
- 2000 - Billy Bragg and Wilco - “Remember the Mountain Bed”, Radiohead - “Optimistic”, North Mississippi Allstars - “Po Black Maddie”, David Gray - “Babylon”, “My Oh My”, and “Say Hello Wave Goodbye”, The Jayhawks - “I'm Gonna Make You Love Me”, “Pretty Thing”, and “Mr. Wilson”, Strangefolk - “Sinner” and “Walnut”, Barenaked Ladies - “Baby Seat”, Q-Tip - “Vivrant Thing”, Erik Truffaz - “Sweet Mercy”, Lucy Pearl - “Dance Tonight” and “Can't Stand Your Mother”, Phil Roy - “Melt”, Nelly Furtado - “I'm Like a Bird”, Gov't Mule - “Bad Little Doggie”, Linkin Park - “In the End”, Clem Snide - “Messiah Complex Blues”, Coldplay - “Trouble” and “Yellow”, Steve Earle - “Lonelier Than This”, No Doubt - “Ex-Girlfriend”, St. Germain - “Rose Rouge”, The Ominous Seapods - “Thought About It”, Nickel Creek - “Ode To A Butterfly”, Phish - “Heavy Things” and “Sand”
- 2001 - The Actual Tigers - “Standing By”, “Bourgeios Blues”, Ben Folds - “Rockin’ the Suburbs”, “The Ascent of Stan”, “Fred Jones Part 2”, “Not the Same”, Radiohead - “Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box”, “I Might Be Wrong”, Gorillaz - “Clint Eastwood”, Cake - “Meanwhile Rick James…", “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”, Jude - “Indian Lover”, “I Will Not Die”, Clem Snide - “Moment in the Sun”, Gov't Mule - “Soulshine”, Action Figure Party - “Everybody Ready”, David Mead - “Girl on the Roof”, Jeffrey Gaines - “Your Town”, System of a Down - “Chop Suey!", The Strokes - “Last Nite”, Scapegoat Wax - “Aisle 10 (Hello Allison)", Puddle of Mudd - “She Hates Me”, John Mayer - “No Such Thing”, Ryan Adams - “New York, New York”, Weezer - “Island In The Sun”, Spoon - Girls Can Tell album, Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales album, Tool - Lateralus album, Jay Farrar - Sebastopol album, Zero 7 - Simple Things album, The Shins - Oh, Inverted World album, Crystal Method - Tweekend album, Pete. - Pete. album, Duncan Sheik - Phantom Moon album, North Mississippi Allstars - 51 Phantom album
- 2002 - Wilco - “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”, “Jesus Etc.", “I'm the Man Who Loves You”, “Heavy Metal Drummer”, Beck - “Paper Tiger”, Gomez - “Shot Shot”, Red Hot Chili Peppers - “By the Way”, Norah Jones - “Turn Me On”, “I've Got to See You Again”, Coldplay - “Green Eyes”, Richard Julian - “Please Rene Not Now”, “Your Friend John”, Audioslave - “Cochise”, The Streets - “Let's Push Things Forward”, Queens Of The Stone Age - “No One Knows”, Clem Snide - “Nick Drake Tape”, “Uglier Than You”, Citizen Cope - “Salvation”, “Let the Drummer Kick”, The Roots - “The Seed (2.0)", Maroon 5 - “Secret”, Reel Big Fish - “Somebody Loved Me”, “Drunk Again”, Talib Kweli - “Get By”, Nickel Creek - “Spit On A Stranger”, Bruce Springsteen - Rising album, Trey Anastasio - Trey Anastasio album, David Poe - Late Album album, Duncan Sheik - Daylight album, Steve Earle - Jerusalem album, The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots album, Soulive - Next album, Spoon - Kill the Moonlight album
- 2003 - Damien Rice - “Delicate”, “Volcano”, “Cheers Darlin’", Jack Johnson - “Taylor”, “Wasting Time”, “Rainbow”, Nada Surf - “Hi-Speed Soul”, “Killian's Red”, Galactic - “Bongo Joe”, “Paint”, Tribe of Ben - “Mr. Grey”, The Bad Plus - “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Death Cab For Cutie - “We Looked Like Giants”, Josh Ritter - “Kathleen”, The Bens - “Just Pretend”, Ben Folds - “Protection”, “All You Can Eat”, Travis - “Quicksand”, “Beautiful Occupation”, Blink 182 - “I Miss You”, Ben Harper - “Amen Omen”, Ziggy Marley - “Dragonfly”, “True to Myself”, “Good Old Days”, Eastmountainsouth - “You Dance”, “Rain Come Down”, White Stripes - “Seven Nation Army”, Black Eyed Peas - “Hey Mama”, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Maps”, Nelly Furtado - “Build You Up”, Radiohead - “There There”, “Go to Sleep”, “A Wolf at the Door.", Keller Williams - “Love Handles”, Nick Cave - “Bring It On”, North Mississippi Allstars - “Eyes”, “Never in All My Days”, The Jayhawks - “Save It for a Rainy Day”, “You Look So Young”, “Tampa to Tulsa”, Clem Snide - “All Green”, Blur - “Brothers and Sisters”, Jeffrey Gaines - “To Be Free”, “Come Out Tonight”, Soulive - “Azucar (remix)", Joe Jackson - “Fairy Dust”, “Bright Grey”, The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow album
- 2004 - Wilco - “Theologians”, “Handshake Drugs”, Modest Mouse - “Float On”, Jeff Buckley - “Forget Her”, The Avett Brothers - “At the Beach”, Steve Earle - “Home to Houston”, Simple Kid - “Staring at the Sun”, Ambulance LTD - “Anecdote”, “Sugar Pill”, Green Day - “American Idiot”, Sonia Data - “Moons of Jupiter”, Citizen Cope - “Sideways”, “Bullet and a Target”, G. Love - “Back of the Bus”, Ben Folds - “Rent a Cop” (from EP), William Shatner - “Together”, “I can't get behind that”, Beastie Boys - “Right Right Now Now”, Elvis Costello - “Button My Lip”, Jackie Greene - “Sweet Somewhere Bound”, “Don't Mind Me I'm Only Dying Slow”, Jamie Cullum - “All at Sea”, Phantom Planet - “Badd Business”, “Jabberjaw”, Phish - “Undermind”, The Black Keys - “When The Lights Go Out”, “The Lengths”
- 2005 - Death Cab For Cutie - “Soul Meets Body”, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark”, Spoon - “I Turn My Camera On”, “My Mathematical Mind”, Jackie Greene - “Sweet Somewhere Bound”, “Don't Mind Me”, “I'm Only Dying Slow”, The Mars Volta - “The Widow”, Jack Johnson - “Never Know”, “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing”, Josh Rouse - “Sad Eyes”, Nada Surf - “Blankest Year”, My Morning Jacket - “Dondante”, Clem Snide - “Jews for Jesus Blues”, “Weird”, Ben Folds - “Jesusland”, “Landed”, Ben Taylor - “Nothing I Can Do”, Emiliana Torrini - “Sunny Road”, Erin McKeown - “Delicate December”, Ingrid Michaelson - “The Way I Am”, Kathleen Edwards - “Back to Me”, Matt Costa - “Behind the Moon”, Mike Doughty - “Busting Up a Starbucks”, “White Lexus”, North Mississippi Allstars - “Bang Bang Lulu”, Queens Of The Stone Age - “Tangled Up in Plaid”, Son Volt - “Bandages & Scars”, System of a Down - “Lonely Day”, “BYOB”, Beck Guero album, Bruce Springsteen - Devils & Dust album, Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine album, Weezer - Make Believe album, Common - Be album, Tim Seely - Funeral Music album, Audioslave - Out of Exile album, Josh Ritter - Hello Starling album
- 2006 - Ray LaMontagne - “Three More Days”, “Empty”, Ben Harper - “Never Leave Lonely Alone”, “Better Way (War Mix)", Guster - “Satellite”, “The Captain”, Damien Rice - “9 Crimes”, “Coconut Skins”, Alexi Murdoch - “Orange Sky”, Beck - “New Round”, Jude - “Save Me”, Gomez - “Notice”, “See the World”, “Tear Your Love Apart”, Grizzly Bear - “On a Neck, on a Spit”, Citizen Cope - “Back Together”, Cold War Kids - “Hang Me Up to Dry”, Jack Johnson - “We're Going to Be Friends”, Rodrigo y Gabriela - “Tamacun”, KT Tunstall - “Black Horse And The Cherry Tree”, The Strokes - “Juicebox”, The Black Keys - “Just Got to Be”, “Goodbye Babylon”, The Wood Brothers - “One More Day”, Gnarls Barkley - “Crazy”, Matt Costa - “Cold December”, Josh Rouse - “His Majesty Rides”, Golden Smog - “Listen Joe”, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - “Toothbrush And My Table”, Audioslave - Revelations album, Band of Horses - Everything All the Time album, G. Love - Lemonade album, Gov't Mule - High & Mighty album, Heartless Bastards - All This Time album, Hotel Lights - Hotel Lights album, Jose Gonzalez - Veneer album, Josh Ritter - The Animal Years album, Jackie Greene -American Myth album, Nelly Furtado - Loose album, Punch Brothers - Punch album, Thom Yorke - The Eraser album, The Decemberists - The Crane Wife album, John Mayer - Continuum album, Mars Volta - Amputechture album
- 2007 - Ian Ball - “Failure”, Ryan Bingham - “Southside Of Heaven”, Spoon - “Don't Make Me a Target”, “The Underdog”, White Rabbits - “Kid On My Shoulders”, “The Plot”, The Shins - “Sealegs”, Jose Gonzalez - “Killing for Love”, Ben Harper - “In The Colors”, Josh Ritter - “To the Dogs or Whoever”, “Right Moves”, “Wait for Love (You Know You Will)", Iron & Wine - “Boy With A Coin”, KT Tunstall - “Hold On”, “Beauty Of Uncertainty”, Steve Earle - “Jericho Road”, Wilco - Sky Blue Sky album, Elliott Smith - New Moon album, Galactic - From the Corner To the Block album, The Subdudes - Street Symphony album, Feist - The Reminder album, Band of Horses - Cease to Begin album
- 2008 - Annie and the Beekeepers - “Sad Boy”, “Someone Else”, Ben Folds - “You Don't Know Me”, The Raconteurs - “You Don't Understand Me”, My Morning Jacket - “I'm Amazed”, “Librarian”, “Look At You”, The Wood Brothers - “Walk Away”, “Don't Look Back”, “Twisted”, Blind Pilot - “The Story I Heard”, Brett Dennen - “Make You Crazy”, The Felice Brothers - “Whiskey in My Whiskey”, “Frankie's Gun!", “Don't Wake the Scarecrow”, Cold War Kids - “I've Seen Enough”, Death Cab For Cutie - “I Will Possess Your Heart”, Delta Spirit - “Trashcan”, Gary Louris - “To Die a Happy Man”, Vampire Weekend - “A-Punk”, Ingrid Michaelson - “Be Ok”, “You and I”, Kathleen Edwards - “Buffalo”, “Sure As Shit”, “Scared At Night”, Priscilla Ahn - “Astronaut”, “Lullaby”, Lykke Li - “Little Bit”, TV On The Radio - “Golden Age”, “Crying”, Matt Costa - “Mr. Pitiful”, “Lilacs”, Ray LaMontagne - “I Still Care For You”, Dr. Dog - Fate album, Hotel Lights - Firecracker People album, Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The Static album
- 2009 - Grizzly Bear - “Two Weeks”, “Ready, Able”, “While You Wait for the Others”, The Felice Brothers - “Run Chicken Run”, “Penn Station”, Annie and the Beekeepers - “Again and Again”, Arctic Monkeys - “Crying Lightning”, Assembly Of Dust - “Second Song”, Gomez - “Airstream Driver”, Monsters of Folk - “Temazcal”, “Baby Boomer”, The Dead Weather - “3 Birds”, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - “The Golden Age”, Mumford & Sons - “White Blank Page”, “Little Lion Man”, Wilco - “Bull Black Nova”, The xx - “Crystalised”, “Infinity”, Oasis - Don't Believe the Truth album
What's a CD Again?
- 2010 - Josh Ritter - So Runs the World Away - The Curse
- 2011 - The Black Keys - El Camino - Little Black Submarines
- 2012 - Anders Parker, Will Johnson, Jay Farrar, Jim James - New Multitudes - Fly High
- 2013 - The Head And The Heart - Let's Be Still - Cruel
- 2014 - TOO MANY ZOOZ - F Note - F.W.S
- 2015 - Punch Brothers - The Phosphorescent Blues - Julep
- 2016 - Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial - Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales
I really like Josh Ritter and wanted to fit him in somewhere, anywhere. As it worked out, I was able to use this song: it is a beautiful waltz with a heartbreaking story.
The Black Keys earlier albums were completely stripped down, while El Camino kicked up the production a bit. I like it. Worth noting my friend Christopher Brown makes an appearance on the leftover list with his quite humorous track “The Monkey Wouldn't Do It”. If you live around Westchester, check him out live as he's playing local shows pretty consistently.
2012 had a lot of quality, so this was not an easy choice. The Punch Brothers’ album is my favorite overall and initially I had picked the opening track, but I ended up using them later on which let me switch them out for another single that I really enjoy. “New Multitudes” is a super group of sorts, with at least two of the names being “super”: the leads for Son Volt and My Morning Jacket.
2013 is interesting because the leftover list definitely shrinks. My guess is that's because I stopped commuting, so I simply wasn't exposed to nearly as much music as before. It's also possible it was a dud year! Well, in volume. Still some really good music being made.
2014 kind of proves that I'm either getting lazier with tracking leftovers for the mix, I missed out on a lot of music, or some combination thereof. Hm. It's also possible I stopped listing just about everything and only included more important albums/songs. Anyway, like many folks I discovered TMZ on someone's youtube video taken in the NYC subway; the quirky baritone sax and stripped down sound had me immediately. It's hard not to love horns.
After that I went with the aforementioned Punch Brothers’ track; a nice little story that just sweeps you along.
The closing track is a rocking epic. I'm not sure if I entirely get the reference, but you get to scream angrily during the track so it's cathartic. So that makes it a nice ending.
Leftovers
- 2010 - Carney - “There She Goes”, “Think Of You”, Old 97s - “Every Night is Friday Night (Without You)", Local Natives - “Wide Eyes”, “Camera Talk”, “Cards & Quarters”, Dr. Dog - “Shadow People”, “Mirror Mirror”, “It”, Spoon - “Got Nuffin”, Ray LaMontagne - “For The Summer”, Ben Folds - “Your Dogs”, Broken Bells - “The High Road”, “Vaporize”, Delta Spirit - “Scarecrow”, Vampire Weekend - “Cousins”, Junip - “Howl”, Massive Attack - “Paradise Circus”, Guster - “What You Call Love”, Ryan Bingham - “The Poet”, “The Weary Kind”, Punch Brothers - Antifogmatic album, Band of Horses - Infinite Arms album, Clem Snide - The Meat Of Life album
- 2011 - Starfucker - “Hungry Ghost”, The Black Keys - “Little Black Submarines”, Ari Hest - “Business of America”, Ben Ottewell - “Chicago”, Gomez - “I Will Take You There”, “Options”, Hotel Lights - “Headboards and Aspirin”, My Morning Jacket - “Circuital”, “The Day Is Coming”, The Boxer Rebellion - “Locked In The Basement”, Iron & Wine - “Rabbit Will Run”, The Head And The Heart - “Cats and Dogs”, “Ghosts”, “Lost in My Mind”, Christopher Brown - “The Monkey Wouldn't Do It”, They Might Be Giants - “Cloisonné”, “Can't Keep Johnny Down”, Wilco - “Art of Almost”, Childish Gambino - “Heartbeat”, Jayhawks - Mockingbird Time album, Cage the Elephant - Thank You, Happy Birthday album, City and Colour - Little Hell album, Old 97s - The Grand Theatre, Vol. 2 album
- 2012 - Punch Brothers - “Movement and Location”, “Don't Get Married Without Me”, BFF - “Do It Anyway”, The Avett Brothers - “I Never Knew You”, Divine Fits - “Would That Not Be Nice”, Jack White - “Freedom at 21”, Shugo Tokumaru - “Katachi”, Childish Gambino and Beck - “Silk Pillow”, Grizzly Bear - Shields album, Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself and Hands of Glory albums, Dr Dog - Be the Void album, Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel… album, Band of Horses - Mirage Rock album, Gary Clark Jr. - Blak and Blu album, The Lumineers - The Lumineers album, Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls album
- 2013 - Trombone Shorty - “Dream On”, Dr. Dog - “Broken Heart”, Local Natives - “Ingrid”, The Avett Brothers - “Vanity”, San Cisco - “Awkward”, Mazzy Star - Seasons Of Your Day album, Eels - Wonderful, Glorious album, Josh Ritter - The Beast in Its Tracks album, Junip - Junip album, Cage the Elephant - Melophobia album
- 2014 - Nickel Creek - “Hayloft”, Spoon - They Want My Soul album, Beck - Morning Phase album, Broken Bells - After the Disco album, Old 97s - Most Messed Up album, Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso album, Rodrigo y Gabriela - 9 Dead Alive album, Sean Watkins - All I Do is Lie album, Ben Ottewell - Rattlebag album, The Afghan Whigs - Do To The Beast album
- 2015 - Josh Ritter - “Getting Ready to Get Down”, Modest Mouse - “Lampshades on Fire”, Elle King - “Ex's & Oh's”, Jose Gonzalez - Vestiges & Claws album, Death Cab For Cutie - Kintsugi, Lucky Chops - “Behroozi”, Wilco - “Cold Slope”
- 2016 - Andrew Bird - “Capsized” and “Left Handed Kisses”, Jeff Buckley - “Calling You”, TOO MANY ZOOZ - “Kings Avenue” , The Lumineers - Cleopatra album, Wilco - Schmilco album, A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service album, Chris Staples - Golden Age album
Conclusion
So that's it! Not much feedback yet; I'm curious what people think, as there are so many directions you could go.
I suppose worth noting that if I picked a song for 2017 so far, I'd be tempted to go with either Spoon or Dr. Dog… but so far my favorite track of the year is from Old 97s, so I don't know!