At the Mountains of Madness

Here is a playlist for you to listen to while reading the H. P. Lovecraft classic, At the Mountains of Madness. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent and what was found there by the explorers, which the narrator describes in the hope of deterring another expedition that is currently planned. 

The story has inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica’s place in the “ancient astronaut mythology”.

The songs of the playlist slowly devolve over time into dissonance and sadness to match the themes of the book.

Listen Now.

Autumn is Falling

I have to hurry and get this in before we run out of autumn. We are going for an autumn theme here. Suggest any songs that make you feel it is autumn. Maybe it has lyrics that talk about autumn specifically, or maybe it just makes you feel like you are in the woods with a jacket on, watching the leaves fall.

Also, if you think of any songs that specifically have to do with leaves, changing colors, or trees dying then send them our way as well. Maybe we will make one list that is generally autumnal and another that is more specific to the leaves theme.

My first suggestion is The Privateers by Andrew Bird:
"Now leaves have fallen, dear—I can see you're just a little privateer."

Summertime and the livin's easy

What songs make you feel like it's summer? They might talk about how you need to laugh when the sun is out, or how you are well qualified to represent the LBC. They might discuss the finer points of riding in the drop top with the top down or how if everybody had an ocean across the USA, then everybody'd be surfin' like Californ-I-A. Perhaps it feels like summer when songs point out how we frolicked in our summer skin, or implore us to protect, embrace, engulf—remember the summer in Abaddon. The lyrics could mention something summerish, or even just the sounds might feel like warm sunshine to you for some reason.

In summary, tell us the songs that make you feel summery.

PLAYLISTS
Summer Better Than Others
1. Aphex Twin – Fingerbib
2. MGMT – Kids
3. Janelle Monae – Tightrope
4. Sleigh Bells – Rill Rill
5. The Radio Dept. – Heaven's on Fire
6. Broken Social Scene – Swimmers
7. Phoenix – Rome
8. Jamie Lidell – Enough's Enough
9. Blackstreet – No Diggity
10. Jurassic 5 – Concrete and Clay
11. Beck – Que Onda Guero
12. Four Tet – Angel Echoes

Summer is the Champion
1. Beirut – Postcards from Italy
2. Typhoon – Summer Home
3. Kings of Leon – Ragoo
4. Amos Lee – Ease Back
5. The Decemberists – July, July!
6. The Morning Benders –  Promises
7. Weezer – El Scorcho
8. Local Natives – Sun Hands
9. Sonny & the Sunsets – Too Young to Burn
10. The Beatles – Good Day Sunshine
11. Laura Veirs – Summer is the Champion
12. Band of Horses – Infinite Arms

Summer Is Only Winter With You
1. The Shins – Kissing the Lipless
2. Yeasayer – Wait For The Summer
3. The English Beat – Mirror In The Bathroom
4. Reel Big Fish – Sell Out
5. Vampire Weekend – The Kids Don't Stand A Chance
6. Islands – Vapours
7. Modest Mouse – Ocean Breathes Salty
8. Pinback – Fortress
9. My Morning Jacket – Wordless Chorus
10. 311 – Prisoner
11. Surfer Blood – Floating Vibes
12. The Black Keys – Tighten Up

Leveling up.

You know how sometimes you really don't like a band or musician and then there is one song that makes everything fall into place? A friend of mine calls that leveling up. You know you should like them, but every time you listen to them you just don't get it. It's not because the band isn't good—it is because your ears aren't at a high enough level to understand the band yet. That is how Bob Dylan is for me. I know I should like him. I respect him. I understand the influence he has had. But I just never feel like listening to him. I keep him around on my iPod for the day when I level up and finally get it.

Let's name songs that ended up being the gateways into liking a band or musician. Maybe we hated them until that one song made us listen to them in a different way. Maybe we liked them already, but one song turning that liking into an obsession. My first one is "Fire On The Mountain" by the Grateful Dead. When I first listened to the Dead I hated them. But my friend's band (the awesomely named Donner Party) covered this song I thought it was great. I went and found that song and eventually found the album American Beauty and I have liked the Grateful Dead ever since.

What songs helped you level up to a band?

Automobiles.

Let's get real, get right. Everyone suggest songs that are car-themed in some way.

Have fun.

I will get things started with the song Car, by Built to Spill.

PLAYLISTS:
Reckless? Or Reckless?

Modest Mouse – Out of Gas

Cake – Stickshifts and Safetybelts

The Eagles – Life in the Fast Lane

Old 97's – Crash on the Barrelhead

Grateful Dead – Truckin'

The New Amsterdams – Asleep at the Wheel

Beck – Loser

Death Cab for Cutie – A Movie Script Ending

Cloud Cult – Car Crash

Radiohead – Airbag

The Flaming Lips – Mr. Ambulance Driver

Andrew Bird – A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left

It's a Speed Trap!

Cake – The Distance

Depeche Mode – Behind the Wheel

Jamiroquai – Black Devil Car

Big Star – Back of a Car

Kings of Leon – Camaro

Audioslave – I Am the Highway

The Arcade Fire – Keep the Car Running

Built to Spill – Car

Golden Earring – Radar Love

The Beatles – Day Tripper

Spoon – The Way We Get By

Belle & Sebastian – I Love My Car

Things are going to be different around here.

Ok, I am changing the format. Of this blog. From henceforth and until I change my mind again I am going have this space devoted to coming up with awesome playlists based on specific themes. So, every fortnight or so (or whenever the fancy overtakes me) I will throw out a theme and we can run with it.

Today's theme:
Insanity, murder and mayhem

Songs about murder, crime, criminals and general anarchic mischief.

Ready. Set. Go.

PLAYLISTS

Guns Don't Kill People. Bullets Kill People

Ben Kweller – On My Way

Blitzen Trapper – Black River Killer

The Raconteurs – Carolina Drama

The Beatles – Rocky Raccoon

Grateful Dead – Dire Wolf

Jimi Hendrix – Hey Joe

The Black Keys – Stack Shot Billy

Low – Murderer

Okkervil River – Westfall

The Decemberists – Shankill Butchers

Neko Case – Dirty Knife

Iron & Wine – Free Until They Cut Me Down

Smooth Criminal

The Decemberists – The Rake's Song

Bob Marley – I Shot the Sheriff

Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal

Beck – Girl

Oingo Boingo – Only a Lad

Yeasayer – Wait for the Summer

The Black Angels – Young Men Dead

Okkervil River – Piratess

Johnny Cash – Delia's Gone

Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Pinback – Shag

Radiohead – Knives Out

Fiona Apple – Criminal

October the Eleventh

Sunday: Talking About Money — Wye Oak
Monday: Jodi — The Dodos
Tuesday: Life's a Dream — Built to Spill
Wednesday: Good Ol' Boredom — Built to Spill
Thursday: Clover — Ramona Falls
Friday: Done — Built to Spill
Saturday: The Key — Speech Debelle