Good Weather For Airstrikes

[cover design adapted from Waking Ashland]

M3 Volume 3 was conceived of and released in the premature warmth of late March last year and V3 was the first volume to focus on a specific idea or feeling: the transition between winter and spring and the feelings of happiness that are automatically associated with such a time. All of these songs have a decidedly warm-weather, springtime feel about them, and all work together to create a mix perfectly reflective the mood of early spring.

The mix opens with A.C. Newman’s excellent “Miracle Drug”, which moves on into “Graceland”, a gem of a b-side from his full-time band, The New Pornographers. Next up is The Decemberists’ “16 Military Wives” the lead single from their album Picaresque, which had just been released at the time. A pair of Rilo Kiley-related tracks follow; “My Slumbering Heart”, an often-overlooked highlight from the band’s 2002 release, The Execution of All Things, and “A Time For Emily”, by The Elected, the side project of RK guitarist and back-up vocalist Blake Sennet. The Arcade Fire keep things moving with “Rebellion (Lies)”, easily the warmest song on Funeral, which flows into the album’s pinnacle, Ted Leo’s flawless “Timorous Me”, which hints at shades of summer with its down-home guitar strumming and Blues Traveler-esque sound. Snow Patrol and Eels round out the mix’s second half, but it’s album-closer “Sweet Child ‘O Ravi” that steals the show. The least known, and – as a result – most underappreciated song on the album, “Sweet Child ‘O Ravi” is my favorite mash-up of all time, in which DJ Lenlow takes the soothing piano of Norah Jones, speeds it up, adds an energetic percussion rhythm, and then transplants onto it the infamous guitar riff from Guns ‘N Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine”, creating an instrumental masterpiece of sheer exuberance and delight.

Download: M3 Volume 3 [follow link]

M3 Volume 3:
01. “Miracle Drug” – A.C. Newman
02. “Graceland” – The New Pornographers
03. “16 Military Wives” – The Decemberists
04. “My Slumbering Heart” – Rilo Kiley
05. “A Time For Emily” – The Elected
06. “Rebellion (Lies)” – Arcade Fire
07. “Timorous Me” – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
08. “Spitting Games” – Snow Patrol
09. “Fresh Feeling” – Eels
10. “Sweet Child O’ Ravi” – DJ Lenlow (Norah Jones vs. Guns ‘N Roses)

[Polar Bear adapted from Threadless]

M3 Volume 2 shares some major similarities with OC Mix 4. I’m really sorry about this, I assure you it was unintentional. Around the time that I began working on V2 I was seriously into The OC, and I had gone on a downloading binge trying to get all the songs from the second season, and in the process of that I discovered a lot of great new songs, a couple of which ended up on M3 Volume 2 and subsequently, OC Mix 4. The mix opens with Bloc Party’s incredible “Little Thoughts”, which at the time was still considered a rarity, as it was excluded from the UK release of Silent Alarm and wasn’t released in the US until Silent Alarm saw a domestic release in late March of that year. Two tracks from OC Mix 4 follow, “Cartwheels” by The Reindeer Section (the side project of Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody), and Flunk’s otherworldly “Play”. Next up are two electro-pop gems, Postal Service b-side “Be Still My Heart”, which would later see release on the We Will Become Silhouettes CD-single, and Imogen Heap’s immaculate “Goodnight and Go”, another track introduced to me by The OC and music supervisor Alex Strapstavas. The album reaches its pinnacle with Phoenix’s “Run Run Run”, before moving through Shins’ b-side “When I Goose-step” and onto Radiohead’s indie classic, “High and Dry”. Ben Fold’s incredible cover of Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit” offers another highlight, before things are closed out with Death Cab’s flawless and beautiful “Blacking Out The Friction”. Though M3 Volume 2 was probably the least well-received of the M3 collection, it’s still a great mix and entirely worth the download.

Download: M3 Volume 2 [follow link]
MP3s:
01. “Little Thoughts” – Bloc Party
02. “Cartwheels” – The Reindeer Section
03. “Play” – Flunk
04. “Be Still My Heart” – Postal Service
05. “Goodnight and Go” – Imogen Heap
06. “Run Run Run” – Phoenix
07. “When I Goose-Step” – The Shins
08. “High and Dry” – Radiohead
09. “Bitches Ain’t Shit” – Ben Folds
10. “Blacking Out The Friction” – Death Cab

So here it is, the one that got everything started: M3 Volume 1, from way back when life was still simple, when each M3 only carried ten tracks of audio ecstasy and I could still fit secondary graphics on the back cover. For a while, I viewed M3 Volume 1 as my Mona Lisa - that is, a work of mixtape art that I’d never again be able to meet or surpass, though I think I may have at least come close with M3 Volume 5. But back to the matter at hand - M3 Volume 1 has it all. You’ve got classics in “Staring At The Sun” and “New Slang”, the latter a more-obscure live performance featuring heavily-bearded folk god Sam Beam (known to the common folk as Iron & Wine) on backup vocals. However, you’ve also got your rare gems like Ty Cobb’s “When You Smile” (the original version of what became “Smile” after Ty Cobb changed their name to Mad Action), and Iron & Wine’s immaculate “Swans and The Swimming”. The latter is from Beam’s 9-20-02 recordings, a collection of songs he recorded on a 4-track recorder (in September of 2002, hence the title of the recordings) and ultimately used to get signed to Sub Pop. Another incredible song that can be considered somewhat of a rarity is “Couches In Alleys” by Styrofoam, featuring vocals by Ben Gibbard. Gibbard shines on this track, unleashing some of his most impressive lyrics to date. The lyrics are an allusion to Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, hence the “Hey Jack, it’s me” lyric. In interviews Ben has said that On The Road is his favorite book, and “Couches In Alleys” serves as a fine tribute to it. In the song he relates to the listener his attempts to leave his problems behind, just as people leave their old couches in alleys, and just as the couches become “rain-soaked and rotten” so too do his problems, as no matter what he always has to come back to them and face his demons; they won’t just go away. But that’s enough summary for one song, there’s plenty more to love on M3V1.

Granted, the passage of time has stolen some of the freshness from M3 Volume 1. “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead”, “Goodnight Goodnight”, and “Hounds of Love” were all very hot/lesser-known tracks at the time of M3 Volume 1’s “release” (February 2005), but have all since become well-known indie staples. Regardless though, M3 Volume 1 is a lot of fun and definitely has the most stylistic variety of all the M3s (yet still manages to flow seamlessly), and be sure to download it so you can hear for yourself how it all began. Available in it’s entirety via Rapidshare or individually below.

Download: M3 Volume 1 [follow link]
M3 Volume 1:
01. “Staring At The Sun” (EP Version) - TV On The Radio
02. “New Slang” (Live ft. Iron & Wine) - The Shins
03. “When You Smile” - Ty Cobb
04. “Pale Horse” - John Vanderslice
05. “Couches In Alleys” - Styrofoam ft. Ben Gibbard
06. “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” - Stars
07. “Goodnight Goodnight” - Hot Hot Heat
08. “Hounds of Love” - The Futureheads
09. “Counting Down The Hours” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
10. “Swans and the Swimming” - Iron & Wine

[front cover design adapted from Our Thin Worn Skin]

For some context, M3 Volume 7 was conceived in mid-December on a snowy train ride to New York City, where I was to visit someone I was very much in love with at the time, and it’s conceivable these pleasant, wintry circumstances are reflected in the songs, but that’s up to you to decide. This is a mix of wonderful, sometimes epic, often twinkly songs guaranteed to put you in a happy mood. Centered on and built around the flawless progression that occurs between “The Predatory Wasp” and “Brand New Colony”, I feel like the mix embodies and reflects the pristine winter’s day on which it was conceived.

The first six songs on the album come grouped in sonic pairs, but manage to flow well together to lead to the mix’s second half. Up first is the “Scotland/twee” pair, featuring “White Collar Boy”, from established veterans of twee Belle & Sebastian, and “The Start of Something”, courtesy of much-buzzed-about up-and-comers Voxtrot. Next is a pair of beautiful songs from solo violinists Final Fantasy (”The CN Tower Is Dead”) and Andrew Bird (”Fake Palindromes”), followed by the final sonic pair, the “indie-country” grouping. The “indie-country” grouping features “With Arms Outstretched”, the most country-sounding song in Rilo Kiley’s catalogue, which foreshadowed the soulful country stylings of Jenny Lewis’ solo debut, as well as “Alright” by Sweden’s The Lost Patrol. “Alright” is an instantly familiar, unbelievably catchy gem from the relatively unheard of Lost Patrol, which, considering the band’s brand of blissful pop music, is ironically the side project of, Dennis Lyxzén, the former lead singer of hardcore-punk masterminds The Refused.

The second half of the album opens with Brendan Benson’s relentlessly twinkly “Cold Hands (Warm Heart)” and Death Cab’s beautiful “Marching Bands of Manhattan”, before Sufjan Stevens steals the show with his incredible acoustic rendition of “Chicago”, which was one of the best songs of 2005 and is only more pulchritudinous (I already used “beautiful” once in this sentence) when stripped down to it’s acoustic core. Next Bloc Party makes their standard appearance with “So Here We Are”, one of the slower, more moving tracks on Silent Alarm, which flows inexplicably well into Sigur Ros’ remarkable “Hoppipolla”, which embodies the pristine glaciality (not a real word!) of an icy winter more perfectly than any other song on this mix. Finally, Sufjan Stevens opens the final third of the album with “The Predatory Wasp”, the most moving and epic ballad on Illinois (an album full of moving and epic ballads), which moves into Stars’ “On Peak Hill”, a gem from Stars debut album (Nightsongs) that’s much less well-known but might actually be better than “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” (yeah, I said it). Finally, German pop-masterminds The Notwist and the equally-incredible Postal Service close out the album on a decidedly electronic note, with “Consequence”, one of the more beautiful electronic ballads ever written, and a live version of “Brand New Colony”, which was recorded on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic (see my full write-up of that session here, complete with un-downloadable MP3s!) and features all kind of new, though subtle, bells and whistles. I hope this is as enjoyable for everyone to listen to as it was for me to make. MP3s below, as always, the ((highly recommended)) is implied.

M3 Volume 7:
1. “White Collar Boy” - Belle & Sebastian
2. “The Start of Something” - Voxtrot
3. “The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead” - Final Fantasy
4. “Fake Palindromes” - Andrew Bird
5. “With Arms Outstretched” - Rilo Kiley
6. “Alright” - The Lost Patrol
7. “Cold Hands (Warm Heart)” - Brendan Benson
8. “Marching Bands of Manhattan” - Death Cab For Cutie
9. “Chicago” (Acoustic) - Sufjan Stevens
10. “So Here We Are” - Bloc Party
11. “Hoppipolla” - Sigur Ros
12. “The Predatory Wasp” - Sufjan Stevens
13. “On Peak Hill” - Stars
14. “Consequence” - The Notwist
15. “Brand New Colony” (Live on KCRW) - Postal Service

Here it is, M3 Volume 6, in all it’s blissful indie pop glory. As I mentioned before, Volume 6 is in the same musical vein as Volume 3, and the two share a similar lighthearted whimsical sound as well as some of the same bands. Now I realize I’m risking any indie cred I may or may not have ever had by putting some borderline pop-punk/emo bands (Jack’s Mannequin and The Format) on the first two tracks of this CD, but I believe these two songs to be some of the catchiest and most universally enjoyable songs of the year. Next up on the album are two female-vocalist tracks courtesy of Rilo Kiley and KT Tunstall (”Portions For Foxes” and “Suddenly I See”), followed by The New Pornographers third consecutive M3 appearance, this time representing with their newest block-rockin’ single, “Use It”. Possibly the highlight of the album is The Decemberists’ “Legionnaire’s Lament”, which is, to say the least, amazing, followed by Feist’s “Mushaboom”, which might actually be the happiest song ever. Next up is old-school indie heroes, Modest Mouse (who are also represented by Sun Kil Moon’s cover of their song, “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”), with their masterpiece, “3rd Planet”, along with other indie veterans Death Cab For Cutie and Ryan Adams, along with newcomer Devin Davis. Rounding out the final section of the album are Pinback with their OC-approved single, “Fortress”, as well as Okkervil River, Sun Kil Moon, and finally The Decemberists again, closing things out with their beautiful misfit/renegade anthem, “On The Bus Mall”.

M3 Volume 6:
01. “Holiday From Real” - Jack’s Mannequin
02. “The First Single (You Know Me)” - The Format
03. “Portions For Foxes” - Rilo Kiley
04. “Suddenly I See” - KT Tunstall
05. “Use It” - The New Pornographers
06. “Legionnaire’s Lament” - The Decemberists
07. “Mushaboom” - Feist
08. “3rd Planet” - Modest Mouse
09. “Crooked Teeth” - Death Cab For Cutie
10. “Iron Woman” - Devin Davis
11. “New York, New York” - Ryan Adams
12. “Fortress” - Pinback
13. “The Latest Toughs” - Okkervil River
14. “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” - Sun Kil Moon
15. “On The Bus Mall” - The Decemberists

So eventually I’ll be posting M3s 1-4 (including the various special editions) on this site, so things might be a little bit out of order, but for now, here it is, in all it’s glory, M3 Volume Five. I’m trying out a new hosting service, so if some of the tracks don’t download properly, just contact me and I’ll fix it as soon as possible. The MP3s are posted below. Go wild.

M3 Volume 5:
01. “Crosses” - Jose Gonzalez
02. “Wonderwall” - Ryan Adams
03. “Silent Sea” - KT Tunstall
04. “Galaxies” - Laura Veirs
05. “Ohio” - Damien Jurado
06. “16, Maybe Less” - Iron & Wine ft. Calexico
07. “The Scientist” - Johnette Napolitano
08. “Reason Why” - Rachael Yamagata
09. “Breathe Me” - Sia
10. “Blue Light” (Engineers’ Anti-Gravity Mix) - Bloc Party
11. “Two More Years” - Bloc Party
12. “A Town Called Luckey” - Rilo Kiley
13. “Stacked Crooked” - The New Pornographers
14. “The Trapeze Swinger” - Iron & Wine
15. “Such Great Heights” (Recorded Live in DC, 10-4-04) - Rilo Kiley