Music says something fundamental about us, a little window not just into who we are, but how we are.
Do you smell that? Get closer.Yep. Unmistakable. It’s Christmas and it’s permeating in the air. Everyone but chronic haters are onboard with it. And since my gift Christmas gift buying budget ranges from a few hundred dollars – unlimited free hugs, for the last five years I’ve been taking a cue from Paul Sobczak and making family and friends a mix CD.
Do you trust your friends? Would you trust them if their favorite artist was Nickelback? Exactly. Music says something fundamental about us, a little window not just into who we are, but how we are and of course we want everyone we want in our lives to listen to the music we do.
More than just being a list of 12 tracks, I look forward every year to putting together this mix and sending it off either via mail, or this cool new technology called, “The Internet.” I go back through the year and pick out the twelve songs that were most important, the soundtrack of that year’s life, and write a paragraph explanation of how that song came into my life. What ends up happening with these lists is that in addition to spreading music that what is important to me to people who are important to me, is that it is a way to send a variation of that annual Christmas letter your parents send out. That one that is all like, “Johnny is doing well in school, and Shirley got a puppy.” I don’t want to lose that tradition, but I hope in my family (which right now is a one man show) sends that letter in the form a CD.
Full disclosure: This is also a clever ploy to copy and past a post rather than write something new. I am super busy with preparing for a two week roadtrip/music/book tour, so instead of blogging what I normally blog about (my beard), I am putting together my 2013 Christmas mix, and also taking a stroll down memory lane by posting the first Christmas mix I sent out way back in 2009. Tomorrow I’ll post my 2012 mix in anticipation for my fifth year running with this.
If you haven’t heard of these artists, por favor!, you should check them out. Why? Because they are, with some exceptions, awesome. Also, why not make your own Christmas Mix and letter of how you came upon those songs and send them it out to your people? Feliz navidad!
Please don’t judge my musical taste to harshly here… yes some of this I regret, but I was like 23 and hadn’t yet learned that you can’t put any Damien Rice song on a party playlist and expect to get away with it.
My 2009 Christmas Mix
A few months ago, I received in the mail a mix CD from my friend Paul Sobczak. It had some of his favorite songs compiled with a paragraph description of what each song meant to him. To everyone he sent this mix to, he encouraged them to make their own CD with their own pivotal songs and to send that on. This is the result of that is enclosed with this letter. This CD contains 17 songs that have been often playing as background themes to my life. With each song I have listed a description of how I came to know each song and what it means to me. I hope you enjoy. And I encourage you to make your own CD and send it to friends and family.
1. Girl in the War – Josh Ritter
In Viña del Mar, Chile, I stopped by friend Kelan’s host family’s house. On her Dell laptop Josh Ritter was playing. It was one of her favorite artists and soon became one of mine. This song especially became important to me when I played it on my guitar in Nicaragua. The story of that incident can be read by Googling “Granada on Haphazard Guitar Strings.”
2. Naked as We Came – Iron and Wine
I became introduced to Iron and Wine as I guess a lot of people did, by trying to download The Postal Service’s song Such Great Heights (a song Kayla Anderson introduced me to) but accidentally downloading the Iron and Wine version. This song has 166 plays counts on my iTunes. T is short and simple and tells a scenic love story. It is beautiful despite talking about the passing of a life long lover. It makes me think of the love my grandparents had. Whenever I am feeling cynical about anything, I just need to play this song and feel encouraged at how many blissful moments the world graces everyone with. The song also reminds me of cooling fall days, hot tea, and fire lit rooms.
3. Paradise – Full Moon Bay
When I was growing up my dad worked for a radio station. In our basement there were boxes of CD singles that record companies had sent to the station in the hopes of promoting their artists. Most were really bad. Others were worse. Once when I was a sophomore in high school I was pouring through one of these boxes and was attracted to a seaside lithograph on an album cover. It was by the San Francisco group Full Moon Bay. The message of this song is especially great. Seven years later I listened to the album on a dock on an island in Belize while watching the moonlight dance across the waves. The song fit the moment perfectly.
4. Damien Rice – 9 Crimes
December 20th, 2006 my friend Jason Schmitz and I went to see Damien Rice @ the Orphium in Minneapolis. We had nose bleed tickets, but the show was amazing. He was touring his new album 9. We snuck a flask of rum into the concert. The security guard who patted Jason down asked him what was in his pocket, “My cell phone,” Jason snickered and ran passed him. After the concert we drove around Minneapolis and didn’t realize how late we had stayed out until we saw a school bus full of kids next to the car. We stayed at my friend Kayla Anderson’s house. I was sleeping on the floor and her cat jumped out of a Christmas tree and attacked me in the middle of the night. When we drove up there was no snow on the ground. On the way back 2 feet had fallen.
5. Track 1 – Zen Meditation
I bought this CD at Wal-Mart when I was a freshman in college. I used to listen to it in the apartment I shared with my older brother Aaron when I was studying or reading or writing. It was my first time having my own room so I spent a lot of time at Wal-mart and thrift shops finding things to put in it. Actually, I did have my own room too when I was like 10 for about 2 months. I lost this room as a punishment when my parents found out I had kidnapped the neighbors’ cat and was keeping it in my closet.
6. Guster – Two Points for Honesty
This song gave me needed perspective on life when I needed it as a sophomore in college. My friend Joseph Kadlec (who I later traveled to Ireland with) introduced me to the group. The lyrics are honest and direct. It made me realize that I could succeed far in life while using society’s standards yet still fail myself and betray my dreams. The song came at a time when I had a lot of idealistic views about who I was, but little real world confirmation of the accuracy of those views.
7. Marching Bands of Manhattan – Death Cab for Cutie
I think Mr. Kadlec also introduced me to this song. It reminds me of empty roads after rain. It gives me goose bumps. It makes me want to open my eyes and see the world in richer colors. The song has always been abrasively hopeful when I’ve needed it to be.
8. Reyes de la Noche – Guasones
I used to listen to this song when I was trying to learn Spanish in college. I would listen to it on my car on the way to waiting tables at Fargo’s Mexican restaurant “Paradiso.” I used to wish that I had taken more Spanish in high school, or that I had learned another language when I was young. It turned out though that wishing I could change the past never made my Spanish any better.
9. Heartbeats – Jose Gonzales
This is one of many songs passed to me by Ms. Kayla M. Anderson. It’s the music for a commercial filmed in San Francisco where they drop 1 million bouncy balls on the top of a hill. It’s worth youtubing the commercial.
10. Fall – Something Corporate
This song sounds like high school. Specifically the summer in between my junior and senior years. It reminds me of driving around in a silver bronco II with lobster upholstery, smoking camel exotic blends, and experiencing so many things inside and outside of my head for the first time.
11. Your Ex-Lover is Dead – The Stars
Right before moving to Chile, Mr. Paul Sobczak gave me about 5gb of music. This song was the diamond in that batch. If you let it, it paints a striking picture and tells a great story.
12. Peach, Plum, Pear – Joanna Newsom
Very few people like this song on the first few plays. A lot of people continue to dislike it. It makes me wish I could play the harp. If anything it’s something different. I hope you love it or hate it.
13. Now We Are Free – Enya
According to my iTunes playcount, I have played this song more than any other. It clocks in at 218 plays. It’s an easy song to put on repeat and read and write to. A lot of the novel I am publishing was written to this song. The song seems to make your emotions rise and fall and then rest hopefully on what is possible.
14. Angels on the Moon – Thriving Ivy
I accidentally downloaded this band from Limewire when I was trying to download a Weepies song. I ended up really liking the band. My former roommate Lori Baker who lived with me for over a year in Guatemala also really liked them. It’s great what you stumble into sometimes.
15.Fresh Feeling – The Eels
This song is great in the morning. Best on a weekend or day off when the day is still unfilled and willing. It keeps me on course and reminds me to breath deeply. This was the last song I remember listening to on my first iPod before it was stolen.
16. The Weepies – Happiness
This song is off one of my favorite albums, “Say I am You.” It’s not my favorite song of theirs, but I like the theme of it a lot—getting to a point where your happiness is resilient against every outside circumstance trying to bring it down.
