Everyday is Like Sunday, Except for Blue Monday and Ruby Tuesday, and…Well, Friday I’m in Love: Year-End Round-Up Part 2

See here for Part 1 of this series. This second part includes mixes with themes of: senses, 80s film soundtracks, Australia/New Zealand, cover versions, robots, acoustic, London, New Wave, 2009, summer, dance/electro, Canada, France, and wit. Next weekend, the last of weekly mixes will make their appearance, and hopefully, at the end of the week, you’ll find out what my top eight albums of the year are.

Come Monday Night – God Help the Girl

St. Monday – Billy Bragg

Weekly Mix #62 – Why Can’t You Touch, Taste and Smell Evil? (Download)

It’s Your Touch – The Black Ghosts
Taste the Rust – The Vince Noir Project
Touch Too Much – Hot Chip
Sound and Vision (Live at Sony Studios) – David Bowie
The Smell of Bob – Kaji Hideki
See No Evil – Television
Stop and Smell the Roses – Television Personalities
See Emily Play – Pink Floyd
We See the World As Our Stunt Doubles – Fosca
Heard You Whisper – The June Brides
Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before – The Smiths
Taste – Animal Collective
Sigh’s Smell of Farewell – Cocteau Twins
Taste the Floor – The Jesus and Mary Chain
Touch Up – Mother Mother
A Sucker For Your Sound – I Monster
The Smell of Outdoor Cooking – Arab Strap
Love at First Sight – Gist
The Bugle Sounds Again – Aztec Camera
Touch My Bum – Tom Rosenthal

Weekly Mix #63 – Hipster Kryptonite (Download)

Then He Kissed Me – The Crystals
Skid Row (Downtown) – Little Shop of Horrors Cast
I Am the Future – Alice Cooper
Light of Day – Joan Jett and the Black Hearts
Back in Time – Huey Lewis & the News
You’re the One That I Want – Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta
Oh Yeah (Indian Summer Version) – Yello
Weird Science – Oingo Boingo
Pretty in Pink – The Psychedelic Furs
(Don’t You) Forget About Me – Simple Minds
St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) – John Parr
The Secret of My Success – Night Ranger
I Am the One and Only – Chesney Hawkes
I’m Free (Heaven Helps the Man) – Kenny Loggins
Beetlejuice Theme – Danny Elfman
Underground – David Bowie
Never Ending Story – Limahl
I Will Never Love Again – Mark Knopfler and Guy Fletcher
In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel

Weekly Mix #64 – The Band Down Under (Download)

Eucalyptus – The Presets
House Music – Kikumoto Allstars
Murder in the Daylight (Van She Tech Mix) – Mandy Kane
We Have Tomorrow – PNAU
Bright Neon Payphone – Cut Copy
No Accident – Car Crash Set
Twenty Thousand Leagues – Midnight Juggernauts
Come Back Lover – Charlie ASH
Another Runaway – Ladyhawke
Survive – Van She
We Are the People – Empire of the Sun
Kids in Space – So I’m Joe
Into the Chaos – Howling Bells
Happy As Can Be – Cut Off Your Hands
Fire Fire Fire – Dappled Cities
Streets of Your Town – The Go-Betweens
Devil Was In My Yard – The Sleepy Jackson
A Trick of the Light – The Triffids
You Don’t Have to Be a Prostitute – Flight of the Conchords
Brunettes Against Bubblegum Youth – The Brunettes
Little Possessions – Andrew Keese and the Associates
Footsteps – Mercy Arms
Mr. Somewhere – The Apartments
From Her to Eternity – Nick Cave

Weekly Mix #65 – Don’t Steal Cookies From the Library (Download)

New Life – The Wannadies (Original: Depeche Mode)
Psycho Killer – Huw (Risque) with Pravda (Original: Talking Heads)
Jump Into the Fire – LCD Soundsystem (Original: Harry Nilsson)
Trash – Apoptygma Berzerk (Original: Suede)
Sound and Vision – Franz Ferdinand (Original: David Bowie)
A Forest – British Sea Power (Original: The Cure)
Mack the Knife – The Psychedelic Furs (Original: Kurt Weill)
Lions After Slumber – The Veils (Original: Scritti Politti)
The Jean Genie – The Dandy Warhols (Original: David Bowie)
Friday I’m in Love – Glo-Worm (Original: The Cure)
Suspended in Gaffa – Ra Ra Riot (Original: Kate Bush)
Girlfriend in a Coma – Noah & the Whale (Original: The Smiths)
Walk Away Renee – Elliott Smith (Original: Left Banke)
“Heroes” – TV on the Radio (Original: David Bowie)
Kangaroo – Bat For Lashes (Original: Big Star)
At Your Best (You Are Love) – El Perro Del Mar (Original: The Isley Brothers)
Oh! You Pretty Things – Au Revoir Simone (Original: David Bowie)
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Honeyroot (Original: Joy Division)
Mad World – Gary Jules (Original: Tears For Fears)
Borderline – The Flaming Lips (Original: Madonna)

Weekly Mix #66 – Lick My Battery (Download)

Tupac Robot Club Rock – Filthy Dukes
Laser Laser – Neo Tokyo
Dude, You Feel Electrical – Shout Out Out Out Out
Rotwang’s Party (Robot Dance) – Giorgio Moroder
Robot Rock – Daft Punk
Guitars Are Overrated (Neo Tokyo Remix) – The Robot Disaster
Naked – Alice in Videoland
Neon Generation – A-ux
The Girl and the Robot (Chateau Marmont Remix) – Royksopp
Electric People – Ruede Hagelstein
The Robots in My Bedroom Were Playing Arena Rock – Softlightes
Electric Barberella – Duran Duran
You Killed My Robot Friend – Nyhlin
Rodney’s English Disco – Helen Love
I Wish I Was a Robot – Das Wanderlust
Garden of Love – Clor
Electronic Germany – DJ Hell
I Love You (Miss Robot) – The Buggles
Robot Man (Hot Chip Remix) – The Aliens
Computer Love – Glass Candy

Weekly Mix #67 – Unplugged (Download)

Chains – Sons & Daughters
Meds – Placebo
Those Things I Do – Protocol
Flowers – Emilie Simon
Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
The Magic Position – Patrick Wolf
Mr. Brightside – The Killers
Bluebeard – Cocteau Twins
Grace – Jeff Buckley
You Love Us – Manic Street Preachers
Walk Away – Franz Ferdinand
Beware Our Nubile Miscreants – Of Montreal
Home – The Cinematics
Weightlifting – The Trashcan Sinatras
Spit It Out – IAMX
Don’t Know Any Better – Puressence
Skeletons – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Heroes – Twiggy Frostbite
Sun Gangs – The Veils
Monster Love – Goldfrapp
Help I’m Alive – Metric

Weekly Mix #68 – The London Underground (Download)

London’s Mine – White Rose Movement
Disappearing Act – Jonny Cola and the A-Grades
The Rest For the Wicked – Soho Dolls
Too Good For Hollywood – Simon Indelicate
Visitors (Stephen Hague Remix) – frYars
Anyone Fancy a Chocolate Digestive? – The New Royal Family
Round the Rim and Back to Him – The Firm
It’s a Kick – Monocle Rose
Pump Up the Volume – Art Brut
Fun is For the Feeble Minded – The Indelicates
I Love You – The Boyfriends
Supine on the Astro Turf – Fosca
City – Truck
Rambling – Small Crew
A Week Away – Spearmint
Chandelier – Morton Valence
Mise en Scene – The Melting Ice Caps
Ballerina – Kingfishers Catch Fire
Two of the Beatles Are Dead – Keith TOTP
Tesco is Evil – Tom Rosenthal
The Town – Vanilla Swingers

Weekly Mix #69 – Nouvelle Vague (Download)

See You Shine – Alcian Blue
Love Your Shoes – Furniture
Statue of Liberty – XTC
Reward – The Teardrop Explodes
Veronica – Wreckless Eric
Less Than Zero – Elvis Costello
Let Her Go (12″ Mix) – Strawberry Switchblade
One More Colour – Jane Siberry
Marcia Baila – Les Rita Mitsouko
Hanging on the Telephone – Blondie
Away – The Bolshoi
City of Fun – The Only Ones
Into You Like a Train – The Psychedelic Furs
Waiting For a Miracle – Comsat Angels
Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) – The Icicle Works
No Tears – Tuxedomoon
Coitus Interruptus – Fad Gadget
The Wrong Road – The Go-Betweens
The Thief and the Bride – Mary Goes Round
Bringing Home the Ashes – The Wild Swans

Weekly Mix #70 – 2009 0.5 (Download)

Heads Will Roll – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Light Skips Cross Heart – Filthy Dukes
The Great Shipwreck of Life – IAMX
Fist of God – MSTRKRFT
Jump the Gun – Midnight Juggernauts
No You Girls – Franz Ferdinand
1901 – Phoenix
Beautiful Losers – Stuck in the Sound
Young Adult Friction – The Pains of Being Pure of Heart
Wake Up – Sliimy
French Navy – Camera Obscura
You Can’t Get It Back – Gentleman Reg
Anything Other Than Kind – Butcher Boy
The Smack of Pavement in Your Face – Shirley Lee
Journal For Plague Lovers – Manic Street Preachers
Battle For the Sun – Placebo
Parallel Lines – Junior Boys
David – The Radio Dept.
Daniel – Bat For Lashes
When I Grow Up – Fever Ray

Weekly Mix #71 – Summer of ‘09 (Download)

English Summer Rain – Placebo
Summer – Shy Child
Rollercoaster – The Jesus and Mary Chain
Beach Party – Air France
Half Mast – Empire of the Sun
Summerdreamer – The Daysleepers
Barbecue – Orange Juice
Sound of Summer – Art Brut
Lorca and the Orange Tree – The Mummers
Summertime Clothes – Animal Collective
Honey in the Sun – Camera Obscura
You Wear the Sun – The Delays
Summerside – Adorable
Like a Summer Rain – Ladybug Transistor
Summer Shakedown – Slow Club
Last Summertime’s Obsession – Trembling Blue Stars
Summer Days – Euros Childs
Serenade – The Soda Stream
Sunshine Makes Me High – The Guggenheim Grotto
Summer Wind – James Dean Bradfield

Weekly Mix #72 – Let’s Dance the Blues (Download)

Zero (MSTRKRFT Remx) – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I’m So L.A. – Mynx
Dance to Our Disco – Punks Jump Up
Kiss ‘n Fly – Surkin
Vulture – Patrick Wolf
Where Have the Club Kids Gone – The Mystic Underground
The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (Kissy Sellout Mix) – The Human League
Bulletproof – La Roux
Taken Away (Frederick Carlsson Remix) – Digitalism
Audacity of Huge – Simian Mobile Disco
1901 (Fabian Remix) – Phoenix
Body Packer – Love-Fine
See the Light (Calvin Harris Remix) – The Hours
Neo-Violence (Shazam Remix) – The Tough Alliance
Smack My Bitch Up – The Prodigy
Chinball Wizard (Cadence Weapon Remix) – The Wet Secrets
Listen to the Hiss (Tiefschwarz Remix) – DJ Hell
Beep Beep Beep – Tiga
Hazel – Junior Boys
Fixin’ to Thrill (Don Diablo Remix) – Dragonette
Tiptoe – Goldfrapp

Weekly Mix #73 – Souvenir of Canada (Download)

1000 Cigarettes – MSTRKRFT
Magic Fantasy – Dragonette
Bits & Pieces – Junior Boys
Untrust Us – Crystal Castles
A Century Old – Duchess Says
Young Hearts Spark Fire – Japandroids
Body of Years – Mother Mother
Mutiny, I Promise You – The New Pornographers
Benediction – The Weakerthans
Jagwagger – Archivist
Hate Then Love – The Dears
Solipsism Millionaires – The Most Serene Republic
Ocean of Noise – The Arcade Fire
Alive Until Saturday Night – Hexes & Ohs
Mimi on the Beach – Jane Siberry
Say It’s All Over – Paper Moon
Falling Back – Gentleman Reg
Counting Stars on the Ceiling – Stars
Corbeau – Coeur de Pirate
Nice to Know – Andrew Spice
Fish Water Desert Trapeze – Allegories

Weekly Mix #74 – Tous les garcons et les filles (Download)

One Minute to Midnight – Justice
Crescendolls – Daft Punk
Tie Me Up Tie Me Down – Huw (Risqué)
Polly (Chateau Marmont Remix) – Koko Von Napoo
Gwendoline – Housse de Racket
Maison Klaus – Chateau Marmont
Love Your Enemy (Kill Your Friends) – Birdy Nam Nam
Miss You – Thieves Like Us
Cool frénésie – Les Rita Mitsouko
Night – M83
Remember – Air
Zapruder – Stuck in the Sound
If It’s Not With You – Phoenix
Comme tu les aimes – Dani
Les sucettes – France Gall
Kiss and Kill – Mary Goes Round
Je n’attends pas plus personne – Francoise Hardy
L’antiquitié – Stone
Poupée mécanique – Die Form
Sandcastle – Little Nemo
Ces petits riens – Serge Gainsbourg and Catherine Deneuve

Weekly Mix #75 – Hearing Double (Download)

Help! – The Damned (Original: The Beatles)
Punk Boy – Ash (Original: Helen Love)
You’re the One That I Want – Hyperbubble (Original: John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John)
My Way – Polysics (Original: Frank Sinatra)
How Soon is Now? – The Psychedelic Furs (Original: The Smiths)
Are Friends Electric? – The Dead Weather (Original: Gary Numan)
Feels Like Heaven – Happydeadmen (Original: Fiction Factory)
Shoplifters Of the World Unite – The Black Tulips (Original: The Smiths)
Together in Electric Dreams – Nixon (Original: Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder)
Open Your Heart – Beki & the Bullets (Original: Madonna)
Train in Vain – Kirsty MacColl (Original: The Clash)
Sleepyhead – The Mummers (Original: Passion Pit)
Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself – The Killers (Original: Morrissey)
Young Parisians – The New Royal Family (Original: Adam and the Ants)
Open Your Eyes – Soho Dolls (Original: Lords of the New Church)
The Con – Popular Damage (Original: Tegan & Sara)
Straight to Hell – Emm Gryner (Original: The Clash)
Femme Fatale – Big Star (Original: The Velvet Underground)
Use Somebody – Bat For Lashes (Original: Kings of Leon)
Cosmic Dancer – Morrissey (Original: T.Rex)

Weekly Mix #76 – Magnetic Poetry (Download)

The Last of the Famous International Playboys – Morrissey
The Last Significant Statement to Be Made in Rock ‘n Roll – The Indelicates
What the Housewives Don’t Tell You – Luxembourg
Perfect Skin – Lloyd Cole & the Commotions
Fat Children – Jarvis Cocker
A Complete History of Sexual Jealousy (Parts 17 to 24) – Momus
The Past is a Grotesque Animal – Of Montreal
Secret Crush on Third Trombone – Fosca
Drum Machines Will Save Mankind – Mikrofisch
Interview – Simon Bookish
You Should All Be Murdered – Another Sunny Day
lit. – Archivist
Disneyfied – Eugene McGuinness
The Upper Classes – The Auteurs
Falling In Love With Myself Again – Sparks
Please Sir – Wild Beasts
Giant Bicycle – Tom Rosenthal
Midfielding – Midfield General and Noel Fielding
Rambling Through the Avenues of Time – Flight of the Conchords
A Third of My Life – Spearmint
My Chemical Romance Saved My Life – Esiotrot
Barricade – Stars

Everyday is Like Sunday, Except for Blue Monday and Ruby Tuesday, and…Well, Friday I’m in Love: Weekly Mix #68

Though I’ve been to London on five separate occasions, I know I haven’t experienced nearly enough to qualify as knowing London. It seems time always got away from me when I was there (granted, the longest stretch of consecutive time I’ve spent there has been four days). London has always been one of those cities that gives me a good vibe (others being Berlin, Florence, and Cardiff), and I also find it one of the easiest cities to navigate and get around in. The London Underground is a thing of beauty, especially having experienced half a dozen other subway systems. At the same time, I’ve highly enjoyed myself just walking around the city. In addition to walking (or in some cases, running when it appeared that I was constantly losing time), I’ve done a few of the touristy things like visiting the Tate Modern Gallery (see here for musings from my 2007 visit); watching Richard III as a groundling at the Globe (note: Richard III is Shakespeare’s second-longest play and thus requires strong legs if you’re a backpacker with barely any money); taking a day trip out to Hampton Court Palace; getting sell-off tickets at Leicester Square for a musical; wandering through Westminster Abbey (I remember being particularly excited standing in Poet’s Corner and reading Lewis Carroll’s epitaph: “Is all our Life, then, but a dream?”); staring at the impossibly, ridiculously tiny Nelson at Trafalgar Square, passing by Buckingham Palace (resisting the urge to sing The Queen is Dead at the top of your lungs); browsing Covent Garden; and visiting Hamleys (the seven-storey toy store on Regent Street). I realize that I’ve missed out on a ton of museums and galleries despite a total of about eight days over the past nine years, but it seems I’m either with someone who doesn’t want to see them or I just run out of time. Part of this time issue has to do with the fact I’ve hit Camden Town nearly every time I’ve gone to London.

For me, Camden had tended to hold a mythological position in my mind. It seemed to be an ideal place to congregate if you were otherwise considered freakish or if you preferred to appear that way. It also seemed to be an exciting place for artistic pursuits. I don’t know what actual Londoners think of Camden, but I rather enjoy myself there, shopping in the stalls and record shops. I have yet to go unaccompanied by someone who would much rather be somewhere else, so I would like to visit there alone next time and go more slowly. Although, I don’t know how it’s been since the big fire, so perhaps my experience would be quite different in the future.

Camden has always struck me as a haven for subcultures, perhaps even a graveyard for subcultures (let’s face it, cybergoth is probably pretty passé), but like anyone who wants to set themselves apart from the mainstream, it persists in spite of the uncoolness of it all or the irony-fisted hipsters. I come to Camden from a slightly more mature direction than when I first stepped off that stop on the Northern Line six years ago, but I still love that I get excited about being there. And I will continue to cherish The Clash vinyl bootleg I purchased there on that first trip. Like punk, Camden is tempered by my accrued life experience, but that doesn’t mean I still didn’t hang onto my two pairs of bondage trousers, which were bought from the same shop on Camden High Street on two separate occasions and were tried on on the same rickety staircase landing in lieu of a fitting room.

Through Camden and several other record havens in the English capital, I associate London with music and the hunger for music (although I would say that the UK as a whole takes music much more seriously and fervently than North America). London, England has been the epicentre of music at various points in history, most significantly in the swinging 60s and in the past-obsessed 90s, which was essentially a re-living of the 60s. Once again, due to a combination of company and time limitations, I’ve never gone to a live gig in London, but I still hope to someday, especially since I’m falling in love with its current independent scene. I would imagine most local music scenes would have a bit of an incestuous organization to them, but I find it interesting just how convoluted the networks between some of the artists in today’s mix are.

Let’s start with now-defunct band, Luxembourg, which I mentioned in my last post. When they broke up, they spawned The Melting Ice Caps and The Soft Close-Ups (David Shah), Jonny Cola and the A-Grades (Alex Potterill), and The New Royal Family (David Barnett). Barnett used to be in The Boyfriends with Richard Adderley, who now plays with him in The New Royal Family and in his own separate project, Small Crew. The video for The New Royal Family’s song Anyone Fancy a Chocolate Digestive? (which is featured in this mix) included an appearance by Dickon Edwards, who used to be in Orlando and in Spearmint, but who is now in Fosca. The New Royal Family also released a split EP with Keith TOTP a couple of years ago; Keith TOTP has collaborated with both Art Brut and The Indelicates, both of which branch off into various solo and collaborative projects. Then there’s Morton Valence, which shares Anne Gilpin with Vanilla Swingers, and frYars who is friends with Tom Rosenthal. To round things off, I’ve added White Rose Movement, Soho Dolls, Monocle Rose, The Firm, Kingfishers Catch Fire, and oddly enough, a song by a band named Truck, in which the vocalist is Andrew Robertson, who played Titus Groan in the mini-series adaptation of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast. There’s a lot of art and literacy blended with urban(e) style in these artists. It may all seem a little crazy, but it has the beautiful logic and design of the Tube.

This one’s called The London Underground.

London’s Mine – White Rose Movement

Disappearing Act – Jonny Cola and the A-Grades

The Rest For the Wicked – Soho Dolls

Too Good For Hollywood – Simon Indelicate

Visitors (Stephen Hague Remix) – frYars

Anyone Fancy a Chocolate Digestive? – The New Royal Family

Round the Rim and Back to Him – The Firm

It’s a Kick – Monocle Rose

Pump Up the Volume – Art Brut

Fun is For the Feeble Minded – The Indelicates

I Love You – The Boyfriends

Supine on the Astro Turf – Fosca

City – Truck

Rambling – Small Crew

A Week Away – Spearmint

Chandelier – Morton Valence

Mise en Scene – The Melting Ice Caps

Ballerina – Kingfishers Catch Fire

Two of the Beatles Are Dead – Keith TOTP

Tesco is Evil – Tom Rosenthal

The Town – Vanilla Swingers