Category: Music

I was worried that I wasn’t going to have enough material for my 2025: The Mixtape, Vol. 1 Spotify mix before the end of June as recently as just a few weeks ago, but then: bam! Ringo Starr’s latest album Look Up hit me the right way on a third listen, I liked Hayden Pedigo’s I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away and Alexandre Desplat’s score for The Phoenician Scheme right from the start, and the end credits for The Life of Chuck were set to a creative interpretation of maybe my favorite song ever by Gregory Alan Isakov. Problem solved! Here, then, is an annotated track listing:

1. Nels Cline – Inner Wall

Has a similar ominous vibe to the track “Accident” from Justin Hurwitz’s score for Whiplash, which appears in a scene that isn’t a bad metaphor for what the first half of 2025 felt like at times.

2. Car Seat Headrest – The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)

A new one by an old favorite.

3. billy woods feat. Preservation – Waterproof Mascara

As I recently said on Bluesky and X, this song is my favorite horror film of Movie Year 2025 so far.

4. Morgan Wallen feat. Post Malone – I Ain’t Comin’ Back

In which Morgan Wallen and Post Malone finally resolve the question of whether or not they are Jesus. Someone needs to introduce these boys to Compass Box’s The Peat Monster!

5. Lucy Dacus – Ankles

Phantom Thread, The Musical.

6. Aesop Rock – Snail Zero

A description of what a breeding pair of black mollies are doing to my fish tank at home right now.

7. Alexandre Desplat – The Jungle Unit of the Intercontinental Radical Freedom Militia Corps

From my favorite original score of Movie Year 2025 so far.

8. These New Puritans – Bells

The songs on this particular mix skew shorter for some reason, so this is a welcome exception.

9. Alan Sparhawke w/ Trampled by Turtles – Stranger

Or: The Blogger’s Dilemma.

10. Takuro Okada – Taco Beach

And if the world does turn, and if London burns/I’ll be standing on the beach with my jazz guitar.

11. Lady Gaga – How Bad Do U Want Me

When I played this for my loving wife recently, she said it sounded like the opening credits song from an 80s movie.

12. Ringo Starr feat. Billy Strings – Breathless

Not a film reference . . . or is it?

13. Beirut – Garbo’s Face

Elegantly wistful, like the title says.

14. Tobacco City – Autumn

Features some of the year’s most evocative songwriting: “Jimmy and his niece/Scrambled eggs and country ham/Runnin’ from police/Drink the cream for free with Valerie”

15. Bonnie Prince Billy – Boise, Idaho

The first song to earn a spot on this mix, and still one of my favorites.

16. Salem 66 – Across the Sea

Okay, fine, this isn’t technically “new music.” But it’s new to me and I dig it!

17. Julien Baker & Torres – “Tape Runs Out”

Probably the most predictable selection on this mix?

18. Hayden Pedigo – I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away

Not all goodbyes need be sorrowful!

19. Sharp Pins – I Can’t Stop

As Pitchfork‘s Shaad D’Souza wrote, “it’s likely to remind you of whatever music felt most romantic to you when you were growing up.”

20. Patterson Hood – Last Hope

Springsteen-esque.

21. Gregory Alan Isakov – The Parting Glass

I discovered “The Parting Glass” through Shaun Davey’s score for Waking Ned Devine and it was fun to encounter it again in a different movie. Isakov’s version is as understated as that one is grand

Links to previous mixes I’ve posted about can be found here.

Although about a week remains in the first six months of 2024, I’ve already found 80 minutes worth of new music that I like enough to finalize my 2024: The Mixtape, Vol. 1 Spotify mix. Here’s the track listing with brief notes on why I picked each of these songs:

1. Vampire Weekend – “Connect“

As I mentioned on X a couple of months ago, this song reminds me of Michel Legrand’s score for my February Drink & a Movie selection The Young Girls of Rochefort.

2. Future Islands – “Give Me the Ghost Back“

Baltimore 4 life!

3. Beyoncé – “TEXAS HOLD’EM”

Automatic addition to my 54 (it include two “jokers”) track poker mix, so how could I leave it off this one?

4. Lyrical Lemonade feat. Juice WRLD and Cordae – “Doomsday”
5. A.G. Cook – “Britpop”

I’m a child of the 90s, what can I say?

6. Norah Jones – “Staring at the Wall”

This songs sounds like something you might hear at the Roadhouse!

7. Elyanna – “Ganeni”

Something with a beat you can dance to.

8. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – “Yeah x10”

From the original score for Challengers, the clubhouse leader for my favorite sports film of Movie Year 2024.

9. Iron & Wine feat. Fiona Apple – “All in Good Time”

A song for the middle aged.

10. Myriam Gendron feat. Zoh Amba – “Berceuse”

Brechtian distancing works best when you want to be swept away!

11. Pissed Jeans – “Everywhere Is Bad”
12. Bladee feat. Yung Lean – “I DON’T LIKE PEOPLE”

Because it’s an election year.

13. Chappell Roan – “Good Luck, Babe!”

This one reminds me of the movie Aftersun.

14. Sloppy Jane feat. Phoebe Bridgers – “Claw Machine”

I have no idea what the eligibility requirements are for the Best Original Song Oscar, but if this one can win an award for I Saw the TV Glow, I’ll be rooting for it.

15. The Decemberists – “Don’t Go to the Woods”
16. Eiko Ishibashi – “Evil Does Not Exist”

Those of you who have seen Evil Does Not Exist: see what I did there?

17. Kelly Moran – “Butterfly Phase”

I think of this as the end to a song cycle which begins with track 13 and ends with this one–it’s something like the story of “Little Red Riding Hood.”

18. Cloud Nothings – “Final Summer”

Cloud Nothings might be my favorite band, because I’m in awe of the way they keep reinventing themselves without ever losing touch with who they are. . . .

19. Waxahathcee – “365”

. . . but this is my favorite song of the year so far.

20. Heems feat. Lapgan – “Bukayo Saka”

Name drops Slavoj Žižek and the Mahabarata and includes multiple food references. Yes please!

21. Shaboozey – “Highway”
22. Kacey Musgraves – “Cardinal”

I was worried that this mix didn’t have a proper ending, but I think these two songs together do just fine, yeah?

Links to previous mixes I’ve posted about can be found here.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate! As children of the 80s and 90s, mixtapes played a prominent role in my courtship of my loving wife Marion. Or rather, mix CDs did. One of the first ones I gave her included the song “Under the Milky Way Tonight” by the Church as track nine. We later chose it for our first dance at our wedding, which took place on August 9. I’ve made it the ninth track on every mix I’ve given her since then, which I try to do at least once a year, usually on Mother’s Day or her birthday. With her permission I’m posting the track listing for the one she received this weekend, since it’s more indebted to the movies than usual. Although: films are often are the way I discover new old music these days and the mix I made her last year was heavily influenced by movies as well, so maybe this is the continuation of a trend? Anyway, the other convention I honor is limiting the mix to just 80 minutes worth of music, since that was the length of the CD-Rs that got this tradition started. Without further ado, here’s what is included on Marion’s 2024 Mother’s Day mix along with notes about the films that inspired each selection:

1. Ian Tracey, Garfield Wilson, and Pirate Chorus – “Ode to the Falling.” This is from the soundtrack for Peter Pan & Wendy, which was directed by David Lowery, the François Truffaut of the “film blogosphere” (am I the first person to use that term in a decade?), and one of our “Friday Movie Night” selections last year.
2. Band Nada Kentjana – “Djaleuludja.” This is from the soundtrack for Before, Now & Then, which I reviewed for Educational Media Reviews Online last month.
3. Janis Martin – “Cry Guitar.” Film critic Sheila O’Malley mentioned Martin on her blog a couple of months ago, which prompted me to give her a listen.
4. Giorgio Moroder – “Ivory Tower.” This is of course from the soundtrack for The NeverEnding Story, a favorite of Marion’s.
5. Sergio Bruni – “Canzona Appassiunata.” This is from the soundtrack for The King of Laughter, which I reviewed for Educational Media Reviews Online last year.
6. Pet Shop Boys – “Always on My Mind.” As I mentioned in my “Top Ten Movies of 2023” blog post, the scene in All of Us Strangers that this song appears in was one of my favorites of the year.
7. Toots & the Maytals – “Pressure Drop.” I listened to a lot of reggae after the MUBI Podcast devoted a show to The Harder They Come last April.
8. Michel Legrand – “Concerto from The Young Girls of Rochefort.” This one is, uh, from the soundtrack for The Young Girls of Rochefort, which was the subject of our February, 2024 “Drink & a Movie” blog post.
9. The Church – “Under the Milky Way Tonight.” For the reasons described above!
10. Grandaddy – “Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake.” No movie connection here, just a good song by a band Marion likes.
11. Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris – “To Know Him Is to Love Him.” No movie connection here, either, just a new to me cover of one of my favorite songs from Back to Mono.
12. David Bowie – “Chilly Down.” This is Marion’s favorite song from the soundtrack for Labyrinth, a recent Friday Movie Night selection.
13. New Order – “Hellbent.” I regularly do this annoying thing where I listen to every album from a band or solo artist in chronological order, which would be fine except that everyone else in my family doesn’t necessarily want to come downstairs to New Order every morning for two weeks. Anyway, Marion noted that she liked this song.
14. John Carpenter – “Night.” This appears on the soundtrack for Bacurau, the subject of our May, 2023 “Drink & a Movie” blog post.
15. Sandy Lam – “Ji Qing.” This is from the soundtrack for As Tears Go By and I think the MUBI Podcast must have mentioned it in their show about Chungking Express last April?
16. Brian Eno – “Fat Lady of Limbourg.” No movie connection: they played “Back In Judy’s Jungle” at the Cherry Circle Room in Chicago when I went there last year during ALA Annual and it reminded me that it had been a minute since the last time I listened to Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), which is an awesome album.
17. The Waterboys – “The Whole of the Moon.” No direct movie connection, but the Waterboys’ song “Fisherman’s Blues” was on the soundtrack for Waking Ned Devine, which I saw at the Point of View Cinema (RIP) in Millersville, PA in high school. I dug it enough to buy it on CD, and that’s what was playing when I lost my virginity. So now you know that about me!
18. Little Anthony & The Imperials – “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” No movie connection: Little Anthony & The Imperials was another group I gave the “listen to every song in order” treatment to last year.
19. Mohammed Rafi – “Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To.” From the soundtrack for Pyaasa, the subject of our November, 2023 “Drink & a Movie” blog post.
20. Kacey Musgraves – “Cardinal.” No movie connection: just a good song that Marion likes from an album that came out this year!
21. Manon Hollander – “Marie Douceur, Marie Colère.” From the soundtrack for John Wick: Chapter 4. Who doesn’t love foreign language versions of classic rock songs?

Enjoy!

Links to previous mixes I’ve posted about can be found here.

We aren’t even halfway through June, but I have already discovered enough great new music to finalize part one of my semi-annual celebration of everything I’m listening to! My favorite song of 2023 so far is probably Gary Gunn’s opening theme for A Thousand and One. My cinephilia may also be showing in the inclusion of Róisín Murphy’s “The Universe,” which is here in large part because it reminds me of Triangle of Sadness, and “Testing” by Lonnie Holley, director (with Cyrus Moussavi) of I Snuck Off the Slave Ship. Other highlights include John Cale’s first appearance in this series and new work by regulars The Hold Steady and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. But obviously I think *everything* is great! Here’s a full listing of all the tracks included on this Spotify playlist I created:

1. billy woods and Kenny Segal – Kenwood Speakers
2. Gary Gunn – Opening Theme From A Thousand and One
3. Parranoul – Blossom
4. Tyler, the Creator – Lumberjack
5. The Hold Steady – The Birdwatchers
6. Witch – By the Time You Realize
7. Gina Birch – Big Mouth
8. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – King of Oklahoma
9. H.C. McEntire feat. Amy Ray – Turpentine
10. Róisín Murphy feat. DJ Koze – The Universe
11. 100 gecs – One Million Dollars
12. John Cale feat. Sylvan Esso – Time Stands Still
13. MC Yallah feat. Debmaster – Sikwebela
14. Model/Actriz – Mosquito
15. boygenius – Cool About It
16. Scree – Victory Signs
17. Lonnie Holley – Testing
18. Margo Price feat. Sharon Van Etten – Radio
19. Yo La Tengo – Tonight’s Episode
20. Lucero – Macon If We Make It