Mixtape Showdown #8

Update!!!

We're calling this one at 3:5s EST. Your winner, by split decision, SPF!

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It's like that time when the jukebox was playing that song, you know that song, that one that reminds you of that song you like?

Challenge #8
Theme: Same Same, But Different

Challenger: SPF

Notes:
The theme is to have songs that sound like you've heard them before but are slightly different. I tried not to limit it too much so the person who has to match just needs music that fits one of the criteria:
-Is a cover
-Is an original with a better known cover
-Song samples an older work
-Artist sounds like an older generation (RE: Amy Winehouse and Michael Buble would be great fits if you had the courage to put them on a mixtape!)

Playlist:
1 - Al Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand
2 - Johnny Copeland - Tumblin' Dice
3 - Mayer Hawthorne - Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'
4 - Marcia Griffiths - Band of Gold
5- Alice Russell - Seven Nation Army
6 - The Professionals - (Theme From) The Godfather
7 - William Bell - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
8 - The Four Tops - Walk Away Renee
9 - Grovesnor - Nitemoves
10 - The Jackson 5 - You've Really Got A Hold On Me
11 - White Town - Your Woman
12 - Patti Drew - Hard to Handle
13 - James Hunter - Carina
14 Bettye LaVette - All My Love

Listen:



VERSUS:

Champion: Eric Jones

Title: Old is the New New

Notes:
Here are some of my favorite songs that have had renewed life over the decades. This is mostly a laid back mix but don't confuse the slower tempo for a lack of power: from the juggernaut riff of the Green Manalishi to Tina Turner's parental advisory ad libbing on I've Been Loving You Too Long, we find out that going through the ringer slowly ends up hurting more.

Playlist:
1. House of the Rising Sun - Frijid Pink
2. Dirty the Moocher - Ol' Dirty Bastard
3. I'm Your Man - Nick Cave
4. Because - Elliot Smith
5. Sketches of Spain (for Miles) - Buckethead
6. La Vie En Rose - Louis Armstrong
7. The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown) part 1 - The Melvins
8. The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown) part 2 - The Melvins
9. Brahms 3rd Symphony, Third Movement - The Mermen
10. Famous Blue Raincoat - Marissa Nadler
11. I've Been Loving You Too Long - Ike & Tina Turner
12. Lay Lady Lay - Ministry
13. Midnight Cowboy - Faith No More

Listen:


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Mixtape Showdown #7

Think you're a smart guy, huh?

Please note that this week's showdown is going to be an exhibition match without voting. Phenedate kicked so much ass that he's being retired for a short spell. Since we don't have a defending champion to take on this week's challenger, I've enlisted some old friends to help out and submit some tracks, making sure you have two new mixes to keep things fresh for when your workplace shuts Pandora off for the afternoon.

NO MORE ADO!

Challenge #7
Theme: Trivia Night

Challenger: Eric Jones

Notes:
A few months ago I had the chance to host trivia night at a Margaritas in Nashua, New Hampshire. Part of a trivia-guy’s responsibility is to play songs while people look up the answers on their smart phones. I went through my music collection, which I have taken great pains to keep as un-Margaritas of Nashua as possible, and hand picked all the songs that I thought would go over well enough. I tried to pick some songs that people would mostly recognize but maybe hadn't heard in a while. Boy did I blow it! They called the next day and asked me not to come back. I therefore present a selection of the songs I played that night for the enjoyment of those who still presume to be smarter than their phones.

Tracklist:
1. When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin
2. Oooh - De La Soul
3. Come Together - The Supremes
4. Don't Sweat the Technique - Eric B. & Rakim
5. The Goonies R' Good Enough - Cyndi Lauper
6. Ready or Not - The Delfonics
7. Halftime - Nas
8. Look What You Done for Me - Al Green
9. Passing Me By - The Pharcyde
10. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
11. The High Road - Broken Bells
12. The Windmills of Your Mind - Dusty Springfield
13. There is an End - The Greenhornes

Listen:



AND ALSO:

Mixers: Cat Celebrezze, Phenedate, and King Slender

Tracklist:
1. Hawaii Five-O - The Ventures
2. Mastermind - Deltron 3030
3. I Wish - Skee Lo
4. Jeopardy - Greg Kihn Band
5. Funky Dollar Bill - Funkadelic
6. Dirty Love - Frank Zappa
7. Oh Yeah - Yello
8. Game Show - Ministry
9. A Shot in the Dark - John Zorn
10. Peace Frog - The Doors
11. Ghostwriter - RJD2
12. Mighty Mighty - Earth, Wind, and Fire
13. Be True to Your School - The Beach Boys
14. Under Pressure - Queen & David Bowie
15. Where is My Mind? - The Pixies

Listen:

Mixtape Showdown #6

UPDATE !!!
We must declare a victor at 12:12pm. Carl made a furious comeback on the last day, but Phenedate held on for his unprecedented fifth straight victory. With the end of this mix comes the end of the winter. It's all Polynesian cocktails from here on out. Check back tomorrow night for the next set of mixes...

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This is a fun theme week because everybody loves the hell out of freezing cold snowy winters. Shoveling is the best, and so is falling face first on ice while your iPod and cell phone batteries come out and skate across the ground while a car full of teenagers slides by and one of them yells "Cocksucker!" out the window. MIXTAPE SHOWDOWN #6!!!!

Challenge #6
Theme: Winter Storm

Challenger: Carl

Tracklist:
1. White Winter Hymnal / Fleet Foxes / Fleet Foxes
2. Lights / Archive / Lights
3. Winter Must Be Cold / The Apples in Stereo / Fun Trick Noisemaker
4. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! / Do Make Say Think / Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
5. A Little Bit, Sometimes / múm / Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy
6. Honest James / Thurston Moore / Trees Outside The Academy
7. Bleak / Audrey / The Fierce And The Longing
8. Batteri generator / Under Byen / Det er mig der holder træerne sammen
9. Polygyne / Efterklang / Parades
10. Hands Are Tied(part 2) / Scraps of Tape / Read Between The Lines At All Times
11. Days are Years / Blue Sky Black Death / A Heap Of Broken Images
12. Hands in the Snow / Saturday Looks Good To Me / Fill Up The Room
13. Finally, as That Blazing Sun Shone Down Upon Us, Did We Know That True Enemy Was the Voice of Blind Idolatry; and Only Then Did We Begin to Think for Ourselves / Red Sparowes / Every Red Heart Shines Towards The Red Sun

Listen:



VERSUS:

Champion: Phenedate

Title: Into the White

Notes: Songs with the words cold, snow, ice, storm, winter, or something else that makes you think of cold weather, in the title. I don't care if one of the songs is about cocaine.

Tracklist:
1. Lyn Taitt & The Comets - Storm Warning
2. Manu Chao - Siberia
3. Tom Waits - Cold Cold Ground
4. Blockhead - The First Snowfall
5. Jared Louche, Robin Storey, Mark Spybey - Record Snowstorm
6. Sasha - Magnetic North
7. RJD2 - Iced Lightning
8. Coil - The Snow
9. Pink Floyd - The Thin Ice
10. Black Sabbath - Snowblind
11. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Is This Home On Ice
12. The White Stripes - In The Cold, Cold, Night
13. The Fall - Winter 2
14. Cop Shoot Cop - Coldest Day Of The Year
15. Devo - Snowball
16. Pixies - Into The White

Listen:


VOTE:

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Mixtape Showdown #5

Update!!!! We're calling this one at high noon on Saturday. It was our fiercest showdown yet, and Phenedate reigns supremo A1 once again. It's fair to say both contestants are taking their aspirin and drinking lots of water this afternoon. Thanks to everybody for voting, I loved the turnout. Let's do it again next week.

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It's like John Wayne vs Charles Bronson. It's like Egg Shen vs Lo Pan. It's most like Superman vs Drunk Superman. It's Mixtape Showdown #5. Thanks for listening, thanks for voting.

Challenge #5
Theme: There's Gonna Be a Hangover Tomorrow

Challenger: King Slender

Notes: Going for a story with this one. A night of fun gets a little aggressive, turns melancholy, there is some vomiting involved, some reflection, then the promise of a new beginning.




Tracklist:
1. Steve's Last Night in Town (Ben Folds Five)
2. It's Martini Time (Reverend Horton Heat)
3. Tequila (The Champs)
4. Alabama Song (The Doors)
5. Hey Bartender (The Blues Brothers)
6. Knock 'Em Down (Firewater)
7. Hottest Party in Town (My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult)
8. We Be Clubbin' (Ice Cube)
9. Drug Ballad (Eminem)
10. Power Player (Clutch)
11. You're Pretty When I'm Drunk (Bloodhound Gang)
12. Don't Ask Me Why I Drink (Mojo Nixon)
13. Move Bitch (Ludacris)
14. Too Drunk to Fuck (Scissorfight)
15. Do Not Go Quietly Unto Your Grave (Morphine)
16. How Many Cans? (Soul Coughing)
17. The Piano has Been Drinking (Tom Waits)
18. One More Cup of Coffee (White Stripes)
19. Magic Mountain (Lightning Bolt)
20. Covered in Punks Blood (Desert Sessions)
21. Clean it Up - edit (Butthole Surfers)
22. Sunshine (Atmosphere)
23. Saturday Morning (Eels)

Listen:



VERSUS

Champion: Phenedate

Notes: This was a tough one. I definitely had a few drinking songs in my head, but beyond that, I had certain nights in my head. Nights that you could mark on the calendar and say before or aftward, "I WAS SO FUCKING DRUNK THAT I DIDN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE SIZE OF MY SHOES!" Or so drunk that you spit beer in the air like a fountain. Or drunk enough you tell the person next to you just how much of an asshole he really is. So drunk you almost fight a girl. That invincible, screaming, fratboy, I might mosh tonight kind of drunk. I'm proud to say that I've had a one night stand with a few of these scenarios. While you're hoooking up it's all peacful and nice and playful, but when it comes to pay that tax, it's crushing. I think the first bunch get you in the mood. Like pre-gaming it at your buddies house. Maybe you have a bourbon, a scotch, a beer and get stoned. After that it's full tilt intoxication time. I think "The Gates of Steel" is my sobriety being twisted away.

A lot of these songs I've had personal experience with live. Some are just good when they come on, and others give me daydream flashes of me putting down drinks with wild abandon and clearly no regard for what might happen the next day, or even that night. Somewhere in the second half of the mix, tequila rears it's ugly head. He's such an asshole. After that, things get a little messy. The next songs feel drunk to me. With some feelings of invincibility in the middle. "Fix Me Up" might be that wobbly trip to the bathroom, quite possibly to pull the trigger. After that you probably have another drink and continue the action but it's short lived and the lament is near. The night ends with a bittersweet tribute. You won't want to see morning... cause there's gonna be a hangover.

Tracklist:
Ennio Morricone - Sepcialtmente La Fisarmonica
Tom Waits - Singapore
John Lee Hooker - One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
RJD2 - 1976
Baboon - Gates Of Steel
Desert Sessions - Screamin' Eagle
Toadies - Mister Love
Torn Main Vain - Breed
Queens Of The Stone Age - Feel Good Hit Of The Summer
Clutch - Electric Worry
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Pop
Molotov - Puto
Klute - Tequila Slammer
Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
[Error] - Brains Out
Pixies - Head On
Cut Copy - Going Nowhere (SebastiAn remix)
Eagles of Death Metal - Flames Go Higher
KMFDM - Fix Me Up
Dan Auerbach - I Want Some More
DJ DLG - Paramount (Roger Seventy Two Remix)
Battles - Snare Hanger
Firewater - Borracho (Ponzi's Relapse)
Gogol Bordello - Alcohol

Listen:

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