GSU 2006

For those who don't know, my job is to coach debate at Dartmouth. It's not worth getting into all of that right now, but it does have some significance for the blog, since tomorrow we leave for the first tournament of the year. It's at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Why does this matter? Well, one of the big reasons I started to get obsessive about finding new music is because about five years ago I was trying to make mix-CDs for every tournament, and quickly discovered I was running out of interesting stuff to put on them. I've slowed down a little bit on making a mix for every tournament (12-15 a year runs into some quality control problems), but I still do a few every year. And I figured I might as well post it here. I've talked about most of these songs already over the past few months, and will almost certainly cover the rest soon, so I'll leave comments on the minimal side.

1. Are You There Margaret? It's Me God - Lawrence Arms
2. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
3. TV - Headlights
4. This Boy - I'm From Barcelona
5. Fraud In The '80s - Mates of State
6. O Valencia - Decemberists (no link - still under wraps)
7. Peace and Hate - Submarines
8. Born On A Train (live on KCRW) - Arcade Fire
9. Living Room - Tegan and Sara
10. The Freest Man - Tilly and the Wall
11. Antarctica - Antarctica Takes It!
12. Kate - Sambassadeur
13. Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives - Voxtrot
14. Stevie Nix - The Hold Steady
15. Still A Long Way To Go - James Dean Bradfield
16. Six Feet Under - Jon Auer
17. What Can I Say - Brandi Carlile
18. If Looks Could Kill - Camera Obscura
19. Old Dan Tucker - Bruce Springsteen
20. It's My Way of Staying Connected - She, Sir
21. Been Here Before - Jeremy Enigk
22. The Mistress Witch From McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself) - Sufjan Stevens

A few great moments:
-The 2:57 mark in "Are You There Margaret? It's Me God" when you think that the song is starting to fade out but they come back one last time to punch you in the gut.
-The piano interlude in the middle of "Stevie Nix." I've really fallen in love with this song all over again in the the last month or two.
-Jeremy Enigk's voice the whole way through the song, but especially when he explodes on "I empathize"
-The vocal interplay on "Living Room." I can't remember ever reading any blogs talking about Tegan and Sara, which is a shame, because they're pretty fantastic.
-Kori Gardner's voice about 45 seconds into "Fraud of the '80s" when she sings "I spent a long time trying to see through" - it just makes me melt.

I probably won't post again until we return early next week. Until then, enjoy the songs and the weekend of the equinox.