the cure

The Dunce Cap: Week of Feb. 1, 2012

in: heavy rotation

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 42: My city’s still breathing (but barely, it’s true). (click on link to listen to mix via 8tracks or play above)

1. “No Action” – Elvis Costello and the Attractions
2. “Winter” – The Dodos
3. “Spit on a Stranger” – Nickel Creek
4. “Hearts and Minds” – Matt Pond PA
5. “Cotton” – The Mountain Goats
6. “Singing in My Sleep” – Semisonic
7. “I Think We’re Alone Now” – The Spinto Band
8. “I Already Miss You” – The Kooks
9. “Boys Don’t Cry” – Grant Lee Phillips
10. “Left and Leaving” – The Weakerthans

Elvis Costello, guys. I’ve recently rediscovered his 1978 album, This Year’s Model, and it’s been nothing but love for the original Napoleon Dynamite since. And Costello certainly knows how to start an album. So I took a page out of his book and launched this Dunce Cap with the same track Costello uses to start This Year’s Model. I think it was a good decision.

The rest of this mix has a few cover songs peppered throughout (an awesome Grant Lee Phillips cover of The Cure, as well as a cover of Tiffany’s ’80s hit – originally recorded by Tommy James & the Shondells – by The Spinto Band, and, of course, Nickel Creek’s excellent take on Pavement’s “Spit on a Stranger,” from their last album Terror Twilight), but I like to think the crowning jewels are the pair of tracks, The Mountain Goats’ “Cotton” and The Dodos’ “Winter.” Both have been spinnin’ round and round in my head for the last few weeks, and I’ve had a sticky note on this here computer to include them both on a mix. So, finally, I have!

Altogether, the result is a mix of heartbreak, sadness, bitterness and intrigue (and just in time for Valentine’s Day!), which may just suggest I’ve been watching a bit too much Gossip Girl during the day. Oops?

As always, happy listening.

The Dunce Cap: Dec. 27, 2010

in: heavy rotation

Image from Toothpaste for Dinner

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 30: The sun is up – I’m so fizzy, I could burst! (click on link to listen to mix via 8tracks)

1. “Mint Car” – The Cure
2. “Sun in an Empty Room” – The Weakerthans
3. “Happiness Writes White” – Harvey Danger
4. “Graduate” – Third Eye Blind
5. “New York, New York” – Ryan Adams
6. “The Sweet Part of the City” – The Hold Steady
7. “Back in the Saddle” – Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
8. “All the Young Dudes” – Mott the Hoople
9. “Work” – Jimmy Eat World
10. “Kick Some Ass” – Stroke 9
11. “You Gave Your Love to Me Softly” – Weezer
12. “Some Fantastic” – Barenaked Ladies
13. “Popular Mechanics for Lovers” – Beulah
14. “Magic Boyfriend” – Matt Pond PA
15. “Let’s Dance” – David Bowie
16. “Star Bodies” – The New Pornographers
17. “Doing All the Things That Wouldn’t Make Your Parents Proud” – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
18. “Atlantis” – Donovan
19. “Sugar Daddy” – Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Broadway OST)
20. “More Adventurous” – Rilo Kiley
21. “To Be Surprised” – Sondre Lerche

Well, it’s the 30th Dunce Cap of all time, and it’s the last of the year – I feel like this should be a celebratory moment! As I talked about rather extensively in my last post, this is AN EXCITING BRAND NEW YEAR, and I am ready for all of the excitement and thrall I anticipate it will bring. This mix is themed!, and it’s really a sister post to the Dunce Cap’s New Year’s Resolutions.

Basically, these are 21 songs that I hope will define my 2011. You should mostly be able to catch the gist from the title, but a few may require some explanation and commentary. Many of these songs are actually kind of sad – they’re not literal representations of what I want, but they each have special significance to me. There’s also a division of sorts among songs. An explanation after the jump.

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