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.