summer soul

summer's coming and soul music is my favorite soundtrack for hot, muggy southern weather. here's the mixtape:

1. sam cooke - (somebody) ease my troublin' mind

2. the miracles - you've really got a hold on me

3. david ruffin - still in my heart

4. orthea barnes - watch out boy
5. etta james - i'd rather go blind

6. aretha franklin - dr. feelgood (love is a serious business)

7. wilson pickett - bring it on home to me

8. little willie john - spasms

9. jackie wilson - the who who song

10. parliament - (i wanna) testify

11. melba moore - the magic touch

12. rufus & carla thomas - night time is the right time

13. joe tex - the love you save

14. ray charles - makin' whoopee (live 1964)

nashville mixtapes 141

here's a short mixtape. don't listen to this if you're trying to get pumped up for the gym or something. these are winter songs.

1. wilson pickett - i'm in love

2. elephant - skyscraper

3. panda bear - ponytail

4. junip - line of fire

5. telepopmusik - breathe

6. here we go magic - over the ocean

7. kurt vile - wakin on a pretty day

nashville mixtapes 140

here's a new mixtape featuring some of the music i've been listening to lately. not everything is new here, but none of this music has ever found its way onto a nashville mixtapes compilation before. with any luck, there will be a couple new songs for you:

and here's the playlist:

1. django django - introduction

2. django django - hail bop

3. yeti lane - warning sensations

4. jim noir - one note world

5. here we go magic - alone but moving

6. clark - herzog

7. jj doom - borin' convo

8. burial - spaceape

9. quakers - my mantra (feat. dave dub)

10. quakers - fresh

11. katalyst - clapping song (feat. coin locker kid)

12. daffy duck - psa

13. david ruffin - still in my heart

14. lambchop - this corrosion (sisters of mercy)

15. silver jews - random rules

save wrvu

in case you haven't heard, vsc (the nonprofit corporation that owns vanderbilt's wrvu) announced plans last week to sell off the station's broadcast license and move it to an online-only format. although vsc made this announcement late last week, it's clear their decision to stifle dissent was well on its way before then. on september 7 they cynically purchased the domain names "savewrvu.org" and "savewrvu.com" as detailed in wrvu staff's draft letter to the editor of the hustler - a student newspaper also run under the watchful eye of vsc. *update: those supporting saving wrvu have now been given control of the domain names listed above*

although i'm a casualty of the community volunteer dj purge that occurred earlier this year, i still encourage anyone who cares about good radio to sign a petition at the sarratt student center and show his/her support for the station. vsc has made it abundantly clear that our community's opinion on this matter is worthless to them, but we can still try to make our voices heard. you can also let your friends know about this by liking the save wrvu facebook page and follow the discussion online by joining the save wrvu google group.

having said that, i think it's fair to assume that the decision may have already been made and that protests from the student body and the community may fall on deaf ears. earlier this year when vsc announced plans to cut community dj participation at the station, they feigned interest in reaching a compromise only to eventually enact their initial plan. it's clear to me that vsc is more than willing to sell off its most valuable asset to pay for other media projects that aren't pulling their own weight with regards to vanderbilt student media funding.

throughout this entire debate nobody has been able to explain why moving to an online-only format is a better proposition for the station. it took decades of hard work and dedication to make wrvu the high-wattage fm radio station we love today. hopefully with a lot of support from everybody all that hard work will not have been in vain.

pick your poison

this year's summer mix series submission is actually two mini compilations rolled into one album. side a is full of mid and down-tempo tracks best enjoyed doing whatever it is you do to relax. the volume goes up on side b which features a few of the best rock songs you've forgotten about or never heard.

pick your poison

side a (26:46)
1. gorillaz - empire ants
2. autolux - highchair
3. panda bear - slow motion
4. the roots - right on
5. portishead - pedestal
6. caribou - jamelia
7. kurt vile - don't get cute

side b (26:25)
8. the besnard lakes - and this is what we call progress
9. turner cody - corner of my room
10. sic alps - l mansion
11. the ponys - double vision
12. ty segall - standing at the station
13. thee oh sees - go meet the seed
14. the zombies - just out of reach
15. the kinks - till the end of the day

record store day 2010

don't forget to get out of the house on saturday, april 17 and show your favorite independent labels and record stores some love. if you're on the east side, it looks like the groove at five points will have tons of great live music (emmylou harris, tristen, tallest trees, chris crofton, etc.) and other fun things.

on the other side of the river, grimey's is going to have their own live music set-up (including clem snide), a special screening of the mountain goats movie, yazoo beer, jimmy carl's lunch box bbq, and tons of booths set up in the back yard. radio free nashville will be there too so stop by, pick up a t-shirt, and say hi.

here's a current list of 2010 record store day releases to whet your appetite.

nashville mixtapes lives

i'm happy to announce that nashville mixtapes has a new home on 107.1 fm wrfn radio free nashville and will be on the air every saturday from 9-11am beginning next week. for those of you unfamiliar with the low power radio movement, lp brings the spirit of independent community radio back to airwaves. as the name implies, low power radio is just that - low power - so coverage can be spotty with an fm tuner and you may have to use the internet or cable tv to pick up the station.

here are all the different ways to enjoy wrfn:

107.1 fm
cable channel 10 (using sap audio - davidson county only)
iphone app
itunes
vlc player
winamp
windows media player

you can also hear wrfn on your mobile phone by following these instructions:
1. go to wap.upsnap.com
2. choose RADIO from the list
3. choose MUSIC
4. choose CATEGORY
5. choose RADIO FREE NASHVILLE

so there you go. hopefully you'll figure out the best way to tune in and hear the show. apparently the station archives shows for up to 6 months. if that's the case you'll find archive links here after each broadcast.

top 20 songs of 2009

here's a holiday gift for you and yours: a best-of-2009 compilation chock full of nashville mixtapes goodness. all songs were released in 2009 and made their way onto the show at least once. there are some glaring omissions, but i wanted to make it short enough for all my fellow luddites who still put things on cd. here's the link and the playlist:

1. doves - compulsion
2. nouvelle vague - master and servant
3. the raveonettes - heart of stone
4. elvis perkins in dearland - shampoo
5. real estate - fake blues
6. here we go magic - fangela
7. cryptacize - blue tears
8. memory cassette - asleep at a party
9. the xx - islands
10. stardeath and white dwarfs - the march
11. the flaming lips - silver trembling hands
12. mos def - quiet dog bite hard
13. beak> - i know
14. ramona falls - i say fever
15. le loup - beach town
16. spiral stairs - maltese t
17. the mumlers - coffin factory
18. thee oh sees - tidal wave
19. the strange boys - poem party
20. dan deacon - paddling ghost

show #73 playlist

thanks to everybody for all the kind phone calls, emails, and twitter things. i had always assumed that the only people who heard nashville mixtapes were friends and the occasional radio surfer, but apparently a few people out there will miss the show. as you probably know by now, show #73 was my last broadcast on wrvu for the time being.

i won't be giving up on nashville mixtapes, so take heart. right now i've applied to move over to wrfn which is a low-power station in nashville that has a much better online presence than wrvu. if that move happens, you probably won't be able to hear the show on a regular terrestrial radio but you will be able to pick it up on cell phones and your computer pretty easily.

i'm also talking with a computer geek friend of mine who is willing to set up a podcast and defray all the associated costs (royalties, server space, bandwidth, etc.). it may take a few weeks, but nashville mixtapes will keep going in some form or another. for all you wrvu fans out there, i fully intend to reapply at the station for a fall 2010 time slot.

anyway, you can still listen to show #73 online until dec 19 by clicking the link on the left-hand column. here's the playlist:

the kinks - 20th century man
scott walker - 30 century man
tom waits - jockey full of bourbon
elbow - the bones of you
doves - kingdom of rust
the beach boys - sloop john b
the asteroid #4 - into the meadow
the soundtrack of our lives - keep the line movin'
the beatles - come together
bruce springsteen - backstreets
cotton jones - nicotine canaries
the velvet underground - rock and roll
the 13th floor elevators - you're gonna miss me
violent femmes - kiss off

moving on (for now)

nashville mixtapes has one more broadcast this saturday and then will go on hiatus until further notice. over the past few semesters the number of community volunteer dj's at wrvu has expanded dramatically and in fall '09 that number reached critical mass. the station has decided to reduce the number of community volunteer dj's by about half and nashville mixtapes didn't make the final cut.

there is hope for the future, however. the show will re-apply at the station in fall '10 and hopefully be invited back to the station at that time. thanks to everyone who listened and please stop by nashvillemixtapes.com from time to time for updates on good music.

also, make sure to tune in this saturday at noon for the last episode. it'll be a "greatest hits" send-off... i promise it won't go down like this:

show #72 playlist

re: the future of the show - there will definitely be one more installment of nashville mixtapes next saturday (dec 12 at noon). beyond that, i know nothing. except that you should probably buy ambivalence avenue by bibio. i've played the title track a couple times on the show, but the whole album has been on repeat at nashville mixtapes headquarters lately.

here's this week's playlist:

animal collective - graze
florence and the machine - you got the love (the xx remix)
happy mondays - wrote for luck
the stone roses - bye bye badman
jim noir - welcome cj
bibio - ambivalence avenue
blur - good song
gorillaz - november has come
dr. dog - the ark
the who - pinball wizard
say hi - november was white, december was grey
radiohead - optimistic
massive attack - small time shot away

show #71 playlist

show #71 was potentially the penultimate broadcast of nashville mixtapes on wrvu. due to policy changes at the station regarding community volunteer dj's, there is a 50/50 chance that this show will not be around after dec 5. obviously, i'd love to stay with my favorite radio station for years to come but i won't have any details about the future of nashville mixtapes until winter break begins.

but don't worry yet. barring some unforeseen change, you can tune in on dec. 5 for a special show featuring some of my favorite music and a few selections from the current wrvu rotation. until then, i'll be taking a 2 week thanksgiving break.

here's the playlist from saturday's show:

nina simone - backlash blues (live at montreux)
ray charles - what'd i say
mel torme - comin' home baby!
bo allen - i hope you're proud
gloria jones - tainted love
surfer blood - swim (to reach the end)
the ponys - double vision
dead meadow - stacy's song
girls - summertime
the botticellis - betrayed (live daytrotter sessions)
le loup - beach town
florence and the machine - you got the love (the xx remix)
the xx - islands

wrvu benefit show + more

the end will host wrvu's fall benefit show next thursday (nov 19) and everybody's invited to stop by and show their support for the station. $5 gets you in and a $10 donation gets you a limited edition wrvu poster. other schwag will be for sale, so if you want a cool wrvu bumper sticker or whatever i'm sure they'll have it there. every dollar counts.

wrvu dj's will be spinning between sets and the all-local lineup includes:

cheer up charlie daniels
vermicious k’nids
westfolk
powerbrrrd

in case you haven't heard, the board that oversees the station has decided to reduce the number of community volunteer dj's by about half. this change will take effect at the beginning of the winter break and i'm a community dj, so there's a 50/50 chance (at best) that nashville mixtapes won't be invited back to wrvu after this semester.

a lot of people are unhappy out there and have voiced their concerns all over the internet about what this change means for the future of the station's unique character and its unparalleled contribution to nashville's radio listening audience. some people are even considering making their dissatisfaction known by boycotting this and future benefit shows. although myself and the other dj's (from both the student body and the community) appreciate everybody's concern, i personally don't see any merit in boycotting an event that can help the station. if you truly care about wrvu, i hope you and your friends can make it out next thursday. for what it's worth, i supported wrvu long before i was a dj and i will continue to support the station in the future.

show #70 playlist

the ponys - double vision
ambulance ltd - sugar pill
the raveonettes - heart of stone
the black hollies - gloomy monday morning
the beatles - the night before
edward sharpe & the magnetic zeroes - desert song
cotton jones - nicotine canaries
caribou - eli
bibio - ambivalence avenue
menomena - strongest man in the world
the xx - intro
stephin merritt - the man of a million faces
papercuts - a peculiar hallelujah
yo la tengo - here to fail

show #69

many thanks to milktooth and eleonore denig for coming by the studio last week despite the horrible parking situation and technical glitches. i arrived at the station completely unprepared and exhausted, but my favorite local band saved the day with a great acoustic performance. the youtubes have all the proof you need:

they also guest dj-ed for half the show - you can find that playlist on wrvu.org. anyway, i'll be back in good form and well-rested this saturday at noon.

show #68 playlist

long-time nashville mixtapes devotees (do they exist?) may have noticed that large portions of last saturday's show were very similar to previous shows. that's because my day job becomes an all-consuming attention black hole during the last 3 months of the year and show #68 was thrown together at the last minute.

this also explains the pitifully small number of updates to the site lately. i'll try to cobble together some music news and post it here soon. for now, here's the playlist:

badly drawn boy - road movie
radiohead - reckoner
portishead - sour times
blur - ambulance
the beach boys - heroes and villains
doves - valley
elbow - picky bugger
tom waits - way down in the hole
the mumlers - 99 years ago
kurt vile - hunchback
dead meadow - between me and the ground
iggy pop - the passenger
roxy music - editions of you

and here's a halloween video from the mumlers to you:

show #67 playlist

kurt vile - hunchback
the raveonettes - heart of stone
pulp - the night that minnie temperley died
cortney tidwell - 17 horses
le loup - forgive me
peter bjorn & john - amsterdam
massive attack - splitting the atom
air - do the joy
thom yorke - feeling pulled apart by horses
the kinks - big sky
a.c. newman - homemade bombs in the afternoon
the fresh & onlys - feelings in my heart

show #66 playlist

real estate's self-titled full-length album comes out via woodsist on 11.17 and they play with japandroids in atl at 529 on 10.17. they're much more psychedelic-surf and far less wimpy-indie than you might think.

anyway, hopefully you tuned in to the special 2-hour show yesterday. my apologies to all fans of this is pop. chris will be back next saturday at 11am and i'll be back at noon. here was what you heard/missed:

silver jews - suffering jukebox
blitzen trapper - black river killer
spiral stairs (scott kannberg of pavement)- maltese terrier
nouvelle vague - master and servant
the raveonettes - heart of stone
papercuts - future primitive
real estate - fake blues
here we go magic - fangela
doves - compulsion
the monks - i hate you
thee oh sees - tidal wave
the la's - i can't sleep
the nashville ramblers - the trains
the stone roses - i am the resurrection
yo la tengo - autumn sweater
le loup - beach town
animal collective - in the flowers
dan deacon - paddling ghost
the asteroid no. 4 - into the meadow
autolux - turnstyle blues
the black angels - doves
ambulance ltd - primitive (the way i treat you)
ramona falls - i say fever

asleep in the back

elbow's classic debut album asleep in the back is set to receive the full "deluxe edition" treatment with a release date scheduled for oct. 26 in the uk . fans should be ecstatic, although the cynic in me wonders if v2 records is just cashing in on elbow's new found success since the label dumped the band prior to the recording of the seldom seen kid.

regardless, most labels worth their salt know loyal fans will not spend their hard earned cash on a reissue unless it comes with plenty of good features. it looks like there will be little room for disappointment: the whole package will include the band's original debut noisebox ep (which was never repressed after the initial self-release), concert performances, radio performances, the album itself, and what is sure to be a dvd masterpiece produced by the soup collective.

here's the breakdown:

Disc 1 - CD - The Album
1. Any Day Now
2. Red
3. Little Beast
4. Powder Blue
5. Bitten by the Tailfly
6. Asleep in the Back
7. Newborn
8. Don't Mix Your Drinks
9. Presuming Ed (Rest Easy)
10. Coming Second
11. Can't Stop
12. Scattered Black and Whites

Disc 2 - CD - The Bonus Material
Noisebox EP
1. Powder Blue
2. Red
3. Theme From Munroe Kelly
4. Can't Stop

Live At The Astoria 2001
5. Bitten By The Tail Fly *
6. Coming Second
7. Don't Mix Your Drinks *
8. Can't Stop *
9. Scattered Black And Whites *
10. George Lassoes The Moon *

Radio 1 Lamacq Session 2001
11. Newborn *
12. Don't Mix Your Drinks *
13. Red

Disc 3 - The DVD
'Asleep In The Back' Movie

* Previously Unreleased

show #65 playlist

the set was a little shorter last saturday because i wanted my new trainee to put on a couple songs at the end. it looks like wrvu has fixed the audio archive settings for the show now, so feel free to listen online via realplayer. an itunes archive is still in the works, but we're not there yet.

anyway, here's the playlist:

doves - jetstream
the xx - islands
thom yorke - feeling pulled apart by horses
the flaming lips - silver trembling hands
cortney tidwell - missing link
doves - here it comes
yo la tengo - avalon or someone very similar
le loup - forgive me
the beta band - inner meet me
john lennon - well well well