#31: WE SOLVE OURSELVES

So here we are, at the other side of the great divide, and damn it feels great. As promised, this months mix is an attempt to create the happiest and most hopeful mix I could. I had no idea how hard that would be. I never quite realized how rare truly positive music is. Perhaps it's me, but almost all of the music I consume and collect has some element of angst, tension or cynicism in it. I even had to include more "classic" songs than I normally would as means to build up the appropriate amount of celebration. Perhaps the human element just finds struggle more interesting than contentment.

Anyway, this mix is comprised of songs that are not only "happy" but also capture a certain element of youthful naivety that I believe is required of the uncompromisingly positive. Even though I claim that this mix was inordinately hard to create, the process actually resulted in two full mixes. The next installment will publish in a week or so as the final mix of the year. I hope you enjoy them.

Download the Mix as a 121 MB Zip File
Now using sendspace to deliver these massive files. Email me if the file expires.

The tracklist is as follows:
(The links below will lead you to ways of supporting these artists)

01 American Music, Violent Femmes
02 Big Dipper, Built to Spill
03 King of Carrot Flowers Part 1, Neutral Milk Hotel
04 5 Years Time, Noah and the Whale
05 Dr. Worm, They Might Be Giants
06 Why Did We Ever Meet?, Promise Ring
07 Step Into My Office, Baby, Belle & Sebastian
08 Saturday Night, Bay City Rollers
09 Lust for Life, Iggy Pop
10 Alright, Supergrass
11 Why Doe the Sun Shine?, They Might Be Giants
12 Race for the Prize, Flaming Lips
13 A Life of Possibilities, The Dismemberment Plan
14 Chicago, Sufjan Stevens
15 Kim & Jessie, M83
16 Section 12 (Hold Me Now), Polyphonic Spree
17 We're From Barcelona, I'm From Barcelona
18 The Contents of Lincoln's Pockets, Rainer Maria
19 Can't Hardly Wait Replacements
20 (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?, Elvis Costello