2011 Mix
On Christmas Day, after taking a nap on my aunt and uncle’s living room floor, I started to question why driving to Madison the next day - four plus hours all by myself, to stay for less than 24 hours - seemed like such a great idea earlier. I realized that in order to survive, I would need a new CD. (Yes, CDs! Because that’s still how I listen to music in my car!)
So I made a mix full of peppy stuff - stuff that I can jam and dance to (yes, car-dancing is a thing). My interest in trying to discover new music was particularly low this year, confounded by the fact that I’m too frugal to buy any album that costs more than $5 and too lazy to deal with torrents or however the kids pirate their tunes these days. (Most of these songs were acquired from the scant selection of MP3 blogs I follow, and the few albums I actually did pay for.) It’s not all from this year, but most of it felt like this year to me.
- Tune-Yards - Gangsta: Amazon chose this capitalization and I’m sticking with it.
- Rihanna - We Found Love: YELLOW DIAMONDS IN THE LIGHT!
- LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It: At first I found this song silly and ridiculous, but then I just gave in to that and I don’t really understand people who can’t give in to that.
- Robyn - Dancing on My Own: I love how most of the lyrics are so obvious (“I’m right over here! Why can’t you see me?”) but if nothing else, the first line of the second verse will always get me: I’m just gonna dance…all night
- Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers: Oh, those Swedes and their siren songs…
- Tune-Yards - Killa: I think this is mostly here to maintain some sort of hipster cred? I actually wish I hadn’t wasted the precious few minutes of space on this one.
- Beyonce - Countdown: This is another one that I didn’t love at first but after seeing the video (OH GOD THE VIDEO) my appreciation increased ten-fold. I was thinking how great it is that Beyonce’s relationship has been chronicled in song (“Crazy in Love”, “Single Ladies”, this one and probably more) and damn, that girl is still crazy in love. I have faith in her and Jay-Z, and if they break up I’ll have lost all hope in famous couples.
- Ke$ha - Blow: Yeah. Another amazing video.
- Lady Gaga - Judas: I don’t love the new album but this is my favorite from it.
- LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem: Over Christmas I discovered that both my nieces love to dance to this song which basically confirms that everything is right in the world.
- Lykke Li - Youth Knows No Pain: It’s not that I can’t scream I SAID YOUTH! NO NO! YOUTH KNOWS NO PAIN! at home, it’s just that it’s so much better in a car.
- Robyn - Call Your Girlfriend: Oh Robyn, just please continue doing that dance in one of your twenty pairs of amazing leggings wherever you go, please, thanks.
- Beirut - Santa Fe: Because sometimes you need a break from car-dancing. I think I almost downloaded this album but couldn’t decide if dreamy indie pop was still part of my musical identity. (Probably.)
- Ke$ha - Tik-Tok: My new idea (after going to Transmission where everyone is very respectful) is that I just need a place to dance to this kind of music in a non-ironic way without the threat of getting groped. This place does not exist, I don’t think? It should.
- Lady Gaga - Born This Way: Maybe it’s this generation’s version of “Express Yourself” but I think it’s acceptable to have more than one.
- Major Lazer - Pon de Floor: Just good to move to.
- Robyn - Include Me Out: Have I mentioned that I totally regret not seeing Robyn at First Ave because yeah.
- PJ Harvey - The Words that Maketh Murder: I only recently downloaded this album and haven’t listened too closely yet, but I’m hoping it answers the question Do I still think PJ is incredible? (Yes.)
- LCD Soundsystem - Yeah: Yeah yeah yeah yeah-yeah yeah-yeah-yeah.
