Mixtapery: Like What? (2011)

In preparation for my end of year review posts I have discovered that my previous means of uploading my mixtapes/playlists have become a little outmoded. Three years of not sharing digitally will have that effect I suppose. So this first mixtape post is both an experiment and a preview of what's to come if all goes well.

I have a penchant for making mixtapes for my friends that dates back to actual cassette tapes, I'm sure my evolution to cd's and mp3 playlists is similar to a lot of people so I'm not making a massive hipster deal out of this fact. In general I made 3 or 4 a year at my peak and finished with an end of year "best of" for Christmas presents. Like What? was the most recent instalment of this practice, finished back in December 2011 and actually represents the last time I could be bothered to put something together. I was so lazy I didn't even make a real piece of artwork for it. Instead I provide you with this:

Looking at what I have started to put together for the 2012 edition and comparing it to this one, the similarities stand out as quite an indictment of how lazy in finding new music I have become in the past 12 months.

So what new things have I tried with this digital experiment? I have uploaded a complete zip folder of all 16 tracks if you feel like getting your hands on 95mb of music. I signed up to f**eb**k with a fake account so I could access Spotify and created a playlist too. It should be embedded below if things have gone smoothly and underneath is a link to the playlist within Spotify if you prefer. I have noticed however that one track is not available through Spotify, blame the label/band for being shortsighted.

I'd love some feedback on the modes of sharing as well as the mixtape itself, suggestions for other methods of sharing that might work for future mixtapes and of course feel free to share your own mixtapes with me, plus anything else that comes to mind too.

Full tracklisting:
1. Burying Davy by The Decemberists
2. Home Is A Fire by Death Cab For Cutie
3. Septemberism by Man Overboard
4. Santiago by The Kabeedies
5. Our Perfect Disease by The Wombats
6. Violence by Pegasus Bridge
7. Freud Links The Teeth And The Heart by Tellison
8. Songs About Your Girlfriend by Los Campesinos!
9. Simple Math by Manchester Orchestra
10. I'm Not Made Of Eyes by General Fiasco
11. Do You Want Me (Dead?) by All Time Low
12. It Doesn't Feel A Thing Like Falling by Taking Back Sunday
13. 200x by Johnny Foreigner
14. Since You've Been Gone (My Heart Swells) by Elephants
15. Let's Kill Tonight by Panic! At The Disco
16. I Can Show You by Tim & Jean




Like What? (2011) at Spotify

Currently Listening: Unfaithfully Yours by General Fiasco (2012)

You may have heard of General Fiasco but then again you probably haven't. Hailing from Northern Ireland they are an Indie band playing upbeat pop-rock and at the age of 23 the members are growing up - check out the attempts to grow facial hair in their publicity shot above - and it shows in their approach to this, their second album.

It was the release of the video for The Age That You Start Losing Friends to celebrate their signing with Dirty Hit Records that brought the band to my attention a year ago. Here was an arrogant, swaggering piece of pop with a chorus that you couldn't help but sing along with and I was hooked.



In the year between then and the release of Unfaithfully Yours at the end of July I found myself listening to their debut album on repeat. The youthful swaggerring arroagance of the music is infectious, I find myself walking with added purpose when they come on my iPod and the album is always over far too soon and the hard Belfast accent on some of the vocals is a particular high point for me. The new album couldn't come soon enough.

And it didn't really disappoint. They've grown as song writers and musicians, added an extra guitarist an tried crafting an album that showcases their talent and experience. The single Bad Habits offers a wall of guitars, a fist-pumping, falsetto-sprinkled chorus, which is as anthemic as an arena-rock song for example.

But they've also been over produced and aimed for something that for me they aren't yet ready for. A lot of the raw swagger is missing this time around, the Belfast accent has been toned down quite a bit and for some reason there is both a terrible slow song that threatens to transform in to another upbeat piece of pop but instead stays flat and dull as well as a transparent attempt to write a song that can close their live shows on a high (The Bottoms.) It doesn't work for me and simply adds to the top heavy nature of the album.

From tracks one to seven they build up to the brilliant ....Friends and from then on you get a sense of the album closing down rapidly, it's not quite all filler but it may as well be. Unfaithfully Yours also brings to mind Happiness Ltd era Hot Hot Heat, that album after they had toured stadiums with The Killers, inspiring them to tone down their jerky, abrasive sound and instead write radio friendly music more condusive to shifting units.

It's not the greatest album ever but it is good fun and if you're looking for pop-rock singalongs you can't really go wrong with General Fiasco.

Stream the single Bad Habits from their Soundcloud here and if you're interested get the free 5 track Live EP thanks to Dirty Hit from the TopSpin widget below. You'll also find an interesting interview with them at I Heart AU. Don't forget to leave some comments in the blah.