17 Tracks Summer '08 Mix

Mixes are like time capsules. You make them, listen to them a few times, and then let them collect dust in the center console of your car. With the rise of iTunes playlists, mixes are becoming less necessary, which is a shame. They become snapshots of our musical tastes that we can look back on with both nostalgia and disgust. This weekend I had a ten hour drive through the desert and decided that I should make a mix to sum up the past three months. It would serve as both a reminder of summer '08 and provide better sound quality than my radio station tuning iPod would. Some of these tracks are summer blockbusters and deserve a place on the mix whether you like 'em or not. Others barley made a blip on radio waves but are so good that it would be a crime not to be included. Without further adieu, I present to you, the 17 Tracks Summer '08 Mix (in no particular order).







01. "If I Never See Your Face Again"
Artists: Maroon 5 feat. Rihanna
Albums: It Won't Be Soon Before Long and Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded
Chart Placing: US #51 UK #28
Why: Rihanna had two #1's this summer and this song wasn't one of them. In fact, it is one of the few things that she touched that didn't turn to gold. Regardless, it made Rihanna more legit and it made Maroon 5 more new wave.







02. "Pork And Beans"
Artist: Weezer
Album: Weezer (The Red Album)
Chart Placing: US #64 UK #33 US Rock Chart #1
Why: The video alone makes this song a worthy candidate. However,the celebration of YouTube celebrities and culture aside, the song's remarks about Timbaland and taking pictures while looking in the mirror are so mid-to-late 00's it isn't funny.







03. "Spiralling"
Artist: Keane
Album: Perfect Symmetry
Chart Placing: UK #28
Why: "Spiralling" is hands down, the best free download of the year. It doesn't hurt that it sounds like a Killers track from the future or maybe the 80's (the future sounds like the 80's, doesn't it?) with Tom Chaplin giving his best Brandon Flowers impression. The album is due out in October featuring production from none other than Stuart Price.







04. "My Drive Thru"
Artists: Santogold, Julian Casablanca, Pharrell
Album: NA
Chart Placing: NA
Why: Another amazing free download. Each artist wrote their own track and then N.E.R.D. stitched each part together to produce the ultimate mash-up. Despite its three separate and distinct parts, "My Drive Thru" flows together flawlessly.







05. "4 Minutes"
Artists: Madonna & Justin Timberlake
Album: Hard Candy
Chart Placing: US #3 UK #1 US Dance Chart #1
Why: Let's be honest, the best part of the song is the beginning where Timbaland is mumbling about four minutes. As the anticipation reaches its climax, the rest of the song is a relative disappointment. Still, it's Madonna's biggest hit in eight years and the first time since 1989 that fourteen year olds know the words to one of her songs.







06. "Black And Gold"
Artist: Sam Sparro
Album: Sam Sparro
Chart Placing: UK #2
Why: Cool synthesizers slink along as Sparro describes looking up in wonder at the night sky. Sparro claims the song is about the very existence of God, which, if it's true, is the catchiest religious dance song of the century.







07. "Paper Planes"
Artist: M.I.A.
Album: Kala
Chart Placing: Currently US #5
Why: It took being featured on a film trailer and Rihanna's section of the Glow In The Dark tour, but M.I.A. has finally got a major hit on her hands. Like "I Kissed A Girl", this track should have angered a lot of people but for some reason didn't. Sure she was censored on Letterman, but everyone knows that all she wants to do is bang bang bang bang and take your money. (She's got more records than the KGB.)







08. "I Kissed A Girl"
Artist: Katy Perry
Album: One Of The Boys
Chart Placing: US #1 UK #1
Why: It should piss of gay rights activists because of its appropriation of homosexuality only OK if its girls and they are just playing. It should piss of conservatives because, well, it's about girls kissing girls. Somehow, no one is upset and it's a transatlantic #1 hit.







09. "L.E.S. Artistes"
Artist: Santogold
Album: Santogold
Chart Placing: US #27
Why: The L.E.S. isn't French, it stands for Lower East Side, as in the avant garde part of New York City. It comes across as an updated version of "Complicated", bashing pretentious starving artists but it's much more believable coming from someone who isn't "complicated" themselves.







10. "Dance Wiv Me"
Artist: Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris
Album: NA
Chart Placing: UK #1
Why: Great Britain has a love for disposable dance songs and this is a perfect example. How often does a black rapper feature a white pop songwriter on a track? Not often. If you find one, hold onto it tight.







11. "The Geeks Were Right"
Artist: The Faint
Album: Fasciinatiion
Chart Placing: NA
Why: In a summer of washed up sea monster sightings, rumors of Bigfoot finally being caught on the front page of Drudge Report, and fears of China on the rise, this horror song at least gave us something to dance to as we worried.







12. "Everyone Nose:
Artists: N.E.R.D. feat. Kanye West
Album: Seeing Sounds
Chart Placing: UK #41
Why: You'll never look at all the girls standing in the line for the bathroom the same way again. Sure it's about groupies using cocaine, but the beat is so sick that it doesn't matter.







13. "Bleeding Love"
Artist: Leona Lewis
Album: Spirit
Chart Placing: US #1 UK #1
Why: "Bleeding Love" is one of the few gems from a slew of sappy reality television winner songs. Written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and Jesse McCartney, the track was better than any song ever recorded by either of them. You can bet Mariah Carey's blood boiled with envy upon hearing the distorted organ and Lewis' opening coos for the first time.







14. "Viva La Vida"
Artist: Coldplay
Album: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Chart Placing: US #1 UK #1
Why: Coldplay officially took their spot as biggest band of the decade this summer and "Viva La Vida" was the song that took them there.







15. "Mercury"
Artist: Bloc Party
Album: Intimacy
Chart Placing: UK #16
Why: If Britney Spears was a male rock star who wielded a guitar rather than a female pop star who wielded her sexuality, this would be her "Toxic". The "4 Minutes"-esque horns blare amid the remixed shouts of "my mercury's in retrograde" and it takes you too high that you can't come down.







16. "Closer"
Artist: Ne-Yo
Album: The Year Of The Gentleman
Chart Placing: Currently US #10 UK #1
Why: If Usher was concerned about reclaiming his crown as King of Pop from Timberlake, this is the song he would have made. Apparently he's more concerned about being the first Usher than the next Michael Jackson but we still have "Closer" so everyone is a winner.







17. "Yes We Can"
Artist: Will.I.Am feat. Barack Obama
Album: NA
Chart Placing: NA
Why: Even if you are voting for McCain, you have to admit that this song is inspiring. It doesn't touch on energy policies, the war in Iraq, or abortion, and after the Saddleback debate, I'm not sure that Obama talking about real issues would sound as eloquent anyways. That wasn't the point though; it was all about hope.

17 Tracks Summer 2009 Mix

The other day I dusted off 17 Tracks Summer 2008 Mix and it was like a time capsule to twelve months ago. Rihanna ruled the world, free promotional downloads were all the rage, trans-Atlantic No. 1 hits dominated the charts and, Barack Obama was just another presidential hopeful.

This year's mix is a lot lighter on "hits for hits sake". Track 1 is the only song that's reached No. 1 in the US or UK and I'm fine with that (I couldn' stomach "I Kissed A Girl" from last year's CD. That was definitley a "hit for hits" sake song). To those of you who only listen to Top 40 radio, fear not, there's plenty of songs from big name acts but there's also plenty of new music to sink your teeth into.

Hope you guys enjoy the mix and this last month of summer.

01. "I Gotta Feelin'"
Artist: Black Eyed Peas
Album: The End
Why: Summer 2009 is the summer of the Black Eyed Peas whether we like 'em or not. President Obama commissioned Will.I.Am to create an album that would help Americans forget that they were in a recession and part of the bailout money went to buying the most expensive synthesizers money can buy. Between "Boom Boom Pow" and "Feelin", the Peas have had a lockdown on the No. 1 spot for 16 weeks and I'm beginning to think they'll outlast the recession.


02. "I Talk Too Much"
Artist: Just Jack feat. Kylie Minogue
Album: Overtones
Why: Because its a cool song. How can you say no to a hipster pop ditty from an indie electronic artist featuring one of the biggest pop stars in the world? It pleases Pitchfork and Popjustice readers alike.


03. "Fireflies"
Artist: Owl City
Album: Ocean Eyes
Why: This song was iTune's free single of the week a week ago and it sounds like a Postal Service reject. Maybe a few years ago it wouldn't have many a blip on my radar but after Ben Gibbard announced there would be no follow up to 2003's Give Up, I'll take whatever I can get.


04. "Hold The Line"
Artist: Major Lazer feat. Santigold
Album: Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do
Why: Nothing says summer like a cartoon musician. Like the Archies and Gorillaz before "him", Major Lazer is a collaborative musical project fronted by a cartoon character. Diplo is the mastermind behind the Jamaican commando and he team's up with summer mix favorite Santogold who landed two songs on last year's mix. I just love the part about "fresh from California".


05. "Lisztomania"
Artist: Phoenix
Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Why: Any song that references a movie in which Ringo Starr plays the Pope deserves a spot on a mix. Plus, Phoenix is the shiz.


06. "Awesome"
Artist: The Bloody Beetroots
Album: Romborama
Why: Because this song is AWESOME!!! Seriously, this track is so hot.


07. "She Wolf"
Artist: Shakira
Album: To Be Announced
Why: Shakira pronounces words like Alanis and she makes disco like the Bee Gees. Props to her for being the first artist to use the word lycanthropy in a pop song.


08. "Paranoid"
Artist: Kanye West
Album: 808s & Heartbreak
Why: Kanye is a perennial 17 Tracks favorite and "Paranoid" is one of 808s highlights. The new single mix makes the song about distrust and paranoia in a relationship gone haywire that much catchier.

09. "The Loving Kind"

Artist: Absent Elk

Album: None

Why: Originally a UK No. 10 hit by Girls Aloud, this Pep Shop Boys penned track shines no matter who sings it and Absent Elk's low key take on the track proves it.

10. "Already Gone"

Artist: Kelly Clarkson

Album: All I Ever Wanted

Why: Sure Kelly hates it but Ryan Tedder didn't become the songwriter of the moment for nothing. It's a breakup song but its a happy breakup song. Those are far and few between.

11. "Sweet Dreams"

Artist: Beyonce

Album: I Am...Sasha Fierce

Why: You didn't think we'd put "Halo" on here did you?

12. "1901"

Artist: Phoenix

Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Why: Lucky Phoenix, they get two songs on the mix! "1901" is their best song. There is absolutely nothing French about it, actually, it sounds very Strokes-ey. Mark my words, this will end up as one of the year's most critically acclaimed songs.

13. "One More Chance"

Artist: Bloc Party

Album: None

Why: "One More Chance" is the healing balm to Intimacy's scars. Kele's desperate pleas for "one more chance to love you" and "don't say another word about the other boy" amid the swirling house beats and insistent driving guitar make for another Bloc Party classic.

14. "Obsessed"

Artist: Mariah Carey

Album: Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Why: This song and its travails have provided so many rich story lines that it would be a crime to not put it on here. It has gone from the moment Mimi "jumped the shark" and used auto-tune to the first shot in a massive blog fueled war of superstars.

15. "Raindrops"

Artist: Basement Jaxx

Album: Scars

Why: It's like an Amazonian rainstorm...from the future! The raindrops equals moisture dripping from your lips is...interesting...and its dramatic build is euphoric. Always on the cutting edge of electronia, the Basement Jaxx deliver another hit.

16. "Run This Town"

Artist: Jay-Z feat. Kanye West & Rihanna

Album: The Blueprint III
Why: It would have been just another cocky song by Jay-Z but Rihanna adds the same attitude that she showed on "Live Your Life" minus the cumbersome Numa Numa sample and then you have Kanye's rapping. It's good to hear him do that again, isn't it?

17. "Box N Locks"
Artist: MPHO
Album: Pop Art
Why: I predict that this song will end up one of critic's favorite songs of the year. Like the lovechild of Prince and the Cars, "Box N Locks" is a hipster surf-guitar pop declaration of independence. MPHO's sentiments are similar to those of Santogold last year, challenging the notion that black artists have to make "black" music. Even their voices are two peas in a pod.