Music Monday - the "My iPod Car Charger Broke and Now I Have to Burn CD's" edition

It's Monday! I want to talk about music! It counts.

Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with housewifery, other than you could listen to these mixes at home. I fancy myself a decent mix-tape artist. Of course, tapes are now long gone (seriously, there's an entire generation that has no idea what a "tape" is other than the sticky stuff that you use to keep things together - MIND. BLOWN.), so now it's CD's. Around the time my iPod car charger/dock broke, I went through a "here's who you need to listen to" exchange with a friend, so at least I had options OTHER than radio. While my new cd's are awesome, I'm getting a LITTLE tired of them. So since I'd bought a ton of cd's to make the mixes for my friend anyway, why not use them for more options in the car?

Unfortunately, I've been a little melancholy lately (I blame my new addiction to Death Cab for Cutie a la' my friend - dear lord, help me, I've gone hipster/emo), so the mixes are a little melancholy. They're mellow, but one is a little faster and chipper than the other one. They flow into each other nicely, and while I wouldn't recommend cleaning to them, they'd be good for relaxing or a casual dinner party.

First, the slow and low mix:
1. "Once Around the Block",    Badly Drawn Boy    The Hour of Bewilderbeast
2. "Don't Change Your Plans",    Ben Folds Five    The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner
3. "Somedays", Regina Spektor    Soviet Kitsch
4. "Sparks",    Coldplay    Parachutes
5. "Cybele's Reverie", Stereolab    Emperor Tomato Ketchup
6. "All Is Full Of Love (Video Version)", Björk    Björk: Greatest Hits
7. "Midnight In A Perfect World", DJ Shadow    Endtroducing.....
8. "Samson", Regina Spektor    Begin To Hope
9. "Twilight", Elliott Smith    From a Basement on the Hill
10. "Talking Bird",    Death Cab for Cutie    Narrow Stairs
11. "Walking To You",    Everything But The Girl    Amplified Heart
12. "Hello, It's Me", Todd Rundgren    The Virgin Suicides
13. "Such Great Heights", Iron & Wine    Garden State Soundtrack
14. "Sea Of Love", Cat Power    Juno (Music from the Motion Picture)
15. "Ramona", Beck    Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
16. "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes", Beck    Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)
17. "Maps", Yeah Yeah Yeahs    Fever To Tell
18. "Needle in the Hay",    Elliott Smith    The Royal Tenenbaums


And the slightly more upbeat but still mellow mix! Credit for about half of these songs is actually due to an acquaintance from high school, who burned me two awesome mix cd's of music I'd never heard, and I still listen to at least half of the songs she burned at any given time. Seriously, I'm good at mixes, but she is GREAT!

1. "One Of These Things First", Nick Drake    Garden State Soundtrack
2. "Expectations", Belle & Sebastian    Juno (Music from the Motion Picture)
3. Four Corners", The Sea and Cake    One Bedroom
4. "Best Thing Ever (maybe not)", Viva Voce    Lovers, Lead the Way! & The Heat Can Melt Your Brain
5. "Pass It On", The Coral    Magic and Medicine
6. "Question", Old 97's    Satellite Rides (1 of 2)
7. "I Feel It All", Feist    The Reminder
8. "Strange Apparition", Beck    The Information
9. "All Good Naysayers, Speak Up!", Sufjan Stevens    Michigan
10. "The Coast is Always Changing",    Maximo Park    Live in Tokyo
11. "I Luv the Valley OH!", Xiu Xiu    Fabulous Muscles
12. "No Cars Go", Arcade Fire    Neon Bible
13. "I Will Possess Your Heart", Death Cab For Cutie    Narrow Stairs
14. "Last Goodbye", Jeff Buckley    Grace
15. "I Will Follow You Into the Dark",    Death Cab for Cutie    Plans
16. "The Only Living Boy In New York", Simon & Garfunkel    Garden State

They're good driving around music, which is good, because I commute 2 hours a day. Oy. Anyway, enjoy!

Music Monday – “Music to Clean to”... When you don't want to

There's just something about anger-cleaning. Oh man, piss me off and I will scrub a tile counter until it's powder again. Also, sometimes you just have to hear some catchy anger-bang music. Y'know?

Of course, the inspiration behind this long-overdue Music Monday is due to falling in love with Cee Lo Green's "F*** You". That song is freaking AWESOME. It would've been my entrance music wherever I went in college, as I was one BITTER kitten.

Anyway. This is about finding proper motivation to clean, not smack ex-boyfriends/girlfriends (hey, whatever you fancy, people; no judgment here). So what if that toilet bowl looks exactly like that jerk who dumped you right before Valentine's Day? SCRUB THE SH** OUT OF HIS STUPID JERKFACE!

*ahem*

The playlist (Just over 54 minutes):

• "F*** You", Cee Lo Green
• "Don't Call Me Baby", Madison Avenue
• "White Knuckles", OK Go
• "Breakin' Up", Rilo Kiley
• "Gives You Hell", either version (I prefer the GLEE version 'cuz I'm a total Gleek, but the original by All-American Rejects is good, too)
• "Hate to Say I Told You So", The Hives (Whatever happened to them?)
• "Threshold", Beck
• "Black Tongue", Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• "Kiss Off", Violent Femmes
• "A.D.I.D.A.S." Korn (Just a hint: It ain't about shoes.)
• "If", Janet Jackson (Ok, this one isn't so much about the anger as it is about the bangin', but I like the almost-threatening manner she takes on, like, "IF YOU KNEW BETTER YOU'D BE HITTIN' THIS PIECE, DUMBASS!")
• "The Seed (2.0)", The Roots & Cody Chestnutt
• "Laura", Scissor Sisters (if only for the awesome line of, "This'll be the last time I ever cut your hair")
• "Operate", Peaches
• "Tattooed Love Boys", The Pretenders
• "My Favorite Mistake", Sheryl Crow

Music Monday – “Music to Clean to” 90's mix!

As much as it pains me to reveal my age, I will admit that I am a 90's child. As in, I graduated in the 1990's (the LATE 1990's, thankyouverymuch) and spent half of my childhood growing up IN the 90's.

Even more painful is that the 90's are officially "retro" enough to start sneaking its way back into pop culture. See: Revamps of awesome 90's dramas "90210" and "Melrose Place" (the revamps are not awesome), 90's fashion being revisited in small ways (thank god), and my city establishing an all 90's channel - in which they play up the nostalgia aspect.

So for this Music Monday, we're doing the Running Man as we work! (Oh, you KNOW I was the master of that dance. For REAL, yo.) It's a 90's flashback for this week, including the 90's party I threw for a bunch of my girlfriends this year, with my tips on how I put it together!

Now, when it comes to 90's music, for me it falls into 2 categories: Alternative and Hip-Hop. This one falls more into the Alternative realm, but it's not really the "grunge" form of it. Don't get me wrong, I like Nirvana as much as any other 90's child (and I desperately tried to work a Nirvana song in but it just didn't go with the general feel of this particular playlist - someday!), but I focused on more of the happy, Pop-ish alternative music that came out in the 90's (and some of it is outright Pop - even I can't resist a little "I'm Too Sexy"). As a bonus bit of nostalgia, I'm telling the story of how I discovered certain songs, too! Some I didn't discover until this century!

1. "Your New Cuckoo", The Caridgans My friend from my last high school (I transferred in 11th grade), Joey, introduced me to The Caridgans, for which I'm eternally grateful - for his taste in music and his friendship, we're still good buddies! 
2. "Underground," Ben Folds Five While I didn't discover this SONG until college, I discovered Ben Folds Five when I was visiting my uncle and his then-girlfriend (now-wife) in IL. She gave me a bunch of cool cd's to check out and tape back at my Dad's place (who I was staying with for a few weeks in IL - the uncle visit was a side-trip), and Ben Folds Five's "Whatever and Ever Amen" was amongst them. They're still one of my favorite bands ever, even though they're now defunct. 
3. "Last Goodbye", Jeff Buckley He sounds like an angel. Sadly, I didn't give him a listen until the mid-2000's. I love his plaintive wail to "kiss me" in this song. 
4. "Here's Where the Story Ends", The Sundays
5. "Missing", Everything But the Girl This song is part of their album "Amplified Heart", which is one of my favorite albums ever. So loved, in fact, I haven't listened to any of their other songs from other albums so as to not ruin my affection for this album. Also: this song has a cowbell! AWESOME. 
6. "Supernova", Liz Phair
7. "The Noise of Carpet", Stereolab Another friend from high school, Andrew, introduced me to this group and the album this came from. He's another one of my still-good friends who also gives me musical guidance; we bonded over our mutual adoration of Radiohead (my all-time favorite band)
8. "Devil's Haircut", Beck
9. "Buddy Holly", Weezer I know it's cliche, but I love this song - and yes, the video is what led me to loving it. Ho yeah. 
10. "Criminal", Fiona Apple Another cd discovered via my now-aunt, and she's still one of my favorite artists ever. Not as high as Radiohead, but still up there. She's awesome. 
11. "Brimful of Asha", Cornershop
12. "Your Woman", White Town  I LOVED THIS SONG. For some reason, the local alternative station rarely ever played it, and never when I was close to my radio/tape player. Remember when you had to make your own mix tape? REMEMBER TAPES? GAWD, I'm old.
13. "I'm Too Sexy", Right Said Fred I don't care, it's awesome, shut up. 
14. "Just a Girl", No Doubt Oh man. I wanted to be Gwen Stefani SO BAD when this song came out. Those bindis, rhinestoned bra straps, and red lips? BITCHIN'. Plus it was used in some of my favorite movies as a teenager - "Clueless" and "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion". "I'M THE MARY!"
15. "Cosmic Girl", Jamiroquai It's pretty played out at this point, but it's still a good song. I actually liked this single better than "Virtual Insanity".
16. "April Fools", Rufus Wainwright This was a random late-night discovery on MTV one night... and it took me years to find it (thank you, internet!). Love this song. 

Music Monday – “Music to Clean to” 80's mix!

When I told The Hubs that I was posting Music Mondays, he asked if I was posting all 80's music - and was shocked when I said NO. See, when we clean, we've agreed to put on the 80's music channel provided through our cable service. It's a good enough variety that I get my 80's new wave and he gets his 80's hair metal. I even play it when I'm the only one cleaning. It's just a good time to dance around to your childhood while doing something you don't even want to do!

So for this mix, I picked some of my favorite 80's new wave songs! This mix works fine in order or on shuffle. They all just WORK together. It's awesome. It'll totally inspire you to do the robot while Windexing your windows.

• "Manic Monday", The Bangles
• "Shake It Up", The Cars
• "Girls on Film", Duran Duran
• "Just Got Paid", Johnny Kemp
• "Into the Groove", Madonna
• "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", Michael Jackson
• "Goody Two Shoes", Adam Ant
• "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", Culture Club
• "Need You Tonight", INXS
• "Two of Hearts", Stacey Q
• "Mickey", Toni Basil
• "Dance Hall Days", Wang Chung
• "Don't Stand So Close to Me", The Police
• "Vacation", The Go-Go's

 It's just over 52 minutes - so not quite an hour, but that's plenty of time to get some good cleanin' in.

So get that side ponytail going and throw on your Ray-Bans, and get to cleaning! Enjoy!

Music Monday – “Music to Clean to”

So, I’m sure your first question in regards to this entry is, “Why the eff does a HOMEMAKING blog have a Music Monday?”

My first response is SHUT UP, JERK. But since I want you to come back and read again, my next response is to apologize profusely and offer you a frosty beverage as an olive branch. Want a little rum in that Diet Pepsi? Is the Malibu kind ok?

Now that we’re all calm again, I’ll finally explain that while yes, this isn’t a music blog, music DOES make life sweeter. I, for one, enjoy creating soundtracks to my life, and I happen to think that I’m actually not too bad at it. I have a varied music taste, but I also tend to like singles over whole albums. I make playlists for my moods and for life events. I’m kind of a nerd like that.

I not only make playlists for my moods, but I make playlists to affect my mood. One thing I’m rarely in the mood for is cleaning. I know, shock – I call myself the “hot mess housewife” and I’m not into cleaning. *gasp!* However, when I have to clean, like if we have guests coming over, the one thing that makes that grueling task way more enjoyable is a good soundtrack! I put on playlist and get right to work, and the time flies by. I don’t whistle while I work, I shake my groove thang.

So since music is one of the few things that can make me clean (the other is being pissed off about something – if I’m angry, I will scrub a ceramic tile counter until it’s powder), I decided it’s only fair to help my fellow reluctant cleaners by giving them a good hour-long list of songs to booty-shake to. DJ HMHW IN THE HIZZOUSE!

So this week is Music to Clean to: Booty-Shakin’ Beats 1 (I say “1” ‘cuz there WILL be more playlists in this theme in the future, I assure you). It consists of mostly dance and pop songs, with a couple “rock” songs thrown in, but they’re all very, very danceable. It is exactly one hour long, so you could just hit “play” and only clean until the last song ends! Plus your butt will be in the air shakin’ the whole time, so you’ll get a workout, too! Everybody wins!

This list is in the recommended order in which to play these songs, as they flow nicely into each other IMHO. Of course, I ain’t your mama so do what you want, but I do request you at least give my order a shot?
1. “Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks”, The Rapture
2. “Say Goodbye to Love”, Kenna
3. “Dare”, Gorillaz
4. “It Takes Two”, Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
5. “We Are Rockstars”, Does It Offend You, Yeah?
6. “Move Your Feet”, Junior Senior
7. “Red Alert”, Basement Jaxx
8. “In Heaven”, Fatboy Slim (Warning: excessive use of the word “f***” in this son as it’s part of a heavily repeated phrase in the song)
9. “Sucubz (Ark Original Mix)”, The Ark
10. “Love at First Sight (Remix)” Kylie Minogue
11. “Shake Your Rump”, Beastie Boys
12. “Date With the Night”, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
13. “You’re No Rock n’ Roll Fun”, Sleater-Kinney
14. “Pump It Up”, Elvis Costello
15. “Womanizer”, Britney Spears
16. “Here It Goes Again”, Ok Go
17. “Touch the Sky”, Kanye West (even if you can’t stand the guy, give this song a chance –it’s a great, uplifting song with an awesome horns riff)

Now, I can’t just offer you the songs for free download ‘cuz that would be, y’know, ILLEGAL, but I assure you that all except the “Sucubz” song are on iTunes. As such, if you can’t find “Sucubz”, and you just HAVE TO HAVE IT TO COMPLETE THIS AWESOME PLAYLIST OMG, email me at hotmesshw |at!| gmail dot com and I will send you a link to download it. I think the playlist will be ok without it, but it’s a fun little booty-bouncing song that will make you smile, so feel free to ask me for it! =D

Every Monday I will have a new playlist, usually “Music to Clean to”, but occasionally I will offer
playlists for various entertaining themes (dinner with friends, romantic evening, your nephew’s bris, etc.). So check back every Monday for your new soundtrack for your next clean-up date!