Billy's Best New Songs

Last week, Bob sent me a link to Esquire Online's "Best New Songs of 2010." I'm sitting at my computer late one Spring Break night and decide, what the hell, why not check out this link.

An hour later, I owned some 40 of the 50 or so songs they recommended. And I owned all of the ones that the Victoria's Secret supermodel danced to in their special exclusive video. (To be fair, I owned about a dozen already, because I'm so darn hip.)

Because I have tons of gift card money in iTunes from Christmas and my birthday and plenty of eMusic credits, I also purchased another dozen or so additional songs from the artists mentioned. Let me remind you: I'm a lowly educator. I don't want you to think I'm some rich dude for whom small expenditures mean nothing.

Here's the bands from whom I went out and purchased a song, with the bands from whom I was inspired to purchase additional songs earning an asterisk:

• Sloan River Project
• Bettie Serveert
• The xx *
• Midlake
• Los Campesinos!
• Clipse
• David Nail
• Retribution Gospel *
• Galactic *

More importantly, what the Esquire list inspired me to do was to start on the first official mix CD I've compiled in more than a year.

We all do random inexplicable shit. For me, I write poetry and make mix CDs, and both have very little rational explanation behind them. But I compiled my favorite songs inspired by the Esquire list, threw them in with a couple of other favorite recommended compilations, added a dash of my own discoveries from the last six months, and made a mix.

It being spring, the time of new life and cute cuddly animals, I named this little CD "THUMPER" and gave copies of it to some appreciated coworkers. Those of you who might be interested in obtaining a copy, I'll make the mix available for your sampling pleasure if you pass along your email address (if I already have it, just express your interest).

• Satellite Mind    Metric
• The Modern Leper    Frightened Rabbit
• Heart Of Steel    Galactic
• You and I    Kyler England
• Ali In the Jungle    The Hours
• I Know About You (Acoustic)    Dashboard Confessional
• Ain't No Secret    The Alternate Routes
• How You Like Me Now    The Heavy
• One Of Those Days    Joshua Radin
• Taking Chances (Glee Cast Version)    Glee Cast
• My Old Man    Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers
• Trinity    Paper Tongues
• Dirty Wings    Megan Slankard
• Better Love    Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors
• Do It Again    Galactic
• Boy Like Me    Jessica Harp
• You're Not Listening    The Rescues
• Sympathetic Vibrations (feat. Amber Rubarth & Alex Wong)    The Paper Raincoat
• If You Would Come Back Home    William Fitzsimmons
• Make It Up To You    Pete Schmidt

If, God help you, you're too shy to leave a comment, then just email me on the down-low, and I'll pass along the link. If you don't know me well enough to know my email address, then you'd best leave a comment.

Happy THUMPER mix. Whatever that may mean to you.


The picture of Champy's, located in Chattanooga, is included because I've been there four times in the last 14 days, which means it deserves some kind of credit for my need to make a mix CD in the first place.