Now that I work from home alone, with Will at his own job all day, and I have the time and energy (and bank account need) to take on more work, I’m constantly seeking ways to stay productive. I can’t stand silence in really any situation, so it’s not surprising that music is my biggest aid. I have albums and particular artists that really do the trick, and while they all don’t have an exact theme, a common one is music that’s upbeat and pumps me up. I took to Twitter to see what music motivated other people, and while a lot of people felt the same about upbeat music, as it was so interesting to hear so many people say that calming, meditative music helped them. I am so the opposite! But I suppose if I was a writer or something similar, dance-y music would be very distracting.

So here’s my mix that I’ve been using this week, Down To Business. A few songs were left off because I used them in other mixes recently.

1. Wolf (Bonus Track) First Aid Kit
2. Stone Rollin Raphael Saadiq
3. Diet Mountain Dew Lana Del Rey
4. Logical Song Supertramp
5. The Next Messiah Jenny Lewis
6. Golden Years David Bowie
7. Month Of May Arcade Fire
8. Limbo Kimbra
9. Save Me Aretha Franklin
10. Crash Years The New Pornographers
11. In My Eyes Robyn
12. I’m Waiting for the Man The Velvet Underground
13. Faberge Falls for Shuggie Of Montreal
14. Raspberry Beret Prince
15. Rip It Up Orange Juice
16. Method Man & Buddha Monk – PLO remix Ratatat
17. Mind Talking Heads
18. Ritual Union Little Dragon
19. Maggie May Rod Stewart
20. Better Things To Do Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
21. Smoke And Mirrors Gotye
22. Behind The Stars Pantha Du Prince

Down To Business from shespeaksoceans on 8tracks.

What about you guys? Do you have anything embarrassing that helps you be productive? Because I will totally admit to you that sometimes I listen to Katy Perry for that when I’m in a particular mood. I left that off the mix for your benefit.

image from the NYPL digital gallery

It’s time for another installment of lovely ladies singing.

First up, somehow the new First Aid Kit album, The Lion’s Roar, came out quietly two weeks ago (at least quietly to me) that I was patiently waiting for, thinking I still had months to go. I literally just downloaded it and I’m already in love. I really want to be best friends with these girls, can someone make that happen?

Elise posted about a photo shoot she worked on with singer Alva Leigh. Something about those pretty photos told me there was a pretty voice behind it as well, so I checked out the songs on her facebook page and wowza, she is a talented lady. My favorite song is the first one – Ordinary Day – her voice is so clear and pure, I could listen to it all day. I hope the photo shoot means an album is on its way.

Just discovered the beauty Lianne La Havas and listened to her album Lost & Found over and over this weekend. She reminds me a bit of Corinne Bailey Rae, but a bit more smoky in the voice. I love this Take Away Show with her, the look on the guy’s face when he hears her sing at 2:55 is priceless!

And lastly, you’ve probably heard it by now, but I realized that I forgot to include a song on my best of 2011 mix. How could I forget this Mazzy Star single “Common Burn” from their upcoming album? It’s so incredibly beautiful, I can’t wait for it to come out and possibly see them at Coachella. How often do 90′s comebacks make you this excited?

Weekly Goods is so not happening this week as I have bigger fish to fry, but Weekly Music I can handle. I love this beautiful song “Weights” from Nat Baldwin (of Dirty Projectors). The video, just released yesterday, is pretty awesome. From Western Vinyl:

The video follows a horse that holds an estate sale to offload the belongings of his best friend, Nat Baldwin, who he believes to be deceased. As he looks wistfully upon Nat’s possessions, he is plunged into memories of their life together. Shot on digital video and Super 8, “Weights” sets Nat’s music to a poignant tale of interspecies friendship.

You may recall, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, that my younger brother is a talented musician that I make music with sometimes when I’m home in Seattle. He can play pretty much every instrument under the sun, and I am an award winning vocalist, (Jokes. But really, I won State in high school choir and have you seen Glee, guys??) so our powers combined makes my heart sing. But we are Miss’s, and that means we have a lazy streak so though talk about recording long distance happens often, it wasn’t until both of our extreme brokeness this year made us realize this was the perfect time to finally record some songs and give them out as the most winningest Christmas present ever.

The songs are a random grab bag, but they are also parent and grandparent friendly. My grandpa is a Willie Nelson fanatic and taught me all the words to Crazy when I was a kid, so that was just for him. A few didn’t make it that I’m determined to add later, like something from First Aid Kit or Fleetwood Mac. Some were really hard, and I’m a bit self conscious about my voice on, like Somebody I Used to Know, but mostly I’m so damn proud that we pulled this together in just a few weeks. My brother Matt gets most of the credit, and a gold star for staying up til 5am finishing everything on Christmas Eve. I hope you enjoy it!

ps. props to Will for the awesome cover illustration of us!

UPDATE: As requested, you can now download the song files here! We don’t legally have the right to sell the album, but thanks for the interest in purchasing it.

Here’s the track listing with the song credits:

Birds of a Feather / The Civil Wars
Harvest Moon / Neil Young
Rich Woman / Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Cinder & Smoke /  Iron & Wine
Somebody That I Used To Know /  Gotye + Kimbra
Goshen /  Beirut
Barton Hollow /  The Civil Wars
Crazy / Patsy Cline/Willie Nelson

I was going to wait to post this until next week, the last week of 2011, but I have something else for next week and figured you could use a little something over the holiday break to jam to – the best songs of 2011. I usually do a round-up of my favorite albums of the year, but who cares? Wouldn’t you rather hear my favorite songs of 2011? I think so. 2011 was a fantastic year for music, and I get so nostalgic listening to some of these – for a time that seems so incredibly far away. I’ll save my thoughts on this year as a whole for later, but as for music, it was so great. I reconnected with music when I moved to LA – between spending time in my car and time at my desk as a freelancer. It kept me going, alive.

In no particular order:

1. Settle Down    Kimbra
2. Stop    Twin Sister
3. Surgeon    St. Vincent
4. How Come You Never Go There    Feist
5. You And I    Washed Out
6. The Rip Tide    Beirut
7. Eleven    Thao & Mirah
8. Shuffle A Dream    Little Dragon
9. Somebody That I Used To Know    Gotye
10. Still Sound    Toro Y Moi
11. Sadness Is A Blessing    Lykke Li
12. Barton Hollow    The Civil Wars
13. Truth    Alexander
14. Lorelai    Fleet Foxes
15. He Won’t Go    Adele
16. Big Burned Hand    Iron & Wine
17. True Blue    Dirty Beaches
18. Origins    Tennis

Did you see Robyn on SNL over the weekend? Despite the fact that the show is so painfully bad lately (Katy Perry hosting, WHY??), it’s one of those shows that proves to be comforting when you spend a lot of time in bed, so we’ve watched them ALL lately (Will beats me in that department, but I have joined him for quite a few). The performances are usually so bland that Robyn’s crazy ass dancing – and a little rolling around on the floor – was SO awesome to watch. She is nuts on stage in all the right ways. I’d love to see her live. Also, at the very end of the show when they’re all out on stage, she’s shorter than everyone else despite wearing those monstrously tall shoes – girlfriend is so much shorter than I pictured!

If you’re not in the states you can find the clips on youtube here or here – in somewhat terrible quality as NBC is good about taking them down. Here – thanks Erica for the link to better clips!

I’ve had a stressful week and combined with this cooler weather*, I’ve been bumping the slow jams. Namely Bonnie “Prince” Billy on constant repeat as that suits my mood the best, but some others I decided to compile into a Chill mix. I know I already have a “mellow” mix and the last wordless mix wasn’t exactly dance-worthy, but there have been no dance parties in this apartment for months, so, slow jams it is.

1. Waterproof – This Is The Kit
2. Tornado – Damien Jurado
3. Kimmi In a Rice Field – Twin Sister
4. Lay and Love – Bonnie “Prince” Billy
5. Undiscovered First – Feist  
6. Racing Like A Pro – The National  
7. Tangerine - First Aid Kit
8. Rome (Neighbours and Devendra Banhart Remix) – Phoenix
9. Don’t Do It – Sharon Van Etten
10. Let ‘Em In – Wings 
11. Strange Mercy – St. Vincent  
12. The Rooster Moans – Iron & Wine

*I know you may be all like, oh wahhh LA cold weather, but it’s been super cold at night and we don’t have heat so shut it, I’m cold!

photo by Kate Miss

I’m somewhat notorious for discovering a band that I like on mixes that I downloaded forever ago and never paid close attention to the first time. Case in point: The Fresh & Onlys. Into ‘em. And that first video reminds me of this fun time.

The Shrine / An Argument from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.

Check out the stunning new Fleet Foxes video, directed by Sean Pecknold, animated by Sean Pecknold and Britta Johnson, and illustrated by one of my very favorite illustrators/cool Seattle girls Stacey Rozich.

Into the unrefined, dreaminess of King Krule (formerly known as Zoo Kid) lately. That such a baritone and musical maturity comes out of that young, scrawny, gingery adorableness (sorry, buddy) is a bit of a shock at first. His EP is so short and underwater-like that you wonder if it was all just a dream once you realize it’s over.