Allergies and mixtapes

Spring is here, and that means two things - allergies and mixtapes. What is a mixtape you ask? Well son, back before the Internet when we still lived in caves, a cassette was the only way we could record our favorite songs without having to buy the whole album. For example, "More Than a Feeling" is a great song, but you wouldn't want to have to waste the rest of that album, would you? The point is, now, more than ever, it is really easy to make a mix of ones favorite songs. In fact, it's so easy with CDRs and MP3s that some people are actually making it harder for themselves (and thereby "more cool") by going back and doing it with a turntable and cassette player. Regardless of whether you are a vinyl fetishist, or have a mountain of awesome MP3s, now is a great time to make a mixtape. Here's mine for spring.

Boyracer - "That's Progress" Leeds' noise-pop combo Boyracer has only one constant member and that's lead guitarist/moody romantic Stewart Anderson. This guy makes buzzing guitar pop seem effortless, and this is one of the stronger tracks from their 1994 release More Songs About Frustration and Self-Hate. If you like your rock served short and sweet, with a side of feedback and romantic desperation, check out Boyracer.

Rites of Spring - "Spring" I said this was a mix for spring, right? DC representing to the fullest, with Guy Piccioto shredding his larynx and just happening to create a little movement you may have heard of called emo.

Guided by Voices - "Shocker in Gloomtown" Just like Boyracer, Guided by Voices only needs about two minutes to write a melody that you will carry until death. "Shocker in Gloomtown" is probably one GbV's finest songs, but it is, like most a lot of its pre-Bee Thousand days, almost impossible to track down. If you can find a copy of 1992s Grand Hour EP, more power to you. Later, The Breeders would go on to record a fantastic cover version that appears on their equally hard to find Head to Toe EP.

Pavement - "Gold Sounds" Anyone who knows me also knows about my completely unhealthy obsession with Pavement. Laugh if you must, but I'll have the last laugh when I get to heaven and find that God is actually Stephen Malkmus. "Gold Sounds" is from the groups fantastic second record Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and is marked by the groups off-kilter dynamics and Malkmus' laconic and cryptic wordplay. Seriously though, Pavement = God.

The Olivia Tremor - Control "Jumping Fences" For those of us who like our psychedelic pop served right. The Olivia Tremor Control is often known more for the bands it spun off (Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel) rather than its own output, but "Jumping Fences" from the group's highly influential album At the Cubist Castle is a minute and a half of buoyant pop with Beach-Boy-style harmonies and eclectic instrumentation.

The Magnetic Fields - "100,000 Fireflies" Arguably the best Magnetic Fields song, "100,000 Fireflies" begins with an enigma ("I have a mandolin / I play it all night long / It makes me want to kill myself.") and ends with devastation (You won't be happy with me / but give me one more chance / You won't be happy anyway."). Sung by the band's original singer, Susan Amway, the song builds to a captivating and heartbreaking coda on top of chintzy keyboards and preprogrammed beats. Merritt would go on to have success with the NPR set in later years, but this is easily one of his most emotionally naked songs.