Eventually I will break this vicious cycle of posting nothing but Mike Mixes on my site. But I fear it won’t come soon enough: good music is piling up way too fast. I’ll try my best to write about it all eventually, but in the meantime here’s a short list of amazing albums: High Violet by The National, Astro Coast by Surfer Blood, The Monitor by Titus Andronicus, and Kollaps Tradixionales by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. And that’s only half of what I hope to post. I have my work cut out for me.

While the introduction to Mike Mix 18 may be short on words, the mix is definitely long on good music. It’s also fairly upbeat, slowing down only a few tracks from the end. Highlights include “I Can Feel a Hot One” by Manchester Orchestra, “If Work Permits” by The Format, and “Satellite Skin” by Modest Mouse. But who am I kidding, Mike Mix 18 is one big highlight.

As always, I strongly recommend listening to the mix in the order presented below. Download the entire thing here or stream it using the player below! Enjoy responsibly.

SAN FRANCISCO – In a recent public statement the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) criticized the popular music blog Mike Went West over its “wasteful and unsustainable practices.” The agency specifically mentioned the Mike Mix production process, in which company policy strictly prohibits the recycling of songs. The EPA alleges that this policy has “resulted in dozens of perfectly good tracks being thrown away simply because they’ve been used once before.”

Mike Went West has not officially responded to the EPA’s allegations, though in past statements the blog justified its anti-recycling policy, saying it was “essential to satisfying customers’ insatiable appetites for new music.”

Recent activity on the blog, however, hints at a possible shift in policy. The track list for Mike Mix 17, the latest installment in the series, features only songs from previous mixes. Some are calling it a ‘best of’ compilation. Others are calling it a cheap ploy intended to appease the EPA and calm skittish investors. Either way, Mike Mix 17 has been wildly successful. Rolling Stone writes, “The mix effortlessly blends seemingly incompatible genres of music to make a delicious and strangely-satisfying sonic smoothie.”

In unrelated news, the blog is rumored to be redesigning its website. If true, it will be the site’s third iteration since launching back in 2006. True to recent form, Mike Went West has remained silent on the issue. Analysts predict a launch date sometime in August. Perhaps this rumored redesign explains the recent lack of activity on the site. One can only hope.

[Editor's Note: Just in case it wasn't entirely obvious, the above story is completely fabricated. Mike Mix 17, however, is very real. Download it here or stream it using the player below. Enjoy!]

When I posted my first Mike Mix a year ago, I promised to release a new one each month. You might’ve noticed, however, that I’ve posted only ten mixes so far (excluding this one). Normally, I’d apologize for being lazy, but given the general lack of activity on my site, I’m actually pretty pleased with myself. Ten out of twelve ain’t too shabby.

Perhaps you’ve also noticed that Mike Mixes usually follow one of three patterns. They either: (a) start happy and end sad; (b) start sad, become happy in the middle, and then end sad; or (c) start and end sad. Judging from these patterns, it appears as though I can only handle happiness in short bursts. One of these days I’ll make a mix that is entirely happy, just don’t hold your breath.

With all that said, I’d put the latest installment in the series in the (a) category. After two consecutive mixes full of dark and dreary songs, Mike Mix 16 provides a much needed shot of happiness to the series. Just in time for summer!

Mike Mix 16 kicks off with “Next Exit,” the opener from Interpol’s sophomore album Antics. This might sound a little cheesy, but I really like listening to “Next Exit” as I’m driving to the city for a night out with friends. I’m not a big partier, but the opening notes of the organ always get me pumped. The next few tracks keep pace with (and even eclipse) the opener. “Poison Cup” by M. Ward is the benchmark by which all love songs should be judged. “Walkabout” by Atlas Sound features a melody so catchy you’ll need a lobotomy to get it out of your head.

By now you might be wondering when Mike Mix 16 transitions from happy to sad. Look no further than track 8, the über-depressing “Lost Cause” by Beck. Other highlights from the second half include Horse Feathers’ delicate cover of “Orphan Girl” and Deer Tick’s heartbreaking “Smith Hill.” Despite the shift in tone, the second side of the mix punches just as hard as the first.

As always, I strongly recommend listening to Mike Mix 16 in the order presented below. Download the entire mix here or stream it using the player below! Enjoy responsibly.

Those of you familiar with my site know that I love Frightened Rabbit. I discovered them two years ago (after they released The Midnight Organ Fight) and have been obsessed ever since. I even got a chance to chat with the band before one of their shows in San Francisco. Super nice guys!

So when I found out Frightened Rabbit was releasing a new album this year, it quickly became my most anticipated album of 2010. Considering the ridiculous number of bands releasing new material this year (including The National, Menomena, and Sun Kil Moon), this is quite a feat.

Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long for it. On March 9 Frightened Rabbit released The Winter of Mixed Drinks. After nearly three months of digesting it, I’m finally ready to share my thoughts.

Let me start by saying that following an album like The Midnight Organ Fight is pretty much impossible: release more of the same and critics attack you for stagnating; change your sound too much and your fan base revolts. On The Winter of Mixed Drinks, the band walks this fine line about as well as five inebriated Scotsmen possibly can. The album sounds bigger and more produced, which initially led me to believe it was more upbeat than The Midnight Organ Fight. But after repeated listens I realized I was horribly wrong. The album is brimming with tales of heartbreak, regret, and despair. You know, the stuff that makes us love Frightened Rabbit so much.

So while The Winter of Mixed Drinks ultimately succeeds as a follow-up, I’m not obsessed with it like I was with The Midnight Organ Fight. And I’ve finally figured out why. On The Midnight Organ Fight, the instrumentation and lyrics perfectly complement each other. But on The Winter of Mixed Drinks there is a disconnect between the two. As I mentioned above, the instrumentation is upbeat while the lyrics are quite the opposite. Because of this the album sounds slightly muddled, like the band is emerging from the shit-storm of emotion that was The Midnight Organ Fight.

Picking a favorite song from The Winter of Mixed Drinks is like picking a favorite beer: you really can’t go too wrong with whatever you choose (though some are definitely better than others). Right now my favorite is the aptly-titled “FootShooter.” It’s the most mellow track on the album and, coincidentally, features some of the best lyrics. I especially love the line “I will blink my eyes and hope the blink can erase / All the shit that I said and did.” Vintage Frightened Rabbit. Listen to it now.

[mp3] Frightened Rabbit :: FootShooter

If you thought the previous Mike Mix was a downer (which it was), wait until you hear Mike Mix 15. I don’t know what inspired it, but holy crap is it depressing. It’s also one of the longest mixes to date. Better buckle up…

Mike Mix 15 kicks off with “Untitled,” the opener from Interpol’s classic debut Turn On the Bright Lights. The track, much like the album, perfectly captures the seediness of the city after the sun goes down. “Ghost of a Shark” by Tom McRae, on the other hand, would make an excellent soundtrack to escaping the city limits at the break of dawn.

I could continue like this for the rest of the mix but I think you get the idea: the songs of Mike Mix 15 are the opposite of happy. Some of my favorites include the fiery “Bought a Bride” by Brand New, the monstrous “Dance Little Liar” by Arctic Monkeys, the dejected “Things Fall Apart” by Built to Spill, and the wistful “Forests and Sands” by Camera Obscura. If these tracks seem familiar, it’s because they all made my Top 10 Songs of 2009 list. I loved them back then and still love them today.

As always, I strongly recommend listening to Mike Mix 15 in the order presented below. Download the entire mix here or stream it using the player below! Enjoy responsibly.

I find it mildly ironic that on the heels of one of the most upbeat Mike Mixes on record comes one of the most depressing. Mike Mix 14 is, without a doubt, a complete downer. A quick glance at the song titles (see the track list below) reveals themes of loneliness and asphyxiation – not the most uplifting subject matter.

But in my experience, sad songs often have the most beauty and depth. And the tracks on Mike Mix 14 only reinforce this. Consider “Strangulation!” by My Morning Jacket. The song immediately explodes with a cacophony of guitars, drums, and muffled screaming. Then after a minute everything cuts out, leaving Jim James’ reverb-drenched vocals front and center. What follows is quite possibly the best six minutes of music ever recorded. It is both awe-inspiring and heartbreaking. Even after all these years the song still hits like a ton of bricks.

Mike Mix 14 features a handful of artists that are appearing on my site for the first time. One of them is Manchester Orchestra. If I wasn’t so lazy, I would’ve written about these guys months ago. They are incredible. The two songs on the mix (“Where Have You Been?” and “I Can Barely Breathe”) are from their debut album I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child. Hopefully I’ll post something about them in the next few weeks. They deserve more attention than these few brief sentences.

As always, I strongly recommend listening to Mike Mix 14 in the order presented below. Download the entire mix here or stream it using the player below! Enjoy responsibly.

I absolutely love making new Mike Mixes every month but for some reason always dread writing about them. Maybe I’m overwhelmed by the shear quantity of music in each mix, or maybe I’m suffering through a debilitating case of writer’s block. Either way, it’s annoying and needs to end. Especially since I don’t plan on halting Mike Mix production any time soon.

With that said, the latest installment in the series upholds the fine tradition established by its older siblings. Mike Mix 13 is instantly accessible, uniquely diverse, and endlessly rewarding. Think I’m exaggerating? I might be, though you won’t know for sure until you check it out yourself. But first, here are some quick details:

The first half of Mike Mix 13 is surprisingly upbeat. It kicks off with a trio of bombastic, hypnotic pop songs by indie heavyweights Andrew Bird, The Dodos, and Annuals. Next follow a pair of lo-fi gems by The American Analog Set and Blur. I especially like “Caravan.” It sounds like a long, trippy journey through the desert. So pretty! Rounding out the first half of the mix are two amazing tracks by the late Jeff Hanson and one by Carissa’s Weird.

The second half of Mike Mix 13 is unapologetically twangy, starting with a country-fried slice of perfection by Justin Rutledge. The next song, “Quattro (Worlds Drift In)” by Calexico, is the perfect soundtrack to traveling down a lonely, dusty highway at twilight. Following this is Cat Power’s incredible cover of “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love WIth You)” by Hank Williams. A couple of epic barn burners by Wye Oak and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson lead into a pair of quiet Dylan-esque numbers by Deer Tick and Vandaveer, closing the mix on a very sweet note.

As always, I highly recommend listening to Mike Mix 13 in the order presented below. Download the entire mix here or stream it using the player below! Enjoy responsibly.

2009 was a strange year. I spent most of it grumbling about a shortage of quality music only to fall completely in love with several amazing albums at the end of the year. This explains (at least partially) why over half the albums on my Top 10 list were new to my site. There just wasn’t enough time to write about them all before the end of the year (full disclosure: there was definitely some laziness mixed in there too).

But good music is good music, regardless of how long it takes me to finally write about it. To make amends for the many albums that slipped through the cracks in 2009 (and in general), I’m introducing a new series called “Better Late Than Never,” or BLTN for short. It will feature music that I’ve been listening to for a while but haven’t yet written about on my site.

The first installment in the series is Union, the fantastic sophomore album by The Boxer Rebellion. It landed at #7 on my Top 10 Albums of 2009 list and (amazingly) grabbed the top spot in the alternative genre at the iTunes store.

I’m surprised by this because, on first listen, Union comes off sounding a little cold and uninviting. If given the proper amount of time, however, this initial bleakness fades to reveal complex layers of beauty and emotion. Union is a definite grower, much like Frightened Rabbit’s Midnight Organ Fight (though the two albums sound nothing alike). If forced to make lazy comparisons, I’d say The Boxer Rebellion sound like a cross between Interpol and Sigur Rós. Mainly because of the shimmering guitars and soaring vocals.

The track post below is the most accessible on Union. It also happens to be my favorite. It’s called “Soviets.” Enjoy!

[mp3] The Boxer Rebellion :: Soviets

I just realized it’s been well over a month since I last posted an mp3 and almost 3 months since my last Mike Mix! I sincerely apologize. Now that my year-end coverage is officially complete, I will return to my normal schedule. And I have a lot to write about. Over the past few months, I’ve become obsessed with a handful of amazing albums. I hope to write about each one in the coming weeks. I might even come up with a catchy title for the feature. Stay tuned.

But before I do that, I have a brand new Mike Mix to introduce. A quick glance at the track list (below) reveals that nearly half of the songs come from only two bands: Loney, Dear and Annuals. If you’ve never heard these two artists before, Mike Mix 12 will serve as an excellent introduction to them. Make sure to check out the track “Always Do.” The pedal steel and soaring middle section of the song are truly incredible.

Scattered between these tracks are dusty gems by some of my all-time favorite bands. Highlights include: “Metal Detektor,” an effortlessly cool number by Spoon; “Uprooted,” a slow-burning anthem from The Antlers; and “About Today,” a slice of late-night perfection by The National.

As always, I highly recommend listening to Mike Mix 12 in the order presented below. Download the entire mix here or stream it using the player below! Enjoy!

Initially I didn’t think I could write this post. It seemed like an impossible task. How on earth was I supposed to come up with and then rank my favorite albums from the past decade? I have enough trouble doing it for just one year. There’s simply too much good music out there (despite my occasional whining to the contrary).

But when I really started thinking about it, I came to the following conclusion: a decade is a terrible thing to waste. In all reality, I may not get another opportunity like this. After all, who knows what I’ll be doing ten years from now. Also, musically speaking, the past decade was an important one for me. Over the course of ten years, my muted appreciation of music gradually transformed into a full-blown obsession. I now spend most of my free time searching for, writing about, and listening to music.

In the end I guess it was a pretty easy decision. I would’ve been extremely foolish to let the decade pass without weighing in on my favorite albums. It was a lot of work, but I managed to compile a list of my 30 favorite albums from 2000-2009. Not necessarily the best or most important albums, but those that had the greatest impact on me.

With all that said, I proudly present the Top 30 Albums of the Decade…

ALBUMS 30 – 21

ALBUMS 20 – 11

ALBUMS 10 – 1

Like I said, compiling this list was no easy task. In the end, tons of amazing albums got axed. Check the comments to see which ones barely missed the cut. And leave comments to let me know which albums I missed completely!