There's no real theme to this mixtape, just a few of my favourite songs that fit well together. Hopefully iy encourages you to delve deeper into the artist's respective discographies.

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Billy Bragg - The Revolution's Just A T-Shirt Away

Billy Bragg is a wonderful British Singer-Songwriter with a long history behind him of providing some amazing music and being an outspoken voice of a progressive theory. Heavily influenced by both British folk and some of the American luminaries, he also combines a punk aesthetic - one which has combined with some impressive performances over the years. Choosing six songs from various points was a bit of a challenge.

The first two tracks comprise a historical and worker ethics song and a general lack of real promises fufilled, one a very stripped down guy with his guitar and the other a little more 'traditional' rock song. The third was performed life in the USSR on one of his many trips during the eighties. We move onto a song from the early nineties that made it onto the UK singles chart. The fifth though is from Mermaid Avenue - the one place most Americans who have heard him would know him from. Woodie Guthrie's daughter approached Bragg about bringing some of her father's unpublished songs to the public with a more modern relevant tone. He then approached Wilco to provide the band behind him, as well as doing a few numbers with Natalie Merchant who he had collaborated before. The final is with a new 'allstar' backing band The Blokes off his 2002 release. I've avoided his newest couple CDs, if you are interested you can see where he has gone from there.

1. Billy Bragg - The World Turned Upside Down
2. Billy Bragg - Waiting for the Great Leap Forward
3. Billy Bragg - Help Save The Youth of America
4. Billy Bragg - Sexuality
5. Billy Bragg & Natalie Merchant with Wilco - Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key
6. Billy Bragg and the Blokes - Take Down the Union Jack

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The Curious History of Will Oldham

Will Oldham, aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, aka Palace Music, aka Palace Brothers, aka aka aka... A fantastic musical talent that you should have heard of but tragically may not have. His sound changes even more often than his name so its really hard to classify. Instead I've tried to select a few songs from various points that will provide you a little scope.

1 - I Am A Cinematographer - Palace Brothers

Warbly and lo-fi, this was my very first exposure to the artist though I was tragically a little late to the party, not actually hearing this song until the later nineties. There's a subtle complexity to it but the voice here is striking - like in many of his songs. Its a dark song - again like so much of his work, but the folk elements are particularly strong here. LP: Days in the Wake

2 - The Brute Choir - Palace Music

Here we shift to a more americana/country-rock sound. Its perhaps a little subtle with a single track but the LP provides a lot more examples. A soft, sweet rambling filled with a bitterness characterizes this song in my mind. LP: Viva Las Blues

3 - Madeline-Mary - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

The choice of a song of the I See A Darkness LP tortured me. One of the best albums I've heard in my life and not a track that I find weak. Its received a lot of critical acclaim and made a fair number of lists. Its also the most depressing thing I've ever listened to in its entirety. There's a lot of grit from this choice and its almost a pageant. This particular track won out over a number of qualified applicants because... well its my personal favorite. LP: I See A Darkness

4 - Daniel - Tortoise and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

I don't really like this release but I think its interesting and its part of the catalog. Now, individually I love both artists but the two coming together to perform covers is a real miss. I think a collaboration could have been brilliant - and it may suffer from that expectation. In any case this is basically an 'archival' inclusion but you, the listener, don't have to agree with my disappointment. LP: The Brave and the Bold

5 - Am I Demon - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

And to prove I don't hate covers (in fact I quite adore them), I'll finish the collection with Oldham performing a cover of a Danzig song. The beauty of this, is that it is not what I would consider a cross genre cover that you like because its so 'wacky'. I think its treated with the utmost respect and it creates a beautiful, different experience for a song rather than just giving you a laugh.

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Tom Lehrer

Tom Lehrer was a mathematician and a piano player with a good wit about him. He wrote many hilarious satirical tunes in his day that, while simple, are fun. His great vocabulary and good piano playing fuel his parodies of various topics including government, religion and even other well-known tunes and styles. Some of his topics may be a bit irrelevant to the era, but they are fun nonetheless (though knowledge of the era doesn't hurt).

Note: These songs are live, so expect the laughing and clapping on the tracks.

1. A Christmas Carol
2. Clementine
3. It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier
4. National Brotherhood Week
5. Smut
6. Pollution
7. We Will All Go Together When We Go

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Flight of the Conchords compilation

Flight of the Conchords is self proclaimed as “New Zealand’s 4^th most popular folk parody duo”. The Duo consists of Bret Mckenzie and Jemaine Clement. They have a show on HBO and I highly recommend checking it out. They currently only have 2 albums in circulation.

1. Hiphopopatomus vs. Rhymenoceros
2. Robots
3. Bowie
4. A Kiss is Not a Contract

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Mountain Goats, The Early Years

tracklisting:
1. the best ever death metal band in denton
2. grendel's mother
3. masher
4. whole wide world
5. scotch grove
6. fault lines
7. going to georgia
8. weekend in western illinois
9. there will be no divorce
10. song for the julian calender
11. the mess inside
12. cold milk bottle

this is a collection of tracks from the earlier part of john darnielle's recordings under the name "the mountain goats".
the majority of these recordings were either recorded with a faulty boombox or a cheap 4-track. i will put together a mix for the studio recording era of the band soon.

download via mediafire.com