Mix CD #19 - Top Albums Of 2016: Part Two

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a good Christmas and all that. Now it's time to suffer some misery and yearn for the pay day that can't possibly still be over a fortnight away. By, January isn't half shit.

So yeah, if you're poor and sad like me then perhaps the second blog featuring tracks from albums that I liked last year will offer some sweet respite? It'll pass an hour or so for you if nothing else.

The first blog can be read HERE if you haven't already seen it and want to.

I've got a few themed blogs planned for the coming year, I was toying with the idea of a Profanity strewn mix and also one with songs of a depression/suicide theme. I should probably do something a little more cheerful too. I'll also likely be doing more mixes of Cover versions, B-sides and Rarities and Band Best Ofs. One thing I've not done yet is a genre specific blog so I might look into that too.

There's plenty to come over the next year then, in fact, the next mix will only be a week or so away hopefully, there's no specific theme for that one but I've about settled on the tracklisting for it. IT'll be the 20th Blog, a milestone!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one.

Cheers,
Luke

Tracklisting
Katatonia - Old Heart Falls
Leo Moracchioli - Royals
CJ Wildheart - Light It Up
Periphery - Motormouth
The Divine Comedy - How Can You Leave Me On My Own
Devin Townsend  - Gump
Twin Atlantic - The Chaser
Muncie Girls - Gas Mark 4
Drama Club Rejects - Idiot Brigade
Metallica - Spit Out The Bone
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
Ignite - Alive
Hey! Hello! - Kids
Beyond The Black - Heaven In Hell
Prong - Without Words
The Baseballs - Never Ever
The Dowling Poole - When She Knows, She Knows
She Loves Pablo - Inheritance (To The Desert Jackals)
Megadeth - Bullet To The Brain
The Prettiots - Me And Little Andy

You can download the mix HERE and read more about each album below. Ta!

Mix CD #18 - Top Albums Of 2016: Part One

2016 has certainly been a game of two halves, a double edged sword, two sides of the same coin blah blah blah. On the one hand there's been an incredulous amount of well loved celebrities and musicians bowing out with no encore but on the other there's been an absolute deluge of quality albums released this year. So much so that album that might normally sit comfortably in my top 20 haven't even made the top 40.

For that reason I figured I would do two AOTY mixes this year and get to feature some albums that I think people will like but that haven't made the Top 20. Rather than have them in order of preference I just shuffled the 40 songs,split them into two playlists and fiddled about with it to make two posts for the blog. This being the first.

If you want to know what my actual Top 20 albums, in order, are then there's another blog over at All The Time I Was Listening To My Own Wall Of Sound HERE

The Mix Tracklisting
Scott Sorry - 'Til All The Pieces Fit
Devil Gone Public - Chillin', Killin'
Haken - Red Giant
Love Zombies - Favourite Song
Mina Caputo - Upturned Faces
NOFX - I Don't Like Me Anymore
Helion Prime - Life Will Find A Way
Scattered Hamlet - Green Bastard
Miracle Of Sound - Friends
Waste Pipes - Little Devils Scratched My Ears
Knives Out! - Mysterious Ways
Half Man Half Biscuit - Lark Descending
Vinyl Cape - Barren Orchard
Josh Woodward - Perfect
Dunsmuir - Orb Of Empire
Korn - Take Me
Frightened Rabbit - A Lick Of Paint
Volbeat - Seal The Deal
Savages - Evil
Darkend - Clavicula Salomanis

You can download the mix HERE
Once it's uploaded you'll be able to go read Part Two HERE
As always you can read the blurb about the various albums below.
Cheers,
Luke

Mix CD #17 - They Broke Him Down

Hello! It's been a while since my last post, life stuff and that, sorry. To be honest, when I started the blog this was the sort of gap I wanted between mixes anyway. I've just been having too much fun churning them out willy nilly. Caution to the wind and to Hell with the consequences!

This one has no particular theme, just a collection of cool songs that you should listen to and possibly enjoy, You must also read the blurb I've written about each track too. It's important.

That's almost it for this year I would think, I've got an Albums Of The Year one planned that I'll have out in two-three weeks and then it'll be 2017. No more dead famous people, hurrah!
Some of you will know that I also do album reviews for another blog, All The Time I Was Listening To My Own Wall Of Sound, I normally do a Top 20 Albums Of The Year post there so I'll probably tie the two together in some way. Have you stopped reading yet?

Here's what on the mix today.
Streetlight Manifesto - They Broke Him Down
Winter In Eden - Constant Tomorrows
21 Taras - Mystic Signs
The God Damn Whores - Unemployment Man
Native Construct - Spark Of The Archon
Slipknot - Psychosocial
Miss Li - Miss Li
Little Angels - Product Of The Working Class
Prophets Of Rage - The Party's Over
Masters Of Reality - Always
Extreme - Am I Ever Gonna Change?
The Jellys - Feels Like Sunshine
Kerbdog - Hard To Live
7 Year Bitch - Kiss My Ass Goodbye
Abysmal Dawn - Inanimate
The Broken Family Band - Living In Sin
Sorry And The Sinatras - Hated Heart
Circus Of Dead Squirrels - Elmo's Last laugh

You can download the mix HERE

Mix CD #16: Children Of The Night - A Halloween Mix

Hello! 

It's been a while since the last mix but I've finally finished this, the sixteenth mix and the first with a proper actual themed theme, with the theme being, obviously Halloween. There's a veritable cornucopia of songs that are creepy, spooky and downright supernatural in nature on here. BUHWAHAHAHAHAAAA and all that. 

To be honest, it just looks like the playlist from Alternative club night in the 90's. Still, can't rain all the time...

You can download the mix HERE

Tracklisting

Schoolyard Heroes - Children Of The Night

Therapy? - Evil Elvis

Eels - My Beloved Monster

Soup Or Villainz - I'm A Zombie

Type O Negative - Black No.1 (Little Miss Scare-All)

The Gaslight Anthem - Halloween

Stabbing Westward - Haunting Me

Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)

Dunsmuir - The Bats (Are Hungry Tonight)

Johnny Cash - Ain't No Grave

Marilyn Manson - Unkillable Monster

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Drunk On The Blood

Danko Jones - Body Bags

Machines Of Loving Grace - Lillith/Eve

Neko Case - Things That Scare Me

MC Chris - Where The Ghosts At?

Strung Out - Skeletondanse

Harry & The Potters - My Teacher Is A Werewolf

The Birthday Massacre - Shallow Grave

Devin Townsend - Vampira

Mark Owen - Ghost

Zombina & The Skeletones - Can't Break A Dead Girl's Heart

Judas Priest - A Touch Of Evil

x

Mix CD #15 - Raise A Little Hell

Hello and welcome to the fifteenth installment of Sapphire Bullets! Again, there's no theme this time, just more songs I liked. There seems to be a lot of mid-range heaviness though. And George 'King Of The Ukulele' Formby. I'm pleased with the way the mix came out, it sounds just fine playing too loud in my car, even George.

I've no set plans for what comes next just yet. There's a Halloween mix in the pipeline along with a mix of my Albums Of The Year. I might do a Christmas mix when the time comes but we'll see.

Anyway, for now enjoy this mix, read all my blurb and get in touch if to want to know more about any of the bands or just to pass on feedback even.

Cheers,
Luke

You can raise your own little bit of hell HERE

Tracklisting
Life, Sex & Death - Raise A Little Hell
L7 - Just Like Me
Shihad - FVEY
Jackdaw4 - Why Don't You Come And See Me When She's Not Around?
Grorr - Alone At Last
Molotov Jukebox - Get Ready
The Loyalties - Ashtray's Empty
Faster Pussycat - Jack The Bastard
Chris Caffery - You Gotta Be Fucking Kidding Me
Alice In Videoland - Emily
George Formby - Why Don't Women Like Me?
Polkadot Cadaver - Bloodsucker
Bluto's Revenge - Things She Said
Scheer - Wish You Were Dead
Dream Theater - As I Am
Stan Bush - The Touch
Huntress - Fire In My Heart
Downer - Born Again
Emily Kinney - Last Chance
Steve From Accounting - Acacia

x

Mix CD #14 - Life Is What You Make It

So here you go, mix number fourteen! It's back to no theme this week, just songs I've liked I want you to like too.
There seems to be an awful lot of older music on this mix this time, While it just seems to have fallen that way, the fact I'm an old man that listens to old music no doubt had quite a large part in it! There's a few Grunge songs and a few 90's Britrock tracks too as well as a bit of Stoner, some Punk and a couple of other bits and pieces.

I hope you like it,

Tracklisting
Doug Pinnick - Life Is What You Make It
Alice In Chains - Sea Of Sorrow
Not On Tour - Oded
Jobriath - I Love A Good Fight
Honeycrack - Gun
Scattered Hamlet - Guilty Plea
Ballboy - Disney's Ice Parade
Def Leppard - Action
Bushfire - NWO33
Die So Fluid - Anubis
Amen - Buy American
Zen Baseballbat - Gangcall At The OK Canal
Crazy Gods Of Endless Noise - Treacle Tummy Fudgetime Treat
Mina Caputo - Got Monsters (I No Longer Exist)
Calabrese - Lords Of The Wasteland
Magnapop - Lay It Down
Last Crack - My Burning Time
The Yo-Yo's - Time Of Your Life
Motorjesus - The Run
The Dogs D'amour - I Don't Want You To Go
Green Apple Quick Step - Ludes And Cherrybombs

You can download the mix HERE if you like.
x

Mix CD #13 - Covers Vol 2: Come Out And Play

When I published the first covers mix (that you can view HERE) I said I had songs enough to make plenty of further mixes and I did not lie.
I would imagine I'll be doing another one in a few mixes time we'll see. In the meantime though, I hope you enjoy this one, there's a fairly eclectic array of songs on offer so you should find something you like. If you'd rather look at life negatively then I'm sure you'll find something you hate,

Either way, you can download the mix HERE

The Dollyrots - Come Out And Play
Rage Against The Machine - How I Could Just Kill A Man
Silver Sun - Xanadu
Karnivool - Sleeping Satellite
China Drum - Wuthering Heights
The Slackers - Wanted Dead Or Alive
Marilyn Manson - This Is Halloween
Jason & The Scorchers - Country Roads, Take Me Home
Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Straight Up
Stone Sour - Too Fast For Love
They Might Be Giants - Bills, Bills, Bills
Tragedy - Hot Stuff
Volbeat - I Only Wanna Be With You
The Divine Comedy - Life On Mars?
Lunachicks - Heart Of Glass
Armored Saint - I Feel Fine
Kick Joneses - The Safety Dance
Richard Cheese - The Girl Is Mine
Weezer - I'm A Believer
Senser - Follow The Leader
The Gaslight Anthem - House Of The Rising Sun
Therapy? - Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)
Metallica - Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand?

x

Mix CD #12 - The Elephant's Graveyard

Hello all!
Mix number dooze is here for your delectation! As usual it's just a collection of songs I've liked lately that I thought should go on this mix. It's quite eclectic but hopefully you'll still like it. Have a listen, share it about if you want. You could even get in touch and tell me what you think if you felt particularly brave.

You can download the mix HERE

The Boomtown Rats - The Elephant's Graveyard
Muncie Girls - Respect
The Darkest Of The Hillside Thickets - Kablam!
Toehider - Whatever Makes You Feel Superior
Abdoujaparov - Maria's Umbrella
Carl Espen - Silent Storm
Gloryhammer - Rise Of The Chaos Wizards
Imelda May - Right Amount Of Wrong
Biffy Clyro - City Of Dreadful Night
Gay Paris - Shame At The Anvil
Love Zombies - Bummer
Behemoth - Be Without Fear
She & Him - Something's Haunting You
The Monkees - She
Stiff Little Fingers - Who Died And Made You Elvis?
The Wildhearts - Better Than Cable
System Of A Down - Sad Statue
Cardiacs - Come Back Clammy Lammy
Snuff - Romeo And Juliet
Regurgitator - Mountains
The Mad Capsule Markets - What
Salty Dog - Come Along

For more info about each song and my usual ramblings, click on the Read More button. ta.

x

Mix CD #11 - Inclusive: The Best of Stavesacre

Back in the late nineties I bought a cheap compilation album that turned out to be a sampler for Tooth & Nail records. I knew nothing about the label, I just wanted to listen to some new Punk bands, It turns out that T&N is a Christian music label and only releases albums by bands of a Christian persuasion. Had I known that at the time I probably wouldn't have bought it, dismissing it as preachy nonsense. If I hadn't I very likely would never have discovered one of my favourite bands. 
The first track on that compilation was Shiv by Stavesacre and was easily the best on the CD. A month or so later, I stumbled on a copy of Absolutes in a bargain bin and snapped it up. I absolutely (haha) loved it. I tracked down everything they did and over the years I've listened to them more and more until they've become of my all time top 10 favourite bands.

The band themselves are a Post-Hardcore band that formed from the ashes of Christian Thrash Metal/Crossover band, The Crucified. Vocalist Mark Salomon and Bassist Jeff Bellew (who switched to guitars) formed the band along with Dirk Lemmenes (Bass) and Jeremy Moffat (Drums). They still retained some of their earlier heaviness but are much more melodic which better suited mark's strong, soulful voice. 
After the release of their first album Friction in 1996, Jeremy Moffatt was replaced by Sam West and following the release of their second album Speakeasy, Jeff Bellew left the band to concentrate on family and Ryan Dennee joined as guitarist. Jeff later rejoined the band for the release of their final EP Against The Silence in 2009 and they now play as a five-piece. At least until they did that hiatus thing that bands do when they don't want to say they've broken up anyway.

There are several reasons I love this band, Mark is a hell of a singer. his voice is strong,  soulful and soars when he needs it to. As a band they're great songwriters too, intelligent lyrics, loads of catchy choruses, memorable lines and huge, pounding riffs held in check with a ton of melody. As for the Christian aspect, admittedly a few of their songs are a little bit "I Love Jesus me" but on the whole they're thoughtful, intelligent and introspective. More often than not Mark actively questions Christianity and his belief which  I can identify with. Nobody should blindly take anything as truth, especially not religion, make up your own mind about it. 

Stavesacre in 2009:
Mark Salomon, Sam West, Ryan Dennee, Dirk Lemmenes and Jeff Bellew

Anyway, there were a couple of reason for this post. Firstly, I wanted to do something themed as I haven't for a while now, secondly, I'm currently reading Mark Salomon's autobiography whcih I'm really enjoying and thirdly, I've just discovered there's to be a new album to be released this year of which I am VERY excited about. I'm less excited about the fact it was crowdfunded and I completely missed the campaign so I'll have to wait an extra 3 months for it to be officially released.

Making this playlist was hard as there was far too many songs I wanted that would fit onto one CD. I also wanted to put something on by The Crucified and also Outer Circle, which was a Punk side-Project Mark was involved in. There just wasn't the room, maybe I'll put them on a future mix, I dunno. There's also nothing from Collective, a Greatest Hits of sorts and also Live At Deep Ellum, I'll let you work out what that is for yourself. 
Give them a listen, try not to let the Christian thing put you off if it normally would. I love this band and would like everyone else to as well. If you do like them try and track down their albums cos they're great.

The Future History Of The Broken Hearted
Sundown Motel
Inclusive
At The Moment
Alice Wishlist
Teeth Like Knives
Freefall (From Hand To Hand)
Bull Takes Fighter
Witch Trial
Sand Dollar
Fear And Love
Why Good People Suffer
It's Beautiful (Once You're Out Here)
Shiv
Yes
Threshold
Minuteman
Side-Stage Syndrome
Zzyzx Scarecrow

You can download the mix, if you so wish, HERE

If you like what you hear then please try and support the band
THIS is the bands Merch store.
The albums can be (expensively) bought on Amazon HERE 
Dunno how it works but you can get them cheaper on Discogs HERE
If you're young and modern then you can listen to everything on Spotify HERE

Blurb below the cut, don't forget!

Mix CD #10 - We've Got A Situation Here

So the tenth mix is here, I feel like that ought to be some sort of milestone? Yay congratulations me! I'll buy myself a drink later.

I was planning on doing another Covers Mix this time but I wasn't really feeling it, plus I had a lot of songs that I've listened to lately that I wanted to share so I just went ahead with another no themed mix.  Also I really liked the Gargamel! song as an opener and I'd made that artwork (took hours of painstaking craftsmanship that did) for it too. The alligator thing is sufficiently in the past now surely?

As always, have a read of my comments below the cut if you like and you can download the mix HERE if you so choose.

 Cheers! 

Gargamel! - We've Got A Situation Here

The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing - Brunel

Sleater-Kinney - Step Aside

Left Side Brain - We All Got It Coming, Kid

Gama Bomb - Tuck Your T-Shirt In

Agnès Milewski - Signs And Messages

Circulus - Song Of Our Despair

Periphery - The Parade Of Ashes

Dirt Box Disco - Top Shelf

Dog Fashion Disco - Scarlet Fever

Sonic Boom Six - The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Inventions

Professor Kliq - The Dirtiest

Go Home Productions - Paranoid Rock

Diemonds - Overboard

Elvis Presley - A Big Hunk O' Love (Live)

Kingdom Come - Highway 6

Prong - Ice Runs Through My Veins

Consumed - Odd Man Out

Screaming Trees - Winter Song

Kilgore - Double-Edged Sword

Rachel Sermanni - Bones

Rollins Band - Wreck-Age

x