Valentine's Mix CD (for J)

In some ways, I'm perpetually 15. Awkward and cheesy. So, there's no better gift than the mix CD.

A mix CD on Valentine's Day? Corny? You betcha. Are the song selections themselves corny? Some of them are, sure. But isn't that the point? I think so.

Perhaps I'm exploiting J, but hey, I haven't offered up a mix CD in a long while, so why not.

1. J. Tillman, My waking days, Long may you run, J. Tillman, Keep Recordings
2. Jens Lekman, The one dollar thought, You deserve someone better than a bum like me, self-produced tour EP (May 2005)
3. Colin Meloy, Jack the Ripper, Colin Meloy sings Morrissey, self-produced tour EP
4. The Long Winters, Ultimatum, Ultimatum EP, Barsuk
5. Magnolia Electric Co., Doing something wrong, Hard to love a man, Secretly Canadian
6. The Rolling Stones, Loving Cup, Exile on Main Street, Virgin
7. Cat Power, Could We, The Greatest, Matador
8. Josh Rouse, A song to help you sleep, Bedroom Classics, self-produced tour EP
9. Iron & Wine, The Trapeze Swinger, In Good Company SDTRK Hollywood

Happy Valentine's all.
***
Notes:
J. Tillman's latest record was released just a couple of weeks back and is already sold out. (He has this annoying little habit of releasing records in pressings of 150 or so.) If you have a copy, please let me know! You can find "My waking days" in a number of places, including at Keep Recordings.

Jens Lekman is such a nice young man. He's got presents for us all! Download this tour EP, along with two others here.

KingBlind's got the Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey EP available for download. You can purchase the latest covers EP from Meloy, Colin Meloy Sings Shirley Collins from The Decemberists' website.

Back in September, Stereogum posted this Long Winters track.

You probably already have the new Cat Power, as it's pretty easy to track down. If not, I find that An Aquarium Drunkard is a nice place for mp3s.

Speaking of An Aquarium Drunkard, it's also the only place I've found to download the long out of print Bedroom Classics tour-only EP from Josh Rouse (not to be confused with Bedroom Classics Vol. 2, which is available on iTunes). Sometimes, you can even find a burned CD-R copy of this EP on ebay for a couple hundred clams. It's lovely and includes early versions of a couple tracks that made their way onto Nashville. Bonus: Songs Illinois has a cut from the forthcoming record.

Bows + Arrows posted the Iron & Wine track as a New Year's treat.