Mellow, feel good, beach body, and road nostalgia...just a few of my mix tape themes from 2012. Did you have a favorite??? I can't decide.
Click on a button above to play them again or discover one you might have missed. 2012 is really wrapping up!
{mix tape} stay in november
This month's mix tape would (and should have) been the soundtrack to this past weekend at home. Wake up, enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, plop onto the sofa, read a book, do some light chores, plop back onto the sofa, read some more....you get the picture. It's a little mellow and a little up beat, enjoy it as things wind down for the holiday season.
1 In My Dreams Eels 2 Cubism Dream Local Natives 3 Two Doves Dirty Projectors 4 Jailer Asa 5 The General Specific Band of Horses 6 I Got You Babe Bahamas 7 Troubleman Electric Guest 8 Wonder Years Real Estate 9 Live Long Kings of Convenience 10 Roll On Dntel
P.S. today is the last day to enter to win a photo print from my new print shop! winners will be announced tomorrow.
{mix tape} back in the day september
When Joe and I arrived in LA during our last visit and got into the rental car, we immediately tuned into KDAY 93.5. KDay plays all of the old school rap and hip hop songs that we grew up with and for me, it's all so quintessentially LA. Even if they're not all west coast artists, the vibe is there. I'm back in town so it was only fitting that I create my own mix! Some song versions are "explicit" so be warned in case you have little ears around. Though, I turned out alright...you know how we do ;)
Click here or the sidebar player to tune in. Enjoy!
1 This Is How We Do It Montell Jordan 2 California Love 2Pac, Roger Troutman & Dr. Dre 3 Poison Bell Biv Devoe 4 Going Bak to Cali The Notorious B.I.G. 5 Check Yo Self ('The Message' Remix) Ice Cube 6 Funkdafied Da Brat 7 This D.J. Warren G 8 Around the Way Girl LL Cool J 9 I'm So Into You SWV 10 Summertime DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
{monthly mix tape} road nostalgia august
{monthly mix tape} songs of summer
Grooving and chillaxing - that's what a summer music mix is all about and I am so not disappointed with how this month's tape came out!
I've been loving some of the new artists that KCRW has had on rotation, particularly Electric Guest whose album has me completely smitten. Pair their summer hit (if it's not already it should be) with a few new and old goodies and I am one happy girl.
Happy summering!
Click here, the image above, or the sidebar player to tune in.
1 - Caught Me Thinking Bahamas 2 - All Of Me Tanlines 3 - This Head I Hold Electric Guest 4 - Friends Of Friends Hospitality 5 - The Walk Mayer Hawthorne 6 - Swing Tree Discovery 7 - Battez Vous Brigitte 8 - In The Water Beat Connection 9 - Hollywood (Feat. Penguin Prison) [Felix Da Housecat Remix] 10 - Houdini Foster the People
(image: poolside summer 2011, Los Angeles)
{monthly mixtape} beach body june + the leopard me
After sitting poolside for a while we dove into the mock-rattan tepee for a more comfortable place to hide from the sun. Almost immediately I heard Joe say "oh, baby...give me your camera." He could see what I couldn't - the new leopard-like me! I was completely covered in the floral/spotted patterns being cast onto the mat. It was so rad.
These are just two of the images from the photo shoot that ensued. I wasn't going to share them as I don't exactly dream of sharing photos of me in a bikini (what up IBTC ladies!) but after giving it some thought I decided that these shadows were too cool for pride, or embarrassment. Besides, I'm practically camouflaged and they are somewhat related to this month's mix tape: Beach Body June.
I've been working out almost every day since we moved and in order to fight the inevitable drag, I made this month's mix my ultimate motivating, butt-kicking, sweat and burn soundtrack. It's a mix of electronic, indie and rap beats that starts off mild, gets a little faster, and then mellows for a cool down. If rock is more your style then check out April's mix - that one can really get me going! What type of music motivates you to get active?
Click here or the sidebar player to tune in. Enjoy!
1 - Ahead Of My Time (feat. Daddy Boastin') Teddybears 2 – Good Time Crystal Castles 3 – Day 'N' Nite (Crookers Remix) Kid Cudi 4 – Deception Le Tigre 5 – Shimmy Shimmy Ya Ol' Dirty Bastard 6 – Phantom Justice 7 – Fences (Boombass RMX) Phoenix 8 – Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (feat. Santigold) Beastie Boys & Santigold 9 – Dirty Harry Gorillaz 10 – This Means You Talib Kweli
{monthly mixtape} may
We've been all over the place this past month so for May's soundtrack I'm going international and indulging in a bit (or a lot) of wanderlust. I don't understand most of the words in the non-English songs but that's precisely the beauty of music: it doesn't matter. If you have any fave international beats to share, please do. I'm always excited about new discoveries!
Click here, the image above, or the sidebar player to tune in. Enjoy!
1 - Asi Asi Asi (feat. Noelia Fernandez) Atropolis 2 - Ibere Various Artists 3 - Le Flying Saucer Hat Chairlift 4 - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa Vampire Weekend 5 - Yellow World J Girls 6 - Amsterdam Peter Bjorn & John 7 - St. Petersburg Brazilian Girls 8 - Imik Si Mik Hindi Zahra 9 - Map Jim Noir 10 - Pacific Theme Broken Social Theme
(image: taken at Vanves Flea Market, Paris)
happy friday {and week to come}!
Wow - thank you so much for the awesome dose of love, enthusiasm and support for yesterday's news! I seriously can't wait to continue sharing, learning, and growing with you all. As a work-from-home expat I'm so thankful to have this online community of fellow bloggers, readers, travelers, best-life seekers, and all around sweet and inspiring people. I may never get to meet many of you in person but do know that connecting with you here, on twitter, or via instagram is such a treat.
To answer some of your questions from yesterday's news on the move ... Joe works for a multinational engineering firm so there are offices and projects all over the world. Most aren't in very exciting places so we've been lucky so far! As far as the process of moving to another country goes, we've been living light so moving this time around will be much easier - we've already pawned off some furniture, we'll donate what's left, and our essentials will be shipped courtesy of his company. I think the biggest pain will be calling all of our accounts to close them out but it'll get done with a nice cup of coffee in hand. In retrospect, leaving LA was the hardest part. The career job, my own apartment, a life's worth of "stuff", saying goodbye to family and friends. A year later, I didn't even bat an eyelash when Joe came home with the offer to move again; I was totally in and ready. Facetime and Skype is the same from anywhere in the world anyway and now my friends and family have a bigger incentive to visit us since most have never been there but were already familiar with London and Europe. We'll see how it goes!
Right now, I've got some work to wrap up before we spend the weekend in Brussels and as mentioned, I'll be off the blog next week while visiting KL. I'll be on twitter and instagram if you'd like to join me there but until I get back with details and stories to share, check out this video my friend John sent me when he heard the news. It'll definitely spur the wanderlust in you!
And last but not least, I couldn't get to mid-month without a new mixtape! This one is a departure from my first two mixes that were a groovy and mellow but I had to show some love to the more rebellious side of my music library. I love my rock'n'roll with a little metal, rough-around-the-edges vocals, and bits of punk and grass-roots honky tonk. How about you?
Click here or the sidebar player to tune in. See you in a week, enjoy!
1 - Light of the Morning Band of Skulls 2 – Lonely Boy The Black Keys 3 – God Killed the Queen Louis XIV 4 - 1st Things 1st Phantom Planet 5 – Taper Jean Girl Kings of Leon 6 – Ball & Biscuit The White Stripes 7 – White Unicorn Wolfmother 8 – Hair Down Cold War Kids 9 – Hold On Alabama Shakes 10 – Rumble Link Wray
(image: in Windsor, England)
monthly mixtape
Happy March everyone!
To get us through the last stretch of winter I thought I'd put together some of my favorite mellow-ish, upbeat tunes. It's already coming in handy for me since I woke up feeling under the weather today. Good beats = good mood and hopefully that makes for a healthy me tomorrow.
Click here, the image above, or the sidebar player to tune in. Enjoy!
1 - Collarbone Fujiya & Miyagi 2 - The 15th Fischerspooner 3 - Freedom Jurassic 5 4 - Animal (Mark Ronson Remix) Miike Snow 5 - Airwalker Jeremy Jay 6 - I'm Good, I'm Gone Lykke Li 7 - Evident Utensil Chairlift 8 - Edge of Extremes Clubfeet 9 - Disco Friends Just Jack 10 - Fair-Weather Friend (Ninja Tune's Mix by Mr Scruff)
(image: taken in the east end, london)
feel good february :: mini-mixtape
February has gotten off to a great start so I thought I'd make a mini-mixtape to keep the good vibes going. I made the mix on 8tracks, a (new to me) service that lets you create playlists from your own personal music library. The thing that I love most about it is that you can't preview the tracks - it's actually like a real mixtape when you just go with it. I've found some great mixes from other users and I really do enjoy the element of surprise.
Anyhow, I think that moving forward I'll create one mix every month instead of posting weekly brilliant beats. I always intend to make playlists for myself but never get around to it so this will be good motivation. If you dig what you hear - awesome. If you hate my taste in tunes, well, it will only be once per month so hopefully I don't scare you away ;)
Here's the track list for Feel Good February. You'll notice that most of the titles have a love, relationship, or celebration theme but I promise that they're not mushy songs. They're more likely to make you tap your toes to the beat or force you into a shoulder dance if anything.
1 - Baby I'm Yours (feat. Irfane) Breakbot 2 - Henny & Gingerale Mayer Hawthorne 3 - Silver Screen Beat Connection 4- Jealous of Roses Bibio 5 - When They Fight, They Fight The Generationals 6 - Little Secrets Passion Pit 7 - Do You Believe? (Original) Poolside 8 - Walking On a Dream Empire of the Sun 9 - Think I'm In Love Beck 10 - I Want You Back Discovery
Click the image above or here to listen. Enjoy!