The Days of Lore

Getting Chummy: TDoL Summer Mix 2010

Monday, July 26th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 2 Comments

Summer is finally here in Portland … at least for a few days—’tis the season for barbecues, tubing down the river, bottomless ice chests and summer jams (Jams? JAMZ!).

TDoL spent countless hours in a dark room assembling your summer soundtrack for 2010, a mixtape filled with singalongs, un poquito de español, noise (Noise? NOIZE!), a few breezy numbers, a handful of Portland cuts, and loads of hand claps … we’re talking more clap than a state school fraternity house. Most of the music on this compilation has been lovingly featured on The Days of Lore. You should totally buy the records.

Grab the full mix in a convenient zip folder by clicking the link below. Pairs well with road trips, good barbecue and cheap beer, as well as bad trips, good times and cheap friends.

TRACKLIST:
1. “Guadalajara” - Pepe Guízar
2. “Girlfriend” - Ty Segall
3. “Too Young to Burn” - Sonny & the Sunsets
4. “Free Association” - These Hills of Gold
5. “Better Surrender” - Far
6. “Beverly Kills” - Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
7. “Flashes” - International Waters
8. “Miss Metro” - The Knuckles
9. “Starting Over” - Typhoon
10. “The Ghost Inside” - Broken Bells
11. “Bad Buzz” - The Mint Chicks
12. “Get Around Town” - Revolver
13. “Juniper” - Y La Bamba
14. “Evening Star” - Blitzen Trapper
15. “TAOS” - Menomena
16. “La Barra” - Montañas
17. “Cars and Explosions” - Kevin Dunn
18. “Doesn’t Shake Me” - The Goodnight Loving
19. “Floating Vibes” - Surfer Blood
20. “Atom Bomb” - The Apples in stereo
21. “Sidepain” - Sea of Bees
22. “A More Perfect Union” - Titus Andronicus

DOWNLOAD: Getting Chummy: TDoL Summer Mix 2010 (117 MB ZIP)

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Tags: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Blitzen Trapper, Broken Bells, Far, Getting Chummy: TDoL Summer Mix 2010, International Waters, Kevin Dunn, Menomena, mixtapes, Montañas, Pepe Guízar, Revolver, Sea of Bees, Sonny & the Sunsets, summer, summer jamz, summer mix, Surfer Blood, The Apples in Stereo, The Goodnight Loving, The Knuckles, The Mint Chicks, These Hills of Gold, Titus Andronicus, Ty Segall, Typhoon, Y La Bamba

Mad buzz for ‘Bad Buzz’

Monday, April 12th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 2 Comments

Well, I’d hardly qualify a few words on The Days of Lore as “buzz.” But I do think buzz is an interesting word—its different meanings, the way it looks … buzz. OK, one more time—buzz.

New Zealand/Portland four-piece the Mint Chicks received a fair share of buzz upon the release of their second Flying Nun LP Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! (including some love buzz from TDoL), a record that combined hooks with with jittery experimental noise (a style the band has dubbed “troublegum”). It finally hit U.S. soil in 2008 after winning every imaginable award in New Zealand. The band’s next record Screens was released in early 2009, and it still hasn’t gotten a fair shake here in the States. It’s criminal, I tell you.

The Chicks bypassed all the label/distro nonsense this time around with their latest Bad Buzz EP, available exclusively through musichype.com as a very practical (and cool looking) 1GB USB drive (it’s also available here as a download). The title track sounds like pure Zombies pop before the troublegum kicks in at about 1:45. Easily one of the best songs the Mint Chicks have written to date.

I’m thinking the next full-length should just come on a brand-new iPad. Now that would move some units, while at the same time create some much-deserved buzz …

… buzz.

“Bad Buzz” - The Mint Chicks

Tags: Bad Buzz, buzz, Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, Flying Nun, Screens, The Mint Chicks

The Mint Chicks: It’s them, not me

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

I was going to go with the headline “Chicks with dicks,” but thought that would be sophomoric and tasteless … and I don’t need people thinking I am either of those. Continuing with my fascination with male bands with female names (The Girls, Women), I give you The Mint Chicks.

I was actually in New Zealand around the same time The Mint Chicks made the big move to Portland … I thought they might be avoiding me. The Auckland trio came to the States in January despite their hugeness back home, where they’ve won every award possible for their 2006 Flying Nun release Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! (re-released in the U.S. in September).

Brothers Kody and Ruban Nielson (vocals, keys; guitar respectively) and drummer Paul Roper are putting the finishing touches on their next record Screens, and announced this week that it should be out in February 2009. A few of the new songs including “Life Will Get Better Some Day” and “2010″ are available on the band’s MySpace.

I’ve seen the band use “troublegum” to describe their sound. It couldn’t be more accurate. The Mint Chicks take rock from the last four decades—including ’60s bubble gum, ’70s punk and new wave—and lets it loose with the nervous energy of an abused Chihuahua. When I listen in to them in the car sometimes I bob along with a goofy grin on my face, sometimes I just want to ram the bad driver in front of me … maybe it’s just me.

The Mint Chicks will play a handful of dates leading up to the release of Screens, including this Thursday at Portland’s Rotture. Check ‘em out. You might catch them hanging from the lighting rigs, or attacking the stage with a chainsaw (OK, it’s not just me). Maybe I should title this “Minters make splinters.” Perhaps not.

Mint Chicks dates (all Portland):

11/20 at Rotture with Bret Vogel
12/12 at Someday Lounge with Blue Horns
12/19 at Crystal Ballroom with the Presidents of the United States of America
1/3 at the Doug Fir with Lookbook and The Prids

“Life Will Get Better Some Day” - The Mint Chicks (Screens, 2009)

Video for “Walking Off a Cliff Again” off of Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!

Tags: "2010", "Life Will Get Better Some Day", Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, Flying Nun Records, New Zealand, Screens, The Girls, The Mint Chicks, Women