Happy Summer! Happy New Krissie Mix!

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Hello, my loves. For those of you not in North Carolina where we have had 100 degree temperatures for the last four days straight, I have news for you: summer is here. I couldn’t be happier. Summer is the best season. Summer is my season.

Perhaps that’s why the Summer Mix always seems to come together so easily. It may have taken me forever to get this year’s Spring Mix done, but Summer was the exact opposite. It just worked. Mixes are like that sometimes. Every once in awhile, there’s one where you feel like every song has it’s “fit” with the next. Heck, it’s 1:30 AM right now and I should be sleeping, but I was so darn excited about this Mix that I HAD to write this blog post. Slightly obsessive, yes, but a little endearing too, right?

Love your faces. Go get your happy on with this thing. Grab the notes (and possibly a missing track or two) here.

 

Monday Memories, Sonia Dada & Chet Faker….

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Over the weekend, I realized that I graduated from high school 23 years ago. Let’s face it…high school wasn’t great for me. I was still the giant nerd I am today, but just wasn’t okay with it yet. Then I went off to college and everything changed for me… I realized that brains were a good thing and had an incredible cadre of professors and college staff that recognized my talents and helped me figure out what to do with them. When lots of folks gained the freshman 15, I lost it. I learned how to have fun. After that first year of college, I was a different person…and I went home for the summer.

I still have all my cassette singles...Check out these bad boys.

I still have all my cassette singles…Check out these bad boys.

I remember being at Camelot Music one day (remember those?) looking for cassette singles (remember THOSE?) and bumping into a guy I’d known only casually in high school. I said hello and he didn’t recognize me at first. And then his response was, “Damn girl, college been good to you.”  It was. I spent a lot of that summer driving around in my 1983 Toyota Tercel and hanging out with high school friends. I dated a Marine. Worked a crazy number of hours dipping ice cream. Made a lot of trips to Philly to go dancing and hang out on South Street with Kimmy. But mostly, I listened to those cassette singles and counted the days until I could go back to school. It turned out to be an amazing summer, but my hometown definitely seemed a whole lot smaller. It hadn’t changed at all, but I sure had.

So, it must be fate that I wrote about Triple J’s Like a Version in my Spring Mix liner notes a few weeks ago and found myself late night YouTubing a bunch of performances last night. Triple J is this awesome Aussie radio station that does a segment called Like a Version where artists cover other artists. And last night, I found this version of Chet Faker covering Sonia Dada’s “Lover (You Don’t Treat Me No Good No More).” It took me right back to that summer in Bridgeton, when I must have played the original of this song a zillion times…  I can’t help but post it. It’s just too fun.

Here’s to the memories.

Current Love Affair: The Ballroom Thieves

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I have decided that I need to force myself to start writing much more. Believe it or not, years ago, I blogged daily, sometimes multiple times a day. Life was a little easier when I was 28, I guess. But I digress… I’ve been avoiding writing like the plague, as of late. So, no more being a wimp. Back to it.

So I have a few new obsessions. 1) This awesome summer salad, which I swear I’ve made three times in the past week; 2) Audiotree.tv, which (sort of) leads me to 3) The Ballroom Thieves. I actually heard about the darling little outfit from my friend Julie who posted some photos on her Instagram account raving about them…So when I saw their session pop up on Audiotree, I decided to give it a listen/watch.

Hello, new love affair.

What a gorgeous little trio this is. I want them in my ears all day. Boston hit it out of the part with this band. Their new album, A Wolf in the Doorway, is absolutely STUNNING. I’m particularly partial to “Bullet” and “Wild Woman,” but every song is its own little adventure. Some have these amazingly sparse arrangements that are perfectly balanced with gentle vocals, and then there are others that are complete and total rockers where they are just growling the vocals. I love every bit of it.

Take 30 minutes and go check out this little Audiotree session. I love the way they interview and film on this site…It’s really, really well done. There is just something about the way these band members talk, something really gentle and peaceful about them, that intrigues me so much. I must find a way to see them live!

Learn more about The Ballroom Thieves: Website | Facebook | Twitter

The 2015 Spring Mix (Otherwise Known As I’m Ashamed of Myself)

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Has it seriously been more than four months since I made a blog post? A third of a year? Yes. I’m ashamed of myself… I’m busy as hell with the new job (did I mention I got a promotion?), but that’s no excuse for going MONTHS without posting.

Ugh. I’m tired. you guys. I need some down time.

The good news is, I have a new Mix for you. It’s longer than usual…since I have gone all digital, I decided to hell with length, and just did whatever felt right. This feels right. 27 songs – 3 of which are not available on Spotify (but you can probably find a bonus if you look hard enough). You can get the liner notes here. The best notes I’ve written in awhile, I think – because I didn’t have to limit myself to two pages!

So have a listen. Do me a favor and follow the playlist on Spotify. Trying to figure out how many listeners I’ve lost since going to Spotify. And as always, let me know what you think – what your favorites are, what you don’t like, etc. That’s my favorite part.

As always, please support these artists. I’ve included links to their web pages in my notes. Buy their music. Go see a live show. Buy some merch. Invest in vinyl. You know the drill.

Smooches. Love you all.

The Very, Very Overdue Winter Mix

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I could apologize all day, but the fact of the matter is…there just aren’t enough hours in the day anymore. And I destroyed my wrist in an unfortunate slipping on the ice incident. Have I mentioned that I hate winter? Spring, please come soon.

But, wrist injury and no time aside, I finally finished the 2014-2015 Winter Mix and the notes. So please go listen. Notes here, if you are so inclined to read.