Dear CD Recipients,

Frankly, I’m exhausted. This CD has completely drained every ounce of energy that I had. Some CD’s come together no problem. Others are hell. For the longest time, nothing seemed to fit right, and I ended up agonizing over the placement of two songs that try as they might stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. Finally, I got this sucker together, and surprisingly I think it’s rather fabulous.

However, it is noticeably different than my previous mix tapes. It’s not nearly as peppy, but I’m done with that. I know that Summer and Spring Break seem to need upbeat, happy songs because they are upbeat, happy times, but that logic is killing me. Two out of the three CDs I make in a year cannot be geared towards the super happy stuff. It’s just not an accurate representation of my taste.

Secondarily, this CD is not as up to date with current indie music, and for that I apologize. Blame McKay and fucking chemistry. A lot of these tracks were songs that had been cut off of other CD’s that I pieced into one hell of an eclectic hodgepodge. Only about half of this is really NEW material.

This school year has probably been my favorite to date. I know: shock, awe. The girl who once dubbed 2007, the shittiest year known to man, has said something positive. Reasons why:

1. Juan de Pareja (Euro kids FTW.)

2. All of the late night awesome weirdness that occurs when everyone has procrastinated on Euro hw. (ex. the infamous Russia timeline and those unit questions that Nick and I did together at 2 in the morning.)

3. Mrs. Manning and her voice (ex. Pasta Noooooodle, etc.)

4. New friends (ex. Meghan, Hillary, Nick, Jared, etc.)

5. Old friends (ex. Sam, Kelly, Anya, etc.)

6. Bowling

7. Crappy teen television (ex. One Tree Hill, The Vampire Diaries, Secret Life of the American Teenager, Make it or Break It, etc.)

8. Seeing Broken Social Scene live has been checked off of my nonexistent Bucket List.

9. Greatest 16th Birthday Party ever.

10. ReyHerme Book Club (Don’t fuck with us.)

All in all, not too bad. Onto Columbia this Summer for hopefully a matching best Summer ever. I’ll try to keep you all posted on that front.

Tamar

Comments on the Summer 2010 Playlist

1. Spanish Sahara: Oh, how it builds. I’m rarely as passionately in love with a song as I am with this track. In fact, track seems like a ridiculously inadequate way to describe this masterpiece. Foals weaves together so many different moving parts into this beautiful, captivating opus of sorts. Take note of the wave sample towards the end. A strong contender for best song of 2010.

2. Home: Initially, I was furious when Big Love changed its opening theme from God Only Knows to this, but I got over it quickly. Few songs can pull off this amount of repetition. Shoegaze.

3. Feel It All Around: This song gained popularity in late 2009. One of those songs that you can just see playing in the background during a montage of beautiful people at the beach. Also, I have an inkling that the water polo boys would dub this song “chill.”

4. I’ll Try Anything Once: For The Strokes, less is more, and this early demo for You Only Live Once, a beyond generic track off of their dreadfully overworked third album, reminds me of why The Strokes deserve every ounce of hype they received for their brilliant debut, Is This It. Thanks to Sofia Coppola for putting this in the trailer for her new movie Somewhere, which looks fabulous.

5. Dance Yrself Clean: There are no words to describe my love for LCD Soundsystem. I mean seriously: “Talking like a jerk except you are an actual jerk and living proof that sometimes friends are mean.”Pure brilliance. Then, comes 3:06, a moment so glorious that I’m unable to write about it because every time I reach it I begin to dance wildly.

6. Meet Me In The Basement: First off, Broken Social Scene is amazing live. Conga lined to the front of The Fillmore with potheads leading the way amazing. Greatest night of my life. The new album Forgiveness Rock Record is far more refined than their early work, but it is nevertheless utterly fabulous. However, this instrumental track is the most reminiscent of the old school BSS, which I loved so dearly for its sheer energy and fire power.

7. Odessa: My pick for the Summer Song of 2010. Definitely Caribou’s most accessible effort. Love.

8. A Peculiar Noise Called ‘Train Director’: Love, love, love. Such a great song to get down and boogie to while screaming the lyrics at the top of your lungs. WHERE WE ARE! The Olivia Tremor Control is one of my favorite bands, and I’ve tried to put this song on nearly every mix tape I’ve ever made. Today is the day, bitches.

9. Knotty Pine: Okay, first of all, David Byrne+ DP= HOLY FUCK, TAMAR JUST DIED OF HAPPINESS. Lives up to every expectation I had for this funky little number.

10. Go Wild In The Country: Annabella Lwin was thirteen when she became lead singer of Bow Wow Wow. Can you say bad ass? My favorite of their songs. Vampire Weekend doesn’t know shit about Afro beats. Learn from the master, little grasshopper.

11. Tightrope (feat. Big Boi): Behold, a female version of Outkast. Janelle Monae will be huge. HUGE, I swear. This girl has style and a voice to boot. Love her new album. Pitchfork once said that if you looked at the sheet music for Beyonce’s Crazy in Love all you would see was a bunch of exclamation points on a staff. That line suits this song so well.