I know I haven’t posted a “34th & Now Presents” mixtape in a while, so when I realized I’ve been listening to one playlist a ton lately, I figured it was time to bring the idea back.

Named after one of the only lyrics I’ve ever written that I still liked after the fact—This headache’s been pounding for days//And the cracks on the ceiling…they all look the same //So just pour me //Back into my bottle, I’ll wake up next week—“34th & Now Presents: Cracks on the Ceiling” features a collection of 20 songs that I feel are at their best when you turn up your headphones, turn off the world, and just lay somewhere and really listen. You can pick it up as a free .zip file here.

Track List:
Poison & Wine - The Civil Wars
Down In The Valley - The Head and the Heart
Lost In My Mind - The Head and the Heart
Go Henry - Hey Rosetta!
Espirit d’escalier - Hey Rosetta!
The Year You Were Born - Hey Rosetta!
A Thousand Suns - Hey Rosetta!
When You Were Mine - John Heart Jackie
This Place is Deserted - Limbeck
Deer - Manchester Orchestra
Simple Math - Manchester Orchestra
Leave It Alone - Manchester Orchestra
Apprehension - Manchester Orchestra
Kept (Solo) - Matt Nathanson
I Can’t Get To What You Need (Solo) - Matt Nathanson
Help I’m Alive (Acoustic) - Metric
Slow Show - The National
Start A War - The National
Twenty Miles to NH Part 2 - The National

Past 34th & Now Downloads & Track-listings
34th & Now Presents: Cover Me, I’m Going In
34th & Now Presents: These City Lights
34th & Now Presents: Lies, Booze, & Then Deceit
34th & Now Presents: Pound the Pavement

Every October 31st Vermont’s most famous jam-band, Phish, puts on a Halloween concert for fans where Trey Anastasio and co. don what they call a “musical costume” by covering another artist’s album in its entirety. Previous years have treated Phish fans to renditions of the Beatles’ “White Album,” the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street,” and the Who’s “Quadrophenia.”

Not to be outdone—and because I think the idea of musical costumes is pretty cool—I’ve compiled a number of my favorite covers into the next 34th & Now mixtape: Cover Me, I’m Going In: A Mixtape in Costume. Grab it as a zip file here.

Track List:

1. Kid A (Radiohead) - John Mayer
2. Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen) - Matt Nathanson
3. Viva La Vida (Coldplay) - Lady GaGa
4. What You Like (T.I.) - Anya Marina
5. Stuck on You (Elvis Presley) - Dave Matthews
6. Kids (MGMT) - Ben Lee
7. Three Little Birds (Bob Marley) - Brendan Urie of Panic at the Disco
8. Crazy (Gnarls Barkley) - Wakey!Wakey!
9. Beggin’ (Madcon) - The Saturdays
10. Across the Universe (The Beatles) - Fiona Apple
11. Are You That Somebody (Aaliyah) - The Gossip
12. Use Somebody (Kings of Leon) - Paramore
13. Badfish/Boss DJ (Sublime) - Jack Johnson
14. Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles) - Eddie Vedder
15. When You Were Young (The Killers) - The Noisettes
16. Tiny Dancer (Elton John) - Ben Folds

When I first started up 34th & Now, I wasn’t entirely sure of where I wanted to go with it; I knew what I wanted to focus on—the bands, music, and art that I enjoy—but I wasn’t too sure why anyone else would want to read it. What I did know was that if I somehow turned even one person on to a new band that they had never heard before, I would consider it a success; a sentiment that lies at the heart of the latest 34th & Now download, These City Lights: A Mixtape in Seven Acts.

As an avid fan of reading music blogs to discover bands, I know it can sometimes be frustrating to realize, after buying an album, that a band’s overall sound is nothing like you expected based on the one track you heard. To combat that problem, this latest mixtape features seven of the bands that I have recently blogged about—and totally dig—and offers three tracks by each; some tracks are old, some are new, but they were all specifically chosen to give you an idea of the band in question and, hopefully, help you find something new you enjoy.

You can pick up the mixtape here as a free zip file.

Track List:

1. Oh La - Ra Ra Riot
2. Boy - Ra Ra Riot
3. Too Dramatic - Ra Ra Riot
4. A Children’s Crusade… - Margot & The Nuclear So and So
5. Quiet as a Mouse - Margot & The Nuclear So and So
6. Barfight Revolution… - Margot & The Nuclear So and So
7. Almost Everything - Wakey!Wakey!
8. Light Outside - Wakey!Wakey!
9. Square Peg Round Hole - Wakey!Wakey!
10. Miles Davis & The Cool - The Gaslight Anthem
11. Here’s Looking at You, Kid - The Gaslight Anthem
12. Stay Lucky - The Gaslight Anthem
13. Fake Empire - The National
14. Green Gloves - The National
15. Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National
16. Now The One You Once Loved is Leaving - Lydia
17. Fate - Lydia
18. Stay Awake - Lydia
19. Blue Blood - Foals
20. Spanish Sahara - Foals
21. 2 Trees - Foals

[As always if you like the music, please support the artists]

“To me, making a tape is like writing a letter—there’s a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again” - Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

After the positive feedback I received from friends and followers on the last one, I have decided to upload another mix-tape. Now, my personal feelings on these is that they should always have meaning; some authorial intent to be analyzed or interpreted by the listener. Everything from song selection and placement to tempo/genre changes and lyrics should be chosen for a reason and to that end, the tape should be listened to from start to finish as compiled. Really.

You can download the tape here as a zip file:

Track Listing:

1. The Outsider - Marina and the Diamonds
2. Not Today - Jump, Little Children
3. People C’mon - Delta Spirit
4. High Lonesom - The Gaslight Anthem
5. Changin- The Moondoggies
6. Red Orange Yellow - Photo Atlas
7. A Pillar of Salt - The Thermals
8. In the Now - Cursive
9. Moving to New York - The Wombats
10. The Great Escape - We Are Scientists

Fresh out of pseudo-grad school a.k.a. my post-baccalaureate program at UPenn, I find myself not only in the throes of the medical school application process but also unemployed and on the job grind. As such, I felt it important to have a solid playlist for when I am out there pounding the pavement and filling out applications to boost morale and help pass the time. Aptly named Pound the Pavement: An unemployment mixtape, you can download it free as a zip file.

Track Listing:

1. This Too Shall Pass - OK Go
2. Afterparty at Jimmy’s - Anya Marina
3. Bang Pop - Free Energy
4. Gold Guns Girls - Metric
5. Quiet Little Voices - We Were Promised Jetpacks
6. Miles Davis & The Cool - The Gaslight Anthem
7. Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
8. No Mercy, Only Violence - The Library
9. King Arthur - The Epilogues
10. Free Energy - Free Energy
11. Swagger - The Vox Jaguars
12. Come Saturday - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
13. Ambling Alp - Yeasayer