Me: (clinking my glass with Eliot's) Salud!

Eliot: Salud!

Me: Pass the carne roast!

Eliot: Pass the daddy horse!

I should have comments fixed. Email if there's a problem. Ryan at cedarave.com

First of all, Bon Iver is not on the list because you're a year late to the party. Secondly, every time someone talks about how great the record is, they talk about one thing: the first track. There are awkward sentences spoken like "All I could listen to all summer was Flume. It's such a great album." You fail. I've even heard people try to extrapolate some sort of metaphor for the current state of the economy from the style of the album, which is interesting, since when the album was actually released in June 2007, everybody thought Google was going to hit $1000. Plus Damien Jurado's been doing the exact same thing since before the last recession. As Eliot would say when her brother tries to eat her cereal in the morning, "Go away, you bother me."

All in all, 2008 was pretty tepid. Like Bon Iver, the year was much better for individual songs than for albums. Blame iTunes if you want, I don't care. The top 10 is pretty good though. Sigur Ros went all Avey Tare on us. The Plastic Constellations went all Brett Favre* on us. Ben Folds made a terrible terrible terrible record.

* How many times have they broken up and put out a new album? Plus just when you think they might be as good as any band, they throw an interception at the exact moment that ruins every thing. Aaron Rodgers looks pretty freaking awesome. I just wish he'd grow that awesome moustache again.

The Dead Science did on this record what they do on every record. It's just brilliant stuff that's criminally underappreciated. The Walkmen came up with a fantastic return to relevance after their disaster of an album last time around. David Karsten Daniels had the best newcomer album, but I was also very very interested in Throw Me the Statue, who might have written the best song of the year, and the Morning Benders, who also might have, although it's been all over their first couple EPs. Parenthetical Girls are getting more consistent, and I like that direction.

One more year.

1. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
2. The Dead Science - Villainaire
3. The Walkmen - You & Me
4. David Karsten Daniels - Fear of Flying
5. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
6. Cat Power - Jukebox
7. Sigur Rós - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
8. Retribution Gospel Choir - Retribution Gospel Choir
9. The Plastic Constellations - We Appreciate You
10. Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements
11. Tobacco - Fucked Up Friends
12. Mount Eerie & Julie Doiron - Lost Wisdom
13. Shearwater - Rook
14. Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins
15. Peter Broderick - Float
16. Jolie Holland - The Living and the Dead
17. Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City
18. Devotchka - A Mad & Faithful Telling
19. Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams
20. the morning benders - talking through tin cans
21. Mount Eerie - Dawn
22. Damien Jurado - Caught In The Trees
23. Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
24. Musee Mecanique - Hold This Ghost
25. Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
26. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
27. These United States - A Picture Of The Three Of Us At The Gate To The Garden Of Eden
28. Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood
29. Dr. Dog - Fate
30. The Black Keys - Attack and Release
31. Why? - Alopecia
32. Lightspeed Champion - Falling Of The Lavender Bridge
33. Destroyer - Trouble in Dream
34. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down In The Light
35. Inara George & Van Dyke Parks - An Invitation
36. Stereolab - Chemical Chords
37. Neil Halstead - Oh! Mighty Engine
38. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam In Goliath
39. Hayden - In Field & Town
40. Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim
41. Sun Kil Moon - April
42. Randy Newman - Harps And Angels
43. Mount Eerie - Black Wooden Ceiling Opening
44. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
45. Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers s
46. Death Vessel - Nothing is Precious Enough for Us
47. Calexico - Carried To Dust
48. The Sea and Cake - Car Alarm
49. Paper Airplanes - Scandal Scandal Scandal Down In The Wheat Field
50. Nana Grizol - Love It Love It
51. Lackthereof - Your Anchor
52. Kayo Dot - Blue Lambency Downward
53. Josephine Foster - This Coming Gladness
54. Haley Bonar - Big Star
55. Elephant9 - Dodovoodoo
56. Cryptacize - Dig That Treasure
57. Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a sound
58. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
59. A Weather - Cove
60. Vetiver - Thing Of The Past
61. Sydney Wayser - Silent Parade
62. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
63. Meneguar - Strangers In Our House
64. Matmos - Supreme Balloon
65. Kimya Dawson - Alphabutt

Year end mix soon.

We took the kids to the Macy's 8th floor thing last night. Eliot was wide-eyed and loved it. Turns out, I was there as an elf. I made sure I didn't touch him, just in case we'd blow up or something.

I've been working on finishing my top 65 records list (not to mention being outnumbered by people under three feet tall and watching Mad Men), and I got sidetracked, forgetting to put up December's mix. We'll have to see if anyone other than Zakcq still reads this thing. The year end mix and top 65 list should be up very soon.

Stupid Mark Teixiera and CC Sabathia.

1. Tobacco - Dirt (ft. Aesop Rock)
2. Unbunny - The Path
3. Jeremy Messersmith - Dead End Job
4. Mount Eerie - Who?
5. Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You
6. Sydney Wayser - Ode To A Frenchman
7. Guilty Simpson - The American Dream
8. From Monument To Masses - Beyond God & Elvis
9. Jolie Holland - Mexico City
10. Cold War Kids - Against Privacy
11. The Uglysuit - Let it be Known
12. Plus-Minus - Snowblind
13. Koufax - Drivers
14. Tokyo Police Club - The Baskervilles f. Aesop Rock and Yak Ballz (Amplive Remix)

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Previously: Mix #35, September '08

I have been on the Rays bandwagon for a few years. This year I called them to make the playoffs in spring training. They have many of my absolute favorite players. Carl Crawford has been one of my favorites for years. How can you not like David Price, who's going to be the best pitcher in the AL east for a long time? BJ Upton is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma (I love how he has skinny power, draws tons of walks and strikes out all the time, and still manages to bring a decent average). Bartlett was my favorite scrappy (mediocre white guy) Twin for the last few years. I love that Mets fans get to at least see Scott Kazmir in the World Series. Grant Balfour has my favorite name for a pitcher (better even than Kevin Slowey, Josh Outman, and Homer Bailey). Matt Garza is their third best starter. Andy Sonnanstine has a beard. They have a sidearmer. Evan Longoria is a pretty good hitter.

But I cannot root for them in good conscience. Not having any sort of history has nothing to do with it. They've been around for ten years, but they've had their current hats and uniforms for one. The fans clearly have been fans for a month. I mean, nobody is wearing a throwback 2007 BJ Upton jersey. Even at a Twins game there are noticable amounts of people with baby blue Oliva and Killebrew shirts, 1991 Puckett shirts. I just can't root for a team where the fans have been on the bandwagon for three years less than I have. The same fans who cheer like it's a walkoff home run every time a ball is hit out of the infield. They ignore good baserunning and fielding. Some idiot plays his damn wiener cowbell every time there are two strikes. The cowbell makes the home broadcast as hard on the ears as the College World Series. The mohawk thing is getting on my nerves. It was one thing when the players did it. It was another thing when the manager cut one. Now the fans have pink mohawks on their pets and babies. They also have cheerleaders. In baseball.

There are valid reason to root for the Phillies, though. Chase Utley, for example. Ryan Howard will strike out 14 times and hit 3 home runs. I hear Cole Hamels is talented. That idiot Brett Myers was amazing on my fantasy team this year. Brad Lidge was the best closer in baseball this year (41/41 in saves is infinitely more impressive than 62/69), and it's nice to see him back after that Pujols homerun. Jimmy Rollins has been underrated his entire career (until going into this year, where he was slightly overtouted). I'm worried JC Romero will twitch out of his skin. Pedro Feliz has a beard. I always like watching Pat the bat. He is so taguchi. Plus I already have a Phillies hat, and with the economy, that's really the main reason,

Why can't us?

Go Dodgers!

1. The Dead Science - Make Mine Marvel
2. Calexico - The News About William
3. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Black Yogurt [With Mike Watt]
4. Don Caballero - lord krepelka
5. David Vandervelde - Lyin' In Bed
6. Ane Brun - Armour
7. Mirah - Location Temporary
8. Mogwai - I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
9. The Baseball Project - Ted Fucking Williams
10. Wye Oak - Please Concrete
11. Marching Band - Markeup Artist
12. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
13. Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
14. Of Montreal - An Eluardian Instance
15. Emiliana Torrini - Birds
16. Lambchop - Slipped Dissolved And Loosed
17. Doveman - Holding Out For A Hero
18. What Laura Says Thinks And Feels - Dot Dot Dot
19. The Cotton Jones Basket Ride - I Was 17 (Starflyer 59 Cover)

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Previously: Mix #35, September '08

I know I'm a day late and a quarter short (or is that Twin Cities transit passengers?), but I keep putting off my playoff picks. The Twins put me in a bit of a foul mood. Since that Thursday game where we sat in the second to last row in the upper deck directly behind the plate (not terrible seats, plus they were free, thanks to Bethany's boss) that they came back from a 6-1 defecit to win 7-6 in extra innings to take first place, they've been absolutely terrible offensively.

I'm going with LA, Boston, Tampa, and Philly. The World Series will be LA against Boston, and will be one of the most exciting series ever.

I'm not just being a homer with LA, I really think the Cubs aren't as good as people think. The Dodgers had the pitching, top of the rotation and bullpen, and dropping Manny in the middle of the lineup improves it exponentially. And we can't forget Casey Blake, who is a nice player to have batting eighth. He may be a Twin next year, and he'd probably bat fifth for us. Or even fourth if Gardy (I agree with Posnanski here, Gardy is one of the better managers in the game. My other favorite? Ozzie Guillen with a bullet) gets smart and bats Mauer second, behind Span, sends Gomez to the minors, and publicly apologizes for pitching Brian Bass so much in games closer than five runs. The Dodgers got Furcal back too. If I told you your team could take Angel Berroa's career .305 OBP out of your lineup in favor of Rafael Furcal's .352, is that something that you'd be interested in?

It's suddenly fall here. Coincidentally there was a lot of good fall music I heard last month (although it seemed like it was 90 degrees every day in August), but just in time for the cool weather, they're on a mix.

Everything I heard about St Paul during the convention was that it was a tomb. I guess even if you add a crowd of people larger than the town in which Sarah Palin was mayor to downtown St Paul, it still feels like a ghost town. With idiot protesters. And tear gas. Is it a coincidence that will all of the republicans in town that I couldn't step into a crosswalk in St Paul without twice nearly getting run over by an SUV? (It's normally only once).

Anyways, this Sarah Palin thing is absolutely fantastic. Who's McCain planning on having as his Secretary of State? The mayor of Hayward, WI? Is his UPS guy going to run the Department of Defense? Maybe Harriet Miers can be Attorney General. This whole thing is making Obama look like Henry Kissinger. My favorite spin is the one where she's qualified because she has more executive experience than McCain.

1. Lackthereof - Ask Permission
2. Bowerbirds - La Denigración
3. Paper Airplanes - An Account Of Surprising Accuracy, Given The Messenger
4. Death Vessel - Block My Eye
5. Laura Marling - Failure
6. Conor Oberst - Milk Thistle
7. Elephant9 - Dodovoodoo
8. The Sea and Cake - Window Sills
9. Parenthetical Girls - Four Words
10. Clare & The Reasons - Nothing-Nowhere
11. Randy Newman - Potholes
12. Neil Halstead - Oh! Mighty Engine
13. The New Year - Folios
14. Mount Eerie & Julie Doiron - You Swan, Go On
15. Inara George & Van Dyke Parks - Idaho
16. A Weather - Shirley Road Shirley
17. Dilla Ghost Doom - Murder Goons feat. Ghostface Killah
18. Stereolab - Self Portrait with Electric Brain
19. Talkdemonic - Civilian
20. Nana Grizol - Circles 'Round The Moon

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Previously: Mix #34, August '08

Eliot fell asleep while eating pizza today. She was chewing in her sleep. When she ran out of slice, she kept chewing nothing.

1. One Day As A Lion - If You Fear Dying
2. Why? - As I Went Out One Morning (Bob Dylan Cover)
3. The Walkmen - Canadian Girl
4. Damien Jurado - Sheets
5. Red Sparowes - We Left The Apes To Rot, But Find The Fang Grows Within
6. Beck - Modern Guilt
7. Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron and Fred Squire - flaming home
8. Aimee Mann - Medicine Wheel
9. Josephine Foster - The Garden of Earthly Delights
10. Okkervil River - Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On The Roof Of The Chelsea Hotel, 1979
11. Meso Meso - frost
12. The Mars Volta - 05 Goliath
13. Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope
14. Peter Broderick - A Beginning

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Previously: Mix #33, July '08