Oh, I’ll have the winter with ranch.

Mix by Nate

Download: Oh, I’ll have the winter with ranch


1. Women – “Heat Distraction” Women’s second track from Public Strain tosses searing riffs with jolty half beats, interspersed with garage-psych breakdowns – a nice little boost to get you out into some frosty rabble rousing. Note the album art; the entire record is seemingly cold and dark-oriented. This one stands out for me.

2. Tobacco – “Stretch Your Face” On Maniac Meat, Tobacco takes his electronic, auto-tuned, face-melting sound ala Black Moth Super Rainbow and straps on some hip-hop beats (with a little help from Beck). “Stretch Your Face” bends pitches and textures with a forever-heavy pulse.

3. Deerhoof – “Believe E.S.P.” This is one of my favorite Deerhoof tunes. I like their quirky prog collapse before picking up the original refrained ‘La La La’ dealie. They’re good; so is Deerhunter. By the way, don’t ever get Deerhoof and Deerhunter confused. Ever.

4. Deerhunter – “Helicopter” – Everyone say, “Hooray for paranoia and loneliness!” Apparently Branford Cox dwells in this state of mind so often that he not only creates a beautiful single with these recurring themes, but a beautiful record. This blissfully depressing gem is probably my favorite song of the year. Halcyon Digest is in my top three albums, as well.

5. Tame Impala – “Solitude is Bliss” – Everyone say, “Hooray for leaving me the fuck alone!” These Aussie psych retrogrades love an empty apartment, a desolate street, the solitary outback. I love Cream and John Lennon, and the fusion of sounds hits the spot.

6. Handsome Furs – “Talking Hotel Arbat Blues” – This song could pass for a Mermaid Avenue track, if not for the Furs’ blaring, bassy drum beats. Dan Boeckner takes a great leap into depression-era protest songs, while still keeping the angsty motifs of Face Control. If you dug Boeckner’s songs on the new Wolf Parade, be sure to give this record a listen.

7. Volcano Choir – “Island, IS” – Justin Vernon’s post-rock side project with Wisconsin’s Collections of Colonies of Bees provides some densely layered electronic texture to Vernon’s soulful, at times auto-tuned timbre. As a whole, Unmap is better background music at dinner than the subtle masterpiece Volcano Choir may have envisioned, but this tune shines. Also, Collections of Colonies of Bees’ Birds is excellent, if you like the genre.

8. The National – “So Far Around the Bend” – I loved the Dark Was the Night compilation. The Books, Grizzly Bear, Antony and Sufjan were just a few to contribute to this indie all-star double LP. In fact, the project just raised one million dollars in charity towards AIDS research. “You’ve been humming in a daze forever/Waiting for Pavement to get back together”; I wonder if she’s slowed down at all, now that they’re back.

9. Department of Eagles – “Herring Bone” – Keeping with my theme of seclusion in song, this tune is intimate and haunting. Much of In Ear Park dwells on Daniel Rossen’s relationship with his father, to whom the album is dedicated. I love the swelling cellos and pulsing flutes during the chorus, then residing back into just the piano.

10. Califone – “The Orchids” – Like Chicago’s The Sea and Cake, Tortoise, and Wilco, Califone release records so solid that it is hard to pin down their best. I really, really like Roots and Crowns. I imagine Califone locked in a living room covered in wires and broken guitar strings, spending hours creating ambient textures like the one “The Orchids” opens and closes with.

11. The Microphones – “I Want the Wind To Blow” – This song gives me chills. Phil Evrum explores his relationship to nature and disenchantment with the city in The Glow Pt. 2. A lonesome bell tolls throughout the record, accentuating Evrum’s solitude.

12. Mountain Man – “Animal Tracks” - This song is about the summertime, but its minimal instrumentation and reverb-drenched harmonies remind me of wintry landscapes. I guess I couldn’t find the bright beady eyes of the chickadees in February, though.

13. Sam Prekop – “The Silhouettes” – Prekop is the front man for The Sea and Cake. Contrary to their easy, breezy beautiful tunes, Old Punch Card offers little meter and harmony. Prekop relies on the texture of synthesizers and ambient waves. “The Silhouettes” is the most beautiful, and most accessible image from the album.

14. Do Make Say Think – “Goodbye Enemy Airship” – Do Make always end their records with a bang. Goodbye Enemy Airship, The Landlord is Dead is their darkest record, but their textures the richest. A near thirteen minutes of bliss, each thirty seconds a subtle change of atmosphere.