Mix CD madness.

Awhile ago, I made a mix CD for my lunch buddy vegetarian coworker with music I like that she might also like but probably hasn't heard before. (I don't really like making mix CDs with songs people already know, unless there is some reason for it. I don't know why, but it's less fun.) My boss heard and wanted to know why I didn't make her one.

Now, I have a personal policy of not talking about work on the blog, but this has very little to do with actual people and everything to do with music, so I think it's fair game.

So here are some reasons why I haven't made her a mix CD before:

Our tastes in music align in strange and unpredictable intersections. For the most part, I don't hate anything she likes (she says because she only likes good music), though some of it isn't anything I'd listen to of my own volition. However, there are definitely things I like that she actively hates. I have helpfully outlined these below, along with the stuff we both like.

Music I like that she hates:
Bjork
Ben Folds
The Mountain Goats when John Darnielle is really nasal
Stuff that is happy
Presumably a lot of other stuff I am not remembering

Music we both like:
Portishead
Pulp
Tom Waits
Massive Attack
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Ween
She would be angry if the Cure did not appear in this column, although let the record show she is a way bigger Cure fan than me
Hip-hop
Stuff that is depressing or angry

We have been keeping the office door closed to listen to her Launchcast station a lot lately, so I've gotten a better idea of what she likes overall. And, of course, we inevitably talk about music in the way only people who give way too many shits about music do.

And to be honest, the list of places where our tastes overlap would be greater than it would be for, say, Kevin and I. At least, I actively hate some stuff he likes.

So I'm working on a mix CD now. There is nothing on TV and no good movies out this weekend, so what the hell?

Here's what I'm putting on it:

1. John Vanderslice - Pale Horse
   
2. The New Pornographers - Use It
   
3. Blackalicious - A to G
   
4. William Shatner - Common People*
   
5. Beat Happening - Hangman
   
6. Jad & David Fair - Nosferatu
   
7. Xiu Xiu - Sad Pony Guerilla Girl**
   
8. Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away
   
9. DJ Shadow - Mashin' on the Motorway
   
10. Del the Funky Homosapien - If You Must (Dan the Automator remix)
    
11. Ween - "Where'd the cheese go?" jingle, dirty version
    
12. The Paper Chase - Said the Spider to the Fly
    
13. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow
    
14. Handsome Boy Modeling School feat. Cat Power - I've Been Thinking
    
15. Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers (Part I)
    
16. IQU - Temptation
    
17. The Gossip - Sweet Baby***
    
18. The Mountain Goats - Oceanographer's Choice
    
19. The Decemberists - The Mariner's Revenge Song
    
20. The Streets - Fit But You Know It

*I actually sort of like this cover, but it's horrifying all the same.
**Xiu Xiu is not a band I really like, but I want to like them, and this song is...fucked up crazy, but listenable.
***Strangely, the only Gossip song on my hard drive at the moment. Not their best, but a lot of their songs are basically the same.