The Laziest Mixtape You Ever Will Hear

You know what the biggest problem with three day-weekends is? They're not four or more days.

You noticed we didn't post yesterday. For those of our non-U.S. readers, yesterday was the tail end of one such three-day weekend. And while my nap levels seem to have been replenished, i'm not sure i feel like working towards much of anything today. So you get the laziest mixtape you ever will hear, and we're both winners.

mp3: Another Day (4hero ft. Jill Scott from Creating Patterns)

mp3: Let's Spend the Day in Bed (Over the Rhine from The Trumpet Child)

mp3: Lazy (Jim Gaffigan from King Baby)

mp3: Lazy Conversations (The Moldy Peaches from Back to the Bus)

mp3: Lazybones (Mike Doughty from Smofe + Smang: Live In Minneapolis)

mp3: Nothing to Worry About (Peter Bjorn & John from Living Thing)

mp3: Sleepy Tigers (Her Space Holiday from XOXO Panda : The New Kid Revival)

Return of the Lumpy One

Hello, children, i'm back from back surgery and the beautiful, wonderful wave that is doctor prescribed Vicodin. Did you miss me while i was gone? My favoritest writing partner in crime obviously did a more than splendid job during my convalescence, and hopefully i can return the favor while Meg is sojourning among the cheese eaters.

i've got a bunch of stuff to catch up on now that i have the conn temporarily, but i just wanted to put all your little minds at ease and assure you not to sweat any disruption in your daily servings of utter banality and odd ramblings that make up the posts of your Terrible Uncle Chris.

mp3: Missed Me (The Dresden Dolls from The Dresden Dolls)

mp3: The Return of the Crazy One (Digital Underground from No Nose Job)

mp3: Missed Medicine (Her Space Holiday from The Past Presents the Future)

mp3: Back in Business (Madonna from Dick Tracy: I'm Breathless)

mp3: Back in our Minds (Funkadelic from Maggot Brain)

mp3: Back in the Saddle Again (Gene Autry from Greatest Hits)

mp3: Reunion (Jason Collett version) (Stars from Do You Trust Your Friends?)

How Could We Forget?: Her Space Holiday

This CD clearly fell into the "I'll get around to it" category for me. The track "Sleepy Tigers" quickly made its way into ye olde iPod's heavy rotation, but it took me a while to listen to the entire album. I have no real excuse other than to say I was listening to a lot of stuff at the time, and there are only so many hours in the day.

My knowledge of Her Space Holiday (the stage name of Marc Bianchi) previously was limited to the song "Missed Medicine", which a buddy of mine had put onto a mix. I knew I really dug that track, but didn't have much else to go on. I have since learned that HSH predominantly does contemporary one-man music, meaning entirely in this case that it pretty much is him and a laptop. Which is surprising, since XOXO Panda, The New Kid Revival plays more like a camp sing-a-long than anything else, incorporating everything from kazoos to banjos along its ambling way.

While a few tracks here do drag a tad, overall I thought it had a more than pleasant vibe and comes across as an excellent CD to sit out under the stars with to count fireflies. The standout tracks for me would be the aforementioned "Sleepy Tigers" and "The Day in Review", though there's plenty more to keep one satisfied.

Since having really started listening to XOXO myself, I've read a fair amount of bitching about Bianchi going off in a new direction. Personally, I kind of dig the progression (descenscion?) into twee territory. It's the differences that keep us coming back for more, right?