Bomb Diggity Jams – Volume 1

Now THIS Is What I Call Music.

I was sort of getting tired of listening to the new Radiohead album (I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to it about 60-70 times now), so I decided to make a little mix-tape for my car (I left my cd’s in my non-rental car, which is being repaired at a shop that is kinda far away…and I’m lazy). I went through my iTunes library and put about 60 songs that I felt were “bomb-diggity” and put them in a playlist. Then I whittled that down until I felt I couldn’t cut anymore. Then for the final stage, I took those songs and rearranged and forced myself to cut a handful more of them so the compilation would resemble some form of “flow.” I did this until I had a group of 20 songs that would fit onto one audio cd (mp3 cd’s don’t work in the car). This got me the most select of the bomb-diggity jams I’m feelin’ at the moment. And then I was done and saw that it was good.

But I decided it was so good that it would be a sin not to share it. Hence, this post on my blog. (The download link is at the end of the entry, for you lazy people.)

Here’s a breakdown of the compilation:

(and there are NO Radiohead songs on it….I had to force myself to remove “Paranoid Android” as one of the last cuts)

Tracklist:

1. Paul Simon – “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”
2. Okkervil River – “Unless It’s Kicks”
3. Cold War Kids – “Hang Me Up to Dry”
4. Apples In Stereo – “Same Old Drag”
5. Paul McCartney – “Ever Present Past”
6. Blur – “Girls & Boys”
7. Simian Mobile Disco – “I Believe”
8. Justice – “D.a.n.c.e”
9. Daft Punk – “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”
10. Kanye West – “Stronger”
11. Outkast – “Ghetto Musick”
12. Kanye West – “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) (ft. Jay-Z)”
13. Hi-Tek – “Josephine”
14. M.I.A. – “Paper Planes”
15. Heypenny – “Parade”
16. Spoon – “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”
17. The Beatles – “Back In The U.S.S.R.”
18. Ben Folds Five – “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces”
19. Belle & Sebastian – “Big John Shaft”
20. Silverchair – “Reflections Of A Sound”

It’s a fairly diverse group of songs pulled from different genres, so I thought it’d be kind of hard to create a “flow” to the songs. But being the extremely talented genius that I am, I found a way. (I am being sarcastic by the way, if you didn’t pick that up.)

The comp starts off with the folk/folk-rock of Paul Simon and Okkervil River, rises to the raw rock sounds of the Cold War Kids, and from there, the songs slowly take on more electronic elements. This builds to the electronic/dance synths and beats of Blur’s ode to modern hedonism, “Girls and Boys.” From there, it’s electronica/dance music for a handful of songs. I’m not a huge dance music fan but these tracks are pretty hot and sizzlin’ for me right now.

After Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” there was an all-too-easy transition to shift the comp to hip-hop. Kanye West’s “Stronger,” which heavily samples Daft Punk’s song, bridges the gap nicely. Then you get some Outkast, another ‘Ye track, and a pretty nice, soulful one from Hi-Tek that takes you to the next “transition piece.”

M.I.A. has equal elements of indie-scene, hip-hop, and electronica/dance so she could’ve bridged any section on here really. But yeah, I decided I’d use her track to turn the comp. back to the rock direction.

It’s smooth sailing from there, as you get the indie-rock of Heypenny, then some Spoon, the Beatles, Ben Folds Five’s piano rock, and a nice double-combo ending of Belle and Sebastian and Silverchair.

I had a bit of trouble deciding which song to end with. “Big John Shaft” and “Reflections of a Sound” both seemed like perfect closers. I even re-ordered it semi-permanently as “Big John Shaft” as the closer but the lyrics of “Reflections of a Sound” is what did it. I couldn’t resist having the compilation end with, “In the sun we are found to be reflections of a sound…for nobody.”

I’m quite proud of this compilation. As proud as you can be of yourself for clicking and organizing a playlist on iTunes. After a few weeks, if I don’t get a job offer from the people involved with the “Now That’s What I Call Music: Volume Infinite” compilation cd’s, I’ll be sorely disappointed.

(follow link to download page)
Download “BDJ – Volume 1” as .zip file (I even made it into a .zip file for you guys)