61 degrees outside, bright and sunny, with big, fluffy clouds spotting that old upside-down sea. Spring is here, for real this time, and I would be remiss in my duties to not act accordingly: eleven songs for laying around in fields of cool grass and soft breezes. So without further ado, let’s take a trip.

These United States - First Sight - I was very hesitant to post this song, let alone as the lead track. I am a sucker (oh my heart melts instantly!) for a song with a slow crescendo before a wild crash. But “First Sight” just builds and builds and builds, until my only recourse is to play the song over and over until it magically rewrites itself. But what’s to rewrite? It’s too beautiful already.

Memorable quotes: You can get home, but you can’t get in. Locks are like longing (an ever-changing thing), and keys are just clouds made of metal and spark. We knew exactly who we were, and yet couldn’t quite say who we still are.

Trip Planner: Hangovers off, shoes on, and out the door.

Alamo Race Track - Stanley vs. Hanna - It may be the first verse (quoted below), or the ghostly chorus singing “don’t forget that number I wrote on the back of your hand”, or a million other things…but I listen to this song and I am suddenly a decade younger, sitting in the middle of a three-ring circus, tripping on acid. It is an odd experience.

Memorable quotes: Don’t trust a man with the creepy little eyes. He is at once a friend, but you’re scared inside. Then, he beats you up ’cause you bust his lip, and you ask yourself, “What have I done?” Then, he locks you up in the trunk of his car.

Trip Planner: It is around that time for feet to begin hurting, but with the destination finally in sight, who can help but get a little skip in their step?

The Owls - Isaac Bashevis Singer - Such a sweet little song about nothing. A three-and-a-half-minute biography about, not the Nobel Prize-winning author, but Isaac Bashevis Singer the man. The sort of man you want as your best friend: well off, far from snobby, comfortably hospitable, and always has a stocked bar.

Memorable quotes: Isaac Bashevis Singer, he didn’t always live in New York, but he knows about the ladies.

Trip Planner: Kick off those shoes, and feel the grass beneath your feet.

She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here - Actress Zooey Deschanel is the she of She & Him, and M. Ward is the he. And…I don’t know, when was the last time M. Ward produced something bad? In other news, Deschanel’s voice rings with such soft innocence, but where does it come from? A prize to whoever can tell me her secret; my guess is sun showers and rainbows.

Memorable quotes: Why don’t you sit right down and stay a while? We like the same things, and I like your style. It’s not a secret, why do you keep it? I’m just sitting on the shelf.

Trip Planner: Can’t you take a hint? Just sit right down and soak in the day.

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position - John Cusack in High Fidelity spoke on the problem of starting a mix with the best song. Give a person what they want straightaway, and who knows if they’ll ever make it past track one? A song like this has to be buried in the middle, tucked away until the sun and birds have infused you with such hope and love that you can’t even imagine things getting any better.

Memorable quotes: It’s you who puts me in the magic position, darling. Now, you put me in the magic position to live, to learn, to love in the major key.

Trip Planner: Oh fuck! The ice cream man is here!

But don’t worry, there’s always more.

Side Two: Set the dial to random and volume up to awesome:

Hospital Bombers - The Devil’s Music
Two Hours Traffic - Nighthawks
The LK - Private Life of a Cat
Evan Voytas - We’d Be Good Together
Feist - Feel It All (Britt from Spoon Remix)
Wildbirds & Peacedrums - I Can’t Tell In His Eyes

Trip Planner: Stomachs full, the only thing left to do is wait until the sun sets and the moon rises, dancing and lazying all the meanwhile.

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