All Things Go Adorable Mixtape Part I

I’ve gotten tons of e-mails and comments begging for more All Things Go mixtapes, and I’m more than happy to oblige. I’ve been working on the Adorable Mixtape for months now, and this theme is very exciting for me. I love adorable music, from the bubbly pop of Lily Allen and Regina Spektor to the innocent cuddlyness of The Boy Least Likely to. I really can’t explain how much I adore just plain adorable music. I scoured my entire library, and, after a while, I realized that these songs would not be able to fit on one mixtape. I’ve decided to solve this problem by creating two Adorable mixtapes (parts I and II). Part I is below, and Part II will be up sometime next week. As usual, I’ve made the songs available for download individually and as a .zip. However, because of the popularity of the downloads on previous mixtapes, I will be hosting the individual songs externally. Enjoy the ATG Adorable Mixtape Pt. I.

DOWNLOAD: All Things Go Adorable Mixtape Part I [follow link]

MP3: 1. The Spinto Band – “Oh Mandy”
This song, along with “I’m a Cuckoo”, is what spawned my desire to make this mix. While the first few seconds of the song are by far the cutest, the falsetto vocals and high-pitched strings create a beautifully crafted love song from start to finish.

MP3: 2. The Boy Least Likely To – “Be Gentle With Me”
The Boy Least Likely to are experts at using unorthodox, yet quite sweet instruments such as the ever-underrated xylophone. This song just has a very innocent tone, and their usage of falsetto vocals represents a recurring trend on this mixtape.

MP3: 3. Belle & Sebastian – “I’m a Cuckoo”
This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and is the first song I ever listened to 10 times in a row, all in one sitting. I cannot get enough of the absolutely brilliant guitar riff and the ever-so-cute lyrics, like “I’d like to see you, I had a funny dream and you were wearing funny shoes”. This song is adorable from the first second, and never loses it’s steam; The ultimate happy, pick-me-up song.

MP3: 4. The Unicorns – “I Was Born (A Unicorn)”
Both The Unicorns and Islands (Nick Diamonds and J’aime Tambeur’s other band) are obscenely goofy and create perfectly carefree music. “I Was Born” allows the members to introduce themselves not only as unicorns, but as people too. The bouncy, happy-go-lucky guitar line expertly compliments the random vocals, creating a doozy of an adorable track.

MP3: 5. Vampire Weekend – “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”
Some of you guys may not frequent GWFAS, so you may have never heard of this folky, up-and-coming group from New York who, according to Derek, are “four kids from Columbia University who write fun, shouty, skinny-tie indie rock songs about summertime, Cape Cod, reggaeton and Lil’ Jon”. Others that have heard this song might say that it isn’t exactly adorable. This song reminds me of old Paul Simon, someone that, since I was five years old, has always had the ability to cheer me up and make me feel warm with his music.

MP3: 6. David & the Citizens – “Graycoated Morning”
This song was one of the first I ever posted here at ATG, and for good reason. These guys haven’t really broken into the blogosphere, but here’s hoping they get the press they definitely deserve.

MP3: 7. Bishop Allen – “Click Click Click Click”
Bishop Allen got plenty of press for their year-long project, releasing a monthly EP for all 12 months in 2006. While there were definitely some highlight months (January, March), the July EP gave us this absolute gem of an adorable song. From the soft vocals to the sing-song chorus to the warm guitar line, “Click Click Click Click” was made for this mixtape. My favorite part of the song comes at the 1:04 mark, when the drums and second guitar join in to create the full, happy sound.

MP3: 8. Regina Spektor – “Hotel Song”
Other Regina songs like “On the Radio” or “Fidelity” might’ve worked better for this mix, but i chose “Hotel Song” because; 1) You guys have probably heard those other two songs before, 2) “Hotel Song” is equally adorable, and 3) Regina makes the lyrics “a little bag of cocaine” sound cute. God bless you Regina Spektor.

MP3: 9. Tally Hall – “Good Day”
This song reminds me of when my brothers and I used to listen to They Might Be Giants all the time. Tally Hall channels TMBG’s quirky, intentionally awkward vibe (see: their album is called Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum) perfectly on this song, and the results are outstanding. These guys aren’t just “that band from that OC mix”, but instead a quality new band with an strong following, something that we can never have enough of.

MP3: 10. Lily Allen – “LDN”
People may be starting to get sick of Lily Allen, and my girlfriend may like to poke fun at me for enjoying this song as it’s fairly girly and almost unbearably bubble-gum-poppy. But damnit, it’s so unbelievably catchy. You try getting this chorus out of your head.

That’s it for the All Things Go Adorable Mixtape Pt. I. Stay tuned for Pt. II next week, and let me know what you guys think about the mix in the comments.

Love,
Zack