PT Bruiser

Eclectic 53 (Nov 11) is indicative of just how much country, alt-country, folk, and indie R&B I’ve been listening to lately.

Eclectic 51 (Oct 11)

Eclectic 49 (NLR 11)

Eclectic 45 (Apr 11), AKA “What happens when you give up secular music for Lent? You make the longest Eclectic mix ever on Easter (19 songs, 1hr8min45sec).”

Eclectic 42 (Feb 11)

Eclectic 38 (Jan 11)

I wrote last year about my Eclectic Mixes and how they serve as my analog for journaling, since they chronicle what music I was listening to at particular points in my life, and that often brings up very particular memories, moods, and mental images. After two years, I’ve made 37 of them. The most recent, pictured above, is heavy on 2010 tunes in preparation for my forthcoming Top 10 albums 2010 list, but maintains the eclecticism with selections from rap, country, electronic, acoustic, etc.

There have been 526 songs on the 37 mixes, for an average of just over 14 songs per mix. Eclectic 1.5 (Dec 08) had just nine songs, and was the shortest mix at 29:58. Eclectic 25 (Mar 10) had seventeen, but was shorter than Eclectic 27 (Apr 10), which clocked in at 1:08:19.

The most mixed artists are The Shins (10 appearances), Iron & Wine (11), The Beatles (11), Regina Spektor (15), Okkervil River (17), Sufjan Stevens (17), Kanye West (32!), and The Mountain Goats (33!!).

A bunch have songs have been mixed twice, but only a few have shown up thrice:

• “Family Business” by Kanye West
• “Girl Inform Me” by The Shins 
• “No One’s Gonna Love You” by Band of Horses
• “The Scientist” by Coldplay
• “Waitin’ for a Superman” by The Flaming Lips (but one of the appearances was the Iron & Wine cover)

I wondered if I might stop making these mixes after spending a summer at camp away from iTunes, but that turned out not to be the case. I actually made a mix (pictured above) for the whole summer once I got home, labeling it Eclectic 30 (NLR 10) and filling it with songs I heard or had stuck in my head while at camp.

I’ll hit you with another retrospective next December if I keep making them. For the time being, they still make me happy.

Eclectic 29 (May 10)

Eclectic 25 (Mar 10). Kanye, The Beatles, and musicals get two tracks each. If that’s not eclectic, I don’t know what is.