Again, here’s a fine young artist who would have normally been featured later in the Mix, but was pushed up because I lack planning skills. Sorry Ryan. You’re number one in my heart.

Thunderbirds Are Now! have subtley become one of this year’s essential bands. Between rocking faces at Intonation and making the rounds across America, they’ve also managed to record several tracks for their new album (tentatively titled “Make History”).

MP3: TAN! - Make History (unfinished demo that the band’s okay with you having. Seriously, take it)

I kid you not when I say that this is my favorite theme that has yet been picked. It’s witty, yet serious, and very well thought-out. So without any more fuss, let’s get too it!

Mix 4: ‘Top 5 Songs Written by the Beatles that Predicts and/or Predates the Formation of Various Musical Genres’ as argued by Ryan Allen of Thunderbirds Are Now!

5. MP3: The Beatles - Love Me Do (Power Pop)
This one is fairly easy, but the precise use of harmony, chiming guitars and a soaring, easy to understand chorus about love is basically the blueprint of every power-pop band to ever exist, from the Raspberries and Big Star to Sloan and Superdrag. This song might not be the first to combine all these factors, but it was the first time anybody did it better than anybody else.

4. MP3: The Beatles - I’m a Loser (Slack/Indie Rock/Emo)
Before Beck, Radiohead and Sunny Day Real Estate came along and snivelled about their own self loathing, the Beatles showed that you could be self-deprecating way back in the early ’60s.

3. MP3: The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows (Techno/Electronica/Kraut Rock)
Combining swirling psychedelia with a repetitive melody and wicked sound effects, “Tomorrow Never Knows” could possibly be the first and only Beatles song that could put you in a trance and make you shake that thang simultaneously. The Chemical Brothers didn’t sample and loop the drum track and bassline from this song for nothing.

2. MP3: The Beatles - A Day in the Life (Prog Rock)
Before this song was released in 1967, combining two songs in one was completely unheard of (not to mention its risky running time of 5 minutes and 33 seconds). A few years later, Yes, King Crimson, and even later, the Mars Volta, wouldn’t exist without the Beatles taking the dive into complicated compisiton first.

1. MP3: The Beatles - Happiness is a Warm Gun (Rap/Hip-Hop)
The Beatles are true gangstas.

12 Days of Mixmas: Day 1 - Dean from the SUF
12 Days of Mixmas: Day 2 - Tapes ‘n Tapes
12 Days of Mixmas: Day 3 - John Vanderslice