If it’s Christmas at You Ain’t No Picasso, that means it’s Mixmas! These twelve days give me a chance to turn You Ain’t No Picasso over to the musicians I cover and allow them to showcase some of their favorite songs through a themed mix. This is the fourth year of Mixmas; here’s hoping for many more.

MP3: Ivana XL – Sweetie Pie

2008 was a big year for Ivana. After years of posting her demos, she finally threw me a bone by releasing an EP of well-recorded songs. It garnered her lots of praise and a good bit of attention.

“Songs with a “passionate”amount of plays on my iTunes 08″ by Ivana XL

MP3: Abner Jay – I’m So Depressed
One of the top items on my list of things to do is find out everything possible about Abner Jay. “We had nothing. We had nothing but grasshoppers.” I wonder if he meant “We had nothing but grasshoppers… to EAT?” But, that’s a question that could easily drive a girl crazy.

MP3: Fleet Foxes – Mykonos
I’ve never really loved hearing the word “brother” in songs.. or in life.. as in “Can you spare a quarter, brother?”.. or.. “Hey brother, those pyrotechnics were outa sight!”.. But sometimes, a song will come along where you can really easily look beyond whatever weird feeling you have for a..word, and just go with it, because the song and the voice are THAT GOOD. Anyway, I guess brother isn’t so bad. Its actually nice. It’s not like he’s saying “nipple”.

MP3: The Modern Lovers – Hospital
I just found out about The Modern Lovers this year.. I had that moment where I wondered how I ever got along without this music to fall asleep to, wake up to… There’s a youtube video of Johnathon Richman singing “I’m A Little Dinosaur” which I would also HIGHLY recommend (link)

MP3: Lansing-Dreiden – A Line You Can Cross
Two years ago, I went on a proper date. I picked the cleanest pair of jeans in the pile, dusted off my hair, took the train to Webster Hall to watch a band I had never heard of, and hoped for the best. It was perfect. I totally fell in love with Lansing Dreiden. No show since has ever really topped it, and it’s the reason I love and use tambourines. They just put out a new EP, but the front man Ben is also the man behind Violens.. so I’m not sure if there will be any Lansing Dreiden spectaculars any time soon. I get the feeling it is his part time lover.. band.

MP3: Emily Haines – Lottery
There’s that part of the song where she sings “Don’t worry Heather about forever. Don’t worry about me.” And I was like “Oh man. Heather. Heather Glander from 5th grade who I used to dress up to look like Madonna with and who’s moms house always smelled like Aquanet and cigarettes. I loved her. Where did she go? She would Lee-Press on my nails, and always had the most perfectly stiff waved bangs and the sweetest scrunchies. She’s the reason I’m not still falling out of trees, scraping up my knees, and searching for cicadas. She’s the reason… I’m a GIRL.(in a way.) Emily Haines’s/ Metric songs almost always bring me back to some very simple time.. and also, make me happy to be around NOW. (I tried to find Heather on Facebook and Myspace but no dice. I’d like to think she’s very rich and very happy. Anyway. Hey Heather.. if you’re by any chance reading this.. it sucks about Madonna etc etc……. but you should totally check out Emily Haines.. LOVE.)