If it’s December, then you know it’s Mixmas time at You Ain’t No Picasso! Each year I get a bunch of my favorite bands to contribute themed mixes and share their thoughts about each of the tracks

MP3: Little Scream – Cannons

Little Scream was my huge surprise discovery of 2011. She blew me away when she opened for Owen Pallett at MusicNOW. She’s not only magic on the stage, her album is a near-perfect work. So I’m beyond excited to have her contribute to Mixmas this year.

“Top 5 songs over 10 minutes in length I wish would go on forever,
or A list that allows me to showcase something by Sandro Perri” by Little Scream

The 2 minute instantly catchy internet song is so OVER! Once again it is time to embrace the looooooong song. One day, I hope to take this to a new level and make a 12 hour long album of 45 minute long songs. Historical ballads mostly. Til then, here is a list of a few of my favorite songs over 10 minutes in length.

YT Link: Sandro Perri – Wolfman [10:35]
Ok, I’ll admit, I started this whole list business thinking ‘what will allow me to showcase something from Sandro Perri’s new album, Impossible Spaces?’. That whole album, and this song in particular iseverything, kind of has everything in it. “Wolfman” is coursing with all different sorts of impulses. It’s got the fullness of Bon Iver’s take on yacht rock, but it’s somehow slipperier, less easy to categorize, more gentle, and more quirky. You can get “Wolfman” on iTunes only by purchasing the whole album. Which is totally worth it. [plug!!!]

YT Link: Cat Stevens – Foreigner Suite [18:21]
What was he thinking? What the hell? “Foreigner Suite” is like 5 different songs in one. It’s a collection of individual songs and fragments that fit together in such an unexpected way that it makes you wonder how it could ever work. But somehow it does. And it’s a strange and complicated love letter. At over 18 minutes, I always giggle a little when the song ‘ends’, because it just fades out on a continued jam. In my imagination, the song they played in studio that day is at least an hour long, with 6 more distinct melodies and a few uninterrupted minutes of synth jams. Lots more synth jams.

YT Link: Sufjan Stevens – Impossible Soul [25:35]
On a very long drive recently I listened to this song a few times in a row and it shocked me how quickly it made a few hours pass. This song reminds me that anything is possible, that there are no rules, and that we can make this music thing whatever we want it to be.

YT Link: Kate Bush – Lake Tahoe [11:08]
In contrast to the song above, DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM WHILE DRIVING. I made that mistake recently and I almost killed 7 people. Well not really. I just got really tired and had to wait til I was somewhere I could completely zone out and just listen. 50 Words for Snow is hypnotic and beautiful and absorbing, and the operatic baritone parts to “Lake Tahoe” get me every time. Just listening to it now as I write makes me feel that words are slipping beyond my grasp, my tongue is getting very numb, and I might leave my body at any moment. I will take the form of a snow owl and eat field mice, gently ripping apart their tiny bodies only to cough them up in pill form later. You know?

YT Link: Pharoah Sanders (with Leon Thomas) – The Creator Has a Master Plan [32:45]
Anyone who has spent any time on the road with me this year has probably had to listen to this song, on repeat, more than a few times. I got really obsessed with this record (Karma) as an early teen, but then shelved it until earlier this year, when I found myself listening to this track A LOT. You’ve never heard a vocal delivery like Leon Thomas’s on this record, I guarantee. It is one serious soulful yodel. Maybe it’s just #dadsrecordcollection style nostalgia, but this song really makes me feel like everything is gonna be ok.

Read all of the contributions to Mixmas 2011