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Mckenzie Smith, the drummer for Denton, Texas based band Midlake, has given us his “Top 10 Great Songs to Fall Asleep to, or to be a Sad Son of a Bitch to, or Both“ Mixtape. Featuring songs by Sigur Ros, Mazzy Star, Nancy Wilson and Chopin among others, this mix is guaranteed to lull you into a deep slumber. Or if you’d prefer to enjoy the mix without passing out, just head over to bandmate Eric Pulido’s recently launched store where he is selling his very own line of coffee called Cappulido. Check out the mixtape and McKenzie’s reasons for choosing the tunes after the jump. 

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For our first Garden Party feature, we choose to film one of our favorite Los Angeles bands, Leslie and the Badgers. We met up with them on Sunday in Griffith Park and they sang us a number of tunes including “Salvation”, “Don Juan”, “Silly” (Deneice Williams cover) and their new song “Los Angeles” ( I do believe this is a World Premiere, folks). The Badgers have a West Coast tour coming up in July that will take them to San Francisco, Reno, Salt Lake City and more. I seriously recommend you check ‘em out if they are coming through your town. These guys are the real deal. A special thanks to our director Rafael Pulido and Abby Fuller for their help!

Leslie and the Badgers- Silly (Deneice Williams cover)

Leslie and the Badgers- Los Angeles

Leslie and the Badgers- Don Juan

Leslie and the Badgers- Salvation

Upcoming Tour Dates

Jul 18 2008 Fishlips with Paul Chesne Bakersfield, Ca
Jul 19 2008 The Pasadena Convention Center Pasadena, CA
Jul 25 2008 The Hotel Utah Saloon San Francisco, CA
Jul 26 2008 Dave’s Distillery Reno, NV
Jul 31 2008 Velour Live Music Gallery Provo, UT
Aug 1 2008 Urban Lounge with BAND OF ANNUALS Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 2 2008 The Naughty Knotty Pine-(w/ special guest & Master of Ceremonies Katie Brickley) Victor, Idaho
Aug 12 2008 The Echo with Or The Whale Echo Park, CA
Aug 13 2008 The Cinema Bar with BAND OF ANNUALS Culver City, CA
Aug 19 2008 The Kibitz Room with Paul Chesne Los Angeles, CA
Aug 23 2008 Pappy and Harriet’s with Paul Chesne Pioneertown, CA

This week’s Mixin’ With Mixtape comes to us from Los Angeles based musician Charlie Wadhams. Charlie started off in the band Rex Aquariam but went solo two years ago and has since toured and played with the likes of Daniel Johnston and the Bird and the Bee. He was also the genius, along with cowriters Benji Hughes and Gus Seyffert , behind the tunes “Let’s Duet” and “Guilty As Charged” from Judd Apatow’s film Walk Hard. Check out his mixtape, featuring music by Carl Perkins, Arlo Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt and more, after the jump. 

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Trailer

Here, in it’s entirety, is Margaret Brown’s 2004 documentary on Townes Van Zandt. It’s an intimate look at the amazing musician and songwriter who penned tunes like “Pancho and Lefty” and “If I Needed You.” Through interviews with his friends and family, as well as vintage interviews and rare footage of the man himself, a very interesting and often heartbreaking portrait is painted of a brilliant artist who often fell victim to his demons. These included alcohol, a stint in a mental institution where he received shock treatments that left him a completely different man, suicidal behavior (playing Russian Roulette, jumping off a 4 story building) and more. Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark, Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Cowboy Junkies and more all give their take on one of the most intriguing songwriters of the 20th Century. Or as Steve Earle put it: “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that”. The movie continues after the jump. If you missed the last movie that we posted, you can check out the concert film Celebration at Big Sur here.
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We would like to announce a new column over here at When You Awake called Garden Party. We will be filming some of our favorite bands performing out and about in Los Angeles, enjoying the nature and the green terrain that this beautiful city has to offer.

For our first band, we choose LA’s own Leslie and the Badgers. This was their second of three performances that day, including a breakfast show at Mike Stinson’s Americana Brunch and a gig at the Hotel Cafe. Keep your eyes open for the videos from this Griffith Park session, which will be coming your way on Friday. In the meantime, check out these behind the scene photos taken by Abby Fuller from the shoot.

Directions to See a Ghost, out now on Light in the Attic Records, finds theBlack Angels tightening their sound from 2005′s self-titled EP and 2006′sPassover. The result is a focused and methodical effort reminiscent of older songs like “The First Vietnamese War”, but at the expense of the loose and dirty experimentation that energized their previous efforts.

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Those crazy guys in Menomena have given us a mixtape. And what is that subject of that mixtape you might ask? Why, it’s Neil Young’s “Harvest” and it’s not just a couple of songs off of the record, but the whole darn thing. So let Menomena take you on their very own personal tour of the Neil Young classic. To see Menomena in action, you can check them out on July 26 at the Capitol Hill Block Party (with Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, Devotchka and The Cave Singers) in Seattle, Washington or Sunset Junction (with the Beachwood Spark, Langhorne Slim, Black Keys and Broken Social Scene) in Los Angeles on August 23rd. 

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