Will Hackney and Kym Register of North Carolina’s Midtown Dickens have given us their “Top 10 Songs That Will Take You Home” featuring tunes by Bert Jansch, Megafaun, The Magnetic Fields and more. The band is currently gearing up for the release of their third full length record, appropriately (given their mixtape theme) titled Home (out April 3rd via Trekky Records) and were just announced on the lineup to one of our favorite festivals, Portland, Oregon’s Pickathon. Grab an MP3 of their tune “Only Brother” below and enjoy the mixtape after the jump.
MP3: Midtown Dickens- Only Brother

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Leeds band Arthur Rigby and the Baskervylles have given us their “10 songs to listen to over a large breakfast and strong coffee on a lazy Sunday morning following a heavy night on Saturday and looking forward to an afternoon laying on grass in the sun with a beer. ” I literally stumbled onto the band a couple of months back. I walked into the venue and the entire audience was holding hands and swinging their arms in the air, chanting along to one of Rigby’s sweet tunes. I was so taken aback that I actually paid to see them the next time they came through town (something I don’t do often folks), and was once again compltely charmed. Though there are a bit out of the realm of most When You Awake bands (leaning more towards the Arcade Fire/The National vibe), I predict really good things for this group. If you happen to be in London tonight, they’ll be playing at the Enterprise over in Camden. I’ll be there, hands in the air. Their mixtape is after the jump.

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In honor of their gig tonight at the Echo in Los Angeles, Miles Seaton from Akron/Family has given us his “More Music From Hot Places” mixtape, featuring tunes by Miles Davis, Sly and the Family Stone, Geto Boys and more. I’ll let Miles take it from here: “I love the idea of a central theme in a mix – though at the time that I was asked to make this, most of what I was listening to were long form abstract compositions from a friends amazing collection of new age cassettes – so a 10 song mix would have been an all night commitment. But as the northeast winter wore on, I started to get more and more restless with the subtle shifts of the crystal vibrations collection…I started to ache for a beat and bass line. Which led me back to the slinky sweaty dream of summer. From free jazz jungle calls all the way to the big easy via Soweto, Ghana, NYC, LA (what what?!), and even a little stop off in Trenchtown, this is my tonic for the hinterlands.” Check out the mix and Akron’s complete tour dates after the jump. For more info about tonight’s show, click here.

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Susan James has given us her “Top 10 Songs for a Sunny Country Picnic” featuring tunes by Paul Simon, Incredible String Band, The Dillards and more. James will be celebrating the release of her new record, Highways, Ghosts, Hearts & Home tonight, Tuesday, February 15th at the Echo in Los Angeles and it’s fixin’ to be quite the affair with guest sets from I See Hawks in LA, Old Californio, Tony Gilkyson and more.  Check out the mix and more info about the show after the jump.

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Los Angeles’ own Whispering Pines have given us a mighty fine mixtape of tunes that they may cover on any given night, including tracks by Waylon Jennings, JJ Cale, Fleetwood Mac and more. You’ll have the chance to possibly hear one of them live when they perform tomorrow night, February 15th,  at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Also on the lineup are When You Awake-favorites Mountain Man, Haroula Rose, Kim Churchill and Jeffertitti’s Nile. Check out the mix and more info about the show after the jump.

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We have to admit that we’ve fallen a bit for Denver, Colorado’s Nathaniel Rateliff after stumbling onto his music a few weeks ago. So we are very, very pleased to present his “Top 10 Songs of Love and Loss” (just in time for Valentine’s Day on Monday!). It’s a brilliant mix featuring tunes by Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Elvis Perkins and more. Rateliff will be performing at a sold out gig tonight at Barfly in London alongside Nashville, Tennessee’s Caitlin Rose and then will head east on Sunday for Communion’s shindig at the Notting Hill Arts Club. Check out his complete touring dates, including a handful of gigs in the US this spring, and the mixtape after the jump. Enjoy!

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Josh Ritter has given us his “Nine Songs To Trash A Hotel Room To”, featuring tunes by Lucinda Williams, King Khan and more. He’ll have loads of opportunities to do just that on his massive upcoming tour that will take him across the US and over to Europe with dates scheduled at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on February 26th and at Scala in London on April 18-19th. Ritter is also re-issuing his 2006 record, The Animal Years, this upcoming Tuesday, February 15th. The updated version of the CD and the vinyl will include a bonus disc featuring Josh performing the entire album solo acoustic, plus four studio b-sides and two videos. Check out a little taste of Josh’s acoustic stylings and his mixtape after the jump.

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James Jackson Toth, aka Wooden Wand, has given us his “Recent Roadtrippin’ Mix”, featuring tunes by Tompal Glaser, Jim Ford, The Rolling Stones and more. Toth released his 10th full-length record, Death Seat, last year via Young God Records (which was produced by Swan’s Michael Gira and features guest musicians from Glossary, Lambchop, Silver Jews, Mercury Rev, Fire on Fire/Big Blood) and is currently hosting a Kickstarter campaign to fund his next album. Check out a demo of one of the songs that will be on the record, as well as his mixtape after the jump!

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Why not celebrate Dr. King’s week by reveling in the upsurge of multicultural roots music groups? Brooklyn’s great twang outfit Ghost Gamblers certainly fits the bill — featuring Kamara Thomas & Amal Bouhabib as it does, alongside the talented Gabriel Berezin, Jeff Malinowski, Gordon Hartin & John Durgee. This is reflected in the band’s cosmic sound having no rigid boundaries; check out their Ghost Stories, Vol. 1 on iTunes. And don’t let Little Big Town claim all the credit for reviving a Fleetwood Mac-style mix gender frontline, as, with two songcrafting couples at its core, this sextet is killin’ it. Ghost Gamblers is hibernating for the winter, but serving the scene via other incarnations such as the Basement Band (which is set to tear the roof off of Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Rod & Gun this Saturday 22 January — for those on the East Coast. Come early for the fresh fish & beer). And frontwoman Kamara is laboring hard at a studio in downtown Manhattan — with fellow GG/Basement Band lead Jeff Malinowski at the knobs — recording a solo album, Past Is Primer, set for late 2011 release (most likely on Earl Greyhound’s label Hawk Race). Check out the Ghost Gamblers mixtape and the video for their on-the-G-train version of Amal’s beautiful composition “Oh My God” (courtesy of Karina Mackenzie’s Bridge Sessions) after the jump.

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Bryan Thomas and I have been working on this little nugget of a mixtape for you for quite a while. It contains a mixture of our favorite instrumental tunes and pairs classics like Bert Jansch and David Crosby with rising artists like William Tyler and C Joynes. While the theme of the mix is mostly relective (this was assembled during the first snow here in England after all), we’ve also thrown in a sweet Christmas ditty for your added pleasure. ‘Tis the season after all.  Enjoy!
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