Jim and I return from extended hiatus with a swift (for us) overview of our favorite music from 2012. In a triumphant return-to-form, we illuminate some little known music geekery and go off on tangents. Aaron’s notebook with a Protomen sticker is ironic as he didn’t put them on his best-of list. Tracks featured: “The House That Heaven Built” by Ja…

It’s well into 2012, and I have been too lazy on this, but I’m finally ready to post my best of 2011 mix. Hoo-ray? Hoo-cares? Who knows? but it’s something I’ve been doing every year for the past several and I enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it too, and what the hell, free music, right? So how was 2011, musically? I made a commitment early in the year t…

First of all, Happy New Year!!!! As is tradition since time in memoriam, the first mixes of a new year tend to be reflections on the best of what we heard in the previous year. Our first mix of 2012 comes from Justine Hoyer, who gifted us with this excellent mix of her faves from 2011. Hard to argue with any of these. Earlier this year, Justine gav…

Doktor Avalanche is the name of evolving electronic drum machines that have fueled the majestic Sisters of Mercy over the years. Dexterous name; distinct sound. I can’t say with any certainly that Andrew Eldritch would approve of all the bands on this mix (probably not), but it’s a mix of songs with drum machines that I work to when in front of a c…

Fall of 1993. I was beginning my second year at my third university, living at home, working for minimum wage at a used CD shop, driving my beat-to-hell 1984 black Ford Thunderbird. No girlfriend, my buddy Adam’s old driver’s license so I had a fake ID and I was living the high life. This is what I was listening to on some AM station in Milwaukee b…

Hey, it’s time for a regular ol’ mix. Happy sounding songs. Guitars. New music. No big whoop. Something snappy. Something you can dance in your chair to, or ride your bike, or go for a walk since the weather’s getting nice out. Yeah, I’m talking to you! Echo & The Bunnymen – “Seven Seas” – 03:14 The Decemberists – “This Is Why We Fight” – 04:16 Bre…

,From Karen Burpee (@kburpee)… The year was 1997. Pop, as always, was in. Grunge/alt-rock was no longer alternative, and starting to give way to dance music, and Ska was just taking hold in Eastern Canada… I give you 96 83 minutes of 1997. Although I seriously considered creating an All-CanCon(*) playlist, but that would not be a true reflection of…

From Justine Hoyer (@Jaehoyer)… I am new to this forum and not entirely sure how it works, but I’m going to give it a shot. Every year after SXSW I make mix for my friends focusing on newer music. The regular audience for this cd is not as musically informed as this group. The track list is below. Be kind. Grouplove – Colours Robyn – Dancing On My …

It took almost 6 weeks to narrow down the music I listened to in high school to the music that came out between 1989 and 1990, and then to find a coherent path through the wide range of musical stylings I’ve been drawn to. Many great tunes were killed along the way: Mama Said Knock You Out, The Humpty Dance, Freedom ’90, Miss You Much, Hang In Long…

As I started looking at songs, I realized that there was a ton of great music released in 1984, when I graduated high school. So much of it, though, falls into that category of “80s music.” We hear it in elevators, barber shops, or shopping malls on any given day….all those songs that are compiled on hundreds of “Best of the 80s” CD compilations. S…

It’s IRON DJ time again! Which means that a bunch of people are going to upload themed mixes and try to compete with me! Unfortunately for them, not only do I have unbeatable taste in music, but this time around I even have the IRON DJ theme going for me: GRADUATION YEAR. The idea is to put together a mix where the theme is the year you graduated h…

2010 was a milestone year–among other things, personally, it was the year my 13 year old son grew to be taller than me, which is a reminder of mortality if anything is (I mean I have to crane my neck to yell at the boy now! crazy!)–and it was a great year for music too. It’s January now, and 2010 is in the bag, which must mean it’s time for my annu…

It’s only been since, like, April since I did one of these things. I’m frankly amazed I remembered the password after all this time. What follows is a non-stop mix of some of my favorite tracks that came out in 2010. It’s kinda dance-y. I figured you all might like to party. It sobers up a bit toward the end, but I leave you wanting another sip. My…

Who the hell was Eratosthenes? You may or may not know it, but Eratosthenes was a guy that lived 2,200 years ago that correctly estimated the circumference of the Earth without leaving Egypt using nothing but sticks, his eyes to observe the sun’s shadows, feet for walking measured distances, and his brain. He was the first person to measure the siz…

The idea behind the Anthropological Series is to capture what the DJ and those around her/him were listening to at the time, perhaps in a particular location or phase in life. RG had posted something about summer music on Facebook, and it reminded me that I had this mix in the works, so I put it together all formal-like. This mix includes some song…

Yes, it’s over a month old. It’s been a busy month. It’s not Jim’s fault — it’s definitely Aaron’s. That said, before everything got busy, we did try to get another show in before job change chaos ensued. We did it on William Shatner Day. We were set up to include our first guest on the show, Brian — who couldn’t make it at the last minute. We also…

Fishbone at House of Blues We are talking and playing a lot of Ska today, with recent shows on our minds by Fishbone, The English Beat and The Aquabats (with Mustard Plug). Desmond Dekker — Get Up Edina — 2:40 Bob Marley — Simmer Down — 2:50 The Ethiopians — Train to Skaville — 2:42 The Specials — Little Bitch — 2:34 Madness — One Step Beyond — 3:3…

We’ve started a new format on Radio Gen1us. We’re not ditching our mixtapes — but we’re trying to be a bit more regular about podcasting. Quite frankly, doing a discussion format is a lot easier to do, and it’s a bit more timely. So if you’re jonesing for some nerd-out over music, then you’ll like this. We’ve also consolidated our categories on the…

This is my best of 2009 mix, containing samples from my 20 favorite albums of the last year. I’m not a professional music critic and I don’t listen to every album ever released by any means, so I’m sure there are plenty of holes, and if you’d like to tell me an album I missed, please leave a comment and I’ll check it out. As usual, my listening has…

[Kevin] Winter’s a great time for a mix of northwest bands. These mostly span Washington and Oregon. Not all songs are what they seem, so before you write something off, give it a listen. I started off just trying to round up enough Pacific Northwest bands to make a mix, but I ended up with way too many original, insanely good songs and got turned …