Soft Rock for Hard Times

When I set off to traverse the nation with Calvin, I had been in a full-swing soft rock binge. The result was a series of cassette mix tapes I made from my favorite dollar bin ballads that I entitled "Soft Rock for Hard Times." Calvin is lucky, because I somehow lost two of these in the move, and he saved himself hours of listening to Bread, the Eagles, America, etc.

Low and behold, hard times befell me again on the eve of this winter, so I put together another cassette. I figured I would share with you my favorite soft rock anthems that have made it on most of these mixes that I seem to misplace and lose as soon as I make them.

This last one I burnt to CD so that I could listen to it when my sweetheart and I drove up to her folks' place for thanksgiving. The CD player broke, and that CD kept playing, even when the car was off and the keys removed from the ignition. That's how you know it was good.


One of my favorite dollar bin soft rock albums. Their second album is nowhere near as good as this one. Doug Yule from the almighty Velvet Underground shed his urban grime to be the rhythmic roots to this breezy affair. George Martin quit the Beatles to produce this record. Pure beauty.


The rest of this record is not too strong, but it is worth snagging out of a 50 cent bin all for this magnificent nugget. Some record stores might pay you to take it off their hands.


I like to build it all up to this. After a good Stevie Nicks or Steely Dan burner or a nice touch of 10CC I bring the mix home with a classic like this.

Hypercage Record Club

In Philly, there is this party called making time. Everyone in the city goes to it, especially like, bros from outside the city. However, it is run by some of the RVNG people and they book good bands or DJs. The two I've attended were for Sebastien Tellier and Tensnake. I dragged Calvin to another that Holy Ghost played, and they were really boring. Making Time people just started a mailing list for a monthly mix cd, and low and behold, it is quite an excellent mix. They've got a good touch for the kind of house music that will keep Indie kids moving, so most of this is to the poppy side of the house spectrum, and I don't really have a problem with that. Nothing too obscure here, lots of stuff I've heard, even one or two I own. This one is brought to us by Pink Skull and a few philadelphia local djs. They call it the hypercage because the upstairs room where shit gets really housey and techno styled has a big cage on the dance floor, i think. Download the mix here if you want, and see the tracklist below. Or sample on soundcloud.

1. Neurotic Drum Band – Neurotic Erotic Adventure (Dub Mix)
2. Crimeax - Liubov
3. Hot Toddy – Won’t Let Go
4. Rollmottle – Take A Break (Maurice Fulton Remix)
5. Dextrax – E-Glez
6. Kid Deep – Looking 4 Someone
7. Chamboche – On The Streets (Brontosaurus Remix)
8. LSB – Cosmic Wild Boar
9. Scissor Sisters - Any Which Way (Tensnake Remix)
10. Cosmic Kids – Reginald’s Groove
11. Sun, Sun, Sun – Curious (Instrumental)
12. Murphy Jax ft. Mike Dunn – It’s The Music
13. Pete Heller – Nu Acid
14. Prinzhorn Dance School – Off The Radar, Off The System
15. The Glimmers & Baby G – Esta Si Esta No (In Flagranti Remix)
16. Munk – La Musica (Azari & III Remix)
17. MMM – Donna
18. Triangle Orchestra – The Strip