album artwork: Andrea Nakhla

Friends With Both Arms turns one today, and it feels pretty wonderful. I started this blog last summer because I wanted to write about music, but I wanted to do it on my own terms and celebrate music that I really believed in, instead of having an editor give me a list of bands I had no personal connection with. So, much like all bloggers that I’d kept up with before, it really started out of a love for music, but further than that, I felt a certain inherent duty to give back to the music community in my own way as a collective thank you for how much it has made it’s mark on my internal and geographical landscape. The songs changed the way the places felt. Their shapes transformed. They made every city more beautiful. Since it started, I’ve moved to three cities and found myself home again. I have a record of every season’s music, which I think is pretty cool. It’s been so great to watch this thing grown into a little community, and I’m so grateful for all the friendships I’ve made through this. Especially fellow bloggers who I have a profound respect and admiration for, namely White Guys With Beards, Head Underwater, Indie Music Filter, Chromewaves, Life: Aquatic, Rollo Grady, We All Want Someone To Shout For, Andrea Inspired, and so many more people.

I love being apart of something that exists like this; a community that is built on the exchange of music that isn’t propelled by making money. It’s apart of that lost neighbourhood somewhere where currency isn’t calculated by how much you can capitalize on artists, but rather, by the connections you have the capacity to make with social media. I don’t really care if this thing gets big or has a huge following, although it’s far surpassed my original goals for it. That’s why I’d mostly like to thank all of you for continuing to follow the blog. I also want to thank all the kickass bands for reaching out, and being so courteous and accommodating. Blogs really only exist to make sure good music prevails and is being heard. I will always love the warm, fuzzy communal feeling I get when I talk to new bands, bloggers, labels, and fellow music lovers- I realize how nerdy that sounds. Yes, I love the internet.

Below are two mixes, one of some of my favorite tracks from the last year. It’s fascinating to see the evolution of one year’s worth of musical consumption. Last summer I was all about the folk rock bands, a lot of rockabilly, and sad bearded man music. I seem to have a thing for bands that start with D: Delta Spirit, Dawes, Deer Tick, The Dodos, David Bazan.

The next mix is a mix for the year ahead, a collection of songs I’ve been repeating on my iPod as of lately. Just feel-good shoegazey, chillwave stuff, with a few minimalistic slow songs thrown in. They both clocked in at 31 tracks (whew!) dont’ ask me why. I hope you guys enjoy! Thanks again. They said the first year would be the hardest…

Friends With Birthday Cakes (future tunes)

01 Ugly Dress- Jesse Woods
02 Fog- Yellow Ostrich
03 Curses- Love Lake
04 In the Dust- Secret Message Machine
05 Revival- Deerhunter
06 Evaporation- Swimsuit
07 Superior to the Sea- Glass Cake
08 Catapilah- Young Buffalo
09 Sextape- ETHEREA
10 Buildings- unouomedude
11 Strt Srns- Wise Blood
12 Resolution Of One- Guards
13 Free Translator- The Books
14Lately (Memoryhouse Cover) Foxes in Fiction
15 Here She Comes- The Beach Boys
16 Her Sinking Sun- The September 11ths
17 Silver Line- The Bees
18Lemonade- Braids
19Letting Go- Blackbird Blackbird
20 Everything Is The Same- Colour Revolt
21 Oh My God- Cults
22 Dream Talkin- Family Trees
23 We Went Wild- Lord Huron
24 Honey Moon- Monster Rally
25 Free Day!- My Friend Wallis
26 7th Wonder- Son of Rams
27 Too Young to Burn- Sonny & The Sunsets
28 Sunrise Sunset- We Are Trees
29 Glorylight And Christie- Cotton Jones
30 Ohh Freedom!- Green Gerry
31 Morgan Freeman’s Debut Roles- Yellow Ostrich

http://www.mediafire.com/?y72dv2czd4lx9f0

Friends With Benefits (a year in music)

01 Friends With Both Arms- Faces on Film
02 Honeybee- Mountain Man
03 Vacationing People- Foreign Born
04 Heat & Hot Water- ARMS
05 I Know I Got Religion- Kurt Vile
06 Hey Lover- Blake Mills
07 Away FRM U- Oberhofer
08 Sweetest Kill- Broken Social Scene
09 friends with my sister- Now, Now Every Children
10 The Book of Love (Magnetic Fields Cover)- Peter Gabriel
11 Beauty- The Shivers
12 Teenage Whore- Dinosaur Feathers
13 Untitled 101- Peter Wolf Crier
14 James Blues- J Tillman
15 The Old Days- Dr. Dog
16 The Sweetest Thing- Camera Obscura
17 Violent Demeanour- Fionn Regan
18 Beautiful Morning Light- Fruit Bats
19 Feel In My Back- Grubby Little Hands
20 Jacob- Vally Maker
21 Dirty Dishes- Deer Tick
22 Golden State- Delta Spirit
23 Excuses- The Morning Benders
24 Generator ^ First Floor- Freelance Whales
25 Something Hiding For Us In The Night- The Wooden Sky
26 Never Wanted You- David Bazan
27 My Girl To Me- Dawes
28 Do You Really Like Being Alone- Manchester Orchestra
29 Shelia- Atlas Sound
30 Chelsea Hotel No. 2- TW Walsh
31 If You Can’t Sleep- She & Him

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?b95cy1ll6c9o3d7

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