If you follow me on any of the social networks in current existence, you’ll know that my favorite band of all time is The Magnetic Fields, putting Stephin Merritt as perhaps my favorite musician of all time. I came across this band while listening to a particularly sad and mopey episode of This American Life. The episode was called Break-Up and it featured contributor Starlee Kine as she dealt with a particularly bad break-up. She talked about how sad songs somehow were able to express how she felt when she could not, citing “I Don’t Want To Get Over You” as an example.

That was when I fell in love with The Magnetic Fields. Immediately I got ahold of every album I could of theirs and listened to them on repeat for days, finding little bits here and there that I could relate to with each new listen. And now I’m sharing this love with you. I’ve made what I consider to be an essential mix of Magnetic Fields songs that encapsulate what I love about the band and what make them worth the listen.

You can listen to the songs here, but I URGE you to go buy the albums, which I’ve linked below.

Enjoy.

Song – Album

1. Three Way Three-Way – Distortion
2. You Must Be Out Of Your Mind You Must Be Out Of Your Mind – i
3. You Love To Fail You Love To Fail – The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees
4. Desert Island Desert Island – Holiday
5. A Chicken With It’s Head Cut Off A Chicken With It’s Head Cut Off – 69 Love Songs
6. The Night You Can’t Remember The Night You Can’t Remember – 69 Love Songs
7. Tokyo A Go-Go Tokyo A Go-Go – The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees
8. California Girls California Girls – Distortion
9. I Don’t Want To Get Over You I Don’t Want To Get Over You – 69 Love Songs
10. How To Say Goodbye How To Say Goodbye – 69 Love Songs
11. I Don’t Believe You I Don’t Believe You – i
12. All My Little Words All My Little Words – 69 Love Songs
13. Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Yeah! Oh, Yeah! – 69 Love Songs
14. If You Don’t Cry If You Don’t Cry – 69 Love Songs
15. Strange Powers Strange Powers – Holiday
16. Underwear Underwear – 69 Love Songs
17. When My Boy Walks Down The Street When My Boy Walks Down The Street – 69 Love Songs
18. I Don’t Believe In The Sun I Don’t Believe In The Sun – 69 Love Songs
19. Epitaph For My Heart Epitaph For My Heart – 69 Love Songs
20. Not That Crazy Not That Crazy – 69 Love Songs
21. Walk A Lonely Road Walk A Lonely Road – Realism
22. If There’s Such A Thing As Love If There’s Such A Thing As Love – i
23. The Dada Polka The Dada Polka – Realism

Postscript:

I recently had a chance to stand about 5 feet away from Stephin Merritt while waiting in line at the concession stand at a local theater. Given my superb acting training, I was able to restrain myself and not go completely apeshit-fanboy. But manic Daffy Duck was alive in the back of my mind, bouncing around and screaming “WAAOOOO! WAAOOOO! IT’S HIM!!!!!!!!”

- Patrick Swayze died. Add this to the list of reasons why ’09 sucks.

- Kanye West decided that he wasn’t douchey enough and humiliated Taylor Swift during her award speech. But hey, that’s what the voice of a douchey generation does.

- I made it to level 30 in WoW. I hope I can get caught up to the newest expansion so I won’t feel so left behind when Cataclysm changes everything.

- Social networks continued to be social.

- The diet coke of Facebook was released. It reminded me of what I liked about the older iterations, namely the simplicity.

- I didn’t see any movies in the theater.

- I started watching This American Life, the tv show.

- I thought about working on my comic, but got distracted with the internet instead.

And there you have it. I’ve been busy.