Bathetic Records, who were on our list of Best Record Labels of 2011, just released this mix to bring in the new year. The bands on the mix are artists who something on Bathetic, or just friends, and it was assembled by Alex Zhang Hungtai (Dirty Beaches) and William Cody Watson, who both have songs on the mix. It also features Wet Hair, Cough Cool, Xander Harris, Lantern, Lee Noble, Ela Orleans, Hot & Cold, Grand Trine, Speculator, Tonstartssbandht, Hobo Cubes, and Feminelli. You can listen to the stream on their site or download the entire thing here. However, I recommend definitely paging through the stream page instead of going for the direct download, since it contains some really nice photos from each of the artists and cool quotes about the music the bands made, as well as nice, inspirational letters from the curators. For instance, Hungtai has this to say: “Whether its years spent on the road, relocating to another town, working to pay the rent, playing numerous gigs underpaid or with zero pay, writing until eyes crossed, recording until ears decay, dying in a Tibetan sense, or simply living, this compilation is a collective meditation of our personal travels. One of love, of hate, of wander, and of mileage.”
