So I'm coining a new internet catchphrase: "The Mini-Mix". Probably somebody's thought of it before, but they can go shove it up their ear. So, the mini-mix. What is it? It's a small mixtape of only two or three songs. Why only two or three? Well, not many people come to blogs to listen to full fledged 1.2 hour mixtapes. I mean, who has the time? Mixes are things you make for your friends and your loved ones, not something you go scrawling through the blogosphere hunting for. At least I don't. Don't take this as a diss against mixtapes, because I love them to death, and I think they're an under-appreciated art form, but I just don't have the time or the willpower to download and listen to every hour long mix made by some blogger I've never met in my life. The mini-mix is just an idea I have as a way of combining the mixtape with blogging into a form that's bite-sized and manageable, that you can actually download and listen to, that combines the extraordinary magic of inspired song sequencing with the lightspeed-immediacy of the internet.

So, here is Mini Mix, Volume I, and on it we have:

• Bright Eyes w/ Emmylou Harris - We Are Nowhere and It's Now

(Since JOSH!EXCLAMATION! has just discovered Bright Eyes, it seems fitting to post another Connor Obrest gem from I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.)

• Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Reading In Bed

(It should be a federal crime for how overlooked this album is. Like, Congress should pass a new bill creating subsidies and tax incentives to get more people to listen to this album. It's breaktakingly heartbreaking and beautiful. My love for it hasn't dwindled in the two years since it's come out.)

• Death in Vegas - Girls

(This song was featured on the Lost In Translation soundtrack, a movie I find myself watching more and more lately. Something about this song calms me in a way that no amount of comforting and consoling could ever do... I sometimes think that I can hear God in this song. Yeah, I'm a bit crazy, I know.)

• The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey

(Another song from the Lost In Translation soundtrack. I'm getting a bit obsessive over this movie. Halp me, Mr. Harris! Lip my stockings!)

You can download the mix by clicking the link below. Have fun. Hope you enjoy our little experiment.

• Mini Mix, Volume I (Total Run Time: 14.4 Minutes)