The Hot Half Life Presents... Theme Week. The A to Z of Indie Rock.

It's no secret that perhaps my favorite thing in the world is to make mixes for people. I've been doing it since middle school, trading tapes in the halls with my friends Jessica and Dawn, always disgusted by the radio pop and emotionally overwrought rock songs that I received weekly as I, in turn, shoved the discography of David Bazan down their throats with less than no appreciation shown for the genius they were receiving, courtesy of me! It was frustrating but eventually, I found my nitsch amongst people more of my ilk, people who not only appreciated my mixes, but made me amazing mixes themselves, featuring such early high school favorites as Braid and Archers of Loaf.

In a lot of ways, I'm still the same kid I was in eighth grade, perplexed at the appeal of Katy "Swagger Jacker" Perry as I spend my summer spinning Alvin Band, only now I have significantly better bangs.

Nowadays, as I believe I've mentioned before, in my social circle, I'm the Whats-Her-Name of the Teen Girl Squad, the token hipster pal who's great for mixes but not so great when it comes to making a party playlist because her idea of a "rockin' good time" is Interpol interspersed with Jane Birkin and Francoise Hardy. But usually when a friend's got a request or a question, it comes my way before too long. "Hey, I kind of want to listen to Wilco, what's a good starting off point?" is a common one but last week, my friend Sarah-With-An-H (A totally different entity from Sara-With-No-H) said "I have so much to learn about indie from you." to which I responded "DO YOU EVER!" perhaps a little too eagerly and then it was suggested that a mix or two happens.

So, with Sarah's mix, I have decided to fulfill one of my long time mix-making goals: Making a mix of indie songs in alphabetical order, A to Z, using each letter of the alphabet.

The results, 50 songs, covering each letter at least once, were too epic to just give to Sarah. It had to be shared with the world. Thus, I bring you another theme week! This time...

The Hot Half Life Presents 20 years in 50 songs: The A to Z of Indie Rock.

I hope you're reminded of some great older tunes and maybe discover some awesome new ones and enjoy snagging these songs just as much as I enjoyed putting them on the Moby Dick of mixes.