I'm often asked where I find all the music for each month's soundtrack to my life. It used to be a pretty straight forward process; I spent most of my day in a cube working on my computer and jamming away with my headphones on. I was a regular reader/listen of a handful of music blogs and podcasts such as; Daytrotter, Sterogum, Gorrila vs Bear, KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, KEXP's Music That Matters, and the KEXP Live Performances. But lately I don't spend much time in a cube which has made it harder to keep up with these great sources.

Another great source for music are the soundtracks of TV shows and movies. Showtime's Weeds has provided me with at least a half dozen songs over the past few seasons. And while Weeds is a great show - and if you have not seen it I highly recommend dedicating an entire weekend to watching the first three seasons - my favorite song from this soundtrack comes from a moment of TV weakness. I stumbled upon MC Solaar's La Belle et le Bad Boy while watching MTV's the Hills......it's freaking embarrassing to admit that I was watching the Hills but I heard this song playing in the background and it was sooooo good I had to add it. I feel a bit better getting that off my chest......a bit of cathartic healing.....now onto this months combined February and March sOUNDTRACK to mY lIFE.

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What's it take to get the first track on the sOUNDTRACK tO mY lIFE? Songs usually have to make an emotional connection or just plain get me movings. Which is what happened to January's soundtrack. MGMT seems to psychedelic hippies (see their video for Time to Pretend) living in the hipster ground central city of Brooklyn that was formed at the yuppie school of Wesleyan University. Their song Kids has been in heavy rotation in my iTunes and every time I hear it I start tapping my feet or bobbing my head. And that's what it takes to get the first track on January's sOUNDTRACK tO mY lIFE.

As for the rest of the tracks in January they seems to have jumped out of the 70's. An abundance of synthetic keyboards and funk seems to ooze all over this edition. Take a listen and let me know what part of the ooze you liked.

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A dash of Manu Chao, a pinch Gabrielle & Rodrigo and top with Thievery Corporation - bake at 400 degrees and 20 minutes later you have Federico Aubele. The Argentinian musician has been dominating the speakers in our Whistler apartment which earned him two tracks on December's sOUNDTRACK tO mY lIFE. The music feels very international with Aubele's guitar mixed into stylish lounge beats and enticing vocals. The smooth sound is no coincidence as the album is actually produced and distributed by Thievery Corporation's ESL Music label.

While Aubele was my favorite artist of the month my favorite song of the month goes to M.I.A's Paper Planes. M.I.A. is another artist who combines a variety of different musical genre - I don't know if I'm listening to indie rock, dub reggae, hip hop or something in between. However you want to classify it, it's one of the best songs I've heard all year.

You can listen to both Aubele and M.I.A below. Let me know what you think of all the songs for this month's soundtrack.

p.s......did you notice that December soundtrack was released on time?!?!?

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As is usual the soundtrack to my life is a couple months behind. October's soundtrack received allot of help from friends as family. My good friend Austin helped us out with a few track suggestions and my cousin Darren (aka - DJ Do You) created a Jack Johnson + Dem Franchise Boyz mash up that was good enough to make the list.

We are also playing around with a new playlist courtesy of Project Playlist. Leave a comment to let us know if you like the new playlist or if you have suggestions for better solutions (I tried Imeem but found it cumbersome to add tracks and they did not seem to have many of the artist in this months soundtrack). And now onto the music....

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Back in September when I was putting together the Soundtrack to My Life I was excited to see new songs by Manu Chao (and a whole new album) as well as new music from Beirut, Rogue Wave, and a live song by Jose Gonzalez. Along with the past favorites I came across some great new artist that I'm excited to share with you. I won't bore you with much chatter for this release instead look a bit lower and start enjoi-ing the music.

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Delays in the monthly release for my mix cd The Soundtrack to my Life has become a regular problem. We're actually backlogged with three months worth of soundtracks. The good news is that we've gone digital, releasing new mixes online via the 2 Out of Three website. Let me know if you like the new format, or if you're nostalgic for the physical CD.

Our first online release is from the month of August and it's packed with some great songs. I've been going crazy for two songs by the Brooklyn based band Pela, their songs may actually release pleasure endorphins in my brain while listening. On a side note their is some good footage of the band playing live and participating in the cooking show Dinner with the Band. Another favorite of mine from the month of August is the Tokyo Police Club's single You're English is Good [see their great video here]. I hope you enjoi August's soundtrack to my life and keep you're eye on this blog for a quick succession of soundtracks over the next week.

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Warm up those CD players because the July edition of the Soundtrack to my Life has been released today. I know what you're saying, "July's edition? What gives?". Due to unforeseen production delays on our factory floor we we're not able to get the covers printed in time causing us to push back our release date. The good news is it's here and it's fantastic.

As always if you're on my regular distribution list you'll get a copy. Or, if you ask really nice I'll get one to you. And yes, Auntie Robin I'm putting one on the Pineapple Express out to the Islands for you.

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The latest edition of the soundtrack to my life has arrived. This edition spans two months and is headlined by the Ontario, Canada based band Bedouin Soundclash. I first heard their recent single "12:59 Lullaby " while listening to one of my favorite podcasts produced by CBC3. Bedouin Soundclash is a mix of dub & roots reggae infused rocks sounds similar to the Clash. In less than a months time the three song EP I purchased has chalked up a double digit play count within my iTunes. A bit of a side tangent......I'm a huge fan of the "play count" stat within iTunes, I love to sort my music library by play count.

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Every month I put together a mix cd consisting of the music I had been listening to over the previous 30 days. As the years and months have gone by I've really enjoyed looking back at bands and the songs I was listening to.

Over the month of March 2007 I really enjoyed listening to Brett Dennen. A very chill singer/songwritter from California's Central Valley. I loved almost every song on his 2006 release So Much More. The other band that really stuck in my head this month was Beirut. Back in December I had included a couple of songs in my cd mix which got substantial play counts on my iTunes. For this month I started listening to their new EP Lon Gisland which contains the amazing song Elephant Gun.

If you're a good friend or just ask repeatedly you'll get a copy of this month's sOUNTRACK tO mY lIFE. For those of you who don't get your hands on one of my homemade copies below is the track list so you can go out and buy each song yourself.

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