FINALLY.

[elapses]

"I think it'd be nearly impossible to make a fanmix that was purely Mulder and Scully, because their dynamic in season one is completely and totally different from the one they have in season four or six or eight."

-- me, September 4th, 2007


And such was the unwitting birth of this... project. I'd vaguely considered other ways to get around my weird aversion to making a straight-up Mulder/Scully mix while still getting a chance to explore them in that lovely way you only get to do when you're picking songs that represent your favorite fictional characters (a UST mix! a cancerarc mix! maybe a character mix?), but in the end, this massive one-EP-for-each-and-every-season project was the way I had to do it. So, ahead: a lot of songs, a lot of lyrics, and a lot of covers. Fun ahoy!

I am not nearly cool enough that I could do something like this all on my own: so, so many people have listened to me blab about this mix and everything that's gone into making it, and I want to thank all of you for not throwing a book at my head. Especially veils, an_aviary, leucocrystal, and sunspawn -- they didn't know ahead of time what a creature of mix angst I can get to be, and they handled my rambly questions with great aplomb, even though I am sure they wanted to kill me halfway through the making of this mix. Ilu all!

The season 5 covers were graciously made by the lovely veils which is possibly why they are, um, prettier than the others. What can I say? I am not an artist.

Anyway, blah blah blah. On to the goods:



season one - the truth is out there


1. M. Ward - End of Amnesia
instrumental

2. Sufjan Stevens - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
When the revenant came down
We couldn't imagine what it was
In the spirit of three stars
The alien thing that took its form

3. Angus and Julia Stone - Just A Boy
Girl you make me want to feel
Things I never felt before
Girl you make me want to feel
Did I say I'm just a boy

4. Lisa Loeb - Underdog
Fearing, boring, wondering where I'll be on my birthday.
You kissed me in a dream last night
How could I? I wouldn't know
Cause I am the underdog, I am the last in line
Don't be the enemy, don't stand in back of me
Will you be my friend?
Now I understand that I more than like you

5. Adam Richman - Bite My Tongue
You're still here, I can't believe my life has not moved on
Out of fear or even knowing with you something will go wrong
I guess I can't replace the poetry from off your face
It speaks to me like I'm the only one

6. The Cardigans - You're The Storm
I'm an angel, bored like hell
And you're a devil, meaning well
You steal my lines and you strike me dumb
Come raise your flag upon me

7. Umbrellas - Tests on My Heart
And I don't want you to save me
'Cause what if you did, you'd succeed
And then you would get bored and leave



season two - trust no one


1. Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers
The sleep fled from my eyes
And I, I know that I need some
Give a thought to the one that you know
Or would you calm me down
When the breath gets shallow and fast?
We put on the clinic (if you were here)
It felt good to me (would you calm me down)
Can't you see I'm losing it (or settle the score?)
Must I set up the scene?

2. Inara George - What A Number
In the basement, like in the old days
Under the covers, ah, under the covering
Like a governor, in the old days
You keep me handled, never letting on
I'm lying in a lake, alive
Living out someone else's life
I could be wrong, I could be right

3. Matt Pond PA - The Trees and the Wild
I look back to the trees and the wild
I look back to see you smile

4. Feist - I Feel It All
I'll be the one who'll break my heart
I'll be the one to hold the gun
I know more than I knew before
I know more than I knew before
I didn't rest, I didn't stop
Did we fight, did we talk?

5. Travis - Closer
Keep waking up without you here
Another day, another year
I seek the truth, we set apart
Thinking of a second chance
And when I see you then i know it will be next to me
And when I need you I know you will be there with me
I'll never leave you
Just need to get closer, closer
Lean on me now, lean on me now

6. Tracy Bonham - Something Beautiful
You cut me up and you make me bleed
A sad stained heart hanging on my sleeve
I'll still follow you, I will follow you
But you say "Look up look up look all around you
Can't you see the love that surrounds the very soul of you?"
Something in me almost breaks



season three - deceive, inveigle, obfuscate


1. Office - Oh My
Caught in a rug, we're caught like little bugs
Stuck in a web, as we cut off our legs and heads

2. Interpol - Say Hello To The Angels
Something’s coming over me, I see you in the doorway
I cannot control the part of me that swells up when you
Move into my airspace, move into my airspace
But each night, I bury my love around you
Oh each night, I bury my love around you
You're linked to my innocence

3. Plastic Operator - Peppermind
From the outside you are sweet
But you hold my hand to fight
Sentimental times

4. Field Music - If Only The Moon Were Up
If we wouldn't be so tough
we'd probably have more to say
But lying is never enough
That's all we're used to

5. Tuung - Code Breaker
Like Watson and Crick
You seem to look
Into my soul
And though my DNA
Is too small for your scope
You make it much deeper

6. Jump, Little Children - Say Goodnight
I heard you late last night
I wish I had my distance
I hear you crash around and say
That no one listens
I wish that I would hear you say goodnight
And nobody cares, especially me
But I can't help myself as I fall asleep
To turn out the lights, turn back the sheets
Say goodnight and turn me on



season four - believe to understand


1. A.C. Newman - Better than Most
Better than most at feeling your pain
Walking wounded through the stars tonight
We wander the plains
Pointing pistols at the dawn
Never looked into your eyes this long
With a dollar's worth of distance run
Courtesy of the broken and holy one

2. Tina Dico - Open Wide
Tell me why you struggle like you do
To draw the line between the world and you

3. Ian Love - The Only Night
We drive all night, until the sunrise
It shines on our face, and we notice
Well, there's an old house, Let's step inside
Now, there's no one in this world but you and I
And, there's no one in this world but you
And I stay quiet, we're so patient
As the stars jumps side to side
And this feels like the only night

4. Bon Iver - Skinny Love
Come on skinny love just last the year
Pour a little salt we were never here
My my my my my my my my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer

5. Breathe Owl Breathe - You're So Dear To Me
You don't feel the same
So how should I feel?
Your medicine and your smile
Stay awake, please

6. David Fridlund - Into My Arms
I don't believe in an interventionist God
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him
Not to intervene when it came to you

7. Andrew Bird - Sovay
I was getting ready to be a threat
I was getting set for my accidental suicide
The kind where no one dies, no one looks too surprised



season five - believe the lie


1. Bear Colony - Hymnal (A Declaration of Loss)
Your cancer is calling me back
To hospital rooms where they let you rest
The black is corrupt, they always know
But they'll never show your emergency

2. The Servant - Cells
They annoy me those who employ me
They could destroy me, they should enjoy me
We eat chinese off our knees
And look for each other in the TV screen

3. Emiliana Torrini - Baby Blue
I'm looking for some place to go, sucking out screams in stereo
Before my bare eyes I saw her drowning
Keep my daughter in a jar, she can't get out she won't go far
My heart is in my mouth but still keep pounding

4. Crystal Skulls - No Room For Change
These awkward feelings and gestures fly across your face
They illustrate what we already understand
Emotions are demanding when there's no room for change
How we are so contemplative, used to self-consultation
Our words in the car debating never worked so hard to say

6. The National - Secret Meeting
Didn't anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room
I know you put in the hours to keep me in sunglasses, I know
And so and now I'm sorry I missed you
I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain
It went the dull and wicked ordinary way

6. The Like - Once Things Look Up
I bottle up the pieces and repair
But every time we break I'm building still



season six - all lies lead to the truth


1. Mark Snow - Crater Hug
instrumental

2. Missy Higgins - The Wrong Girl
And I’m lonely again tonight
I can feel it like a knot in my side
They keep saying this is part of the ride
But I’m not getting stronger

3. Basia Bulat - Snakes and Ladders
You know, all this time I've been playing for your heart
But I never let it on I love to watch you play the part

4. Earlimart - Happy Alone
And five minutes in an egg timer rings
To clip off our carefree flapping wings
Show us the things we can't afford
And throw us overboard, but it's still enough
Just how much distance means we're on our own?
Until I see you off at home down the sidewalk in my head
I might be sinking like a stone, but perfectly happy, just openly happy

5. Black Kites - All Wrong
And now I'm waking up (better start running always too slow)
And the shock it's all too much (I don't think we can let it go)
Cause I've got, I've got it all wrong, I've got it all wrong

6. Dave McGraw - Bellingham
Taking some time to think space to figure it out
Going over it all in my mind, I think we're due to unwind, kick back
Make peace with all our pain just to stay sane
And take hold of what's to come with a smile, it's been quite awhile

7. Sam Phillips - Lying
If I said I believe my eyes, and science can move my soul
If I said I’m not afraid to die, and I don’t need you
I’d be lying
If I said the way he looks at me doesn’t make me want to undress
If I said I could leave you now and go where I could forget
I’d be lying



season seven - the end


1. Radiohead - A Reminder
If I get old, I will not give in
But if I do, remind me of this
Remind me that once I was free
Once I was cool, once I was me

2. Cat Power - The Greatest
Once I wanted to be the greatest
Two fists of solid rock
With brains that could explain
Any feeling

3. Beulah - You're Only King Once
It's so hard not to be crushed
When you're praying for too much,
And the stars refuse to shine for you
They do it just to spite
They know, you're trying too hard
Hoping for a little more than just another kiss goodnight

4. Club 8 - Spring Came, Rain Fell
If you want me now, you don't have to try so hard
If you want me now, you don't have to try at all

5. Sondre Lerche & the Faces Down Quartet - Minor Detail
It's the circus I bring on whenever I reach out to touch you my dear
It's the laws of our attraction and the fact that it's all going somewhere
It's a major minor detail, like erasing that old ghost train
So one day I can be with you

6. The Decemberists - Everything I Try To Do, Nothing Seems To Turn Out Right
A drip of the drain as your legs lifted
Brilliantly bent and fall to resting on the ottoman
So we turned off the tube and we crawled to your room
Leaving discarded clothes in our wake
And we both had some fun, though I twice bit my tongue
And it lasted too long for my taste
And there's this nagging suspicion that won't leave me alone tonight
It's just that everything I try to do, nothing seems to turn out right

7. Hotel Lights - Miles Behind Me
Things that we worried about then
When patience had run thin
Laughed when we wanted to hide
On different sides of the line
We went to the end of the night
Nobody saw you fall, nobody saw you fall
Nobody saw you fall miles behind me



season eight - deny everything


1. Nellie McKay - I Am Nothing
You, coursing through my veins, pulsing every pound

2. Rachael Yamagata - I'll Find A Way
I used to think that anything I'd do
Wouldn't matter at all anyway
But now I find that when it comes to you
I'm the winner of cards I can't play
Wait for me, wait for me, darling
I need you desperately, desperately here
And I'll find a way to see you again

3. A Fine Frenzy - Last of Days
The world carries on without you
But nothing remains the same
I'll be lost without you
Until the last of days

4. Tacks, the Boy Disaster - Forget-Me-Not
Forget me not, my dear
When you don't see me for a year cause I'm underground
You see, Death will try and snag us all
So rip the portraits off your walls, got to burn them all
Got to burn them all down

5. The Hush Sound - A Dark Congregation
Save me, I'm swallowed by the guilt of this (you're gone)
Sleeping in the dust, we will not let time erase us

6. Ester Drang - Dead Man's Point of View
Could you mend me? I am there so lifelessly
Oh, you're turning me, come nurse me
Should have told me there's a meaning
And a beauty could have freed me

7. Bell X1 - Eve, the Apple of My Eye
You left, I died, I went and you cried
You came, I think but I never really know
I've served my time I've watched you climb
The wrong incline but what do I know



season nine - nothing important happened today


1. Joseph Arthur - Honey and the Moon
But right now everything is turning blue
And right now the sun is trying to kill the moon
And right now I wish I could follow you
To the shores of freedom where no one lives

2. A Weather - Spiders, Snakes
I like having to run when I don't run
And it leaves me so, so tired
I want better for you and for my son
And the lives we're leading now

3. Grandaddy - Lost On Yer Merry Way
All that i'm askin tonight, is that I make it back home alive
No explosions, no crashes, no fights, I wanna get back home...

4. Air - Left Bank
Homesick
This is how I feel now
This is how you left me

5. Windsor Drive - Shine
Just take my hand and walk the path with me
You're more than I could ever be
There's so much left that you don't see
And I would give anything to see you shine
Just like you used to

6. Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You
Anything to make you smile
You are the ever-living ghost of what once was
I never want to hear you say
That you'd be better off
Or you liked it that way

7. The Sleeping Years - You and Me Against the World
We've been trying for so long
To be ourselves, to be alone
If everyone is getting slow
It's you and me against the world


I feel like the .rar files are kind of hidden, so if you're confused, the link to each indivudual season is in the title above the cover. There's not going to be a ginormous file for everything, sorry. But if you want any individual songs, just ask and I'll upload them for you separately!

Comments

[famousdeaths.livejournal.com]

This is SO COOL!

To be honest, I usually don't download fanmixes because it seems people keep using the same couple of songs all over again, but these songs work. I keep going "yep, yep, totally" while reading the tracklists.

I'll take them all. :D

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Fanmixes are funny because they tend to be either overwhelmingly brilliant and insightful and unique or, alternately, entirely made up of Iris, Wonderwall, and a couple Snow Patrol/Fray songs. Although, I really shouldn't talk, I came SO CLOSE to using Wonderwall myself. I'm SO GLAD you likeeeee this, though, especially if you usually don't bother!

[threeguesses.livejournal.com]

You win.

[stepliana.livejournal.com]

Oh my GOD, this is so incredible! I can't even say how amazing this is, it cannot be put into words. I will take all of them, slowly, because I want to listen to ALL OF THEM because just going by lyrics alone, they are all perfect.

So amazing.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Thank you thank you thank you! Perfect is probably an overstatement, but hey, I'll take it. I'm so very pleased you like it, and almost even more pleased you are digesting them separately.

[rchelsea2005.livejournal.com]

I am literally bowing to you right now lol LOVE IT! Gonna have to d.l. these. Just lovely!

[wa-angel.livejournal.com]

Thanks downloading!

[aetenae.livejournal.com]

This is, oh my, I don't think I have enough words to describe what I feel.
Downloading all. And thank you: this sis truly a work of love.

[roads-outgrown.livejournal.com]

Aww. Bell x1 for the win. <3

[frostbitepanda.livejournal.com]

Omg... This is pretty much the best thing I've ever seen. MSR, music, pretty graphics and X Files... what more could I want?

I'm going to have to download and listen and absorb once I'm actually on my computer.

(And, btw... the cover for S4 is a lot pretty.)

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Absorbing! I'm so glad you chose that word! Just so you know!

AHHH, the season 4 cover! That damn thing went through more edits and horrible finished products than almost any of the others (season 5 matched it for that, though), and it was the VERY LAST THING to get finished so I'm super glad you think the final version is pretty :)

[odakota-rose.livejournal.com]

This is quite possibly the best thing. EVER.
*snags*
Can't wait to listen!

[modernthirst.livejournal.com]

OH YOU FINISHED IT, OH OH OH! OH! I sort of want to cry for you or something, this is such a big deal and you've been working on it for so long!!! Congratulations.

I wish so so much that I could nod and say "OH MAN, EXACTLY" to everything, because I'm certain that you got everything right, etc. I'm still downloading and anticipating listening because I remember you told me you applied specific moods to each EP/season and I think that is AMAZING and I can't wait.

I actually tried to figure out the story of them through the lyrics and I think I kind of got it! Which is pretty awesome on your part. I was especially affected by this:

6. The Like - Once Things Look Up
I bottle up the pieces and repair
But every time we break I'm building still


I love that that's how you close that EP. It gives me a good, funny feeling, and the brevity of the lyric excerpt, I think, makes it more poignant. I really like that you did that, by the way. Alternated between meatier excerpts and smaller ones. It really packs a punch.

Anyway, wonderful, wonderful work (on the covers too!). What a fitting tribute to something that's so important to you!

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Anna! Thank you! I know how hard it can be to appreciate mixes for canon you're not familiar with beyond the "WOW, I love that song! And that song! Awesome! And they sound great together!" level and I am so thoroughly gratified that you sat back and thought about this despite not knowing them. And that's so cool to me that you were able to kind of grasp the story. And that bit you mentioned! It was basically the most instrumental bit to the way I personally interpret their dynamic and I'm so glad you caught it. I hope the sound works for you! I think it came across better in some of them than in others.

I had SO MUCH trouble slimming down the lyric excerpts. The perfect bits of the songs were always just slightly too far away from each other and I kept trying to put everything in and there was a point where all the lyric excerpts were so chunky that just looking at it was exhausting. But good, small bits can really hit you in the right way? I don't know.

ANYWAY, thank you so much!

[deathwatchlove.livejournal.com]

Can you either upload the songs individually or fill me in on how I get the songs out of the .rar file? Because I am an idiot and have no idea how to turn the .rar file into music, and this saddens me, because these mixes look like they're very good.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

.rar files are extractable with WinRAR (http://www.rarlab.com/) (which is free & spyware free), which is a lovely tool to have but I totally understand if you don't want to bother downloading it for this alone. Um, would .zip files work for you? I can totally do individual song files, but .zip files might be easier.

[coffee-mill.livejournal.com]

omgomgomgomgomg... Thank you *squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees*.

[tenacious-err.livejournal.com]

UM, WELL. Way to make the best fanmix of all fanmixes ever. :D

Definitely taking these. But I'm lazy, so probably slowly haha.

[meatfight.livejournal.com]

This is so amazing I don't even know what to say. I'm in awe.

[twentyfivepast.livejournal.com]

I am so all over this you have no idea. Thank you so much -- these look so awesome.

[quietreflection.livejournal.com]

:D Such an awesome idea. All the cover art looks amazing. I can't stop looking at how gorgeous they are on the season three EP. I will definitely be snagging all of these mixes as soon as I go home this weekend. (Doing so on my school's server makes me extra paranoid.) I haven't heard any of these songs, actually, but from reading the lyrics it sounds like you picked a lot of songs that are just perfect at describing them. I love "I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain" as relating to them, and so many, like "Closer" or the way you ended the final EP, just fit so well with who they are, especially by season.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

OKAY THE FINAL SONG! Thank you for noticing that, because I totally stumbled across it by accident in the middle of making this and it is so IMPOSSIBLY perfect and leads so perfectly into the upcoming film and it is, I think, my absolute favorite song for them. And yes, "Closer" -- the "I seek the truth" line is so impossibly perfect. Anyway, I'm so glad you like it and I hope you enjoy it when you get around to snagging! And yeah, they are really, really hot in those photos I used for the season 3 cover, but, uh, really, when are they not?

[macaire.livejournal.com]

This is pretty much the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I'm so excited to start downloading!!

Thank you so much!

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God.

I am honestly at a loss for words right now, because you have absolutely astounded me. THIS IS SO INCREDIBLE. I completely, 110% agree with you on it being virtually impossible to capture their relationship throughout the 9 seasons in a single mix, and this is so so admirable. I've already started downloading them and I'm really looking forward to listening to them (particularly as I re-watch the seasons)! So I'm gonna hold out on commenting on these until I actually listen, but DUDE. SO MANY GREAT ARTISTS. Joseph Arthur! Band of Horses! Air! Sondre! Cat Power! Radiohead! The National! Feist! Matt Pond PA! Etc! Etc! And the covers are GORGEOUS. I think 2 is my favorite: super simple and super effective.

YOU ARE MY HERO!

[elapses.livejournal.com]

It's funny because there is a small collection of songs that really actually do do a good job of fitting them in a big, general sense -- and your mix and a couple of others I've seen have done a good job with those -- but I never seem to run across them! Maybe it's a brain block, or something, but whenever I apply a song to Mulder/Scully, I am always very specific about how and when it fits. I DON'T KNOW.

Anyway, I would LOVE to hear how you end up liking it.

[lovecycle.livejournal.com]

You're on my list of 10 people ever.
You already were, but you've been bumped up a bit.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

♥

I think I would actually quit this family without you.

[britfan1013.livejournal.com]

Whoa! Definitely taking a few. Great artwork.

[erries.livejournal.com]

Am downloading all of these. Thanks so much!

[xtrustno1x.livejournal.com]

This is...simply amazing. No, seriously. :D

Also? A+++ for using The Decemberists.

[cata-clysmiic.livejournal.com]

Um, this is amazing. I downloaded all of them! :) What a genius project.

[getchokedup.livejournal.com]

YOU'RE AMAZING. THE END.

Edit: NOT the end. I have more comments: Look (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2406/2363558730_79f033bb71_o.png) how pretty your project looks on iTunes when it's all imported and playlisted!

[elapses.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD, IT REALLY DOES LOOK SUPER NICE :D

[obscures.livejournal.com]

Wow... after _theguest's amazing MSR fanfix, I've become addicted. I can't wait to DL all of these. Skimming the tracklists, I know it's going to be amazing. :) Likewise is the cover art - #3 is so beautiful...