Somewhat recently, KEXP ran a showcase of "Best Ending Songs" - a compilation of great finale songs. As I pondered an appropriate theme for the 2014 Summer Mix Series this struck me as an apt undertaking. Due to persona time constraints, a changing landscape for musical discovery and a tepid lack of participation I likely won't relaunch the project again.
But that's just one reason behind the theme choice. Ending songs are a great endeavor to explore as they almost always round off the sentiment of an album when done properly. There are a million memorable ones that I couldn't bring myself to include here (Nirvana's "All Apologies", LCD Soundsystem's "Home", ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down" to name but a few) and I could make another one of these mixes in a heartbeat. I restricted my choices to full-length album closers only and, honestly, proactively skipped some of the best due to time constraints (i.e. Spiritualized).
I picked a few curveballs but, mostly, I stuck with my favorites. If this is the final ship that sails for the Summer Mix Series, I wanted to catalog my favorites - even if they'd been included on previous mixes. I dare anyone not to love that Human Milk song.
