Earlier this summer I did a Guinea pig trial run of creating a free mix to download off the ol’ bloggity blog – Good Medicine Vol. 1, and it was received surprisingly well – so here’s the second installment. If like what you hear, support these bands, buy their music, see them live, you get the idea. These are supposed to be like those samples you get at Costco. Now go buy that whole box of corn dogs.

1. Shake It Out – Manchester Orchestra
2. I’ll Tell You What – J Roddy Walston & The Business
3. Sun Hands – Local Natives
4. Nobody Gets Me But You – Spoon
5. The Cave – Mumford & Sons
6. Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’ – Mayer Hawthorne
7. Age of Consent – New Order
8. So Insane – Discovery
9. Heartbeats – The Knife
10. Back In Your Head – Tegan & Sara
11. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – Arcade Fire
12. Ageless Beauty - Stars
13. Dog Days Are Over – Florence + The Machine
14. Be Healed – Paper Route
15. Holy Ghost – Flagship
16. Marathon – Tennis
17. I’m On Fire – Bruce Springsteen
18. Blackest Hair, Bluest Eyes – Chris Staples
19. When the Lights Go Out – Dan Auerbach

Click here to download.

* Cover photo via riftdweller
*And if any of the bands on here don’t want their music on the mix, just let me know and I’ll remove it promptly. Thanks.

via my iTunes – tracked by last.fm

It’s the weekend. Go watch a movie. But don’t go into it blindly. Here’s a helpful trilogy meter from Dan Meth to keep you away from those weak sequels. Unless of course your my wife, who doesn’t care where a movie falls in a trilogy as long as aliens, guns and/or explosions are involved. I’m a lucky man.

Proof that OCD people can’t just take a beach vacation. Jim Denevan is an artist who makes large format artwork with a big stick. And the sickest part is that they only last for a few hours before they’re gone forever, washed away by the ocean. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. I can tell you though, it’s incredible. Kinda makes those pictures of sunshines and hearts and initials you drew in the sand this summer look a little less awesome…

via my iTunes – tracked by last.fm

And there it was. Almost as fast as it came, it was gone. 31 days of awesome. And now it’s already 11 days into August. Here’s just a few of the highlights from quite possibly the greatest birthday month of my life:

1. My wife made me the equivalent of an advent calendar in July. 31 days. 31 gifts. 31 reasons why she loves me. Fellas, no lie – my hot lady owns.

2. July 4. On the lake. Yes, that lake. And it was as good as I remember it.

3.July 10: Wedding DJ-ing. My secret dream job. And not a crappy ‘everybody clap your heads’ type of wedding DJ. I want to cook the dance floor with tasty beats, Motown classics and no electric slide.

4. July 12: Brix with the Posse. Potentially my favorite restaurant. With a good majority of my favorite people. Perfect combo.

Oh yeah, and Cheslie the intern bought me a new pet. Meet Lucille, the office hamster. Awesome-fest.

5. July 15: Night of Worship. Just a reminder that I have the greatest job in the world.

6. July 17: Family Rib Night. The Sworth’s all together for first time in 6 months and 10 racks of competition ribs. Not much sweeter than that.

7. July 23-24: Camping and tubing in Boone, NC. S’mores. Hot dogs. Childhood friends. Abandoned flea markets. Phantom killers in pick-up trucks. And I wore a pair jorts for 40 hours straight. The stuff of legends and lore.

8. July 28-29: Staff Advance. Easily one of my favorite times of the year in the life of our church and my job. Fun, refreshing and a great reminder that what I do matters. Blessed and highly favored.

8. July 30-31: Hilton Head/Bluffton Bash 2010. Hanging out with the college crew/low-country bicycle gang. Good times.

Plus, piles and piles of softball, hanging with my foxy woman and spending time with good friends. I have the best life. Ever.

Birthday month has turned out to be one of the busiest months in quite sometime. Lots of work. Lots of fun. Lots of trips. Lots of friends. And there is still one week left. Expect a full report with some hot pics later this week. But for now, how about a little fun for your Monday morning, courtesty of Mayer Hawthorne and his sweet, feel-good retro soul rock n’ roll.

First off, I turned 27 on Monday. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow because my birthday is the third best holiday of the year behind Christmas and Easter. But for now, I’ll just leave you with a little birthday present from me to you. Check out this video of the Avett Brothers performing some of there songs in the office of NPR. I guarantee your office culture isn’t this awesome – “Hey Greg, can you tell the Avett’s to hold it down, I’m on the phone with a vendor.” Check out more NPR Tiny Desk performances like Phoenix, Ralph Stanley, David Rawlings & Gillian Welch, Tallest Man on Earth and John Vanderslice.

Grilled meat. Sunburn. Explosions. I’d argue there is no better way to celebrate a holiday. Hope you had a good one America.

And in case you were wondering, yes, July 4 is also the birthday of the ol’ bloggity blog. So take a look back for posterity’s sake. And yes I’m well aware the blog has come a long way since then. Hard to believe it’s been 4 years for RyanSworth.com. They grow up so fast…

In honor of the big double birthday, here’s some great videos that will make you love your country.

*The above was actually shot by my old pal Adam Hobbs, with vocals and music from none other than Chris Brown and Mack Brock. Ta dow.