So a friend of mine is coming to see Dev with me next month and he hasn't heard a lick of his stuff so he asked me to make a mix for him so he knew what he was getting into. So I was trying to make a mix for him and I wanted you guys to tell me what you thought. Just some notes on him, he's not a metal guy AT ALL, favorite band is Rush and likes lots of post-rocky stuff... and Kesha, for some reason. Anywho, I tried to pick a lot of Devin's not so heavy stuff (with a couple thrown in just so he gets a taste of it), and I tried to cover all of Dev's solo career, ie no SYL stuff. So here it is:

Seventh Wave
Funeral
Unity
Christeen
Bad Devil
Kingdom
Stagnant
Nobody's Here
Traveller
Slow Me Down
Vampolka
Vampira
Hyperdrive
Hyperdrive!
Coast
Blackberry
Radial Highway
Juular

Now I also need to cut out 2-3 songs to fit it on a CD so any of those you think that could go?

On another but related note, I had another friend a couple weeks ago who I told to listen to Ocean Machine. He likes Say Anything, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, etc, so, while it's a bit of leap, I imagined he'd like it. Well I last.fm stalked him and he only listened to Seventh Wave and nothing else. Here's what I don't get... HOW IN HOLY HELL CAN YOU LISTEN TO SEVENTH WAVE AND NOT IMMEDIATELY WANT MORE?!?!?!?!?!?! GAH! I dun not get it. I just... I just don't understand...

[Octillus]

Dude, welcome to my world. I have like one local friend who listens to Dev, uno. Basically, just due to wall of sound production and other factors, there's a high entry point to his stuff. It's always been this way. It's not METAL enough for the really RAWR I'M METAL guys, anymore, and then a ton of those guys don't really like SYL either... at least out here.

I don't stop trying, but ultimately it's material that doesn't do much for some people who passively listen, unfortunately.

I'd cut Slow Me Down and Unity (I ADORE Unity, but for your mix I'm not sure it fits). Or one of the Hyperdrives if you can stand it.

Dude, welcome to my world. I have like one local friend who listens to Dev, uno. Basically, just due to wall of sound production and other factors, there's a high entry point to his stuff. It's always been this way. It's not METAL enough for the really RAWR I'M METAL guys, anymore, and then a ton of those guys don't really like SYL either... at least out here.

I don't stop trying, but ultimately it's material that doesn't do much for some people who passively listen, unfortunately.

I'd cut Slow Me Down and Unity (I ADORE Unity, but for your mix I'm not sure it fits). Or one of the Hyperdrives if you can stand it.

Yeah, it's really fucking annoying, I'm the only Dev fan I know (personally anyway). Been slowly converting the girlfriend and she likes him (especially some of his songs, like Ih-ah! and his slower stuff) but when I'm like "OH MY GOD DEVIN IS SELLING HIS ACOUSTIC ALBUM FJWGJWPIJGWNGINBUBVUAOEBV!!!!!!" the response is usually, "Oh, well, that's cool." Sigh. So been trying to get some of my friends into it but your right, it's an uphill battle. It takes a taste I guess not many people I know have. Which is why I love the forums, I can geek out all I want

Yeah I think I might cut one of the Hyperdrives, I just love them both so much for such different reasons. As for Slow Me Down, I dunno, maybe I'm in the minority but it's one of my favorite Dev songs. Something about it just connects with me so deeply. And Unity I might cut, I just thought with my buddy coming from a post-rock world that one might connect on the sort of "minimalist" vocals, if you will.

I would suggest to start with

Truth
Christeen
Bad Devil

Those three literally blew me away when i was a virgin... (Works only with good speakers )

Another strong suggestion is Deep Peace. I played Terria once to a Dream Theater-Fan and i remember him saying that "Deep Peace" did it for him. "Unity" only works for me in combination with Dynamics. "Noisy Pink Bubbles" is a great one, too...

Oh, and Suicide. Damn! Devin just don't fit on single disc!

No Life?! WHAT IS THIS?!
Other than that, it's a good list!
I know from experience that Earth Day tends to appeal to people from first listen. Even non-metalheads.

Limiting this to no more than two per album so it'd fit on one CD:

Life
Night
Truth
Christeen (or Bad Devil)
Material
Deep Peace
The Fluke
Storm
Vampira
Hyperdrive (Ziltoid version)
The Greys
Coast
Supercrush
Juular

Those are probably the catchiest songs I can think of, at least at the moment. Depending on what kind of music they like you might want to swap some for heavier softer songs, since this list is mostly middle-of-the-road stuff.

Seventh Wave
Funeral
Unity
Christeen
Bad Devil
Kingdom
Stagnant
Nobody's Here
Traveller
Slow Me Down
Vampolka
Vampira
Hyperdrive
Hyperdrive!
Coast
Blackberry
Radial Highway
Juular

If it were my mix I'd probably cut down on the poppier songs. I think it'd be a mistake to throw just the "easiest-to-get-into" songs at someone who enjoys Rush and a lot of post-rock, which is quite involving music. So some of the stuff like "Traveller" and "Stagnant" could definitely go. I'd actually encourage to have more of the epic stuff like "Earth Day" and "Deadhead". Therefore I'd also switch "Juular" to perhaps "Stand".

But things like Funeral, Unity, Christeen, Kingdom, Nobody's Here, Hyperdrive and Coast are songs that need to STAY on the mix imo. Those are some of the songs that I loved on first listen.

Take it or leave it, but that's my advice

Here would be my list

Life
Funeral

Truth
Christeen

Kingdom/Material

The Fluke
Deep Peace

Storm
Slow Me Down

Triumph
Vampira

Hyperdrive
The Greys

Trainfire

Supercrush!

Juular/Sumeria

Kawaii/Feather


These wouldn't necessarily be the best songs. Just the most accessible ones i guess. You have to let 'em find the "Soul Driven"s and the "Deadhead"s on their own to seal the deal.

Ki
Lady Helen
Coast
Terminal
Ki

Ziltoid
Hyperdrive
The Greys

Terria
Tiny Tears
Earth Day

Accelerated Evolution
Slow Me Down
Deadhead

Synchestra
Let It Roll
Pixillate

Physicist
Kingdom

Ocean Machine
Seventh Wave
Life

Infinity
Bad Devil
Christeen

Addicted
Ih-Ah!
Supercrush!

Ghost/Ghost 2
Texada
Seams
Radial Highway
Watch You

Deconstruction
Stand
Sumeria

I'd encourage using tracks from each individual album as a broad sample.

From someone who went from Rush (the unconventional fan who prefers the new stuff) to Devin, I asked for some music recommendations on the Rush forum, got Devin Townsend, listened to Seventh Wave on youtube, and then I listened to eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeverything. Ocean Machine wiped the floor with every other album I'd ever listened to at the time. Also I like post rock but that's a new thing for me . So I would definitely include Seventh Wave, Earth Day, Deep Peace, Bastard OR Death of Music in your mix somewhere. Probably Bastard because you might spoil the ending of OM if you listen to Death somewhere else for the first time. Earth Day still feels like the blurb of Devin's music.

That friend who didn't seek out more Devin after OM, shame on him. How can you not be curious? Maybe he didn't listen to the whole album? Maybe his ears broke? Who knows.

Thanks everybody, really good suggestions. And to Faffy... GAH! Your right! How could I forget Life? Jeez, I is dumb... Well did a few changes, and I agree, it was too populated with "poppy" so to speak songs just to try to increase accessibility. So I changed it a bit, but still need to cut out about fifteen minutes of music I think to fit it onto one album. I would do two but my friend has an incredibly short attention span so I think one CD is about as much as he can handle. So, out of these, I need to cut either 2 longer songs or 3-4 shorter songs... help?

Seventh Wave
Life
Funeral
Christeen
Bad Devil
Stagnant
Deep Peace
Earth Day
Kingdom
Slow Me Down
Vampolka
Vampira
Hyperdrive
The Greys
Coast
Supercrush!
Blackberry
Radial Highway
Juular (I would pick Stand but that just makes it even harder to put onto one album)

Ideas? I'm considering just cutting Juular all together as I'm almost positive my friend will hate it... but it's another part of Dev I think needs represented. GAH, I hate decisions. Especially when it comes to Dev tunes, they all mean so much to me in so many different ways.

That friend who didn't seek out more Devin after OM, shame on him. How can you not be curious? Maybe he didn't listen to the whole album? Maybe his ears broke? Who knows.

Well all he listened to was Seventh Wave, and after hearing that, I have no idea how you can't listen to the rest of the album. Makes no sense. I agree, his ears done gone and broke. Big fat sigh.

Tis' a tough decision.

I'm not too sure but I do know that I would take out Vampolka. As awesome as that track is, it serves no real purpose for other than being an intro to Vampira.

That's such a good all around list gun to head, personally I would get rid of vampolka/ira, since you have Bad Devil (or vice versa) there and they share a vibe, and Stagnant since you have Earth day + slow me down (I'm trying to link similar songs I guess), and swap Juular for Praise the Lowered.

When the poem started being read, (Seventh Wave) and that big swell of sound kicked in I was hooked. Thought the into was Devin too! My favourite sample in a song, and I listen to a lot of EBM and electronica. Hopefully the guy you're showing this CD to will share the sentiment

A suggestion I would make is to not do it in chronological order. If you are trying to get someone hooked, start the CD with what songs you think will make the best impression on your friend. Let your other friend be the example. They obviously didn't care for "Seventh Wave," so they didn't even bother with the rest of the album.

Also, don't feel you need to represent every album. If you are trying to get someone latched on, then present them with the music you really think they will like, and not with what you hope they'll like. Devin is extremely diverse, and that can be really hard to digest for some folks. Don't try to force feed them! Give them what you think they'd really like, and let them search out the rest if they want.