Tag: mix

New mix: Hurricane Irene

Well, here we are again, in the middle of a storm. So far, knock wood, it’s been a lot of rain and very little wind, but this will be the day that Massachusetts really gets it. So I threw together some music to weather the hurricane by.

  1. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan)
  2. Rain In the Summertime – The Alarm (Eye of the Hurricane (Remastered))
  3. Goodnight Irene – Tom Waits (Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards)
  4. Florida Hurricane – St. Louis Jimmy (Chess Blues 1947-1952)
  5. Goodnight Irene – Johnny Cash (Sun Recordings)
  6. I Can’t Stand The Rain – Ann Peebles (The John Peel Singles Box)
  7. The Rain Song – Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin Remasters)
  8. Rain – The Beatles (Past Masters, Vol. 2)
  9. Have You Ever Seen The Rain? – Creedence Clearwater Revival (Pendulum)
  10. Devil Sent The Rain – Charlie Patton (Founder of the Delta Blues)
  11. In The Rain – The Dramatics (The Stax Story: Finger-Snappin’ Good [Disc 3])
  12. When It Rains, It Really Pours – Elvis Presley (The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Complete 50s Masters)
  13. Rain (Falling From The Skies) – Frank Sinatra (The Complete Capitol Singles Collection)
  14. Comes a Hurricane – Shannon Worrell (The Honey Guide)
  15. Irene – Lead Belly (Where Did You Sleep Last Night?)
  16. Ballet For A Rainy Day (2001 Digital Remaster) – XTC (Skylarking)
  17. Blowin’ In The Wind – Bob Dylan (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan)
  18. Wild Is The Wind – Cat Power (The Covers Record)
  19. The Wind – PJ Harvey (Is This Desire?)
  20. Sauget Wind – Uncle Tupelo (Still Feel Gone)
  21. Rain Please Go Away – Alison Krauss (Lonely Runs Both Ways)
  22. Dry the Rain – The Beta Band (The Three EP’s)
  23. It Can’t Rain All the Time – Jane Siberry (City (collaborations))
  24. Goodnight Irene – Robert Cage (Can See What You’re Doing)

New mix: a piece of hope holding us together

End of summer is happy mix time. Now that I’m putting out only two mixes a year, it seems like one is downbeat and the other is happy. Lots of fun tunes in here, including a rare Shannon Worrell track that I had to pull off a 17 year old cassette tape.

  1. Moonlight In Glory – Moving Star Hall Singers (Sea Island Folk Festival)
  2. Sunflower – Low (Things We Lost In The Fire)
  3. Postcards from Italy – Beirut (Gulag Orkestar)
  4. The Ballad of Ronald Jeremy Hyatt – Justin Rosolino (The Leaves Are Right to Tremble – EP)
  5. Boy With a Coin – Iron & Wine (The Shepherd’s Dog)
  6. Lighthouse – Shannon Worrell (Shannon Worrell (EP))
  7. Lowdown – My Morning Jacket (At Dawn)
  8. You Can Have It All – Yo La Tengo (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out)
  9. Hex – Neko Case (The Tigers Have Spoken)
  10. Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (Up From Below (Deluxe Edition))
  11. Love And Anger – Kate Bush (The Sensual World )
  12. In Liverpool – Suzanne Vega (99.9 F°)
  13. Neither Heaven nor Space – Nada Surf (Let Go)
  14. My Back Pages – Bob Dylan (Another Side Of Bob Dylan)
  15. Begat Begat – Jane Siberry (Maria)
  16. Inside of Love – Nada Surf (Let Go)
  17. Give Up the Ghost – Radiohead (The King of Limbs)
  18. Polegnala e Todora – Bulgarian State Television Female Choir (Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares)

New mix: every day is getting straighter

This mix has been percolating a while. I didn’t know how to move beyond Jeff Buckley’s absolutely epic reading of his lament for his dead father, but it turns out that anger works remarkably well when played against grief and loss. And that’s how the rest of the mix went.

I make no apologies for the elegiac (some would say self indulgent) triple punch of the Death Cab, Cure, and Jane’s songs stacking up all together. Somewhere there is a sixteen year old who’s just broken up with his girlfriend who only wishes he could put that much misery together in one place on the mix that he’s going to send her.

Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s a cappella version of “To the Pines, to the Pines” is both more matter of fact and more chilling than the version by Leadbelly (and the bloodcurdling Nirvana cover it inspired).

  1. Dream Brother – Jeff Buckley (Mystery White Boy (Live))
  2. Careening with Conviction – Mission Of Burma (The Obliterati)
  3. Written In Reverse – Spoon (Transference)
  4. Company in My Back – Wilco (A Ghost Is Born)
  5. What Is Your Secret? – Nada Surf (The Weight is a Gift)
  6. Revelator – Gillian Welch (Time (The Revelator))
  7. The Queen Is Dead (Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty) – The Smiths (The Queen Is Dead)
  8. Pump It Up – Elvis Costello (The Very Best of Elvis Costello And The Attractions)
  9. Radio Cure – Wilco (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)
  10. Progress – Mission of Burma (Vs. )
  11. Transatlanticism – Death Cab for Cutie (Transatlanticism)
  12. Disintegration – The Cure (Disintegration)
  13. Then She Did… – Jane’s Addiction (Ritual De Lo Habitual)
  14. To The Pines, To The Pines – Bascom Lamar Lunsford (Ballads, Banjo Tunes, And Sacred Songs Of Western North Carolina)
  15. Einstein’s Day – Mission of Burma (Vs. )

New mixes: your scary 80s 7 and 8

We call this “unclogging the pipes.” I have probably 20 mixes in various partial states of repair, and it’s high time I start publishing them so that I can make room for the real stuff.

So here are two—maybe, dare I hope, my last two—80s mixes. As always, the first one is the stuff I’m ashamed (and secretly happy) to remember, while the second one is stuff I would have been proud to listen to had I known about it while I was growing up.

Your Scary 80s 7

  1. Be near Me – ABC (How to Be a Zillionaire)
  2. Always Something There to Remind Me – Naked Eyes (The Best of Naked Eyes)
  3. She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby (The Golden Age of Wireless)
  4. Your Love – The Outfield (Play Deep)
  5. Spies Like Us – Paul McCartney (Press to Play)
  6. Your Wildest Dreams – The Moody Blues (Anthology: the Moody Blues)
  7. Rain In the Summertime – The Alarm (Eye of the Hurricane (Remastered))
  8. Africa – Toto (Toto IV)
  9. No One Is To Blame – Howard Jones (Dream Into Action)
  10. The Captain of Her Heart – Double (The Captain of Her Heart)
  11. Life In a Northern Town – The Dream Academy (Rhino Hi-Five: The Dream Academy – EP)
  12. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight – Genesis (Genesis: The Hits – Turn It On Again)
  13. Sanctify Yourself – Simple Minds (Once Upon a Time)
  14. Higher Love (Full) – Steve Winwood (Back in the High Life)
  15. I Wanna Be a Cowboy – Boys Don’t Cry (Boys Don’t Cry)
  16. Pump Up the Volume (USA 12) – Colourbox (Best of Colourbox: 1982-1987)
  17. The Reflex – Duran Duran (Duran Duran: Greatest)

Your Scary 80s 8

  1. Gardening At Night – R.E.M. (Dead Letter Office)
  2. Alive and Kicking – Simple Minds (Once Upon a Time)
  3. You Be Illin’ – Run-DMC (Raising Hell)
  4. Do You Really Want 2 Hurt Me – Culture Club (Culture Club (Box Set))
  5. West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys (Please)
  6. Moments in Love – Art of Noise ((Who’s Afraid Of) The Art Of Noise?)
  7. Let the Day Begin – Michael Been AKA The Call (The Best of the Call)
  8. The Perfect Kiss – New Order (Low-Life)
  9. Fire Woman – The Cult (Sonic Temple)
  10. One Thing Leads to Another – The Fixx (20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Fixx (Remastered))
  11. Banned in D.C. – Bad Brains (Bad Brains)
  12. Rise Above – Black Flag (Damaged)
  13. Small Man, Big Mouth – Minor Threat (First Two 7″s)
  14. Kinky Sex Makes the World Go ‘Round – Dead Kennedys (Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death)
  15. I Want You Back – Hoodoo Gurus (Stoneage Romeo)
  16. Red – Mission Of Burma (Signals, Calls, And Marches)
  17. You Are My Friend – The Rain Parade (Emergency Third Rail Power Trip: Explosions In The Glass Palace)
  18. Jetfighter – Three O’Clock (Sixteen Tambourines/Baroque Hoedown)
  19. I Love Rock N’ Roll – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (I Love Rock N’ Roll)
  20. Beat Box – Art of Noise (Into Battle with the Art of Noise)

New mix: Happy time

The aftermath of a big flood feels like the right time to publish my first mix in about six months. Happy time is one part of a two part mix. This time, I might not ever get around to part two, because it’s the downside of this mix, and I’m enjoying the happy side too much.

Track list:

  1. Finest Worksong (Mutual Drum Horn Mix) – R.E.M. (Eponymous)
  2. Reena – Sonic Youth (Rather Ripped)
  3. Moby Octopad – Yo La Tengo (I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One)
  4. Scared Straight – The Long Winters (When I Pretend To Fall)
  5. Hot Pants Road – The J.B.’s (Pass the Peas: The Best of the J.B.’s)
  6. I’ll Take You There – The Staple Singers (Best of the Staple Singers)
  7. Helicopter – M. Ward (Transfiguration Of Vincent)
  8. Beautiful – Paul Simon (Surprise)
  9. Cello Song – Nick Drake (Five Leaves Left)
  10. It’s Not the Only Way to Feel Happy – Field Music (Field Music)
  11. Thirteen – Big Star (#1 Record – Radio City)
  12. Hopefully – My Morning Jacket (At Dawn)
  13. Fistful Of Love – Antony and the Johnsons (I Am A Bird Now)
  14. No Man in the World – Tindersticks (Can Our Love…)
  15. Happy Time – Tim Buckley (Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology)
  16. People Got a Lotta Nerve – Neko Case (Middle Cyclone (Bonus Track Version))
  17. Sweet Thing – Van Morrison (Astral Weeks)
  18. Number Two – Pernice Brothers (Yours, Mine and Ours)

Commentary: Did R.E.M. record “Finest Worksong” with the horns in mind, or was it a cynical touch by some producer when it was time to release the single? It reads as a brilliant move, though, 22 years later. I’m of two minds about “Reena”–such a simple song for Sonic Youth–but the fact that I can’t get it out of my head two years on settles it for me. Ditto “Moby Octopad”, which is less a song than an extended riff, but no less brilliant for that.

“Scared Straight,” on the other hand, is a song, and a flipping brilliant one. And the horns alone are worth the price of admission. The horns also provide a great segue into “Hot Pants Road,” which makes a very nice segue into “I’ll Take You There.” A nice little singer songwriter set–“Helicopter,” Paul Simon’s “Beautiful,” “Cello Song”–follows, before we get into the psychosexual set of “Thirteen,” “It’s Not the Only Way To Feel Happy,” “Hopefully,” and “Fistful of Love” (and only Lou Reed could set up that song).

And then the last set. I won’t say anything about it, except that “Sweet Thing” may be the greatest single song ever. How was it that I missed out on Astral Weeks for all this time?

(Update: now on Art of the Mix.)

New mix: september grrls

My latest mix, “september grrls,” did not start out to be (almost) all women artists, but it ended up that way. After strong releases this year from Shannon Worrell, PJ Harvey, Neko Case, and others, plus Kim Gordon’s contributions to the latest Sonic Youth… well, I couldn’t resist. Add to that a few songs that have been kicking around my library forever, waiting for a home, and you’ve got yourself a mix.

  1. This Is What You Do – Gemma Hayes (Hollow of Morning)
  2. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) – Kate Bush (Hounds of Love)
  3. Black Hearted Love – PJ Harvey & John Parish (A Woman a Man Walked By)
  4. Iamundernodisguise – School of Seven Bells (Alpinisms)
  5. Song To Bobby – Cat Power (Jukebox)
  6. Jericho – Greta Gaines (Greta Gaines)
  7. Lake Charles Boogie – Nellie Lutcher (Oxford American 2003 Southern Music CD No. 6)
  8. If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me) – The Staple Singers (The Stax Story: Finger-Snappin’ Good [Disc 3])
  9. When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (100 Days, 100 Nights)
  10. Diamond Heart – Marissa Nadler (Songs III: Bird On the Water)
  11. If I Can Make You Cry – Shannon Worrell (The Honey Guide)
  12. For Today I Am A Boy – Antony and the Johnsons (I Am A Bird Now)
  13. Massage the History – Sonic Youth (The Eternal)
  14. Crater Lake – Liz Phair (Whip-Smart)
  15. I’m an Animal – Neko Case (Middle Cyclone (Bonus Track Version))
  16. Who Is It (Carry My Joy On the Left, Carry My Pain On the Right) – Björk (Medulla)
  17. The Way I Am (Recorded Live on WERS) – Ingrid Michaelson (Be OK)
  18. Sweet Like You – Shannon Worrell (The Honey Guide)
  19. At Constant Speed – Gemma Hayes (Hollow of Morning)
  20. September Gurls – Big Star (#1 Record – Radio City)

New mix: Don’t be in love with the autograph

Again, posting the tracklist here because Art of the Mix is gone. I will send this one out, just as soon as I get around to sending the last ones out (yes, I’m aware that I’m about three months behind on that). Here’s, depending on the numbering system, 4.23 or JHNCD0035:

  1. The Arcade Fire, “Neighborhood 1: Tunnels” (Funeral)
  2. My Morning Jacket, “The Way That He Sings” (At Dawn)
  3. Big Star, “She’s a Mover” (Radio City)
  4. J-Live remixed by Steinski, “Them That’s Not (Cash Mix)” (What Does It All Mean?)
  5. Thao, “Bag of Hammers” (We Brave Bee Stings and All)
  6. Van Morrison, “Domino” (His Band and Street Choir)
  7. Sufjan Stevens, “Chicago” (Illinoise)
  8. The Reindeer Section, “Cartwheels” (Son of Evil Reindeer)
  9. The Long Winters, “Blanket Hog” (When I Pretend to Fall)
  10. Cat Power, “Free” (You Are Free)
  11. Vampire Weekend, “One” (Vampire Weekend)
  12. James Brown, “Bring It Up (Hipster’s Avenue)” (Star Time)
  13. Spain, “Dreaming of Love” (The Blue Moods of Spain)
  14. Freakwater, “Out Of This World” (Old Paint)
  15. Sonic Youth, “Rain on Tin” (Murray Street)
  16. Eva Cassidy, “Songbird” (Eva By Heart)
  17. Beck, “Diamond Bollocks” (Mutations) 

New mix: Funky President

  1. James Brown, “Funky President (People It’s Bad)”
  2. William S. Burroughs, “When Did I Stop Wanting to Be President”
  3. The Cure, “Primary (Morgan Studio Outtake 9/80)”
  4. Max Roach, “Freedom Now”
  5. Sam Cooke, “A Change Is Gonna Come”
  6. Virginia Glee Club, “I shall not die without a hope” (Testament of Freedom)
  7. Jay-Z and Danger Mouse, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”
  8. Youssou N’Dour, “Hope”
  9. Branford Marsalis, “Freedom Suite: Interlude”
  10. The Flaming Lips, “Suddenly Everything Has Changed”
  11. Arcadia, “Election Day”
  12. Extra Golden, “Obama (Live, KEXP)”
  13. Funkadelic, “One Nation Under a Groove”
  14. Bob Dylan, “Things Have Changed”
  15. Parliament, “Chocolate City”
  16. Lou Reed, “Voices of Freedom”
  17. Miles Davis, “Freedom Jazz Dance”

New mix: Power’s out in the heart of man

As so often happens as I’m putting mixes together, I’ve collected enough tracks for about three mixes since I published “picture of you where it began” back in May (“Blasphemous Rumors” was a one-off theme mix that didn’t dip into this pool). So I ended up splitting out this first set of tracks as the first go-round via a stochastic process of picking the first and last songs and removing every other song from the list. After a little re-ordering, it shaped up into the dark bullet below.

As previously announced, my mixes will no longer be appearing on Art of the Mix, but I’m not sure what the right way is to have them show up in the blog. In this case, the iTunes mix widget was just about right because all the tracks from the mix were available in the store (except for the Elvis Costello cut, which was the original version from Brutal Youth–and now I’m curious about the alternate version in the store). But going forward I’ll probably use some other method to publish the lists. Anyone got a favorite?

New mix: “Blasphemous rumors”

I haven’t posted a new mix for a while, and there are a few reasons for that. So I’m jumpstarting by posting a largely unedited theme mix, based on Estaminet’s Sacrilicious mix of a while back. It’s called “Blasphemous Rumors,” and it hits songs with Old and New Testament themes as well as good old fashioned breaking of the third (or second, depending) commandment.

This will also be the last mix I post on Art of the Mix unless a few things change. The site has had some problems with SQL injection vulnerabilities, and the developer chose to fix the vulnerabilities by filtering input–which is fine, but it means that you can’t create a mix with the word “drop” in it, even in a song title (e.g. “Dropkick Me Jesus”). Tip to the developer: the best way to avoid SQL injection is by whitelisting input and parametrizing your queries, not by blacklisting.

So does anyone have a recommendation for a replacement for Art of the Mix? It should ideally support uploading playlists from iTunes.

New mix: Picture of you where it began

pictureofyou.jpg
Inaugurating the new blog in style, here’s my latest mix, which started as a party and ended as a lullaby. Of course, the Art of the Mix service is down right now, but here’s a quick tracklist:

  1. Italian men, “Su Tenore A Ballu” (field recording)
  2. M.I.A., “Bamboo Banga”
  3. The Beatles, “She Said She Said”
  4. The Arcade Fire, “Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)”
  5. Vampire Weekend, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”
  6. Beirut, “Elephant Gun”
  7. Guided by Voices, “As We Go Up, We Go Down”
  8. Elvis Costello, “Clown Strike”
  9. Talking Heads, “Stay Up Late”
  10. Grandpaboy, “Psychopharmacology”
  11. Elvis Presley, “Crawfish”
  12. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, “100 Days, 100 Nights”
  13. Bob Dylan, “Call Letter Blues”
  14. Sonic Youth, “Shoot”
  15. Black Angels, “You in Color”
  16. Mission of Burma, “Dead Pool”
  17. Radiohead, “House of Cards”
  18. Frank Sinatra, “Last Night When We Were Young”
  19. Duke Ellington, “The Controversial Suite (Later)”
  20. Low, “In Metal”
  21. Big Star, “I’m In Love With a Girl”

Copies to the usual suspects on request; just leave a comment. (Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say that!)

Update: Art of the Mix came back online sometime since I wrote this, so the mix is linked now.

New (old) mix: the unapologetic liberal psychosis blues

A new mix minifeature kicks off today, inspired by the recent loss of my iTunes library. I was able to rebuild some mixes from Art of the Mix, but had to go back to j-cards from the original tapes for many of my playlists. At that point I decided that it was time to stop being embarrassed about my old mixes and just go ahead and post them, if for no other reason than so that I would have a back-up record of them later—but also so that I could transcribe some of my memories about what was going on at the time.

I started with my first self-consciously titled mix: the unapologetic liberal psychosis blues. The mix dates from my second year in college—in fact, if my rare handwritten date on the j-card is to be trusted, from right after Thanksgiving break, November 25, 1991. I was, if the playlist is any indication, knee deep in my contemporaneous love affair with the Pixies, just discovering Bauhaus and Joy Division, and working out from under the influence of U2’s Achtung Baby. I was still buying discs from the music services, including the Bob Dylan Bootleg set and the Jesus and Mary Chain. I was also digesting a stack of CDs that I had bought during the summer from the independent music shop in Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News, including a two-disc Hendrix compilation and a House of Love rarities disc.

In fact, for all its aggression and noise, this disc has my hometown written all over it. In addition to the stuff from the mall, I had been turned onto Nine Inch Nails and the Jesus and Mary Chain by a kid a year younger than me who used to go to my high school. I was trading tapes with friends, and my sister’s friends, and getting feedback about the Pixies from people who had seen U2’s show at the Hampton Coliseum where the Pixies opened for them.

But the tone of this mix was so much darker than anything I had made before. What brought that darkness? Maybe it was the second year of college. In fact, almost certainly it was—I was taking a more than full course load, 20 hours compared to the original 15, and I was freaking out. I was also, I feared, in danger of failing my first math course—I was in a math for physics majors course with third years and in way over my head. I was also being distracted by things that were much more interesting—literature, music, philosophy—and didn’t know what was going on. Didn’t I want to be a physicist?

I’m just now, 14 years later, realizing how confused I was and how much anger I had stirring in me as a result of what I was fearing was a waste of time, years spent as a science student, years not spent learning how to be a kid. I feel like I’ve been playing catch-up, in a way, ever since.

But none of that changes the fact that this is damned good music. It’s funny how the distance from those events actually makes the music that much better.