Friday, October 26, 2012

October, 2012, Colour Bomb. For Jacob





I had a few ideas for this, but ended up going with color songs that I like, and when my OCD-ness took over, I grouped them by colour. Good times!

You can download it here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80875307/ColourBomb.zip
  1. The Rolling Stones - She’s A Rainbow -- This was the first song I thought of when I heard the theme...Jacob actually gave me the record that this song is on -- Their Satanic Majesties Request -- for my birthday a long time ago, so I thought it was appropriate to start with.
  2. The Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes -- One of my favorite songs of all time. Beautiful.
  3. Galaxie 500 - Blue Thunder -- Embarrassingly I've just recently gotten into this band while reading Dean Wareham's autobiography. I really like 'em!
  4. Split Lip Rayfield - Blue Tick Hound -- I miss Kurt.
  5. International Submarine Band - Blue Eyes -- Gram Parsons before he was Gram Parsons. Some great songs on this record.
  6. Thurston Moore - Silver>Blue -- Thought about removing this song, since there is a SY song later on in the mix, but I think it's a really cool song.
  7. The Knitters - Silver Wings -- John Doe doing Merle. I love John Doe's voice. So sad sounding.
  8. The Clash - White Man In Hammersmith Palais -- According to Encyclopedia Britannica, The Clash are the most important rock band in the world, and this, IMHO,  is the best song ever!
  9. Sonic Youth - Green Light -- This song reminds me of my apartment in college, sitting around getting drunk and stoned, listening to Sonic Youth in the darkness, with only a green light shining in the distance.
  10. Fruit Bats - Heart Like An Orange -- One of the better songs on their latest album.
  11. Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Yellow Brick Road -- Wasn't planning on including a Beefheart song, but I really love this song (and this album).
  12. The Pogues - A Pair Of Brown Eyes -- Reminds me of my dog Shane...
  13. Circle Jerks - When The Shit Hits The Fan -- Went back and forth trying to decide whether or not to put this on. Finally decided to. Oi vay the brownness!
  14. Small Faces - Red Baloon -- I like it when Ronnie Lane sings. He and Steve Marriott share the singing on this song...
  15. Beat Happening - Red Head Walking -- The first Beat Happening song I ever heard, and still my favorite!
  16. Minor Threat - Seeing Red -- So angry...so, so angry.
  17. Arthur & Yu - Black Bear -- I wish this band was still around, for many reasons. I love this song.
  18. Tom Waits - Big Black Mariah -- So many "black" songs to choose from, but I wanted to include a Tom Waits song, so this is it.
  19. David Bowie - Black Country Rock -- A very stony song off of my favorite Bowie record.
  20. The Paragons - Black Bird Singing -- Token ska song. I really like their take on Black Bird.
  21. Spoon - Black Like Me -- One of my favorite Spoon songs.


Monday, October 22, 2012

CHROMA CLAP

Sounds like something I don't wanna catch. 

Title: Chroma Clap
Recipient: Liam Barksdale



Tracklist
1. Dawn - Brian Jonestown Massacre
2. Pretty Green - The Jam
3. Black and White Town - Doves
4. Golden Brown - The Stranglers
5. Golden Years - David Bowie
6. Blue Jeans - Ladytron
7. Blue Jeans - Blur
8. White Lines - Grandmaster Flash
9. Temptation - New Order
10. Chord Organ Blues - Daniel Johnston
11. Colours - Donovan
12. Pale Blue Eyes - The Velvet Underground
13. Bros - Panda Bear
14. Mr. Blue Sky - E.L.O.


Artist's Statement:
Color is ever changing with our moods and actions. In my eyes, a color bomb should be explosive, shattering hues and emotions in every direction. It's also both destructive and constructive. You have to break the packaging to get it out, and you get extra space on the flash drive inside to continue it's chameleon-like journey in color.  

This mix mainly calls out colors by name in the lyrics, though I did add two which I felt really emanated various colors. The first, "Dawn" by BJM, since the rising sun invokes an incredible amount of colors, and the second Bros by Panda Bear. Got really attached to having this one on the mix even though it's 12 minutes long. It takes me on such a journey, I'd never noticed its length before. Liam mentioned that he liked the color blue, so I focused on that for a bit as well. 





I wrote the artist's statement out on tiny scrolled up papers inside, so it'd really explode when you opened it. The tracklist folds out from the lid in various colors. Uh yea!!!!! Sorry I am so late ARGH!


Sunday, October 14, 2012

Color Bomb, Bitches

Title: Color Bomb, Bitches
Recipient: Michael Ashby




1. THE MUSIC MACHINE - Double Yellow Line
2. MIKAL CRONIN - Green and Blue
3. BEES - Voices Green and Purple
4. ELVIS COSTELLO - Greenshirt
5. ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI - Bright Lit Blue Skies
6. LADYTRON - Blue Jeans
7. THE BATS - Made Up in Blue
8. DAVID BOWIE - Sound and Vision
9. PRINCE - Computer Blue
10. ROXY MUSIC - Grey Lagoons
11. JEFF BECK - Hi Ho Silver Lining
12. ELECTRIC PRUNES - I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night
13. THEE OH SEES - Rainbow
14. NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS - Red Right Hand
15. BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB - Red Eyes and Tears
16. ROBERT JOHNSON - They're Red Hot
17. T. REX - Ride a White Swan
18. DAVID BOWIE - White Light/White Heat
19. PIXIES - Into the White
20. GORILLAZ - White Light
21. THE BLACK ANGELS - Black Grease
22. THE KINKS - Big Black Smoke
23. THE BEATLES - Old Brown Shoe
24. THE DAMNED - Born to Kill

[please note unicorn stationary]




This compilation is meant to sound like lit fireworks in a washing machine. All of the songs have a color (or colorful entity) in the title or lyrics, I grouped like colors with one another, while trying not to jeopardize the flow of the album. It's intended to be a fun, fucked up rainbow to be listened to while drunk, or wishing you were.

In his questionnaire, Michael said that his dreams are extremely colorful and intense, which is why I included the Electric Prunes song. The last song on the album, "Born to Kill" was included in honor of his mythical forest creature's lust for tourist blood. 

Hope you like the mix Michael, I had fun making it, despite an epic beer spill ruining the first version of the album art.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Indian Summer

Theme: Color Bomb
Title: Indian Summer
Recipient: Bob Martin




I put together the mix on an airplane flight from Seattle to London - 9 hours of uninterrupted nerdery. At first I was heading toward doing something about the color red. And then I decided to call it “Incandescent” and focus on colors in the sunny side of the spectrum - yellow, orange, red, etc. I bought a bunch of glass vials and with the help of my daughter, started finding things around the house, yard and neighborhood that were yellow, orange, and red, trying to get as many different kinds of things as I could. It ended up being a lot of natural materials: various leaves, honey and dead bees from our beehive, berries, crushed lava rocks, turmeric, sunflower petals, chili powder and peppers, a lock of my daughter Izzy’s hair, dandelion petals, feathers from my chicken Rosie, pine needles, a burnt match, and tree sap. Things started to feel more like autumn, especially with all of the organic materials drying out and fading slightly in color, so I changed the mix name to Indian Summer. The liner notes are rolled up as a little scroll and inserted into one of the vials. The base I made from leftover elm lumber from EMP’s Nirvana exhibition. The elm came from a tree that fell on land owned by Gray’s River Grange in SW Washington, and Krist Novoselic from Nirvana is Grange Master there. I bought the wood from him for the exhibit and the monies went to the Grange. There were lots of leftover pieces with some good thickness. It’s pretty wood. I cut it, used a jointer to square it up, drilled the holes with Forstner bits, cut the CD slot with an oscillating multi-tool (note the smell of burnt wood - bonus!) and after sanding, did a light walnut stain and a beeswax coat. Ultimately, I wanted to create something that sounded awesome and could be a cool, minimal-ish, but quasi-scientific/natural history feeling.

Track listing/Liner notes:

1. Boards of Canada – Dandelion (Geogaddi, Warp, 2002)
This has a nice dreamlike dog-days of summer quality that I like, complete with Leslie Nielsen talking about underwater lava floes. The dandelion referred to in the title and song is referring to a deep sea anemone.

2. The Beakers – Red Towel (Red Towel 7” single, Mr. Brown, 1980)
Awesome skronky No-Wave from 1980 Seattle about hanging out on the beach on a … Red Towel.

3. David Bowie – In the Heat of the Morning (Live on BBC, 1968)
“In the heat of the morning, in the shadow I’ll clip your wings. And I tell you I love you, in the heat of the morning.” -- the lyrics are kind of weird and serial killerish, but what a great song. Maybe it’s because that lyric makes me think of “Polly” by Nirvana (“Let me clip your dirty wings”). This is a live BBC version of the song, which was on his debut LP.

4. Caribou (Manitoba) – Cherrybomb (Up in Flames, Domino, 2003)
I love Caribou, especially the older stuff where it’s mostly him playing instruments and cutting up shit by himself in his house.

5. Loretta Lynn – Little Red Shoes  (Van Lear Rose, Interscope, 2004)
I like to think that she is just telling this story in the studio and someone just recorded it and then they wrote a killer groove around it. Who knows.

6. Squarepusher – My Red Hot Car (My Red Hot Car, 12” single, Warp, 2001)
My old boss Jim Fricke played this for me when it came out, and at the time it kind of blew me away, how awesomely bizarre the breakdown in the song is.

7. King Crimson – Happy Family (Lizard, Island, 1970)
I’m not sure how many people listen to this era of King Crimson. People usually are totally put off by Adrian Belew-era or later wankery, but the first three albums are pretty amazing weird art rock that aren’t in the prog realm at all. Lizard is my favorite of this era. This song is about the breakup of the Beatles.

8. Flin Flon – Red Deer (A-OK, Teenbeat, 1998)
This band was so killer. Awesome on record, awesome live. Nattles wrote such great bass lines, and their drummer was so robotic in the best way. The best indie rock spy music ever.

9. Guided by Voices – Hot Freaks (Bee Thousand, Scat, 1994)
A classic. How can you not love this song. Robert Pollard’s bullshit lyrics are sung with such conviction that I need to find meaning in them: “She took me to the new church and baptised me with salt.” What does it mean?!

10. Hella – The Devil Isn’t Red (Acoustics, 5 Rue Christine, 2006)
I’ve never liked Hella. They grated me in the same way that a lot of free jazz does. I feel like I’m not smart enough or masochistic enough to appreciate it. Like with severe math rock or black metal. BUT, for some reason I love this “acoustic” version of this song. The electric version, not so much.

11. Looper – Burning Flies (Up A Tree, Sub Pop, 1999)
Side project of the bass player from Belle and Sebastian. Early electro-indie-whatever. Back when not many people seemed to be doing that in the indie realm. Anyway, great tune.

12. Momus – Old Friend, New Flame (The Little Red Songbook, Le Grand Magistery, 1998)
I had to review this CD for the Seattle Weekly in 1998. I didn’t know anything about this guy, and still don’t, but I guess that he’s released 20 albums or something. I love how happily evil it is.

13. Santo & Johnny – Summertime (Summertime / Caravan, 7” single, Sonet, 1960)
This has to be one of the most beautiful songs of all time.

14. Brian Eno – Zawinul / Lava (Another Green World, Island, 1975)
It’s never wrong to include a song from Another Green World. I wonder if Eno just really liked Joe Zawinul - the song certainly sounds like his atmospheric stuff on Miles’ In a Silent Way, etc.
 

15. Low – Sunflower (Things We Lost in the Fire, Kranky, 2001)
Sometimes Low just makes me sad, but this song, just fills me mentally with relief and delicious happiness, even though the lyrics (“when they found your body / giant X’s on your eyes”) seem pretty dark.

16. Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1 (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Merge, 1998)
I don’t know what this song is about, and it’s almost too precious, but still on the side of dysfunctionally great.

17. Fennesz – Endless Summer
(Endless Summer, Mego, 2001)
This makes me want to hang out and watch a long, slow sunset.

18. Syd Barrett – Golden Hair (Octopus / Golden Hair, 7” single, Harvest, 1969)
Poor Syd. His stuff is so great because he’s so tragically off. There’s not much to this song, but it feels so gravid with weird emotion.

19. Wire – Heartbeat (Chairs Missing, Harvest, 1978)
An album like Chairs Missing is a good example of why I never liked the Ramones. I have to admit, I am a fan of snobby art school punk. I almost put Big Black’s cover of this song on here instead, but the original felt better, since this mix has a more mellow and less abrasive vibe.

20. Tape & Minamo – Honey Buzzard (Birds of a Feather, Headz, 2007)
Tape and Minamo separately are amazing, textural, heady, fantastic. There must be something about the Swedes and the Japanese working together. It feels like a slow, glowing , growing denouement to the season.

21. Broken Social Scene – Pitter Patter Goes My Heart (You Forgot It in People, Paper Bag, 2002)
A pretty way to go out.


Bob, enjoy -jacob

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE

Mix recipient: Rosa
Title: Hot Tub Time Machine
1.  Aquarius Sabotage – The Flaming Lips (colors pretty much all over the place..)
2.  Son Of Mr. Green Genes – Frank Zappa (do acid kids!!!)
3.  Rainbo Conversation – Stereolab (conversation, after witnessing a double rainbow)
4.  Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys (the sounds of the sounds of a radiant sunset at the zoo)
5.  Rainbows – Dennis Wilson ("raaaaaaiiiiinnnnnbooows, ..off'ma shooooouuullderrrzzz)
6.  Symphony Space – Spiritualized (music designed for wild waves rides)
7.  Light Black – Toro Y Moi (all the colors meet at the event horizon)
8.  Electric Counterpoint I, Fast – Joergen Brilling (Steve Reich)(royygeebivv...)
9.  Soul Vibrations – Dorothy Ashby (plucked from the goddess herself in full spectrum)
10. Lagos City – Asiko Rock Group (HOLY FUUUUNNKKKAAAAAYYYY MELTDOWWWNNN)
11. She’s A Rainbow – London Symphony Orchestra (Rolling Stones)(let there be light)
12. Pink Moon – Nick Drake (basically, relax.. it ain't over yet)
13. Kinder Blumen – Real Estate (feel the soft, ethereal tones in this colorful emo number)
14. Grazing in the Grass – Hugh Masekela (you'll be grazin' after this, man)
15. I Feel Like the Mother of the World – Smog (it's all a vivid dream)
16. A Rainbow In Curved Air – Katrina Krimsky (Terry Riley) (Good Morning, again.)
Colors form the basis of our visual world. It is without a doubt a small portion of information that the Universe provides us with in the entirety of the electromagnetic spectrum: radio waves, gamma, ultraviolet, microwaves, etc; all of which we are hardly aware of. That said, my interpretation of this mix combines more of the synæsthetic notions of the color in music..the texture and feel of the songs and words. It's mostly instrumental with a smorgasbord in genre, recent and older stuff too. Some themes are provided with Rosa’s dream descriptions: “grazing in the grass”. The artwork is much more to do with the strange dreams for example: eggs, mythical creatures such as King Kong and of course the Hot Tub Time Machine (pictured). No doubt the Hot Tub Time Machine will absorb you in the swirling globular particle-wave fields of chrono-synclastic infundibula and spit you out into a physical materialization in music. Bon-appetit!

Friday, September 7, 2012

What the fudge? Finally, impending doom!


IMPENDING DOOM

Recipient: Anna Kronzer



1. Boys Next Door - "Shivers" -- The very first line of this song says it all. I've loved this song since I first heard it played in the movie "Dogs In Space" (starring a young [and alive] Michael Hutchence)
2. Cat Stevens - "Trouble" -- Another song that hit me when I heard it played in a movie, this time "Harold and Maude"
3. The Awkward Stage - "Dandelion" -- This is a very beautiful song written and performed by my friend Shane. Dandelions seem very apocalyptic to me, kind of like cockroaches. “Feet that have trampled you, and the bees that have sampled you” is my favourite couplet in this song.
4. Bauhaus - "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" -- I just really wanted to include a Bauhaus song on this mix, but I thought it would be too easy to just include one of their darker songs. I've always loved this song...it sounds so happy, but... Eat jelly, sandwich bars and barbed wire!
5. Curtis Mayfield - "Pusherman" -- Hmmmm...I think I put this on here just because I've been buying Curtis Mayfield vinyl lately and he deserves to be heard! Plus, everyone should watch Superfly!
6. Echo & The Bunnymen - "The Killing Moon" -- Heartbreaking song I've always loved...
7. Firebug - "Influenza Tropical" -- Needed something not so dark, so how about a cozy little Brazilian ska song to break things up. The name of the song still invokes apocalypsus!
8. Dinosaur Jr. - "Freak Scene" -- I don't think J. Mascis has ever written a happy song, not that he ever should...just sayin'.
9. Joy Division - "Dead Souls" -- This has been my favourite Joy Division song since I first heard it when I was 16 years old (that's a looooong time!).
10. The Pogues - "Haunted" -- I was actually looking for Shane Macgowan's solo version of this song, but I couldn't find it. Still, one of the few later Pogues songs I really like.
11. Portastatic - "Through With People" -- I'm through with people. Sometimes I totally agree...
12. Sonic Youth - "Expressway To Yr. Skull (Madonna, Sean And Me)" -- Cheeky title for one of my fave Sonic Youth songs.
13. Minutemen - "This Ain't No Picnic" -- Was talking about this song with my friend and how much we love it, and how we were going to play a cover of it next time our band plays.
14. Van Halen - "Runnin' With The Devil" -- This song reminds me of living in California in the 70s and 80s; my friend's brother had a Datsun pickup truck that he would park in his driveway and blast this album out of the truck. I hated it back then, but have come to love it!
15. Claw Hammer - "The People in my Peephole" -- I couldn't make a mix tape without putting a song from my favorite band, and this song is very dark. "Can you trust a preacher with a boner under his book? Can you trust a doctor with a smile under his mask?"
16. The Sundays - “Here’s Where The Story Ends” -- walked into a cafe a couple of weeks ago and this song was playing. Was very significant for me. I hope to have a little souvenir of this terrible year...
17. Fruit Bats - "Beautiful Morning Light" -- My current obsession...just love listening to this song and playing it. I wanted to end this compilation on a positive note!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

For Those Facing Impending Doom

129 Meters Volume 1
Title: For Those Facing Impending Doom: The End, In Three Phases

Recipient: Jacob McMurray

Track List:


  1. Ty Segall - Die Tonight
  2. Pulp - The Fear
  3. Graham Coxon - People of the Earth
  4. Kurt Bloch - Oh Maaan
  5. Jonathan Fire Eater - When The Curtain Calls For You
  6. Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams
  7. Adele - J'ai Peur Parfois
  8. Morrissey - Everyday is Like Sunday
  9. Erik Blood - Today's Lover
  10. Blur - To The End
  11. Dirty Beaches - Lord Knows Best
  12. Ash - Lose Control
  13. Angry Samoans - Lights Out
  14. Thee Oh Sees - The Dream
  15. The Nightgowns - Big Bang
  16. Elastica - Nothing Stays the Same
  17. The Clash - City of the Dead
  18. The Growlers - Graveyard's Full
  19. Spindrift - The New West
  20. Graham Coxon - All Has Gone
  21. Gene Austin - Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone

*secret track (embedded in track 21 is a lullabye cover of this song)


Liner notes:I wanted the mix to feel like three distinct phases, before, during, and after the end of the world.

A Few Words on the mix:
  • "You're gonna die tonight." -Ty Segall
  • "Here comes the fear again, the end is near again." -Pulp
  • "People of the earth, are you hearing me? I'm dropping you a line from the cosmic sea. There's nothing on the telly and the radio's shite, so I'm gonna blow you up with my meteorite." -Graham Coxon
  • "Everything is changing, and there's nothing that I can do." -Tame Impala
  • "Your blonde hair that I love is slipping through my fingers. How much longer will it be mine? I am afraid sometimes." -Adele (not the modern british singer... but the 60s french one.)
  • "Come Armageddon, come." -Morrissey
  • It looks like we might have made it, yes, it looks like we made it to the end." -Blur
  • "Here comes the night, it is coming on. The lights are low and our records on." -Ash
  • "Don't you hear the blast of what's become so massive? Larger than Alaska, come on let me ask you. Louder than the black train, do you hear the big bang? Taking over the town, taking every sound." -The Nightgowns
  • "The streets are filled with dread" - The Clash
  • "The graveyard's full, we're running out of Earth. But we can use the bones to build another church." -The Growlers
  • "Skies black and blue, ill treated. Even the moon feels cheated." -Graham Coxon
  • The last song was included for this reason: Many decades after our civilization has faded from memory, World Wars 3 and 4 have devastated our planetary resources and disease has decimated our population, alien life forms will arrive to explore the vast wasteland once known as Earth. Along with paperback copies of Twilight, Bic lighters and canyons filled with Safeway bags… one group will discover an ancient battery-powered record player that has been kept in near-mint condition sealed in a WWII-era bomb shelter just outside of what was once known as Akron, Ohio. These foreign beings would, after some trial and error, successfully operate the device, and proceed to listen to this song in its entirety before looting the shelter for fire extinguishers and scissors (which have become wildly popular in their solar system for interior decoration.) In short, though we fucked our planet up hardcore, please don't talk bad about our species after we're gone.

Personal note:The two hardest things about this project were keeping the track list within the 80 minutes of a CD-R and trying to find music that Jacob might
not already have. Jacob- I hope I succeeded in that a little bit, and I hope you like it! Sorry to include the lullaby Aerosmith cover... I just couldn't help myself. I tried to include songs that fit lyrically with the theme, or just sounded like what I might imagine imminent doom to might sound like. I tried to steer the mix into a "Jacob-y" direction based on his answers to the questionnaire and what I know about his taste in music.

I created the packaging and album art almost 100% by hand (with the exception of the lettering, which I bought from the scrap booking section of a craft store.) The artistic renditions of the apocalyptic came from an old text book called "Our Universe". I used a lot of superglue, rubber cement and exacto kniving to create the "eco-wallet" from poster board and various thick papers that I had around the house.



"Our Universe" images included:
  • Post-apocalyptic wastleland in red
  • Post-apocalyptic wasteland in grey
  • Category 5 hurricane (as seen from space)
  • Volcanic eruption
  • Forest fire
I forgot to take pictures of the album, except for one on my phone. Sorry! Jacob... if you have any shots of it feel free to add them.





Saturday, August 18, 2012

The End Is Nigh

Mix recipient: Liam
Mix Title: The End Is Nigh

1. Neil Young  "Angry World"
2. The Black Heart Procession  "Broken World"
3. Bill Callahan  "America!"
4. Deer Tick  "Hell On Earth"
5. The Greenhornes  "Left the World Behind"
6. Parts & Labor  "Solemn Show World"
7. Le Loup  "Outside of This Car, The End of The World!"
8. Earth a Killya  "King Midas Sound"
9. Deerhunter  "Earthquake"
10. The Young Evils  "Darker Blue Bayou"
11. Mazzy Star  "Mary of Silence"

This mix tells the story of a world no more. The painstaking process and years of research to find the most fitting songs that reflect a post-lived Earth are here now for your listening pleasure. May the words speak volumes of our imminent doom, and may we one day find solace in our afterlife. Let's go forth knowing that we are mere mortals, we are beings of a higher power, and we are not above laughing when old people fall down. Like, totes. 


Armagideon Yago

Mix Title: Armagideon Yago
Recepient: Troy Nelson






Tracklist

1. Startup Chime - LADYTRON
2. Plaster Casts of Everything - LIARS
3. Bipolar - BLONDE REDHEAD
4. River Styx - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
5. Between Me and the Ground - DEAD MEADOW
6. The New West - SPINDRIFT
7. Cannon - THE WHITE STRIPES
8. On Your Own Again - SCOTT WALKER
9. Golden Hours - BRIAN ENO
10. Hearing Damage - THOM YORKE
11. Strange News From Another Star - BLUR
12. Die Tonight - TY SEGALL
13. Shot By Both Sides - MAGAZINE
14. Ice Age - JOY DIVISION
15. Everyday Is Like Sunday - MORRISSEY
16. When the Curtain Calls for You - JONATHAN FIRE EATER
17. Born Again - SUPERGRASS

Liner Notes?
The asteroid aptly named Armagideon Yago approacheth. Earth knows it is doomed. Yago crashes into a nuclear power plant in Russia. Chaos reigns and turns cities into desolate wild wastelands. Survivors are few and far between.You're in it alone. Suddenly, you bump into love while banning together to fight whatever horrible beast has taken over. But alas, aliens have landed to pillage the earth and its remaining inhabitants...so, you're effed.


--I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. The mix features a detachable asteroid magnet with Gideon Yago's face on it. There's also some La Brea Tarpit-ean dino bones on the inside of the case, for that lovely sense of forbode.  I can't take credit for the absolutely bitchin title though - that was all Jessi. Really enjoyed painting the hell out of this. I am nerdy and used a globe for accuracy. Hope it's to your liking Troy!!


Personal Note:
Admittedly horrible at remembering the names of songs, or even people for that matter, I found it difficult to find songs directly related to apocalypse. Instead, I went for songs that make me feel extremely uncomfortable, but I absolutely love. In my apocalyptic vision, it would start out with chaos and then turn into a spaghetti western apparently, where one wonders aimlessly searching for signs of life. You'd run across other folks eventually, and then it'd likely still be shitty, so I added the aliens in there too. With apocalypse comes rebirth, whether it be a personal, or actual apocalypse, so the last track got slapped on at the end.

I find it fascinating that a lot of us are picked Brian Eno songs!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Your Mongrel Mind

Recipient: Jessi Reed




Track Listing: 


I'm a bit ashamed to be posting this after seeing the complexity and packaging of Jacob's mix for Brady. Ah well, next time. 


Personal note on the execution of this mix:

Once I began brainstorming, a deluge of apocalypse appropriate songs filled my brain. I tried to widdle them down to the best songs and into the most cohesive mix I could. I'm a lyric person, so many of my choices were based on on relevance and/or intensity of lyrics. I also included a few songs about wolves since Jessi seemed a bit fixated on her fictional wolf friend. The mix is primarily focused on the experience of the apocalypse, from start to (maybe) end. Many of these songs can be thought of as representing one or multiple emotions, ranging from urgency, fear, humor, trepidation, despair, paranoia, sadness, resignation, and peace. I don't think there is one song on here that I don't love or that doesn't totally slay me. Although I'd already given them my own prescribed meaning, this project added a different layer and let me see them in a new way. In other words, I really enjoyed it. 

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Terminus Est




 

Mix Title: Terminus Est
Recipient: Brady Harvey (skythecoloroforangeade)
Track Listing: 

Disc 1: I Just Want to Start a Flame in Your Heart
The Breakup - 1. Heavy Vegetable – Doesn’t Mean Shit (1993) - 2. T. Rex – Broken Hearted Blues (1973) - 3. The Beatles – She Said She Said (1966) - 4. The Smiths – Ask (1986) - INTERLUDE - 5. Jacob McMurray – Steerpike (2008) - The Breakdown - 6. The Zombies – Care of Cell 44 (1968) - 7. Faust – Jennifer (1973) - 8. Bauhaus – Crowds (1980) - 9. White Fence – Your Last Friend Alive (2011) - 10. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – I See a Darkness (1999) - 11. Sonic Youth – Superstar (1994) - INTERLUDE - 12. Ástor Piazzolla – Tanguedia III (1986) - The Breaking - 13. Donovan – Season of the Witch (1966) - 14. Brian Eno – Blank Frank (1974) - 15. Freddie King – Going Down (1971) - 16. The Fall – Leave the Capitol (1981) - 17. Wire – Three Girl Rhumba (1977) - 18. The Ink Spots – I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire (1941)
 
Disc 2: This is the Line of Division
The Party - 1. Arthur Brown – Fire (1968) - 2. Big Black – Kerosene (1986) - 3. Gang of Four – I Found that Essence Rare (1979) - 4. The Hives – Declare Guerre Nucleaire (2000) - 5. Love – Seven & Seven Is (1966) - INTERLUDE - 6. Earth – Hung From the Moon (2008) - The Shit - 7. Justice – Genesis (2007) - 8. The Fall-Outs – Zombie (1994) - 9. The Elastik Band – Spazz (1967) - 10. Roy Brown – Butcher Pete, Part One (1949) - 11. Steven Jesse Bernstein – Come Out Tonight (1988) - 12. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Mercy Seat (1988) - INTERLUDE - 13. Suicide – Girl (1977) - The Glimmering - 14. Jeremy Enigk – Carnival (1996) - 15. The U-Men – Dig It a Hole (1987) - 16. Blondie – Atomic (1979) - 17. Max Frost & the Troopers – Shape of Things to Come (1968)
 
Disc 3: Lux Sit and Dance
The Dawning - 1. Brave New World – It’s Tomorrow (1967) - 2. Red Cross – Annette’s Got the Hits (1980) - 3. Danny Kaye & The Andrews Sisters – Civilization (1947) - 4. Miles Davis – Helen Butte/Mr. Freedom X (1972) - 5. Nick Drake – Black Eyed Dog (1974) - INTERLUDE - 6. Brian Eno – In Dark Trees (1977) - The Horizon - 7. The Go! Team – Phantom Broadcast (2007) - 8. Os Mutantes – El Justiciero (1971) - 9. Ennio Morricone – Una Pistola Per Ringo (1965) - 10. Syd Barrett – Octopus (1969) - 11. Gilberto Gil – Coragem pra Suportar (1968) - INTERLUDE - 12. James Blackshaw – White Goddess (2005) - The Redemption - 13. Lali Puna – Don’t Think (2001) - 14. Magnet – Gently Johnny (1973) - 15. Donald Byrd – Cristo Redentor (1963) - 16. Violent Green – Beautiful Child (1996) - 17. Tenniscoats – Lutie Lutie (2008) - 18. Karen O and the Kids – All is Love (2009)


 Liner Notes: 

 The Breakup
There’s a string that hangs from the sky – The air on that night was tempered like a knife – She’s making me feel like I’ve never been born – And if it’s not love, then it’s the Bomb that will bring us together

The Breakdown
You can tell me about your prison stay – Your red hair’s burning. Yellow jokes come out of your mind – A slim pixie, thin and forlorn – Your last friend alive – Can save me from this darkness – I love you. I really do

The Breaking
When I look out my window, what do you think I see? – The messenger of your doom and your destruction – I got my feet in the window, got my head on the ground – Exit this Roman shell! – Something is nothing. Nothing is Nothing – I don’t want to set the world on fire, I just want to start a flame in your heart

The Party
Fire, to destroy all that you’ve done – I was born in this town, lived here my whole life – See the girl on the TV dressed in a Bikini? She doesn’t think so, but she’s dressed for the H-Bomb – Declare guerre nucleaire – If I don’t start cryin’, it’s because that I have got no eyes

The Shit
Her pale face, it shakes my bones – People gonna think, yes they’re gonna think you’re a spazz – He’s hackin’ and wackin’ and smackin’, he just hacks, wacks, chopping that meat – The clock hurries like a terrified animal and stops, dribbling saliva – They are sick breath gathering at my hind

The Glimmer
The Lines made me perfect and came then. The light gave me dark – Wrapped in burlap, soaked in sweat, it’s ready to Grow! – Make it magnificent. Tonight, make me tonight – Let the old world make believe it’s blind and deaf and dumb, but nothing can change the shape of things to come

The Dawning
I don’t know where I am, and I don’t know who I am – Muscle Beach party, California sun – Don’t want no bright lights, false teeth, doorbells, landlords, I make it clear – The black eyed dog, he called at my door. The black eyed dog, he called for more

The Wasteland
The shadow of a strong man, with a gun in his hand, raised to protect the poor people of the hacienda – Meant even less to me than I thought, with a honey plough of yellow prickly seeds, clover honey pots and mystic, shining feed – Even those who have no courage to resist, have to find the courage to resist

The Redemption
I’m too slow for your talking, so quick your mouth moves – I put my hand on her belly, and she said, do you want to fill me? – Come back to me, beautiful child – Lutie, Lutie – Holes in history is where you’ll find me

Personal Note: I had a great time creating this for Brady. The mix came together pretty quickly, over a single evening under the influence of a lot of liquor. The packaging took a lot longer, but once I had the idea, it came together fairly rapidly. Part of me wishes I would have made two of them, so I could keep one!

Brady, I hope you like it.

I put many pics and too much information about the process of creating this here.