The Things I Like, Part: Then

As the casual blog reader may discover, I enjoy music.  Who doesn't?  But I also enjoy procrastinating for other would-be tasks by finding, rating, and eventually organizing new music into playlists for mixtapes (always delivered on non-tape formats, but you know what I mean).  I suppose the mixtapes I make fall into about 3 categories:  1) the mixes of the best new music that I've come across (recently a common form, since I've had a lot of time to be looking); 2) mixes of a certain artist or type of music that I would like to listen to or share with someone else; and 3) mixes of any type of artists whose songs I can organize into certain themes (though sometimes for specific persons).  I enjoy discovering, perusing, and sharing any of my favorite music, but it's the third type of mix that I like the most to make.  It's also the third type that I invariably reach for in lieu of anything else to listen to that is new or otherwise compelling me.

Have you been able to see where this is going?  I'd like to post--and give a little bit of explication for--a few of my favorite type 3's.  So here goes...and also here goes me at my most self-important.  I'd like to take this opportunity to remind myself what everyone else already knows:  I didn't make this music; I just arranged the songs in ways that are probably novel (and hopefully interesting).  But I should also add that the arrangement is key for why I enjoy making the mixes.  Maybe the songs have emotional meaning specific to me, but I'd like to think the track listing makes the mixes work as albums, not just compilations.  I hope anyone I share them with feels the same way.  Either way, I'll keep on making them.  Onwards!

2007 was the beginning of the modern age of JG mixes.  The first three mixes I'll list were made between the summer and the very end of that year.  The first is a summer sort of mix, inspired by how damn hot it was in Virginia that year.  I got a little bit worried, and put my anxiety down for posterity.

Thingz R gonna Δ: 

An end-times primer

1.      Wildlife analysis – Boards of Canada

2.      Amazon – M.I.A.

3.      There was sun – Devendra Banhart

4.      I don’t wanna die – The Unicorns

5.      Volcanoes – Islands

6.      A method – TV on the Radio

7.      I will (LA version) – Radiohead

                    8.      This just in – Out Hud

                    9.      Broken Household ApplianceNational Forest – Grandaddy

10.   Nuclear war [version 1] – Yo La Tengo

11.   Postcards from Italy – Beirut

                   12.   Bride of Rain Dog [instrumental] – Tom Waits

13.   Chromakey dreamcoat – Boards of Canada

14.   Great God Bird – Sufjan Stevens

15.   Young folks – Peter Bjorn and John

16.   Glassy dusty (wordless) – Grandaddy

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20.  Bonus track

OK, so by now you may have noticed the other things that I do that I'm over-proud of--the titles are usually unabashedly "cute" (this one may be the worst), and I've included a "bonus track" on each of the three from 2007 (and some from the future).  Bonus points if you can guess which song is the bonus track for these!

Next up is a mix I made for Halloween that year.

Pretty.Spooky: 

              Tricks & treats 2007

1.      Dirty knife – Neko Case

2.      Goblins and trolls – Quasi

3.      The amazing sounds of orgy – Radiohead

4.      Three days – Willie Nelson

5.      Mr. Moonlight – Clinic

6.      The color of the fire – Boards of Canada

7.      Moonlight drive – The Doors

8.      #1 – Animal Collective

9.      Reckoner – Radiohead

10.   It’s over – The Beta Band

11.   Ostrich &chirping – Elliott Smith

12.   Rose-petal-ear – Califone

13.   Nothing is ever lost or can be lost my science friend – Liars

14.   Where I end and you begin – Radiohead

15.   Dracula – Gorillaz

16.   I shatter – The Magnetic fields

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20.  Bonus track

This was the first time I made a conscious effort to have a "featured artist."  In this case, it was Radiohead, which I selected NOT because I love them in an undying fashion, but because they go very well with the theme.  Moving on.

 

Winter chill

(Hold someone tight)

1.      Christmas blues – Willie Nelson

2.      Walkaways – Counting Crows

3.      Cymbal rush – Thom Yorke

4.      Oktober im park – März

5.      Hey mama wolf – Devendra Banhart

6.      Unknown song – Unknown Artist

7.      Carousel – Iron & Wine

8.      Work – RJD2

9.      Your girl – Blue States

10.   Van Helsing boombox – Man Man

11.   Ashes on the ground – Yo La Tengo

12.   Gatekeeper – Feist

13.   Aquarius – Boards of Canada

14.   The last hour – Elliott Smith

15.   Sodom, South Georgia – Iron & Wine

16.   Grey ice water – Modest Mouse

17.   Alone in Kyoto – Air

18.   Bog people – Xiu Xiu

19.   Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow – Dean Martin

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23.  Bonus track

The featured artist here was Iron & Wine, with two unexpected cameos from Willie Nelson (I may have given away the identity of the bonus track).  I have to admit, this was, very consciously, the saddest mix I've ever made.  Sad was the theme (SAD, anyone?) but there may also have been some non-mitigating circumstances.  Okay, too much sharing...and on to two more.

The next two were made the following year.  The first is the most elaborately themed (dare I say, conceptual? <cringe>) and "features" Stereo Total and the Pixies; the second is my favorite mix ever that I continue to listen to...let's just say a lot.  It features Yo La Tengo.

UNDERWATER

1.        Deep water – Portishead [waking from a dream]

2.        Beach party – Air France [an inauspicious beginning]

3.        Endangered species (outro) – Nicodemus [solitude]

4.        Vilaines filles, mauvais garçons – Stereo Total [surf’s up]

5.        Surf wax America – Weezer [the sea lives]

6.        Sea ghost – The Unicorns [the sea speaks]

7.        Mr. Grieves – The Pixies [lost at sea]

8.        Instant death – Beastie Boys [uncertain future]

9.        Deep dark well – M. Ward [you brought this on yourself]

10.     It’s raining – Quasi [insult to injury]

11.     Danger of the water – The Futureheads [the beginning of the end]

12.     When the levee breaks – Led Zeppelin [climax]

13.     Swimmers – Broken Social Scene [survival]

14.     Wave of mutilation [UK Surf] – The Pixies [re-assertion]

15.     Underwater love – Smoke City [re-union]

16.     Die krise – Stereo Total [re-solution?]

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20.     Coda [together…forever]

Folk Feeling Blues

1.      Dreaming – Yo La Tengo

2.      Whatever [Folk song in C] – Elliott Smith

3.      Her disappearing theme – Broken Social Scene

4.      Queen bee – Devendra Banhart

5.      Beautiful – Belle & Sebastian

6.      Blue turning gray – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

7.      You can have it all – Yo La Tengo

8.      Boa constrictor – Magnetic Fields

9.      Saddest vacant lot in all the world – Grandaddy

10.   Space beatle – The Beta Band

11.   Agave – Daniel Lanois

12.   Fuel for fire – M. Ward

13.   Tom Courtenay [Acoustic] – Yo La Tengo

14.   Loch raven – Animal Collective

15.   Ritournelle – Colleen

16.   Stolen shoes and a rifle – Blitzen Trapper

17.   Technicolor – Ms. John Soda

18.   You got yr. cherry bomb (alternate version) – Spoon

19.   Constants are changing – Boards of Canada

20.   Blue-green arrow – Yo La Tengo

So that's it for today's installment of over-sharing.  I feel much better having explained myself.  Thanks very much for listening.  If you would like a CD, inquire within.  If you have an idea for a mix, let me know.  Or try it yourself!