FMD 2-6-15: Mixmaker, make me a mix

I need to postpone my thoughts on last week's discussion about good music for a girl who is just maybe starting to feel angsty. (Even though I see Tori Amos has new expanded reissues coming out for her Earthquakes and Pink. (Missing the Carl Craig remixes of "God" there, grumble grumble.))

Tomorrow is EAR's birthday and it's now tradition or something that I make her a mix CD. This might be number 15. I've tapped most of what I think she'd like, or what I want to share. I don't not want to make her a CD, I just don't have any strong-enough ideas for it right now. As I write this, I've got like 36 hours tops, and that involves sleeping and working and putting kids to bed and so I don't have time to talk about that other stuff. Next week?

31 thoughts on “FMD 2-6-15: Mixmaker, make me a mix”

  1. 1. Imagine Dragons - "On Top of the World" - Night Vision
    2. Alice in Chains - "Down in a Hole" - Dirt
    3. Drive-By Truckers - "Box of Spiders" - Pizza Deliverance
    4. Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" - Vampire Weekend
    5. Drive-By Truckers - "Play it All Night Long" - The Fine Print (A Collection of Oddities and Rarities 2003-2006)

    6. Bob Dylan - "Going, Going, Gone" - Planet Waves
    7. Weezer - "Across the Sea" - Pinkerton
    8. Of Monsters and Men - "Dirty Paws" - My Head is an Animal
    9. Band of Horses - "Evening Kitchen" - Infinite Arms
    10. The Hold Steady - "Hostile, Mass." - Almost Killed Me

    B. Ha Ha Tonka - "Pendergast Machine" - Novel Sounds of the Noveau South
    B2. Lou Reed - "Walk on the Wild Side" - Transformer

    Heard a tiny desk concert by John Reilly & Friends. I knew he did music, but I was really impressed.

      1. Maybe the voices can guide you.

        Well I did and they led me to this:

        httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRPHHVXBtl4

  2. * Surf Solar - Fuck Buttons - Surf Solar
    * Paper Airplanes (Makeshift Wings) - AFI - Sing the Sorrow
    * Obvious - Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
    * Surface Image - Vicky Chow - Surface Image (T. Perich)
    * Mayria - Marcel Fengler - Fokus
    * Mirage - Earth - Hex; or Printing in the Infernal Method
    * Tentative - System of a Down - Hypnotize
    * Lonely Boy - The Black Keys - El Camino
    * Moon - Dawn of Midi - Dysnomia
    * Persists into Winter - Anne Guthrie - Codiaeum Variegatum

  3. Hey, I have my music player for once.

    Rusted Root: Tree
    Neil Patrick Harris: My Freeze Ray
    Santana: El Farol
    Peter, Paul & Mary: Right Field
    Shania Twain: You've Got A Way
    The Jackson 5: I Want You Back
    REM: Losing My Religion
    Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: American Dream
    Phish w/ Alison Krauss: If I Could
    Barenaked Ladies: Be My Yoko Ono

    1. Hey, I have my music player for once.

      Me too. I fire it up and get an error message telling me I need to update the iTunes software...

        1. At present, I can't afford to replace it and I love having all* of my music in one, easily accessible, place. Besides, this is the first time it's happened with the actual player.

          *not really all - the thing only holds 80 GB.

      1. you're not missing a whole lot. The third one is decent. The fourth one is mostly dreck. The fifth I haven't bothered.

  4. Working on the mix for EAR...

    1. Sonic Youth “Kotton Krown” Sister
    2. Patsy Cline “I Fall to Pieces” Heartaches
    3. We Are the Willows “Dear Ms. Branstner” Picture (Portrait)
    4. Coil “The Snow (Driftmix)” The Snow EP
    5. A Winged Victory for the Sullen “Atomos VII” Atomos VII EP

    6. Patty Griffin “Boston” Silver Bell
    7. Patty Griffin “Wild Old Dof” American Kid
    8. Roy Orbison “The Crowd” The All-Time Greatest Hits of...
    9. Burial “Hiders” Rival Dealer EP
    T. Patsy Cline “Back in Baby's Arms” Natural Born Killers OST

    Verdicts:
    1. No
    2. Maybe
    3. Maybe (Probably not, She doesn't like his voice)
    4. Maybe (Might work as a transition; only way I'll ever get Coil on a CD for her)
    5. No (too long),
    6. No (there's other Patty to find)
    7. No (there's other Patty to find)
    8. Maybe (I've got 3 or 4 Roy possibilities)
    9. Maybe (probably not, but I'll keep it in the mix for a while)
    T. Strong Maybe (Patsy not from Heartaches! It's different!)

      1. Well, I might have half that's basically locked. Then I've got to figure out what goes best around it.
        This was just a shuffle through the first really rough cut.
        Sometimes when I'm building the list, I get tired of evaluating and just add a whole album and say "Winnow next time".
        Hence the Patty Griffin and Patsy Cline and Winged Victory tracks.

    1. My mom loved the mixtapes that I gave her two years ago so much that she had me make some more for her this Christmas. That proved to be a much more difficult task, for a lot of the reasons you went over.

      1. Also, I used to save songs and not share them with anyone until I put them on her CD.
        My "bank" of saved songs is depleted and I carelessly played things like Sturgill's "The Promise" when I first heard them. So foolish! (It still goes on the CD though.)
        Also, this last summer, I burnt her a CD of every song she'd Pinterested. So nothing new to bank from all the songs I carefully learned she liked and to show that I'd paid attention all year.

        1. And "Treehouse" by I'm From Barcelona. So perfect for her. But it's not new, because I played it for her a bunch in the summer.

          1. Eh? Where'd you pick that one up? *checks comment history* Oh, right. If you want, that entire album really has a child-like vibe to it. Or, better put, an almost childhood type theme runs through the whole album, which "Treehouse" personifies well (why did Free hate that song so anyway?). For example, "Jenny" is most likely about a pet goldfish. Or songs about stamp collecting. Or comparing one's first love to "Chicken Pox" ("You can't have it once you've had it").

            1. I think I've heard some of those. I knew of "We're From Barcelona" and "Paper Planes" (not an M.I.A. cover) before you mentioned the group.
              Maybe I should check out a few more. Next week.

              The lyrics of "Treehouse" are just perfect for EAR.

        2. Since I've been documenting process, I've got the tracks pretty much nailed down. Feels thematic, but not too sharply focused. I feel good about the songs. Sequencing? Ugh. Stupid Robyn and Röyksopp and their ten-minute ballads songs. What the heck do I do with that? Matthew Dear isn't helping.
          I found a Patty Griffin song that answers one of my absolute favorite Will Oldham songs (and without Will singing) and thus allows its inclusion.
          I'll burn a trial run here to take with for some morning errands. CER and AJR are coming with me.
          Then I come home and EAR is going out for a bit. I'll work on the order and make any swaps then.

          Röyksopp & Robyn “Monument”
          Kelis “Breakfast”
          Matthew Dear “Her Fantasy”
          Hello Saferide “This Body”
          Kelis “Acapella”
          Grimes “Be A Body (侘寂)”
          I'm From Barcelona “Treehouse”
          Ane Brun “Wooden Body”
          Sylvan Esso “H.S.K.T.”
          Sturgill Simpson “The Promise”
          Ane Brun “Headphone Silence”
          Chuck Ragan “Survivor Blues” (Cory Branan cover)
          Caleb Caudle “Trade All The Lights”
          Patsy Cline “Back In Baby's Arms”
          The Spring Standards “Watch the Moon Disappear”
          Andrew Bird and Nora O'Connor “I'll Trade You Money for Wine” (Robbie Fulks cover)
          Soulsavers ft. Mark Lanegan “You Will Miss Me When I Burn” (Palace Brothers cover)
          Patty Griffin “Gonna Miss You When Your Gone”

          I'm also burning a bonus CD with good Hello Saferide songs that can't make birthday mixes for various lyrical reasons ("I get home and kick my books: 'F--- you knowledge.'" "You stupid f---, You stupid f---, You stupid f---, You stupid f--- you need to come back." etc.) Not fully sure which songs will make it, but it's less pressure because it's not a thing that's built up with expectations etc. Just "Hey, I think you'll sortof like this stuff, and I want to share it, but it's not exactly curated, so don't hold any of it against me."

          1. I usually listen to it with her the first time, but today she was going out by herself and I just said, "Oh heck."
            I gave her the CD and told her it was all the songs but just not the right order.
            Text a half hour later: "So far I really like the songs! You are so good at this. :-D"

            I know that now and then she lurks here. Maybe she read about my conflict.

  5. 1. “Casino Lisboa” – Dirty BeachesDrifters
    2. “The One With The Wurlitzer” – American FootballAmerican Football
    3. “Knife Chase” – Tom WaitsBlood Money
    4. “So Far” – CultsStatic
    5. “Lonesome Suzie” – The BandMusic From The Big Pink
    6. “Unsatisfied” – The Replacements Let It Be
    7. “Red-Eyed Troll” – The MuffsBlonder And Blonder
    8. “True Love” – Hanne Hukkelberg Little Things
    9. “Baby Got Going” – Liz Phairwhitechocolatespaceegg
    10.“Yeah! New York” – Yeah Yeah YeahsFever To Tell

    1. It's been so long since you've been regularly contributing lists here that it still takes me by surprise every time you do.

  6. This weeks theme: Quavers vs. Margot

    1. "Only a Clown" Caitlin Rose The Stand-In
    2. "One Thing" The Quavers Fell Asleep on a Train
    3. "I Thought I Knew" The Quavers Fell Asleep on a Train
    4. "When the War Came" The Decemberists The Crane Wife
    5. "Infinity" The xx xx
    6. "Weekend" Smith Westerns Dye It Blonde
    7. "Love Song for a Schuba's Bartender" Margot and the Nuclear So and So's Animal!
    8. "J'ai Deux Amours (Mon Pays et Paris)" Josephine Baker J'ai Deux Amours
    9. "You Ain't Alone" Alabama Shakes Boys and Girls
    T. "Skeleton Key" Margot and the Nuclear So and So's The Dust of Retreat
    B. "A Sea Chanty of Sorts" Margot and the Nuclear So and So's The Dust of Retreat

    And . . . Margot wins!

    It's about time for me to do an overhaul of my playlist. This probably means it'll take me another 6 weeks or so to get around to it. (Kind of like how I have been intending to change my little icon thing and even have some new photos on the camera but haven't actually downloaded them.)

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