Mixed Up

I mentioned a mix I recently made in the post below; here's the tracklisting. I am very happy with this mix. I was up all night doing it, but it was worth it. I like the flow; for the most part it's pretty mellow and a bit sad, but peps up a bit on the bside. Most of these are requisite "courtney mix tape" tracks, and if you've ever gotten a mix from me, you're probably familiar with many of them. I worked in some new ones here, and they kind of added a new spin to the old faves. This is gonna be a long post, as I am amped up on caffeine (see last post as well), and feel like writing about each track! Please beware, my writing skills are minimal.

SIDE A


Broadcast "Look Outside"
[from their breakthrough The Noise Made by People. Broadcast have been one of my favorite bands forever; i love their retro-futurist sound. their most recent album was amazing. I saw them open up for the sea and cake a few years ago, and it was like, the sea and who? yawn. bring back broadcast!!!]

Modern Jazz Quartet "Django"
[this is in my top 5 songs of all time; so beautiful, it makes me cry.]

Nouvelle Vague "In a Manner of Speaking"
[i love love love this french "concept" band: they do bossa nova ('new wave') style covers of new wave 80s songs. This one was originally by Tuxedo Moon; i've never heard the original, but their version is achingly beautiful; lyrically, it's kind of like what Extreme were going for with their hit "more than words;" if only i'd slow danced to nouvelle vague in middle school!]

Martial Solal "New York Herald Tribune"
The strings here kind of mirror when your heart just drops. This appeared in Godard's Breathless as the main theme, and was used to good effect in the recent Bertolucci film the Dreamers, which I loved. It really captured the romance of cinema.

Sebastian Tellier "La Ritournelle"
Off his second album Politics. I loved his first, L'incroyable Verite for its film noir sound, but Politics I found to be disturbingly weird and too cheesy for me to want to listen to it a lot. I think he's an amazing musician, but I dont know, songs about safaris, followed by songs about Master Rico from Starship Troopers sound a bit too Broadway for me. However, this song is a rare gem on the album; possibly one of the most beautiful love songs ever, with an incredibly long intro that pays off big time. Gorgeous, simple lyrics. *Sigh*

Velvet Underground "Ocean"
Off Loaded, this song is so dark and menacing and kind of mystical. really beautiful, with cellos in the background; one of the more dramatic songs the velvets did, i think.

Brian Eno "Golden Hours"
I love Eno's Another Green World. This song is kind of baroque, with this really nice guitar "etude-ish" part near the end and awesome counter-rhythm throughout. It builds nicely and is kind of majestic in the same way as "Ocean," but not as menacing . . . it almost should come before "Ocean" if this was a thematic tape, cause it's like the sunlight before the dark and dangerous night swimming. But this, like most of my tapes, derive their track order based on sonic flow, not story-board.

Pit Er Pat "Emergency"
Pit Er Pat played at the Basement a few months ago with Jensen Sportag, but I was practically at death's door with flu, so i couldn't make it. But I heard they were awesome. THey're on Thrill Jockey, a sure sign of quality; i like the rhythms behind their music, as well as the warm rhodes organ that predominates musically. Frail female vocals, and awesome handmade merch. Pit er Pat are true artisans.

The Books "A Little Longing Goes Away"
From their latest album Lost and Safe, this track sounds so much like pinback to me for some reason. really soft vocals and subtle, warm harmonies; urgent plucked guitar/banjo? that's almost modest-mouse-like. know what i mean? this is why i never pursued a career as a music journalist :) To me this track is atypical of the books; i generally think they oversample, but this track features few (obvious) samples, and it's really gorgeous and a true song to me.

Caribou "Hello Hammerheads"
Caribou = Manitoba; I saw Manitoba in Montreal a year ago with Prefuse 73 and Four Tet, and they were definitely the best. They had to change their name for some reason. I love their new album, the milk of human kindness. it's the perfect marriage of acoustic and electronic. The vocals on this track, which is a very sad meditation on leaving someone, really sound like Elliott Smith. It also has urgently strummed/plucked guitars that kind of echo the books track.

Gonzales "Gogol"
I blogged about Gonzales a few months ago (i think in my very first entry, in fact!); he used to be kind of electro-clash, doing tracks with Miss Kitten and all those guys; then he comes out with this gorgeous solo piano album that's sort of jazzy, sort of satie, and just altogether amazing. I am a fool for solo piano that's kind of dark. To me, it definitely reflects his native Spain.

Blonde Redhead "Melody"
This is from their most recent album Misery is a butterfly. I hadn't listened to them much before this album, but i am so in love with it. It's dark, and lush, and actually reminds me of pit er pat with its emphasis on complex rhythm and muted organ.

Kim Hiorthoy "In Real Life I am Useless"
Hiorthoy is a man from Norway who is also a graphic designer and film maker; i first discovered him in Manchester's Pelican Neck Records (the actual store version of Boomkat.com, though I didn't know about Boomkat then, just kind of stumbled on the store while exploring the maze of crazy retail that is Affleck's Palace.) They were strongly recommending this comp (one of those awesome record stores where they write little recommendation descriptions on stickers and put them on the records!) called Pro Bono Publico, which also features Pan American, Iso68 and Corker/Conboy. It's all instrumental post-rockish, kind of jazz too; But Kim really stood out; he does this kind of minimalist music with really nice melodic lines sometimes featuing treated electronic piano (such as this track), or straight up electronic sounds. He also utilizes a lot of found sound and conversation. His stuff is really amazing; I highly recommend Melke as a starting off point.

Mum "The Ballad of the Broken Birdie Records" (Ruxpin remix #2)
Mum have been one of my favorites ever since I head finally we are no one (hmm sound familiar? ;-) ). They have this beautiful child-like sensibility, and their music is warm and lush and just makes me happy. I've got a couple Mum remix albums, one on Morr Music and another on some weird label. This is off the latter, and the remixer is also Icelandic. Dreamy.


SIDE B


Schumann "Waldszenen: Bird as Prophet (op 82)"
Ahhh more lovely solo piano. This track is light, delicate and airy but with a sense of foreboding heaviness.

Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright "Ode to a Friend"
I was so happy when I found out about this collaboration, as I love both Tiersen and Wright. The Amelie soundtrack by YT is one of my favorite soundtracks ever, and Wright is one of the best live performers I've ever seen. She has a huge, unique voice and is a great pianist. I hear a lot more of Wright than Tiersen in this particular track, but it's very lovely nonetheless.

Erik Satie "Gymnopedies No.1"
Pure pure beauty. Coming from a guy who wore the same gray velvet suit every day. I wish I could just have a courtney uniform and stick to it. Unfortunately I couldn't commit to such an endeavor. Though it would be nice to have some severely distinguishing idiosyncracity, um, not to mention immense talent :)

Society of Rockets "Little Road"
A gorgeous solo guitar and male vocal song; i'd never heard of this band: this was a random download that turned out to be really beautiful. It's evocative of night driving or a lullaby. It's weird because it's not usually the type of music I go for, but something about this track is so engaging and makes me all whistful.

Slowblow "I Know You Can Smile"
Slowblow are from Iceland; I first heard them in Montreal when I was in Atom Heart Records (a great little music store if you're ever there) and they were playing the soundtrack to the film Noi Albinoi, for which Slowblow did the score. Its very stripped down music that is lovely in its simplicity. One of the girls from Mum duets on this track, off the 2004 self-titled album, which came out on Mobile records - i love this label. They released a comp called Asthmatic Worm, which compiled tracks using accordions or melodika and featured Pole, Mum, DNTEL, Matthew Herbert, etc. It's awesome. And the packaging rules: it's like a little book. They also released a comp called Feedback to the Future, of all shoegazer stuff. Check it out. But back to slowblow, they are great. And the film Noi Albinoi is also worth seeing if you're into Icelandic culture (though it paints it as being quite bleak!)

Vitaminsforyou "Quand Peanut Fait Dodo"
A gorgeous, lush instrumental featuring some nice electronic effects and humming. It sounds like a little mountain stream to me. Vitaminsforyou are from Montreal. They're really good; if you like stuff like telefon tel aviv, you'd love them.

High Llamas "Calloway"
Their most recent album Beets, Maize and Corn was very different from their previous material in my opinion: it was this incredibly lush, epic, meticulously orchestrated pastoral symphony, whereas their older stuff was kinda kitschy 60s throwback-oriented (though i like that stuff too). This album is a start-to-ender, and i just love it so much. I remember listening to it driving through the quebec countryside and it was perfect.

Mathieu Boogaerts "Bon Bon"
A gorgeous guitar-based track that's kind of bouncy yet melancholy. I find Boogaerts' sound to be unique in a way I can't really describe; I also love that unlike the majority of male french singers, his vocals are hushed and fragile, rather than full of bravado and are almost ridiculously deep. One of his biggest influences is Bob Marley, but I like how he works it in really subtly, without doing full on raggae or dub. He has a new album out that I'm dying to get.

The Russian Futurists "Let's Get Ready to Crumble"
I love the muted lo-fi-ness of this track, which is actually pretty big and lush! it's upbeat and fun, kind of messy (in a good way!) it's all about losing control and having fun, and because of it's squashed, echo-y sound, it kidn of reminds me of either being underwater (think the pool aerobics in lost in translation) or really drunk and only sort of "being there." :)

Salvatore "Easy"
This was another random download that worked out very well; no idea who this band is, but this track is so dreamy and "wooshy;" yet again to use lost in translation as a reference point, it's like a slower version of that music that was playing in the bar they went to with charlie brown with all the images swirling on the ceiling. this would have been perfect for that soundtrack.

Of Montreal "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games"
I blogged earlier about seeing them live; this song has been in constant car play for the past couple weeks. it's so bouncy and fun and uplifting. . . . "let's pretend we don't exist . . . let's pretend we're in antarctica . . . maybe i'll never die, i'll just keep growing younger with you, and you'll grow younger too, now it seems to lovely to be true, the best things always do." Ahh the bliss of first falling in love, or really bonding with someone, enjoying life, etc. Yay!

Nouvelle Vague "Just Can't Get Enough"
Another from the Vague, felt I should include a more recognizable cover so their genius may be fully felt. plus fits in great with the sunny vibe in this section of the tape.

Jamie Lidell "Multiply"
I also blogged about him earlier; i got an advance of the record, and yeah, it's all awesome. go get it. you won't regret it. More positive thinking "I'm so tired of repeating myself, beating myself up . . . wanna at least go under with a smile..." The Best Motown Song Never Written.

Daedelus "Minor Detour"
This track is so nice; it features strings of the "see dick and jane" era ad, or 50s romance film kind of variety with some lovely flute melodies; really nice rhythm established using pops and crackles (discarded sounds, the core element of IDM). Kind of sets the scene for a couple of vintage numbers...

Nat King Cole "Quizas Quizas Quizas"
Cole did a whole album of Spanish songs that is really cool. I first heard this track in the amazing Wong Kar Wai film In the Mood for Love (please dont be scared off by the gay title; probably a bad translation!). This track is kind of tango-y. I've always loved Cole's smooth voice; I remember my mom would always play either him or Johnny Mathis in the car on trips, and it's kind of a warm feeling when I hear them.

Francoise Hardy "La Maison Ou"
My favorite Hardy track; it kind of builds throughout, and i really like the instrumentation. It was from an era when a lot of the songs sounded pretty generic, but i think that this one is very well done. Nice strings and strummed guitar.

Animal Collective feat. Vashti Bunyou "It's You"
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous; Lush layers of trembling harps/guitars/something stringed and Bunyou's warm voice. Unfortunately, as happens with tapes, this song cuts off :( But it seemed a nice way to end the tape.


Ok so hope you enjoyed this virtual mix tapes; wish i could put up some mp3s, but still haven't figured out how to do it without exceeding the bandwidth of the server i post them on. Hmmm. Oh well. If you want a copy of the tape, I'll make you one, but you gotta make me one in return! them's the rules!

Also, Thurston Moore has a book out about Mix Tape culture; i am dying to read it, but couldn't find it anywhere around town. Guess I'm gonna have to order off the internets.