el deth

Posts Tagged ‘Wilco’

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aural catharsis

“Run, Don’t Walk” – Matt Sparks
“Why Can’t I Believe in You?” – Beck
“Give up the Ghost” – Radiohead
“The Hard Way” – Pat Donohue & The Shoe Band
“You Don’t Miss Your Water” – Otis Redding
“Night-Time Intermission” – Charlotte Gainsbourg
“Sidi Infi” – Cracker
“If You Leave Me, Leave Me Running” – Chicros
“No Conclusion” – of Montreal
“Spread Your Cause” – Beck vs. Flying White Dots
“Cold Heart of Stone” – Frank Black & The Catholics
“Glad It’s Over” – Wilco
“You’re Breakin’ My Heart” – Harry Nilsson

Hey!  It’s a break up mix!  Maybe it’s a tad late, depending on how long it takes to dispossess another soul from their own.  We all know these things come in groups so surely someone out there can use it.

I’m in that number, so this mix came easy and out well.  Ideally, I’m hoping it will serve as a cathartic tool for anyone that needs it.  For no, my friends, these are not all songs of sadness or despair.  Each song feels naturally in its place within the progression.  If a person could submerge oneself into this mix, then perhaps it could live up to its title and provide a truly cathartic experience to the listener.

So though my particular situation is not quite resolved, I can say that I definitely learned at least one thing from it so far:  Your friends really don’t want to hear about this shit.

Fair enough…but everyone likes a mix tape!

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the end of advertising

“Libera Me, Domine” – Ernst Reijseger And Mola Sylla
“In Excelsior Vaginalistic” – The Flaming Lips
“Night Sight” – Air
“Section 20 (Together We’re Heavy” – The Polyphonic Spree
“Subterraneans” – David Bowie
“Doll’s Polyphony” – Geinoh Yamashirogumi
“Pure Bug Beauty” – Wilco
“Chemtrails (acoustic)” – Beck
“Prophecies” – Philip Glass
“Vanities” – Charlotte Gainsbourg
“Harry Patch (In Memory Of)” – Radiohead
“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” – Bob Dylan

The rapture is supposed to happen tomorrow, so say some fringe Christians who have managed to bring this idea to mainstream America (and possibly beyond).  If it actually does happen, and 144,000 of God’s closest friends and lovers  get a free ride to heaven, then I think this would be a fitting soundtrack.  For them in their ascent, of course, but also those of us who may be left behind…until we start killing each other for drugs or whatever.

This was actually something of a commissioned mix.  Aaron Shugart-Brown had asked me to make a mix of instrumental, easy going music for his shop, Unarmed Merchants, in Knoxville.  It’s not totally instrumental, but I feel all vocals here are light and well served enough to not get in the way.

If nothing else, you might be able to meditate or something.

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The Politics of Aging

“Sgt. Pepper’s Paradise” – Guns N’ Roses vs. The Beatles vs. Jimmy James
“Fine Line” – Paul McCartney
“Coffee & TV” – Blur
“Once Upon a Time” – Air
“Le Premier Amore” – Anaïs
“Golden Age” – TV on the Radio
“Strange Overtones” – David Byrne & Brian Eno
“A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger” – of Montreal
“Just a Friend With the Clap” – Shirley Ellis vs. Biz Markie
“Go There With You (Radio Edit)” – Chin Chin
“Bull Black Nova” – Wilco
“Longing for a Frozen Sky” – Ernst Reijseger, Patricio Mura & Gianluca Frau
“Divine” – Sebastian Tellier
“Tonight” – Koop & Mikael Sundin

So I’m 30 years old.  Suddenly age seems to matter more.  My generation is largely discontent with the political agendas of the baby boomers.  We’re also relatively vocal about that.  Baby boomers don’t seem too fond of us, either, often opting for some weird victimization complex as their arguments against social change.  They think we’re bitter and we think they are bitter.

It’s trickier than it seems, though, because this is my parents’ generation.  People who were around for the 60′s, before the “revolution” became a televised pop concert.  I understand their victimization insomuch that most of them really did try (and often still try) to make life better for our generation and yet we largely still refuse to accept their stringent conservatism.  This so often boils down to logic vs. emotion – and that seems to be where the divide exists.  Perhaps if the baby boomers had access to the internet when they were young, gay marriage wouldn’t be such a big deal.  In any case, the two generations have a lot to sort through if any real progress in social reform is going to be made before they die and we take their place.  By that time, we may hold on to our outdated belief systems with the same jaded pretense.

For now, though, the least we can say is that things slip and slide with age.  The changing of beliefs and boundaries goes many different ways, with many different effects.  The relationship between these meandering generations is a bittersweet one.  Kids don’t want to hate their parents.  Parents don’t want to hate their kids.  But yet the kids, seemingly ungrateful to the provisions of the parents, are refusing to follow them to the end.  And the parents, disillusioned by the corruption of past hopes, have hardened to the point of taking offense to their children striving for so many of the same ideals.

I wish this mix was as crisply discernible as all that.  All that, however, is just one current observation amid a slew of new political motivations we come to take on in response to growing older.  As you try to figure them out and accept them, refer to this mix as necessary.

I made this video a few years back and the song years before that.  It’s been on YouTube for a while, slowly gaining viewers without quite cracking that viral threshold.

Obviously, the whole thing revolves around 50 Cent and j-pop mashed together.  In particular, schoolgirl pop, Morning Musume.  This holds predominantly true for the video.  The song, in addition to containing Morning Musume and Shiina Ringo samples, additionally borrows from Weezer and Wilco covering Steely Dan.

My favorite thing about this video is that Universal Music saw it and had deliberations as to whether or not it would be taken down.  In the end, they let me keep it up.  Thanks, Universal Music!

If you’d like the track by itself to put on your ipod or whatever, here you go…

MP3: “Wanksta (Arrison Kirby Remix)” by 50 Cent vs. Arrison Kirby

Enjoy!

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lowdowndownlow

“Gotta Get Down With the Passing of Time” – Damon Albarn
“Box Elder (live) ” – Pavement
“In Asking Land” – Talking Heads
“Inside Out” – Beck
“The Old Plantation” – The Minus 5
“There There (live acoustic)” – Radiohead
“My Death (live)” – David Bowie
“Runners Dial Zero” – Beck
“Blasting Fonda” – Wilco
“Lifeline” – Harry Nilsson
“Did You See Me” – Ween
“Riding to Vanity Fair” – Paul McCartney
“Sunset Coming On” – Damon Albarn, Toumani Diabate, Afel Bocoum, Ko Kan Ko Sata Doumbia
“I Love My Car” – Belle and Sebastian

This past week had a lot of emotion in it.  I blame the movement out of the ever emotional Cancer into Leo.  It seemed to result in misunderstanding and mini crises…and not just for myself.  It’s something like the air of a funeral where such intense emotions may act in kind.  A funeral for Cancer, if you will.

Now, though, it seems these weekend wounds have healed or are healing.  Today, in Knoxville, in particular, we had this wonderfully cloud covered, sunny day.  The evening capped by a stellar performance downtown by Wu Tang’s Killah Priest.  A small reward for working through the darkness of Cancer.

I made this mix a few years back.  I did not feel any kind of darkness in my life at the time, but wanted to make a saddish, emotionally driven mix.  This was the result.  It does not carry a negative message (except maybe the Paul McCartney song), but certainly expresses loss and learning while sounding “summery.”  I think it’s perfectly fitting for this time of year.