Plus Ultra (March, 2009)

 

And here we are at the final (for now) entry. It’s been twenty-five years since the beginning of this story. I started out at age 17, in high school, living in the suburbs of New Orleans, barely having started dating. I’m now 41, gainfully employed in the same job for the past nine years, living in Massachusetts, happily married for 16 years. It’s been a long trip, though not a particularly strange one. The music I grew up with is now considered to be “oldies”, if it’s considered at all. I’ve watched bands I once adored fizzle into irrelevance.

I haven’t changed as much as the world around me has. Having become an adult during the rise of the Internet is something incredible. Though I am in actual contact with few to none of the people who were so close to me when I was young, things like Facebook and blogs and such have allowed me to remain tangential to them.

As I’ve grown older music has played less of a role in my life. I buy very few albums these days, content with hearing just a song or two from them. There are almost no bands I’d be willing to pay to see live these days. I don’t form the same kinds of attachments to music anymore. It happens.

I still have a TON of CDs from my heyday, though I’d happily get rid of most of them (I have them all backed up on hard drives.) Since I work from home, I’m by my computer most of the time and have all my music there, though admittedly, I seldom turn it on. When I’m in the car I more often listen to nothing than the radio or CDs. Even KEXP doesn’t get much listening from me these days. I keep a toe in the pool, but not much more than that. Quite honestly, I kind of got overwhelmed with choice not long ago and never fully recovered.

As is evidenced by the last few chapters, my life has settled down, and I am happy and comfortable with it. My job is such that I am done at 5:00 p.m. and don’t think about it until 8:30 the next morning, allowing me plenty of the most precious commodity on Earth, time, that I am free to spend with my wife, my friends, and my self.

I was hung up on my past for a long time — too long. The years I spent after college trying to figure out what I was supposed to do made me long for the days when I didn’t have to figure that out; things just happened to me. These days I look back on my youth with just a little bit of eye-rolling. I don’t cherish it uncritically, nor do I view it with disdain. It happened, it is who I was and what I did, and ultimately it all worked out. I wouldn’t go back to it for any price, not because it was any particular misery for me, but just because I’m not sure I’d want to be as clueless as I was again.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. It’s quite possible that I’ll be making more mixes in the future (perhaps one even fairly soon) and if I do I’ll be sure to update here.

You can always find me at my regular blog. Speaking of which, here’s the post where I started thinking about this mix:

Mix Madness

and here is the post announcing it:

Plus Ultra

Freezepop – Less Talk More Rokk Alphabeat – Fantastic 6 The Octopus Project – Truck Home Blitz – Hey! Be Your Own Pet – Becky Art Brut – Emily Kane The Magic Numbers – Love Me Like You Kaiser Chiefs – You Can Have it All The Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running John Vanderslice – Time to Go Fujiya & Miyagi – Ankle Injuries The Black Angels – Doves Liars – Freak Out The Magnetic Fields – California Girls Gang Of Four – What We All Want Social X-Ray – Earthshake The Minders – 357 Helms – Satin Rules Flobots – Handlebars

Panda Bear – Bros (edit) They Might Be Giants – Seven Days Of The Week (I Never Go To Work) The Ting Tings – That’s Not my Name The Go! Team – The Wrath Of Marcie Triggers – Change It Up Fountains Of Wayne – Yolanda Hayes The Airborne Toxic Event – Does This Mean You’re Moving On Baltic Fleet – Black Lounge The Fiery Furnaces – The Old Hag Is Sleeping Cake – War Pigs Peter, Bjorn and John – Young Folks (featuring Victoria Bergsman) Camera Obscura – I Don’t Do Crowds Suzanne Vega – New York Is A Woman Beck – Think I’m In Love The Mountain Goats – Sax Rohmer #1 Yo La Tengo – Beanbag Chair Shriekback – God’s Gardenias Great Lake Swimmers – Put There by the Land The Decemberists – Sons And Daughters

Two years have passed since the previous mix, and once again the passage of time makes for better choices than if I had just banged another one out right away. Even the returning bands are mostly from new albums.

• Freezepop – Less Talk More Rokk

Here’s a new avenue for me to hear new-ish music. We started playing the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games which, in addition to having a lot of our old favorite songs on them, turned us on to new stuff. I had heard Freezepop before, but fell in love with this track.

• Alphabeat – Fantastic 6

No clue where I heard these folks.

• The Octopus Project – Truck
• Home Blitz – Hey!
• Great Lake Swimmers – Put There by the Land

I believe I first heard these bands on mp3 blogs. I bought the Octopus Project’s CD, which I like a lot, and I’d like to hear more of Home Blitz. I utterly love the “gum interlude” in this one.

• Be Your Own Pet – Becky
• Art Brut – Emily Kane
• Kaiser Chiefs – You Can Have it All
• Fujiya & Miyagi – Ankle Injuries
• Peter, Bjorn and John – Young Folks (featuring Victoria Bergsman)
• Camera Obscura – I Don’t Do Crowds

Much fewer KEXP tunes on this one, as I wasn’t listening to it as much. I’m not sure why that is.

• The Magic Numbers – Love Me Like You

This is kind of a goofy song, but I kinda dig it.

• The Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running
• John Vanderslice – Time to Go
• Liars – Freak Out
• The Minders – 357
• They Might Be Giants – Seven Days Of The Week (I Never Go To Work)
• The Go! Team – The Wrath Of Marcie
• Fountains Of Wayne – Yolanda Hayes
• Cake – War Pigs
• Suzanne Vega – New York Is A Woman
• Beck – Think I’m In Love
• The Mountain Goats – Sax Rohmer #1
• Yo La Tengo – Beanbag Chair
• Shriekback – God’s Gardenias
• The Decemberists – Sons And Daughters

Quite a lot of returning bands here. Shriekback actually had another album out during this time, but it…oh, it’s not good. That’s new Mountain Goats, Liars, John Vanderslice and more. The Cake cover is okay, but I really could go for some new music from them.

• The Black Angels – Doves

A band James turned me on to.

• The Magnetic Fields – California Girls

I liked previous stuff from the Magnetic Fields, but it never made it onto a mix before. This sounds a lot like the Jesus and Mary Chain, as does the Liars tune. The funny thing is, the JAMC did have a new song out that was considered for this mix, but I didn’t like it as much as either of these.

• Gang Of Four – What We All Want

I don’t know how I never got into Gang of Four before, especially with Shriekback’s Dave Allen on bass. This song is great, and puts to shame all the bands who were trying to ape this sound at this time.

• Social X-Ray – Earthshake
• Triggers – Change It Up

Social X-Ray is my friend Dan’s band, which was playing live gigs at this time that we were going and seeing. At one of those shows there was also this band Triggers. I liked their sound a lot and bought the CD from them.

• Helms – Satin Rules

Heard these guys on an mp3 blog and fell for them hard, buying the album right away. It’s a great moody listen.

• Flobots – Handlebars

One of the rare times I was listening to the radio this song came on. It reminded me a lot of Cake, though I was pretty sure it wasn’t them — more like Cake, Jr. I love the buildup in it and the boasts (“Me and my friends saw a platypus!”)

• Panda Bear – Bros (edit)

Person Pitch is difficult to describe. It’s a breathtaking album from start to finish.

• The Ting Tings – That’s Not my Name

Goddamn I love this song.

• The Airborne Toxic Event – Does This Mean You’re Moving On

Becky heard these guys somewhere — KEXP? — and bought the CD. This song is exactly the kind of jaunty thing I go for.

• Baltic Fleet – Black Lounge

Another band that Andrew introduced me to.

• The Fiery Furnaces – The Old Hag Is Sleeping

I heard about this album on NPR. The whole thing is…well, it’s pretty intense, as you can imagine from this tune.

In 2008, to celebrate our 15th anniversary, Becky and I took a trip to Spain. “Plus Ultra” (“Further beyond”) was everywhere, and it stuck with us. It was especially apropos after nearly two years had passed since the previous mix.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

I’m Throwing You Off the Russian Sledge (May, 2007)

 

Here we are, it’s a few years after I pretty much ended the story and sure enough, there’s only been one significant event. A month before making this mix my dad had a pretty significant stroke which took out his walking, most of his eyesight, and a nice chunk of various other brain functions (he has almost no concept of time, for example). At the time we were prepared for the end, but he leveled out and has been hanging in there ever since.

My relationship with my Dad (as with much of my family) has always been…well, not overly close. As a child I feared him, as he had a pretty explosive temper. Later on I just felt awkward around him. Facing the possible death of your father is one thing, but what if you have to struggle to extend any conversation with him past five minutes? I was — and continue to be — in a strange situation with him.

Other than that, not much to add. Here’s a blog post in which I am working on this mix:

Dial M for Mixtape

and here is the post announcing it:

I’m Throwing You Off the Russian Sledge

Bright Eyes – At The Bottom Of Everything The Pipettes – Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me Teddybears – Hey Boy Of Montreal – A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger Mint Royale – Show Me David Sugar – We Weren’t Put Together PINEam – Gymnopedie 0.1 Balun – Snol bitter:sweet – The Mating Game Pnau – Journey Agent The Go! Team – Ladyflash Liars – Drum And The Uncomfortable Can Maximo Park – Acrobat Rilo Kiley – Portions for Foxes The Arcade Fire – No Cars Go John Vanderslice – Dear Sarah Shu The Books – Smells Like Content

Lyrics Born – Callin’ Out (live at KEXP) Daft Punk – Technologic Bloc Party – Helicopter The Thermals – An Ear For Baby Fountains of Wayne – Someone to Love Sonic Coaster Pop – Future Electric Machine ZX Spectrum Orchestra – Dollar Power Apples In Stereo – Energy The Decemberists – O Valencia Andrew Bird – Heretics The Avett Brothers – Talk On Indolence Cake – Pentagram Mark Schwaber – On Your Way The Minders – Same Time, Same Place Suzanne Vega – Frank & Ava Shriekback – Waterbaby Oh No! Oh My! – Walk In The Park Youth Group – Skeleton Jar Yo La Tengo – Black Flowers The Mountain Goats – Up The Wolves Her Space Holiday – The Past Presents The Future

This mix comes a year after the last, which I think improves the quality overall. I’m already overloading with too much stuff, but the delay meant I had more things fighting to be included, and I think that helped.

• Bright Eyes – At The Bottom Of Everything

I heard a lot of Bright Eyes on KEXP and most of it I found pretty insufferable, but I love this one’s rambling, catchy tone, and the video (yes, that IS Terence Stamp!) is a treasure.

• The Pipettes – Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me

This song gives me a funny feeling in my tummy.

• Teddybears – Hey Boy

And this one is just plain odd, yet undeniably addictive.

• Of Montreal – A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
• The Go! Team – Ladyflash
• Rilo Kiley – Portions for Foxes
• John Vanderslice – Dear Sarah Shu
• The Decemberists – O Valencia
• Andrew Bird – Heretics
• The Minders – Same Time, Same Place
• The Mountain Goats – Up The Wolves
• Her Space Holiday – The Past Presents The Future

Some returning favorites here.

• Mint Royale – Show Me

Let’s do something I haven’t done until now: see when this song actually came out. Oh, 2001, six years before being included here! See, I saw the video for this on some blog (I had not heard the song before), and fell in love with it, which explains why it’s so old.

• David Sugar – We Weren’t Put Together
• ZX Spectrum Orchestra – Dollar Power

I’m not a HUGE fan of so-called 8-bit music, but I dig these two songs. The vocals on the second are all from the ZX Spectrum computer, and are keys and commands run through its crude voice synthesizer.

• PINEam – Gymnopedie 0.1
• Balun – Snol
• Maximo Park – Acrobat
• Lyrics Born – Callin’ Out (live at KEXP)
• Sonic Coaster Pop – Future Electric Machine
• The Avett Brothers – Talk On Indolence
• Oh No! Oh My! – Walk In The Park
• Youth Group – Skeleton Jar

Here are the inevitable KEXP tracks.

• bitter:sweet – The Mating Game
• Pnau – Journey Agent

And here’s where we all put on go-go boots and solve spy mysteries.

• Liars – Drum And The Uncomfortable Can
• The Books – Smells Like Content
• Mark Schwaber – On Your Way

Around this time I also met James and his pals, who I was playing boardgames with on Sundays in Holyoke. They’re a great bunch of folks. James has a very eclectic taste in music and I heard a lot of things at his place I wouldn’t normally hear. Some of it was out of my zone, but a lot I’ve really dug, including these three bands. The Books especially impressed me and quickly became a huge favorite. If you ever have the chance to see them perform, do so, as their music accompanies collages of found video footage.

• The Arcade Fire – No Cars Go

The Arcade Fire followed up the incredible Funeral with the only slightly less incredible Neon Bible, and this was the first song off it to really grab me.

• Daft Punk – Technologic

Another band I only listened to after everyone else was already a fan. I haven’t heard a lot of their stuff, but I’ve liked everything I’ve heard. I found a remix of this with a woman singing instead of the voice here, but I didn’t like it as much.

• Bloc Party – Helicopter

I like this song a lot, and the rest of the album is pretty good. The follow-up album, though? Oh man it’s bad.

• The Thermals – An Ear For Baby

My pal Dan really got into The Body, the Blood, the Machine and turned me onto it. It’s a really solid concept album telling a story of religious tyranny.

• Fountains of Wayne – Someone to Love

A new album and…honestly, it’s not that great, but it has its moments, like this song. Of course, the previous two albums were SO good, it was inevitable that there would be a letdown sooner or later. A lot of the cleverness and emotion in the previous albums seems forced and phoned-in here, sad to say.

• Apples In Stereo – Energy

This is a note to myself that I need to get this whole album.

• Cake – Pentagram

Again, heading back in the vaults to grab a track off their first album. I was sort of biding time for a new one.

• Suzanne Vega – Frank & Ava
• Shriekback – Waterbaby

And SPEAKING of new albums, oh my goodness! A new Suzanne Vega AND a new Shriekback! In fact, “Frank and Ava” was a PREVIEW track from the new album, which hadn’t yet been released at the time. And the Shriekback song was actually from the album Cormorant, which came out in 2005. Why it was only just now making it into a mix, I’m not sure.

• Yo La Tengo – Black Flowers

Remember last time, when the song “Playboy” by Hot Chip referenced Yo La Tengo and I said I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up? Hopefully you’re not surprised. I did check them out, based on that mention, and I did really like them, soon grabbing up several albums at once.

The game of “Russian Sledges”:

We all write down the same list of a dozen of the dearest friends we have in common. Each of us then imagines himself crossing the steppes of Russia with all of them in a sledge pursued by a pack of hungry wolves, and has to throw them out one by one. Whom do you throw out first, whom next? You have to decide this, and number the names on the list accordingly, in the order in which you would throw out your friends to be torn in pieces. Needless to say you cannot throw yourself out. … The game provides valuable statistics, for all the marks we have given each person are added up afterwards. The man who gets the fewest is, of course, the least popular of our friends. When one list is exhausted you can start on another dozen, and after that make a composite list of the top six of each list.

From The Weekend Book, by Francis Meynell, first published in 1924 and recently reprinted. Russian Sledges is from the section on Games, specifically “Quieter Indoor” ones.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Meeple Deployment (April, 2006)

 

Again, nothing to add to the story. Here’s a blog post in which I am working on this mix:

Mix Well, Serve Chilled

and here is the post announcing it:

Meeple Deployment

The Decemberists – The Infanta Troubled Hubble – I’m Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules Wintergreen – When I Wake Up Zombina & the Skeletones – Nobody Likes You Feist – Mushaboom Andrew Bird – Fake Palindromes The Mountain Goats – This Year Fountains of Wayne – Red Dragon Tattoo The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt.1 Baskervilles – Another Free Show In Battery Park The Radio Dept. – I Don’t Need Love, I’ve Got My Band Kathleen Edwards – Back To Me Devin Davis – Giant Spiders The Legends – Call It Ours Matthew Sweet – The Ocean In-Between The Minders – Build Of Montreal – She’s My Best Friend The Postal Service – We Will Become Silhouettes The Clientele – My Own Face Inside The Trees Jet – Look What You Have Done John Vanderslice – Exodus Damage Grandaddy – I’m On Standby

Alisa – Everlasting Love The Go! Team – Junior Kickstart The Weather Machines – Modern Text on Love Love As Laughter – Dirty Lives The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema They Might Be Giants – Prevenge The Cribs – Another Number The National – Mr. November Kasabian – LSF (Lost Souls Forever) Splashdown – Karma Slave Elbow – Fallen Angel Flunk – I’ve Been Waiting All My Life to Leave You MC Honky – The Baby That Was You Brian Eno & John Cale – One Word Hot Chip – Playboy Cake – Dime The Arcade Fire – Crown Of Love Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Scattered Pearls Stars – Reunion Film School – P.S.

Another overloaded mix, courtesy of KEXP and various music blogs, among other things.

• The Decemberists – The Infanta

I had liked the tune “16 Military Wives” but on the whole the Decemberists did more for Becky than me. However, this song really grabbed me right away and is a perfect opener.

• Matthew Sweet – The Ocean In-Between
• Of Montreal – She’s My Best Friend
• The Postal Service – We Will Become Silhouettes
• Grandaddy – I’m On Standby
• The Go! Team – Junior Kickstart
• The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
• They Might Be Giants – Prevenge
• Kasabian – LSF (Lost Souls Forever)
• Splashdown – Karma Slave
• Cake – Dime
• The Arcade Fire – Crown Of Love

These are all returning favorites.

• Troubled Hubble – I’m Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules

No idea where I first heard of these guys, but I love this song!

• Wintergreen – When I Wake Up

A nice enough pop song, but what I really like is the video, which is about the great Atari ET landfill. Check it out!

• Zombina & the Skeletones – Nobody Likes You

From Anna.

• Feist – Mushaboom
• Baskervilles – Another Free Show In Battery Park
• The Radio Dept. – I Don’t Need Love, I’ve Got My Band
• Devin Davis – Giant Spiders
• The Legends – Call It Ours
• The Clientele – My Own Face Inside The Trees
• Elbow – Fallen Angel
• Flunk – I’ve Been Waiting All My Life to Leave You
• Stars – Reunion
• Film School – P.S.

All KEXP tunes, which means I don’t know much of anything else about them.

• The Mountain Goats – This Year

The Sunset Tree took everything I already liked about The Mountain Goats and made it even better.

• Andrew Bird – Fake Palindromes

Andrew Bird was also a KEXP regular, but in addition we saw him open for Erin McKeown in Northampton, which got my interest going. I love the swooping sounds of this one.

• Fountains of Wayne – Red Dragon Tattoo

This is going back to a previous album because I’d been shocked to realize it had never been included. I love this song more than I love you.

• The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt.1

I was very late to the Flaming Lips party, but happy to have finally arrived. This album is pure genius all the way through.

• Kathleen Edwards – Back To Me

I believe I heard this one on the regular radio, one of the rare occasions I listened, and liked it enough to track down the artist and title.

• The Minders – Build

Another throwback to an earlier album to ensure that I didn’t miss out on including a favorite.

• Jet – Look What You Have Done

I like this track, but the other Jet stuff I heard left me cold.

• John Vanderslice – Exodus Damage

John V. has appeared before, as he was a KEXP regular, but this song floored me. And when I got the album, Pixel Revolt, it blew me away. It’s just incredible. The line from here, “You said this would happen and just like that, it did”, talking about the 9/11 attack, sends chills through me.

• Alisa – Everlasting Love

Becky and I were playing a lot of We Love Katamari, the absurd videogame about rolling stuff up into a ball. This song is from the soundtrack to the game, and I was always happy when it came up. I don’t go for the J-Pop like a lot of geeks do, but I find this one charming.

• The Weather Machines – Modern Text on Love

I think I read about these guys in Entertainment Weekly? They kind of remind me of The Cars, but I couldn’t say why.

• Love As Laughter – Dirty Lives
• The Cribs – Another Number

Two more from KEXP, and to be honest, if I were to trim this mix down they’d be among the first to go.

• The National – Mr. November

I got this song from the great music blog Music For Robots, which had this to say about it:

I can listen to the chorus “I won’t fuck us over/I’m Mr. November” til the cows come home — and I have no idea what Mr. November is. I’m pretty sure he’s a quarterback, but he could be a dude who posed in a Calendar for all I know. It’s not important.

What is important is that Mr. November will fuck us over.

And they are absolutely right. It is a certainty.

• MC Honky – The Baby That Was You

Dan introduced me to this album, which is a side project for E from the Eels (a band I’m amazed has never been featured here.) This song annoys just about everyone who hears it except me.

• Brian Eno & John Cale – One Word

Another thing I discovered around this time was Pandora, a site in which you could put in a band you like and get music that is allegedly similar to them. Of course I put in Shriekback, and this is what it found for me. Is it like Shriekback? I don’t think so. But I love the song.

• Hot Chip – Playboy

I also got this song from a music blog, and it went quickly from “too weird” to “actually, kind of interesting” to “I think I like this” to “damn, I want to listen to that again.” It’s the chorus that does it. As a bonus, the namecheck of Yo La Tengo in the song made me finally check them out as well, so don’t be surprised if you see them soon.

• Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Scattered Pearls

I think this is a gorgeous song.

I was heavily into European-style boardgames at this point, and a term for wooden, person-shaped playing pieces is “meeples”. Becky and I, playing Carcassonne, would talk about deploying our meeples for scoring. It’s one of the best covers I’ve done.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

This Could Be a Little More Sonic (August, 2005)

 

No new developments again, but by this time my blog was in full swing. Here’s a post on it in which I’m trying to decide which songs to include:

Compilation Demonstration

and here is the post announcing it:

This Could Be a Little More Sonic!

Doctor Who – Ninth Doctor Theme The Go! Team – The Power Is On OK Go – What to Do And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Worlds Apart Beck – Girl Snow Patrol – Wow M.I.A. – 10 Dollar Kasabian – Processed Beats Phofo – I Love Meatballs Her Space Holiday – Something To Do With My Hands Joy Zipper – Baby You Should Know Echoboy – Comfort Of The Hum Brazilian Girls – Don’t Stop Stereo Total – J’aime l’Amour à Trois The Guild League – Animals Fountains Of Wayne – Supercollider Rilo Kiley – The Execution Of All Things Matthew Sweet – Push the Feelings The Metric Mile – How to Beat the SAT Nada Surf – Killian’s Red

Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out Interpol – Evil The Arcade Fire – Wake Up Ben Folds – There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You Of Montreal – Requiem For O.M.M.2 Graham Coxon – Bittersweet Bundle of Misery RJD2 – Ghostwriter Earlimart – 1st Instant/Last Report Splashdown – Mayan Pilot The Chemical Brothers – Marvo Ging The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist The Mountain Goats – The Young Thousands Built To Spill – You Were Right Weezer – Perfect Situation The Postal Service – Such Great Heights Vienna Teng – The Tower Cake – Palm of Your Hand Rogue Wave – Endgame

• Doctor Who – Ninth Doctor Theme

In 2005 one of my favorite shows, Doctor Who, made its return to TV after being off the air for years. I was wary of this new show, but it turned out to be fantastic, and the new version of the theme was just triumphant, so naturally I gave it the first spot on the mix.

• The Go! Team – The Power Is On

The Go! Team’s album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike is in a class by itself. I’ve described it before as a 70s kung-fu movie soundtrack performed by the pep squad. This song encapsulates the album, but the whole thing is wonderful.

• OK Go – What to Do

This is a band that seemed pretty run-of-the-mill at first, but damned if they haven’t become a mighty pop juggernaut!

• And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Worlds Apart
• Kasabian – Processed Beats
• Joy Zipper – Baby You Should Know
• Echoboy – Comfort Of The Hum
• The Guild League – Animals
• The Metric Mile – How to Beat the SAT
• Of Montreal – Requiem For O.M.M.2
• Graham Coxon – Bittersweet Bundle of Misery
• RJD2 – Ghostwriter
• Earlimart – 1st Instant/Last Report
• The Chemical Brothers – Marvo Ging
• Built To Spill – You Were Right
• Rogue Wave – Endgame

KEXP stuff, all of it. RJD2 and Of Montreal we ended up buying CDs of. Graham Coxon was with Blur, a band I should have been listening to instead of all that crap in the 90s.

• Beck – Girl

Beck can always be counted on to put out some solid music. He’s an immense talent.

• Snow Patrol – Wow
• Fountains Of Wayne – Supercollider
• Matthew Sweet – Push the Feelings
• Nada Surf – Killian’s Red
• Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
• The Mountain Goats – The Young Thousands
• Weezer – Perfect Situation
• The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
• Cake – Palm of Your Hand

Just some follow-ups here. It’s worth pointing out that for both Snow Patrol and The Postal Service were on, I believe, track three from those albums and both are still really good. And the Nada Surf song is amazing.

• M.I.A. – 10 Dollar

I believe this may also be from KEXP, and this is a long I listened to over and over and over. Among my friends I can still ask what I can get for ten dolla and find out the answer is “anyting you wan”.

• Phofo – I Love Meatballs

Not sure where I heard about Phofo…possibly from a music blog? But how could I say no when he personally asked to have this song included on the mix.

• Her Space Holiday – Something To Do With My Hands

This reminds me. I have been meaning to buy this album for some time.

• Brazilian Girls – Don’t Stop
• Stereo Total – J’aime l’Amour à Trois

This is the sexy exotic portion of our program! C’est communist!

• Rilo Kiley – The Execution Of All Things

I like some of Rilo Kiley okay, like this song and a few others, but in general, neither the band nor Jenny Lewis by herself does a whole lot for me.

• Interpol – Evil

The problem with Interpol and their pals, Franz Ferdinand, is that I bought Entertainment! by Gang of Four around this time. Why drink Budweiser if you have Guinness available?

• The Arcade Fire – Wake Up

You’re not wrong. This song was included on the last mix. I’m not sure how this happened, but hey, it’s a pretty incredible song.

• Ben Folds – There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You

I’d gotten tired of Ben Folds by this point, but I couldn’t resist a song with lyrics like, “they’re into something that is to big to be expressed through their clothes.”

• Splashdown – Mayan Pilot

My friend Anna dug these folks and turned me onto them.

• The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist

There is nothing not to like about this song!

• Vienna Teng – The Tower

My friend TJ introduced me to her, and this song really grabbed me for some reason.

The title is a quote from the new Doctor Who series, where the Doctor explains to Jack Harkness that he has a sonic screwdriver. Jack replies, “Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ‘This could be a little more sonic!’?” It was perfect for the title. The back cover is meant to evoke chalk on blue-painted wood — i.e., the TARDIS.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

You’ll Never See Jesus Doing This (January, 2005)

 

As I said before, there aren’t many changes, story-wise, from here on out. For me, January of 2005 wasn’t overly different from January of 2004.

I apologize for this anti-climactic turn of events.

This mix (and the previous one) appears on my blog here.

U2 – Vertigo Sahara Hotnights – Hot Night Crash All-American Rejects – Swing Swing Jonathan Rundman – Smart Girls The Mountain Goats – Letter From Belgium The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done Elliot Smith – Memory Lane Audio Ninja – Fault Jimmy Eat World – Jenny Dressy Bessy – Just Once More The Secret Machines – Nowhere Again Nellie McKay – David Snow Patrol – Spitting Games Goldenboy – Sing Another Song For The Winterlong Zero 7 – In The Waiting Line Sleeping Flies – Feel Like Movin’ On John Vanderslice – Up Above The Sea Rogue Wave – Kicking The Heart Out Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

The Trash Can Sinatras – Welcome Back Fountains Of Wayne – Mexican Wine The Elected – Don’t Get Your Hopes Up The Von Bondies – Cmon Cmon Paul Oakenfold – Ready Steady Go The Delays – Hey Now Girl Smoosh – Massive Cure The Postal Service – Sleeping In The Jayhawks – Save it for a Rainy Day Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Mona Lisa Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams Cake – Wheels Franz Ferdinand – The Dark Of The Matinée Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Apples & Oranges They Might Be Giants – Experimental Film Flunk – Blind My Mind Olympic Hopefuls – Holiday The Raveonettes – Remember The Arcade Fire – Wake Up Matthew Sweet – Tomorrow

There’s a LOT of KEXP stuff here. More importantly, there’s some stuff here that went on to become some of my favorite music of the decade.

• U2 – Vertigo

Yes, yes, I’m a sucker for some of U2′s more egregious pop.

• Sahara Hotnights – Hot Night Crash

I don’t think I heard of this band from KEXP. I started following music blogs at this point and it’s possible I heard about them from one of those.

• All-American Rejects – Swing Swing

Heard on the radio, downloaded. I don’t much like this song anymore.

• Jonathan Rundman – Smart Girls

We were getting Paste magazine at this point, but I had grown tired of its singer-songwriter-folk-rock angle. This song, though, from one of their sampler CDs, amused me.

• The Mountain Goats – Letter From Belgium

Another KEXP band that eventually became a favorite. This album, We Shall All Be Healed, is one of my favorites.

• The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done

I like this song a lot, but nothing else of theirs has done a damn thing for me.

• Elliot Smith – Memory Lane

I really don’t have much patience for the Tweemo of Elliot Smith and his ilk, but I like this song well enough.

• Audio Ninja – Fault

Remember my friend Dan? This is his band! He wrote this and is singing it! At the time they were called Audio Ninja, but they later became Social X-Ray. I’m not just including this because he’s a pal; I really dig the song.

• Jimmy Eat World – Jenny

As much as I love Bleed American (and, to a lesser extent, Clarity), their follow-ups just lost me. This is actually an earlier song, I think.

• Dressy Bessy – Just Once More
• Snow Patrol – Spitting Games
• Fountains Of Wayne – Mexican Wine
• The Postal Service – Sleeping In
• They Might Be Giants – Experimental Film
• The Raveonettes – Remember

Nothing much to say about these. They’re followups from previous albums or bands.

• The Secret Machines – Nowhere Again

I know I heard this song on a music blog and loved it. I sampled a few other songs of theirs and this was the only one I really liked. Eventually I would just grab songs and not worry about if there were any others by that band I liked.

• Nellie McKay – David

Nellie McKay’s debut double album would have made a great single album. There’s a lot of clever stuff on it, but a lot of it is not nearly as clever as it seems to think. I don’t think either of us was much blown away by the follow-up, another double album.

• Goldenboy – Sing Another Song For The Winterlong

Dan introduced us to these guys, and we ended up seeing them perform in Northampton. The album this is from, Underneath the Radio is pretty good, if you like this tune.

• Zero 7 – In The Waiting Line

Another one from the Garden State soundtrack.

• Sleeping Flies – Feel Like Movin’ On
• Rogue Wave – Kicking The Heart Out
• The Elected – Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
• The Von Bondies – Cmon Cmon
• The Delays – Hey Now Girl
• The Jayhawks – Save it for a Rainy Day
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Mona Lisa
• Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Apples & Oranges
• Flunk – Blind My Mind
• Olympic Hopefuls – Holiday

These are all KEXP bands.

• John Vanderslice – Up Above The Sea

This WOULD have been just another KEXP band, except for the album he was about to release.

• Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

Becky got hipped to this, and I like a lot of it fine, but most of it is a bit too showtuney to me, meaning that it sounds like songs excerpted from musicals, which I can take some of, but not one after another.

• The Trash Can Sinatras – Welcome Back

I loved the TCS’s Cake album way back when, but hadn’t followed them much since then, having found the followup to be disappointing. This release, Weightlifting, was much praised as a return to form for the band, but once again I was just not blown away.

• Paul Oakenfold – Ready Steady Go

From the Collateral soundtrack, yeah.

• Smoosh – Massive Cure

I had heard about Smoosh somewhere, this crazy band made up from two little girls who rocked the hell out of it. The music did not disappoint.

• Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams

I was just as surprised as anyone when I started hearing that Green Day was a band we were now supposed to take seriously, but damn if I wasn’t impressed by American Idiot.

• Cake – Wheels

Cake finally followed up the amazing Comfort Eagle with Pressure Chief which, perhaps inevitably, was a bit of a disappointment. A lot of the energy seemed to be missing, though the songs aren’t bad.

• Franz Ferdinand – The Dark Of The Matinée

I listened to this song about a dozen times trying to figure out if I liked it or not. I eventually decided I did. The rest of the album wasn’t bad, but wore out its welcome pretty quickly.

• The Arcade Fire – Wake Up

It took me a few listens to really appreciate this album, but once I did, it blew me away. This is possibly my vote for best album of the decade.

• Matthew Sweet – Tomorrow

And here’s Matthew Sweet, still plugging away. The guy may not be as notable as he used to, but he can still put out a fine pop song.

Here’s the story of the title. We were out at karaoke night, looking for a song to sing. We came across a song called something like, “You Can’t Surprise Jesus” and Becky said, “You’ll never see Jesus doing this:” and then made a “surprised” face. We laughed ourselves silly. It’s possible we’d been drinking.

This is another early cover, which explains the no-frills nature of it, but I actually like the front. The back is boring, though.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

U R NOT MY APPLE CAKE (July, 2004)

 

This mix came only a few months after the previous one, so not a lot had changed since then. I had now met Mike, who I was playing boardgames with, and had moved away from RPGs to boardgames regularly. I had found a good comics store, one that actually paid attention to books that didn’t feature people in capes, so I was enjoying comics again. Other than those things, everything else was the same.

In fact, although there are a few more mixes to go, the story is essentially over at this part — or, at least, we’ve caught up to just about the present. I’m all grows up, I’m married, live in a house, have a pretty steady job, good friends, interesting hobbies, in good health. I’m pretty much where I wanted to be back when this whole mess started in 1985, though it took the usual twists and turns to get there.

From here out there really isn’t much to say, story-wise. I may make a few comments here and there, but it’s mostly about the music.

Snow Patrol – How To Be Dead Piebald – Karate Chops for Everyone But Me Weezer – Knock-down Drag-out Guster – Amsterdam Elf Power – Embrace the Crimson Tide Owsley – Coming Up Roses Foo Fighters – Generator Maroon 5 – Harder to Breathe Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Love Burns Delirium – Euphoria (Firefly) Hooverphonic – 2Wicky Pendulum – Broadcast Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps Jimmy Eat World – If You Don’t Don’t The New Pornographers – The Electric Version Grandaddy – The Group Who Couldn’t Say Phantom Planet – California Air – Playground Love

Modest Mouse – Float On The Vines – Ride Hot Hot Heat – Oh, Goddamnit Robyn Hitchcock – Viva! Sea-Tac The Apples in Stereo – Please Camera Obscura – Teenager Cake – Ruby Sees All Fountains Of Wayne – Stacy’s Mom The Benjamins – Wonderful Thee Spivies – Holly They Might Be Giants – Damm Good Times Caesar’s Palace – Jerk It Out Jem – Just A Ride Mirah – Cold Cold Water Mellowdrone – Fashionably Uninvited The Shins – New Slang The Minders – Tearaway South – Loosen Your Hold The Postal Service – Brand New Colony Puracane – Big Day The Polyphonic Spree – Section 12 (Hold Me Now)

There are two major developments here. The first is, notice how many songs are on each side. Since Crusade and Jihad I had been making these mixes on CDs, not tapes. CDs caused a problem because, at about 75 minutes, they’re much longer than a tape side but much shorter than two tape sides (remember, I had been using 100-minute tapes.) So do I continue to make each “side” 50 minutes, or do I take advantage of the extra legroom? I had started doing the former, but here I switched to the latter.

The effect is, in retrospect, a case of diminishing returns. Having so many songs on a “side” pretty much diluted the effect of any individual song. Whereas before if a side had only four or five really standout tracks, that was fine, here, they just get swallowed up among the others. (It also didn’t help that increasing the number of songs meant not having to have as high standards, though I’ll admit that some previous tapes bring doubt to the idea that there were standards anyway.) For future mixes, I may go back to a more reasonable amount.

The second major development is KEXP, a Seattle radio station that streams online. I started listening to it on my computer and immediately found about a dozen songs I liked.

• Snow Patrol – How To Be Dead

This was a KEXP song that I absolutely fell in love with and listened to over and over. Probably the first album I bought strictly due to KEXP.

• Piebald – Karate Chops for Everyone But Me
• Weezer – Knock-down Drag-out
• The Benjamins – Wonderful

These songs came from Dan, who had a much more solid grasp on what was going on in music than I did. He was also a huge Weezer fan at the time, so I was hearing a lot more of them than I might have been otherwise.

• Guster – Amsterdam

I don’t think I heard these guys on KEXP first, but it seemed like they were filling the top40-friendly jangle band niche vacated by the Gin Blossoms.

• Elf Power – Embrace the Crimson Tide
• The Apples in Stereo – Please
• The Minders – Tearaway

Elf Power was another Elephant 6 band, and since I liked other bands in the group, such as The Minders and The Apples in Stereo (and Dressy Bessy, taking a break here, I guess) I checked them out. For some reason they didn’t really grab me as much as the others, but I liked this tune.

• Owsley – Coming Up Roses

I had read about Owsley somewhere and the absolutely perfect pop music he was making. I like this song a lot, but none of the others I heard made much of an impression on me.

• Foo Fighters – Generator

At this point, this may be the band on this mix that’s been included the longest, but I’m pretty sure it’s the end of the road for them.

• Maroon 5 – Harder to Breathe

I haven’t the slightest clue where I heard these guys or why I included this. I mean, I don’t dislike it, but I don’t have the foggiest notion where it came from.

• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Love Burns
• Hooverphonic – 2Wicky
• Jimmy Eat World – If You Don’t Don’t
• The New Pornographers – The Electric Version
• Grandaddy – The Group Who Couldn’t Say
• Phantom Planet – California
• They Might Be Giants – Damm Good Times
• The Polyphonic Spree – Section 12 (Hold Me Now)

Return performers from previous mixes.

• Delerium – Euphoria (Firefly)

I had had this song as an mp3 for ages and have no idea where I had originally heard it, or why it suddenly shows up here.

• Pendulum – Broadcast
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps
• Air – Playground Love
• Modest Mouse – Float On
• The Vines – Ride
• Hot Hot Heat – Oh, Goddamnit
• Robyn Hitchcock – Viva! Sea-Tac
• Camera Obscura – Teenager
• Caesar’s Palace – Jerk It Out
• Mirah – Cold Cold Water
• Mellowdrone – Fashionably Uninvited
• South – Loosen Your Hold
• The Postal Service – Brand New Colony
• Puracane – Big Day

All of these came from KEXP. For many of them I can’t tell you anything about the band or anything else they’ve done; I just heard the songs on KEXP and liked them. In fact, only one of these resulted in an album purchase (The Postal Service), though I’ve been meaning to get a few of the others. Obviously a couple of them (“Maps”, “Float On”) were much more well-known than the others, but for me they all came from the same place and had the same weight.

I mentioned last time my confusion about “Surfing on a Rocket” by Air being on that mix. The album that’s from, Talkie Walkie was THE talk of KEXP when I first started listening, and that’s where I first heard them, yet none of the other KEXP songs were on that mix. A MYSTERY INDEED.

• Cake – Ruby Sees All

While waiting for a new Cake album I decided to go back to their first one, since I had jumped on the Cake album after that.

• Fountains Of Wayne – Stacy’s Mom

The song that would make — and, it looks like, break — Fountains of Wayne. “Stacy’s Mom” got tons of airplay, and had a well-known video, but didn’t really rise above the ranks of “summer novelty hit”. I can’t even argue that it’s nothing like their other songs — it’s not that different from a lot of them — but it clearly didn’t have anything that made anyone want to look further into this incredibly talented band, which is a damn shame. If that isn’t bad enough, I forgot this song on the CD cover I made.

• Thee Spivies – Holly

I’ve known a lot of fellows named Chris in my life, and this song came from Chris G.

• Jem – Just A Ride

Pretty sure she got a fair amount of airplay, and I think Becky got the CD.

• The Shins – New Slang

Though The Shins were also loved by KEXP, I first heard them on the Garden State soundtrack. I heard other bits of this album and Chutes Too Narrow and wasn’t much taken by anything else, even though it seemed they were wowing everyone else.

The title comes from a post on IMDB that was picked up by the humor site Something Awful. Dan and I saw it and LAUGHED AND LAUGHED.

Your next question is: Why is the cover so crappy? It’s a good question. The answer is because it was the first cover I made. In fact, it was supposed to just be temporary. It wasn’t until afterwards that I went back and made the other covers, and I improved my Paint Shop Pro technique as I went along. I really should make a better one for this mix, especially since I omitted a song on the back.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Maybe You Can Live on the Moon in Next Century (March, 2004)

 

By March, 2004, when this disc was made, we had settled in pretty well in Massachusetts. Becky was busy with her new job, but getting to know her colleagues and become friends with them. For me, who was now working from home, it seemed that making friends would be more difficult, but I was wrong.

I had placed ads up in various game stores and forums looking for a new D&D group. (Actually, I was hoping to play something other than D&D, as I was pretty tired of it by this point.) Soon I got in touch with two people. TJ had an RPG group that I was welcome to join, and Dan was looking for someone to game with, though he was more into boardgames. I ended up becoming fast friends with both of them and other folks through them, and before long I was doing just fine.

Before all this it was just the two of us, however, and we spent a lot of time learning the area, as well as entertaining ourselves with card games and the PS2. It felt a lot like those early days back in Champaign when we were first married.

Speaking of which, we’d also had our tenth anniversary, and the gift we gave ourselves was a trip to London. We’d been out of the country before (twice to Austria to see Becky’s sister) but this was the first time we’d done so completely on our own, and we had a great time.

If it seems like not a lot was going on, remember that we moved here in July, and the next few months were spent settling in. Then the New England winter hit, in which we mostly stayed indoors, cocooned. By the time I made this mix, I’d just started venturing outdoors again.

(This mix is posted about on my blog here.)

The Polyphonic Spree – Section 9 (Light & Day/Reach for the Sun) The Apples in Stereo – That’s Something I Do Superchic – Big Star Machine The Raveonettes – That Great Love Sound Blue Man Group + Tracey Bonham – Up to the Roof Nada Surf – The Way You Wear Your Head R.E.M. – Bad Day Wilco – Box Full of Letters No Doubt – It’s My Life Weezer – Photograph Tatu – All the Things She Said Rooney – Blueside Grandaddy – El Caminos In The West Erin McKeown – An Innocent Fiction Fountains Of Wayne – All Kinds Of Time

Dressy Bessy – Georgie Blue Phantom Planet – Hey Now Girl The Minders – Right as Rain Foo Fighters – Times Like These Jimmy Eat World – A Praise Chorus The New Pornographers – The Laws Have Changed Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Stop Smile Empty Soul – This is War Thievery Corporation – The Mirror Conspiracy Air – Surfing On A Rocket Prince of Persia – Time Only Knows Hooverphonic – Renaissance Affair They Might Be Giants – Bed Bed Bed

Working from home, I didn’t get much opportunity to hear new stuff through the radio or other people, so I turned to the Internet instead, finding out about new bands by reading about them online.

• The Polyphonic Spree – Section 9 (Light & Day/Reach for the Sun)

This isn’t the first song I tracked down because I heard it in a Volkswagen commercial.

• The Apples in Stereo – That’s Something I Do
• Weezer – Photograph
• Rooney – Blueside
• Dressy Bessy – Georgie Blue
• The Minders – Right as Rain
• Foo Fighters – Times Like These
• Jimmy Eat World – A Praise Chorus
• Hooverphonic – Renaissance Affair

Less album mining than last time. At this point I was starting to focus more on songs than albums, and it’s only going to get more pronounced as we go on.

• Superchic – Big Star Machine

I think John first played this for me. I remember some debate about whether or not the band’s name has a “k” on it.

• The Raveonettes – That Great Love Sound
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Stop

Two bands showed up suddenly, both sounding a lot like the Jesus and Mary Chain. (That’s okay, the JAMC wasn’t using that sound anymore anyway.) Naturally, I was interested. The Raveonettes were a touch more interesting than the BRMC, since they were also hitting a sort of Phil Spector sound.

• Blue Man Group + Tracey Bonham – Up to the Roof
• Smile Empty Soul – This is War

Shasradio tunes are still drifting in here, even though the site itself was defunct by this point.

• Nada Surf – The Way You Wear Your Head

Remember Nada Surf and “Popular”? Most people had written them off as one hit wonders by this point, but Dan pointed us towards their album Let Go, which is really, really good and got a lot of play from us. I recommend it.

• R.E.M. – Bad Day

This is, to date, the last R.E.M. song to make it on to one of my mixes, and it’s pretty much an obvious b-side remake of “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”. I think it was on one of the many greatest hits compilations, but it’s neither particularly great nor a hit. Around the Sun would be released later in the year and would pretty much indicate that I was utterly done with R.E.M. Considering what was going on politically in the country at the time, to hear a band that had previously so proudly worn its lefty heart on its sleeve bleating out direct-to-adult-contemporary fluff was absurd.

• Wilco – Box Full of Letters

After being wowed by Yankee Hotel Foxtrot we visited the earlier Wilco catalog. It’s not bad, but this is not a band I would have otherwise fallen for, as I was kind of done with this kind of stuff by now.

• No Doubt – It’s My Life

Oh god, I am so…so…sorry.

• Tatu – All the Things She Said

But I’m NOT apologizing for this! (Actually, it was just included as a joke for Dan, but I don’t remember the details of the joke.)

• Grandaddy – El Caminos In The West

Not sure where I first heard of these guys, but I really fell for Sumday hard.

• Erin McKeown – An Innocent Fiction

Erin’s a local gal, and we saw her play at Pearl Street up in Northampton. This is from her album Grand, which I really recommend, even if it doesn’t include her cover of “Rhode Island is Famous for You” by Blossom Dearie. If you have a chance to see Erin play, do so. You won’t be disappointed.

• Fountains Of Wayne – All Kinds Of Time

I could not care less about sports in general or football in particular but this song is absolutely amazing, perfectly capturing a single golden moment of satori.

• Phantom Planet – Hey Now Girl

I’m a big Wes Anderson movie fan, and loved Rushmore, so there was no question I’d check out that band that Jason Schwartzman is in. I wasn’t wowed, but I dig this song.

• The New Pornographers – The Laws Have Changed

I tried to stick with Neko Case through her transition from bluegrass to chanteuse but nothing really grabbed me. On the way, though, I found her stuff with the New Pornographers and came to really like Electric Version.

• Thievery Corporation – The Mirror Conspiracy

Pretty sure this came from the same message board thread where I got The Minders (the album this is from came out in 2000). We discovered a great used CD store in Northampton (Turn It Up) and bought The Mirror Conspiracy there, and I totally dig it.

• Air – Surfing On A Rocket

This one confuses me because I associate it with something that I’ll talk about more on the next mix. If I didn’t get it from there, then I’m not sure where I got it.

• Prince of Persia – Time Only Knows

Yeah, I played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on the PS2 and yeah, I liked the end credits song and yeah I found it online and yeah I put it on a mix CD. Your point?

• They Might Be Giants – Bed Bed Bed

TMBG finally cut out the middleman and went straight to kids for this album. In some ways it’s more interesting than their “adult” music at the time.

A fortune I got from a fortune cookie:

Note that I got this in the year 2004. So the plan is:
Step One: Make it to next century.
Step Two: Live on the moon! (maybe)

The cover art is some pixel art I found online.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

My Ninja Shoots Him in the Head 37 Times (July, 2003)

 

Gradually the people we knew from the U of I, who were all grad students, found jobs and went elsewhere. We remained one of the few original couples to be around, but that was changing. Becky had completed her dissertation and been on the job market now, and in early 2003 she was looking into offers from schools. It was clear that we were going to be moving, the only question was: where to? For a moment it looked like we would be going to Yankton, South Dakota, but then a college in Springfield, Massachusetts, made an offer and she accepted it. We were going to New England.

By this time Chris and Christine had left for South Carolina themselves, and I was mostly hanging with Dave, as well as two guys I met through him, Rob and Brian. I was running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign for them, and this news meant I would have to wrap it up. I was going to miss them, especially Dave who I’d gotten to be good friends with.

For my job, my boss agreed that I could stay on and work remotely, at least temporarily. This saved me the pressure of having to find a job immediately, so that was a relief. Nobody was really sure if working from home was going to be good for me; but it was only going to be for a short period.

We went to Springfield and did some house-hunting and stumbled into a really nice one purely by accident. We made an offer, it was accepted, and at the beginning of July we packed up all our things, bid farewell to Champaign-Urbana, and headed for Massachusetts.

(Incidentally, I had asked on a message board about Springfield and was told that I wasn’t really going to be living in Massachusetts, as I was in the Western part of the state. I was already used to this kind of foolishness, having spent the previous ten years living in the worthless part of Illinois that wasn’t Chicago.)

Becky sort of knew her colleagues, and it turned out that one couple we knew from Illinois was actually living nearby, but it was still a bit scary. Once again we were headed into the great unknown.

(This mix is posted about on my blog here.)

The Apples in Stereo – Go Fountains Of Wayne – Bright Future In Sales Dynamite Hack – Anyway Sun Sawed in Half – The Beholder and his Eye Foo Fighters – All My Life The Strokes – Someday Cracker – Shine Cake – Shadow Stabbing April March – Chick Habit Hooverphonic – Battersea Jimmy Eat World – The Authority Song Ryan Adams – New York, New York The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash – 440 Horses Chris Cornell – Can’t Change Me The Thorns – Runaway Feeling

Soul Coughing – Screenwriter’s Blues The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army Rooney – If It Were Up To Me Weezer – Keep Fishin’ They Might Be Giants – Yeh Yeh The Minders – Yeah Yeah Yeah Sum 41 – In Too Deep Dressy Bessy – If You Should Try To Kiss Her Suzanne Vega – Last Year’s Troubles Wilco – Kamera John Mayer – No Such Thing The Faint – Worked Up So Sexual Rhett Miller – This is What I Do Ben Folds – Annie Waits Beck – Lost Cause

After finally getting my groove back I sort of do a little backsliding here, once again including some top 40 schmaltz. The big influence is still Shasradio, though this is about the time it had to shut down.

• The Apples in Stereo – Go
• The Minders – Yeah Yeah Yeah
• Dressy Bessy – If You Should Try To Kiss Her

My newfound love of The Minders led me into the oddball world of the Elephant 6 music collective, of which they were a tangential part. This brought me to Apples in Stereo and Dressy Bessy (and eventually elsewhere). This seemed to be a group that was just putting out fun, catchy, and interesting pop music, and I was glad to find them.

• Fountains Of Wayne – Bright Future In Sales

FoW’s third album, Welcome Interstate Managers may go on for one or two songs too long, but it pretty much cemented their place in my heart. They finally found some mainstream success with “Stacy’s Mom” (which we’ll talk about later) but that song only hinted at the number of characters on the album having difficulty adjusting to “grown-up” life.

• Dynamite Hack – Anyway

I haven’t a clue where I heard about this song.

• Sun Sawed in Half – The Beholder and his Eye
• April March – Chick Habit
• Chris Cornell – Can’t Change Me
• The Faint – Worked Up So Sexual

All of these were popular tunes on Shasradio.

• Foo Fighters – All My Life
• The Strokes – Someday
• Cracker – Shine
• Cake – Shadow Stabbing
• Hooverphonic – Battersea
• Jimmy Eat World – The Authority Song
• Weezer – Keep Fishin’
• They Might Be Giants – Yeh Yeh
• Suzanne Vega – Last Year’s Troubles
• Wilco – Kamera
• Ben Folds – Annie Waits

More album mining here. The Jimmy Eat World song references the Jesus and Mary Chain, which I like.

• Ryan Adams – New York, New York

Ryan Adams was the talk of the indie rock scene for a while and I got hold of one of his CDs. It didn’t blow me away, and to be honest, I’m not sure why I even included this song here, because god knows we sure don’t need yet another song that’s a love letter to New York City.

• The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash – 440 Horses

I don’t know if this came from Shasradio or not. It could have come from “Paste” magazine, which we had started to get, and which featured indie rock of a folk/country/singer-songwriter bent.

• The Thorns – Runaway Feeling

In lieu of a new album, Matthew Sweet teamed up with Shawn Mullins and Pete Droge and put out an album of, well, kinda treacly Crosby, Stills, and Nash stuff.

• Soul Coughing – Screenwriter’s Blues

We finally got Soul Coughing’s first CD, Ruby Vroom, and this song just kicked my ass.

• The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

And speaking of ass-kicking songs. Honestly, the White Stripes don’t really do it for me, but I love this song.

• Rooney – If It Were Up To Me

Becky heard these guys somewhere and we got the CD. I liked some of it, but most of it just kind of flew past me.

• Sum 41 – In Too Deep

Okay, I have absolutely no idea where this came from. I don’t dislike it — it’s the kind of power-punk stuff I actually enjoy — but I don’t know where the hell I heard it, why I downloaded it, or how it made it here.

• John Mayer – No Such Thing

Yes, yes, I know. And I’m not going to deny this one — I liked the song, I added it by conscious choice. I had no idea at the time how overplayed it would be and how irritating this guy would be.

• Rhett Miller – This is What I Do

Remember Kelley, who I dated before Becky? She was big into the Dallas music scene and knew Rhett Miller. I had, somewhere, a tape of his early solo stuff, as well as the band that would eventually become the Old 97s, thanks to her. I hadn’t paid much attention to him or them (other than my co-worker John playing an Old 97′s CD and — every time — me asking, “Who is this?”) but I heard an interview with him on NPR and they played this song and that’s how it came to be here.

• Beck – Lost Cause

Beck’s Sea Change is a magnificent album. It details the dissolution of a relationship in stark, simplistic detail, and this song distills the entire thing down to one track.

Rob, one of the guys I was gaming with, claimed that he was in a game store one day where a role-playing session was taking place, and that one of the players announced this action. I think it’s one of the greatest phrases ever. For the cover, I used one of my own Lego ninjas, outfitting him with a pistol from some action figure. And on the back, the scene of the crime.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Quick, Professor! To the Dirigible! (September, 2002)

 

This mix was made somewhere before September 16, 2002. I know this because in July of 2002 I started a blog, and on September 16 I posted an entry mentioning that I had created this mix.

The irony here is that the advent of the blog means I have a much better record of what was going on in my life at the time, but there really wasn’t much going on in my life at the time. For me, things had more or less stabilized. I was happily working at Wolfram, I was doing many of the same things as before, and the Celexa was keeping me on an even keel.

Our University of Illinois friends were dispersing, however, as dissertations were finished and jobs were gained. Like dandelion seeds they scattered to Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. Becky was also finishing up her diss and was starting to look for jobs.

The most notable change for me was my newfound interest in politics. I had always been something of a liberal but moreso of a curmudgeon. The first election I got to vote in was the infamous Duke-Edwards governor election in Louisiana, where I had to choose between a crook and a former Ku Klux Klan leader. My opinion of the electoral system was not high, and I didn’t even vote in the 2000 presidential election (not that it mattered much in Illinois) because I was so disgusted with the whole thing. But of course, the events following September 11 horrified me and illustrated exactly what the difference was between the parties, and I found myself regaining interest.

(After September 11 I briefly regained contact with Rob. He had undergone a lot of changes since the last time I had spoken with him, and became a hardcore conservative for about 20 minutes after the fact.)

The blog helped me vent my spleen at the absurdities happening in American society. It also provided a creative outlet, since I had a degree in Creative Writing from LSU but hadn’t written a word since getting it.

There wasn’t a whole lot going on, but some changes were ahead.

Save Ferris – Turn It Up They Might Be Giants – Bangs Cake – Short Skirt/Long Jacket Soul Coughing – Rolling Jimmy Eat World – The Middle The Strokes – Last Nite Alabama 3 – Mao Tse Tung Said (edit) Shivaree – Goodnight Moon Wilco – Heavy Metal Drummer Fiona Apple – Fast As You Can Beth Wood – Rusty Nail Badly Drawn Boy – Something to Talk About Dirty Vegas – Days Go By The Minders – Hooray For Tuesday

David Gray – Please Forgive Me Ben Folds – Zak And Sara Fountains of Wayne – Utopia Parkway Idlewild – Actually It’s Darkness Riddlin’ Kids – I Feel Fine Switchfoot – Chem 6A The Go-Go’s – Unforgiven Foo Fighters – The One Gorillaz – 19-2000 Aimee Mann – That’s Just What You Are Weezer – Dope Nose The White Stripes – Fell In Love With A Girl Suzanne Vega – Song in Red and Gray Cracker – Guarded By Monkeys Hooverphonic – Vinegar & Salt

A year’s gone by, but not a whole lot has changed.

• Save Ferris – Turn It Up
• They Might Be Giants – Bangs
• Cake – Short Skirt/Long Jacket
• Shivaree – Goodnight Moon
• David Gray – Please Forgive Me
• Gorillaz – 19-2000
• Weezer – Dope Nose
• Hooverphonic – Vinegar & Salt

At last we’re back to the point where I’m mining the same albums for more songs.

• Soul Coughing – Rolling

With El Oso, this band fully clicked for me. And then they broke up.

• Jimmy Eat World – The Middle

Bleed American is an excellent pop album, with many songs written especially for me.

• The Strokes – Last Nite

I like this song okay, and I think there’s another one coming, but this band didn’t blow me away like it seemed to do others. I found the album to be repetitive and dull, but a lot of people are really wowed by it.

• Alabama 3 – Mao Tse Tung Said (edit)

“Love is my only weapon — BULLSHIT!”

• Wilco – Heavy Metal Drummer

I don’t much care for Radiohead, but I liked Wilco’s move to become their American cousins. This is one of the few “normal” tracks off Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, because so many of the others don’t really work when separated from the whole. I also had plans for a compilation called “I am Trying to Break My Heart” featuring the track of that near-title off this album and others that served to wrench me emotionally, but for some reason I decided that wasn’t a great idea, so it never happened. Incidentally, I had no knowledge of Wilco or Uncle Tupelo before this album.

• Fiona Apple – Fast As You Can

“Shadowboxer” was one of those songs that almost made it onto previous mixes but never did. I love the wildly varying pace of this one.

• Beth Wood – Rusty Nail

I have no idea where I first heard this song, or of this person. I love the song and bought the album, though nothing else on it grabs me like this one does.

• Badly Drawn Boy – Something to Talk About

This is from the About a Boy soundtrack. I like BDB, but find him to be best in small doses.

• Dirty Vegas – Days Go By

This was another Shasradio favorite.

• The Minders – Hooray For Tuesday

One of the Internet message boards I hung out on had a thread where people advised songs to check out. This song was on that list and I had downloaded it and liked it, but didn’t really go further. At some point I listened to it again and suddenly decided I needed more of this. I bought Hooray for Tuesday and, soon afterwards, Cul-De-Sacs and Dead ends and with that, I became a Minders fan.

• Ben Folds – Zak And Sara

Say what you will about Ben Folds, Rockin’ the Suburbs is a fantastic album. And this song of a would-be guitarist and his future-seeing girlfriend is great.

• Fountains of Wayne – Utopia Parkway

Everything that their first album was, Utopia Parkway was more of it. It is a phenomenal album, with not a single misstep to be found, and this song starts it all off with a bang. One of my all-time favorites.

• Idlewild – Actually It’s Darkness

Not sure where I heard of these guys, but I bought the album used. It’s okay.

• Riddlin’ Kids – I Feel Fine

This is one of the hazards of the Napster era. I heard this song on the radio, liked it and downloaded it, and stuck it on this mix. It’s…well, it’s not bad, but it’s here why? If it had been harder to get I wouldn’t be talking about it now.

• Switchfoot – Chem 6A

My friend and co-worker John came from a different musical background than me, and introduced me to this band, which is often thought of as Christian rock. That’s neither here nor there, as this is a good song by any standards.

• The Go-Go’s – Unforgiven

Remember when the Go-Go’s reunited? Well, they did, and this is proof.

• Foo Fighters – The One

I’ve noted before that I have a soft spot for the Foo Fighters, though by this time I wasn’t buying the albums (or, for that matter, listening much to the ones I already owned.) They have a knack for writing catchy straight-up rock songs.

• Aimee Mann – That’s Just What You Are

I really wanted to be as interested in Aimee Mann as I was supposed to be, and I really like this song, but there’s only so much of her I can take at one time.

• The White Stripes – Fell In Love With A Girl

I came for the video made of Lego, but I stayed for…well, I didn’t really stay.

• Suzanne Vega – Song in Red and Gray

Did I mention Suzanne had a divorce? And is there any…any…line that says as much as, “Did I break the thread or did you break the thread, well at this point we could ask, ‘who cares?’”?

• Cracker – Guarded By Monkeys

Despite the success of Kerosene Hat, the world had forgotten about Cracker at this point, which is a shame, because Forever is a really solid album. And yes, this song mentions PGP keys.

The title was courtesy of Anna, who suggested it due to the interest in Steampunk I had at the time (I was working on a Steampunk RPG that ultimately never got off the ground.)

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Crusade and Jihad (September, 2001)

 

Let us recap: The final tape mix was made back in 1997. In early 2001 I did the twin projects of recreating all the old mixes on mp3 and documenting them on the web. This renewed interest spurred me to return to making them, although on CD now. The previous three entries were made afterwards to fill in the gap. We’re back in real-time now.

In early 2001 I left Carle hospital to work for Wolfram Research. I was hired as a writer, but soon I was instead helping my co-worker John with running the mass mailer system. I had been keeping myself away from computers, but now I dove back into them, learning a bit of Unix, as well as teaching myself PHP and some SQL.

My job was actually pretty interesting, and I liked the people I was working with. It was still just a job, though, and I still thought of it as nothing to get attached to. However, one of the benefits was employee counseling, and I took advantage of it. I confided to the counselor that I felt anxiety over the fact that I didn’t have a career, didn’t have anything I felt was worthwhile to say when people asked, “What do you do?” and had never felt a calling for such. Her response was: “So?” She pointed out that I made decent money, was happy with my work, wasn’t stressed at my job, had plenty of time when not working to do the things I liked, had a good marriage, a car, a house, weren’t wanting for anything. I had never thought about that before, strangely enough, and it lifted a veil from me.

She also prescribed the antidepressant Celexa, which could have helped as well.

With the weight of career worries off of me, the relationship between Becky and I vastly improved and strengthened. We’d been through a tough time and got out of it just fine.

I don’t need to tell you what else happened in September of 2001. Like everyone else, I well remember everything about that day. I was at work and also hanging out in chizat as usual when Anna, who was at home, mentioned that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We were thinking small plane. I searched for news and of course the Internet went crazy. When the second plane hit, we knew something was up. A television was turned on in one of the meeting rooms, and I was getting updates from a thread on a forum I read, since all the news sites were hammered. Eventually we all went home early and even though I lived in the middle of nowhere, we had no idea how many planes had been compromised, and when the one went down in Pennsylvania we didn’t know if they were just ditching wherever they could.

The final thing that happened for me actually took place shortly after all this: my mom finally passed away from Alzheimer’s. It was horrible and disturbing to see her transform into this skeletal, moaning wight, and on top of that my uneasy relationship with my parents made the emotions more difficult to process.

Alabama 3 – Woke Up This Morning (Sopranos Theme) Depeche Mode – Dream On Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood American Hi-Fi – Flavor of the Weak Evan And Jaron – From My Head To My Heart Shivaree – Bossa Nova Neko Case And Her Boyfriends – Mood To Burn Bridges Suzanne Vega – Widow’s Walk David Gray – Babylon U2 – Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of Weezer – Island In The Sun Nina Gordon – Tonight And The Rest Of My Life

Cake – Comfort Eagle Fatboy Slim – Weapon Of Choice They Might Be Giants – Man, It’s So Loud In Here R.E.M. – Imitation of Life Blue Man Group – Rods And Cones Fountains of Wayne – …Baby One More Time Garbage – Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!) Jude – Rick James Hooverphonic – Mad About You Save Ferris – Mistaken Shriekback – Invisible Rays Moby – Porcelain

There’s a four-year gap between this mix and the previous one, and the fake ones in-between make it only slightly less of a difference than it would have been otherwise. Again, the rise of the mp3 and Napster brought a much more varied and interesting sound to the game; I had a lot better exposure to stuff and more access to it.

• Alabama 3 – Woke Up This Morning (Sopranos Theme)

I don’t remember when we actually started watching The Sopranos. (We actually didn’t get that far into it.) The TV show, however, was not the main appeal of this song; it was the fact that it sounds exactly like Shriekback. Nothing else on the album sounds this way (though it’s a great album) but damned if the other three Shriekback fans and I didn’t hear this and go, “Hey, wait a second!”

• Depeche Mode – Dream On

I think this is the final song for Depeche Mode. This album, Exciter, was anything but, with this being the best offering from it. It was also the last album I bought from the guys. I applaud them for still being around long after anyone thought they would, and still going strong, apparently, but I just find the newer stuff to not really do anything for me. I could still listen to Some Great Reward over and over, though.

• Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood

I never got into rap or hip-hop as much as many of my friends did, though there was some I liked. This, however, was right up my alley, being infused with just enough pop and having a fun, playful spirit to the whole thing.

• American Hi-Fi – Flavor of the Weak
• Evan And Jaron – From My Head To My Heart
• Weezer – Island In The Sun
• Fountains of Wayne – …Baby One More Time

Fountains of Wayne once and for all revealed my love of power pop to me. Three minute songs about cars, girls, and being in a band, and the girls in question probably have no idea you even exist, though you’d be perfect for them. Of course, the FoW song here is a Britney Spears cover, done so perfectly you’d swear they were doing a good song.

• Shivaree – Bossa Nova

We heard this on some TV show and I fell in love with it. You’re my favorite thing…in the room. So many of this little wannabe diva-ettes could learn twelve things about being cool from this one song.

• Neko Case And Her Boyfriends – Mood To Burn Bridges

This one as well. Before she became just female singer number 12, Neko was doing a punky sort of bluegrass that’s a hell of a lot of fun.

• Suzanne Vega – Widow’s Walk

How long had it been since I made a mix? Long enough for Suzanne Vega to release another album! And when I first heard it I went, “Uhh…did something happen with her marriage?” Yes. Yes something had. And she sings about it all pretty unflinchingly in a few of the songs here, but it doesn’t overpower everything.

• David Gray – Babylon

I know I’ll catch some flack for this, but I like the song, and it’s another one of those tunes that reaches into me with some kind of nostalgia. For what, I don’t know, but it pushes that button for some weird reason.

• U2 – Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of

As you may have seen, I’ve only half-heartedly followed along with U2, but I do like this song.

• Nina Gordon – Tonight And The Rest Of My Life

This was a solo effort from one of the women behind Veruca Salt. It wasn’t very good, though this song is cheesily enjoyable.

• Cake – Comfort Eagle

Cake’s Comfort Eagle album is incredible, and the high point of it is the “Arco Arena”/”Comfort Eagle” punch. It blows me away every time, so much so that the three songs after it didn’t really get good listens from me for a while because I’d still be reeling. This is the “Crusade” portion of our program, and it’s just a phenomenal song.

• Fatboy Slim – Weapon Of Choice

It’s hard to follow up “Comfort Eagle”, but Bootsy Collins quoting Dune is up to the task. Combined with memories of the video featuring a flying Christopher Walken, you get gold.

• They Might Be Giants – Man, It’s So Loud In Here

I lamented before about They Might Be Giants becoming more of a “gag band” in their old age, with their songs becoming parodies of styles more than inspired by styles. This is a straight up rip on Pet Shop Boys/New Order, but I gotta admit, I love it.

• R.E.M. – Imitation of Life

Not the last R.E.M. you’ll see, but almost. Not a bad song and there were maybe one or two other okay ones on Reveal but for the most part it slid right off my ears. It’s the last R.E.M. album I bought, and I only tried to listen to it a few times. The follow-up, Around the Sun was just godawful dull. It breaks my heart, but this band just dove headfirst into inessentiality.

• Blue Man Group – Rods And Cones

I had heard one song off this album and really liked it, so I bought the whole thing. It’s quite samey — there are only so many sounds you get from PVC tubes, after all — but it’s some pretty cool stuff.

• Garbage – Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)

Garbage had two pretty good album in them; this is from the third. Not bad, but you don’t need to run out and get the rest of the CD.

• Jude – Rick James

You’re saying, “Who?”and I don’t have an answer for you. We heard this song on the radio while driving somewhere…possibly to Mississippi or Alabama to visit the Schwinds or the Bartons. I liked the song, later found it on mp3, and apart from that one time and its inclusion hear have never heard it or the band again.

• Hooverphonic – Mad About You

I don’t know exactly how I found these guys…possibly I got them from Anna, possibly she got them from me and I don’t know where I got them from. But their albums The Magnificent Tree and Blue Wonder Power Milk are really, really good.

• Save Ferris – Mistaken

Part of the brief ska phase from the late 90s, this bad actually added more pop elements to the mix, and has some catchy stuff.

• Shriekback – Invisible Rays

And then Shriekback DID have a new album! Called Naked Apes and Pond Life, and featuring a track called “Anal Piss Machine”, it’s…well, it’s a bit different. All over the place, really, but this one is a standout track, I think, and in my mind it comprises the “Jihad” portion.

• Moby – Porcelain

Finally, a calm, cool track with a bit of lonely hauntedness about it.

Obviously the title came out of the events of September 11, which were still quite fresh in my head. The cover is of course a photo from the attack, and the back cover is intentionally black and sparse.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)