DateMix Notes from AB
Ever since the early 0ught's I had the idea for a mix that was a deep cross-pollination of city and country themes, and proposed a contest with the venerable Toby. Well, ever since our Divine leader Kelly first took up the cause on the 3MPM platform and delivered her sparkling brilliant mix, and then Master Tobywan weighed in with spurs jangling to a subway beat, I have been considering a sort of aural linedance Response to their ultracool wickedsmart Calls, and so I have been keeping a list, and checking it more than twice. For me town and country fairly screams a coast to coast road trip, moving on from blue state through red back to blue, and feeling the royal purple blend of musicians out of familiar territory. I have always loved the idea and the chops of Country artists singing citified songs, and Big Town artists going down country for inspiration, yielding the twang-funk hybrid seed, but I also love themes and subtext, so it is fertilized with heartbreak, of course! This then, stacks as a Johnny Appleseed road mix of sorts, as you decide to leave one blue aural city and head across red-rose country to the far blue horizon skyline, with blown tires and cul de sacs and flavors all down that country road, as the radio stations bleed together through the mountains and valleys, suburbling polyphonic pathways like no Monsanto gene-splicer could imagine. This is a San Francisco Shoutout to our Divine Kelly rolled out to Sir Toby of Detroit and Beyond, with a thanks to my good friend Tim C. who can go from Harlem to Hatfield with the best of them. Howdy neighbor Yo!
Liner Notes by AB
T & C:
1) Miike Snow - Black and Blue - How many influences/ sources/ decades can there be on one song, music for genre-smashing times.
2) The Poets - Now We're Through - Andrew Loog Oldham's alternate universe darlings to the Rolling Stones, the ultimate musical But For/ What If.
3) Rudy Vallee- Harbour Lights - When city boys could be crooners too.
4) Rickie Lee Jones - Low Spark - Cowboy London via Outer Space, and that voice!
5) David Bowie - The Bewlay Bros - OK, this is all about driving through Hollywood in the 70's, with amplified everything, and that is all I'm saying!
6) Neil Young - On the Beach - Once when this was new music this twelve inch piece of vinyl suppurated heartbreak from me like a rattlesnake bite suction cup, and sent me out into nature, thanks Neil!
7) Hank Williams - Neil owns Hank's Guitar- seguefied.
8) Ralph Stanley - Proves in two minutes that you can never really go home again, even if you can clawhammer banjo pick like a sommabitch!
9) Bon Iver - Blood Bank - Finding fleeting love at the Blood Bank, only in Americana, a brilliant winter stroke and harmonies that transcend definition.
10) Crooked Fingers - Shelley's Winter Love - Indie nods and bows to Merle, amber waves of grain.
11) Nick Cave - Helpless - Where are We? I have no Idea. Just drive!
12) Jim Reeves - He'll Have to Go - Well we found a truckstop, you gotta dime?
13) Nanci Griffith - Boots of Spanish Leather - Sometimes the phrasing is so clear and direct there is nothing you can say.
14) Low - California - Saudade is Portuguese for longing.
15) Captain Beefheart - Owed T' Alex - And paid in full register!
16) Charleston Street Vendors 1910 - Field Recording - Blackberrys' for sale on the corner, now and then.
17) Davila 666 - Ciudad - The ipod Shuffle synaesthesia.
18) Prince - Lady Cab Driver - Can you take me to the Show?
19) Otis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness (live) - nuff said.
20) Brian Eno / Daniel Lanois - You Don't Miss Your Water. Thesis plus Antithesis equals Synth- isis. Hegelian Musicoligy on display.
Mix is up; same new password from last week. See you back here or on our secret members-only Facebook page soon. Happy December, all, XOK
16 comments:
big miike snow fan here. so you can never go wrong with them as an opener. really nice mix of old and new.
--kellen
Rickie Lee Jones' cover of "Low Spark" is nice stuff, AB. No idea what what the song is about. Listening to it while holding the old Traffic album-- the one with the cut corners, looking like a psychedelic ice cube-- has always sent a chill up my spine
Bon Iver is so beautiful. What a voice that Justin Vernon has! Like two split reeds are hidden in there somewhere.
Been ages since I heard "Lady Cab Driver." Love the vinyl pops!
Is that "Charleston Street" track from the Riverside History of Classic Jazz album? The Rap rhythms of the flower vendor go way back. Back before recordings.
Once saw Miike Snow's namesake Takeshi Miike talk at a film Festival. He was proudly wearing a cheap red leather knock-off Michael Jackson Thriller Jacket. Prolific artist and total nut-job.
On "Belway Brothers" gotta wonder if that's the Laughing Gnome singing background.
Fun hearing Eno singing a Stax soul song, sounding countrified, at that. Multi-talented bastards, making the rest of the world sound ordinary: Lanois and Eno pioneered Ambient Music in the early 80s, then go on to produce mega-bands/mega-brands like U2 and Dylan.
Thanks for the mix, AB!
Hmm... My earlier comment seems to have not appeared. Suffice to say that I enjoyed the great majority of this mix, most especially the RLJ cover: unexpected and delightful. The Dr. Stanley and Shakey tunes are also quite fine. Thanks for the travelogue!
"Bon Iver is so beautiful. What a voice that Justin Vernon has! Like two split reeds are hidden in there somewhere."
Someone probably should have had this discussion with Kanye before he auto-tuned poor Justin. What a travesty. Instantly made me hate the whole album.
--kellen, again
Kellen--
You're right. That auto-tuned "Woods" song is way barfy.
Rarely listen to radio on purpose anymore, but one groggy morning I had the misfortune of hearing that song on Austin's KUT. This was right after catching a Bon Iver live show. I was totally stumped by the WTFness of that one.
Had no idea Justin Vernon was doing anything with Kanye West. But then, I know zip about Kanye other than the fact that he hurt Baby Bush's feelings by calling him out for not liking black people.
Apparently being out of touch with most "Urban Music" post-Run DMC does have an upside.
Love the Bon Iver tune. I know I'm not the only one who's had this experience, but why don't I own anything by him even though everyone talks about him? This song is great.
I didn't like Crooked Fingers when I saw him play at Bimbo's about 5 years ago, but this song makes me happy. Hands down my favorite.
Can't go wrong with Ralph Stanley. Period.
And I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Rickie Lee Jones song is one of my favorite here. WTF? What the hell is happening to me?
All in all, a great comp. Thanks Arthur!
Thanks for the comments, some responses:Yes the Charleston is from the Riverside Jazz, recorded before King Oliver , Ma Rainey, Sydney Bechet, sound of the street by way of Edison.
As for Bowie, the difference between all the laughing gnome crap, and Man Who sold/Space Oddity Changes/ Ziggy, was to me like a little Leaves of Grass/Whitmanesque rock and roll moment, from zero to hero (pun ouch), so the Bewlay Bros end is just a little vestigial idiot tail, or else a nod to his crazy brother.
The Bon iver piece just gets to me, glad I never heard Kanye spit up on Justin, txs
Oh, and the Low spark cover by RLJ. My very first concert, Traffic, On the Road tour 1971 in Long Beach. 3 and 1/2 hours, this song was like a half hour long, blew my curfew, got grounded, loved every minute. I had cutouts of those two cutout albums, Low Spark and Shoot Out, from Rhino in LA. And I saw RLJ when she was to drunk to sing, so I love that she made it back
Oh this is fantastic. Nobody's mentioned the wonderful cover image, so I shall. I'm a station-wagon lover, er, that is to say: I'm a lover of station wagons. So thank you for that.
And for the mix! Great mix, things I'd never heard from artists I know (the RLJ cover especially), thank you for introducing me to Crooked Fingers and Ciudad, taking Bowie out of the Hunky Dory context, reminding me to revisit Bon Iver and Low, and...
...for dredging up one of my all-time favorite songs, Jim Reeves's "He'll Have to Go," which I have always loved and have long thought is a song which, scenario-wise, actually serves as prelude to a particularly nasty bit of domestic violence [singer who has clearly had too much to drink ends both the song and the phone call, hops in the Falcon Ranchero, and drives over to her house, mayhem ensues].
Rudy Vallee's always nice & good Americana mix, even Brian Eno Americana.
Another great mix. I'm enjoying discovering a lot of these songs one at a time, but the lead track is my fave so far.
Diggggin' this mix, Sir Arthur. Lots of songs already dumped into my Season 4 Faves playlist. Davila 666: Jesus and Mary Chain for SoBo?
While it was fun making my this-versus-that city/country mix, this long-playing theme is a fabulous way to tackle the theme.
Multigrazzi Arturo!
XOK
Thanks all for your comments. What I love is how much we all love music! And how much we collectively know about it. Ear to ear. I have received more musical awareness from 3mpm than any media ever. Kudos to Kelly for a brilliant sharing strategy. The Davila 666 I got from my friend Tim. I hear J&MC, even some Who, some VU, filtered through a Puerto Rico Barrio! And I totally agree with Stephen about Jim Reeves, I think it is the sweet menace hidden in the natural tremolo. Tim says Sid Vicious was known to play "he'll have to go" over and over and cry his eyes out. Who knew that side of him......
Nice, earthy mix, Arthur. The Poets are brand new and brilliant to me. I'm searching for more. What a reverent take on "Shelly's Winter Love". And thanks for the alt. v. of my favorite Bowie tune.
Well, I'm definitely a slow metabolizer, and it's taken me some time to get to this mix, but there are some stunning tracks on here. The Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois tune is sublime. There, I said it. Beautiful mix.
Mike Snow joined my playlist last year, I liked his music so much that I bought the album. I am glad you put black and blue on the mix, it reminds me of bitter sweet narcotic pop like style council.
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