Wait For It

Date
July 18, 2012


Miracler
Van Biesel


Location
Atlanta


Every now and then, and sometimes frequently, I'll receive a Miracle parcel and, after auto-consuming the chocolate and later rummaging through the recycling, remembering there might be something else in the package, I'll scan the mix's track list and my eye will land on a particular track, and suddenly a jagged thought bubble pops up containing every key cap on the keyboard. How will the Miracler pull this one off?


But ya know? After 4.5 seasons/4,836 tracks of this, the insta-suction of all air from lungs has come to feel like a familiar friend. Because, like every Columbo episode, you just KNOW that, since this is a Miracler here, it's got to work out okay. (Though with you guys, the bread crumb trail is usually a bit fainter.) I guess when you create a group out of a bunch of confident music snobs, they're gonna be looking, no—NEEDING, to find that curve ball that's gonna make us flinch. Otherwise, let's just keep rearranging Fleet Foxes songs for each other every week, right? 


So, I guess what I'm trying to say here is: GUESS WHO VAN PUT BETWEEN JET AND BADLY DRAWN BOY.


No, actually, don't. You won't. Cuz this is, don't forget—this guy is crazy. This guy does not CARE where the song came from and what baggage it may carry. This song could be from ANYONE. This is the guy who brought first-time Miracling Star Glenn Campbell to his POP party in August '11's Songs of Exultant Joy, and in January '10, John Denver in The White Mix: Songs for Moving Very Quickly Down a Snowy Mountainside. Though, despite those risks, you guys did exclaim:


'YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!'-- my exultant joy for this mix. A great song to start it off! Enough silliness in the middle to hold it all together... and Elbow! This will move me up the mountain to Yosemite tomorrow (figuratively and literally).'    'I knew I'd like this mix as soon as I saw the cover. And I was right.'     'Buddy Holly to Bobby Gentry to MC5 -- Holy Guacamole! Lots of good stuff and that GREAT Everly Brothers "Two Yanks in England" closer. Loving this 100%. Keep on truckin', Winnegago Man.'    'I like this mix. A lot.'    'This is a great mix, Van. I don't think it could be more appropriately titled.'     'I like all the ground this mix covers. From the eternally youthful Buddy Holly to the new-to-my-ears Elbow (another new heavy-rotation song for me), this set hits the spot through and through. Thanks.'     'Best cover photo too.'     'Van - the Cat's Eyes floored me - beautiful. Into the Glen Campbell too. Always appreciate a little Detroit love in the mix. Thanks!'     'Nice mix! Glen Campbell made my morning. Thank you!'     'I put the B Gentry/G Campbell duet album on last week, what a recording voice she has. I left Glen on the shelf for years, having explored his catalog 20 years ago in a combined fascination/guilty-pleasure/contempt-of-schmaltz study. It's great to see him back again.'  'I can think of only 2 John Denver fans I've ever known & one of them was Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters etc. He's a skilled guitar picker etc so I think there must be something to JD.'   'The John Denver song absolutely works for me. Thanks for this eclectic mix!'


So: Open Mind, Miraclers. You're gonna need it for Track 6! But anyway, with/without that 'It's so crazy it just might work' choice (which, uh, I'm kinda warming up to—that finish IS impressive), I can fairly guarantee you'll soon be dropping a bunch of this stuff into your faves playlist. As for me, I've already thrown Track 9 directly into my Makeout/Funeral collection. (It's a short one.) You're in good hands today with the Man from Atlan and this excellent theme.

Liner Notes: Wait for it

I love songs that, one way or another, come out of nowhere and sock me in the jaw. Some do it emotionally, some do it instrumentally, but I always love it when the hammer drops and the chill runs up my spine. Here is a sampling:

1. School - Supertramp

Ever notice how some songs are just a mild-mannered setup for a rip-roaring solo? A piano solo for example.

2. The Bleeding Heart Show - The New Pornographers

And some songs are seemingly constructed just to deliver a kick-ass ending? Case in point.

3. I've Been Loving You Too Long - Otis Redding

I love the way this song teases; stuttering along until the very end when the horns finally slide into place and take it home.

4. Apollo Bay - Craig Finn

The first guitar solo is awesome, and it's just a warm up for the second.

5. Lazy Gun - Jet

This song is a favorite of my daughter, Stella. The verses would be throw-away, except for the fact that they are such a great setup for the choruses.

6. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again - Barry Manilow

There was a little backlash when I brought John Denver into the prodge, and I suppose this may get me excommunicated altogether, but this one goes out to Señora Santoscoy, my high school spanish teacher, who would go weak in the knees at the mere mention of Manilow. And, what a nice, slow build from simple piano to the full-on, over-the-top ending of orchestra, choir, and Barry.

7. A Peak You Reach - Badly Drawn Boy

Ever wonder how to take an unstoppable bass riff and pump it up at just the right moment? Cellos. Who knew?

8. Mother Of Pearl - Roxy Music

This song just cruises along (as Hi as Fi can go) only to shift gears completely and settle into one of my favorite Roxy grooves.

9. All Things Beautiful - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

I would've never guessed that my favorite album of 2007 would be a soundtrack of quiet piano and violin instrumentals from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, but my "most often played" playlist doesn't lie.

Mix is UP in its new home. Same password for now. 

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XOK