Sam Koritz Influences

Date
April 10, 2013

Miracler
Sam Koritz

Location
Albany, CA

Welcome to The Prodge, 6.1
Let's try out this new fortnightly frequency (a la Season 1) and see how it feels. I apologize now to those who have late-year dates, as they will now be going in early 2014, but from the feedback I've gotten so far, most people are happy to have more time between mixes. So we'll try this for a while and see how it goes over. Now on to today's Miracler.

Today's Miracler
is Sam Koritz, a Miracling veteran with hits under his belt that include 2012's Pulsations, 2011's The 3 R's—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, 2009's Swingy, as well as 2008's songs-to-elect-a-president-by, Long Shot Dreams To Remember. If there's a pattern to Sam's taste, I haven't found it yet. But today's mix, based on our Season 5 Social Challenge, might well shed some light. And if that don't, maybe his reading list here will.

What you said about Sam's last mix, Pulsations:
Love love love it, Sam. A great mix—thank you. Might have to dig out my Massive Attack, too.      Great theme, great mix. Everything flows as it unwinds. Especially love Animal, Kidsi, Back in Your Head and Tribulations. It's a great mix to work to.      All new stuff for me, and quite enjoyable too. Although I did occasionally feel like Philip Seymour Hoffman in '25th Hour.'      This is a really interesting mix. I'm particularly taken with the Miike Snow cut and both Kills songs. Mad Professor is amazing. Listening to those cuts made me go back and find my copy of No Protection. Nicely done.      Diggin' it Mr. Koritz. I'm all in favor of remixes that actually reinterpret rather than simply adding a disco beat, and this mix takes a fresh look at some great originals. Love The Kills as viewed by Mad Professor, The Soulwax treatment of MGMT, and the super dub of Animal. Thanks mon!      Sir Remixalot! Loads to groove on. Love the dubby vibes the flight takes off and lands with. Miike Snow awareness came to me care of 3MPMP.MGMT/Soulwax: nice remix of a favorite tune. Continued satisfaction. The "Happy Up Here" marching band version of Parliament's "Do That Stuff" is a hoot.       I like all of this. Except the LCD Soundsystem track. Those songs are sacred and should never be touched by human hands. Except those belonging to James Murphy.      Totally caught unawares by those The Kills' bookends, man. I didn't see that one coming --when did they stop knocking vodka and chainsmoking cigarettes and started sipping beer and puffing spliff?      The Animal remix is a great cut. I'd never heard the original, so I went straight to YouTube. Ronson's take makes it a very different and way better tune. Tons of feel-flow in your remix mix. Thanks!      I loved this mix, and have played it countless times already. It's infinitely listenable, and I agree with your comment that it feels like a relative to Sterling's mix. Like a half-brother. Super fun, super-groovy mix, Sam. This message brought to you by a girl!      Whoa! This was all kinds of cool, Sam. The Kills made me want to drink and smoke on the beach, MGMT made me dance (and the ending made my dog want to kill me....) and also really dug Tegan & Sara and the fun Royksopp marching band hootenanny. You never fail to surprise me. Nice one!

What Sam says about today's mix:

We made influences mixes a while back & Kelly waived the no-repeat-cuts-from-previous-mixes rule, which is why there are several repeats here. Though this is my influences mix, I have to admit that most of these songs aren’t really the ones that most influenced me because when I listen to a song a lot I stop enjoying it; I was influenced by music most when I was in my late teens & early 20s, & my tastes have changed since then; and a lot of what I enjoyed was the shock of novelty, which by now has worn off.

“I Threw It All Away,” Bob Dylan
I could just as easily have included Yo La Tengo’s version from 1989’s President Yo La Tengo album. I saw YLT play with Barbara Manning in the back of the Albion circa 1990. When I was young I believed in seeing bands in small places for cheap, so I didn’t see Bob Dylan until the 2000s. Still, there’s no ignoring this musical giant. On Dylan’s 9^th album, 1969’s Nashville Skyline he tried out a Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle) type voice. Johnny Cash sang & Charlie Daniels played on this album, which was innovative at that time, when Country wasn’t cool.

Further reading: Chronicles by Bob Dylan

“The Drum,” Bongwater
I actually like Bongwater’s (1989) version of this song as much as Slapp Happy’s (1974) original. Bongwater’s Kramer claimed to like a recording I sent him but he may just have been fishing for engineering work.

Further reading: Black Postcards by Dean Wareham

“The Rising Moon,” The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem

This is a (live 1962) song from my childhood from my parents’ small record collection. Coincidentally, “Rising Moon” and the other childhood song I’ve included, “Skye Boat Song,” have similar histories. Both were first published in the 19^th Century, were based on earlier tunes, and are about 18^th Century Celtic battles against the English.

“Do They Owe Us a Living?” Crass

This song appeared on Crass’s first record, Feeding of the 5000. The band was forced to delete a cut from that album after workers in an Irish pressing plant objected to its anti-religious lyrics. (Though they were philosophical anarchists, Crass considered this particular direct action by the downtrodden as a violation of their right to free speech.)

This is a great example of inspired DIY amateurishness. The rhythm guitar was tuned (DADGAD, I’d guess) so that it played a chord when strummed open & then the guitarist would just move that chord around.
Further reading: The Story of Crass by George Berger, Shibboleth by Penny Rimbaud, The Day the Country Died by Ian Glasper, The Freedom Manifesto by Tom Hodgkinson

“Grinding Halt,” The Cure

When Lou Reed was on his New Sensations tour he did a record-signing at a store in Kenmore Square, Boston. While I was there I found Boys Don’t Cry cheap, bought it, and, not clear on the record-signing concept, asked Reed to sign it (he did). Robert Smith described “Grinding Halt” as a “pop song that reminds you of the Isley Brothers or The Buzzcocks.” A songs-that-influenced-me-but-I-don’t-want-to-hear-right-now mix would have to include The Buzzcocks’ “What Do I Get.” My old band The Sarnos used to do a country version of that song.

“Just Like Heaven,” Dinosaur Jr.

I like a number of their romantic songs; especially this (late ‘80s, SST Records) Cure cover and their version of Frampton’s “Show Me the Way,” from around the same time. According to Wikipedia, The Cure messed with the arrangement of “Just Like Heaven” in order to make it sound less like The Only Ones’ “Another Girl, Another Planet,” another song that would have to be on the above-mentioned “What Do I Get?” mix (The Sarnos recorded it).
Further reading: Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad

“Too Nice to Talk To,” English Beat

I was really interested in certain rhythm guitar patterns, like the ones in this song, from 1981’s Wha’ppen?. I went to see The Beat play at Boston College in 1983 with REM as the opening band. My friends & I didn’t have money but karma &/or the appeal of a cute teenage girl got us tickets from disgusted music industry guys who had just walked out of the insufficiently rock performance. You hear in this song where the sax solo gets echo-y? That’s what it sounded like when we walked into the barn.

“Pull Up to the Bumper,” Grace Jones

This cut was recorded with Sly & Robbie and Chris Blackwell’s Compass Point All Stars (who also recorded classic Tom Tom Club) as part of the Warm Leatherette (1980) sessions but was too dance music-y for that New Wave/Reggae fusion project.

“That’s Entertainment,” The Jam

I used to listen to this (recorded circa 1979) demo version of “That’s Entertainment” from Snap over & over again. This version is just Paul Weller overdubs plus some non-Jam guy on quiet drums. So my favorite recording by The Jam isn’t really by them. I also like the studio version with its backwards psychedelic guitar.

“Up on the Sun,” Meat Puppets

The title track from their 1985 STT album. When confronted by an audience wanting punk rock they’d play a slow country ballad with nonsense lyrics: “Long time ago I turned to myself & said, ‘You are my daughter.’”
Further reading: Enter Naomi by Joe Carducci

“Nothing to Be Done,” The Pastels

I think I saw The Pastels at an in-store at Epicenter Zone, a volunteer-run store that was at Valencia near 16^th, around this time, 1989.
Rough Trade by Rob Young

“Skye Boat Song,” Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson was an African American commie, I mean political activist, and singer, actor, and athlete. He was 60-something years old on this (circa 1960) recording. The song has an interesting history of fraud or misunderstanding. In the late 19^th Century, Sir Harold Edwin Boulton grafted lyrics commemorating the Jacobite rebellion of the 18^th Century onto a Scottish folk tune. The result was published and became generally accepted as a century-old folksong of protest.

Further reading: How The Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman

“Cities,” Talking Heads

This song (recorded in 1979 or 1980) has another of those rhythm guitar patterns that fascinated me. On Fear of Music, the band was playing interesting rhythms, had Brian Eno producing, and yet was still a rock quartet.

Further reading: Fear of Music by Jonathan Lethem, Totally Wired and Rip It Up and Start Again by Simon Reynolds

“Skye Boat Song,” Tom Jones

There’s a crazy video on Youtube of Tom Jones & The Squires (his ‘60s backing band) playing this song live in 1965. I first saw him live circa 1990, at that “in the round” place that used to be in South San Francisco, or Daly City. He’d made a comeback with Art of Noise’s Prince cover, “Kiss,” & so he had a synthesizer-heavy backing band. Shortly thereafter, though, he switched back to playing with classic Vegas-type musicians, which was great. I last saw him about ten years ago, in Vegas, the day after I got married, & he still had it. I like this song’s baritone sax & how irreverently pop & bluesy this “Skye Boat Song” is compared to British folk versions (& Paul Robeson’s). 

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