April 9, 2014
Miracler
Alexandra Tyler
Location
Oakland
Boy, is this mix arriving right on time.
Our gal Alexandra / Alex / Alix may have been put on this earth precisely for this moment: to send us bursting into springtime in a way the calendar hasn't. With her bottomless energy and love of a good handclap, if Alix can't do it, no one can.
That's what she did in Spring '12, with the 24-comment-inspiring No Turning Back, about which you guys said:
When I got the email yesterday and saw it was you, I thought "Sweet! An Alix mix!", remembering all the albums I bought last year as a result of 'Almost Ready'. / "The Walkmen, excellent!" (And then decided to let that plan my outfit, it being one of my fave show tees. So you also coordinated my ensemble today, thanks.) / Great mix + fabulous cover Alexandra! Elvis Perkins is threatening to make an appearance on my mix as well. Thank you! / Well done. I see the classic convertible ambling across the desert with our heroine and her troubled boyfriend the end of this movie, riding into freeze frame as credits roll... / This mix is so gorgeous! Start to finish and on a continuous loop. I know a couple of the artists / bands, but there is lots of new stuff too. I love Elvis Perkins and Alela Diane and Sarah Blasko. It is all so very very great. / I have to thank you for the cover. Having a clear view of this hairstyle from both angles, I think I have a better understanding of how this kind of thing works. Clearly it cannot be done with out big rollers and an hour spent under a hair dryer. Carol Andrews knows, and now I do too. / This mix is delicious from start to finish. I particularly like the Walkmen song and ending with DeVotchka was perfect. Plus, I think I might well have developed a crush on Carol Andrews. / I don't know what I love more, that cover pic or the mix itself. That Walkmen tune is perfect opener which blends perfectly into that great Elvis Perkins song (both new to me) I'm also glad to know about Alela Diane. Love it! / Let me jump on the love train. It's a wonderful mix, made all the better by keeping Carol's mugshot visible as I listen. The songs feel of a piece, but don't blur into one another. Each one has a unique thing to tell us about Carol. And may I add that "Once and Never Again" belongs every bit as much as the others. It's as if mugshot Carol is singing some much needed advice to her younger self. I love all the songs but Elvis Perkins hits me right in the Neutral Milk Hotel sweet spot. / Loving your mix, Alexandra! Other than Beach House, Best Coast and Cold War Kids, it's all new to me -- one of the very best perks of the 3MPMP. / As is the norm with Mrs Tyler, here we have another thoroughly entertaining mix, with a cool-as-F cover to boot! I mean really, where do you find them Alix? What an awesome photo! I have repeatedly caught myself staring into Carol's eyes while listening to this, trying to guess what she's thinking as she has her mugshot taken. Happy she ain't! / I love this mix Alexandra. I love when a mix starts off setting a tone, blends seamlessly and creatively and ends with a winner. This sure does. / A great mix! All stellar, but the standouts for me are from Alela Diane and Sarah Blasko, mainly because they're brand-spankin' new to me. Thanks, Alexandra. / I wish Archie Bronson got more love in the world. Thanks for the inclusion here. / That's the best Walkmen song I've heard yet, and the second winner from the Archie Bronson Outfit I've heard in my short time here with the Prodge. Keep 'em coming! / You got me with the Cold War Kids. A new-old favorite. Then up next I am mesmerized by the Alela Diane tune, mellow yet fringed with tension. The middle section of this mix is my favorite part. The drums on No Turning Back haunt. I had forgotten about Best Coast - thanks for remembering them for me :). Til the End of Time is a nice outlaw tune to finish out the mix. A tip of the hat for this one Alix. / I love the way this mix rolls out, so clear and personal, like reading someone's diary. Love the Beach House cut, reminds me of dreaming, and the voice of Alela Diane is like ancient modern folk, special. And thanks for all the things new to me, like the Sarah Blasko and The Devotchka, thank you. / Love the cover, love the title, love the title song. /// Elvis Perkins is new to me -- thanks for the introduction! Also for Alela Diane and Archie Bronson Outfit. / Love the Walkmen lead off track, love the mix. Elvis Perkins, Alela Diane, and Best Coast were other highlights for me. "Almost Ready" was one of my favorite mixes last season, and now you are 2 for 2 in my book.
Liner Notes by AT
Hello Miraclers! When I first starting this mix it was really cold and rainy and I was getting daily text photos of my dad shoveling mountains of snow in my folk's Michigan driveway. And then....and then.....the sun came out to play. And it was amazing. Oh I was still getting lots of photos of my poor dad and the snow blower, but looking out my California window I saw lilacs in full bloom and green grass and cherry blossoms and all I could think of was "SPRING!" So this mix reflects that. No real theme here....but just a lil bounce and sunshine. Of course true to Bay Area form, it started raining a few days into my happy spring time mix making, so look for a few April showers sprinkled in here and there.
1. Suffragettes. Cocosuma
2. Janglin. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
3. Me and You. Jake Bugg
4. Far From Any Road. The Handsome Family
5. Let Her Dance. Bobby Fuller Four
6. You Just Gotta. Karen Verros
7. Touch Me. La Lupe
8. Turn it Around. Lucius
9. Plage. Crystal Fighters
10. Take a Vacation. The Young Veins
11. Electric Feel. Katy Perry (MGMT cover)
12. Never Now. Love Is All
13. Ghostwriter. RJD2
Mix is UP. To comment on this mix, click on the 'Comment' button below the post and write something. If you don't have/want to use your Google etc. accounts, just type your name in the "Name" box and you are done. See you back here or on our members-only Facebook page soon. XOK
21 comments:
I love it when the first band on a playlist is totally new to me and what an odd and wonderful song. I’ve heard of Edward Sharpe, but I think this might be the first song I’ve actually heard. It seems strange that this band wouldn’t have been on my radar. They are now. Jake Bugg gets lots of press out here. I really like this one. The Handsome Family cut is fantastic. What a great voice. Karen Verros is another one that’s new to me and another that I can’t believe I’ve never heard. Love the wall of sound. La Lupe is just joyous as is Lucius. I don’t think I’ve heard of Lucius. I’ve not heard the MGMT song that Kate Perry covers, but I like it. I need to look up the original. RJD2 is awesome. Such a good song. Thanks for a great introduction to spring, Alix.
Bobby Fuller Four! Folks I've never heard of!
Can't wait to give this a listen, Alix! I've been noticing a theme here of soft and oft heartbreaking mixes (Wistful + Saudade, etc)*. Which I LOVE, don't get me wrong! But I also like variety, so a purposefully upbeat mix makes a nice contrast and will add highs to the lows of this season's Prodge smart playlist on my machine.
And, of course, it's from you: walking ray of sunshine, human bag of Skittles!
I'll make myself a mango spinach smoothie and get my bright ear nourishment going....
*I know Sarah lives on the east coast, so this doesn't apply to her, but I wonder if there's a bit of the subconscious at play with these west coast melancholy mixes? As someone who is keenly aware of the fact that we've had only a handful of rainy days, two handfuls of overcast days, and way too many (for my business) over 70° days this year, I wonder if we are craving the comfort of the change of seasons (and manifesting it at least for our ears)? Part of the beauty of the Prodge, at least for me, is the moods and diverse feelings each of these mixes offers my days. Sorry, Alix. I just went rogue in your comments. I'll come back and make up for it.
This may sound hyperbolic, but I think I'm going to start looking at my life as being divided into the portion before I heard La Lupe for the first time (on the way to work today) and everything after. Dear Lord, what a performance!
Other highlights for me included the best song that Tegan and Sara never wrote (Lucius), and Bjork singing along with the Friday Night Lights soundtrack (Love Is All), not to mention the tasty boom bap of RJD2.
I was eating jelly beans when I started listening to this mix (that's right), and it only took one chord for me to realize those beans were the perfect companion food for these songs.
Instantly, I proclaimed Suffragetes by Cocosuma to be one of the most perfect pop songs I've heard in a while. I thought perhaps I should listen to the rest of the tracks before I made such a proclamation, but as good as the other songs are, I still stand by that.
The Jake Bugg tune sounds like something that would be playing on a constant loop at a cool kids (or hipster, as we used to say before "hipster" became a dirty word) hoedown. The Handsome Family number has to be one of the darkest cocktails songs I've ever heard...and it is delicious.
I used to play Let Her Dance by the Bobby Fuller Four on the radio every once in a while when I worked at an oldies station in Rhode Island. We didn't play it nearly as frequently as we played, say, I Fought the Law, but it got a few spins over the course of the three and a half years that I worked there.
That Young Veins song sounds like everything I believe was good about the 60s and early 70s. Need anymore be said about it?
I now officially have spring fever. Thanks, Alix!
Sweet lil' mix. The sequence (for me) kinda tracks the order of your notes, and the changeability of my present locale. Diggin' the Jake Bugg, and the Lucius love (of course), Katy Perry covering MGMT, and the RJD2 track which had the knock-on effect of reminding me to watch the "Mad Men" premiere last weekend :) Thumbs up.
Oh, and LA LUPE!
Spring has sprung for me with a heap of good, new sounds, thanks to this mix. All of these artists are new to me except BFFour and KPerry. I would list my favorite tracks, but they are all great. I could swear I have heard Janglin before--does anyone know if it is a variation of a different song?
Hey, hey! Even though my mix was wistful, it doesn't mean I don't love bouncy mixes with a spring (heh heh) in the step! I super loved the first track (Suffragettes) -- so breezy and bright. Other standouts for me were Karen Verros, Lucius, and The Young Veins.
I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this, but did you know that this Handsome Family track was used as the theme song for True Detective? I really dug the song but hadn't bothered to look up its provenance, so thanks for that.
And lastly, La Lupe: You almost (*almost*) washed the taint of Jim Morrison from "Touch Me" with your rousing edition of that song.
Great mix -- thanks! (And Happy Spring to you.)
I'm sorry, but washing the taint of Jim Morrison is forbidden by international law as cruel and unusual punishment.
Thank you for Spring has Sprung! Lots of bright and tart songs here. I have liked the whole Edward Sharp album, it's nice to see it represented in the prodge. I am loving the Bobby Fuller Four song, this one makes it a true AT mix. That is, along with La Lupe, who makes "Touch Me" more macho then Mr. Morrison.
Thanks also for "Plage" and "Ghostwriter", all these songs are fun Alix, and yes indeed to Katy Perry's "Electric Feel".
@fritz: HA HA HA!!!
Sweet spring mix! Conjures up visions of milkshakes and burgers with friends on a sunshiney day. Love that Edward Sharpe song and lots of new discoveries.
Oh, how I love this bouncy mix! Most of it is new to me (Thanks to Beth for identifying why that great Handsome Family song was so familiar.) I'm loving Jake Bugg, Crystal Fights (Hey SF folks, they'll be at The Independent on May 29th), the Kate Perry MGMT cover, and RJD2. <3 <3 Thanks Alix <3 <3
p.s. OO-La-Lupe!!
Read a lot about Jake Bugg in the Brit music press through the years, but never heard him. Thanks for bringing him around. Really distinctive voice and melodic tune! Also, first exposure to Karen Verros - love that fuzzy garage sound. And good to hear the Handsome Family again after a long time away. So sinister and sexy. No further comment on Mr. Mojo Risin's nether regions. Thanks, Alix!
Dang, forgot to say how much I dig RJD2. This should be playing at a party at your house that I want to be invited to.
If there's a Hall of Fame for Prodge mixes this surely belongs. What a great lead in with that infectious Cocosuma cut. Biggest surprise for me was that Plage wasn't Everybody's Talking by Nilsson.
I guess I'm the only one who likes the Doors ( big time) and didn't dig the Touch Me cover. That's what's make this place so interesting, the diversity.
Coming to this rockin' and a-reelin' mix a bit late, and damn is it a good one. Thanks especially for turning these ears on to La Lupe, Alexandra. Better than Charo!
Also REALLY happy to have ready access to "Far From Any Road." Powerful and mysterious – "Her looming shadow grows, hidden in the branches of the poison creosote."
Old dude's confession: This is the first time I've knowingly heard Kate Perry. Surprisingly soulful. Iggy Pop said he's a Kate Perry fan, so I've been wanting to hear what she sounds like. Nice cover!
"Janglin" is the perfect title for the songs in this mix. I really like the echoey, girl-band vibe of some of the tracks. I also really like the Handsome Family track. It kind of reminds me of Belle and Sebastian channeling the Velvet Underground. This mix is holding up well into summer, for sure.
Thank you so much everyone....your comments are always so excellent/fun
Xtina, "Human Bag of Skittles" is the best thing ever!! haha I'm putting that on my new bio ;-)
Karl, your La Lupe comment was so funny it made me choke on my ice coffee.
Happy Spring into Summer, guys!
xoxo
I always love your mixes, Alix, and find so much to add to my ongoing faves playlist -- usually stuff I haven't heard of. This time around, I'm kind of shocked by how obsessed I've gotten with the Katy Perry cover. Molto grazie!
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