Empire for Ashes

“…and his scalp came off and landed in the dirt.” These, not haunting lyrics sung in Ukrainian, are my favorite words to ever pass Neko Case’s lips. It’s from some mp3 I found poking around on the internet. When I head up to New York in mid-April to visit friends and family I’ll be descending like a plague of locusts on one of Case’s Times Square concerts. (Crooked Fingers will be opening for her. Hooray!) Alas, some of them haven’t had the fortune of being acquainted with Case beyond The New Pornographers.

With the leaking/pirating of Middle Cyclone having occurred two days ago – and because I was sequestered in my forest-and-golf course-bound apartment due to freezing rain and darkness – I figured it was an opportune time to playlist my brains out in order to psyche up my fellow concert-goers.

Now don’t begrudge me, but I couldn’t bring myself to put anything from The Virginian or – god forbid – The Corn Sisters’ The Other Women on this. Canadian Amp and Furnace Room Lullaby had some obvious choices that just didn’t pan out. In the end I settled for her most well-beloved and a few that aren’t exactly well-traveled.

:: Empire for Ashes ::

1. John Saw That Number – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
2. Train From Kansas City – The Tigers Have Spoken
3. Soulful Shade of Blue – The Tigers have Spoken
4. Star Witness – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
5. Stinging Velvet – Blacklisted
6. Behind the House – Live From Austin, TX
7. The Needle Has Landed – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
8. Middle Cyclone – Middle Cyclone
9. Hold On, Hold On – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
10. Deep Red Bells – Blacklisted
11. This Tornado Loves You – Middle Cyclone
12. I Wish I Was the Moon – Blacklisted
13. The Tigers Have Spoken – The Tigers Have Spoken

:: Bibliography ::

• Case, Neko. Neko Case’s Store / Travelogue. http://www.nekocase.com/store/ and http://www.nekocase.com/travelogue/ (20 February 2009).

Communicating Through the Stereo (Mix 4)

When a loved one is at a great distance the best way to reach them isn’t by post or telephone.

:: Communicating Through the Stereo ::

1. Sleepyhead – Passion Pit
2. Time that Bald Sexton – Danielson
3. 3 Little Words – Frankmusik
4. Number Our Days – Max Tundra
5. Replay (Justin Faust Remix) – Electric Youth
6. Lowdown – Lali Puna
7. Palimend – Benoît Pioulard
8. Lights Out – Roommate
9. Kate – Sambassadeur
10. Consolation Prize – Julie Doiron
11. Never Had Nobody Like You – M. Ward ft. Zooey Deschanel
12. Paper Way – Boca Chica
13. Walking After Midnight – Patsy Cline
14. Iris – Hercules & Love Affair
15. Daniel – Tortoise and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy

Links lead to downloads, yay! Try Google Blog Search to illegally acquire the rest.

:: Bibliography ::

• Warhol, Andy. CPH:DOX 2008: Andy Warhols Screen Tests. CPH:DOX. http://www.cphdox.dk/D2007big/8622.jpg (27 January 2009).

Deep & Crisp & Even (Mix 3)

I decided to make my sisters a Christmas mix. It wasn’t easy; most holiday-themed songs have a lurid intro. I had to do some mp3 mangling to get The Ronette’s famous drum intro (first heard in “Be My Baby”) in front of “Sleigh Ride” (rather than the original track’s unfortunate clip-clop, whinny instrumentation).

It might not be accessible to the average listener. Only my older sisters can fully appreciate the inclusion of the non-holiday-themed “A Widow’s Toast” by Neko Case, with its imagery of pilot flames. (When we were children, we wouldn’t know that the furnace’s pilot light had gone out until the house’s temperature plummeted.) The motives behind the inclusion of some songs might be misunderstood as well: The cover of “There’s Always Tomorrow”, from the Rankin/Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tv special, isn’t a fondly nostalgic end to the mix. As kids we ruthlessly mocked the song, with Jen delivering a particularly unforgiving, operatic parody of Clarice’s original. Likewise, Belle & Sebastian’s oddly poignant rendition of the traditional “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” serves as a reminder of our bygone Advent mischief.

The first track, from a Folkways Records LP entitled Ukrainian Christmas Songs, in a spoken-word recording of Ukrainian émigrés in Canada. The liner notes have a translation on the final page.

:: Deep & Crisp & Even ::

1. Pobazhannya (“Good Wishes”) – [uncredited performers; field recording by Laura Boulton] *
2. What’s a Girl to Do? – Bat for Lashes [drum intro only]
3. Sleigh Ride – The Ronettes [intro and outro trimmed]
4. Calling and Not Calling My Ex – Okkervil River **
   
5. Snowfall – The Halo Benders
6. Baby, it’s Cold Outside – Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone
7. Amen – The Impressions
8. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams
9. Blue Christmas – Bullette
10. Christmas Reindeer – The Knife
11. Who Is It (Bell Choir Mix ft. The Bústaðakirkja Bell Choir) – Björk
12. O’ Holy Night – Julian Koster ***
13. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Judy Garland
14. Child’s Christmas in Wales – John Cale
15. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – Belle & Sebastian
16. A Widow’s Toast – Neko Case
17. There’s Always Tomorrow – Red Red Meat

* Listen to Pobazhannya (“Good Wishes”) here.

** I was at the show in this YouTube video!

*** Download the mp3 of Julian Koster’s O’ Holy Night here.

:: Bibliography ::

• The Electron and Confocal Microscope Unit. Stereo Snow Crystal Micrographs. Beltsville Electron Microscopy. http://emu.arsusda.gov/snowsite/stereo/pages/10134_35.html (9 December 2008).

Dreaming of Sarah (Mix 2)

“…wait, really?” was my reaction when I returned home today to find the above pictured compact disk on my premises. Two parts adoration and one part indictment, I’m not sure if this mix CD devoted to Sarah Palin is clever or indicative of deep-seated mental illness. (Note the adept use of Microsoft Paint.) You’ll have to judge for yourself:

:: Dreaming of Sarah ::

1. John Cale – Barracuda
2. Beat Happening – You Turn Me On
3. Palace Music – New Partner
4. The Crystals – He’s a Rebel
5. of Montreal – Everything Disappears When You Come Around
6. The Mountain Goats – West Country Dream
7. Velvet Underground – Stephanie Says
8. Julie Doiron – Dark Horse
9. Bob Dylan – Girl From the North Country
10. Jenny Toomey – Cheat
11. Sonic Youth – Star Power
12. The 6ths – Movies In My Head
13. Neko Case – Thrice All-American
14. Amy Anelle – Anchorage
15. Mojave 3 – Sarah
16. Yo La Tengo – How Much I’ve Lied

For more Palin music madness, sing along with this video.

Payne-Gaposchkin (Mix 1)

I was rather pleased with the electronic/dance mix that I recently made for Steel Away. (It evolved from a rather ill-favored horror/trance mix called “Twitch of the Dance Nerve“.) As I couldn’t really post all the info on the rockin’ dustcover (second only to my “Tales to Astonish!” mix cover for Liz) I am going to reproduce it here. Enjoy!

:: Payne-Gaposchkin ::

1. You’ll Find A Way (Switch & Sinden Remix) – Santogold
2. Shut the Club Down – Girl Talk
3. Bump – Spank Rock
4. Solid Gold – The Golden Filter
5. Go Back (Le Castle Vania Remix) – GRUM
6. Weekend – Ladytron
7. Me vs. Heidi – I Am Robot and Proud
8. Young Folks (Punks Jump Up Special Disco Mix) – Peter Bjorn & John
9. Flashing Lights (ft. Dwele) – Kanye West
10. Dame de Lotus – Emilie Simon
11. Danse Sur la Merde – Prototypes
12. I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me (Get Shakes Remix) – Annie
13. Danger! – The Sound of Arrows

:: Bibliography ::

• NASA, ESA, and L. Bedin. NGC 6791: Full Hubble ACS Field. HubbleSite.org. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/25/image/c/ (28 July 2008).