Well, I’ve managed to make up my own damned mix along the guidelines I established last month. Pete, thanks for the one track of help. This CD would be really good if I didn’t sell out at the end with a Postal Service song, but what the hell can I say? I think I’m becoming lame and hip in my senescence. That guy with the wrinkles and the glasses in the icon Blender uses when describing a new release by, say, PJ Harvey? That’s fucking me.
Anyway, as you can see, the disc degenerates over time—the lyrics get less and less comprehensible, until, finally, there are no lyrics (the last, um, five tracks or so). In fact, at the very edge, it’s just two drum sets, a bass, and two alto saxes wailing on each other. Aggressive, aesthetic, wonderful. Well, and then you get fucking Ben Gibbard’s articulate-ass voice.
So here’s the question: how would you react to getting this CD?
- Billy Joel, “Big Shot”
- The Specials, “Hey, Little Rich Girl”
- The Streets, “Fit but you Know It”
- Orange Juice, “Tender Object”
- Frank Black, “Hang on to your Ego”
- Super Furry Animals, “Receptacle for the Respectable”
- !!!, “Pardon my Freedom”
- Aphex Twin, “Window Licker”
- Mahavishnu Orchestra, “Vital Transformation”
- Masada Chamber Ensemble, unknown title (recorded live in Warsaw)
- Masada, “Shilhim” (recorded live in Warsaw)
- Naked City, “Batman”
- Spy vs. Spy, “WRU”
- Postal Service, “Clark Gable”
I can’t believe I’m admitting that I put that last track on there. Do your worst, internets!
April 25th, 2005 at 12:02
“Big Shot?” Say it ain’t so….
April 25th, 2005 at 12:57
Props on “Hang on to your Ego.” Wish I’d thought of that.
April 25th, 2005 at 13:05
Masada Chamber Ensemble, unknown title (recorded live in Warsaw)
The other stuff I could handle but, even without being able to identify the track, the white hot fury of this number gives me all of The Fear.
Also, you might be interested to know that I can now positively confirm that the Aging Hipster Blender icon works at the Downtown Bookstore in Milwaukee.
April 25th, 2005 at 13:10
Spex: the MCE song is actually a bit of a break between the onslaught of Mahavishnu and the regular Masada. Though it does feature a Marc Ribot solo, so who knows.
W: It actually works really well because it, like the previous song, is a kbd-fueled dance-rock track, or, well, more correctly, “Tender Object” ends with just a driving snare, guitars, and a minimoog flipping out, in other words, more or less the sound of the entirety of the Frank Black cover. And then its followed up by SFA, who, to me, are the dirty, tank-owning lovechildren of Brian Wilson.
April 25th, 2005 at 17:48
Whats your beef with Postal Service? You know, I felt guilty for the current mainstreamization of immodest mouse, but since everyone listens to Franz Ferdinand, should we have some sort of sicko double standard for bands that have their roots in white america? Only when they are obscure are they acceptable, the second they hit the rounds in TRL, thats it, welcome to Blink182dom (who, by the way, can seriously rock out at times). Sorry to get back to the whole “white men suck” debate, but honestly, you gotta move on. What counts for authenticity these days? It aint all Vanilla Ice vs. Ice Cube anymore; have you seen who is replacing Vin Diesel for the xXx sequel?
April 26th, 2005 at 8:41
Saud, keep it in yr. pants. No one says white men suck, though they might. And whatever that other discussion is about, what it says certainly doesn’t carry over to beats. Fuck mainstreamisization—that has nothing to do with it. Postal Service comes out of a genre that I find really boring and obnoxious, and I do, actually, kind of feel like a race traitor for saying that.
No one can ever accuse me of stopping to like something once it becomes “popular,” or whatever, unless, of course, it’s couched with a notable change in sound. Hell, as I admitted, I came to PS and FF late. Neither I liked a ton at first, but FF grew on me much faster than PS. The reason I’m (now) embarrassed about liking PS is that I’m worried that might mean I’ll start liking, like, Death Cab. That makes me shudder.
Finally, on “authenticity”: Saud, you should know how much I haaaaaaaate people who say, for example, “I don’t like Rajun Cajun; it’s not authentic.” WTF does that mean? If it tastes good, it tastes good. I suppose this cryptically could be folded back on my points about the novel and make it look like a contradiction. Pish posh.
April 28th, 2005 at 9:05
“That guy with the wrinkles and the glasses in the icon Blender uses when describing a new release by, say, PJ Harvey? That’s fucking me.”
I have no idea who the hell you are talking about. Who the fuck reads Blender anyway?
April 28th, 2005 at 22:29
“The reason I’m (now) embarrassed about liking PS is that I’m worried that might mean I’ll start liking, like, Death Cab. That makes me shudder.”
OK, but isn’t this just passing the buck? So what’s wrong with DCfC? Why should liking a band (or anything short of say, Hitler) every make one shudder?
Much agreement on the “I don’t like X because it’s not authentic” issue, though. After reading Blue Chicago by David Grazian I could never look at authenticity the same way again.