My Last Three Mix Tapes

[Doubleplus GC]

My sister, between her data-entry job at Weyerhaueser, her volunteer Saturdays at the wildlife rehabilitation center PAWS, and (allegedly) routine porkings from C Shutt (where the hell is that guy???), occasionally makes me mix tapes, and I return in kind. As Maude (my van) does not have a CD player (nor a functioning tape deck, so I need to bring my boom box into the car with me), I have been making myself mix tapes to listen to in the car and impress my friends with my diverse range of musical interests, which makes the girlies all flock to my pelvis, natch.

 

Covers provided by Google Image Search.

 

This Music Is Cooler Than You

Cover: Weird bunny with buckteeth.

 

Side A: Bitchin'

Enon - Old Dominion

They Might Be Giants - Am I Awake?

Sage Francis - Crack Pipes

Jason Webley - Icarus

The White Stripes - Offend In Every Way

Subtle - I Heart L.A.

oh no the modulator - my (boy/girl)friend says so?

Dredg - Symbol Song

Mr. Bungle - Ars Moriendi

Codroid - Regular Music

 

Side B: Boomin'

Refused - New Noise

Rasputina - Our Lies

Queens of the Stone Age - Song For The Dead

Blonde Redhead - Missile++

Botch - Japam

Jonny 5 - Onomatopoeia

Neotripic - Ultra Freaky Orange, Deep Fried Clams Mix {Attack of the Ninja Fish}

 

 

Melancholy Blue Elephant (for a melancholy New Year's)

Cover - Elephant w/ blue background

 

Side A: Bittersweet & hot & sour soup

Counting Crows - A Long December

The Beatles - All My Loving (live)

Muse - In Your World

Refused - Liberation Frequency

Tom Waits - Reeperbahn

Machine Gun Fellatio - Unsent Letter

Queens of the Stone Age - The Sky Is Fallin'

Blonde Redhead - Futurism vs. Passeism pt. 2

Weezer - el Scorcho

Orbital - P.E.T.R.O.L.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - I Could Have Lied (last ten seconds are cut off)

 

Side B: I'm Still Here

Queen - Killer Queen

Jason Webley - With

Blonde Redhead - For The Damaged

Beck - It's All In Your Mind

Yann Tierson - L'apres Midi

Elliott Smith - Baby Britain

Alias w/ Marcus Acher - Unseen Sights

Muse - Dead Star

Aesop Rock - The Tugboat Complex pt. 3

Adam Sandler - Grape Jelly

Refused - Tannhauser/Derive

Tom Lehrer - The Masochism Tango

Radiohead - How I Made My Millions

 

 

Bugs In My Bedsheets

Cover: Cute little parrot with "Today We Are All Socialists, Really" written in front of it.

 

Side A

REM - How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us

Refused - Summerholidays vs. Punkroutine

Hedwig & The Angry Inch - Origin of Love

Jason Webley - Southern Cross

Sage Francis - Runaways

Eric Idle - Penis Song

cLOUDDEAD - The Keen Teen Skip

Blonde Redhead - 10

Joanna Newsom - Sadie

Blonde Redhead (yet again) - Hated Despite of Great Qualities

Negativland - Mertz #2

 

Side B

Shellac - Prayer To God

Mr. Bungle - Retrovertigo

Bjork ft. Mike Patton - Where Is The Line?

Jonny 5 - Simulacra

Muse - Plug In Baby

Tommy Gnosis - Wicked Little Town

Thrice - To Awake And Avenge The Dead

Radiohead - Lucky

Cake - Friend Is A Four Letter Word

Enon - Natural Disasters

They Might Be Giants - Mammal

Aphex Twin - yellowcalx

Machine Gune Fellatio - Not Afraid Of Romance

[Doubleplus GC]

I recently started making a techno tape (as yet, no title, no cool-ass cover).

 

Side A

Aphex Twin - Avid Acrid Jam Shred

Neotropic - Ultra Freaky Orange

mu-ziq - Planet Leather

Wagon Christ - Rendelshack

Venetian Snares - Cashew

Aphex Twin - Nannou

 

Side B

Orbital - Dwr Budr

Tabla Beat Science - Audiomaze

Squarepusher - Tetra-Synch

 

And about halfway through Tetra-Synch the CD player decided it didn't want to work anymore, but instead wanted a nap, and probably a tray of grapes and vegan sushi serve off a virgin's navel. Hell if it'll get the last two before I do!

 

So the tape is stalled. To Be Finished This Weekend.

[chrisakachris]

I got as a present a CD with a few tracks they thought I'd like. It turned out to be quite on the mark (Animaniacs, Radiohead, Weezer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lit).

[Doubleplus GC]

Lit?

 

Oh dear.

 

I'm in the process of making another tape for my sister (this will put me ahead of her by 3 tapes, which means she'd better make me one soon, or else). I tried to set some ground rules: this is to be an all-star tape, so not just other good songs by artists I gave her tracks by on the last tape. Here's all so far:

 

Side A

1. Animal Collective - Leaf House (arpeggiated vocals, anyone? oh hell yes)

 

2. Cursive - Butcher The Song (not that into cursive anymore, kinda embarassed to have loved this album so much once, but my sis is a bright eyes fan, so i thought she'd like to hear from the band that made conner oberst first pick up a guitar... this song's still pretty good)

 

3. Sage Francis - Inherited Scars (the first break of the rules; i'd already given her Crack Pipes, but this song is about his sister, so i figured it was important to include)

 

4. Da Vinci's Notebook - Title Of The Song (a capella from the folks that brought you the Ballad of the Sneak)

 

5. DJ QBert - Paranoia (picked the shortest song on the album since i don't think she can take too much dj music; this serves as kind of a "chill out" intermission)

 

6. Primus - Bonus Track (because the bonus track was 20x better than the rest of Antipop)

 

7. cLOUDDEAD - The Velvet Ant (considered doing Dead Dogs Two instead, as it's mostly about Oakland, where i spend most my days, but it was longer and less up her alley)

 

8. The Aquabats - Chemical Bomb (somehow i never actually put an Aquabats song on a tape for her, even though i used to be quite fixated on them)

 

9. The Bad Plus - Big Eater (yeah...)

 

10. They Might Be Giants - Spines (breaking the rule again; these guys are on every tape... but i had an extra minute and this is the only track that would fit in it)

 

Side B (still in progress)

 

1. REM - How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us (she doesn't have this REM album, and she'd probably dig this track)

 

2. Refused - Summerholidays Vs. Punkroutine (again breaking the rule, but on my last tape for myself this just fit so well between REM and Hedwig)

 

3. Hedwig & The Angry Inch - Origin Of Love (guaranteed to make her go out and rent the movie)

 

-here's as far as I've gotten, as I can't find the Corpus Callosum CD and a friend is borrowing Wagon Christ-

 

(4) Corpus Callosum - Plastic Bead Rosary (i want this to go next, but i need to find the cd... my roommate/best friend recorded/produced this demo, and plays glass goblets, slide whistle, toy piano, and wash bucket bass for this band)

 

(5) Wagon Christ - Rendelshack (because every tape for her has at least one caustic techno song that she'll just have to learn to like)

 

-tracks that may or may not make it on-

 

-Alias w/ Marcus Acher (The Notwist) - Unseen Sights (if there's room and it works with the flow)

-Tenacious D - **** Her Softly (she'd like it...)

-Jolie Holland - I Wanna Die (good ol' fashioned music... about wanting to kill yourself)

-Stephen Lynch - Down To The Old Pub Instead ("old irish diddy" about menstruation)

-Tool - Lateralis/The Grudge/The Patient (i've been putting off giving her Tool for ages... there is a high risk involved as she will very likely hate it)

-Loudermilk - California (so she'll remember where she came from)

 

I'm sending her a care package once the tape is done. She wants to borrow the Calvino, and I'll throw in Blankets since she'd love it. Nice to have a sister, eh?

[Doubleplus GC]

More news:

 

(this is all very important)

 

Lisa is still borrowing Tally Ho! (the Wagon Christ album with Rendelshack on it, which really does need to be next). I went through some µ-ziq CD's, as µ-ziq's stuff has kind of a similar energy sometimes, but the sheer wacky insanity of Rendelshack seriously needs to follow the cold, quiet, acoustic creepiness of Plastic Bead Rosary. So this weekend I'll retrieve Wagon Christ.

 

I've bumped Jolie Holland, Tenacious D, Tool, and Alias from Side B entirely. D 'cuz she's probably already heard it; Tool since the timing, the flow, and the fact that she'd hate them get in the way; Jolie 'cuz I don't really know her well enough to include her (I wouldn't necessarily be showing the best, dig?); and Alias because he just won't belong on the tape I'm making and it's not vitally important to me to give her that song (I think I've milked Anticon enough).

 

Stevie (of Best Friend And Roommate fame) and I sat down last night and went through some music. Loudermilk's The Red Record is an album you can only listen to at certain times in your life, at certain moments when it will hit you just so, when the music is just right. Last night was definitely that moment. Mai will be the song included as it's kinda The Bendsish, and that's my sister's favorite Radiohead album. I cannot, however, stop singing California today...

 

...Summer prays that she could be rain...

...As the car crash left you for the blame...

...And ni-i-ight fallsssss...

 

Mai will follow Rendelshack, which will then lead into this truly great spectacle off the Nanoloop compilation Stevie brought home some time ago. Then Mindless Self Indulgence - London Bridge (provided Lisa will let me borrow the CD, as I'll never get my copy back from my ex and I have a real stigma about spending $16 on a CD I've already bought).

 

I may switch the order of MSI & the Nanoloop. I'd love to include some microtonal guitar work from Acoustic Stick, but there simply will not be room for it (it would have been such a good counterpoint to The Bad Plus on Side A, though...).

 

Finally, I will close out with Stephen Lynch, as the main reason for buying the CD was because I wanted to put one of the songs on a tape for my sis.

 

Hoo, boy, this will maybe rival the last tape I gave her as The Best Tape Ever.

 

How did that one go?

 

Side A:

1. Jason Webley - Against The Night (Webley's mom's favorite, that's so sweet.)

2. TMBG - Am I Awake?

3. Sage Francis - Crack Pipes

4. The Sex - French Love Letter (about sex with condoms and why it sucks)

5. The White Stripes - Offend In Every Way

6. Subtle - I Heart L.A.

7. Joanna Newsom - The Book Of Right-On (the best intro to Joanna)

8. Why? - Darla (cutest song ever written about love for a chicken)

9. oh no the modulator - my (boy/girl)friend says so?

 

I think Codroid may or may not have been in there somewhere... I don't remember where, but it would probably have been Regular Music.

 

Side B was exactly the same as Side B on This Music Is Cooler Than You, available for perusal above.

 

It was definitely a wicked tape. That Side B has a killer flow, though, come to think of it, I doubt she much enjoyed Refused, or Botch, or Neotropic... but much of the point of this is to expose her to stuff she wouldn't normally hear. Plus, she gave me fcking Simple Plan on the last tape she made me, so she can sit through a little hardcore in recompense.

 

There was another tape that maybe I should spell out for y'all in the near future, the one before this past one, but I'm not sure I'll recall all that was on it. It was quite all-star as well, though the Atmosphere song included really should have been replaced with a better, earlier song. That album has lost much of its luster.

[Doubleplus GC]

Well, my sister's tape is done. Rendelshack and London Bridge did not make the cut.

 

"Reasons, give us reasons!" you beg of me.

 

Well, I still don't have the CDs, my sister would probably like these two the least of all the songs included, and, as it turns out, after putting Mai, Ich Traume Nur in Super-8 (the Nanoloop track), and Down To The Old Pub Instead, there was approximately 3 seconds of tape space remaining.

 

The tape really does have a killer flow. I'm very proud of it. The cover is so damn cheesy I don't think I'll share it. We'll leave it that the image came from Google Image Search when one searches my sister's name and "Love" in simultaneity.

 

I'll probably make myself an almost exact copy of this tape for myself, though I'll probably bump off Cursive in favor of someone else, and the first three trax on Side B are exactly the same as another tape I already have, so I'll probably trade them for Rendelshack and London Bridge, so the tape will be idealized and tailored for me. Yippee-skippee!

 

This thread is dead. Don't you people listen to music?

[Moon Roach]

No I am just thinking about porking your sister.

[chrisakachris]

Why have I heard bad things about Weezer's Green Album from you?

 

It's not as smart as Pinkerton, but you've got to admit it's a hill of fun.

[Doubleplus GC]

In an "every song sounds the same and has absolutely no emotion or dynamism" kinda way, not to mention the "every solo is just the guitar playing the vocal melody, after two verses and two choruses, every single time." But yes, even so, Rivers Cuomo, even at his most derivative, still creates melodies 50x better than anything else you'll hear on the radio.

 

Be the next to be disappointed by Maladroit! Hear the rushed mixing! Enjoy the sound of the lead guitar suddenly fading out into the rhythm guitar because, what, the producer fell asleep while mixing?

 

I think it's Rivers' new philosophy that kills me on The Green Album more than anything. He hates Pinkerton and believes that no song should contain any emotion whatsoever. The album is static, and also the production is terrible.

[Doubleplus GC]

But in other news: I've rediscovered The Toadies, The Fucking Champs, and Brainiac, and quite without intending it, I'm already planning my next tape. I think my sister may have just received her last one today, perchance yesterday.

 

A while back Stevie commented that all the music I listen to comes form him. While slightly reductionist (most of it comes from other people, he just hears about it from them before I do), I am attempting to pull away from this sickening trend and am digging up all those bands that interested me that I never actually bought. So, my music wish list now includes Sonic Sum, Brainiac, Lungfish, and The Fucking Champs, among many others Stevie has already listened to. It's not my fault the dude has heard of everything. Lisa used to have battles with him where she'd call him up and ask "have you heard of Add N To X?" and he'd always say "yes." And she would get very very angry. I don't think she ever won that game.

[chrisakachris]

Has he heard of We vs The Shark?

[LivecousinJed]

The ****ing Champs are awesome, GC. Good taste.

[LivecousinJed]

Also: You should check out Tortoise, I have a hunch you'd like them. Any band with an ex member of Slint has got to be good.