llorar y llorar

theory: the best songs are about crying

method:

pop songs that acknowledge the schizophrenia that occurs when one goes from an actual person to a pop icon

marvelling at their godhead image, yet never digging as deep as they could:

another christmas-soundin' motown-soundin' song

it's almost christmas...it's *almost* christmas

i KNOW you guys are tired of christmas music. but maybe you're like me -- you like christmas music, you like all the elements of christmas music (bells, strings, warm inflection, cherry as hell), but oh my god you just can't hear those standards anymore. so after you've heard "all i want for christmas for you" 50 times and it's just* starting to lose its magic, what do you do?

here, i've made a comp of music that has nothing to do with christmas, but sounds sorta like christmas.

1. isao tomita - the girl with the flaxen hair
2. johnny ace - pledging my love
3. koes bersaudara - rasa hatiku
4. francoise hardy - pourtant tu m'aimes
5. saint etienne - the birdman of ec1
6. aislers set - "christmas song"
7. au revoir simone - take me as i am
8. white apple tree - passed out
9. the townhouses - pray (tina cousins cover)
10. the originals - the bells
11. bob b. soxx - the bells of st. mary
12. richard and the young lions - you can make it
13. milton banana trio - vou deitar e rolar
14. jens lekman - maple leaves
15. the impressions - i'm so proud
16. sam hopkins - needed time
17. jon richman - oh moon, queen of night on earth

48 min total, >> DL here <<


stay in the christmas spirit without hearing one more lyric about santa or sleighbells! how is this possible?? well baby i made it possible ;)


*note: it is very hard for that song to lose its magic
**ps: have you seen mariah's new christmas song? pretty neat

existential garage

mixtape time! i'm reading up on philosophy and theology, trying to make sense of brevity, lack of permanence, trying to figure out the world and my head. here's a soundtrack to that

1. the fabs - that's the bag i'm in
2. brute force - nobody knows
3. bob morrison - i looked in the mirror
4. honeycombs - eyes
5. episode six - only lonely people
6. gnomes - the sky is falling
7. the ravens - this i know
8. the trespassers - living memories
9. los ovnis - cuando era nino
10. the pleasure seekers - what a way to die
11. the sparkles - i want to be free
12. the merry-go-round - live
13. lollipop shoppe - who's it gonna be
14. the colony - things on my mind
15. tucker zimmerman - another normal day
16. the beau brummels - tomorrow is another day

43.2 min total, DL >>here<<

i tried to veer away from garage-psych. it's so easy to be existential when you're vibing on psychedelics, but i think it's adorable when garage punk or pop or "fuzz" or whatever you want to call it, simple little tunes, incorporate lyrics like, "my shadow's grown, and my die is cast."

besides, you can find plenty of existential garage-psych in this other compilation, 30 seconds before the calico wall!


shh, don't tell nobody, but if you click the album art...well, you might just get two compilations for the price of one*, ya dig?

*the price of mine being: $0


note: other good 60s/70s pop songs that deal with mortality and brain drains:
the faces - ooh la la (1973)
paul simon - run that body down (1972)
emitt rhodes - someone died (1969)
peggy lee - is that all there is? (1969)

land of a million drums

oh goddamn, blast from the past


back in the "middle ages" of the internet, i would go to outkast.com and click on the "videos" page and watch their music videos over and over again. they only had a few; i believe they were "hey ya," "roses," "bombs over baghdad," "miss jackson," and this one, a tie-in to the scooby doo movie. but oh my lord how do they take this stupid millennial remake of a stupid 60s cartoon to a whole new level?

this song sounds like a panic attack

pulse quickening, neurons stalling

teengirl fantasy (2010)

i have been woefully out of touch with new music (this past year)

but this is a pretty good track/video. shannon funchess is mesmerizing.

thanks to teenagejesus for the rec

marlena shaw - "woman of the ghetto" (live)

beautiful beautiful beautiful

winter mix

mostly 60s music, garage and a bit of folk, with some 80s indie pop popping in to say hello


1. the microphones - "my warm blood (humming)"
2. bridget st. john - "autumn lullaby"
3. flying karpets - "winter song"
4. choir - "it's cold outside"
5. ultimates - "autumn wind"
6. sites n sound - "the night is so dark"
7. the explosive - "cities make the country cold"
8. the moguls - "ski bum"
9. five by five - "apple cider"
10. the soundbox - "warm your mind and soul"
11. episode six - "i will warm your heart"
12. vashti bunyan - "winter is blue"
13. dolly mixture - "winter seems fine"
14. st. christopher - "it's snowing on the moon"
15. tucker zimmerman - "the wind returns into the night"
16. sunforest - "and i was blue"
17. liverpool five - "let the sunshine in"*
18. spanky wilson - "sunshine of your love"

50 min total, >>DL here<<

this one ended up with a neat progression -- it starts off like "jeez is it cold out there or what" and there's a lot of stomping around to warm up. then it gradually gets cozier, like drifting off to sleep in front of the fireplace....and when you wake up you realize that the fire's dead and your small blanket is no longer adequate. and you shift a little bit so you can be in the morning sunbeams, which are not as warm as the fire was but it is nice, in a different way. your toes and nose are freezing but it doesn't matter because when you hear spanky wilson's "sunshine of your love" you are thoroughly heated up, body and soul


the name of this mix is taken from a facebook page that i like; photograph is by anders petersen

__
*not the hit

dabadabada