.Finally getting my thoughts out on the mix from two years ago. I considered skipping it, since it's more than a year since I made it. But, realizing I use these writeups for my own later reference, here we are.
If you want a copy of this, drop me a line -- I will happily send you a CD or a rip. I did put the mix on Spotify, but it has a replacement for Track 11 because the Spidey Bugout Megamix isn't on there -- sorry..
Who has time to tally horn sections or hand claps or Twin Cities bands anymore? Not me!
1. OYAHYTT - The Coup ft. LaKeith StanfieldWatched The Coup co-founder Boots Riley's absurd anti-capitalist satire SORRY TO BOTHER YOU early in January '19. OYAHYTT plays throughout the early movie, an engine to get us up to the appropriate level of frenetic, holding-on-by-a-thread energy that is to come.
2. Can't Run But - Paul Simon
Paul Simon had returned to SNL as musical guest in October 2018, joined by the modern chamber ensemble yMusic. I really liked their performance of this restless, half-sung song, a rework of a song from 1990's "Rhythm of the Saints." Finally dug into the associated album "In the Blue Light" early in 2019.
3. The Eye - Brandi Carlile
As I mentioned in the 2018 mix, Carlile's "The Joke" had knocked me on my ass. Listening to that mix on the way home from a date with Melissa early in the year, she mentioned that she really liked this song, which was making the rounds on a couple Twin Cities stations despite being a few years old at that point. We stayed in the car in the driveway to listen through this gorgeous song, with lush harmonies layered under Carlile's warm, clear voice.
4. Sisyphus - Andrew Bird
This one snuck up on me over the course of several listens on The Current. One day I started to pay more attention, and thought I'd finally found a Father John Misty song I really liked. That wasn't quite right -- it sounded like the midpoint between FJM and Alex Ebert from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Turns out that I really like when folky indie rock artists like Andrew Bird lean a little farther in the rock direction, make the sound bottom-heavy and give the vocals some gauzy, ghostly reverb.
5. Heads Gonna Roll - Jenny Lewis
Love the Beatles-esque orchestrations and chord progressions here, including a solo in the bridge that I'm legit not sure whether it's a guitar running through effects pedals, or an organ. Lewis' vocals are in the fine tradition of 1970s pop-rock singer/songwriters, in a vein similar to some of my favorite songs from her Rilo Kiley days. (EDIT: I have learned that, Beatles indeed, Ringo Starr plays drums on this track. Also, the keys are Bentmont Tench from The Heartbreakers; still couldn't tell you if that solo is his instrument or not)
6. Saw Lightning - Beck
A little slice of apocalypse. The shouts in the background throughout make it feel like the recording studio is under attack and they're trying to get the thing recorded before it's overwhelmed. Or, if you think about the dark forebodings of the lyrics, maybe it's a tent revival on the precipice of getting out of hand.
7. The Bleeding Heart Show - The New Pornographers
This was on The Current's list of 893 Essential Songs Since the Year 2000 that spring. The build on this thing is so slow and careful. The three-against-four rhythms, and chords that never quite resolve, are layered and layered, and you get AC Newman's vocals first, and then Neko Case coming in on harmony, and it backs further away from resolution... until it FINALLY lands in a major key ("We have arrived") and STAYS there in a glorious, life-affirming anthem.
8. Tennis Ball - Hello Peril
ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE was a sweet and funny if somewhat by-the-numbers romcom, but one of my favorite things was Randall Park's character's live hip hop band. The songs we hear are musically legit with really funny, clever lyrics. This is one of them.
9. Los Ageless - St. Vincent
Also from The Current's post-2000 song list comes this cri de coeur from Annie Clark, lamenting a lost love and having weird feelings about Los Angeles (I assume this was about actress Cara Delevigne, with whom she had recently ended a multi-year relationship). It's an amazing, digital creation, with an absolutely killer chorus: "How can anybody have you? / How can anybody have you and lose you? / How can anybody have you and lose you and not lose their mind, too?"
10. Harmony Hall - Vampire Weekend
Speaking of killer choruses. This was something like a song of the summer for me in 2019, but <rueful laugh>, little did I know that it would become the song that best exemplifies the sentiment of 2020. "I don't wanna live like this / but I don't wanna die," but wrap that sentiment in a beautiful, uplifting arrangement. In the summer of 2020, I drove to Eat Street to pick up some food, and this song came on. The location and the music took me back to an amazing meal I'd had in the neighborhood for my 40th birthday a year before. The sense of loss and isolation and fear came crashing in, and I had to pull over and just be devastated for a little while.
11. Spidey Bugout Megamix (Expectations Remix) - DJ KiddLove
INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE knocked my socks off, and the graffiti scene in the subway was the moment I locked into the movie. This is the music from that scene, a tremendous mashup of "Apache" and "Hypnotize" and "Mary Mary" and some samples from a half-dozen things (including Red Leader shouting "It's away!" in the Death Star trench run). The vibe reminded me a lot of DJ Shadow's "The Number Song" off of Endtroducing, and it turns out there's a good reason, as this mix also samples a remix of that song. Those many sources and samples are probably why this song hasn't been officially released in any purchasable fashion.
12. Cuz I Love You - Lizzo
My favorite cut off of Lizzo's major-label debut was the title track, with its growling big-band sound, and Lizzo pushing her voice to the absolute limits.
13. Hungry - Paul Revere and the Raiders
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD reminded me of this song that I instantly remembered, but which my brother and I had somehow overlooked in our big Oldies Download Project years ago. Dig that ultra-fuzzy guitar in the post-choruses, and the wordless vocals in what seems like the coda until they jump back into the chorus and fade out. Generally, I loved how music, and especially pop radio, threaded throughout that movie.
7. The Bleeding Heart Show - The New Pornographers
This was on The Current's list of 893 Essential Songs Since the Year 2000 that spring. The build on this thing is so slow and careful. The three-against-four rhythms, and chords that never quite resolve, are layered and layered, and you get AC Newman's vocals first, and then Neko Case coming in on harmony, and it backs further away from resolution... until it FINALLY lands in a major key ("We have arrived") and STAYS there in a glorious, life-affirming anthem.
8. Tennis Ball - Hello Peril
ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE was a sweet and funny if somewhat by-the-numbers romcom, but one of my favorite things was Randall Park's character's live hip hop band. The songs we hear are musically legit with really funny, clever lyrics. This is one of them.
9. Los Ageless - St. Vincent
Also from The Current's post-2000 song list comes this cri de coeur from Annie Clark, lamenting a lost love and having weird feelings about Los Angeles (I assume this was about actress Cara Delevigne, with whom she had recently ended a multi-year relationship). It's an amazing, digital creation, with an absolutely killer chorus: "How can anybody have you? / How can anybody have you and lose you? / How can anybody have you and lose you and not lose their mind, too?"
10. Harmony Hall - Vampire Weekend
Speaking of killer choruses. This was something like a song of the summer for me in 2019, but <rueful laugh>, little did I know that it would become the song that best exemplifies the sentiment of 2020. "I don't wanna live like this / but I don't wanna die," but wrap that sentiment in a beautiful, uplifting arrangement. In the summer of 2020, I drove to Eat Street to pick up some food, and this song came on. The location and the music took me back to an amazing meal I'd had in the neighborhood for my 40th birthday a year before. The sense of loss and isolation and fear came crashing in, and I had to pull over and just be devastated for a little while.
11. Spidey Bugout Megamix (Expectations Remix) - DJ KiddLove
INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE knocked my socks off, and the graffiti scene in the subway was the moment I locked into the movie. This is the music from that scene, a tremendous mashup of "Apache" and "Hypnotize" and "Mary Mary" and some samples from a half-dozen things (including Red Leader shouting "It's away!" in the Death Star trench run). The vibe reminded me a lot of DJ Shadow's "The Number Song" off of Endtroducing, and it turns out there's a good reason, as this mix also samples a remix of that song. Those many sources and samples are probably why this song hasn't been officially released in any purchasable fashion.
12. Cuz I Love You - Lizzo
My favorite cut off of Lizzo's major-label debut was the title track, with its growling big-band sound, and Lizzo pushing her voice to the absolute limits.
13. Hungry - Paul Revere and the Raiders
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD reminded me of this song that I instantly remembered, but which my brother and I had somehow overlooked in our big Oldies Download Project years ago. Dig that ultra-fuzzy guitar in the post-choruses, and the wordless vocals in what seems like the coda until they jump back into the chorus and fade out. Generally, I loved how music, and especially pop radio, threaded throughout that movie.
14. Dark White - Joshua Redman & Brooklyn Rider (w/ Scott Colley & Satoshi Takeishi)
Heard this on the jazz station one day and really liked it. You've got saxophonist Redman, the Brooklyn Rider string quartet, and Redman's usual bassist and drummer Colley and Takeishi, straddling the jazz/classical line on a composition by Patrick Zimmerli.
15. Right - David Bowie
"Right" was used in the end credits of an episode of "Mindhunter," David Fincher's Netflix serial killer drama, and you know, any excuse for another Bowie track on a mix.
16. Mariners Apartment Complex - Lana Del Rey
Music critic Matthew Perpetua jumped out in December '18 with a hard stance in favor of this song as the best of 2018. Somehow I didn't see that tweet until late in 2019, but finally checked out the track, which is indeed quite good. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone had connected it spiritually & thematically to Leonard Cohen, which once upon a time might have been a major contraindication for me (my feelings on Cohen's music are complicated for dumb reasons). But Cohen never drenched his songs in as much atmosphere as Del Rey.
17. Last Train - Allen Toussaint
I didn't know much about Allen Toussaint before catching this on the radio, let alone his legendary status in New Orleans R&B. This is a funky little track from 1975 that starts relatively simple, but gathers instruments and textures as it goes. Made me want to hear more Toussaint, for sure.
18. Israelites - Desmond Dekker & The Aces
Already loved this from hearing it occasionally on oldies radio as a kid and later being re-exposed to it by some list of best songs of the 1960s. Its somewhat non-sequitur use in HBO's "Watchmen" miniseries renewed my appreciation.
19. Gelaye - Radio Tehran
Watched the Iranian/American vampire film A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT for my usual pre-Halloween horror viewing and was not disappointed! The music, in particular, was great, and this track stuck out to me.
20. Comin' Thru - Chali 2na
I remember Kumail Nanjiani saying on Twitter early in the run of "Silicon Valley" that Mike Judge had ridiculously good, deep taste in music, and especially in hip-hop. This one from the Jurassic 5 veteran Chali 2na, used over the credits in an episode of the last season, supports that conclusion.
21. Colors - Black Pumas
Damn, this is great. I love how spare the groove is when it starts, with just a chattering guitar line, and the organ just faintly sneaking in underneath, and then the drums as just a click, and layering and layering until it's a big, beautiful, celebratory, soulful anthem.
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