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"folie a deux": education at the hands of a brendan2 mix cdJan 02 '06 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line I heartily recommend Rock & Pop Mixes; the better they are, the more heartily I recommend them.
Mix tapes (or mix cds) are more than simple scattershot samplings of good music. I was going to assume that this could go without saying, but we need to be as clear as possible on this. No, with the advent of the cd burner, the mix cd has grown in ubiquity, and the art is already starting to be lost if i may be so bold as to say it; too often, I hear mix cds, and they're assembly-line collections of tracks I could hear just as easily if i flicked on the radio. Which isn't to say that I avoid the radio (i don't) or that I have something against those songs (i usually don't); but, damn it, if I could hear it in my car or in the mall or over the Muzak, why bother? Genuinely useful functions of the mix cd include: 1. Wooing. Mixes are not only perfectly acceptable ways to shimmy your way into someone's heart; no, when carefully calculated, they can actually pave the way to that heart, each little wonder unfolding into the next, opening up a labyrinthine series of caverns, nooks, and grannies. These are the openings that will cause you and your impeccable musical tastes to permeate someone's soul. Unless, of course, you decide to put "My Humps" on a mix, in which case you probably shouldn't be allowed to listen to music. Or live. 2. Anticipating. In a much similar fashion, you can use a mix cd to test the waters. For example, if you mix down some of your favorite artists in a mix that, to you, seems epic, revelatory, and borderline revolutionary, and your other dismisses it because it's too, i dunno, opaque or cerebral or too simple or too catchy, you know that you simply are not a match for one another. The mix cd has helped facilitate this realization, and armed with this knowledge you can move forward and on to other people. 3. Dancing. Self explanatory. 4. Educating. Genre mixes or artist mixes are also possible, serving as primers for those who simply have not had the exposure. I, for example, have a fantastic album collection, but it's underdeveloped in the "Romanian folk-funk" area, so someone with more experience could rip me a sampling of the best Romanian folk-funk has to offer, and i've got kind of an idea where to go with it. When Liz burned me her mix cd, Folie a deux, it served a unique function. Liz, whether she intended this or not, had burned me a mix chock-full of artsts that i'd certainly heard _of_, but hadn't necessarily heard _from_. Names like Bloc Party, Arcade Fire, the Mars Volta-- names that i'd heard discussed under the broad umbrella of good music (here on Epinions, more often than not) but couldn't be bothered to seek out, especially blindly. So Liz's mix served as an education of sorts, really, and all I had to do in return was give her mix cds of my own. And go cd shopping with her, of course, but that was just fun. I'm not sure if it's coincidence that when i received this mix, I was unfamiliar with all of the artists in question, but owned two of the represented albums on the list by the time I got done shopping with Liz (and before I even listened to the damned thing!); but either way, Liz has introduced me to some fine, fine stuff here. She's awesome, and so is Sage Francis. * 1. The Mars Volta, "Inertiatic ESP" I'd heard of the Mars Volta in relation to several things, most notably the exhumed corpse of At the Drive-In and a guest shot on Handsome Boy Modeling School's White People album-- which, damnit, i loved, especially the track featuring Mars Volta-- but, having only actually heard them in the actual context of a semi-hip-hop album, hadn't realized that they're actually completely batshit, when you get right down to it. It's some sort of whacked-out prog-rock (on speed), fast and unintelligible, a stew of drum flurries and unexpected time signatures. But through all the weirdness-- and it is weird-- there's a catchiness to it, too, a clear melody and a structure (unorthodox though the structure may be), and I think I like it. 3/5 2. The Fiery Furnaces, "My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found" General consensus is that Fiery Furnaces' output of late has been inaccessible, obtuse, and boring; this song, from Blueberry Boat (an album that I'm told I need to hear), is none of the above, so I think I'm still on the Furnaces' side. I'll give "My Dog Was Lost" the tag "weird"; I won't give it "inaccessible," since the vocal line is easy to latch onto, and there are some great, bouncy, acoustic guitar passages. Of course, there are also plenty of oddly-placed, virtuosic guitar wailings, and lyrics that sound like children's rhyming couplets (not a knock, just an observation), so perhaps "accessible" isn't the word after all. But it's catchy, and i like the Furnaces' style (if this is indeed indictative of their style at all, which, for a song that's so unpredictable within its own running time, may not be a safe assumption), so "My Dog Was Lost" gets a 4/5 . 3. Manic Street Preachers, "Motorcycle Emptiness" The Manics have long been on my to-hear list, in the sense that I'd assumed I was going to listen to a couple tracks and then go on my way. They were only on the periphery in the first place, of course, because Andy pimped them out damn near religiously (as a side note: we miss you Andy, come back!), and Andy shared my Pearl Jam obsession, so the lines were clearly drawn; but I was under the impression (which may or may not be misguided) that the Manics were punkish, and punk is far from my genre of choice. "Motorcycle Emptiness" is, i understand, early Manics, off their Generation Terrorists album (which certainly looks like a punk album and has song titles like "Democracy Coma" and "Crucifix Kiss" to boot), but it's not punk at damn old all. Rather, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this out, it's big-rock, an anthemic and big-chested indie anthem with a genuine hook and way with a guitar line; I still haven't delved into the Manics' catalogue (I will, I will) but this, this is fantastic, and the very first 5/5 . 4. David Byrne & Selena, "God's Child (Baila Conmigo)" Liz expressed a little bit of surprise that this ended up being my favorite song on the cd. I suppose I didn't expect anything one way or another, being a fan of David Byrne's last gig (singing for the Talking Heads, natch), and unfamiliar with Selena but with a fondness for Latin pop; I don't know where the hell you find a recording like "God's Child," but it's really quite stunning if you can get ahold of it, seductive and rhythmic, moving from a sway to a gallop, Byrne and Selena's voices blending perfectly .. and, with this song, Liz has not only given me a tune that I love, but that I will in turn mix down for others. It's like Pay It Forward except it doesn't suck and no children die. 5/5 5. Suede, "Animal Nitrate" This is kind of weird; the verse sounds like Rush, the chorus sounds like pure indie-pop; there's acoustic guitars buried somewhere at the bottom of the mix, and somewhere canned handclaps pop up. But it's catchy enough to burrow for a while, and expertly performed. 4/5 6. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Six Barrel Shotgun" I like the dirty Black Crowes-circa-Shake Your Money Maker riff that snakes through this song enough to forget that it's not "Thick n' Thin" or possibly a New York Dolls song, but the distorted vocals prevent it from being a singalong, not to mention I dunno what the hell dude is saying. No matter: "Six Barrel Shotgun" is fun enough, quick, dirty, and primal. 3/5 7. Elliott Smith, "A Fond Farewell" I have no experience with Elliott Smith, really, except for his song in the Royal Tenenbaums ("Needle in the Hay") and owning an untouched copy of Figure 8 (that i soo intend to listen to); of course, the wake of his suicide has sparked my interest in his posthumous from a basement on the hill, and Liz's inclusion of the beautiful "Fond Farewell" on this mix inches me closer to that end. This is gorgeous; it's bittersweet acoustic pop, which i gather was Elliott's bread and butter, but it's so exceptionally melodic that it's impossible to ignore it, and good enough to be a lost Beatles outtake. 5/5 8. The Arcade Fire, "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" I'm not even sure how to describe this; fortunately, there are more than enough reviews of the Arcade Fire, and their super-adored album, Funeral, to defer responsibility for description their way. All I know is that there's something supremely catchy, experimental, and excitingly musical going on here, and finally i've decided that i need to hear this damn album. 4/5 9. Ash, "Shining Light" This is the story: Liz put Ash on this mix the night before we actually went on our outing. On our outing, we went cd shopping, and I bought Ash's Free All Angels for a buck, still oblivious to the contents of my mix. The Ash album went unnoticed until I listened to the mix and this song jumped out; I was absolutely enamored by the prospect of a completely sweet, innocuous power-pop jam that manages to craft an evocative, summery ballad around an inadvertant quoting of a Debbie Boone lyric ("you light up my life" is part of the chorus). And it's not corny, and if it actually _is_ corny, it's too uplifting, pleasant, genuine, and charming to care. And now I own and love the Ash album; thanks, Liz! 5/5 10. Sage Francis, "Slow Down Gandhi" An angry, literate, and dangerous manifesto; the album that this is from, A Healthy Distrust, ended up on my "best of 2005" list, and I wouldn't have bothered with it without this track as a representative. A middle finger, a shaken fist, a punch to the gut, spat through gritted teeth and over a minimal backbeat. This is f*cking vicious, and absolutely perfect to the last syllable. 5/5 11. Bloc Party, "So Here We Are" And these guys, too, were buzzwords last year, and again i hadn't bothered because I'd heard the word "punk" associated with them much too often. But this starts out innocuously enough, with gentle (and sublimely pretty) guitar arpeggiates; and then the drummer jumps in as though he doesn't know what song he's supposed to be in (he's playing it like punk track, and it's clearly a ballad); and there's something beautiful and urgent about all of this, and I immediately bought Silent Alarm, the acclaimed album in question. I haven't listened to it, of course; I keep worrying that it won't deliver on the promise of "So Here We Are". Just give me time, please. 5/5 12. The Bravery, "An Honest Mistake" Holy shit, it's synthpop! Much like LCD Soundsystem (who Eric mixed down for me the week after Liz and I met up in Philly), I took note of this because it sounded like a party ready to happen, a dance-pop relic put into a time capsule in the 1980s and then shot twenty years into the future for us to enjoy right now. I'm not sure if I'll check out The Bravery's album-- I'll need to hear more to be totally sold on it-- but this is totally enjoyable, and the gleefully inappropriate guitar solo near the end makes it for me. 4/5 13. Depeche Mode, "Enjoy the Silence" Again, this is deep, heavy dance-funk, electro-fied and techno-fied, primed for the dancefloor. It's a bit slower and more ominous than "An Honest Mistake," but I also like the deep vocals and the weird instrumental solo near the middle, so it passes my personal litmus test. 3.5/5 14. The Futureheads, "Decent Days and Nights" Urgent and danceable indie-pop; this isn't very far removed from Franz Ferdinand, I don't think. 3.5/5 15. Idlewild, "You Held the World in Your Arms" Big-rock again, this time orchestral, sweeping, and bombastic; Idlewild's the Remote Part is officially on my to-buy list. It's Britpop, really, with concessions made to structure and melody that too much stateside guitar-pop refuses to indulge in; but, again, it sounds absolutely humongous, like R.E.M. on arena-rock pills, and refuses to quit, even through the next few songs. 4.5/5 16. Nine Inch Nails, "The Perfect Drug" Tense and intensely industrial-sounding, until it jumps into a hopped-up dance chorus. I've never gotten into Nine Inch Nails-- but to be fair i've never tried-- and, while I like "Perfect Drug," it's not going to be that final push. Still, though, this is primo stuff, in my limited experience with Trent Reznor and Co's brand of whatever it is they do. 3/5 17. Scissor Sisters, "Filthy/Gorgeous" Porno dance-funk, grimy and decadent-sounding where "Take Your Mama" (the only other Scissor Sisters song i've ever heard) was sprightly and only mildly dirty. But this is a guaranteed dancefloor-packer, only made more interesting by an impressive falsetto in the chorus. Awesome. 4/5 18. Snow Patrol, "Whatever's Left" Tuneful, but uneventful; it's rock-y, but it never quite takes off. 2.5/5 19. Unbelievable Truth, "Solved" I've done my research, and discovered that the Unbelievable Truth have blood ties to Radiohead; Radiohead's Thom Yorke and UT's frontman Andy Yorke are brothers. That must suck for Mr. Yorke the younger; especially when he's capable of such beguiling pop tunes. I'm sure Radiohead are more revolutionary and all that, but I still haven't gotten past the Bends with those guys; Unbelievable Truth have me interested in what they offer, which is distinctly Radiohead-ish, but with real pop sensibility. 4/5 20. Chevelle, "Closure" Finally, Liz closes out this mix with a song that, i've gathered, is a personal favorite of hers, and it isn't hard to see why. Chevelle aren't a band I have ever really bothered to try to enjoy, of course, but it's no fault of this song: it sounds fairly standard until it jumps into a really pretty chorus, and after a couple of those, it's totally won me over, so good goin', guys. It's a 4/5, and the end of this mix; thanks to Liz for the music, and we should do it again soon! And to everyone else, you should check out Liz's reviews, because they serve a very similar function to her mixes; that is, to make you buy and enjoy things you didn't even know you wanted. It's a talent I long for, trust me.  |
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