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A mix tape
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Independent Culture - My new music and movie recommendations website.
Taken from my latest article:

A few weeks ago, in the cold recesses of December, I attempted to mimic that midnight Xela premise. Sporadic and fragrant vocals needed to intermingle with astute jazz, disquieting percussion loops and loose piano themes. I needed to purvey frustration, heart ache and confusion amongst nostalgia and flirting hope.

“It’s night time and I’m in the moment, but it’s ending”

01. Arve Henriksen - Procession Passing
Album: Sakuteiki, Label: Rune Grammofon
The album is a working tribute to Japanese culture and the sound of the shakuhachi. Stark other-worldly romanticism gives the perfect introduction.

02. Supersilent - 4.1
Album: 4, Label: Rune Grammofon
A perfect compliment to Henriksen’s unique modus operandi. Dying jazz opposes flitting cinematic mystery and abrasive percussion to form a jarring yet intimate storm.

03. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - I See a Darkness
Album: I see a darkness, Label: Palace
The storm is passing, but its devastation has only just been realized. A dark hymn with thinly layered guitar provides a cogitative commentary. A brief resurgence and an echoing cry for help.

04. Alejandra and Aeron - Juanita, King Chime and Florida Flash Flood
Album: Bousha Blue Blazes, Label: Orthlorng Musork
This hauntingly expectant fusion of atmospheric piano and delicate electronics observes a destitute realism with the naivety of a child.

05. The Gentle Waves - Partner in Crime
Album: Swangsong for you, Label: Jeepster
“Partner in Crime” is the consoling bedtime story that acts to reinsure yet spirals dangerously away into a cold despondency.

06. Múm - We have a Map of the Piano
Album: Finally we are no one, Label: Fat Cat
True hope comes with the warming morning sun and there is momentary rest bite. Warm synthesizer chords and glitch-beats offer tranquility.

07. Alejandra and Aeron - Humming Radio Caro Cariño
Album: Bousha Blue Blazes, Label: Orthlorng Musork
At the boundaries of folk there is a clandestine privacy that is effortlessly caught by this song. This family recording bids optimism and nostalgia with a fragile air of uncertainty. Soft Spanish words with recurring acoustics and guitar bequeath frail remnants of life.

08. Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto – Duoon
Album: Vrioon, Label: Raster Noton
Crescendos of high frequency throbs pierce the ears whilst rhythm evolves from lifeless static, a lone piano acts as a guide through this harsh soundscape.

09. Nick Larson - Aviva Pastoral
Album: Palindromes soundtrack,
The piano continues on in this rare track that contorts young vocal innocence into a tool of luring passion and trespassing guilt, virtues of youth are achingly spoiled by melancholy.

10. Nils Økland - Blond Blå
Album: Bris, Label: Rune Grammofon
Standing and powerful strings reverberate a lasting regret that leads naturally onto a self-reflection that forbids forgiveness.

11. Ms. John Soda – Technicolor
Album: No P. or D., Label: Morr Music
Through a union of surfacing electronic techniques and classical themes this is harmonic pop with a difference. An unbridled freshness brings cheerfulness amongst the surrounding repression, a fitting pause in the proceedings.

12. Fennesz – Transit
Album: Venice, Label: Touch
The eyes of ancestry watch as an apocalyptic technological future looms; flickering noise and pulses beautifully drown a wistful voice that betrays its past. “Say your goodbyes to Europe […] follow me”

13. Philip Jeck – Pax
Album: Stoke, Label: Touch
Eerie loops compliment warped vocals to croon the rising moon. An air of uneasiness builds with each passing repetition climbing towards a night time awkwardness.

14. Paavoharju - Valo Tihkuu Kaiken Läpi
Album: Yhä hämärää, Label: Fonal
A serenading electronic lullaby regurgitates faith and ends the mix with comforting reassurance that everything will be alright in the end.

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 Title: In the aeroplane over the sea
Artist: Neutral Milk Hotel
Style: "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a personal album but not in the way you expect. It's not biography. It's a record of images, associations, and threads; no single word describes it so well as the beautiful and overused "kaleidoscope." It has the cracked logic of a dream"
Review: Pitchfork
My Rating: 9/10

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Paavoharju - Yha hamaraa
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
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 Title: Yha hamaraa
Artist: Paavoharju
Style: "Ragnar Rock, Olli Ainala, and Lauri Ainala hail from the island town of Savonlinna. The ascetic born-again Christians recorded Yha hamaraa between 2001 and 2005, setting their Emersonian lyrics (all sung in Finnish) to a fluctuating electro-acoustic background that threads short-wave, field recordings, reggae beats, pinball sounds, sunken sea shanties, Sublime Frequencies radio scrambles, the somber choir of a backwoods congregation, operas made of cheap electronics, spectral female voices (with the occasional male bird song), chamber muses, midnight ambiance, and omnipresent crackles."
Review: Pitchfork
My Rating: 8/10

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 Title: Before The Blues: The Early American Black Music Scene, Vol. 2
Artist: Various
Style: "Given that the history of recorded blues corresponds roughly with that of the record industry, the compilers of the three-part Before the Blues series may as well be digging around in the Garden of Eden for old records. The digitized scratches on many of the 69 songs included say one thing about this music: it's old! And wondrous. We tend to attribute babe-in-the-woods innocence to music recorded under the shortening shadow of the 19th century, when William Howard Taft was still waddling about and automobiles and airplanes were novel. But these songs provide evidence that bloodshed, substance abuse (mostly drinkin' and cokin'), and complex human emotions were hardly taboo subjects for rural America's musical pioneers. Volume 2 of the Yazoo triad of CDs is highlighted by selections from a few august bluesmen (Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Patton) and a bunch of long-forgotten black entertainers (Geeshie Wiley, Golden P. Harris). In tandem, they provide a window upon a time when recorded music was just finding its footing" - Steven Stolder
Review: Amazon | Yazoo Records | AMG
My Rating: 8/10

"A fascinating and highly entertaining exploration f the early roots of black music in America. This pioneering project depicts the rich American musical scene that existed throughout the 1800s with classic performances of ragtime, old modal songs, breakdowns, ballads, religious music and more. Featured here are great performances by many of the most legendary names in American music history, and this project follows the evolution of blues from its early modal precursors and early fundamentalist religious music. Extensive notes and photos communicate and exciting sense of discover, and outstanding remastered sound quality brings these rare old recordings to life." - Yazoo Records Blurb

Tracklist:
1. Dallas Rag - Dallas String Band
2. How Long - Frank Stokes
3. Skin Game Blues - Peg Leg Howell
4. K.C. Moan - Memphis Jug Band
5. Just A Spoonful - Charley Jordan
6. Doggone My Good Luck Soul - Hattie Hudson
7. There's A Brown Skin Girl Down The Road Somewhere - Eck Robertson
8. You're Going To Leave The Old Home Jim! - Lulu Jackson
9. Deep Blue Sea Blues - Tommy McClennan
10. Cold Morning Shout - South Street Trio
11. Been Listening All The Day - Blind Joe Taggart
12. Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues - Charlie Patton
13. I'll Lead A Christian Life - Golden P. Harris
14. The Old Folks Started It - Minnie Wallace
15. Vine Street Drag - Tennessee Chocolate Drops
16. It's Nobody's Fault But Mine - Blind Willie Johnson
17. Last Kind Word Blues - Geeshie Wiley
18. Guitar Stomp - Roland & Scott
19. Jack O'Diamond Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
20. Reuben Oh Reuben - Emry Arthur

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M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
Monday, August 22, 2005
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 Title: Before the Dawn Heals Us
Artist: M83
Style: "Anthony Gonzalez goes it alone for album three, upping the drama by layering electro-acoustic sci-fi backdrops atop [...] dialogue (written by his brother), and then buoying it all with a massive noir choir. From the buzzing nighttime Blade Runner skyline of the cover art to lyrics investigating car wrecks and dislodged brains, this is a mammoth collusion of synth gasps and distorted swirls, darker and more urban than its meadow-bound predecessor. "
Review: Pitchfork
My Rating: 8/10

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Various Artists - Camping (Bpitch Control)
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
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 Title: Camping (Label: Bpitch Control)
Artist: Various including Kiki, Ellen Allien, Modeselektor, Smash TV
Style: "A simple mix-and-match of the best cuts from the label's discography, Camping showcases six years worth of permutations of Berlinesque techno and techno-pop. From the goofy basslines of Housemeister's "Do You Wanna Funk" and the gloopy vocodered pop of Smash TV's "Sad" to the razor-sharp techno of Feadz' "Lt Replay" and the persistent glitch of Modeselektor's "Don't Panic", it pole vaults from one style to another, with only a steadfastly Germanic spirit holding it together."
Review: Pitchfork
My Rating: 7/10

Tracklist:
01 kiki - luvv sikk 3:54
02 sylvie marks & hal 9000 - we electric 3:19
03 paul kalkbrenner- steinbeisser 3:28
04 ellen allien - wish 3:42
05 modeselektor - don't panic 3:52
06 sylvie marks & hal 9000 - blutenspab 3:31
07 sascha funke - forms & shapes 3:53
08 paul kalkbrenner - queerfellow 3:36
09 kiki & silversurfer - wasp 3:50
10 ellen allien - sehnsucht 3:50
11 housemeiser - do you wanna funk 3:58
12 timtim - atwater ca apparat mix 3:19
13 feadz - lt replay 3:50
14 tomas andersson - numb 3:41
15 ellen allien - stadtkind 3:23
16 smash - tv sad 3:46
17 sascha funke - when will i be famous 3:35
18 kiki - end of the world 3:49
19 smash tv - what about me 3:49
20 timtim - patron of the bad comedians 3:24

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The Microphones - The Glow pt.2
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
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 Title: The Glow pt.2
Artist: The Microphones
Style: "The Glow Pt. 2 is the sound of one man working through a changing landscape -- a single voice challenging its surroundings while also accepting that it's powerless to alter them. The Glow Pt. 2 is unpredictable, volatile, vibrant, terrifying, and comforting. The Glow Pt. 2 is alive."
Review: Pitchfork | Mount Eerie Preservation Society
My Rating: 10/10

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Ultra Chicks Vol. 1-6 Compilations
Friday, April 22, 2005
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 Title: Ultra Chicks Volumes 1-6
Artist: Various
Style: French "ye ye" girls of the sixties, most famously Francoise Hardy
Review: Ye Ye Girls Site
My Rating: 7/10

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 Title: Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett
Artist: Venetian Snares
Style: ""Sikertelenseg" has Funk opening a body bag to show a disbelieving piano its deceased lover. "Szerencsetlen" walks a rickety plank with stacco violin stabs and a grinding "Amen" jungle breakbeat. "Masodik Galamb" indulges in more breakcore delirium and nearly sacrifices the visceral impact of the melodies struggling to pull through. The brooding string piece "Felbomlasztott Mentokocsi" and the chase-sequence dramatics of "Hajnal" are deftest songs that Funk ever recorded."
Review: Pitchfork
My Rating: 8/10, Pigeon why can you scare me?

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The Decemberists - Picaresque
Friday, March 25, 2005
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 Title: Picaresque
Artist: The Decemberists
Style: "Picaresque captures the band in peak form, packing in exotic instrumentation that creates a lush and evocative backdrop to Colin Meloy's story-songs, which here are more colorful-- and more topical-- than ever"
Review: Pitchfork
My Rating: 8/10, particularly The Bagman's Gambit and The Mariner's Revenge Song

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Xela - Listen with Xela Vol. 1
Thursday, March 24, 2005
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 Title: Listen with Xela Vol. 1 (boomkat mix tape)
Artist: Xela
Style: "An out of focus world of modified symphonies, alien soundtracks, smokey jazz basements and electric lullabies"
Review: Boomkat
My Rating: 9/10

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Shining - In the kingdom of kitsch...
Thursday, March 24, 2005
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 Title: In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster
Artist: Shining
Style: "Strikingly original Norwegian art-rock combo makes its debut for the prestigious experimental label Rune Grammofon, piling clattering drum machines, moaning synths and samplers, swooning vocal harmonies, and thunderous, window-rattling cathedral organs atop an alternately creeping and brutally visceral brass foundation. Colossal."
Review: Pitchfork
My rating: 8/10

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