Have y'all ever heard of Karen Dalton? The name sparked some faint recognition in my mind, but her startlingly pretty music was unfamiliar till recently. "A Little Bit of Rain" makes the hair on my arms stand up, and now I have one of those crushes that spans time & space and ignores mortality. What a babe. She had a predictably fascinating and ultimately tragic life, apparently. The kind that makes for moving art and relative obscurity. I won't spend time on particulars - that's what wikipedia is for. All you really need to know is in her voice.
Obscure is probably the best descriptor of the next track, though just plain weird might be more straight to the point. Don't know much about Carl Simmons, or what happened at woodstock, but "Corporation Sunday" tickles my funnybone in a melancholy fashion and I like it. Carl Simmons probably digs Skip Spence, the man who penned the next track, "Weighted Down". You might not know it from this version, though, done by Beck and a bunch of his musical buddies for his Record Club series. That's Feist on the mic and Nels Cline totally slaying on the mini guitar. They keep it fresh and funky.
Anywho, the mix progresses from there in no particular direction, with no stated goal. It never gets too excitable, nor does it slow to a dirge - this is a reliable set of songs. Along the way, though, it does find some of my favorite lyrics. Bill Callahan has a plainspoken, conversationalist way with words, delivered by a voice that matches. He plays a great trick at the end of "Too Many Birds": he unfurls the last line slowly by repeating it, each time adding one word - it begins as "If" and ends as "If you could only stop your heartbeat for one heartbeat", with every stop along the way adding meaning and significance. The next track "Random Rules", is kind of a lyrical masterpiece - it might be perfect. And finally, Suicide deliver the modern pop mantra "Dream Baby Dream", singing exactly what they mean and not a word more.
Karen Dalton - A Little Bit of Rain
Carl Simmons - Corporation Sunday
Beck's Record Club - Weighted Down
Ganglians - Voodoo
M. Ward - Big Boat
Basia Bulat - Touch the Hem of His Garment
Summer Fiction - Kids in Catalina
Annuals - Complete, or Completing
The Cay - The Company Store
Bill Callahan - Too Many Birds
Silver Jews - Random Rules
Galaxy 500 - Blue Thunder
Suicide - Dream Baby Dream
April '12 Mix.zip
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ReplyDeleteHow did you read my mind to make this mix? Also, did you know that "Random Rules" is one of my all time favorite songs to include on mixtapes?
ReplyDeleteBeen listening to this mix A LOT! Sooo good!!
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