I'm very happy with this mix. I tried to make this reflect my tastes while keeping everyone else in mind. So, there's nothing here intended to provoke. No Deafheaven. No Pere Ubu. And it's the longest mix I've done in a couple of years.
My first draft for this mix was heavy. A huge downer. Probably feeling a bit melancholy after our departure from Massachusetts. But since Joe took the soggy approach for May, I revamped a bit. Only a few tracks from that previous mix remain (Kate Tempest, Jessica Pratt, Angels of Light).
This was conceived as two sides of a record. Side A is light and bright and ends with one of my favorite Springsteen tracks. Side B is a bit darker, and the songs get longer. It all sounds good on headphones, but I definitely recommend headphones for Side B.
I think about John a lot when I put mixes together, probably because I feel like he'll need the most convincing about certain kinds of tracks. I don't mean that as a negative: I like the fact that reactions to my selections sometimes require me to revisit why I like something, justify it, or realize maybe I was wrong about it (though I never am. ;). I hope the juxtaposition of these songs will reveal the connective tissue between all of them. That Bruce Springsteen song might seem entirely out of place, but to my ear, it's locked down with all the rest.
Please, please, please listen to the last track. It features a duo who have a 60-year age difference between them, and they're based in Northampton.
Cover art is lifted from Aqua Teen Hunger Force which has its final season this year.
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Graham Central Station / Happ-E-2-C-U-A-Ginn
Hello friends! Burnmix feels like a little Massachusetts is still there, and that's a good thing.
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Graham Central Station was a funk band named after founder Larry Graham(formerly of Sly and the Family Stone) and Grand Central Station in New York City. The band's origins date from when Santana guitarist Neal Schon formed the band Azteca along with Larry Graham (bass guitar) and Gregg Errico (drums), both from Sly and the Family Stone, and Peter Sears (keyboards), from Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship. Santana bass guitar player Tom Rutley would move into to the bass spot with Azteca. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Ramones / Rockaway Beach
John can probably give us a socio-cultural reading of what Rockaway Beach is really like. I've been playing "Rocket to Russia" for my son lately, and he proves the rule that toddlers love The Ramones.
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Ramones were a punk rock band that formed in Queens, New York, United States, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk group. Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and the United Kingdom. All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Julie Ruin / Ha Ha Ha
Some of you will hate this. But Kathleen Hanna is a powerhouse, and her vocals in the break toward the end are insane and marvelous (ending at 2:33) Listen to how she swallows syllables, screams them, pinches them, wails them.. The documentary about her ("The Punk Singer") is worth seeing. When I saw Julie Ruin play the Flywheel in Easthampton last year, it was the first indie show I'd ever attended at which the women outnumbered the men (by a long shot). And it was clear that I was a guest. And that was awesome to experience.
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Kathleen Hanna first used the Julie Ruin moniker for her incredible 1997 lo-fi album of the same name (Julie Ruin, a solo LP released then via Kill Rock Stars. In 2010, with her post-Bikini Kill band Le Tigre on pause, she began assembling The Julie Ruin's new lineup. The band includes bassist Kathi Wilcox (of Bikini Kill), keyboardist Kenny Mellman (of Kiki & Herb), drummer Carmine Covelli, and guitarist Sara Landeau (who Hanna met through Girls Rock Camp). Read more on Last.fm more...
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Kate Tempest / Lonely Days
Her entire album is amazing, but what strikes me is her empathy. That's a rare quality in popular music. She's writing about others, and you can feel their insecurities. Lou Reed was good at that, too.
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Kate Tempest is a pseudonym of Kate Esther Calvert who grew up and remains in South-East London, UK. She started out as a rapper, toured the spoken word circuit for a number of years, and now works as a poet and playwright too. Her work includes 'Balance', her first album with her band Sound of Rum, 'Everything Speaks in its Own Way', her first collection of poems, published on her own imprint Zingaro, which comes with a CD and DVD of live performance; 'GlassHouse' Read more on Last.fm more...
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TV On The Radio / New Health Rock
Their new album is good, but it doesn't rock enough. This probably my favorite track of theirs (from way back in 2004). In fact, this is probably one of my most favorite songs of the last 20 years. Nice use of a double-tracked vocal, particularly at those moments when they harmonize.
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TV on the Radio are an American indie rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York. The group has released several EPs including their debut Young Liars (2003), and five studio albums: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004), Return to Cookie Mountain (2006), Dear Science (2008), Nine Types of Light (2011), and Seeds (2014). For most of the band's existence, the core TV on the Radio lineup has been Tunde Adebimpe (vocals/loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars/keyboards/loops) Read more on Last.fm more...
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Ex Hex / Waterfall
To borrow from XTC, this is pop! It sounds so familiar, but in all the right ways.
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Ex Hex are an American indie rock trio formed in 2013. The band consists of Mary Timony (vocals, guitar), Betsy Wright (bass) and Laura Harris (drums). The band's debut album, "Rips", was released on 7 October 2014. Timony is a former member of Helium, Autoclave and Wild Flag, Wright is a member of The Fire Tapes and Harris is a member of Aquarium. http://www.exhexband.com/ Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Fall / New Big Prinz
To quote The Fall's Mark E. Smith: this isn't repetition. It's discipline. That bass manages to be heavy but buoyant. Probably one of my favorite tracks on this mix, and many people's favorite Fall track. Great video of them performing this tune here: https://nonewmusic.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/check-the-record/
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Famously described by John Peel as being "always different, always the same", The Fall were formed in Manchester, England in 1976 during the Punk era although their style quickly evolved into something more idiosyncratic. The one permanent fixture amidst the Fall's ever-changing line-up was Mark E. Smith (1957 – 2018). Smith's lyrics are free, unboxed and unpredictable, touching on an extremely wide range of subjects and places, and caring little for being tied down to easily digestible messages. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Bruce Springsteen / Girls In Their Summer Clothes
A song about getting older disguised as one about heartbreak. The bridge is classic Boss: he's loyal enough to Clarence Clemmons to include a sax but smart enough to remember that the sax is passe. The little chord transition steps he does at the end, just to build a little drama into the progression (at 2:48 and 3:29). So simple and so perfect. A master at work.
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Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter and leader of the E Street Band. He is recognized for his poetic lyrics, his Jersey Shore roots, his distinctive voice, and his lengthy, energetic stage performances. Springsteen has recorded both rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born to Run (1975) and Born in the U.S.A. (1984), find pleasures in the struggles of daily American life. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Lost Trail / For PSH
And so begins Side Two. A coworker turned me on to these guys from North Carolina who create sounds, find sounds, and steal sounds.
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Ambient/Drone/Lo-fi noise project from Burlington, NC. http://losttraildrone.bandcamp.com/ Read more on Last.fm more...
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Julia Holter / Horns Surrounding Me
Claustrophobic, expansive. Nice on headphones because of the many sounds and those high operatic voices doing a counterpoint melody. When the keyboards really come in (around 1:57), they saturate everything in a really nice way.
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Julia Shammas Holter (born December 18, 1984) is an American experimental artist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. A CalArts graduate, she released her first studio album, Tragedy, in 2011. A second album, Ekstasis, followed in 2012. Holter also collaborates with other musicians including Nite Jewel, Linda Perhacs, and Michael Pisaro. In 2013, she released her third album, Loud City Song to resounding critical acclaim. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Dr. John / Locked Down
It's clear I don't enjoy a certain kind of slick. And I don't put emphasis on musicianship if it's too practiced. Here's a great example of top-notch musicianship with just enough grit to make it real. When that groove kicks in, it's locked down. Dr. John's vocals always make me think of my Aunt Edna. She had a way of talking that sounded like how Dr. John sings.
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Dr. John (born Malcolm John Rebennack on 20 November 1941; died 6 June 2019) was an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combined blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll. The winner of six Grammy awards, Rebennack was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by singer John Legend on Monday, March 14, 2011. He was variously known as Mac Rebennack, Dr. John Creaux, Dr. John, the Night Tripper. Dr. John began making his own idiosyncratic music in the 1960s. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Ghostface Killah / Ray Gun
I like hip hop, rap, whatever you want to call it. But there are few groups I'd mention alongside my favorite bands, but Ghostface ranks right up there. Check out the album "Fishscale." Astounding. And this recording, with a real band(!), seemed to maintain Side Two's flow. "I saved the world. That's fuckin' history pages!"
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Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success with their 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) , the members went on to pursue solo careers to varying levels of success. Ghostface Killah debuted his solo-career in 1996 with Ironman, which was well received by music critics. He would continue his career, creating additional award-winning albums over the following years such as Supreme Clientele Read more on Last.fm more...
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Angels of Light / New York Girls
Remember Swans from the "Burnmix Best Of"? Here's Swans' Michael Gira and his side project. Very different sound, but the same elements of dissonance and repetition are there. I'm interested in whether this colors your perspective on that Swans track.
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Angels of Light are an experimental group that was formed circa 1998 by singer/guitarist Michael Gira after he disbanded Swans, the group he'd founded in 1982. The band has marked a distinctly different style for Gira since he left Swans, most noticeably being musically more melodic and less brutal than his previous efforts. The Angels of Light include many New York City collaborators, including Dana Schechter of Bee and Flower, Kid Congo Powers of The Cramps Read more on Last.fm more...
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Wire / Harpooned
Yes, I followed an 8+ minute song with another 8+ minute song. This one starts bold, and it undergoes a subtle shift that I love. Around 4:12, the entire song begins to reorient itself, bending slightly to accommodate the quietly soaring vocals that repeat throughout the remaining 4 minutes.
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Wire is a band formed in 1976 in Watford, England and after splitting in 1980, have reformed three times. They consist of Colin Newman (vocals, guitar), Graham Lewis (vocals, bass) and Robert Gotobed (drums). Founding guitarist Bruce Gilbert left in 2004. In 2008, Margaret Fielder McGinnis of Laika joined the band as their touring guitarist, but as of 2010 has been replaced by Matt Simms. Wire's debut album, Pink Flag (1977), contains songs which are diverse in mood and style Read more on Last.fm more...
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Klara Lewis / Muezzin
I discovered this via "The Quietus" which is a great source for reading about new recordings. Just let this one alter your space.
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Klara Lewis (daughter of Edvard Graham Lewis, class 1993) is a young ambient musician from Sweden who builds her music from field recordings made in locations that range from Turkey to Germany and Russia. Her 2014 debut album "Ett" on the Editions Mego label was critically acclaimed. Brainwashed.com called it "an astoundingly developed and mature debut record for a new artist working in any genre, but it is especially striking in this more experimental style. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Jessica Pratt / Bushel Hyde
Weird folk. She's good.
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Jessica Pratt (born 1987) is an American musician and singer-songwriter, based in Los Angeles, California. Her self-titled debut album was released in 2011 via Birth Records, a record label founded by Darker My Love and White Fence songwriter Tim Presley to release Pratt's music. She is often associated with the freak folk movement. Pratt was raised by her mother, who exposed her to a broad range of artists, including Tim Buckley, X, and the Gun Club. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Total Control / Love Performance
I love the way 80s sounds creep into new songs over the last few years. This one feels like a classic I missed in 1985, except that it was released in 2011. The refrain "These are not the last days" is repeated just enough to make you both believe and doubt that it's not the end of everything.
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1) Somewhere in the breeding patterns of the 80s noise punk movements and the synth head movement birthed the synth punks Total Control. Drawing influence from what seems Futuristik, Screamers, and Perhaps Devo, they bring to the table a crunched up no wave dancefloor numbers. Sawtooth leads over frantic punk beats interloping into a obnoxious yet capturing piece. The building progressive Kraftwerk leads into chip-tune solos like a busted cartage game. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Silence / Silence
End of Side B. Just creating some space before the bonus track.
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There are multiple bands with the name Silence: 1) Silence, Vincent Girès's copyleft ambient music project from Belgium. 2) Silence is a Slovenian band formed in 1992 3) A Deathcore band from Orlando, Florida, U.S. 4) A crust punk band from Poland. 5) A French AOR band. 6) An ambient project of Pete Namlook. 7) A progressive metal band from Norway. 8) A Death Metal band from Canada. 9) Heavy-Gospel band from Slovakia. 10) A black metal band from Argentina. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Bo Ningen / Slider
BONUS TRACK: I saw these guys open for TV On The Radio recently, and they killed. It was great. Erin thought the band was Muppet-like. I kept imagining "The Ring" meets "The Grudge." They were described as Japanese acid punk rock.
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'If someone in the 1960's had imagined ('Space: 1999' style) what rock and roll would sound like in 2009, Bo Ningen is what they would have heard in their head.' - Loud & Quiet Bo Ningen are a Japanese four-piece acid punk band consisting of Taigen Kawabe, Yuki Tsujii, Kohhei Matsuda and Monchan Monna. Though they come from Gumma, Tajimi, Nishinomiya, and Tokyo, they coalesced in London. Members: Taigen, Kohhei, Monchan, Yuki Albums: Line the Wall, III, Bo Ningen Read more on Last.fm more...
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Toe Cookie / The Guy At The Market
This is a track featuring my 82 year old friend John and my 21 year old friend Elliot. They are Toe Cookie. May we all be willing to collaborate openly and generously with people outside our peer group. The market mentioned in the song is River Valley Market.
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