We’re doing this! 2019 2020 WHOOOOOO! 2019 2000! THE MIX OF
THE FUTURE!
- Ah,
shoot…false start. This soundbar always hates my phone at first. NO
SPOILERS, SOUNDBAR! Let me listen to Ohtis for a minute while it catches
up. Come on, soundbar…you’re six feet away.
Great news – no more connection issues. I’m giving up on the
traitorous soundbar and switching to headphones.
- Nice
opening – Four Tet-ish bloops and static. STATIC! That’s my sound of the
year. And also strings, which are my other sound of the year. When I went
through my candidates for my mix I realized I had a ton of static and
strings. This is awfully nice but don’t go all Braveheart on m- Why is my
kid talking to me? Can’t she see the headphones and doesn’t she remember
that I JUST told her I was putting headphones in? I missed the transition
to the new age space sounds but here they are now. I like the warbly
closing plus STATIC!
- Country
twang, that’s my thang. Whoo dang! Drink TANG! “Tired of my sad songs”?
Never! I heard promises of sad bastard music. Full horn section showtunes
galore – I feel like there was a lot of this type of music this year. Kassi
Valazza almost made my mix but it wasn’t meant to be because she had no
static. I like the slide of that guitar, although this song kind of makes
me want another country album by Karl Blau.
OK, I really want this on the speakers that I bought with HARD-EARNED
MONEY holy crap I am feeling a little crazy. I need more of those chill, chill
space sounds. That reminds me, I forgot to see who the first songs were. Let me
use the CD as a way to block out the later songs so I only see what I want.
THAT’S HIGH TECH. Oh hey, Slow Meadow. Did I help find this one? “Liminal” is a
great word and is probably 41% of the reason I liked the book Liminal States.
Song two was Faye Webster? I probably should have given that album more of a chance
but I ended up getting more into Kassi Valazza instead. Who am I kidding? I’ve
had years where half the songs on my mix were country-tinged singer/songwriter
women.
- Back
on track, now on speakers! Ooh…uh…these are not my favorite vocals. It’s
weird how close they are to the kind of androgynous warbling I really love
but between the audio filter and the warbling falsetto it just sounds so
forced. Oh look at that, it’s the Deerhunter album I hated. I think I
would adore this song if it wasn’t trying so hard. Maybe they can make a
covers album of their own songs but in the style of Halcyon Digest. Even
better, in the style of Atlas Sound. Oh yeah – I remember liking this part
at 2:30 way better the two times I listened to this album. I’ve really
fallen out of love with Deerhunter, or at least newer Deerhunter. I do
like a lot of the last half of this song but I’m not in this thing for
HALF SONGS. I feel a little less crazy now but I still plan on shouting as
much as possible. The whole song should have been the last 90 seconds,
three times over. That’s kind of a mean trick to put an awful part at the
beginning so that I like the last part even more, Deerhunter.
- ORVILLE!
YOU MADE IT! Orville was like three albums away from fitting on my mix but
he’ll have to wait for the next album – there were just a few draggy spots
on this one. I appreciate going from Rob Moran-level hardcore famous to
doing something like this and his voice is pretty amazing. This album also
has some fantastic lyrics and this song’s standout is obviously “spend a
Johnny’s cash”. My favorite song was Winds Change but Buffalo Run was the
one that was going to make it on my mix because it had the vibe I needed.
- OHTIS!
That opening line is what really got me to pay attention the first time I
heard the album. Some years I worry that my mix will be all country and
everyone will turn tail and remember it as worse than Transformers but
guess what? NOTHING IS WORSE THAN TRANSFORMERS. This mix is 60% country so
far and that’s just fine by me, pardner. Obviously I’m happy this song is
on here because it was my number one album of the year, pardner. Every song
stuck with me and at one point I think I listened to it at least 10 times
in a row. Helps that it’s so short, pardner.
- No
wonder someone thought we were soul twins – there are strong parallels
with my mix here. I had such a hard time with the two Tourist albums this
year because they both had such different feelings while sharing a lot of
the same sounds. My year was more Everyday than Wild so that’s probably
why the earlier album won out with me. I like that this track is in the
middle of the album because it feels more like a conclusion than an
interlude so I’m paying attention to see why the mix is over so soon.
TRICK MIX! NOT OVER YET!
Pardner
- Oh,
golly. Is this the saddest song? Also a trick – they’re all the saddest
song. Even if I didn’t know he killed himself this whole album would be
the saddest song. Every single track has a double meaning. My junior Mixmas
elf stole my saddest song just because it’s about SNOW. It gets me because
it’s less overt and there’s the meta aspect where the song sings about
songs and it hits you that dead or alive, the person who recorded the song
has become a ghost and the “whoa” chorus becomes longing moaning. My
second saddest song is what made it to my mix and that one is much more
overt the way Nights That Won’t Happen is. The play on words is cute but
how cute is it to start a song with a direct statement about imminent
suicide? I would have accepted a mix that was just every song on this album.
- Space
rock, help me meditate. There were a few of these kinds of albums this
year (Moon Duo too-o!) and they all landed just outside of my mix. I liked
a bunch of them but loved none of them. Some of my all-time favorite
albums are space rock (Spacemen 3!) but the batch from this year didn’t
have any true standouts for me, although I’m not complaining about getting
a bunch of albums that I enjoyed having on all the way through.
- I
didn’t even have to make a second disc – this mix covered it for me! I liked
this year’s…wait…last year’s Sharon Van Etten more than the last couple
for the time and place. I managed to always have this album on at the right
time this year and it helped raise it up for me, although it’s unlikely
that anything will hold a candle to the timing of Epic for me a decade
ago. “You Shadow” was my song. The biggest thing Sharon had to fight
against with me was that this year was AMAZING for women with guitars,
throaty voices, and a clever sense of playing with song structures and
conventions. See also: like half the songs on my mix.
- Will
this be Swans? Low Roar? What else from my lost disc will be on here?
Probably nothing now that I ask. Huh. Is this hardcore? Where’s Rob Moran
when I need him most? TWO ROB MORAN REFERENCES! COUNT IT! This…might be
from Transformers.
- Oh
thank God. Back to my disc two. This is one of the two Anna Tivel songs I
had as possibilities – “Minneapolis” was the other. I thought this song
was the perfect way to open an album. It’s just too bad that not every
song on the album had the same sense to be in the right place at the right
time. “Minneapolis” has all my favorite musical things though – ambiguity and
clouds of dust. Just writing that puts me halfway to a decent song. Add in
the last 90 seconds of that Deerhunter song and I’m ready to be an indie
music superstar with as many as 15 fans!
- Do
I know this one? I do not. It has a bird name so whee! That’s probably why
I liked the San Fermin album. I don’t like Electric Guitar, I learn over
and over. I like electric guitars just fine and especially crunchy or
staticky or fuzzy ones but rarely Electric Guitar. This is a little too 70s
not-quite-easy-listening for me. I picture a lot of brown pants. It’s no
Transformers but it’s also not something I would listen to more than once
probably. I can’t understand the lyrics because the vocals are just too
darn smooth, pardner. BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, Robert Zimmerman. I might
be getting a little tired. I do enjoy the faded horn outro.
- Closing
out with…sounds calm….sounds piano…sounds like something I don’t know.
Eluvium. Did I listen to this? Maybe, but it didn’t stick. I used to
totally hate piano unless it was really buried but I’ve become more
piano-positive over the last few years. Moonface helped me reach this
place of acceptance, and maybe even appreciation. Well this is nice. I
appreciates it. It really turned a corner halfway through there without
really doing a whole lot. It just occurred to me…I think I had more
instrumental songs this year. First time?
What an adventure. There’s a small part of me that wishes
there was less overlap so that I could discover new things but considering the
insane volume of albums I listened to last year it’s not a total surprise. The
dog is having a face-twitching dream and it’s probably in response to that restful
last song. What a great way to close it out.
Good night, pardner.
