Summer Series 2010: Part I - The Wave of Summer

The Mix:

When I decided I wanted to make a mix after two years, this was the mix I had in mind. It is summer time and I wanted to make a mix that reflected my feelings about the summer. I want this mix to be the one that you can throw in the CD player (or play on your iPod) at a pool party or down at the shore. Wherever summer fun is being had, I want this mix to be played.

Before I had a name for the mix, I just called it “Fast Mix,” because I wanted all the songs to be upbeat and fun. I hope that I achieved this goal. The name evolved from the art.

Art:

I wanted the artwork for the mix to reflect the atmosphere of the beach. I envisioned a big wave crashing over the sand. I wanted the wave to be drawn in the vein of Japanese artist Hokusai’s “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.” I showed my sister, Racheli, the painting and told her to make her own rendition of the classic piece. She actually created the artwork on the beach in Florida while visiting our aunt and uncle. The sand on the artwork is sand from the beach, as are the shells. I wanted the airplane and beach ball added in for fun; that was just how I saw it in my mind.

Songs:

This mix went through many revisions to get to the point where it is now.

I knew that I needed a good hook song to start the mix off. Once I heard “Tell ‘EM” by Sleigh Bells, I knew that I had to look no further! The high-energy dosage in the song is enough to get anyone hooked! “Oh Mein Me” and “Free Energy” are two more songs that are so high energy, you will need to get up and move!

I should note that throughout the mix, I used ocean wave sound clips between some songs – going along with the beach theme. Oh, and the sound clip about the Jack Whale is from a favorite film of mine, Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I think the clip is hilarious.

One last minute change I made was changing the Surfer Blood song. It used to be a song called “Swim.” I changed it to “Take it Easy” because of a conversation I had just had with my uncle, Mennu. He was on his way to his shore house and mentioned that he liked to always give off the vibe of being relaxed and easygoing. I always liked “Take it Easy,” so I decided I would use the song over “Swim” to show my respect to this great philosophy on life.

One of the hardest decisions to make was choosing a song from LCD Soundsystems’s new album This is Happening. If you want an exceptionally amazing album, buy this! Choosing just one song was a very hard task. I originally used “I Can Change,” but after my trip to Dallas to visit my friend Taelor, I changed it to “Pow Pow.” Listen to the lyrics. The song really resonated with me after my much needed vacation. Even the opening verses, “From this position/I will relax/From this position/I can see the whole place.” This is how I felt on my trip to Dallas, at the end of my summer break.

A word on not-so-new songs: Some of the songs on the mix are from 2009 (or even 2008). Sue me! I like them and thought they fit. Examples are “California English” and “Rome.”

“Sushi” is a song that I recommend you all watch the music video for. A friend of mine at NYU-Tisch made it. It is a mosaic video, but the mosaic is not made from images- it is made from hundreds of thousands of YouTube videos! Phenomenal!

A note on other outstanding bands featured on the mix: The New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene’s new albums (both released earlier this summer). Broken Bells – if you do not have their album, get it now! It took over my life for about 3 months!

The last song I added to the mix is “Summertime” by Sex Bob-omb. Sex Bob-omb is the fictional band from the film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The song was composed and written by Beck. See the movie. Get the soundtrack!

Download Zip file here

(Download will be a .zip file. Unzip it and the songs should all be in order with all artwork and track listings, etc.)

Summer Series 2010: Part II - It Might Get Weird

The mix:

This summer, I decided that I had so much good music that I had to make an excellent mix. After beginning my process, I soon realized that I had far too big a batch to choose from for one mix- okay, it would need to be two mixes. Before long, I realized that there were certain songs being forced into the two mixes (one of the mixes is more “beachy” while the other is more of a “chill” mix). The songs simply didn’t fit in with the other mixes. At this point it was either just don’t use the songs or make another mix. I decided on the latter.

In its early stages, I called this mix “Third Mix.” I decided that this mix would have all the songs that would not fit into the other mixes, but that I truly loved. Once decided, I chose to make the mix sort of weird and experimental by adding in opera (a love of mine) and Scott Walker (one of the most influential singers and musicians who flourished in the late 1960s and early 1970s). This would be a mix about the things I love.

When I began making the mix, I was rewatching episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In one episode, Frank (Danny DeVito), at his sister-in-law’s funeral, says “I don’t know how many years on this earth I got left. I’m gonna get real weird with it.” I realized that since this mix is very weird, that would be a nice audio clip to begin the mix. A few seconds later I thought, “I love Sunny, I’ll just dedicate the mix to the show and its characters.” That’s what I ended up doing and that is why there are funny audio clips from various episodes throughout the mix.

Art:

This also explains why the characters are on the album art. I told my sister, Racheli, my idea for the mix and that I wanted the characters of Sunny on the cover- that was the one condition. She abided by this condition and created what you see on the cover. She used printouts, her own drawings, and paint. The key was to keep it weird. This is, for instance, why Charlie, is positioned over an opera house, an unlikely combination, as is the whole mix.

Songs:

This mix was not so hard to make simply because it was “the leftovers.” To be fair, the first song that prompted me to make a new mix was the first song, Amanda Blank’s “Might Like You Better.” I love this song and want more people to hear it (and her MIA-esque style), but it just doesn’t fit with my other two mixes.

Additionally, some of the songs are not as recent as others. That is the beauty of this mix though- it is weird. One such song is “Ultraviolence” by HEARTSREVOLUTION. I first heard this maybe 2 years ago in Diesel’s music contest. I love this song and want more people to hear them and support this small band.

I included one of my favorite songs by Scott Walker: “Jackie.” I have to admit that my uncle, Mennu, first introduced me to him. If anyone is interested, I have all his work. I also recommend the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (available on Netflix watch instantly!).

There are two tracks from operas in the mix. The first is “Mal Reggendo,” from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, sung by the great Enrico Caruso. This version was recorded on gramophone between 1908 and 1910. This explains the scratchy quality. I chose this both because I love his voice in the role and because I love the opera. The second opera song is from the beginning of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (“Notte e giorno faticar”). I think that most listeners can immediately appreciate the genius of Mozart in this opening “track” of the opera.

I would also like to note that I used a few songs from a mixtape for HBO’s new series How to Make it in America. My roommate, Dusty, and I attended a screening of two episodes of the show hosted by HBO and Starbucks. At this screening we received this mixtape/CD. The songs that I used are “Night by Night,” “You’ve Got the Love,” and “Cities in Dust.” Needless to say, I enjoyed this mixtape by Kid Cudi and DJ Green Lantern.

I wanted to use Sondre Lerche on one of my mixes and I realized that he would have to go on this mix. “Easy to Persuade” is one of my favorite songs from his most recent release, Heartbeat Radio. I actually saw Sondre twice this past academic year (once at A-Ha’s farewell tour with Dusty).

Putting “Rome” by Phoenix on this mix was a very hard decision. I really wanted to put it on the “beachy” mix, but decided that because they were a huge hit last summer, they would go on this third mix. Additionally, that mix already has a song named “Rome” on it (by Yeasayer).

Download Zip file here

(Download will be a .zip file. Unzip it and the songs should all be in order with all artwork and track listings, etc.)

Summer Series 2010: Part III - Tears of a Meteor

The Mix:

Before I named this mix, I called it “Slow/Techno Mix.” That name just seemed like a good way to classify the songs. Actually, “slow” was not a good name in retrospect. I suppose I called it that to contrast it from the “fast” mix. Anyhow, this mix does have more of a techno feel than the other two mixes.

This mix was supposed to have a sort of space-like vibe. You should listen to it when you are orbiting the moon, or any planet or moon (I suppose it could also be listened to while you are being sucked into a black hole…). I always put space and dream realities in the same category. One of my favorite dream films is Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep. Most reviewers would say that this is not his best film by any means. I don’t care. I really liked it and I watch it about twice a year. The opening clip of the mix is from the film. It is when the protagonist, Stephane, tells us a little about dreams and how they are made. The other clip is “Reve Patrick Dewaere.” It is a clip where Stephane tries to give a speech about his calendar artwork called “Disasterology” – images depicting great disasters. He says that he “would like to dedicate [the award] to all the victims [of the tragic disasters].” Before he can even go on, he is interrupted and the speech is over. I used a clip from Allen Ginsberg’s “America” because I recently read it. I liked the poem a lot. I used the clip from the Apollo 11 liftoff for obvious reasons. The final audio clip I used is an underwater animal clip. I am not sure what the sounds are coming from, maybe whales or seals. Anyways, it is very space-like. I think that the closest thing we have to space on earth is the vast oceans and their mysteries.

Art:

I wanted the artwork to reflect a little bit of outer space. I originally wanted my sister to make a rendition of the Leonid Meteor Shower. My sister came back with the artwork now on the cover. That is actually how the title came about. It looked like a huge meteor-eye shedding tears on earth, on a vast plain with a mountain in the distance. Lightning from above violently, yet beautifully, strikes a flower in the foreground. I like how the drawing brings about a connection between earth and space.

Songs:

The new album by The National is fantastic. Choosing a song from the album was very hard, but once I decided on “Conversation 16,” I never changed my mind.

The most random song on the mix is “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones. This summer I listened to a lot of rock from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. I had never really listened to a lot of the Stones. I think that “Sympathy for the Devil” is really what got me into them. I had always liked “Ruby Tuesday,” though, so I decided to use it in the mix.

It took me a while to decide if I would indeed use “Dreams-Come-True-Girl” by Cass McCombs. I put it on once I realized that I could not get it out of my head. I thought that was a good sign that I should use it.

I found the song “I’ll Take Care of You” by Gil Scott-Heron at a record store on 4^th street called Other Music (a excellent place to find new music). I had never thought too much of the spoken-word artist, but this song could not have been a better choice for this mix.

I think the decision to follow “I’ll Take Care of You” with “No Barrier Fun” by Liars was risky because they are both very creepy sounding. I hope it works for everyone.

I have always liked Charlotte Gainsbourg as an actress. When she came out with a CD, I though “Great, another actress trying to branch out of their creative field by making a CD with autotune!” I could not have been more wrong. The album is excellent and this song is perfect.

I could not think of a better way to end the mix than with “Heaven’s on Fire” by The Radio Dept. I love the clip about rock and roll and youth culture. I also think that The Radio Dept. is the perfect band to end this chill mix.

Download Zip file here

(Download will be a .zip file. Unzip it and the songs should all be in order with all artwork and track listings, etc.)