Smokelit Flashback IV

"This Labyrinth of Poems"

[This is one post in a series about my music mixes.  The series list has links to all posts in the series and also definitions of many of the terms I use.  You may wish to read the introduction for more background.  You may also want to check out the first volume in this multi-volume mix for more info on its theme.

Like all my series, it is not necessarily contiguous—that is, I don’t guarantee that the next post in the series will be next week.  Just that I will eventually finish it, someday.  Unless I get hit by a bus.]

It’s time to return once again to the mix that kicked off this whole series for another installment of slightly trippy, smokey bar spy movie music.  I was playing this very volume at work one night this week, and one of my co-workers called the music “creepy.” My kids have made the same accusation.  And, there’s no denying: many of the songs that you hear on this mix do fall on the creepy side of a line.  Not too far, else we’d see them on an entirely different mix,¹ but north of the border of unsettling, for sure.  Songs like Portishead’s “Over” (from volume I), Lemon Jelly’s “Experiment Number Six” (from volume II), and Goldfrapp’s “Lovely Head” (from volume III) have a certain vibe to them, and we’ll see a few more like them here too.  But there’s more to this mix than just “creepy.” There’s some very interesting tunes here, so let’s dive right in.

As always, there are familiar faces returning for the latest installment.  Just like last volume, there are two Hooverphonic tracks here: “Every Time We Live Together We Die a Bit More,” which provides our volume title, and the rare male-vocal-fronted song from them, “Dictionary.” Plus another track from Dahlia (possibly an even better one than last time), another instrumental break from the Swing soundtrack, and back to Falling You’s first (and best) album for another track off Touch.  Familiar faces all, but not the same old same old by any stretch.

You may also recall that Falling You comes to us via Magnatune, the “We Are Not Evil” label.  We’ve seen other folks from Magnatune on various mixes, such as Lisa DeBenedictis, who showed up on Shadowfall Equinox.  Here we get to hear her sing, on “Sidetrack,” a slow but deliberate song that slots in beautifully after another Magnatune artist, Beth Quist.  Quist has toured with Bobby McFerrin as part of his Voicestra, so you can imagine what sort of inventive vocal stylings she’s capable of.  Much of her music has a Middle Eastern feel to it, due to her mastery of the dumbek and hammered dulcimer and other, similar instruments.  But “Air Chair” is a bit different: possibly the creepiest tune in the volume, with a feel somewhat like a new age tune fell into a Halloween mix.

Another Magnatune artist that first shows up here is hands upon black earth, who combine downtempo with touches of world and new age.  I’ve chosen two of their tunes for this volume: “Effigy” towards the beginning, and “Dream” as a bridge to get us from the centerpiece tracks to the latter part of the set.  Neither can be said to have vocals, per se, but there are samples and whispers.  hube, as they are often known, have an intriguing sound that make them indispensable to this mix, and we’ll see them again next volume.  They also give us one of my favorite transitions of the mix, as “Dream” ends with: “Next to me, the man appears again; as the shadow creatures leap off the peak around me, disappearing into the darkness, he turns to me and speaks without words ...” and then Falling You kicks in with “Come out, come out, wherever you are ...” Our final Magnatune artist is Lizzi, who normally has more of a smooth jazz sound.²  “You Belong,” on the other hand, is a bit more slinky, and works well as the penultimate song for this set.

Possibly the greatest find in this whole volume, though, is Kutiman, an Israeli musician who stitches completely unrelated clips from YouTube videos into new, brilliant compositions.³  Many of his songs are quite good, but “No One in This World” is somewhere beyond amazing.  Featuring a jazzy (originally a capella) vocal from Nicola Dodds paired with the Carducci String Quartet, the Natty Princess horns, Thomson Kneeland on stand-up bass, and such things as a simple 10-second video of a vibraslap, 30 seconds of chimes, and a music student playing a scale on a cello, you really have to watch the video to fully appreciate Kutiman’s genius.  But the music also stands on its own, just a brilliant piece of mildly trippy smoky bar music that epitomizes what this mix is all about.

I’m also bringing some of the finds from my cable provider’s “Zen” music channel—previously only seen over on Paradoxically Sized World—here to flesh out Smokelit Flashback.  Instrumentally, British DJ Nightmares on Wax gives us “Les Nuits,” a smooth but kaleidoscopic tune that stands alone in his catalog, as far as I’m concerned.  On the other hand, Carmen Rizzo is a major find: an LA producer and electronica artist, he’s produced three great albums of world-inflected downtempo, and I’ve picked up all of them.  His first is his best, in my opinion, 2005’s The Lost Art of the Idle Moment, and it gives us “I’ll Carry You,” a song about halfway between the near sense of wonder of “Les Nuits” and the almost menace of “Dictionary.” It’s a great song that works beautifully here, and we’ll be hearing more from Rizzo on this mix as well as others.

Smokelit Flashback IV
[ This Labyrinth of Poems ]

“Every Time We Live Together We Die a Bit More” by Hooverphonic, off The Magnificent Tree
“Effigy” by hands upon black earth, off hands upon black earth
“Air Chair” by Beth Quist, off Shall We Dance
“Sidetrack” by Lisa DeBenedictis, off Fruitless
“Last Night” by Lush, off Lovelife
“Someday the Wind” by Fauxliage, off Fauxliage
“Dictionary” by Hooverphonic, off Blue Wonder Power Milk
“Martin's Theme” by Ian Devaney, off Swing [Soundtrack]
“No One in This World” by Kutiman, off Thru You Too
“Connected by a String” by Devics, off The Stars at Saint Andrea
“Dream” by hands upon black earth, off hands upon black earth
“the canoe and the waterfall” by Falling You, off Touch
“Forget This Place” by Dahlia, off Emotion Cycles
“I'll Carry You” by Carmen Rizzo, off The Lost Art of the Idle Moment
“Les Nuits” by Nightmares on Wax, off Carboot Soul
“You Belong” by Lizzi, off Love and you and I
“Breathe” by Télépopmusik, off Genetic World

Total:  17 tracks,  76:38

In the vein of new trip-hop, we have a tune from Fauxliage, the mildly bizarre combination of Delerium, the darkwave/techno band that grew out of industrial greats Front Line Assembly, and Leigh Nash, the lead singer of folksy Sixpence None the Richer.  The result is a single album of some decent trip-hop, of which “Someday the Wind” is probably the best.  On the other hand, French trio Télépopmusik have a couple of good albums, and “Breathe” is the biggest and brightest of their hits.  It is, as its title suggests, breathy, but with a strong beat, and an undercurrent of smokiness that makes it a natural closer for this volume.

And, finally, we have the unexpected tracks.  Lush started out as shoegazers, then went a bit pop for their album Lovelife, which featured moderate hit “Ladykillers.”⁴  “Last Night,” however, is neither of the above: it’s a slower, slightly psychedelic affair that works quite well here.  Last but not least, I introduced you to the dream pop outfit Devics over in Darkling Embrace.  All their music has a bit of a darker edge, and this track is no exception.  I’m not exactly saying that when you cross darkwave with dream pop you always get music that’s perfect for Smokelit Flashback, but Devics seems to hit it more often than not.  We’ll definitely be seeing more from them here.  While My Beautiful Sinking Ship is my go-to Devics album, their follow-up The Stars at Saint Andrea has a few good tracks as well, such as the one we use here, “Connected by a String.” It has a distant, disconnected quality that slides effortlessly off the Kutiman track to close out the centerpiece of the volume.

Next time, I think we’ll explore the intersection of punk and new wave.

⇐ Smokelit Flashback III

Smokelit Flashback V ⇒

__________

1 Which we shall come to in the fullness of time.

2 Which means she will inevitably appear on Smooth as Whispercats.

3 I discovered Kutiman quite by accident in one of those bizarre Internet linkwalks.  I was originally looking for what artist did the music for some commercial I’d heard.  Turns out it was just an ad agency type company, but a fairly hip one.  They had quite a few links of “music we like” or “music that inspires us” or somesuch.  One of those links was Kutiman, and I clicked it, and I was just blown away.

4 Which we’ll probably see show up on a mix at some point, as it’s a great song.

A bit of a bummer week

I thought I might be able to get you a proper post this week, but unfortunately it just didn’t happen.  I’ve had two pretty severe scares with my laptop—in fact, I’m writing this post on my backup laptop—and I don’t know that I’m out of the woods yet.  I don’t have much (if any) data to lose, but it’ll be a pain in the ass of epic proportions if I can’t get the existing laptop back up and running again.  We’ll have to wait and see.

In other news, I’ve been working pretty hard this weekend on getting my Perl module completed (see the ongoing series over on my Other Blog for full details), and of course it was Easter weekend.  So I was responsible for hiding 69 eggs today.  And then I had to try to remember where I hid all the ones that my kids couldn’t find.

So it’s been a tough day.  Hopefully the coming week will be a bit easier.

Time keeps on slipping into the future

Yet another week where I had every intention of producing a blog post for you, but Real Life managed to get in the way.  That seems to be happening more and more to me these days ... possibly I’m getting even more terrible at time management than I’ve always been.  Which is, quite frankly, terrifying.

But there’s nothing to be done about it at this point, except to apologize once again to you, my faithful reader, and to try to do better next week.  Which is what I shall now do.

Sorry.  See you next week.

Paradoxically Sized World III

"Are the Stars Out Tonight?"

[This is one post in a series about my music mixes.  The series list has links to all posts in the series and also definitions of many of the terms I use.  You may wish to read the introduction for more background.  You may also want to check out the first volume in this multi-volume mix for more info on its theme.

Like all my series, it is not necessarily contiguous—that is, I don’t guarantee that the next post in the series will be next week.  Just that I will eventually finish it, someday.  Unless I get hit by a bus.]

For the third volume of Paradoxically Sized World, I decided to concentrate on the music from LittleBigPlanet 3.  Honestly, LBP3 isn’t nearly as good a game as the first two (although it has some great aspects, they are not realized with the same attention to detail as the previous games), but the music is still amazing.  We start with Japanese indie artist Shugo Tokumaru and “Rum Hee,” the prolific (and catchy) little song used as background for many of the LBP3 trailers.  That bleeds beautifully into Lullatone, the group responsible for “Race Against the Sunset.”¹  Lullatone is composed of an ex-patriate American and his Japanese girlfriend, and their music is somehow evocative of what your childhood toys would jam out to when you weren’t around.  “Hot Sand” is off the same album as “Race Against the Sunset” and sounds quite similar.  These two make a great opening to this new volume of LittleBigPlanet-inspired tunes.

The next themed stretch starts off with a tune from the PS Vita version of LBP, Crystal Castle’s “1991,” which is reminiscent of the music of old-school video games.  And that makes it a perfect lead-in to the “8-bit” version of “Threshhold,” from Scott Pilgrim vs the World, which actually accompanies the old-school video game sequence in the movie.  Which then flows nicely into another tune from one of my favorite LBP bands, Ugress, and his spy-movie-inspired “Harakiri Martini.” Then we have the uncharacteristic electro-swing of Der Dritte Raum’s “Swing Bop.”²  Being that they are still Der Dritte Raum, this particular electro-swing song is far more electro than swing.

But the centerpiece of the mix is an atypical vocal stretch, starting with the insanely good “How You Like Me Now?” by the Heavy.³  This is used in LBP3 during the casino level, although they use an instrumental version.  The vocal version is blow-you-away better.  From there, we hit the bizarrely-named !!! (who claim that their name should be pronounced⁴ “Chk Chk Chk”), with a stand-out track, “Myth Takes.” I found !!! while investigating some other artist—some “related to” or “influenced by” link, no doubt—and I’ll admit I was intrigued by a band whose name consisted only of punctuation.  I find most of their music to be average at best, but “Myth Takes” is just genius, with a sly blassline and clever lyrics.  My kids tell me I’m crazy if I think it sounds anything like LittleBigPlanet, but I think it slots perfectly here between “How You Like Me Now?” and “Ghosts.” The only track here from LBP2, “Ghosts,” from Liverpudlian-with-a-Bulgarian-vocalist group Ladytron, also has some magnificent lyrics, like its chorus:

There’s a ghost in me
Who wants to say I’m sorry
Doesn’t mean I’m sorry

Despite the fantastic lyrics in this set, nothing jumped out at me as a suitable volume title.  That had to wait for the 50s-themed set towards the end of the volume.  It kicks off with bassist Barry Adamson, whose track “Dead Heat” (also used in the casino level of LBP3) is actually from the 90s, but has a very early 50s cinematic feel.  Then another Lullatone track, which also fits this mood, then two remakes of actual 50s songs: “I Only Have Eyes for You,” originally by the Flamingoes, and “Mr. Sandman,” originally by the Four Aces.⁵  The former remake is by my other favorite LBP band, Tashaki Miyaki, an LA-based noise-rock dream pop outfit that continues the good work started by Mazzy Star.  Their music is similar to their contemporaries Beach House and Widowspeak, but even better, in my opinion, despite not being as well-known.  Their version gives a dreamy, fuzzed-out quality to the outer-space level of LBP3’s Bunkum Lagoon, as well as our volume title.  For the latter, LBP uses the Four Aces version, but I wanted a version with a bit more character.  After a bit of searching, I went with the version from Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween.  I think it has an ever-so-slightly creepy vibe that follows perfectly after Tashaki Miyaki.⁶

As always, I’ve added a note for each track used in a LittleBigPlanet game: either 1, 2, 3, PSP, PSV, or Kart.  If a track doesn’t have a note, it isn’t from an LBP game (that I know of).  Although I often use slightly different versions of songs from those that are used in the game (such as using a vocal version instead of an instrumental version), I’m using a version by a completely different artist for “Mr. Sandman” here, so I noted that below as “alt,” meaning it’s an alternative version to what’s used in the game.

Paradoxically Sized World III
[ Are the Stars Out Tonight? ]

“Rum Hee” by Shugo Tokumaru, off Port Entropy

3

“Hot Sand” by Lullatone, off Summer Songs [EP]
“Ultraviolent” by Cinnamon Chasers, off A Million Miles from Home
“Sunday Boy” by Bent, off Ariels
“1991” by Crystal Castles, off Crystal Castles

PSV

“Threshold [8 Bit]” by Brian Lebarton, off Scott Pilgrim vs. the World [Soundtrack]
“Harakiri Martini” by Ugress, off Unicorn
“Swing Bop [Tanz Variante]” by Der Dritte Raum, off Swing Bop [EP]

PSV

“How You Like Me Now?” by the Heavy, off How You Like Me Now? [EP]

3

“Myth Takes” by !!!, off Myth Takes
“Ghosts” by Ladytron, off Velocifero

2

“Morticia” by Combustible Edison, off Schizophonic!
“Vitium in Opere” by Corvus Corax, off Cantus Buranus II

3

“Shadows and Doubts” by Ugress, off Cinematronics
“Dead Heat” by Barry Adamson, off The Negro Inside Me [EP]

3

“Cannonball Splash” by Lullatone, off Summer Songs [EP]
“I Only Have Eyes for You” by Tashaki Miyaki, off The Lagniappe Sessions [Special]

3

“Mr. Sandman” by Nan Vernon [Single]

3 [alt]

“Brassic [Original Mix]” by Laroca [Single]

3

“Quantum” by Pantha du Prince, off Elements of Light

Total:  20 tracks,  76:24

That just leaves us with three sets of songs.  Toward the beginning of the volume, we have a rare mostly-vocal track from Cinnamon Chasers, whose track used in LBP3 will show up next volume, paired with a likewise-uncharacteristic vocal track from UK electronica duo Bent, with voice provided by Sian Evans (of Bristol’s Kosheen).  In the middle, we come off “Ghosts” and into a snappy instrumental by way of the Addams Family, “Morticia” by Combustible Edison, who I discovered via their work on the Four Rooms soundtrack.  CE has a weird sound that’s sort of a cross between lounge and retro-exotica, and we’ll be hearing more from them in other mixes.  That leads into the somber medieval tones of Corvus Corax, who provide the dramatic chase scene music in the final level of the Ziggurat.  And thence into another Ugress tune, “Shadows and Doubts,” which sets us up for the 50s run.

On the back side of that run, the relaxed downtempo of Laroca brings us down and prepares us for Pantha du Prince’s closer.  Although this track isn’t used in the game, it’s from the same album as one we’ll see next volume, a collaboration with Norway’s The Bell Laboratory.  This whole album is composed of mellow, ambient tracks like this one.  It’s a perfect closer for this volume of LittleBigPlanet inspired music.

Next time, we’ll add yet another volume to our inaugural mix.

⇐ Paradoxically Sized World II

Paradoxically Sized World IV ⇒

__________

1 Which we’ll hear on volume IV.

2 Specifically, the “Tanz Variante” version.

3 Despite the identical title, this is not the version off The House That Dirt Built.  This is the EP version, featuruing the horn section from the Dap-Kings.  Trust me: it’s worth the extra effort to track it down.

4 And alphabetized, presumably.

5 Well, technically, the Chordettes did the first version, which was also the highest-charting version in the US.  But the Four Aces’ version came out later that same year—1954—and charted even higher in the UK.

6 Although my eldest child says that any song with a lyrical reference to Liberace cannot be considered creepy under any circumstances.

Perl blog post #48

As promised last week, I completed the next installment in my latest Perl series.  Hop on over to my Other Blog to check it out if you’re so inclined.

I also completely forgot to post this pointer on Sunday.  So I’m just lying about the date on this post now.  Deal with it.

Carryover post

I really, really tried to make sure you got a proper post this week.  My fervent hope was that I would complete the next round of work on my Perl module, since it’s been a month since I updated over on my Other Blog.  However, I ran into a couple of crises (one computer-but-not-work related, the other child-and-sickness related) that have conspired to keep me from being prepared to do that.  I’ll have it next week if it kills me.

My next thought was to quickly crank out the next post in my music mix series, because I rather thought I’d already started it, and therefore it would be pretty easy to polish it off.  But, alas: I had the barest shell of a post ready, and there was just no way I was going to be able to fill that out in a reasonable amount of time.

On the other hand, I would once again point you at the post that I updated last week with: Why I Left the C3V.  It really is about way more than Heroscape and the C3V; plus it’s long enough to count for two weeks’ worth of posts anyway.

Until next week.

A post to be: Heroscapers post #2

I’ve actually been doing quite a bit of writing this weekend, but it’s not quite ready for primetime yet.  Hopefully I’ll be posting it within the next few days; at that time, I’ll come back and post a link here.

Update: I did eventually get around to posting it, and it’s now available up on my Other Other Blog (yes, I now have 3 friggin’ blogs, despite the fact that I still think blogs suck).  It’s ostensibly about my favorite game, Heroscape, and my involvement with a fan-based group, the C3V.  However, what it’s really about is group dynamics and politics in a small, volunteer-run organization.  The lessons I learned there (and the mistakes I made) are easily transferrable, I believe, to any such organization you may be involved in: church group, school committee, scout troop, etc.  It’s over four times as long as one of my normal posts here, but I think it’s worthwhile nonetheless.  Check it out if you’re so inclined.

Skip to m'lou

Another busy weekend, coming off a fairly terrible virus that laid the whole family low.  So I just didn’t get around to posting anything for you.  Sorry about that.  Next week should be a bit better.

Shadowfall Equinox II

"This Town of the Dying"

[This is one post in a series about my music mixes.  The series list has links to all posts in the series and also definitions of many of the terms I use.  You may wish to read the introduction for more background.  You may also want to check out the first volume in this multi-volume mix for more info on its theme.

Like all my series, it is not necessarily contiguous—that is, I don’t guarantee that the next post in the series will be next week.  Just that I will eventually finish it, someday.  Unless I get hit by a bus.]

As usual, I had enough tracks left over after creating Shadowfall Equinox I to nearly fill out the entirety of a volume II.  I only had to add a few more to complete this volume: in fact, this is one of my shortest tracklists, at 13 songs, though it’s full length.¹  It’s just that there are 6 tracks over 6 minutes—2 over 8, in fact—and only 2 tracks under 3 minutes.  I typically don’t like to use songs that long (certainly not this many of them), but this particular mix can sustain a song of that length easily.  The music, as you may recall, is designed to swirl in the background, providing intellectual stimulation without distraction.  Long tracks can actually help with that, sometimes.  As long as they don’t get too repetitive.  But I don’t think you’ll find that to be the case here.

Also as usual, we see a lot of repeats of the usual suspects, starting with those derived from the original inspiration for this mix: “Shadowfall II.” I took it easy on the Greinke this time, only including a single track from Wide View.  And I finally got around to including Kevin Keller, the other artist who’s central to “Shadowfall II,” although not from the same album as used on the Hearts of Space program.²  Rather, I chose to use The Day I Met Myself, and specifically the track “Unfolding,” which I actually like more than any of his tracks used in “Shadowfall II.”

Other returning artists include darkwave virtuosos Black Tape for a Blue Girl and Falling You.  As per usual, these are the only two tunes with any words, so the latter is our volume namer.  We also have another track from Ronny Moorings, this time as Clan of Xymox, for some proper gothic tunage, and Amber Asylum returns with another dark ambient track.

Speaking of that style, we kick off this volume with Dark Sanctuary, a French neoclassical group that specializes in dark ambient.  Although most of their tunes are a bit too operatic for my tastes, I absolutely loved “Night Rain” the first time I heard it.  What vocals there are here are wordless and backgrounded, a somewhat haunting soundtrack against a stormy setting.  The rain motif continues, blending almost imperceptibly into “Intangible” by Chad Kettering.  Kettering is ostensibly new age, but this track has more going on: the wind chimes against the backdrop of the rainfall, plus his own brand of wordless vocals (this time more reminiscent of Middle Eastern-style ululation), give this tune a majestic but mildly foreboding feel that helps it fit right in on this mix.  Then we have a surprisingly downbeat performance from instrumentalists Smokey Bandits, also set against a rainy night.

From there we go to another returning star from volume I: 4AD collective This Mortal Coil.  I spoke briefly before about my love of It’ll End in Tears, but it deserves a deeper dissection.  This album is insanely good to listen to when you need to chill out, and for many years (right up until I discovered “Shadowfall II,” I’d say) it was my go-to disc for meditation, relaxation, or contemplation—not when I wanted to fall asleep,³ but when I need to just let my mind drift.  The only thing that ever compared to it was my brief fascination with Enigma and their first album, but that doesn’t have the staying power of It’ll End in Tears.  Given all that, it was inevitable that we’d see a track from that album here on this mix.  “Fyt” doesn’t really have a rain theme going on, but it is reminiscent of the sounds of thunder, so it’s the perfect bridge between the rain group above and the underwater group below.

The pair of songs that have a vaguely submarine bent starts off with Reef Project, who we first heard from on Paradoxically Sized World II.  “Blind Cave” is a bit more somber than many of their other tracks, so it works well here.  And fades beautifully into “Deep Dive” by Deep Dive Corporation.  DDC is one of those bands I discovered mostly by accident: I was listening to a smooth jazz station in DC when I heard “Imagination,” off the same album as “Deep Dive.” This is doubly unlikely, both because I hardly ever listen to smooth jazz stations, and also because “Imagination” is not really a smooth jazz song.  Furthermore, I only heard part of the song and had no idea who sang it or even what the name was.  I had to go to the radio station’s website and look up which DJ was working when the song was played, and email him to ask for the details, describing the song as best I could.  And, to add to the overall unlikeliness of the entire scenario, the DJ not only recognized the song, but actually took the time to reply to my email.  I don’t know if we’ll hear “Imagination” on one of these tracks one day,⁴ but I actually like “Deep Dive” even better, and it fits in beautifully here.

Shadowfall Equinox II
[ This Town of the Dying ]

“Night Rain” by Dark Sanctuary, off Royaume Mélancolique
“Intangible” by Chad Kettering, off Into the Infinite
“Anjelitos Negros” by Smokey Bandits, off Debut
“Fyt” by This Mortal Coil, off It'll End in Tears
“Blind Cave” by Reef Project, off Deep Waters [EP]
“Deep Dive” by Deep Dive Corporation, off Support Your Local Groover
“Theme I” by Clan of Xymox, off Medusa
“Bounce” by Jeff Greinke, off Wide View
“Varenka” by Falling You, off Human
“Unfolding” by Kevin Keller, off The Day I Met Myself
“Riviera” by Amber Asylum, off Frozen in Amber
“The Apotheosis” by Black Tape for a Blue Girl, off As One Aflame Laid Bare by Desire
“Without Waves” by Tim Story, off Threads

Total:  13 tracks,  73:51

And all that we have left is the closer: Tim Story’s “Without Waves.” I was first introduced to Tim Story on a different Hearts of Space program, ”Starry Night.” Perhaps some of the tracks featured there will show up here one day as well, but for now this song from Threads will suffice.  It’s the longest track on the volume, at a whopping 8:45, but I think you’ll find it worthwhile.  It will leave you calm and soothed, ready for the next volume of this contemplative mix.

Next time, we’ll swing back around to video game territory.

⇐ Shadowfall Equinox I

Shadowfall Equinox III ⇒

__________

1 Currently, my only other tracklist with 13 songs is Smokelit Flashback II, and it’s over 10 minutes shorter than this one.

2 That album was Across the Sky.

3 That would be more likely to involve Victorialand, or India, or possibly Shepherd Moons.

4 But I do know that we won’t hear it on Smooth as Whispercats.  It really isn’t smooth jazz at all.  Perhaps if I ever do an electronica-based mix.

My mind is on the blink

Due to a rather intense project at work, I don’t have the time (or energy) for a proper post this week.  I suppose I could give you an improper post, but I don’t feel like that either, really.  Although I suppose one might consider this post quite improper, depending on one’s point of view.

This week I had one day which started at 10:45am and went until about 3:30am, the only real breaks being driving to and fro and a fairly leisurely lunch.  I always say that I don’t mind doing a long night at work every now and again, as long as it doesn’t become a habit.  For this job, it’s the first time in 2½ years.  If it’s another 2½ years before it happens again, that’ll be just about the right frequency.  Hell, I’d even consider a shorter interval: every 2 years is okay, and even once a year isn’t that bad.  This job happens to have a hell of a lot of other advantages, and plus I actually enjoy this sort of thing every once in a while.  It’s sort of like staying up all night in college, working on a group project with your classmates that you absolutetly postitively have to turn in the next day.  It’s sort of fun, and you get all loopy and silly towards the end, and everyone drinks and smokes (or at least doesn’t care if you do), and you play loud, thrashy music to keep everyone energized.  The work thing is kind of like that, only with less drinking and smoking.  But they did let me play some loud music, so that was nice.

Again: as long as it doesn’t become a habit.

So I’m taking yet another break this week, and, as I do, I will leave you with these words of wisdom that I recently read by a fairly famous programmer in my chosen language, Mark Jason Dominus (generally known in the Perl world as simply MJD):

A smart programmer requires only ten years to learn that you should not do things the wrong way, even if you are sure it will not matter.

Words to live by indeed.

Perl blog post #47

After too long of a break, I’m back to my latest Perl series, which is about a new date module I’m working on.  If you’re technically inclined, hop on over to my Other Blog and check it out.  If you’re not ... well, there’s always next week.

Zephyrous Aquamarine I

"Out Upon the Islands on a Cool Summer Night"

[This is one post in a series about my music mixes.  The series list has links to all posts in the series and also definitions of many of the terms I use.  You may wish to read the introduction for more background.

Like all my series, it is not necessarily contiguous—that is, I don’t guarantee that the next post in the series will be next week.  Just that I will eventually finish it, someday.  Unless I get hit by a bus.]

As I first alluded to in Salsatic Vibrato I and expanded on in Salsatic Vibrato III, the Swedes are the masters of mixing swing with other musical styles: Movits! (rap), Diablo Swing Orchestra (metal), and, of course, Koop (electronica).  Besides viewing them as in the company of other Swedish swing-mix-meisters, we could also view Koop as one of those European bands that’s forging the new sound of electro-swing, along with Caro Emerald (from the Netherlands) and Caravan Palace (from France).  But in reality labeling Koop as simply “electro-swing” is missing a big part of their identity.  They are electro-swing, sure, but also electro-lounge, electro-jazz, and sometimes not even particularly electro-anything.  While their first album (Sons of Koop) is pretty firmly electronica with infusions of various jazz styles, their latest¹ is more straight-ahead jazz with electronic flourishes.  From the second I put it on, I was blown away.  That’s mainly because it opens with “Koop Island Blues.”

It’s hard to describe this song, which is why I threw you a rare YouTube link so you can hear it for yourself.  A coworker once said it reminded him of French chanson, which it does, sort of, but it also has a very tropical sound, in more than just the background waves and seagull calls.  There is something in it which is pure and true, and transports you to a place where there is sand as far as the eye can see in one direction, and, in the other, the blue-green sea, and a light tropical breeze blowing through the palm trees overhead ...

Of course, there are lots of types of music that could fit on a mix like this, but some of them are really out for me.  For instance, I am not a Parrot Head, and you will never hear any Jimmy Buffet (or anything remotely like it) here.  Then there’s “beach music”: my record-collector father once had a record-collector friend² who absolutely loved beach music, so I was treated to a fair amount of it growing up.  The Drifters, primarily, but, having grown up a stone’s throw from Virginia Beach, no more than two hours from Nags Head, and maybe five from Myrtle Beach, we were geographically disposed to find a lot of the strictly local beach music artists.  Still, I never got into it.  And, from the other coast, there’s the sunny surf-based pop from various California groups, but mainly the Beach Boys.  Never much cared for that stuff either.

For me, this mood needs an injection of either the Caribbean, or the Pacific.  The latter naturally leads us to the strange phenomenon of exotica.  Just in case you thought I was spurning all 50’s- and 60’s-based ocean-inspired music on general principle, I threw in a 1965 version of “Quiet Village”—whose original some say kicked off the whole exotica movement in the first place—and the Arthur Lyman version of “Misirlou” from 1958, a song which exists in multiple genres, from traditional Middle Eastern ballad to surf rock anthem.³  But it’s always been the exotica version that speaks to me.

Some think the prospect of Hawaii becoming a state is what originally fueled the exotica craze; there’s no doubt that statehood (achieved in 1959) contributed to its popularity.  Or perhaps it was South Pacific, which came to Broadway in 1949, just two years before Les Baxter’s “Quiet Village” hit the airwaves, and then to movie screens across the country in 1958.  It was probably South Pacific more than anything else which cemented the image that most Americans had of Hawaiian music—regardless of how inaccurate it might be.  Pretty much any music that sounds like South Pacific is going to make us think of Hawaii ... or, contrariwise, if you want your audience to feel a Hawaiian vibe, you just make your music sound like a throwback to South Pacific.  We have two such tunes here, one from our old pals the Asylum Street Spankers, and the other from ex-Squirrel-Nut-Zipper Tom Maxwell.⁴

Leaving the Pacific Islands and moving over to the Caribbean, we have quite a range of musical styles to choose from.  Calypso is an excellent choice, and there will probably never be a volume of this mix that doesn’t feature a Harry Belafonte tune.  Here it’s “Angelina,” which is one of my favorites off his greatest hits collection Pure Gold.  Plus I threw in the humorous (but still calypso-adjacent) “King of Calypso” from those champions of the silly-yet-poignant, Ed’s Redeeming Qualities.⁵  Then we have Thievery Corporation, whose brand of electro-world can only be considered broad-ranging in the sense that it ranges from one side of the Caribbean to the other.  Their reggae-tinged tunes don’t really work here,⁶ but “Exilio” just screams “island” to me.  And of course the inimitable George Benson, whose version of “On Broadway” somehow takes a beach music song⁷ and gives it just enough Caribbean rhythm to make it sound like an iconic island song despites its roots, its lyrics, and pretty much everything else about it.

Then we have steel drums.  Steel drum music is a bit like bagpipe music: as much as you may like hearing the sound of the instrument, most of the music that features it is just annoying.⁸  I wanted some steel drum music, but I had a hard time finding much of it that I could stomach, much less tunes that I actually enjoyed.  For volume I, I chose Kent Arnsbarger, surely the only Chicago-based steel drummer, and OD TAPO IMI, who are at least prolific if not that well known.⁹  Steel drum artists seem fond of doing steel drum covers of recognizable songs, and I suppose “Oye Como Va”—written by Tito Puente, although the Santana version is the one you undoubtedly know—was sufficiently tropical to start with.  The Arnsbarger tune is an original, as far as I know;¹⁰ a mellow, sultry track with just a hint of Jamaica.

Also, let us not forget that the Caribbean flows into the Gulf of Mexico, where sits New Orleans.  Most New Orleans music is brassy and festive, but there are a few which can relax and fit the vibe here.  “Iko Iko” is, Wikipedia tells us, about two floats in a Mardi Gras parade which collide.  Good thing Wikipedia tells us that, because I certainly would have never gotten it from the lyrics.  But “Iko Iko” certainly does have a New Orlean vibe, somehow, and the version by Cyndi Lauper always fascinated me.  As a late addition to the volume, “I’m Sailin’,” by Mazzy Star, is a lazy, almost breezy, tune which (rather uncharacteristically for them) slots in nicely here.

In the category of songs that feel Caribbean without you really knowing why, I couldn’t overlook the Bonedaddys, whose “Shoo-rah Shoo-rah” I heard on the radio sometime around 1990 and never forgot.  It sounds exactly as tropical as you’d imagine a band who looks like this would sound.  Plus it transitions beautifully into Mental as Anything’s “Good Friday,” which (like many of MaA’s songs) is quite light musically and quite a bit darker lyrically.  Even so, this tune has always made me think of celebrations like Carnival in some equatorial place, so I felt like I had to throw it in here.

And, in the category of over-obvious choices, I ended up throwing in a Beach Boys song after all: “Kokomo” is the only song from the Brothers Wilson and Co. that I ever really liked.  I understand proper Beach Boys fans hate it, which may explain everything.  And it wouldn’t be a real tropical island mix without including “Coconut” by Harry Nilsson.  The Wikipedia article on this tune puts it in the category of “novelty songs,” which I think sells it a bit short.  It notes that it’s included on the soundtrack to Reservoir Dogs, which is indeed whence my copy comes.  But I remember it more from Practical Magic, which is one of those silly movies that you just have a guilty pleasure for.  I find the song to be a bit sly and a bit circular, sort of twirling along in a pleasantly buzzed haze while sipping margaritas on the screened-in porch of a cabin on the beach ...

Zephyrous Aquamarine I
[ Out Upon the Islands on a Cool Summer Night ]

“Koop Island Blues” by Koop, off Koop Islands
“I'm Sailin'” by Mazzy Star, off She Hangs Brightly
“Kokomo” by the Beach Boys [Single]
“Could This Be Magic?” by Van Halen, off Women and Children First
“Quiet Village” by L'Ensemble Instrumental des Iles, off The Exotic Sounds of Tiki Tribe [Compilation]
“Coconut” by Nilsson, off Reservoir Dogs [Soundtrack]
“King of Calypso” by Ed's Redeeming Qualities, off It's All Good News
“Oye como va” by OD TAPO IMI [Single]
“Exilio (Exile)” by Thievery Corporation, off The Richest Man in Babylon
“Misirlou” by Arthur Lyman, off The Exotic Sounds of Tiki Tribe [Compilation]
“Iko Iko” by Cyndi Lauper, off True Colors
“Angelina” by Harry Belafonte, off Pure Gold [Compilation]
“On Broadway” by George Benson [Single]
“White Orchid” by Tom Teasley, off Painting Time
“Peaceful Island Life” by Nickodemus [Single]
“Shoo-rah, Shoo-rah” by the Bonedaddys, off Worldbeatniks
“Good Friday” by Mental as Anything, off Fundamental as Anything
“If I Had You” by Tom Maxwell, off Samsara
“Reggae Blues” by Kent Arnsbarger, off Trip to the Tropics
“Tradewinds” by Asylum Street Spankers, off Spanks for the Memories
“Cool Down” by Dragon, off Body & the Beat

Total:  21 tracks,  79:59

Although it’s the poster-child for songs from unexpected artists, “Could This Be Magic?” by Van Halen is actually the second song that I chose for this mix.  It’s utterly unlike any other Van Halen song ever: light, and playful, and wonderfully evocative.  Eddie’s guitar work is simple and sublime, and, according to Wikipedia, it contains the only recorded instance of female backup vocals on a Van Halen track.  Even David Lee Roth restrains his usual clownish exuberance for a change.  Although Wikipedia will tell you that the B-side of “And the Cradle Will Rock ...” was “Everybody Wants Some!!,” other sources confirm what I already know: at least some versions of the 45 have “Could This Be Magic?” as the flip, and at least some of those were used in jukeboxes, including the one in the concrete-floored warehouse-like building called a “rec room” at the little campground where my grandparents kept their camper year-round.  I spend a good deal of nearly every summer of my childhood there, and the poorly-named rec room was at least some place to hang out.  There was a pool table and a foosball table and 2 or 3 pinball machines, so it was often inhabited by the older kids, smoking and shooting pool and engaging in other dangerous activities that made us little kids wish we could be so cool.  And, somewhere amidst this band of teens, there was one kid (or more than one, for all I know) who completely loved “Could This Be Magic?” As a consequence, I heard the song a lot, and it will always epitomize summer vacation in a weird, inexplicable way for me.  As soon as I realized I was putting together a mix about islands and tropical getaways, I knew I had to include it here.  Besides, it contains the brilliant line that provides the volume title.

We also have a couple of artists first heard from in Paradoxically Sized World: Nickodemus, who I first heard of in a list of songs used in LittleBigPlanet PSP, brings us “Peaceful Island Life,” which is pretty much just what it says on the tin; and Tom Teasley, who I believe I first heard on my cable provider’s “Zen” channel, provides “White Orchid,” a mellow little number that has quite a cool tropical jungle vibe.

Finally, we wrap it up with “Cool Down” by New Zealand’s underrated Dragon.  While the majority of Dragon’s output lies somewhere between prog rock and glam, “Cool Down” is uncharacteristically mellow for them.  It’s not particularly a desert island tune, but it does make me think of warm and humid summer nights after a quick rain shower, so I thought it would make an excellent closer here.

Next time, we’ll keep it on the relaxing tip for a trip back to autumn music.

__________

1 As of this writing.  Although it’s been 10 years, so hopefully there’s a new album coming soon.

2 He’s since sadly passed away.

3 It’s this latter version that you likely recall from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.

4 And we’ll hear another from SNZ themselves on Volume II.

5 We first heard from ERQ on Tenderhearted Nightshade.

6 There will be another mix for that, which we shall come to in the fullness of time.

7 As done by the aforementioned kings of beach music, the Drifters.

8 For a fuller discussion of my thoughts on bagpipe music, see my comments on Skyedance in Numeric Driftwood.

9 Well, maybe they are if you’re a huge steel drum fan.  Assuming that such creatures exist.

10 Although certainly it could be a cover of something I’ve never heard before.

Another fruitless interval (for you)

Working on a very interesting problem for $work, and still not feeling particularly creative.  So I think I’ll let you enjoy the Internet without my ranting for one more week.  Yes, I know that’s now three weeks in a row.  But, hey: you’re obviously persistent, or you would have given up years ago.  So I feel confident you’ll try again next week.

See you then.

Lying fallow

Hope your 2016 is going along swimmingly.  Mine isn’t so hot, so far.  I think I’ll just wait another week before writing anything to put up here.

The between time

The lull between Christmas and New Year’s is a special time.  A time for relaxing, enjoying cheesy holiday shows with your family, playing video games with your kids, and just chillin’ out.  Not a time for writing blog posts.  Nor reading them, really.  Put that keyboard down and go do some of that other stuff I just said.  Or follow your own bliss.  Whatever makes you happy.

And, speaking of happy: have a wonderful 2016.

Ruminations of the Season

As we slip into the holiday season, it’s time to reflect on the year past, and look forward to the year approaching.  I could do that.  But my vision doesn’t quite extend that far, I’m afraid ... I’m looking forward to surviving the holidays, and that’s plenty forward enough, thank you very much.  Here’s some of the things (both good and bad) that I can look forward to as the holiday season begins to swallow us whole:

Multiplication of cardboard.  I love to recycle—really I do.  But recycling cardboard boxes is my least favorite part.  Because you have to break them down.  I mean, you don’t have to, in order to recycle them, but you have to, because otherwise they’ll never fit in the recycle bin.  And nobody in my house, other than me, breaks down the cardboard boxes.¹  Also, we do all of our Christmas shopping at Amazon.  So this time of year there are a lot of cardboard boxes.  In particular, I can count on a solid hour or two of nothing but breaking down cardboard boxes on Christmas day, or maybe the day after, if I’m lucky.  The kids get to come rushing into the room and tear everything apart and fling around the bits all willy-nilly, but who do you think has to clean that up?  Well, The Mother will do a lot of it, really.  But all the cardboard is headed my way.  Bah.  Humbug.

Tiresome repitition of the “war on Christmas” meme.  The holiday season is sure to bring out the crazy in the CCFs.²  In fact, it has already—one thing you can count on is that, if the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier every year, then so must the mythical “war.”  I refuse to link you to the idiot whining about the fact that Starbucks cups are red and green (’cause apparently that’s not “Christmasy” enough for this douchebag), but I’m sure you’ve seen it already.  I really can’t improve on my 2011 holiday rant, so just go read that.  Plus it contains my excellent Christmas music mix, Yuletidal Pools.  Bonus.

The cruelty of the advent calendar.  To a kid, an advent calendar is an excrutiatingly slow countdown to the most exciting day of the year.  Since I now have three such smaller humans—well, really two, because my eldest is now taller than I am—I’m currently being treated on a regular basis to pronouncements such as “There’s no way I can possibly wait another NINE WHOLE DAYS for Christmas!”  Yeah, well: welcome to reality.  Suck it up kid.

Eggnog.  There’s lots of things you can pretty much only buy at Christmas, but the only one I really love is eggnog.  I suppose I could make it myself, but there are some perfectly good ‘nogs out there—almost certainly better than I could ever produce—and it’s nice to be able to just bring it home and pour it in a glass and kick back and relax.  Eggnog is somehow keyed to the spirit of the season for me.  The smell alone is enough to put me in a Christmas mood.  (Also, if you’re putting out milk and cookies for Santa, you’re gipping the fat man.  Eggnog and cookies is the classy way to go.)

The inescapable madding crowds.  Even though we make every endeavor not to do any actual Christmas shopping at physical locations, you can’t really get out of all shopping.  There’s grocery shopping, for instance.  And even though you may just be there for ordinary weekly supplies, try telling that to the rest of the crazed holiday crowd.  No point in bothering, really.  It’s a bit like being at the amusement park: you square your shoulders, tuck your head down, and push on through.

Watching my diet go down the toilet.  As you may recall from my Saladosity series (specifically in part 3, my take on Whole30), I am not “on a diet”; rather, I’ve changed my diet.  As a general rule, I do pretty well at avoiding added sugars of all stripes, grains, and legumes, plus miscellaenous other bits and bobs (like fries and chips).  But the one-two punch of Thanksgiving followed by Christmas is pretty much guaranteed to crush my newly improved eating habits all to hell and back.³  Partially that’s because of seasonally available food like candy cane faux oreo’s and chocolate oranges; partially it’s because of family recipes that come sneaking out of the woodwork, like my grandmother’s pound cake, or her ginger snaps; partially it’s because Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinners are, by tradition, celebrations of abundance.  But the exact reason isn’t important.  The point is, there’s a few extra pounds coming my way.

Quiet family moments.  One of the advantages of moving nearly three thousand miles away from one’s parents is that you get to have quiet little holiday gatherings with just the immediate family: The Mother, myself, and the children: 3 humans, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 1 guinea pig, and various assorted fish, shrimp, and snails.  Intimate family meals, lazing around on the couch watching movies (or watching the kids play video games), sharing the excitement of gift discovery, snuggling with a child (human or feline), enjoying the warmth and glow.

Inevitable holiday sicknesses.  I think this must be the 4th or 5th year in a row that some or most of us have been sick for the holidays.  Perhaps it’s the change in the weather, which comes fairly late in the year to southern California.  Perhaps the universe just hates us.  But, whatever it is, some of us will be sniffling, and/or hacking, and/or barfing, this entire coming week.  We’ve already started, actually.

Lack of sleep.  It’s tough to get enough sleep any time, but this time of the year complicates matters even further.  There’s so much stuff to do, and Christmas Eve is full of preparation—try to get the kids to bed, frenzied preparation for Santa, requisite picture-taking, plus it seems like there’s always at least one massive thing to assemble—and Christmas Day has a tendency to start very early, typically with small children jumping on your head.  Is it any wonder that parents tend to drift off on the sofa in the middle of the afternoon for the next few days?⁴

Flashes of simple joy.  Kids love Christmas, no doubt.  But parents love it just as much, if they’re honest.  Because Christmas is one of those times when you get to see straight into your kids’ hearts, via their smiles and looks of wonder.  Every person has a face they wear—even young ones.  Kids are just not as likely to be so adamant about it ... they let their masks slip quite often, at first, and only learn to be more cautious as life throws more and more crap at them.  And of course, a lot of times even when the façade cracks, you don’t happen to be around.  But there are certain times when you can count on your children’s social camouflage to drop away and allow you see straight into their sense of awe at the world around them.  We have a tendency to call this “child-like,” as if it’s only something fit for children, something that you leave behind you when you become an adult.  Bullshit.  You lose it.  You have it stripped away from you, because life sucks, and it’s hard to be a grown-up, and having people depend on you and having to pay your rent and keep food in your belly and having to show up for work every day is arduous and exhausting and we just don’t have the time or the energy to be child-like any more.  But you always want to go back there.  You always want to—no, need to—be reminded of that time when you could delight in simple things, when your standards for being amazed were delightfully low, and you could be happy for hours or even days just because you got a lick from your puppy, or a hug from someone who loved you ... or the perfect gift on Christmas.  That’s why parents give their kids way too much crap on Christmas (or whatever holiday is appropriate for their culture): because you’re hoping against hope that one of those silly pieces of plastic and yarn and circuit boards and wood and metal and wires—just one!—will trigger that ephemeral reaction that transports you back to your own childhood and reminds you that life doesn’t have to be complicated.  It’s quite simple, really.  There’s family and play and being with the people you love, and then there’s the other shit.  And all that other shit doesn’t really matter, no matter how much it seems like it does.  It’s just a distraction from what’s actually important in life.  Christmas is particularly good at reminding us of that.  And that’s why we need it.

And, you know what?  If one of my kids ends up throwing out the toy and just spending all day playing with the box, I’ll take that.  As long as they’re happy.

__________

1 Well, usually.  To be fair, The Mother just broke down a few this weekend.  Which was much appreciated, to be sure.

2 “CCFs” means “crazy Christian fucks.”  These are the tiny minority that give the rest of the Christians a bad name by putting extremely tortured interpretations on Jesus’s message of peace and love.  (Personally, I blame Paul.  Honestly, he’s a bit of a prick.)

3 Helen Back ... heheh.  My surname is Mucus.

4 In retrospect, the lack of sleep probably has a lot to do with the inevitable holiday sicknesses ...

Perl blog post #46

If you’re one of my technoreaders, rejoice!  Another post in my ongoing Perl series on the date module I’m developing is now up on my Other Blog.

Contrariwise, if you’re not one of my technoreaders, then ... I dunno, anti-rejoice?  Not sure what the opposite of rejoice is.  But feel free to do that.  Next week you’ll likely get something useful.  Probably.  If you’re lucky.

Numeric Driftwood I

"Sail on a Silver Mist"

[This is one post in a series about my music mixes.  The series list has links to all posts in the series and also definitions of many of the terms I use.  You may wish to read the introduction for more background.

Like all my series, it is not necessarily contiguous—that is, I don’t guarantee that the next post in the series will be next week.  Just that I will eventually finish it, someday.  Unless I get hit by a bus.]

When my eldest was little, he would hear music—perhaps on the radio, or television, or just music that The Mother or I were playing—and let us know in no uncertain terms that he liked it.  I made him his first mix when he was just turning four.  Soon he would hear a song and say “put this on my mix!” He accumulated 3 such mixes, with another 2 in the works, before the tradition sort of trailed off.¹

My middle child was never much into music.  I toyed with one idea for a mix for him for quite a while, though it too remains unfinished.²  Then along came LittleBigPlanet, and consequently the Paradoxically Sized World mix, and that became his music of choice.

When my youngest was about to be born, I started on her first mix while she was still in the womb.  I wanted to put together a succession of my favorite songs to soothe oneself to sleep to.  Such a mix could serve a dual purpose: it would help her sleep and have wonderful dreams, and at the same time it would instill in her excellent taste in music.  This has worked, as she’s the child who most appreciates my tunes, and will happily dance to most anything I choose to throw at her.

Now, I’ve never considered mixes made for my children part of my “regular” œuvre.  However, Numeric Driftwood is different.  Although it was designed for my baby girl, I still listen to it quite a lot.  I enjoy putting it on when I’m drifting off to a nap, or when I just need to quiet my mind.  The title comes from my habit of naming mixes for my kids: the first word always contains their actual name.³  And, since the tracks are designed to help you drift away, “driftwood” seemed like a pretty spot-on choice.

This is some of the mellowest stuff I own, although not at all depressing.  As I said above: soothing is the emotion we’re going for here.  So naturally most of my limited new age collection appears here.  I’m not a huge fan of new age, in general, but those bands I like, I tend to like a lot.  So on this volume (and the next), we’ll see quite a few names repeated.

Probably first and foremost of those is Kitaro, whose album India was one of the first examples of the genre that really spoke to me.  I picked up another Kitaro album at the same time as India, and several more since then, but that one has remained my absolute favorite throughout the years.  The other new age artist that I’ve always loved since I first heard her is Enya.  I’m sure “Orinoco Flow” was the first tune of hers I ever laid ears on, but it was my snagging of her insanely good album Shepherd Moons in a used CD store that really turned me into an Enya fan.  I wore that album out, especially around bedtime.  There’s one track from each album here.

Of course, predating even my discovery of Kitaro, I used to use Victorialand for putting myself to sleep.  Now, feel free to refer back to my full discussion of how I discovered this life-changing album, but for now I’ll just remind you of my go-to description for what it sounds like: angels singing in a pink fog.  For many years, the opening strains of “Lazy Calm” (which is the Victorialand opener) could steal away any number of troubles and worries that had accumulated throughout the day and knock me right out before I ever got to “Fluffy Tufts.” There was just no way I could start this volume with anything else.  For good measure, I threw in “Feet-like Fins” as the closer.

Going back to new age, another artist I’m fond of is Angels of Venice, from Venice Beach (right down the road from where I now work).  I first heard Carol Tatum’s harp on Hearts of Space, which I’ve talked about many times throughout this series.⁴  AoV is Tatum on harp, plus a flautist and cellist (the exact musicians have changed a few times over the years).  The music is so perfect for this mix that I’ve thrown in three different tracks, off three different albums.

In the category of true ambient—that is, natural sounds blended with soothing music—I’ve long been a fan of this CD I picked up from God knows where: Tropical Rain Forest, from the “Nature’s Relaxing Sounds” series.  It’s mostly rain forest, with just a touch of new age in the background.  While it’s not really well-suited for this mix, it did lead me to appreciate an artist I do feature heavily on this mix: Ukrainian-born Anjey Satori, who I discovered via Magnatune.⁵  Many of his tunes are long (including one of the two I use on this volume: “River Surround” clocks in at a whopping 12:22), which I usually consider a drawback.  While a track that goes on for ten-plus minutes can work in the context of an artist’s album,⁶ I generally believe that that’s too long to go without some variety in the context of a mix.  But Satori really has a deft touch when it comes to driving out tension, and most every track from his excellent For Relaxation will probably eventually appear in this mix somewhere.

And, speaking of Magnatune artists, Hans Christian is another one I discovered there.  I wouldn’t really call him new age,⁷ but “Atlantis” really works here.  This album of his (Phantoms) is sort of like a worldmusic version of smooth jazz, in a weird way.  Unusual, but very fitting.

Also unusual and very fitting is the utterly delightful version of “Trust in Me” by Siouxsie and the Banshees.  One of the biggest reasons I fell in love with Siouxsie’s cover album Through the Looking Glass, this one is a cover of the Disney song from The Jungle Book.  You know: the one where Kaa the snake⁸ attempts to put Mowgli to sleep.  Siouxsie’s reimagining of this classic song from my childhood includes a lot of new-age-y touches, such as harp and cello.⁹  But it’s still a Siouxsie song at heart, not as dark as many of her tracks, but still with the ethereal, dream-like touches that let you know you’re listening to the godmother of goth.  The very first mix tape I ever put together for helping myself drift off to sleep was probably nothing but 3 or 4 tracks off Victorialand, 3 or 4 tracks off India, and “Trust in Me.” Being one of only two songs with any decipherable lyrics in it on this volume,¹⁰ it also handily provides our subtitle.

Lastly among the more-or-less expected artists we have Skyedance.  I’ve always sort of loved bagpipes—in my experience, you either love them or hate them.  Of course, even when you love them, you can’t take them for long stretches at a time.  The biggest problem with bagpipies, in my opinion, is that they’re usually heard in the company of other bagpipes, and little else.  The bagpipe combines a lilting woodwind tone with a buzzing that’s almost harsh to the ear.  Multiply that by several bagpipes playing simultaneously and it can easily overwhelm the listener.  Too bad there’s no cool music which features a bagpipe but also has other instrumentation, which is also cool.  I happened to mention this to my programming friend from ThinkGeek¹¹ and he handed me his Skyedance CD.  Formed by Scottish fiddler Alisdair Fraser, Skyedance features a Canadian flautist specializing in wooden flute, a jazz/worldmusic bassist, and a percussionist specializing in medieval/renaissance music.  And also Eric Rigler, often considered to be one of the most prolific pipers in the world.  He played bagpipes in Braveheart, Titanic, Battleship ... it’s sometimes said that, if you hear bagpipes in a movie or on television, you’re listening to Eric Rigler.  On top of that, he plays Scottish smallpipes, uilleann pipes (the Irish version of bagpipes), and tin whistle (a recorder-like instrument featured often in Celtic music, as well as in pop songs by the Cranberries, the Pogues, and the Dave Matthews Band).  The net effect for Skyedance is quite intoxicating: their fast songs make you want to move, and their slow songs are gentle and soothing.  I chose “The Lupine” for this volume, which has a pretty, almost lullaby-like quality.¹²

Numeric Driftwood I
[ Sail on a Silver Mist ]

“Lazy Calm” by Cocteau Twins, off Victorialand
“Atlantis” by Hans Christian, off Phantoms
“River Surround” by Anjey Satori, off For Relaxation
“Caravansaray” by Kitaro, off India
“18” by Moby, off 18
“The Enchanted Forest” by Angels of Venice, off Music for Harp, Flute and Cello
“Forest Surround” by Anjey Satori, off For Relaxation
“Trust in Me” by Siouxsie and the Banshees, off Through the Looking Glass [Covers]
“The World Beyond the Woods” by Angels of Venice, off Awake Inside a Dream
“Into Dust” by Mazzy Star, off So Tonight That I Might See
“No Holly for Miss Quinn” by Enya, off Shepherd Moons
“The Lupine” by Skyedance, off Way Out to Hope Street
“Starshine Lullabye” by Angels of Venice, off Forever After
“Feet-Like Fins” by Cocteau Twins, off Victorialand

Total:  14 tracks,  73:25

And that just leaves us with the more unlikely candidates.  Electronica artist Moby is often known for his more pop-leaning compositions such as “South Side,” “We Are All Made of Stars,” or “Porcelain.” But he can do EDM with the best of them, and also downtempo too.  “18,” from the album of the same name, is a particularly relaxing track.

As for Mazzy Star, their songs are never fast-paced, but they usually still have a bit of harshness to them, a buzzing to the guitar work that often seems more fitting to a thrash or punk band.  Even their more languorous tracks have a tendency to skew more towards “creepy,” which is obviously not good for this mix.  But I’ve always found “Into Dust” somewhat soothing.  Maybe just don’t listen to the lyrics too closely.

Next time, we’ll take a trip to the beach.

Numeric Driftwood II ⇒

__________

1 Although I still have all the details on all those mixes.  So they’re easily resurrectible at any point.

2 Since this writing, I resurrected and finished this mix.

3 For my eldest, that’s trivial: his name is a word.  For the other two, one has to get a bit creative.

4 First way back in the intro, but probably most extensively in relation to Shadowfall Equinox.

5 For more details of what Magnatune is and how I discovered it, see the discussion in Rose-Coloured Brainpan.

6 Although probably not as often as the artist believes, unfortunately.

7 Although apparently Magnatune does.  Perhaps some of his newer stuff better fits that label.

8 Voiced by Sterling Holloway, probably most famous as the voice of Winnie-the-Pooh.

9 The latter provided by the ever-excellent Martin McCarrick.  You know, when discussing Shadowfall Equinox, I mentioned that McCarrick was my second favorite cello player.  We’ll be hearing from my first favorite—Jami Sieber—on volume II.

10 The Cocteau Twins are known for many things, but decipherable lyrics ain’t one of ’em.

11 The same fellow I mentioned back in Smokelit Flashback, who also introduced me to Lemon Jelly, Naomi, etc.

12 And no actual bagpipes.  While bagpipes feature prominently—and excellently—in Skyedance’s faster songs, they’re not really designed for helping you drift off to sleep.

Giving thanks

No proper post for you this week, I’m afraid.  I’m coming down off a lovely Thanksgiving weekend, still stuffed with pie and potatoes and ... well, stuffing.  We had a lovely, quiet meal here at home.  A part of our family’s tradition is for each (human) person to come up with three things they’re thankful for.  This was the first year that our youngest was really old enough to participate in that tradition.  It was quite entertaining.

I, of course, am thankful for many things ... more than three, even.  For instance, it occurred to me that I am thankful for you, dear reader.  I’m thankful that you keep on reading, week after week, despite my rather firm admonishments to just cut it out.  You’re quite stubborn in that way, you know.  And I wanted to let you know how much I admire that in you.

Happy Thanksgiving.