Shit From an Old Mixtape vol. 3: A Completely Untitled CD Mix

{A Completely Untitled CD Mix}
I really don't have much to say about this mix. I apparently didn't have much to say about it then either, since I didn't give the thing a name. I could have just tossed it accidentally, which would have been a real shame. Cause it's good listening. And that seems to be the only theme: I really like all of these songs. I wish I had something deeper to go along with it. But I don't. Sometimes it is what it is.

1) The Verlaines-"Jesus What a Jerk" Some Disenchanted Evening (1990)
Every songwriter wants to write a tune that eviscerates some guy for being a total douchebag. That instinct never comes out more than in the city of Los Angeles. I adore this Verlaines album.
2) Shellac-"The Rambler Song" The Rude Gesture: A Pictorial History 7" (1993)
I don't know if the ee-lectric gee-tar can sound better than on this song. Strings of barbed wire wrapped around the neck/body of a bull. "She's a winner!"
3) Gang of Four-"What We All Want" Solid Gold (1981)
Obviously the go-to record of the GO4 catalog is Entertainment!, but Solid Gold isn't as far behind as you might think. I think I had just found this on vinyl somewhere on the cheap...
4) Volcano Suns-"The Central" Bumper Crop (1987)
And I must have found this one in the same bin. It's sort of the sloppy sound and vocals that lure me into this song. And the mantra of the tune: "When I didn't know any better, I was plugged into the central." Pete Prescott from Mission of Burma's Post Burma band, which then led me to....
5) Mission of Burma-"Wounded World" ONoffON (2004)
New MOB! (New circa 2004. As in a couple decades after they initially said goodbye.) The song has the intensity of original Burma material, but a little simpler in the songwriting column. "I'm a puppet, you're a puppet too" was Reagan-esque commentary for the W-era.
6) Constantines-"Young Offenders" Constantines (2001)
A sign that you're a pretty consistent band is if I can't remember which record which song is from. Like I would have sworn this song was from Shine a Light, as opposed to their self-titled debut. Though for the Constantines, the more it sounds like Fugazi, the earlier in the 00s it's from. Also, always good to blend Rod Stewart and James Brown lyrics into your song.
7) Sufjan Stevens-"Chicago" Come On Feel the Illinoise! (2005)
This is my fave from Illinoise! But I'm sure that's true for a lot of people.
8) Low-"California" The Great Destroyer (2005)
I adore Low. This was their "rock" record. I don't play this one a lot, because I never liked the production on it. But I could listen to Alan and Mimi harmonize The Black Eyed Peas and somehow enjoy it.
9) Crayon-"Reason 2600" Brick Factory (1994)
From Crayon's only record which is chalk-full of awesome twee-noise-pop goodness. I'm glad Sean Tollefson is still making tunes in Tullycraft. I think I would miss his voice.
10) Heavens to Betsy-"Playground" These Monsters Are Real EP (1992)
I just love these pre-Sleater-Kinney tracks from Corin Tucker. But you know who doesn't? My wife. Not so into the riot grrrl movement. If Lisa was in the car and this song came on, she would be reaching for the >> by note two.
11) Sleater-Kinney-"Little Mouth" Call the Doctor (1996)
Same for this one. I love it. Wife doesn't. Marriage, right?
12) Modest Mouse-"Convenient Parking" Lonesome Crowded West (1997)
This album is just one of the best of the 90s. I don't think there's anything else in their discography that comes even close. Which always weirds me out about a band.
13) Spoon-"This Damn Nation" The Nefarious EP (1994)
I bought this record from the drummer from Spoon at a show they did in NYC in the summer of '95. They were opening up for the Grifters and the drummer was telling me how they just signed with Matador Records. And now they're indie giants. I don't know when they ditched the chick bass player/singer.
14) Mule-"A Hundred Years" If I Don't Six (1994)
What an underrated songwriter P.W. Long is/was.
15) The Arcade Fire-"Haiti" Funeral (2004)
No idea why I picked this track of all of the tracks off of Funeral. Boredom, maybe? It's a good song, but I don't know how well it stands alone on a mix.
16) Seaweed-"Let Go" Actions and Indications (1999)
Another absurdly underrated band. I thought this record was a great way to go out.
17) Colder-"Shiny Star" Again (2004)
And for a second this guy was being pimped as the next big thing. The electronica French Joy Division. Never happened, but a good track nonetheless.
18) Lali Puna-"Micronomic" Faking the Books (2004)
Certainly I was getting into the Morr Music sound around this time. As evidenced by this song...
19) Ms. John Soda-"Solid Ground" Blue Skied an' Clear comp (2002)
And this one from the Blue Skied an' Clear Morr Music comp, which if you like any sort of electronica pop, is a great comp to have. A 2-disc tribute album from various Morr Music artists of Slowdive. But you don't have to like Slowdive one bit to get into it.
20) New Order-"Temptation" Substance (1987)
The grandfathers of electronic pop. One of their earlier songs that showed where their evolution was heading after getting out from under the legacy of Ian Curtis and Joy Division. This is the shorter and tighter version from Substance and not the original 1981 Factus 8 EP release.
21) Styrofoam-"If I Believed You/Back Into Focus" I'm What's There To Show That Something's Missing (2003)
The closer from that album. Works as a closer here as well.

Download here:
Shit From an Old Mixtape Vol. 3 p1
Shit From an Old Mixtape Vol. 3 p2

Woodbine Willie Project: The FMTana-“His Mate”

This might be my last one of these for a while. While it's a good exercise, it's ultimately just an exercise.

(Although I'm learning that exercising is necessary at my age. Even though it's usually boring as shit.)

This song is one of the longer G.A. Studdert Kennedy poems I've taken on. It has more of a narrative than most of the other poems, which seem mostly to capture a snapshot of wartime in the trenches. And it's got some piano. And the baritone pipes are in full effect.

(Subsequently, the baritone pipes brought to mind one of the better rock and/or roll bands of the past 5 years: The National. Click the pic "Up and to the Right," and there's some National tracks awaiting. Including an amazing drunken acoustic version of "Start a War" from La Blogotheque, which, if you've never perused, is a fantastic site featuring live performances from a ton of great bands, placed in natural settings where the found sounds of the environment almost become another instrument. My friend Rob played me The National outing for Blogotheque. Just a great performance.)

But like I said, this is probably the last one of these for a while. I need to do something beyond exercise. So I might start posting some original stuff here soon. In the meantime, let me know what you think.



Download file here:

The FMTana-"His Mate"

Shit From an Old Mixtape vol. 2: Shhhh...

Shhhh...
I never use to be able to fall asleep to music. I tried. In high school, I'd turn the CD player next to the bed on and try to drift off. Never worked. I'm a light sleeper.

Then I got to college and discovered alcohol. And that if I used enough of it, I could sleep inside a stack of Marshall amps. Some people call it "passing out." But that sounds so tawdry and crude, doesn't it? I think it's an unfair stigma attached to such a wonderful process. My favorite part of a night of drinking in college was to stumble home, stumble upstairs, stumble to CD collection, stumble through CDs (usually to the "C"s for Codeine or Cat Power), stumble to stereo, stumble fingers to PLAY > button, and stumble to bed, awash in sound. That was a perfect end of a likely enjoyable evening for me.*

(*now that i think about it, college was apparently a lonely time for me. biblically speaking.)

Flash forward from college, and I discovered that somehow I had trained myself to fall asleep with music in my ear. With or without booze. I can't stress how happy that has made me over the past 10 years. It was a psychological wall that I simply drank through. I would like to thank beer. And probably the bartenders at Faegan's in Syracuse, NY.

So as happy as falling asleep to music makes me, I obviously then made mixes that paid tribute to this lovely experience. This was one. Since it's called "Shhhh..." As in "Shhhh... Go to sleep and forget about all the crappy stuff day-to-day life shits upon your shoes." Wonderful melodic peace. Ahhhh...

(aside: as a mix, i can blend applicable tracks from records that as a whole are not conducive to a tuneful sleep into a wonderful new LP of the quiet, restful variety. however, if i was being put in suspended animation for some sort of space exploration, and i had to pick 10 albums to repeat for the next billion light years while i slumbered, i'd probably select the following in no particular order: colleen-the golden morning breaks, mogwai-come on die young, godspeed you! black emporer-f#a#(infinity), cat power-moon pix, codeine-the white birch, mountains-sewn, loren mazzacane connors + david grubbs-arborvitae, low-things we lost in the fire, james blackshaw-a litany of echoes, and the very obvious, brian eno-music for airports. but i don't know why anyone would send me to space.)

Onto the mix:
1) Low/Dirty Three-"I Hear...Goodnight" In the Fishtank EP (2001)
What an opener for a mix. A literal blend of two great sleepy bands in Low and The Dirty Three. And then the song title ends in "Goodnight"? Should have just repeated this track 20 times.
2) Gillian Welch-"Revelator" Time (The Revelator) (2001)
Another nice opener. There's an acoustic guitar solo in here that I wish I could play even just a bar of. And I hate guitar solos.
3) Crooked Fingers-"Sunday Morning, Coming Down" Reservoir Songs EP (2002)
Such a good cover, bleeding into the guy who made the song famous....
4) Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash-"Girl From the North County" Nashville Skyline (1969)
...on another tune with some Bob dude. This is really the only Bob Dylan record I ever feel a need to listen to. And this is my favorite track off of it. Heart-wrenching regret spilled over 3 chords.
5) Cat Power-"Good Woman" You Are Free (2003)
I've said enough about Cat Power before: (http://thefmtana.blogspot.com/2009/07/no-ground-is-being-broken-to-say-chan.html) This song is a sad, sad goodbye.
6) Kings of Convenience-"Singing Softly to Me" Quiet Is the New Loud (2001)
This tune might be a little too swingy to be on a mix like this. But the title is very apropos.
7) The Mountain Goats-"Have To Explode" Tallahassee (2002)
My favorite Mountain Goats record, and this is the Shhhh...-iest song on it. (Not shittiest, Shhhh...-iest.) If you were the character in this song, you'd want to sleep it all away too.
8) Nick Drake-"Which Will" Pink Moon (1972)
Pink Moon always reminds me of when I first met my wife, which is a nice thing to think about as you fall asleep.
9) Califone-"Stepdaughter" Quicksand/Cradlesnakes (2003)
There's a really drowsy slide steel guitar that's working very well in this song. A nice closer to a great album.
10) Bonnie Prince Billy-"Wolf Among Wolves" Master And Everyone (2003)
When I play this diddy on my gee-tar, I can almost knock myself right out.
11) The Kingsbury Manx-"Piss Diary" The Kingsbury Manx (2000)
I haven't listened to this song in years. A nice rediscovery.
12) Gastr Del Sol-"Each Dream Is An Example" Camoufleur (1998)
Sometimes, Gastr Del Sol can get kind of scronky and frantic, but this track never does. You can really hear the Jim O'Rourke in this one. One of the most unique groups of the 90s.
13) B.Fleischmann & Ms. John Soda-"Here She Comes" Blue Skied An' Clear comp (2002)
This is off a Morr Music comp that has a lot of great bands. I'm not a wikipedia of electronica lingo, but I believe this would be considered "downtempo."
14) Scott Walker-"Montague Terrace (In Blue)" Scott (1967)
Scott Walker is kind of a weird choice. And this song's not that quiet in parts. But he did* have a very soothing baritone. (i use a * not because he's dead, which he isn't, but because later scott walker records like tilt and the drift would wake dead dudes for miles.)
15) M.Ward-"Let's Dance" Transfiguration of Vincent (2003)
Man, I just have always had a hard time getting into M.Ward, but it's a nice cover of a good song, so I guess that's where he works for me: recording nice covers of good songs.
16) St. Thomas-"I'm Coming Home #2" I'm Coming Home (2002)
Another song I haven't listened to in years. And another good closer, if you like your closers 10 minutes in length.

Download here:
Shit From an Old Mixtape vol 2 pt 1
Shit From an Old Mixtape vol 2 pt 2

Covers Project: The FMTana-"That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate"

This was one we used to do a cover of, but we did the full rockin' 200 bpm version. It usually juiced up a set. I cut the pace in half, stripped it down and layered the vocals. I kept it simple. Tried some keyboard flourishes, but ultimately I didn't think it added anything, so I nixed most of them. The only keyboard part I kept was the Sigur Ros-esque sort of repeating chime. That I liked. Mostly I didn't want much in the way of the vocals. And the Lead II, pictured here. So that's it. As usual, let me know what you think...



Download here:

The FMTana-"That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate"

Things I Think About When I Think About Mission of Burma

Feels Like The First Time>
Except it’s not. When we first started the band that would ultimately become Halogen, my high school/college/slightly post-college band, I was playing the drums. We did two Burma songs where I Don Henley-ed, or better yet, Phil Collins-ed it: singing and drumming on “Academy Fight Song” and “That’s When I Reached For My Revolver.” Once we added Kurt, AKA a really good drummer, I could move to guitar/vox, where all narcissistic jag-offs who play music ultimately end up. We learned three other Burma classics: “Fame and Fortune”, “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate” (covered above), and “Forget.” I remember the first time we did “Forget” in the basement of my parents’ house, my vocals on the song were somewhat… unrefined. Ben, the tactless bass player who will be mentioned further here, looked at me and asked if it was always going to sound that bad. I, of course, got pissed and channeled every angry cell of being into the vocal melody of that song. It sounded (and felt) really good. As if anyone needed more life lessons about focusing anger through constructive outlets. You could just listen to The Clash. Or, of course, Mission of Burma.

The Horrible Truth About Alex Minoff>
Alex Minoff was a year older than us and had unparalleled taste in music, especially for south central PA. He worked at the only good record store in Harrisburg, It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll, even though it never seemed like a place that did enough business to sustain operations, let alone hire help. Very nice guy for an upperclassman, so he tolerated bass player Ben and myself. He was also a really good guitar player, so naturally the three of us started a band. I think the band lasted about 4 practices. He started another band with even upper-upperclassman, a trade any of us would have made. But in that time, he passed on some names that stuck with us. Probably the most obscure, and therefore most intriguing, was Mission of Burma. How could something sound this good, and we just find out about it? At that point, most of Burma’s stuff was out of print, except for the ironically now out-of-print Rykodisc collection simply called Mission of Burma, which compiled the Signals, Calls and Marches EP and the Vs. LP, which is considered their album of note. Ben took to Burma like a fish to water. I was more reticent, but equally enamored. Ben was always the experimental-leaning-to-pop guy, and I was the pop-leaning-towards-experimental counterweight. (Perhaps not unlike Roger Miller and Clint Conley themselves. At least that's probably what we liked to think.) It's the first two songs that grabbed me, and probably many others, and the two that we immediately covered: "Academy Fight Song" and "That's When I Reached For My Revolver." But that's what gets you in the door. Then, as I listened to that CD more and more, my ears changed. And to me, that’s what you look for in bands: a sound so astounding and provoking that your ears adjust. They're seduced by the noise. This is really a whole other discussion, my theory on changing ears, but I can tell you those moments in my life where I can pinpoint how and when and why my ears changed, those are precious moments to me. Mission of Burma was one of those moments. And I would thank Alex Minoff for that.

Follow the Leader>
I bought one. I played this cover song on one. The Fender Lead II. It’s probably best known as an Eric Clapton guitar, but “Slow Hand” plays so many friggin’ guitars, he seems almost indiscriminate. I like to think of the Lead II as Burma axeman Roger Miller’s guitar of choice. Bass player Ben bought one a long time ago when our band was still going. I feel about guitars much like I do cars: I hate buying them, but love using them. (Although living in LA has murdered my love of driving.) First one I bought was a sunburst Fender Strat, a pretty generic choice, but Bob Mould played one, so I thought "Why not?" It was a good guitar for years, and it was my only guitar for years. Then last August, I was making OK money and I decided to splurge on a guitar. I immediately thought of the Fender Lead. It has such a versatile sound, and it's so heavy. Like it's made of rock. It just feels like a guitar. And I think if a burglar broke into my house, I could use it to separate his head from his neck. Either physically or sonically.

Need Guitar Lessons?>
Speaking of Roger Miller, he lived in Amherst, MA post-Burma, which is where bass player Ben went to school. Walking the streets of Northampton/Amherst, Ben came upon an ad for guitar lessons from Roger Miller himself. Naturally, he signed up. I’m not sure exactly what he picked up, but I’m sure for Ben that was barely the point. Wouldn’t you pay $20 a week to hang out with your punk rock idol? Especially if he was a nice guy who taught you stuff on the guitar? I went up to visit Ben and we actually saw Miller play a solo show at a festival. Just him, a guitar, a loop pedal, and an amazing version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire.”

Geezer Punk>
And they can still play. When Burma reunited in 2002, I almost flew to Boston to see them, figuring there was a good chance it was a one and done thing. Then they played a few more shows. Then they recorded a new record. Then they went on national tours and on and on. Then I finally got to see them last September. They performed Vs. in its entirety. And they were amazing. They’re probably all around 50 years old, and they still just kill it. The sound at that show was almost as if it was pulled right off the record. I couldn’t have been happier.

Click the pic Up and to the Right for some Burma hits.

Shit From an Old Mixtape vol. 1

Mix #6 Karl Hendricks Trio, Verlaines, Stereolab, CCR
So the other day, I found this mix I made. It was in my wife's car under the passenger seat. Her car has a CD player. Mine never did. But now it doesn't matter. We all have iPods. So who gives a shit? Right?

But I use to love to make mixes. From the 8th grade on when I got my JVC Dual Cassette/CD Player boombox (which I only said goodbye to last year), I became obsessive with them. I bullet-sweated the details, from song order to lengths to transitions to themes. If you love/loved music, you love/loved mix tapes. And now I don't make them. Because again, what's the point? But it seems like this is more than just a scratched up CD found under the passenger seat. It's a little time capsule of where my musical head was at a very specific point in time. And archiving these rediscovered mixes here seems more deserving than chucking them into the trash.

So a new addition to The FMTana: "Shit From an Old Mixtape." Click the links at the bottom and you can download the whole thing. I think this one is from 2005. I must have made 5 others at some point, since this one is "#6." Seems like I had just figured out how to convert vinyl into mp3s, because more than a few of these tracks, I only had on record in '05. Not much presentation, so it must have just been for personal listening. No idea where the other ones are. But if I find them, they could end up here.

1) Karl Hendricks Trio-“Naked and High On Drugs”
A great opener from Pittsburgh’s favorite non-football related son.
2) Butterglory-“Our (Proud) Mascot”
There are 3 Butterglory songs from Crumble that I feel very comfortable putting on mixtapes. This is one of them.
3) Further-“Ferrets and Weasels”
These were LA locals from before I became an LA local. They always seemed to have a chip on their shoulder about being compared to Sebadoh or something. They have a lot of good stuff on their own, so I don’t know what they were getting all worked up about.
4) Small Factory-“So What About Love”
Certainly my favorite folk-pop band, if not my favorite pop-pop band.
5) The Verlaines-“Whatever You Run Into”
I “liberated” this album from a college radio station I was doing time at. Fantastic Kiwi pop.
6) The Who-“Odorono”
I never went through a Who phase, even when I was ear deep in Classic Rock radio (both at times by choice and at times by no choice at all.) I don’t know why. There’s stuff of theirs that just has never sat right with me. But I like a lot of the songs off of The Who Sell Out.
7) The Talking Heads-“Warning Sign”
It is a blemish on my record to not know the Talking Heads as well as I should. I think I had just snagged this on vinyl for cheap.
8) Cat Power-“Speak For Me”
You Are Free has a lot of movin’ (as in groovin’) tracks. Especially for Cat Power. This is one of them.
9) Broken Social Scene-“Almost Crimes”
Scrawk.
10) Stereolab-“The Seeming and the Meaning”
I keep thinking this is a Modern Lovers song every time it starts. Then that beautiful Frenchified voice of Laetitia Sadier’s comes on, and it all becomes very obvious. Early S-Lab goodness.
11) Sufjan Stevens-“The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders”
Circa 2005, this is an obvious choice. I’m a Michigan man over an Illinois man, but this is an enjoyable track.
12) Peter Gabriel-“White Shadow”
These first three Gabriel solo records are all titled Peter Gabriel and they’re all reeallllllly good.
13) Pink Floyd-“Fearless”
The standout song on Atom Heart Mother.
14) Palace Songs-“All Gone, All Gone”
Right in the heart of a time period where Will Oldham changed my ears. From the now-titled Days in the Wake to this EP, Hope, to the following year’s Viva Last Blues.
15) Creedence Clearwater Revival-”Good Golly Miss Molly”
This is a weird choice. But it is a nice bridge, blending the countrified air of Palace with the R&B funk of…
16) James Brown-“Down and Out in New York City”
I think there’s something really gutty in this song. James Brown can be kind of mechanical for me. Even with songs of very passionate sentiment. This song has something kind of earnest at the heart of it.
17) A Tribe Called Quest-“Excursions”
Boom-boom-boom, ba-boom-boom, ba-boom-boom, boom-boom-boom, etc. etc.
18) Kanye West-“Spaceship”
I know everyone’s all worked up about some bullshit that Kanye did at the VMAs, as if that still has, or ever had, some sort of relevance in what makes music important and good and life-changing, but I don’t care. This is a great song off a great album. That actually means something.
19) Common-“Go!”
Kanye’s on this track too. This album came out right around the time I made this mix. It’s good, but it’s a little too “clubby” probably. I’ve never been to an afterparty in my life, so I don’t know what’s that all about. But I think Kanye has a good touch. (As if that's a groundbreaking statement...)
20) Stevie Wonder-“He's Misstra Know It All”
Innervisions, bitches.

Download here:
Shit From an Old Mixtape vol 1 pt 1
Shit From an Old Mixtape vol 1 pt 2

Woodbine Willie Project: The FMTana-“Prayer Before an Attack/A Scrap of Paper”

Back to it.

After too many flights and turnpikes tolls and exit ramps and just in general a month of constant displacement, I made it home. And I'm home for a while. And so I should be posting more consistently.

(Should be.)

Hadn't done a Woodbine Willie in a while, so I'm going back to that well. Twice. I'm also tapping another old well. But first things first...

I had one poem of G.A. Studdert Kennendy's that I had come up with a vocal melody for, his "Prayer Before an Attack." However, it morphed as I messed with the guitar melody. I did a different tuning with my gee-tar. (One I stole from Alan Sparhawk, which he uses for Low's song "Starfire.") I tend to try different tunings or my capo or my e-bow whenever I'm experiencing some sort of songwriting block. Subsequently, the tuning was so inspiring that this song has a lot of guitar. In fact it's just guitar, vox and the above pictured GarageBand "Hip Hop Kit." That's right. This song is chalk-full of hip hop.

(No. Not really.)

However, it does tap the part of the brain that must be chalk-full with remnants of "emo past." The second section of the song, which uses a different yet similarly themed Kennedy poem called "A Scrap of Paper", sort of came out of nowhere. Even though the two halves of the song have a stark contrast, they also seem to blend pretty well via the build section. But still I haven't come up with something this thrashy since my college days. It was a surprise. Haven't decided yet if it's of the pleasant variety of not. But the deeply buried angry white kid part of me sort of digs it. You can take the distorted guitar out of a boy's hands, but you can't take the distorted guitar out of his heart.

(Side note: As a nod to this emo-related breakthrough, my "Up and to the Right" section is an emo salute to Cursive, whose Domestica record will find its way on my favorite albums of the decade.)

As always, let me know what you think...



Download file here:

The FMTana-"Prayer Before an Attack/A Scrap of Paper"