august 2002
If you've heard this month's mix, please leave a comment -- what you liked, what you didn't -- at the bottom of the page. Album links are to Amazon; if you like something, consider buying via that link so I get a cut and keep the mix club going.
This month's theme, following up on last month: songs by artists in the P-Z section of my CD collection who hadn't appeared on any previous mixes. (I know, a real shocker after the last two months: A-F and G-P.)
The insert card for this month's mix is available in PDF format (87k).
I spent part of early August in Toronto, so there's a bit of a Canadian theme (tracks 10, 14, 16, 21).
1. Dame un Cachito Pa'huele / Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos. On Muy Divertido! (2000). Ribot's a veteran of the downtown NYC avant-jazz scene, but when he plays with Los Cubanos Postizos, he drops the pretense and just plays.
2. Gut Bucket Blues / Carl Hancock Rux. On Rux Revue (1999). Rux is a poetry slam veteran from NYC; this was his first album.
3. Bloodstain / U.N.K.L.E. On Psyence Fiction (1998). If you're wondering what DJ Shadow did in the six years between his two proper releases, one answer is this collaboration with James Lavelle's Rolodex. That's Alice Temple on vocals.
4. Sour Times / Portishead. On Live: Roseland NYC (1998). Sour chanteuse trip-hop, live and on stage! They're supposed to be working on a new album, perhaps to appear before the turn of the next millennium.
5. Intifada Driving School / Seam. On The Pace is Glacial (1998). Chicago's Seam takes too long to release albums (this is their most recent, from four years ago), but they mix delicate, mournful guitar work with crunchy rockers like this one. Also, I daresay, the best American rock band fronted by an Asian-American.
6. The Deep South / The Promise Ring. On Very Emergency (1999). Who cares about labels like "emo" -- this is a fun album of guitar pop, assuming you can get past Davey von Bohlen's lisp. Bonus: all the songs on this album are easy to play on guitar.
7. Dig Me Out / Sleater-Kinney. On Dig Me Out (1997). I've always thought they're a little overrated, but this is an enjoyably rocking disc, with great cutting, angular guitars.
8. Rebound / Sebadoh. On Bakesale (1994). One of the ur-documents of 1990s indie rock. This was the last time Lou Barlow let himself do most of the songwriting, before he found democracy and turned over too much of the reins to odious bassist Jason Loewenstein.
9. Afro / The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. On Extra Width (1993). This was the first album I ever bought that made me feel cool. I remember writing away to Matador for a catalog and wondering what a band with a name like Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 would sound like. Too bad JSBX has become a self-parody.
10. California / Rufus Wainwright. On Poses (2002). The literal son of Loudon Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle; the metaphorical son of Cole Porter.
11. Rayne, Louisiana / Bruce Robison. On Wrapped (1998). Bruce Robison is part of the royal family of Texas singer-songwriters: husband to Kelly Willis, brother to Charlie Robison, brother-in-law to Dixie Chick Emily Robison. And, oh yeah, I was born and raised in the real Rayne, Louisiana.
12. Black Eye / Uncle Tupelo. On March 16-20, 1992 (1992). This was Tupelo's stripped-down album, largely covers of old political and religious songs. Of the band's two leaders, I was always more of a Jay Farrar fan than a Jeff Tweedy fan, but this album has some particularly strong Tweedytunes, including this one and "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down." (Tweedy of course now leads Wilco.)
13. Windfall / Son Volt. On Trace (1995). When Uncle Tupelo broke up, Farrar started Son Volt and produced this amazing album.
14. Words We Never Use / Ron Sexsmith. On Ron Sexsmith (1995). A smooth, calming debut album from the Canadian troubadour.
15. Paranoia Key of E / Lou Reed. On Ecstasy (2000). Lou Reed discovers the 1970-era Rolling Stones in 2000.
16. Fireworks / The Tragically Hip. On Phantom Power (1998). "You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey / And I'd never heard someone say that before." Canada, represent.
17. The KKK Took My Baby Away / The Ramones. On Loco Live (1992). At two minutes and 41 seconds, this track's almost an epic by Ramones standards. Recorded live in Barcelona; on the album, it's the second half of a great 1-2 punch, along with "I Wanna Be Sedated."
18. Uh-Oh / Jonny Polonsky. On Hi My Name is Jonny (1996). On March 18, 1996, Jonny Polonsky stabbed me in the neck with his guitar neck. He was opening for Frank Black at Toad's Place and, as one might imagine from listening to this fun little album, kept playing Rock Star during all his guitar solos, teetering on the edge of the stage. I was standing up close to the stage, as was my wont back then, when he slipped, fell into the audience, and jammed the end of his guitar neck into the bottom of my jaw. That slammed my mouth shut, right onto my tongue, which began to bleed. Jonny's only public statement on the fracas: "Sorry, man."
19. How To Kill a Radio Consultant / Public Enemy. On Apocalpyse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black (1991). I know It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back is the canonical PE disc, but I've always had a soft spot for A91.
20. Blood Money / Primal Scream. On XTRMNTR (2000). What an album -- a mind-blowing mix of electronic blips, punk rock energy, and remnants of their Mancunian sonic roots. If you stripped jazz entirely of tradition, this is what it would sound like circa 2002.
21. Left and Leaving / The Weakerthans. On Left and Leaving (2000). There isn't much going on in Winnipeg, but there are some beautiful songs being written. John K. Sampson (ex-Propaghandi) writes lyrics like a poet. This gets me every time: "Memory will rust and erode into lists / of all that you gave me: / some matches, a blanket, this pain in my chest / the best parts of lonely / duct-tape and soldered wires / new words for old desires / and every birthday card I threw away."
