I'm not making this for you to impress you or to try to get you to fall in like with me. I'm making this because I personally enjoy making these. I like the risk and subtle artistry it involves. I think this one is a good representation of what's been missing from our friendship since it really got going. We hardly ever listen to music together (which suxx) and this is me trying to get things to where they should be:
1] The Books - Fralité (This song is from the album they put out when the French Ministry of Culture asked them to make songs to play in an elevator in the Ministry. The album is called 'Music for a French Elevator'!)
2] Microphones - I Want Wind to Blow (This song ends abruptly, and if you ever want to know why, get the album 'The Glow Pt. 2'. But I think it goes kinda well into...)
3] Black Eyes - Speaking in Tongues (I was a softmore in high school when this song got into me. I still dance to, "Some words! If you! Use them! Enough! Lose the! Meaning! Enough! Enough! If you! Use them! Lose their! Too much! Meaning! Enough! Enough! Enough!")
4] Lauren Adams - Screaming Din (Lauren is a very special person to me. I fell in love with her music and ideas on March 3, 2007 when we met in the basement of I. Goldberg on 11th & Chestnut. I first heard this song on herspace page after we hadn't spoken for a year though and it blew me down. Turn up the volume way high, this one sneaks into your soul.)
5] Robert Blake - Didn't We (My favourite anarcho-political folkman from WA played in my living room with Lauren Adams and Anna Christie on the night Obama got elected. History? This man's voice does something magickal in my mind. This particular song is about Blake's participation in "N30", the protest surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference in 1999. It's what I like to call "mature folk punk")
6] Yeasayer - Red Cave (As it always sort of seems to be, it took me a while to actually listen to this song and hear it for what it was because it is the last one on their album 'All Hour Cymbals' so when I did I really didn't expect it to be so hidden good. The end of it is one of those things that makes you want to stop listening to other music because nothing else can possibly happen, you know? Maybe I'm stupid. It's sort of a goodbye ... in a good way!)
7] Akron/Family - River (After their last album changed me important, I didn't know that there'd be so much more so soon. This is not my favourite song from 'Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free' but it's definitely a friend.)
8] Clem Snide - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grieviences (Everyone should do whatever they can to learn as much as they can about Daniel Johnston.)
9] Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love for Planet Earth (I don't know if you're familiar with these guys or what they do but before you think, "aw man, I can't believe Dan thinks he can pass off this long noise song as really something that makes him happy," just listen to it. Not while you're really doing anything huge, maybe writing or filling water balloons or baking or whatever you do. Computers? Yeah, if you're riding your bike and this song comes on your strapped on ghettoblaster, I expect you to stop and sit down 'til it's over. This one also ends abruptly, get 'Street Horrrsing' to find out why!)
10] HEALTH - Crimewave (This one makes me ready to do anything!)
11] Why? - Dumb Hummer (This is one of my newest favourite Why? songs. It took me a while to find it because it's on a small EP that came between their two latest big albums 'Elephant Eyelash' & 'Alopecia'. If you wear firsthand clothes and get your hair cut by somebody you don't know, I'm below you. I love this band more than anything. If you choose to get into them and have the time to really do it, start with Alopecia (2008) and work backwards. It'll only get better. I'll help you!)
12] Atom & His Package - Philadelphia (This came on at the bar the other night and you said you knew it but just in case you were lying, here it is. It's self explanitory. Get to know us.)
13] Port O'Brien - Fisherman's Son (From Philadelphia to Alaska in a couple seconds, this song got to me in the exact same way that Akron/Family's River got to me. It isn't my favourite on the album, but it really did something. It reminds me of another life in another place that someone else is living, but it still feels like me.)
14] The Books - All Bad Ends All (Definitely another friend song. It's fun to play with this song on the 12inch and the turntables. Just mess it up and see how weirder it goes. Listen for the kid laughing in the last 30 seconds.)
15] Dan Deacon - Slow With Horns / Run For Your Life (With any luck, this is the first time you've heard this song or anything from his new album 'Bromst'. HANG ON! This is one of the many, many things that brings me utter bliss in this world. The end of this song literally gives me spikes and chills in my shoulders and back. If it doesn't happen to you, just think of it happening to me. And giggle.)
16] Project - Winter in June (Greg Patillo redefines the flute! This band started playing in the subways of Brooklyn and still got huge. I think they on purpose started from a lower point than they actually came from just to prove how awesome they were. I don't know what I'm saying, I'm still recovering from the end of Run For Your Life.)
17] Alex Hannah - Morning (I find myself ending a lot of mix's with this one. Alex is one of the most amazing people I know. Alex played with Paul Baribeau earlier this year, who I believe played with Kimya Dawson who played with Lauren Adams' band Naughty Naughty Nurses a couple years ago. Alex and Lauren who are both my friends and friends of eachother have never played together. Irone. Listen for his fingers slamming on the plastic keys! And mess-ups! He recorded this with his video camera. No one knows it but this is secretly my anthem. When he plays it at the big shows at my house, everyone screams along. It's really fun. I love my life, and I'm glad I met you.)
I don't know why I love all of these songs so deeply, but I do. I guess it has so much to do with the context in which I first heard all of them and how I continue to hear them. I took a different approach to making this cd. I tried new methods. I took more risks. I wouldn't like it if you hated it. I wouldn't mind if you didn't like it very much. I'd be happy if you liked it. I'd be happier if you loved it.
Oh boy,
Dan
The Books
Microphones
Black Eyes
Lauren Adams
Robert Blake
Yeasayer
Akron/Family
Clem Snide (
Daniel Johnston)
Fuck Buttons
HEALTH
WHY?
Atom & His Package
Port O'Brien
Dan Deacon
Project
Alex Hannah
Clem Snide
Prologue
