Kicked in the head.

Mr. Moonshiner has done messed me up with his most recent song choice. My reply to his Best Coast female surf jam was a wink from the boys at Darker My Love. I felt that the songs complimented each other well, almost sweetly. The answer to the flirtation was No Age, who promptly came in, kicked DML in the balls and stole his chick. After a couple of icepacks, I listened to “Ripped Knees” to formulate some ideas. The clean guitar of the song reminds me of the Pixies, perhaps “Caribou”. The break was reminiscent of …Trail of Dead, maybe “Homage”. No Age has always reminded me of Bug-era Dinosaur Jr, so possibly “Budge”. Then, out of nowhere, comes a grinding, distorted organ part, which lasts until the song ends. What is this? Talk about a screeching halt to my groove. Now do I pick a song that works with the punk rock part of the song or do I base my reply on the organ? I am seriously torn at this point.

I call Mr. Moonshiner to curse him for bestowing this menacing disruption upon me. He laughs at my struggle. I try out some Air songs, which could possibly pull the mix in a completely different direction. These songs are not working so I take a couple of days off from the mix, during which I receive several harassing emails from the moderator. I contemplate choosing “Interstellar Overdrive” by Pink Floyd to explain the nervous breakdown I am experiencing or “Sister Ray” by the Velvet Underground because nothing says “Fuck you” like a 17 minute long VU noise blast. I purchase the new Blakroc cd and dig the Mos Def track, which reminds me of his The Ecstatic release from this year. No Age’s organ fade out fits nicely with the slow drum roll that leads into “On the Vista”, and Mos’ singing brings me back to equilibrium. I am at peace with the world and our mix, at least until the next song.

Saadiq's Solid Gold Soul.

Saw Raphael Saadiq last night at Terminal 5 in NYC. My first time for both the venue and the artist, and I was thoroughly impressed. The show was high energy, Saadiq and his band were drenched in sweat by the end of the first song. He covered "Dance Tonight", did a medley of Tony! Toni! Tone! new jack swing tracks, and kept a high energy thing going for almost two hours. His encore was almost as long as the show itself. And my girlfriend and I agreed, his little pocket-rocket female back up singer was the most exciting band member apart from Saadiq himself. She was five feet and 90 pounds of fury.

If you don't own his 2008 release The Way I See It, you should be ashamed of yourself. 8 year olds to 80 year olds dance their asses off to this thing.

Here's a medley of shaky video but awesome songs from the night at Terminal 5

Welcome, Old Friend

Grand Alto has finally arrived. We've been working on Mix No. 3 for a while, but now there is another voice posting... It's funny he mentioned Stereolab. When Matt (White Motivation) and I began this blog, I was unsure how to start out the first mix. When stumped, I just shuffle until I am inspired. Stereolab's "Cybele's Reverie" was the third track on the shuffle, and fifteen seconds in, I knew I had it. One of my favorite things about Stereolab is how they seem to pop up throughout my life, in so many different people's libraries. I probably first heard them in High School, but wasn't really a fan until a girl in college burned me a copy of Emperor Tomato Ketchup. The album was already five or six years old, and according to her, was "essential." This girl was a cultivator of all things weird, and I thought all she ever listened to was Bauhaus, Anything with Mike Patton, and Captain Beefheart. How does Stereolab fit into her steeze? They're awesome, that's how. Over the years, poring through friend's libraries, I always smile when I see a few Stereolab cuts.

On a contrary note, here is another, more recent Stereolab story.

Friday night after Thanksgiving, a good dozen or so of my cousins got together for a little party. My girlfriend plugged her iPod into the stereo, and played the first mix created here at The Conversation. When I asked why the mix started with Belle and Sebastian, track number two, she said, "I wasn't going to start with that French crap..."

I guess you can't win 'em all.