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.