I was going to wait to post about this month’s mix until we had a feel for when we would do ‘best of the year’ posts, but we can’t come to a decision on those so just expect something at the end of the month. I’m especially excited about the ‘favorite videos’ post now that pitchfork.tv makes embedded video as clean as unused suburban sprawl sidewalks.
So again, the last mix of the year has me playing catch-up with some more recent songs that I loved but didn’t find places for until now. Grey Anne and Thunder Power are unsung artists that are well worthy of the attention, Grey Anne with her sweet voice and quirky instrumentation, and Thunder Power with sweet music filled out by quirky, raspy Chan Marshall-like vocals. These Lilys and Lois tracks are throwbacks from my youth – they definitely remind me of mid-90s indie, but I feel like they could be contemporaneous with the former two.
So one of the realizations I came to this year was that Anticon is making some pretty amazing music. And it took me this long even though I’ve been listening to them since ‘99 or so. Save his appearances in cLOUDDEAD, I always pegged Why? as the Atom & His Package of indie hip-hop. Or avant-garde hip-hop or whatever they were getting labeled back then. I never was sold on him. Or Alias. Or really any of them. I gave Elephant Eye Lash a couple brief listens, but my negative opinion remained. But I am in ‘like’ with Alopecia. Ok, in ‘like like.’ Fine. ‘Love.’ “A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under” is a pretty amazing track, with its repeating vibraphone as the song slowly builds over this backdrop. It’s not even the best track, but is the one that I wanted to kick this mix off with. I don’t understand exactly how “Crosswalks” came to be a throwaway track relegated to the appendix EP, Resurgam Residual, to his also-good new album.
[banner photo by jarod allen]
December 2008 Mix
01 Why? – A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under
02 Lilys – Ginger
03 Thunder Power – (Why Don’t You Go) Take a Hike?
04 Lois – My Souvenir
05 Grey Anne – Riddle
06 Schiller Street Gang – Remind Me
07 Flying Lotus feat. Gonja Sufi – Testament
08 Alias – Crosswalks
09 Purse Snatchers – Christmas Lights
10 The Foundry Field Recordings – Battle Brigades Part II
Hey, thanks for finding me, and for including me in your mix.
This leaves me feeling like the new kid who’s been kindly invited to the party.
Happy new year.
~Anne.