This past month I resurrected this early Smog (Bill Callahan) track, “A Hit,” and thought it would be good for a mix. Little did I know at the time that it would make for a pseudo theme for the month, but it’s appropriate. “It isn’t going to be a hit, so why even bother?” I definitely have some should-be hits in this collection, from Bo Diddley‘s “I Can Tell,” which feels ripe for use in a Showtime or HBO show; The Rural Alberta Advantage‘s “The Dethbridge In Lethbridge,” which is so catchy that it deserves frequent radio-play; and Binary Star‘s all-but-forgotten gem, “Reality Check.” Binary Star were a short lived hip-hop group from Pontiac, Michigan whose album, Masters Of The Universe, was a collection of anti-industry shout-outs backed by fantastic production. I love how the beat tricks you with an intro that fades out be for opening up to a more delicate piano loop.
I also included a bit more poppy songs than usual. This YACHT track, off their just-released DFA debut, See Mystery Lights. To me it feels like this year’s MGMT, only with inspiration from The Talking Heads rather than MGMT’s Bee-Gees appropriation. Then there is Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle‘s “Don’t Kiss Me Goodbye,” which I mistook for a Concretes song when I first heard it played in a vintage shop in Long Beach. An unnamed track on a store mix CD, I wasn’t able to figure out who it was until renting The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, a 2007 film in which it was used. On the store mix it had been placed alongside The Velvet Underground, which seems entirely appropriate considering the distorted guitars and Emmanuelle Seigner’s Nico-like singing. And finally, The Pica Beats are finally making it on to one of these mixes. Their track, “Shallow Dive,” has nearly been included a few months now, but ultimately it is “Poor Old Ra,” which I first heard on Catbirdseat last year, which I’m including. I love the condescending manner of of characterizing Egyptian gods of old, and the thought of Ra as a disheveled, past-his-prime hobo.
[banner image by Antje Drescher, via Sub-Studio]
August 2009 Mix
01 Smog – A Hit
02 The Rural Alberta Advantage – The Dethbridge In Lethbridge
03 Bo Diddley – I Can Tell
04 Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle – Don’t Kiss Me Goodbye
05 Outerlimitz – Greater Things
06 Arthur Alexander – Soldier Of Love
07 Binary Star – Reality Check
08 The Pica Beats – Poor Old Ra
09 State Bird – I Don’t Luv U Anymore
10 YACHT – Psychic City (Voodoo City)
