Saturday, September 24, 2011

A Pile of Dirty Snow at the Edge of a Parking Lot in Michigan in the Dead of Winter: A Fall Mix, 2011

[UPDATE: I recently discovered that the version of "Jason" on the mix I uploaded cuts off four minutes too early. No idea how it happened. If you've already uploaded the mix, you can simply download the correct version of that one track here. Delete the existing "Jason," and you should be good to go. If you haven't downloaded the mix yet, you can do so below. I have corrected the file.]

I pieced this mix together on Wednesday using the "on-the-go" playlists on my old fifth-generation iPod at my favorite cafe while reading about Catholic missions into rural Europe in the early modern period.

It's my least intended, least planned mix. I haven't changed a thing since leaving the cafe.

I gave no consideration to you, fine readers and listeners. Because I think of music as communal rather than individual, I generally try to make mixes that are fairly accessible. This one is probably more difficult than any of my previous mixes.

It's a quintessential headphone mix. There's nothing wrong, of course, with listening to it on a nice set of speakers or, for that matter, a crappy set. At the moment I'm playing it through my awful MacBook speakers. But I recommend finding an opportunity to listen on a set of good headphones. There are, I think, lots of little remarkable details in many of these songs and in a couple of the transitions.*

*I am aware that this paragraph makes me sound like a tool. Possibly the whole write-up sounds that way.

I don't have anything else to say except that I already feel very strongly about this mix. Give it a few listens. I hope you like it.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

'Hometowns' by the Rural Alberta Advantage



I keep coming back to this album and marveling. When I revisited it over two years ago I said that calling it a masterpiece was a little hyperbolic. Now, re-revisiting it, I think I was right the first time. It's aging like Helen Mirren, kids.

Doing dishes to it is not necessarily a great idea, though. It'll take twice as long (because of the rocking out) and be twice as messy (because of the rocking out).

Friday, September 2, 2011

Say hello to Phinehas Edwards McDermott!

He is one day old.

[photo by Sean]