Yes, Virginia, There Is a Christmas Mix Coming.

December 19, 2014 at 4:45 pm (Uncategorized)

Bleah. In my heart of hearts, I’d meant to have a Christmas mix done and posted for general consumption on Monday. However, a couple of regular accounts I work with were desperate to get some things done before the holidays, and were willing to make it worth my while to help them out. So…self-imposed deadlines for Wednesday and Friday have come and gone. Yikes!

I sorta feel like Scrooge a bit, because I’ve been working lots and not doing that whole “keeping Christmas well” thing. At least not as well as I’d have liked to. Let’s go with that.

It isn’t just that, though. I’ve either become extraordinarily picky about what songs I’ll consider for a Christmas mix, or the awful crap to good stuff ratio for the Christmas tunes I’ve been listening to is way out of whack in favor of the former category.

The other thing is, if I wanted to have something done right now, it’d be done. I’ve learned from experience that this is no way to do a holiday music mix, though. Rushing and cutting corners leads to bad stuff. There are at least two mixes from the last 10 years that I just cannot listen to at all, because I know I rushed them, and I know there are gaping errors in content and placement in both of them. A Christmas music mix is kinda forever for me, for each year I do it. No backsies.

At any rate, I’m at the quality-control stage here, and I have to have it done for a little holiday shindig tomorrow. So. I’ll finish it up tonight. Post it tomorrow, and maybe throw a reminder up for those of you who only surf the internet on weekdays at work on Monday. You know who you are.<a

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Top 50 Music List of 2013, Mixtape 2

January 1, 2014 at 3:53 pm (Uncategorized)

Time to flip the tape from 2013 to 2014, and then roll another 17 songs into this mix! (As in, click me.)

1. Sean Nelson, “The World Owes Me A Living (And I Intend To Collect)”

If Sean’s name or voice sounds familiar, it’s because he was the frontman of the underrated Harvey Danger, and occasional sideman to his buddy John Roderick in The Long Winters. Here, Sean steps out with a wonderfully pissy, tuneful, and brilliant solo record (that features help from a who’s who of luminaries from around the industry) that plays up his strengths as a songcrafter. From the album Make Good Decisions, check it out here: http://reallyrecords.bigcartel.com/product/sean-nelson-make-good-choices

2. Light Heat “Dance The Cosmos Light”

Light Heat is the new music project of former Mazarin frontman Quentin Stolzfus. While I liked the idea of his previous band, for whatever reason Light Heat’s updated take on dreampop totally rings my bells a whole lot harder. The album is self-titled, and Light Heat’s homes are here: http://www.ribbonmusic.com/label/artists/light-heat/ and here: http://www.light-heat.com/

3. Bottomless Pit, “Incurable Feeling”

Bottomless Pit is Andy and Tim from Silkworm, who wisely decided not to carry on under that moniker after the senseless death of drummer Michael Dahlquist. This is the third full Bottomless Pit album, and I think it’s the most full-sounding longplayer they’ve done under this incarnation. This is taken from the album Shade Perennial, and the band’s website with listens and links to buy is here: http://www.bottomlesspit.us/music.php Also, the excellent documentary about Silkworm, Couldn’t You Wait, is available here: http://buy.couldntyouwait.com/

4. The Go, “Voices Rant On”

The Go are a Detroit band long championed by Jack White his own self. They may have originally been all raw and garage-y, but here and throughout their 2013 album Fiesta they just effortlessly trip through a joyous variety of heavy 60s and 70s awesomeness. Check out more here: http://listentothego.bandcamp.com/album/fiesta

5. Charles Bradley, “Where Do We Go From Here”

Once again ably backed by the Menahan Street Band and other Daptone folks, Bradley continues his career renaissance with the excellent album Victim Of Love. This particular song has a delicious, almost garage-rock feel to it with the dirty guitar sound and beats. Check out more here at Bradley’s site here: http://thecharlesbradley.com/

6. Boogarins, “Lucifernandis”

Leave it to a band of Brazilian kids to take that Os Mutantes sound and update it and make it sound just as interesting and new. I love the way the guitar and drums seem to chase one another around with too many notes and beats all over this. Ingenious. This is from their debut, As Plantas Que Curam. Check out the band’s US/English language label/hub: http://www.othermusicrecordingco.com/collections/boogarins

7. Kurt Vile, “KV Crimes”

While I’ve always liked Kurt Vile well enough, it was on the 2013 album Wakin On A Pretty Daze that his amalgam of indie rock and 70s icon influences coalesced into a completely brilliant whole.  I mean, dig that fat, greasy guitar riff here, and you’re definitely going to want ALL that cowbell. All of it. I don’t do records of the year anymore, but this one would be a strong contender if I did. Kurt’s homepage can be found right here: http://kurtvile.com/

8. Cheap Time, “8:05”

God bless Jeffrey Novak for carving out his own niche in a crowded indie scene in Tennessee years ago, and then sticking with it and growing it. Here on “8:05” and throughout the rest of their 2013 album Exit Smiles, Novak and his cohorts twirl glam and punk through their slamming, collapsing raw rock and it’s one of the most invigorating sounds anyone made on record this past year.  Stream and buy here: http://www.spin.com/articles/cheap-time-exit-smiles-album-stream/

9. The Blakes, “Chernobyl”

It took me a few albums to figure out exactly where The Blakes were headed, but “Chernobyl” wonderfully evokes everything they’re on about. Imagine if you took some of the best 1980s UK postpunk pop songs from folks like New Order or Talk Talk or The Chameleons or Echo & The Bunnymen and played it raw and rippy, and distorted and rocked the hell out of it. That’s what the Blakes do here and all over their 2013 record Junko. The band’s excellent website is here: http://www.theblakesband.com/store/

10. Vampire Weekend, “Step”

Remember how I said there was some great music that moved a lot of units in 2013? That’s absolutely the case with Vampire Weekend, who–doubters be damned–continue to write brilliant songs and offer them up with fascinating arrangements. I know this band has doubters and haters galore, but here’s the thing: when I listen to a song like “Step”, I hear an absolute obvious connection to a group of scruffs like The Blakes and Cheap Time, and I will fight you over that. From the 2013 album Modern Vampires Of The City, the band’s website is here: http://www.vampireweekend.com/

11. Be, “Adventurine”

Be is the band helmed by songwriter/guitarist David Hawkins. They’re a band I’d not heard of until Rob Galgano, the guy who runs All Over The Place Radio mentioned them a month ago. This song is indicative of the gorgeous and evocative melodies and craftsmanship to be found on Be’s self-titled 2013 debut. Reminds me a great deal of what you’d get if Thin White Rope’s Guy Kyser was (plaintively and beautifully) singing for Calexico, and everyone involved was from some northern prairie state. Band’s webpage is here: http://www.beband.net/index.html

12. Bleached, “Dreaming Without You”

Bleached is the Clavin sisters, Jennifer and Jessica, doing a wonderful update of what you might get if the Shangri Las had heard a couple of Throwing Muses records at some point, which isn’t to say they’re not writing brilliant songs of their own (For instance dig the way they toss in a little bridge on this before heading into a massive stomp on the chorus into a final coda.) This is from their debut, Ride Your Heart. The band’s hub is right this way: http://hellobleached.tumblr.com/

13. Yuck, “Lose My Breath”

Ok, if you’re going to shoegaze and then lift verbatim a song title from My Bloody Valentine, the song better be freaking fantastic. That’s absolutely the case here. I figured Yuck’s 90s revivalism was all over when Daniel Blumberg left the band after their debut, but they picked up the pieces, got much more swirly in a Lush or Ride kinda way. Wanna know why this is great? Dig that last time through the chorus, where the vocals sing the same melody, but the guitars and bass and drums do something entirely new in the same key. That’s how you bring something new to the table, folks. Their 2013 record Glow And Behold is absolutely fantastic. Band’s website is here: http://yuckband.com/

14. Lubec, “Local Celebrity”

While I’ve seen Lubec (named, I guess, for the easternmost town in the contiguous United States in Maine) described as also being in the shoegaze camp, to these ears that know they have more in common with the C86 and anorak twee-pop of folks like The Pastels or The Charlottes. Especially love the the way the vocals call and response either to one another, or in the verses to that great guitar riff hook.  This song is a teaser single for the band’s 2014 record, and you can find it and their other releases right here: http://lubec.bandcamp.com/

15.  Joanna Gruesome, “Do You Really Wanna Know Why Yr Still In Love With Me?”

Speaking of C86, these Welsh noise poppers delivered what might be one of my favorite start-to-finish delights of 2013 on their album Weird Sister. Alternating sweet songs and songs about…let’s just say darker themes, this track is a perfect mashup of those themes–it would be too sweet by half, except there’s a swaggering, sexy confidence here. I loved the Flatmates in 1988. This absolutely, massively scratches that same itch. Nice hub for their music right here: http://joannagruesome.bandcamp.com/releases

16. The Bevis Frond, “This One”

I was a fan of Nick Saloman–a/k/a The Bevis Frond–going back over 20 years now, but sort of lost track of him as his releases became more and more oblique to my ears. His 2013 double-lp White Numbers is his first new record in 7 years, and a pretty amazing return to the sounds I once loved from The Frond back when: lovely guitar arpeggios, heavy arrangements, and Saloman’s hangdog-but-wonderful vocals. Webhub here: http://bevisfrond.bandcamp.com/

17. The Ne’er Dowells, “I Won’t”

This song right here–this one. This is why rock and roll is so great. The Ne’er Dowells are teenagers from the NYC area, and the apparent influences on them is pretty clearly music created about the time each band member was being conceived in the early 1990s. Doesn’t matter. They know a great music vibe when they hear it, and on the epic, sprawling, amazing, “I Won’t”, they make a beautiful racket that gives me chills. This is from their excellent 2013 album Are You Still Down. Check them out here: http://youneredowells.bandcamp.com/album/are-you-still-down

Tomorrow’s final mixtape is all my favorite songs from The National.

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Me And You And Obamacare.

December 21, 2013 at 9:33 am (Uncategorized)

Since today is a traveling day for me, I thought I’d bang out a blog post or two to pass the time. In fact, having just paid my first new premium for my Anthem/BCBS insurance policy bought through Healthcare.gov, I thought I’d maybe say a few words about the ACA. You know. Obamacare.

My initial impressions were a bit mixed. I got through online somehow back in October. Yes, really. My experience playing Day One in MMO games served me well, here. Getting in was no more difficult than playing Guild Wars 2 on a beta weekend in 2012…except, of course, that no one is legally mandated to have tried to get into a GW2 beta weekend, and we’re all mandated to have health coverage. Because of that, yeah, I get the frustration folks had.

For me, though, I felt like I was ahead of the curve. Got online, did some comparison shopping. Before I pulled the trigger on buying a policy, I decided to do some research about which policy to buy by checking some satisfaction rates and also to see which nearby doctors are more likely to be in which networks around me. I logged off that day in October, and my email informed me I had three messages waiting at Healthcare.gov that I’d need to respond to. Fine and dandy. Given the time frame, I didn’t try to log back in for weeks. I knew they were fixing the site to make it work better. I’d wait it out.

I decided to check back and finish my application process around November, but when I did, I ran into roadblocks. Those three notices I’d received an email about? Yeah, the system forced me to read them or respond to them before I could proceed. Problem: there was no way–none–to read the notices. I could temporarily dismiss the notifications that I had messages, but I couldn’t read the actual messages themselves! The system forced me to read them first before I could continue with setting up my policy, too. It was kind of Kafka-esque, and very frustrating. A person on the phone I spoke with was little help. We went around in circles. It became clear to me that to apply for my policy by phone, I’d have to start over from scratch and spell out everything phonetically and that would be an awful chore.

I should also mention feeling a bit under the gun now, too. My individual policy would be cancelled by the ACA in January because it failed to offer a prescription benefit or the necessary preventative care stuff required by the new law. It also was costing me an arm and a leg to pay for this nonsense, awful coverage. Even as bad as it was, though, the thought of having NO health insurance was worse. I needed to get my Obamacare on, and stat. And so every few days from Thanksgiving onward, I’d check in with Healthcare.gov to see if they’d rectified the glitch I was experiencing. It didn’t seem too hopeful. I couldn’t log in with Firefox, for one thing, only the Chrome browser. I was getting worried.

This past Tuesday was the most recent time I decided to give it a try. I’d forgotten to use Chrome, and didn’t realize until I was logged in that it had actually worked again for me in Firefox. Well. That was a promising start. Even so, once I was in, there were the three notifications of messages awaiting me…and there was still no way to see the messages themselves. Nuts. Before I logged off and figured out a way to budget an entire day on my phone setting up my insurance, I decided to go to the part of my online application that was blocked until I responded to the messages I couldn’t read…the stuff I’d started back in October.

It was like a Christmas miracle. The system let me proceed with my application. I nearly jumped out of my office chair fetching my nearly 6-week-old notes on which coverage to buy. I found the policy I was seeking out quickly. I clicked it. I clicked through a few more pages. I confirmed I was ready to buy. I got a notice that I’d be contacted by my new carrier ASAP….and then a screen message telling me I was good to go and all signed up. It took, honestly, about 10 minutes total from the point I logged back in to the point I was done.

The upshot of all of that goes like this. I have health insurance, and pretty decent health insurance going forward now. I’m also paying about $12 less per month to get it than I was for my previous policy. More stuff is covered for me, too, including prescriptions and copays. It was a bit messy, a bit vexing, and not a little bit frustrating from October to December getting signed up, but from my personal experience I can tell you the damn website works 100 percent better in December than it did in October or even November.

I also feel happy and relieved about having good coverage again in my life. This is a wonderful feeling. I see that, according to the government, about two million folks have signed up for coverage either through Medicare expansions or through private carriers now. I also see a few people–including people I follow in social media or who are people who I’m friends with–skeptically posting up doubts as to the extended viability of the ACA and still talking nonsense about repeal.

This is silliness. It’s here. It isn’t going away. There are two million of us signed up now. There are going to be millions more by the close of Open Enrollment in March. You thought there were media “horror stories” ginned up about cancelled coverages in November? Imagine the stories out there if they tried to yank back a useful thing like health insurance from millions of people like me who were able to finally get good coverage. The political reality is that the votes simply do not exist to repeal the ACA in the near or perhaps even longterm future. It’s a dumb point.

What isn’t a dumb point is talking about ways to make this new system better. It isn’t dumb to talk about Medicare expansion for states that stupidly didn’t accept it but need to. It isn’t stupid to talk about ways to make the application process better. It isn’t stupid to talk about ways to continue to change and alter the system for the better. It isn’t a dumb thing at all to critique the way things lie right now, and to talk about useful ways to continue to evolve our broken healthcare delivery system into something better. I’m willing to read and listen to pundits and politicians and friends who have realistic and legitimate ideas or means to help build on the ACA’s foundation and make it better, and I really don’t care who’s name is attached to it. If Louie Gohmert and John Cornyn come up with a bill that makes the system work better, I’ve no problem with calling those improvements LouieCare. I still think it’s ridiculous that I’m paying hundreds of dollars a month for health insurance, for instance. My income hardly qualifies me for any sort of subsidy. I personally do not believe that healthcare is a benefit, but more of a right. Maybe. I’m probably on the fence enough to listen to arguments either way.

That being said, here’s where I’m going to get fairly irrational. When I see people I know–people whom I’ve been friends with, had a beer with, commiserated with–still polluting my timelines and news feeds in social media with nonsense about trying to do away with the ACA, I can’t help but read such things with a different set of eyes now. If you’re one of those folks, realize this:  when you talk about repeal and doing away with the ACA, what I’m reading is that you’re wishing upon me ill health and poverty. If someone wishes upon me ill health and poverty, I tend to take such things rather personally, as you will. I tend to respond by telling the ill-wisher how I feel about that, and it very likely would be using language one normally only hears from angry sailors.  It isn’t a “cloak of the internet” thing, either. I’m perfectly happy to tell someone who’s wished me ill health how I feel about them in person, as well. Not in a threatening manner, mind you, just in a “Hey, you’re being a jerk” kind of way.

The point? The ACA is here. It’s real. It probably isn’t going away for a long time, if ever. Do you hate it? Ask yourself why, and try to divorce political agenda from it. Realize and understand that people you know, and perhaps people you care about, will be depending on the protections and provisions of the ACA for health insurance. Understand that these people–regardless of political affiliation–may be very grateful that this flawed, hopefully work-in-progress system now exists, and that for some of us who pay for things like cholesterol meds every month that it represents one hell of a benefit (and one that allows us to sock more money away into the economy in a perfectly capitalist, trickle-down libertarian sort of way.) Think about those things, and think about urging political forces that tilt quixotically against Obamacare to maybe channel that energy into making those windmills work better instead.

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Mary I’m Tryin’ To Be Cool. (Holiday Music Mix 2013)

December 20, 2013 at 11:46 am (Uncategorized)

Ok, so not the latest I’ve finally posted a holiday mix, but close to it. Sorry! The older I get, the more I understand how easily and readily people will trade money for time. You can always make more money, but time? Time vanishes, and I am always wanting more of it!

At any rate, this mix has gone through about 17 different modifications over the last week alone. Some of you may have gotten a CD with an earlier mix. Sorry about that. This one’s better.

This was a weird year. In some ways it was just awful. I lost people I loved, folks dear to me who I admired. There were good things, too, though. Lots of them. I won’t bore you with details like one of those Christmas letters, (which I really like, but apparently I’m in the minority!) I’ll just say that overall I’m ending 2013 being cool with it as far as years go.

All that said then, no agenda to this year’s mix, besides being music I want to hear this time of year, I mean. It occurs to me that more than any other year, the ladies are well represented this year, moreso than any other mix I’ve done. For instance, there’s a terrific song by Amelia Fletcher, a twee-pop founding light from Tallulah Gosh and Heavenly. If you’ve not paid attention, since ramping down her music career a bit, Ms. Fletcher got her Ph.D in Economics from Oxford and is now a professor in the subject. Which is awesome.

What always strikes me this time of year, too is how many sad songs there are at Christmas. I think I know why that is: it’s just easier for an artist to do a cheapie cash-in holiday single and try to maintain artistic cred by faking their way through it all by playing it off as a chance to do another Taylor Swift hurt feeling wallow. That’s why I’m so happy I started listing to so much Lisa Mychols in the last few months. Lisa’s been a fixture in the L. A. guitar pop scene for a while now. One of the first things she ever released was a record of Christmas songs, and she’s redone it with better equipment. It’s called Lost Winter’s Dream, and it’s fantastic. When she sings songs of happiness or sadness on that record that revolve around the holidays, she’s not fooling around, or playing it off for a cheapie cash-in. The song I picked this year (and it was tough deciding on just one) is so sincere about being in love and loving this season that it’s heartbreaking and pure. (Seriously, world at large, you should be listening to way more Lisa Mychols than you currently are.

Ok, so what else? I finally got a chance to use the Aztec Camera song I’d been wanting to. Any time you can put Roddy Frame into a music mix, you really ought to do it. There’s also a traditional Welsh Christmas carol here, “Hwiangerdd Mair”, sung by Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci’s Euros Childs the way only people who were raised speaking that amazing language can do it. (The title translates as “Mary’s Lullaby”.) There’s an amazing rocker by The Bellrays, who always just knock my doors off–think Tina Turner fronting a garage rock band if you’re not familiar. There’s some jazz, some rockabilly, some serious, some silly.

Merry Christmas, y’all! Hit that eggnog hard!

Mary I’m Trying To Be Cool

Track List:

1. Velocity Girl “Merry Christmas, I Love You”
2. Big Star “Jesus Christ”
3. The Ping Pongs “Don’t Wanna Wait Till Christmas”
4. Amelia Fletcher & Hit Parade “Christmas Tears”
5. The J’s With Jamie “Cool Yule”
6. Aztec Camera “Walk Out To Winter”
7. The New Pornographers “Joseph Who Understood”
8. Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci “Hwiangerdd Mair”
9. The Bellrays “Merry Christmas Baby”
10.Debbie Dabney “I Want To Spend Christmas With Elvis (Heartbreak Noel)”
11.The White Stripes “Candy Cane Children”
12.Dressy Bessy “All The Right Reasons”
13.Charlie Parker “White Christmas”
14.The Ettes “Stars In The Sky”
15.Cheap Trick “Come On Christmas”
16.The School “Kiss Me In The Snow”
17.I Am The World Trade Center “Rockefeller Tree”
18.Eric Matthews “Have Yourself A Merry Christmas”
19.Lisa Mychols “Listen To The Bells Ring”
20.Solomon Burke “Presents For Christmas”
21.Combustible Edison “Christmas Time Is Here”
22.Ella Fitzgerald “The Christmas Song”
23.Kathy & Jimmy Zee “Santa Claus Rock and Roll”
24.Kurt Vile “Snowflakes Are Dancing”
25.Still making with that song here.

(If you didn’t figure out to click the title of the mix, you can also just click this.)

(Other than that familiar final song, whole thing is fairly work and kid safe.)

(As with every year, everything’s in one big mp3, about 70 minutes worth of music. If you hear something you like, spend some of that Christmas loot on an artist!)

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Christmas Mix Eve!

December 19, 2013 at 2:39 pm (Uncategorized)

Ok, originally I’d meant for this to actually be me posting up my annual Holiday Music mix, but there have been a few complications this year which are currently resolved…but instead of getting this posted today, it’ll have to be tomorrow. There’s still a wee bit o’ tinkering I’d like to do to the version I post here.

So yeah. It’s coming! Promise!

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