SENIOR YEAR: THE MIXTAPE
Zach, I am totally ripping you off. But you understand, right? Consider it praise, right?
WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO (CRISTINA) So you're thinking this is some kind of Cyndi Lauper/Xtina jam, right? Oh no. Allow me to point out to you the lack of an "h" in this girl's name. That's because she's European. And she went to Harvard. She talks about making artfully dumb disco as "Brechtian pastiche." And yeah, I agree, I am getting a little old for all this theory nonsense, but she still does it for me. And nobody else, apparently. I would know because I've played her record for everybody I know, and their responses are either tepid interest or marked disgust. But, as this is my personal year of I DON'T GIVE A FUCK, that works out pretty well for me. I THINK I'LL QUIT WHILE I'M BEHIND NOW THAT I'M 22/MY SHEETS ARE STAINED, SO IS MY BRAIN, WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO?
LONG FORGOTTEN FAIRY TALE (THE MAGNETIC FIELDS) I got dressed to this every morning at Governor's School this summer. I didn't do it for any particular reason, but I eventually realized that I considered my teaching gig a strange recapitulation of my previous experiences at Governor's School as a student. And this song is, of course, about falling in love for the first time all over again. And now it's the soundtrack to what seems to be a long distance love affair, except I don't think the other participant is that gung-ho. Which will get you down in exactly the ways Stephen Merrit describes. IF SOMEONE TOLD ME I'D SUCCUMB/IF SOMEONE THOUGHT I'D BE SO DUMB/AFTER ALL THE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, WHEN I TURNED ON ALL THE LIGHTS/I WOULD'VE HIT THEM. Hmm. I think I need to get over those tragic/mysterious guys. Because tragedy and mystery are really only good with race horses.
SKULLS (THE MISFITS) Example number one: I consider this to be one of the most romantic songs ever. And yet, it's pretty damn violent. It's about wanting somebody so badly you want to destroy them. Okay, now you think I'm a really strange girl. Now you're thinking, "It's true, how everybody told me Sarah was a closet goth." This was also my #1 jam to play on the jukebox at the Squirrel Cage this year. It's #2010 if you're ever there . . . .
WONDERFUL PEOPLE (Q AND NOT U) The first time Rachel played this song for me on the Q and Not U, I laughed a lot because it seemed pretty ridiculous. I had expected some very earnest and crunchy dancepunk, but this sounded glitzy. It sounded like a video game demo with a huge fucking racecar driving through it. Rachel and I bought it on the day it dropped, and we got the first copies out of the box at Paul's. In the final analysis, I don't really like the rest of this album very much, but the increasingly POSICORE part of me needs this song so much.
DREAMS (TV ON THE RADIO) So far, this is far less depressing than last year's mixtape, and that's generally because I've been less depressed. But even then, I had my days. Especially after the night I got lost up by the Veteran's Hospital and felt like a completely incompetent asshole. I listened to this song a lot then. And this year's theme was "synthesizers," so I had to fit this one in. YOU ARE MY FAVORITE MOMENT OF OUR DEAD CENTURY
WAITING ROOM (FUGAZI) For a long time, my lack of knowledge about Fugazi shamed me. People were always saying random things at parties like, "Oh my god, Fugazi. They are AMAZING" and I would be all, "yeah," but I didn't really get it. In a few ways I still don't, but I'm a major fan of this song. It makes me think about driving around with Rachel in October and begging her to let me play this song over and over. Even though I only knew the part at the beginning that goes I AM A PATIENT BOY/I WAIT I WAIT I WAIT I WAIT.
HERE COMES THE SUMMER (THE FIERY FURNACES) If you're one of those people who says that the Fiery Furnaces are too difficult and obscure, listen to this song, okay? It's over a freaking disco beat, and it's about summer nostalgia. It also makes me think a lot about graduating, which is a little indulgent and sentimental, but I think I'm allowed. DECEMBER DARK AT SIX O'CLOCK/REMEMBER? I am a major fan of the siblings Friedberger because their songwriting seems to make it clear that they love words. This is always encouraging for poets, no?
SOUL KITCHEN (X) Yeah, this is a Doors cover. I've never been a Doors fan. Too much desert mysticism and leather goods, I guess. Also, I kind of resent the way everybody's all over Jim Morrison as a poet, but that's probably just some snarky academic nonsense left over in my head. So, that may be disregarded. At the end of the day, I have to admit that Jim Morrison wrote the song lyrics that come as close to a personal motto as anything else: SPEAK THE SECRET ALPHABET/LIGHT ANOTHER CIGARETTE/LEARN TO FORGET. Man, secret alphabet. I'm all about that. Also, my mom told me once that I look like Excene Cervenka. What a compliment!
GALANG (M.I.A.) Well, sometimes you hop on the trend bus early on, and it's a strange ride. I had read about M.I.A.'s "Piracy Funds Terrorism" mix early on, and more or less picked up her full-on debut as soon as it dropped. And then the hype machine started working on it, and now this is apparently a huge MTV video hit. What a jam, though. I guess this is just more evidence that we live in a time when pop music is incredibly strange, and I consider that a lucky thing. Man, fuck the fringes. It's funny that Zach said this song reminded him of me, because it reminds me of him, as well! This makes sense because I love M.I.A. mostly for her sass, and when I hang out with Zach, it's like the Mayor of Sassytown has come through on a whistle-stop tour. ("Can I happy you?" Okay, requisite in-joke is now OVER.)
IT'S SPRING AGAIN (BIZ MARKIE) Want to talk about wishful thinking? Let's talk about how I listened to this song in my car all winter long, especially during football season. Yeah, it wasn't spring again at that point. But Biz Markie's voice is really excellent and out of key, and now that it's actually spring again, I don't listen to this song very much. Funny.
LAID IN STONE (LANSING-DREIDEN) Pitchfork snarks have used the dreaded d-word (that's "derivative" for those of you keeping score at home) to describe this, and I think they're probably right. The chorus of this song sounds exactly like some faded 80s synth band you could probably pick up for a dollar at the Red White & Blue. I listened to it a lot when I was finishing my paper on new urban poetry, and completely butchering Frank O'Hara's words, putting them into the service of rhetorical terms like "urban pastoralism" and such. In other words, this is the sound of resignation, AND IT SOUNDS GOOD!
NO CULTURE ICONS (THE THERMALS) So, goofy p-rock still works on me, it turns out. This feels a little different from regular goofy p-rock because it seems to be a little more aware of how overwraught it is. Like, OVERWRAUGHT! OMG! and this is good for me, because I frequently feel the same way, you know. And this is basically a treatise on artmaking, which ends with the oh-so-revelatory CAN'T FUCKIN STOP THINKING ABOUT YOU! I laughed when I first read the record sleeve, which said that the Thermals were like "falling in love for the first time all over again." I mean, that's a LOT of modifiers. But it's true.
MILK MAN (DEERHOOF) These kids are weird. But this turns out to be the best think to listen to if you wake up and it's snowing. I'LL TAKE YOU TO MY DREAMLAND!
FISTFULL OF LOVE (ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS) This is a fairly recent addition; I bought this record on one of my Monday afternoon binges at Caliban mostly because it has Candy Darling's deathbed picture on the cover, and I've heard good things about Antony's Nina Simone-esque voice. Most of the album hasn't really caught my attention yet because it's all at about the same tempo (and the same total sadness level), but this song is different. It's one of those pain/uplifiting jams that I pretend to be too avant to enjoy. You know the kind. STRAIGHT TO MY HEART. Oh man. After graduation, I put this song on and cried in my bedroom. So, um, you know that now.
I think that's enough. I know I haven't posted anything recently due to the whole graduation crazy train rolling through my life. (Rolling hard, son.) But, to stretch a metaphor, that train is long gone out of the station, and I'm sitting here on my proverbial suitcase, wondering what's going to happen next. But I have the conviction, somehow, that the next part of it all is going to be a lot like FALLING IN LOVE FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL OVER AGAIN.
Zach, I am totally ripping you off. But you understand, right? Consider it praise, right?
WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO (CRISTINA) So you're thinking this is some kind of Cyndi Lauper/Xtina jam, right? Oh no. Allow me to point out to you the lack of an "h" in this girl's name. That's because she's European. And she went to Harvard. She talks about making artfully dumb disco as "Brechtian pastiche." And yeah, I agree, I am getting a little old for all this theory nonsense, but she still does it for me. And nobody else, apparently. I would know because I've played her record for everybody I know, and their responses are either tepid interest or marked disgust. But, as this is my personal year of I DON'T GIVE A FUCK, that works out pretty well for me. I THINK I'LL QUIT WHILE I'M BEHIND NOW THAT I'M 22/MY SHEETS ARE STAINED, SO IS MY BRAIN, WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO?
LONG FORGOTTEN FAIRY TALE (THE MAGNETIC FIELDS) I got dressed to this every morning at Governor's School this summer. I didn't do it for any particular reason, but I eventually realized that I considered my teaching gig a strange recapitulation of my previous experiences at Governor's School as a student. And this song is, of course, about falling in love for the first time all over again. And now it's the soundtrack to what seems to be a long distance love affair, except I don't think the other participant is that gung-ho. Which will get you down in exactly the ways Stephen Merrit describes. IF SOMEONE TOLD ME I'D SUCCUMB/IF SOMEONE THOUGHT I'D BE SO DUMB/AFTER ALL THE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, WHEN I TURNED ON ALL THE LIGHTS/I WOULD'VE HIT THEM. Hmm. I think I need to get over those tragic/mysterious guys. Because tragedy and mystery are really only good with race horses.
SKULLS (THE MISFITS) Example number one: I consider this to be one of the most romantic songs ever. And yet, it's pretty damn violent. It's about wanting somebody so badly you want to destroy them. Okay, now you think I'm a really strange girl. Now you're thinking, "It's true, how everybody told me Sarah was a closet goth." This was also my #1 jam to play on the jukebox at the Squirrel Cage this year. It's #2010 if you're ever there . . . .
WONDERFUL PEOPLE (Q AND NOT U) The first time Rachel played this song for me on the Q and Not U, I laughed a lot because it seemed pretty ridiculous. I had expected some very earnest and crunchy dancepunk, but this sounded glitzy. It sounded like a video game demo with a huge fucking racecar driving through it. Rachel and I bought it on the day it dropped, and we got the first copies out of the box at Paul's. In the final analysis, I don't really like the rest of this album very much, but the increasingly POSICORE part of me needs this song so much.
DREAMS (TV ON THE RADIO) So far, this is far less depressing than last year's mixtape, and that's generally because I've been less depressed. But even then, I had my days. Especially after the night I got lost up by the Veteran's Hospital and felt like a completely incompetent asshole. I listened to this song a lot then. And this year's theme was "synthesizers," so I had to fit this one in. YOU ARE MY FAVORITE MOMENT OF OUR DEAD CENTURY
WAITING ROOM (FUGAZI) For a long time, my lack of knowledge about Fugazi shamed me. People were always saying random things at parties like, "Oh my god, Fugazi. They are AMAZING" and I would be all, "yeah," but I didn't really get it. In a few ways I still don't, but I'm a major fan of this song. It makes me think about driving around with Rachel in October and begging her to let me play this song over and over. Even though I only knew the part at the beginning that goes I AM A PATIENT BOY/I WAIT I WAIT I WAIT I WAIT.
HERE COMES THE SUMMER (THE FIERY FURNACES) If you're one of those people who says that the Fiery Furnaces are too difficult and obscure, listen to this song, okay? It's over a freaking disco beat, and it's about summer nostalgia. It also makes me think a lot about graduating, which is a little indulgent and sentimental, but I think I'm allowed. DECEMBER DARK AT SIX O'CLOCK/REMEMBER? I am a major fan of the siblings Friedberger because their songwriting seems to make it clear that they love words. This is always encouraging for poets, no?
SOUL KITCHEN (X) Yeah, this is a Doors cover. I've never been a Doors fan. Too much desert mysticism and leather goods, I guess. Also, I kind of resent the way everybody's all over Jim Morrison as a poet, but that's probably just some snarky academic nonsense left over in my head. So, that may be disregarded. At the end of the day, I have to admit that Jim Morrison wrote the song lyrics that come as close to a personal motto as anything else: SPEAK THE SECRET ALPHABET/LIGHT ANOTHER CIGARETTE/LEARN TO FORGET. Man, secret alphabet. I'm all about that. Also, my mom told me once that I look like Excene Cervenka. What a compliment!
GALANG (M.I.A.) Well, sometimes you hop on the trend bus early on, and it's a strange ride. I had read about M.I.A.'s "Piracy Funds Terrorism" mix early on, and more or less picked up her full-on debut as soon as it dropped. And then the hype machine started working on it, and now this is apparently a huge MTV video hit. What a jam, though. I guess this is just more evidence that we live in a time when pop music is incredibly strange, and I consider that a lucky thing. Man, fuck the fringes. It's funny that Zach said this song reminded him of me, because it reminds me of him, as well! This makes sense because I love M.I.A. mostly for her sass, and when I hang out with Zach, it's like the Mayor of Sassytown has come through on a whistle-stop tour. ("Can I happy you?" Okay, requisite in-joke is now OVER.)
IT'S SPRING AGAIN (BIZ MARKIE) Want to talk about wishful thinking? Let's talk about how I listened to this song in my car all winter long, especially during football season. Yeah, it wasn't spring again at that point. But Biz Markie's voice is really excellent and out of key, and now that it's actually spring again, I don't listen to this song very much. Funny.
LAID IN STONE (LANSING-DREIDEN) Pitchfork snarks have used the dreaded d-word (that's "derivative" for those of you keeping score at home) to describe this, and I think they're probably right. The chorus of this song sounds exactly like some faded 80s synth band you could probably pick up for a dollar at the Red White & Blue. I listened to it a lot when I was finishing my paper on new urban poetry, and completely butchering Frank O'Hara's words, putting them into the service of rhetorical terms like "urban pastoralism" and such. In other words, this is the sound of resignation, AND IT SOUNDS GOOD!
NO CULTURE ICONS (THE THERMALS) So, goofy p-rock still works on me, it turns out. This feels a little different from regular goofy p-rock because it seems to be a little more aware of how overwraught it is. Like, OVERWRAUGHT! OMG! and this is good for me, because I frequently feel the same way, you know. And this is basically a treatise on artmaking, which ends with the oh-so-revelatory CAN'T FUCKIN STOP THINKING ABOUT YOU! I laughed when I first read the record sleeve, which said that the Thermals were like "falling in love for the first time all over again." I mean, that's a LOT of modifiers. But it's true.
MILK MAN (DEERHOOF) These kids are weird. But this turns out to be the best think to listen to if you wake up and it's snowing. I'LL TAKE YOU TO MY DREAMLAND!
FISTFULL OF LOVE (ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS) This is a fairly recent addition; I bought this record on one of my Monday afternoon binges at Caliban mostly because it has Candy Darling's deathbed picture on the cover, and I've heard good things about Antony's Nina Simone-esque voice. Most of the album hasn't really caught my attention yet because it's all at about the same tempo (and the same total sadness level), but this song is different. It's one of those pain/uplifiting jams that I pretend to be too avant to enjoy. You know the kind. STRAIGHT TO MY HEART. Oh man. After graduation, I put this song on and cried in my bedroom. So, um, you know that now.
I think that's enough. I know I haven't posted anything recently due to the whole graduation crazy train rolling through my life. (Rolling hard, son.) But, to stretch a metaphor, that train is long gone out of the station, and I'm sitting here on my proverbial suitcase, wondering what's going to happen next. But I have the conviction, somehow, that the next part of it all is going to be a lot like FALLING IN LOVE FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL OVER AGAIN.
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