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| Funny on so many levels |
Looking through my posts, I noticed a lack of playlists. This seems particularly egregious an error, since I have actually been listening to specific genres of music lately. Hording them for myself, I forgot to share them with everybody else. I apologize.
What I have in store for you today is hopefully not the last of its kind. Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed myself going back to these songs again and again, seeking my nostalgia kick. Most of these songs are fairly recent, and fall mostly under the chillwave or hypnagogic pop subgenres.
Unlike most of my previous playlists, this stuff should strike the casual listener as being vaguely familiar. That’s the way the genres work, by subtly referencing previous works and re-framing it into something brand new. The low fidelity of some of these recordings is deliberate and intentional. Hopefully you’ll be able to fully enjoy these selections, and perhaps I’ll make more playlists in this similar vein, hence the Part I. Or I might have just named it that to mess with your head. Also included is some of what inspired this exploration into the sound in the first place.
1. Outer Limits Recordings – I need my T.V.
I’ve been really digging their sound lately. Conjuring up my past via the best 80s worship I’ve heard for a while. Anybody interested in Ariel Pink would be a fool not to check this awesomeness out. The song will get stuck in your head.
2. The Samps – Yellowjacket
The Samps are a sample-worshipping group. What I like about this particular song is the hypnotic quality the music takes about halfway into the song. Suddenly the sound begins to glide effortlessly and really become something much greater than the sum of its parts. Let the groove overtake you.
3. Rangers – Bear Creek
Going through various Google searches, I see Bear Creek is a small village outside Austin, Texas. Maybe this is where the musician is from, because I do know he’s a Texan. It would explain the certain amount of heart this particular song of his has.
4. Casino Versus Japan – Trad Velecido
American-made ambient done right. I thought about Boards of Canada, but everybody talks about them. Besides, I figured with all the madness going on, there needed to be a break.
5. VHS Head – The Stuff
Perhaps this sort of breaks the lo-fi theme I had. I don’t care. The pop sensibilities are still here, and the samples from VHS tapes make it nostalgic enough. Each segment of the song works perfectly and has a great pulse to it.
6. Games – Shadows in Bloom
Games have impressed me of late. This one’s cut up techniques mesh well with what preceded it, and the keyboards are fantastic. Stupid vocals only make it that much better.
7. Washed Out- Phone Call
Ernest Greene gets a royalty check every time someone mentions chillwave. In his super-secret parent’s house in a well-to-do Georgia town, he created this out of boredom. The reverb saturates the whole thing into a delightful pop morsel.
8. Broadcast and the Focus Group – Royal Chant
Actually, I enjoy both of these groups. For whatever reason, this one spoke to me the most off of the entire album. Once I had finished listening to it, I immediately re-listened to the entire album. This is another palate cleanser sort of track, a bit meditative.
9. R. Stevie Moore – Part of the Problem
Writing about music, I feel I can never talk directly about R. Stevie Moore, only his contribution. This happens to be one of his stronger power pop contributions. I like to think of him as the long-lost ancestor to a lot of the chillwave artists today, like from the Cro-Magnon period or something.
10. Big Troubles – Georgia
Big Troubles lives in the same state as Mr. Moore, the great state of New Jersey. They trade in a similar stock. True to their name, they engage in a very large sound. I’d say this is a good song to drive to.
11. Blank Dogs – Tin Birds
Probably one of the most optimistic songs Blank Dogs ever wrote. I like how the song practically oozes confidence in you. You could run to this song or accomplish something great, since it clearly works as montage music.
12. Greatest Hits – Ambulance
Yeah, I know there’s a bunch of Olde English Spelling Bee stuff on here, but that has probably been one of the savior labels for me this year. Anyway, this brings up the best images of early ADULT.
13. Optiganally Yours – Stop Touching Me
After the intensity of Ambulance, you might need a break. Using only the oldest technology available (some toy from the 60s) they create the purest homemade pop. It sounds like it breaks from the sheer cuteness.
14. Ducktails – Hamilton Road
I now like Ducktails. For whatever reason, I didn’t immediately enjoy this project, but now I get it. Hearing that sound, it reminds me of summer and how far away it is now.
15. Nerve City – Sleepwalker
This is as lo-fi as I’m willing to get. Even with that “recorded from faraway” sound, it retains a certain romantic charm.
16. Nite Jewel – What Did He Say
Seeing Nite Jewel perform this live helped me check one thing off on my things to do before I die list. No one in the audience bothered to dance or react to it. I was upset with this, but I like the slinky approach to song craft she employs with this little ditty.
17. Panda Bear – Alsatian Dam
Hearing this only makes me want his album more. The buildup, a long lost art form, is confidently restored to its rightful place.
18. Todd Rundgren – A Dream Goes On Forever
I never get a chance to play this song for people. This is one of the best pop songs you’ll ever encounter. Shame that Todd didn’t have his entire career filled with these gems.
19. Saint Etienne – Avenue
A habit of all of my mixes is to put some long meaningful song at the end. I’m not sure why long songs should go at the end, but I want people to kind of drift away with that last track. Right at the very end you hear how someone could “Lose Himself in London”. That was part of the ongoing theme of the whole album, which I strongly suggest hearing.
I hope you enjoy this mix. Perhaps there will be a part II to this, since I deleted a lot of my original suggestions for this, either because they lacked heart or soul. Chillwave and hypnagogic pop will never be torn asunder.