Part twenty-nine of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!
Not to be prideful, but this is when I settled into a new house CD mix design style that I am quite proud of it. When I remarked earlier about wishing I’d gone more of a letterbox way with one design, well, this is when I adopted it. I also settled on the serif font that fit my intent.
I have absolutely no idea where or when I took this photo. I imagine it’s another out-of-the-car-window shot. It’s slightly doctored to give it a bit more pop and an ephemeral look, but the sunburst is real as I don’t bother trying to fake that shit. You either capture it or you don’t.
As usual, it looks better in print as this is a low-res output. The tracklist text is far cleaner. If I had to change anything, I’d find a way to incorporate the XXIX title in a more visible way because — even though I designed this cover — I stumbled while trying to find it upon re-opening it years later.
Let’s move on from metal structures! This mix is all over the place, so let’s skip to the highlights:
ESBEN & THE WITCH! Granted, it’s the remix I love here as the electro staggering and static interplay so well with the ethereal vocals. If I heard this while on a club floor? One moment I’d be swaying like a tree, then I’d be twitching around like an out-of-control puppet.
HYSTOIC VEIN! New wave garage punk, all loud and brash and unapologetic!
THE GOOD THE BAD! Sexy instrumental surfer spaghetti western rock! Not to be crass, but this is my kind of bedroom music.
LITERGY! Saw these folks at — of all places — an outdoor Chicago street fest in the blinding sunlight, which is rather antithetical to their mission statement, but I take what I can get. ‘Generation’ is seven minutes of variations on a hard-hitting theme and I am absolutely here for it.
Can you feel the sunset telling you the tracklist format? (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):
- KIMMO POHJONEN / Uniko / Uniko: IV. Kalma – Kimmo Pohjonen
- PARENTHETICAL GIRLS / Privilege, Pt. III: Mend & Make Do / The Pornographer
- EZRA FURMAN & THE HARPOONS / Mysterious Time / Hard Time in a Terrible Land
- FEVER FEVER / Keys in the Bowl/Stage Shoes / Stage Shoes
- HYSTOIC VEIN / FAKE / DECA-DENCE
- BORN GOLD (née GOBBLE GOBBLE) / Bodysongs / Lawn Knives
- BEATS ANTIQUE / Contraption Vol. 1 / Extra Extra
- AUSTRA / Feel It Break / Beat And The Pulse
- ESBEN & THE WITCH / Chorea / Chorea [Christian AIDS] (This video is for the original, not the remix.)
- HAM SANDWICH / White Fox / The Naturist
- THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT / All At Once / All At Once
- ALINA SIMONE / Make Your Own Danger / My Love Is A Mountain
- THE GOOD THE BAD / From 001 to 017 / 006 (This particular track isn’t available to stream, so this video goes to a01 from the same album.)
- ART BRUT / Brilliant! Tragic! / I Am the Psychic (Audio only as it’s unavailable to stream)
- TURISAS / Battle Metal / Sahti Waari
- LITERGY / Aesthethica / Generation
- JOHNNY LOVE / The Switch / Sonora [Udachi]
- LE TIGRE / Le Tigre / Hot Topic (The video here is a live version. Frustratingly, every live version I’ve found excises their shout-outs towards their inspirational creatives for some reason.)
- THE KILLS / Blood Pressures / Future Starts Slow
- X-RAY SPECS / Oh Bondage Up Yours! / Oh Bondage Up Yours!