Buried In A Good Mix Tape #5: Best of 2010...
Times like these, I wish that I'd been able to attain the artists' collective permission so as to issue this compilation because I'm very happy with how it turned out. Transitions were spot on for the most part, sequencing was decent, song selection was, I thought, varied enough to be unpredictable.
There were, though, a good amount of songs I couldn't include. Below is the playlist and, after that, some credit to the intended inclusions.
As always, I'd really like to hear what you think, so... Hate mail? Comments? Hit me up.
My wife had this to say about Mi Ami's "Harmonics (Genius Of Love): "2010 was an angry year for you, huh? That first song was like ear rape."
I disagree, but still appreciate the comment.
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| Cover image |
Mi Ami – Harmonics (Genius Of Love) (Steal Your Face)
Grinderman – Evil (Grinderman 2)
Liars – No Barrier Fun (Sisterworld)
AFCGT – New Punk 27 (AFCGT LP)
Black Mountain – Let Spirits Ride (Wilderness Heart)
Bird By Snow – There Is A Marriage (Common Wealth)
Maus Haus – Skyward Housing (Sea-Sides EP)
Golden Triangle – Death to Fame (Double Jointer)
Shapes And Sizes – Too Late For Dancing (Candle To Your Eyes)
Gil Scott-Heron – Where Did The Night Go (I'm New Here)
Screaming Females – A New Kid (Castle Talk)
No Age – Skinned (Everything In Between)
Marnie Stern – Female Guitar Players Are The New Black (Marnie Stern)
Wooden Wand – Servant To Blues (Death Seat)
Swans – My Birth (My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky)
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti – Menopause Man (Before Today)
The Black Angels – Haunting at 1300 McKinley (Phosphene Dream)
Menomena – BOTE (Mines)
The Besnard Lakes – Albatross (The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night)
Roky Erickson & Okkervil River – Think Of As One (True Love Cast Out All Evil)
Black Breath – WeWhoCannotBeNamed (Heavy Breathing)
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| Inside cover |
Das Black Milk – "Laissez-Faire" (Talk To Your Body)
An obscure release for 2010, Talk To Your Body by Das Black Milk was one of the better finds of the year for me. "Laissez-Faire" is sort of an amusing hodge podge of electro-stimuli versus high-treble surf rock.
Shipping News – "This Is Not An Exit (Live)" (One Less Heartless To Fear)
Snaky bass line, loud and somber riffs, "This Is Not An Exit" was a song that I went back to more than a few times even AFTER I'd finished my review of this album for Stereokiller.
Floored By Four – "Watt" (Floored By Four)
Just a fun little homage to Booker T & The MGs. Also, the shortest song on the album.
Krieg – "Photographs From An Asylum" (The Isolationist)
This song induces vertigo and raises your skin into acute goose welts.
Paul A. Rosales – "Clarity Dissolve" (Wonder Wheel I)
One of the more interesting songs I'd heard over the course of the year, "Clarity Dissolve" plays like chillwave Joy Division, industrially atmospheric and cold.
Aluk Todolo – (Finsternis)
I'm non-descriptive on the track name because I don't know if ANY of them would've been forgiving enough lengthwise to appear on the compilation. I've been meaning to properly acquire this album, and I still mean to, but in the meantime the promo I was given has two tracks, each one being the full length of either side of the actual LP. So... not sure if 18 minutes of one drone track would've been worthy of selection, though Finsternis was a runner-up for my year end list.
"Deuxième Contact"
Johnny Cash – "Redemption Day" (American VI: Ain't No Grave)
One of the best tunes of the final chapter in the American Series. R.I.P., Johnny.
Untied States – "Wrestling With Entropy in the Rehabbed Factory" (Instant Everything, Constant Nothing)
Sort of a glass shatters oddity wrapped up in Sunny Day emulation. Piano is eerie, percussion clatters.
Avi Buffalo – "Where's Your Dirty Mind?" (Avi Buffalo)
Avi Buffalo’s “Where’s Your Dirty Mind?” is like a teenage pep talk and, every time I hear it, I sort of revert back to those days of unease, want of acceptance and angst. Growing up, many of us heard our parents lie to us and call those developing years “good.” They weren’t good, but the visceral and emotional weight of “becoming” still holds some resonance. Human experiences tend to lose their varnish once those initial steps are made and this song points back and ably conveys a familiar, though thankfully lost, headspace.
High On Fire – "Frost Hammer" (Snakes for the Divine)
Just a loud and battering track, guitarist/throat Matt Pike breaking necks.
Dum Dum Girls – "Bhang, Bhang I'm a Burnout" (I Will Be)
I sort of like the "nyah nyah" vibe of this song, singer Dee Dee prompting her loved ones to hold an intervention as she cheerily admits to smoking herb.
Dinowalrus – "BEAD" (%)
Though I wasn't completely sold on Dinowalrus' %, "BEAD" was one of the coolest songs I'd heard in those early months of 2010. I like the post-punk, Public Image rhythm and the trippy drum loop. Just a solid groove.
Shining – "The Madness and the Damage Done" or "Fisheye" (Blackjazz)
The mix could've used more insanity. And, though, I tried to keep some room for either of these offerings off Shining's Blackjazz album, there was a flow developing that neither song could sustain. I know that that's some nerdy shit right there, but I approach my comps like a producer: sound levels, sequencing, cuts and all.
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
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