It was late, I had just read a terrible book, I got a little over-inspired. I ended up writing this, which my barely functioning brain imagined as "a cool thing to read while you listen to this new awesome installment of our spring mix". This Volume III, by the way, is meant to be listened in the order in which it's presented, not necessarily in one session, but definitely as a whole. The text is here if you have time to waste.
As usual, this mix has as goal to please your ears with things you might not know or have heard in a different context. Hope you like it.
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1 - The Devil Made You High
Raoul Duke on the highway between LA and Vegas, late afternoon. No possible way to have clear thought. Just need to keep driving, fast. Wind in your face, sunset in your eyes. Keep Driving!
2 - Gloria
Stopped to get gas, otherwise the red shark wasn't going to make it alive out of there. Everything looks old fashioned. Owner tells you this rest area hasn't been renovated since the late sixties, and laughs when he mentions that the fake chrome started peeling off in the mid-eighties. This, somehow, pulls you out of autopilot.
3 - African Nights
That nap on the back seat at the gas station lasted longer than expected. With the last few rays of light, eat kilometers off that empty highway, resorting to counting the regular lines on the road when enumerating cars with Brazilian license plates becomes mildly amusing.
4 - World News
The lane next over is always faster
And you wait so long until you're so bothered
But right after you complete your merge
The lane you started in gets going
And while you wait for your luck to change
All you can think of is where you started
You don't like anything on local radio
So you fumble around 'til you land on NPR
And listen to world news
Well, a bomb went off in the parking lot
Of a newly opened sunni marketplace
And a cloud covers your car at just the right time
For you to see the dark on your face
in the mirror
(Local Natives, Self Titled, Frenchkiss 2010)
5 - Walkabout
Ended up where you wanted. Had a good night's sleep. Walking by the shore, god is sand annoying. Waves attack your hangovered brain like a swarm of blueberry monkeys, and you can't get that stupid song out of your head. Work, day not worth mentionning.
6 - All Caps
Night again. Went through your old hard drive you asked to be sent from home. Some '60s Batman episodes still blow your mind, make you wonder who the hell came up with that stuff.
7 - How They Kill You
Even though shady parts of Gotham City were supposed to make kids scared, that little walk outside after a late cheap dinner scared you more than any overdone makeup ever has.
8 - Forge Of Vulcan
Half dreaming in the subway you took to get home quicker. Flickering hospital lights, alone in the wagon. The long alley of seats turns into the corridors of the Millenium Falcon, expecting to see Luke's head shoot out of the secret smuggling compartment anytime now.
9 - Rhododendron
Back home. Bed never seemed as fluffy, comfortable and welcoming. Daze out into sleep because of pure exhaustion.
10 - Baba O'Riley
Wake up, munch those lucky charms, sing in the shower, listen to a violin solo. Good day ahead, feel like a pirate.
11 - Never Say Die
Another kind of pumped. The coffee kicked in, you could run for miles. Well, probably not, but still. Get out, lock door, more sun. Walking swifly to newspaper stand, smile to the cute neighbour.
12 -Take It Easy
Job's surprisingly tasteless, but the window lets you enjoy the sun. Hang out in the park during lunch break with some friends. Is that a dog chasing a squirrel? Realize how terrible some are at climbing.
13 - No Future Part III : Escape From No Future
Like Rex trying to climb a tree, realize that your efforts to improve your life have basically all failed in the past four years.
"So now at Rock Ridge Pharmacy I will be waiting for my man
But there is another down in the dungeon who never gave up the fight
And he'll be forever screaming sometimes I hear him say on a quiet night
He says
You will always be a loser now
You will always be a loser
You will always be a loser and that's okay"
(Titus Andronicus, The Monitor, XL Recordings 2010)
That's perfectly fine.
14 - Bankrobber
Or is it? Decide you're going to rob a bank. It ends up being a local convenience store. The loot also ends up being a pack of gum. What the heck, you still saved the price of a pack of gum and felt like a thief for 10 seconds.
Gum tastes terrible.
15 - Horny Hippies
"We were walking down the block when we thought the bomb went off
And our hearts nearly stopped at the sound
When we looked and we found that it hit some other crowd
I was glad it wasn't us, yeah I was proud
Cause I fall and I break just as easy as an egg
Yeah, my shell isn't as hard as it seems
When my insides gush out there's no telling what it's about
When it'll stop, when it'll seed, when it'll bleed
Yeah, I just stay in my home, in my home, in my home
Yeah, I just stay in my home, in my home, in my home
Well, I take a look outside at the pretty girls outside
But I can't make myself say "Hi" because I'm scared
Because I spend all this time all locked up inside
It's the only place I know how to bare
Cause you can go out and meet some girl you can't defeat
And you think that she must be the one
Until you're walking down the isle and she takes away your smile
Boy you wish you hadn't dialed before you wrung
Oh you should stay in your home, in your home, in your home
Oh you should stay in your home, in your home, in your home
Well they talk of your past, yeah they said it wouldn't last
But they're running pretty fast back on their word
It was gone for a while but it's coming back in style
Better run back where you're from and join the mass
Yeah we'll just stay in our home, in our homes
Yeah we'll just stay in our home, in our home"
(The Dodos, Beware Of The Maniacs, selfreleased, 2006)
Walk back, read a book, go to bed.
16 - Star Sail
Can't sleep. Try to bore yourself to oblivion. Watch the new episode of Dr. Who, which is obviously a bad choice. But who the hell comes up with this stuff?
17 - Jenny Ondioline
Finally fell asleep. Dream basically foreshadows the two-day road trip you've planned for your weekend, although most of it appears as if those kaleidoscope glasses you've been suggesting to toy companies finally became available. Weird sense of being on autopilot again. The surrounding scenery seems to be strangely repeating. "You'll never get off this road!", seems to be saying this smiling tree on the left. Never ending strip of tarmac ends up being the most mesmerizing thing you've seen since that time you stared at the white album spin on your turntable from
Back In The USSR to
Good Night.
More Spring Songs For More Spring Moments
This mix is organized in a fashion similar to the Spring Mix Numero Uno. To balance that, expect an unrelated but upcoming three-part heavy music mix.
photo : Fares Nasrallah - London, June 2009
JNCT
