(w/ Cavern of Anti-Matter, Can, Neu!, Belbury Poly, Broadcast, Moon Wiring Club, Eno, Moebius & Roedelius, The Belbury Circle, Goblin, Francois de Roubaix, Dymaxion, The Group, Tortoise, Harmonia, Barry Adamson, Pye Corner Audio, Sinoia Caves, ToiToiToi, Seeland, Steve Moore, and more!)
A long journey but a worthwhile one I think - includes music from the film In Fabric by Cavern of Anti-Matter, which were extracted from the film by me (the soundtrack should see official release early next year) and "re-mixed"/EQ'd to sound as good as possible. The soundtrack to the film is wonderful (the film itself is quite good). If you'd like an mp3 of this show, get in touch! I really think this mix came out very well - I hope you enjoy it!
There's a very lovely post over at The Future Crayon on the occasion of Trish's birthday. Please check it out.
I'd like to repost a couple of mixes I made in honor of Trish on her birthday the past two years; I considered making a new one but I quite like these and think they stand up pretty well.
Can, Broadcast, Tortoise, Harmonia, Gwenno, Nino Ferrer, Vanishing Twin, Stereolab, Don Harper, Catharsis, Death And Vanilla, The High Llamas, Camille Sauvage, Moon Wiring Club, Jane Weaver, Peter Thomas, The Pawnshop, Polish Radio Orchestra, Emil Richards, Eolomea, and more (I'll post the full tracklist here in the next few days - Mixcloud goobered it up. Until then, I hope you enjoy! If you would like the mp3 of the full show, just let me know!)
(w/ Francois De Roubaix, Jean-Claude Vannier, Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Jane Birkin, Michel Colombier, Francoise Hardy, Guy Bonnet, France Gall, April March, Aquaserge, Brigitte Bardot, Caravelli, Brigitte Fontaine, Christophe, Catharsis, Mireille Darc, Les Roches Martin, and more)
(w/ Claude Lombard, Delia Derbyshire, Stelvio Cipriani, Moon Wiring Club, Vanishing Twin, Peaking Lights, Ennio Morricone, Broadcast, Death And Vanilla, Pram, Brigitte Fontaine, Stereolab, Boards Of Canada, Svensk, The Galaxy Electric, and more) - I previously uploaded this mix but quickly took it down due to the audio getting screwed up; I fixed it and re-uploaded it. A bit on the long side but hopefully worth it. As always if you want a copy in mp3 format (or really any format) just let me know!
“Footprints On The Moon” – Johnny Harris “Reflections On A Misty Morning” – Brian Bennett “Maldonne” – Vladimir Cosma “Summer’s Bird” – Hong Kong In The 60s “Volto di Donna” – Orgasmo Sonore “Guitare Blessee” – Claude Perraudin “Wind Surf Ballad” – Dominique Guiot “Argepegs d’April” – Bougiouzis & Verschu “Tournis Perpétuel” – Caravelli “Chanson D'o” – Francoise Hardy “Happiness Is Having Two Killer Whales As Friends” – Stelvio Cipriani “Profumo Della Notte” – Giuliano Sorgini “Extase” – Alessandro Alessandroni “A New World” – Brian Bennett “Selvaggia” (Cinevox) – Bixio-Tempura-Frizzi “Il N'y A Pas D'accord Parfait” – Bougiouzis & Verschu “Theresa Lark Of Ascension” – Broadcast “Le Petit Casino” – Claude Perraudin "Les Deux Poissons” – Dominique Guiot “Fuite en Zig-Zag” – Caravelli “La Solitude” – Francis Lai "Fatiguee" – Francoise Hardy "She’ll Never Come Back" – Stelvio Cipriani "Dans la Serre" – Vladimir Cosma "Amore Come Dolore" – Ennio Morricone
(w/ The High Llamas, Aquaserge, The New Lines, Stereolab, Serge Gainsbourg, April March, John Foxx and The Belbury Circle, Testbild!, Orgasmo Sonore, The Vampires of Dartmoore, John Barry, David Axelrod, Broadcast, Leonie, Sven Grunberg, Karin Krog, and more)
(w/ Can, Broadcast, Death And Vanilla, David Axelrod, Gila, Belbury Poly, Stereolab, The Soundcarriers, The New Lines, Adrian Younge, Little Tornados, Electric Prunes, Ian Neal, Claude Perraudin, Dominique Guiot, Testbild!, Orgasmo Sonore, Benjamin Schoos, Spratleys Japs, Gerard Zadj, Simon Park, Giuliano Sorgini, and more)
1. Telegraph Is Calling (The Pawnshop) 2. Girl & Robot With Flowers, Pt. 4 (The Greg Foat Group) 3. Balloons (Peter Pan & The Good Fairies) 4. La Dimostrazione (Daniele Patucchi) 5. Telescope (Vanishing Twin) 6. Italian Shoes Continuum (Stereolab) 7. Dioz Delirium (Death And Vanilla) 8. Gebrauchmusik (Dymaxion) 9. Terminal To Nothingness (ToiToiToi) 10. Synthetic Rendezvous (Alessandro Alessandroni) 11. Superpotenza (Farlocco) 12. Garcon Glacon (April March) 13. Run (Air) 14. 69 Annee Erotique (Serge Gainsbourg) 15. Fragment Pour Le Future de L'homme (Laetitia Sadier) 16. Swingin' Millie (Ian Simmonds) 17. Endless Pursuits Of What Doesn't Exist (The Predicate Production Group) 18. Mad Town (Giuliano Sorgini) 19. Vai Gorilla (Bixio/Frizzi/Tempera) 20. Privacy (Freedom Power) 21. I've Glimpsed At You (Sandro Brugnolini) 22. Caballo Salvaje (Unidades) 23. Indagine Su Un Cittadino Al Di Sopra Di Ogni Sospetto (Calibro 35) 24. Be Quite (Jean Jacques Dexter) 25. Radio Galaxia (Jean-Pierre Massiera) 26. Cumulus Culture Centre (ToiToiToi) 27. Momento (Alessandro Alessandroni) 28. Stuffed Aubergine (Vangelis) 29. Magician's Success (Vanishing Twin) 30. L'arbre Et L'oiseau (Claude Lombard) 31. Les Bons Bons Des Raisons (Stereolab) 32. Can Cladders (The High Llamas) 33. Yamanaka Lake (Giovanni Tommaso) 34. Koweth Ker (Gwenno) 35. Only An Ocean (Lake Ruth and Listening Center) 36. Reality From Dream (Death And Vanilla)
1. Empty Avenues (John Foxx and The Belbury Circle) 2. A Flaw In The Iris (LP) (Death And Vanilla) 3. L’erba di Prima (Orgasmo Sonore) 4. Mutatis Mutandis (Cosmic Analog Ensemble) 5. Privolva (Jacco Gardner) 6. Chanctonbury Rings (Belbury Poly) 7. You Are Not An Island (LP) (Vanishing Twin) 8. Moodles (Stereolab) 9. The Clockwork Lighthouse (Pram) 10. Lady Greenfingers (Moon Wiring Club) 11. I-Man Transport (Dymaxion) 12. Element (Loops Variation) (Jane Weaver) 13. Nosferato (M.A BEAT!) 14. Galactic Flare (Retep Folo) 15. Electrocation of Fire Ants (TURN ON) 16. Golau Arall (Gwenno) 17. Locusts (Broadcast) 18. Movin’ On Static (Cavern of Anti-Matter) 19. Descent (Jacco Gardner) 20. Golden Apples Of The Sun (Beautify Junkyards) 21. A Victimless Crime (Lake Ruth) 22. Styx (Catharsis) 23. Red Mountain (Christophe) 24. Reception / Group Therapy (Broadcast and The Focus Group) 25. Procession Of The Equinoxes (Moon Wiring Club) 26. My Shade (Inst.) (The Pawnshop) 27. Spectre (Arkham) 28. Generique (Alain Goraguer) 29. Planete Sauvage (LP) (Vanishing Twin) 30. L’Interrogatoire (Jacky Chalard) 31. Lune Gibbeuse (Cosmic Analog Ensemble) 32. Bolero On The Moon Rocks (Peter Thomas) 33. Ballad For Bernt (Krzysztof Komeda) 34. Ballad For Bernt (Testbild!)
ABBA is likely the last group I would be expected to like (and I don't love them, but they are good fun and perhaps underrated as artists), but this song struck me lately. The lyrics are kept somewhat vague as to the "You" (the music video takes the obvious romantic angle, though I don't necessarily believe that means they intended the song to be interpreted that way). It's actually a bit clever - I would assume most would interpret it as a romantic song, but the mood of it suggests to me that it's something else. Maybe someone looking back on their life before crossing paths with someone who would irrevocably alter their life - maybe sung from the other side of a breakup. But I think the song could also be taken to mean something else other than a person. The reason the song has been in my head off and on for several months is because I have formed a personal interpretation of the song to be referring to an affliction.
A little over a year ago I had a strange feeling in the palm of my right hand. It was about the size of a quarter. It's hard to explain what it felt like - it was just a sensation. I had tripped going up a nasty set of stairs and fallen forward onto my hands; it wasn't a hard fall, but I assumed the feeling in my hand was from that. I've always been clumsy. That feeling lasted a couple of months, and was more annoying than anything else - it wasn't painful, or particularly concerning, and it didn't interfere with my life. Then, over the course of about a week, the feeling spread throughout my hand until my entire hand - and eventually my forearm all the way up to just shy of my elbow - had this feeling, and then very quickly it progressed to my losing the vast majority of sensation in my hand and forearm. I went to urgent care, got x-rays, all came back fine. As a few more days passed, I basically lost most of the use of my right hand. I described it as feeling like placing my hand into the wet sand on a beach and pulling it out with sand caked on my hand that blocks sensation and feels, for lack of a better term, rough. There was no pain. It was then assumed it was either muscle pinching a nerve (I was pretty tense at the time) or a problem in my spike, such as spinal stenosis. I got sent for an MRI on a Friday, and on Monday I was given the news that I had multiple sclerosis.
Where I am with MS is called "clinically isolated syndrome." There are no other symptoms in my past that can be linked to MS. I have had symptoms that could be MS, but there are other explanations for those things so the doctors and I are of the assumption that those other explanations are true, so we consider this one "attack" to be my first symptom. That is good news of a sort - many people go years before a diagnosis, especially if the person has relapsing-remitting MS; the symptoms go away as the body heals the damage to the nerve, and the symptoms generally then also retreat. Not without some lasting issues, though. Scar tissue on the nerves inhibit the nervous system from working at full capacity. Like if you had a damaged wire or hose - it may still work, but it won't work as well as it did before the damage was done. (Not a great analogy, I know.) As the issue cleared up on its own - I have not yet been recommended to take MS medication - I went through a brief phase of spasticity in my hand (which spread into my left hand occasionally as well), but after several weeks it completely cleared up. But some problems remain. Namely, I had to relearn coordination. Because the nerve leading to my hand and arm was damaged and now has scar tissue on it, it's...lopsided? For lack of a better description. So getting my hands to work in tandem is still a struggle, though it is improving quite well. Playing guitar - which my doctor considers part of my physical therapy - became a frustration. Keyboards too. I'm not a virtuoso, in fact I am not well versed in music theory nor do I have a great deal of knowledge as it comes to scales and things like that. But I have been playing guitar since I was 12. Keyboards were a more recent thing for me, but I learned well enough to play what I want to play. Now I have to relearn those things. Having to relearn guitar especially is maddening. But, this is the hand I was dealt, and I'm not going to give up on playing and writing - it is just hitting snags.
In a week or two I go in for another MRI, this one much more extensive. I have not thus far seen a scan of my brain. Only my spinal cord. It would be dishonest to say I am not scared of what we might find.
Like my interpretation of ABBA's "The Day Before You Came," MS has created a dividing line in my life, a sort of BC and AD - before MS, and after MS. I suspect the MRI will reinforce that feeling. Like the protagonist in that song, I often think about my life before the MS took hold. In a strange way, my life is far better now, in general, than it was then. I plan to fight to continue that trend - I'm not discouraged or considering slowing down my writing and musical project. It has been made that much more difficult for me, and is making it slower going than I would hope (not that I work quickly in the first place), but forward is the only direction I know how to go in.
Hopefully soon there will be some news on that front. I may ask some of the incredible musicians I know if they would like to / be willing to collaborate in some small ways. No matter what, I keep going.
1. Prairies (Orgasmo Sonore) 2. Les Aimies Des Memes (Stereolab) 3. Lady Magnolia (Remix) (Piero Umiliani) 4. Did You See Butterflies (Loops Variation) (Jane Weaver) 5. Eye Bath (Death And Vanilla) 6. Cryonic Suspension May Save Your Life (LP) (Vanishing Twin) 7. Golden Vale Nurseries (Moon Wiring Club) 8. Past Navigator (Jacco Gardner) 9. The American Scene (The High Llamas) 10. Galactic Pulse (Retep Folo) 11. Gus the Mynah Bird (Stereolab) 12. Gimmickry Hoax Sensation (Turn On) 13. Milk Loop (Jane Weaver) 14. Murs Libres (Cosmic Analog Ensemble) 15. Moonlight Drive (Orgasmo Sonore) 16. Yeh Aaj Mujh Ko (Tafo Brothers) 17. Journalist Writer (Selda) 18. Piramide (7”) (Beautify Junkyards) 19. Ferber Endormi (Christophe) 20. Broken Folk (Keith Seatman) 21. As She Entered (The Predicate Production Guild) 22. Backstroke (Vanishing Twin) 23. Creatures Of The Day (Moon Wiring Club) 24. Found Birds / Mission Desire (Loops Variation) (Jane Weaver) 25. Let’s Never Leave Here (LP) (Death And Vanilla) 26. Eternels Retours Du Sentiment (Cosmic Analog Ensemble) 27. Lagrangian Point (Jacco Gardner) 28. Panoramica (Remix) (Piero Umiliani) 29. KRK (At Home In Strange Places) (LP) (Vanishing Twin) 30. Toy Planet (Irmin Schmidt and Bruno Spoerri) 31. Galactic Dream (Retep Folo) 32. Attractive Suntrap (Moon Wiring Club) 33. The Liminal Space (Children Of Alice)
1. Banbury Grove (Hong Kong In The 60s) 2. Spirals (April March & Aquaserge) 3. La Spirale (Stereolab) 4. Spiralis (Calibro 35) 5. Wise Children (Vanishing Twin) 6. Courante (Hell Preachers Inc.) 7. Children Ask (If He Is Dead) (Power) 8. A Record Hi (Friar Tuck) 9. Time Will Come (The Soundcarriers) 10. In The Garden (Little Tornados) 11. Beamsley Beacon (Directing Hand) 12. Absolutely Curtains (Pink Floyd) 13. A L’amitie (Aquaserge) 14. Memory Band (Rotary Connection) 15. Triads (The High Llamas) 16. Anxiety (Polish Radio Orchestra) 17. L’erba Di Prima (Rino De Filippi) 18. L’uomo E La Cita (Remix) (Piero Umiliani) 19. Cander (Modern Sound Quartet) 20. White Neck (Barigozzi Group) 21. Psyco (Freedom Power) 22. Spiral (John Saunders) 23. We Don’t Care (Vampires’ Sound Incorporated) 24. Ingranaggi Pesamti (Giuliano Sorgini) 25. Hyde Park (I Marc 4) 26. Acquarius (Modern Sound Quartet) 27. Dead Slow (Tonio Rubio) 28. Walking In The Dark (Remix) (Stefano Torossi) 29. Invisible World (Vanishing Twin) 30. Si Je T’Offrais Une Branche D’Amour (La Mandragore) (Jacky Chalard)
1. Another Day (Ray, Goodman and Brown) 2. Let’s Never Leave Here (Death And Vanilla) 3. Cosmic Country Noir (Stereolab) 4. This Early Broadminded’s Emptiness (Hiroshi & Claudia) 5. Privolva (Jacco Gardner) 6. Your Rainbow Colour Changer (Damscray) 7. Demain Le Jour Se Leva (A. Blonksteiner) 8. Folk Ghost (Douglas Wood) 9. Personal Movie (Bob Ray) 10. Sylvia (Arthur Verocai) 11. Six Against Eight (DC Fontana) 12. Music, The Reason Of Our Happiness (Mad Curry) 13. Speed My Speed (Alain Kan) 14. Soleil (Michel Colombier) 15. Egyptian Kings (Brainticket) 16. Savior Machine (David Bowie) 17. Where The Wild Things Are (Alcatraz) 18. Dream If You Can (Flake) 19. Shortwave Fields (Lumerians) 20. Bas Jan Ader (Testbild!) 21. The Only Earthman In Town (Cressida) 22. You’re Too Incomprehensible (Tages) (LP) 23. The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas (Nick Garrie) 24. Like It Never Was (Paul Vigrass) 25. I Like Blue (Yellow Hammer) 26. Another Day (Air)
1. Nothing Is Real (Death And Vanilla) 2. Eggs (Vanishing Twin) 3. Levania (Jacco Gardner) 4. Nefolaidd (Gwenno) 5. Redeemer (Karen O & Danger Mouse) 6. VV (Lake Ruth) 7. Nightmares (The Galaxy Electric) 8. Burning Bridges (The New Lines) 9. Burning Bridges (Pink Floyd) 10. Solid Food Invented By Tigers (Testbild!) 11. Eclipse (Jacco Gardner) 12. Cops & Their Wives (Post Industrial Boys) 13. Don’t Take My Soul (Jane Weaver) 14. The American Scene (The High Llamas) 15. Flamingo (Tara King Th.) 16. L’Avventura (Stone et Charden) 17. Mister Nabukov (Guy Bonnet) (LP) 18. Je Veux Te Dire Une Chanson (Angelillo et Hamel) (LP) 19. J’Entends Des Voix (April March & Aquaserge) 20. Vota Ubu (Vanishing Twin) 21. A Flaw In The Iris (Death And Vanilla) 22. Stwff (Gwenno) 23. Cul De Sac (Komeda) 24. The World Backwards (Broadcast) 25. Birds Of America (Lake Ruth) 26. Agistri (Heather Trost) 27. Cut The Dummy Loose (The High Llamas) 28. Shirley Dreams (Testbild!)
Yes, it's been a while, but I've not totally abandoned having a blog. Something came up, then another something, then a few more somethings, then a few whatevers. I plan to post more - and post things other than just my mixes - but for the mixes I didn't post here you can obviously find them here.
I'll be posting some of my past favorites, and then post future ones as I make them. I'll also have other things to post - news, thoughts, and whatever - as soon as I have time to sit down and do them justice. Until then...
