On a messageboard I frequent, readers were asked to make a Summer mixtape for the impending Solstice. So, here’s mine:
What’s on it, you ask?
Like any good tape, it’s divided into two sides: Past and Present. Past is songs I associate with past summers, and Present is, well, this summer.
Past
1. Depeche Mode: Enjoy the Silence – Summer of 1990. More responsible for making me the electronic music freak I am than any other song, ever. It was totally worth staying up late that one night to see the video. Strangely, MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” followed it, but it hasn’t had quite the same effect on me.
2. The Cure: Friday I’m in Love – Summer of 1992. I know. Give me grief, Cure-haters. But Wish was the soundtrack to the Summer of 1992, as far as I’m concerned, and this was The Jam. These days, my favorite track of the Wish era is Wendy Time, or the B-side to this (Halo), but this was the tune of the day.
3. The Button: Examination Room – Summer of 1998. Yeah, a little self-promotion. Much of the summer of 1998 was spent recording this album. This was probably my favorite track to make, recorded in three passes (all instruments sans Theremin, Theremin later when Russ visited, and then the samples).
4. Guided By Voices: I Am A Scientist – Summer of 2002. During Studio-A-Rama 2002, a cute girl asked me out. Later, while GBV played this song, I kissed her. We got married three years later.
5. Swedish Rhapsody (from the CONET project) – Summer of 2008. Those of you who attended Scorched Nuts 2008 know. Besides, the set needed just a hint of noise.
Present
6. Lazer Crystal: Love Rhombus – Arguably the weakest track here (though I’m sure track #2’s or #5’s detractors will disagree). I mostly love the title, but it’s a nice downtempo-y thing.
7. Parallels: Vienna – This fairly new Toronto band is awash in awesome arpeggiation. Like thunderbolts and lightning.
8. Mount Sims: Escape Hatch – I sadly just discovered this artist/song. Anyone who has known about it since 2003 and didn’t tell me is On Notice. The chorus is the greatest I’ve heard since Curve’s Unreadable Communication.
9. The Juan MacLean: Happy House – This entire album(The Future Will Come) is the best thing the Human League isn’t going to release this year. Too bad I had to miss them at the Grog Shop last night. Yeah, it’s twelve and a half minutes long, but every single one is so damn…excellent.
10. Klein & M.B.O.: Dirty Talk – this 1982 slice of Italo-disco/electro hybrid has been routinely blowing my mind for the last year or so, but hell with it, it’s my favorite track of the moment. It goes in the mix. It’s made of magic. To make up for the length of the previous track, I chose the shortest version of this that I have, at a mere 3’48”.