CHOCOLATE GRINDER
"How Many Roads Must a Man Is Dust in the Wind"
[October 2009]
First of all, let me apologize for my last Chocolate Grinder blurb. I was seriously high as fuck when I wrote that. This time, let me talk about the music at hand. We have a collection of "Eureka!"-style artists that I tried to make exist in the same universe (Earth 616). Assuming anyone listens to these mixes, you’ll hopefully find that this one is constructed like an actual album!!! The GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME. Each track exemplifies the deemphasis of structure in modern music, with focus on dream-like repetition that maintains interest through dynamic and timbral shifts. Basically, these songs are bolstered by musical devices other than big chord changes, whether they be subterranean recording qualities, bouts of silence, or overwhelming swaths of distortion. Each section of the mix also loosely represents bubbling trends in 2009-music — trends that I’m not going to explain right now (because I’m full of shit). You can just hear for yourself!
01. HEALTH - "Before Tigers" (Get Color)Start time: 0:00; Links: Lovepump United - HEALTH
02. Forest Creatures - "Edit 6" (Frustrated Analogue)
03. Oneohtrix Point Never - "Hyperdawn" (Zones Without People)
04. Flower Man - "Mirrors in Orbit" (Exotic Cameo)
05. Ducktails - "Parasailing" (Split 7")
06. Elegi - "Arvesølv" (Varde)
07. nmperign - "Prey" (Ommatidia)
08. Æthenor - "IV" (Faking Gold and Murder)
09. Zs - "MMW I (Part I)" (Music of the Modern White)
10. Hjarnidaudi - "Part I" (Psyko:Stare:Void)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Cornbread, ain’t nothin’ wrong with that"
[October 2009]
I may be an insufferably white dork from Canada, but I likes me a good broken beat. The odd vocalization of nostalgic pondering or social protest is icing on that bass-laden cake. This here mix tape is the nasty bidnezz, starting off with some more ambient, glitchy numbers before progressing to raucous old-school-flavored beats and booty-shaking breaks, with a righteous rant from future superstar B. Dolan that you will not soon forget. However, if you’re looking for guns, bitches, and bling, you are probably talking to the wrong corn-fed honkey.
01. Deru - "Fadeaway" (Say Goodbye To Useless)02. Loden - "My Face Came Off" (Buggy)
03. The Slew - "It’s All Over" (100%)
04. B. Dolan - "Open Letter To J. T." (House Of Bees Vol. 1)
05. Peter, Bjorn and John - "Stay This Way (DJ Jazzy Jeff Remix)" (Re-Living Thing)
06. Dynas - "The Future feat. DJ Jazzy Jeff" (The Apartment)
07. An-Ten-Nae - "Warning feat. Buccaneer" (Acid Crunk EP 5)
08. Timonkey - "Fembot Serenade" (Molecular Forest)
09. Anti-Pop Consortium - "Volcano (Four Tet Remix)" (Volcano single)
10. The Herbaliser Band - "Blackwater Drive" (Session 2)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Foot Village’s Intelligence Report: Summer 2009"
[September 2009]
[This is a guest mix made by Foot Village. Their latest album is Anti-Magic, which was recently released on Upset the Rhythm.]
All of us in Foot Village love D&D. All of us. Especially Citizen Lee. Nerds we are. So, when it comes to music listening, we try to represent our nerdy taste in the most shallow way possible. So here is a mix dedicated to to the letters D&D. A Doom & Disco mix. From the 20,000-leagues-under-the-sea melodies of Clipd Beaks to the staccato static beats of Big Digits to bands that seemlessly blend the genres of dronemetal and dancefloor like Captain Ahab and Pictureplane. We also love chanting, so you get lots of it in here — especially of the Lost Boys OST sort. So, open up an animated GIF of a Warcraft Orc doing the Soulja Boy Tell ’Em dance and enjoy. We’re here in LA, sucking up the smoke while the hills burn like the chimneys of Apokolips. Hope you forgive us if this summer is more about zone-trooping and reading Ziggy comics for us than the beach-bashes you are used to.
01. XBXRX - "Curso e Famine" (Un Usper)02. Big Digits - "Making Progress" (TBA)
03. Fartbarf - "Play the Game" (Self-titled)
04. Clipd Beaks - "Dust" (To Realize)
05. Alaskas - "Unshackled" (Set Yourself Free)
06. TITS - "Cheap Echoes" (Second Base)
07. Kinit Her - "Nagas Litany" (Glyms or Beame of Radicall Truthes)
08. Thee Oh Sees - "Go Meet the Seed" (Help)
09. Pictureplane - "Tance Doll" (Dark Rift)
10. Captain Ahab - "Feel Anymore" (The End of Irony)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Bass In Yer Goat’s Face"
[September 2009]
This has been a good year for the beat, and dubstep especially: bass worship is on the rise. Leading the charge is the consistent Muti Music. Label boss Dov kicks things off with a deep Single Cell Orchestra remix of his latest single, one of four Muti tracks featured here. Massive warps from Spoonbill associate Editor and Kid606’s latest signing Humanleft add a certain color missing in this post-Analog Worms Attack era, while Sbtrkt and Rude Kid blanket eardrum-blowing lower frequencies over new singles from Echaskech and Juice Aleem (who both have hotly anticipated records coming out now-ish). Closing the mix, I’m very excited to showcase Shambhala institution Bassnestar’s usual high standard of political breaks. These artists are the true face of independent electronic music, but whether or not you’ve heard of any of them before doesn’t really matter, just as long as you listen to this mix on the biggest system you have access to. The sound of these 10 windshield-cracking, pop-fizzing, speaker-humping, picture frame-tilting block rockers will speak for themselves louder than any drivel that oozes off my keyboard. Crank it up, fuckers!
01. Dov - "Earth Bleed (Single Cell Orchestra Remix)" (Earth Bleed EP)02. Editor - "Space Grub" (Interview Techniques)
03. Kether - "Graffitti" (Marine Layer EP)
04. Juice Aleem - "First Lesson (Rude Kid Remix)" (First Lesson single)
05. Siren - "7th Level" (Spawn)
06. Humanleft - "Got Beatz" (Roarr EP)
07. King Cannibal - "Dirt feat. Daddy Freddy" (So... Embrace The Minimum single)
08. Echaskech - "Future Sex (Sbtrkt Remix)" (Future Sex single)
09. T.O.B. - "Thwomp Attack!!" (The Next Level EP)
10. Bassnectar - "Art Of Revolution (Original)" (Art Of Revolution single)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Hatching Under the Belly of the Flowering Cerebellum"
[August 2009]
I can’t help but feel like an ass for plucking some of these songs from their original contexts. Several tracks — like Mount Eerie’s "(something)," John Wiese’s "Mystical Finland," and especially Kreng’s "Meisje In Auto" (which you should seek out ASAP) — hinge heavily on the flow intended by the artist. My concern, though, would put into question a whole host of things — not only mix tapes, but sampling and radio, musique-concrète and iPods. Besides, the idea of The Album as something sacred, something untouchable is silly. Am I not allowed to bend symbols at my will? Am I supposed to sit passively and consume music only under conditions laid out by the artists? Of course not. But I still feel like an ass sometimes.
01. Eric Copeland - "Al Anon" (Alien in a Garbage Dump)02. Bird Names - "Taxicabs And Bicycles" (Sings the Browns)
03. Julian Lynch - "Two Babes in the Woods" (Lefse Records Compilation)
04. Mount Eerie - "(something)" (Wind’s Poem)
05. Kurt Vile - "Overnite Religion" (Childish Prodigy)
06. Circulatory System - "I You We" (Signal Morning)
07. John Wiese - "Mystical Finland (excerpt)" (Circle Snare)
08. Evangelista - "The Slayer (promo)" (Prince of Truth)
09. Ourself Beside Me - "Improvisation I" (Ourself Beside Me)
10. Kreng - "Meisje In Auto (naar Prelude No. 20 In C Minor Van F. Chopin)" (L’Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"I Can See Through Time"
[August 2009]
Every year since I started writing reviews, I have heard at least one fellow critic say words to the effect of "this has been a slow year for [insert genre] or music in general." Well, from where I’m sitting, music looks like it’s doing pretty damn good for itself. Independent music is rife with exuberant brilliance waiting to be discovered and appreciated, regardless of its surrounding hype or lack thereof. If you think music’s offerings have been feeble lately, you need to branch out and listen to more of it. Take a chance on something you may know little or nothing about. Granted, it’s an often underwhelming process, but every so often, you will find one album that will unquestionably make it all worth the effort. These mixes are the result of my journey through sound, and I hope they inspire you to tread different paths of your own. This is the most exciting and dynamic time we could ever hope to be alive.
01. Longwalkshortdock - "Born At Night" (Casual Tea)02. The Lava Children - "Particles" (The Lava Children EP)
03. Battlehooch - "Take The L Train" (Piecechow)
04. The Gaslamp Killer - "Anything Worse" (My Troubled Mind)
05. Damian Lazarus - "Come And Play" (Smoke The Monster Out)
06. DJ Food - "Tricky Little Ears (The Cheech Wizard Pays Respect To All Living Creatures Who Inhabit Dark Places)" (One Man’s Weird Is Another Man’s World EP)
07. Ochre - "Napolese" (Like Dust Of The Balance)
08. Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra - "Radioactive People" (Takes Off!)
09. Speech Debelle - "Bad Boy" (Speech Therapy)
10. Throw Me The Statue - "The Outer Folds" (Creaturesque)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Plain #7 with no pickles or onions"
[July 2009]
"I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance," said Friedrich Nietzsche. "We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance," states a Japanese proverb. "Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room," said Kurt Vonnegut. "Dancers are the athletes of God," said Albert Einstein. "Any problem in the world can be solved by dancing," said James Brown. "To shake your rump is to be environmentally aware," said David Byrne. "Never trust spiritual leader who cannot dance," said Mr. Miyagi.
01. Bachelorette - "Mindwarp" (My Electric Family)02. Anti-Pop Consortium - "Apparently" (Fluorescent Black)
03. The Herbaliser Band - "Geddim!" (Session 2)
04. Giant Cookie Monster - "Orange Bat theme" (Orange Bat)
05. Neon Indian - "Terminally Chill" (Psychic Chasms)
06. Mos Def - "Auditorium [ft. Slick Rick]" (The Ecstatic)
07. Black Lips - "The Drop I Hold [ft. GZA]" (The Drop I Hold EP)
08. Miss Kittin & The Hacker - "Electronic City" (TWO)
09. Jónsi & Alex - "Boy 1904" (Riceboy Sleeps)
10. YACHT - "Psychic City" (See Mystery Lights)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Palin/Gingrich 2012"
[July 2009]
How many of you feel disillusioned with the Obama administration thus far? I know, in hindsight it seems foolish to think idealism might have railroaded policy through Congress, even with the fuckin’ deck stacked. Either America was built to run on slow, incremental progress, or the two parties are becoming absurdly centrist. It must be the former, ’cause I could have sworn Obama was a raging atheist; he seemed smart with big ideas, but even a guy like him remains a whore to our political process? I guess I’ve known for a while that a new President couldn’t veer that far from their predecessor’s path, but, oh god... Bush vs. Obama? It’s in your face this time. This mix is full of songs that I thought had a vaguely 1970s feeling. They’re all filled with life and, except for Bat For Lashes, some form of joy. It’s too easy to make sad songs; I like songs that fill more vague emotional places — if you’re feeling bittersweet, then a happy song can be sad as hell, but rarely the other way around.
01. Yuksek - "I Could Never Be A Dancer" (Away From The Sea)02. Shogun Kunitoki - "Riddarholmen" (Vinonaamakasio)
03. What’s Up? - "Seasoning’s Greeting" (Content Imagination)
04. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - "Can’t Hear My Eyes" (Can’t Hear My Eyes 7")
05. Bat For Lashes - "The Big Sleep" (Two Suns)
06. Zu - "Erinys" (Carboniferous)
07. Aavikko - "Specto Supernus" (Novo Atlantis)
08. Cheer-Accident - "And Then You Realize You Haven’t Left Yet" (Fear Draws Misfortune)
09. Blank Dogs - "No Compass" (Under And Under)
10. Javelin - "Vibrationz" (Jamz n Jemz)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"The Man Who Made A Beast Of Himself"
[June 2009]
I love variety, and for this mix I’ve selected the spaciest hip-hop, the creepiest electronica, and the freakiest folk, making it the perfect concoction to soundtrack the depths of your next ether binge. Through the latest bloopy gifts from Alpha Pup, an epic progressive selection from prodigy Nathan Fake, and bizarre indie electronic hybrids from Niobe and Joan Of Arc, Chocolate Grinder is proud to bring you some of the most spectacular mutants of the year, too weird to live, too rare to die. Unusual for the series, recent re-releases have placed tracks from Young MC’s 1989 debut (no, I didn’t pick "Bust A Move") and the 70s recordings of the gloriously absurd Kath Bloom in the CG range. As a TMT reader, you get used to things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth, but nobody should be asked to handle this trip.
01. Ras G - "Earthly Matters" (Brotha From Anotha Planet)02. Nosaj Thing - "Us" (Drift)
03. Serengeti & Polyphonic - "My Patriotism" (Terradactyl)
04. Young MC - "Non Stop" (Stone Cold Rhymin’)
05. Voodeux - "3rd Floor" (The Paranormal)
06. Nathan Fake - "Castle Rising" (Hard Islands)
07. Kath Bloom - "The Breeze/My Baby Cries" (Love Takes This Course)
08. Fink - "Six Weeks" (Sort Of Revolution)
09. Joan Of Arc - "Flowers" (Flowers)
10. Niobe - "Lovely Day" (Blackbird’s Echo)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even"
[June 2009]
I titled this mix after Marcel Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (a.k.a. The Large Glass), an artwork from which the title Chocolate Grinder derives its name. For an artist who (in)famously submitted a toilet to an art show, I thought it appropriate to cobble together a mix of tunes that hinge more heavily on context for "understanding." (Not that you can’t go in blind, if that’s your thing.) My last mix was about as rock as I get, so this time I primarily emphasized songs that were either more overtly fluid (Mountains, Andrew Broder) or so grippingly visceral (Talibam!, John Wiese) that you can’t help but reexamine our heftiest mythologies. I also included an older track, "His Mister’s Pet Whistles," from the forthcoming reissue of the criminally overlooked Major Organ release. Sit tight and you’ll get some consonance toward the end.
01. Nice at Home - "Never Use a Condom More Than Once" (Visitor)02. Pink Mountain - "Thee Red Lion" (Pink Mountain)
03. Sore Eros - "Below It Begins" (Second Chants)
04. Major Organ and the Adding Machine - "His Mister’s Pet Whistles" (Major Organ and the Adding Machine)
05. Andrew Broder - "Where The Guy Gets Killed" (Spiraling)
06. Talibam! - "Entertaining The After Beast" (Boogie In The Breeze Blocks)
07. Oneida - "What’s Up, Jackal" (Rated O)
08. John Wiese - "Circle Snare (Second Part)" (Circle Snare)
09. Mountains - "Choral" (Choral)
10. James Blackshaw - "Cross" (The Glass Bead Game)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"From: Keith, For: Meghan McCain"
[May 2009]
In case you were wondering, we try to get permission for all the songs on these Chocolate Grinder mixes. We’ll ask record labels, management, and publicists to use an artist’s material, but we rarely contact the artists themselves. For Chocolate Grinder Mix 11, I decided to take the whole process over to MySpace, where the only thing coming between my pleas for tracks and the brilliant, visionary musicians making them was MySpace’s shittily designed webpage and a glitchy music player. Some of the artists here are more known than others, but they were all super, super nice and quick to respond! For all the bands that I’ve left off, this is only volume one of who knows how many. Keep up the good work! NUFF SAID.
01. Aquwa Boys - "Come On Baby"02. Silk Flowers - "Chance of Showersl"
03. Tiny Fights- "Whats Mine"
04. WETDOG - "8 Days"
05. Rainbow Arabia - "The Basta"
06. The Craters - "Kissables"
07. The Yataris - "Matty Hand is On Fire pt. 1"
08. Zola Jesus - "Odessa"
09. MEGA WAND - "Faux Reign"
10. Max Elliott - "Go Down Moses"
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"The Analog Dreams of Electric Sheep"
[May 2009]
Some people don’t like computer music. I know. I was once one of them. I was a classic rock guy who thought (and often said aloud) electronic music had no soul. Then something mystical, or probably chemical, happened. It was like I felt my own heart beating for the first time. All these wonderful build-ups, breakdowns, arpeggios, basslines, pads, bloops, and bleeps started swirling in my head like a tornado. Ever since, I’ve been addicted to pure electric sound and all of its various forms. If approached with an open mind, and preferably a touch of social lubrication, this mix should do the same for you. This journey gathers the finest producers from Canada, Venezuela, America, Germany, Australia, and the UK to guide you through vintage throwback, moody orchestral, nu-breaks, hip-hop, indie funk, progressive acid, and other wild variations of the electronic form. Jon Hopkins, fresh from co-producing Coldplay with Eno, delivers a sweeping mood piece as intricate in its bass tweaks as in its melodic piano progression. Edmonton’s Shout Out Out Out Out finds hope in dark places with their two drummers, four bassists, and an army of synths. Both of those songs come from albums that will be making some year-end lists this year. Many selections here are rarer, but no less pivotal. Since the majority of these tracks were designed to be played at festivals and nightclubs with massive sound systems, this mix should be played at a high volume and in dim yet colorful lighting to get the maximum effect.
01. DJ Hell - "Germania" (Teufelswerk)02. Jon Hopkins - "Vessel" (Insides)
03. Seventh Swami - "Forever You Forever Me" (Here For Now)
04. Spoonbill - "Wonkball" (Zoomorphic)
05. Sole & The Skyrider Band - "Nothing Is Free (Subtitle Remix)" (Remix LP)
06. EPROM - "64 Bytes (ill.gates Rmx feat. Meesha & Mat The Alien)" (64 Bytes Remixes)
07. Yppah - "Gumball Machine Weekend" (Gumball Machine Weekend EP)
08. Jogger - "Nice Tights" (Friends of Friends Volume 1)
09. Shout Out Out Out Out - "Remind Me In Dark Times" (Reintegration Time)
10. Kid606 - "Good Times" (Shout At The Döner)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Acid in the Style of David Spade"
[April 2009]
This mix is intended to take us somewhere, if not spiritually, then at least geographically. We start out in Philadelphia with Hermit Thrushes (new LP Slight due in June) and travel to various U.S. cities like Brooklyn with Dirty Projectors ("Stillness Is the Move" 12-inch single on Domino), New York with Headless Heroes, Oakland with Cryptacize, Atlanta with Deerhunter (Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP due in June on Kranky), and Williamsport with Akron/Family (new LP Set ’Em Wild, Set ’Em Free due 5/5). After making a short but sweet stop with Yonlu in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, we head to Ethiopia to catch Mulatu Astake with UK-based The Heliocentrics. The mix ends in West Africa, first in Burkina Faso with Hermas Zopoula (whose Espoir will be released May 19 via Asthmatic Kitty) and then in Senegal with Mor Thiam, the latter of which takes us all the way back to 1972 (a reissue of Thiam’s Spiritual Jazz will be released soon on Now-Again Records). In this age of globalization, it’s refreshing to know that music can still overtly reflect a geographical bias.
01. Hermit Thrushes - "Snowflake Heart" (Slight Fountain)02. Dirty Projectors - "Stillness Is the Move" (Bitte Orca)
03. Cryptacize - "Tail & Mane" (Mythomania)
04. Deerhunter - "Rainwater Cassette Exchange" (Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP)
05. Akron/Family - "Everyone Is Guilty" (Set ’Em Wild, Set ’Em Free)
06. Headless Heroes - "True Love Will Find You in the End" (The Silence of Love)
07. Yonlu - "Little Kids" (A Society in Which No Tear Is Shed Is Inconceivably Mediocre)
08. Mulatu Astake & The Heliocentrics - "Addis Black Widow" (Inspiration Information)
09. Hermas Zopoula - "Alpha Et Omega" (Espoir)
10. Mor Thiam - "Ayo Ayo Nene" (Spiritual Jazz)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Michelle Obama Playlist No. 1"
[April 2009]
I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ Jazz documentary miniseries lately. Through all the talking head hyperbole, the earliest incarnations of the music — "minstrel music" and ragtime — expose steady rhythm and heavy syncopation as the broader genre’s first massive innovation. A lot of people have trouble believing that jazz and swing were once America’s form of popular music, but as the youth’s first real exposure to driving rhythm, it’s no wonder. Since then, harmony has become increasingly homogenized —losing its regional associations — while rhythm has continued to be boiled down to basic elements. Popular music is still very much about the "beat." I put together this mix with that simple truth in mind.
01. The Cool Kids - "Pennies" (When Fish Ride Bicycles)02. Mr. Oizo - "Cut Dick" (Lambs Anger)
03. CLP - "Superconfidential" (Supercontinental)
04. DOOM feat. Ghostface Killah - "Chinatown Wars"
05. DJ Signify feat. Aesop Rock - "Low Tide" (Of Cities)
06. Cry Baby Genius - "Welcome to the Horror" (Patty Marcell’s Big Shot Yard Sale)
07. Myka 9 - "To the Sky" (1969)
08. Kraddy - "Android Porn" (single)
09. Busdriver feat. Flying Lotus - "Will He (inaugural tribute)"
10. Bizzart - "Android Hearts" (Future Stars and Small Wonders)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Theme from Grutzi Elvis"
[March 2009]
When I first picked these tracks, I thought assembling them into a mix would be a breeze. Turns out the fidelity differences — compare, for example, Stuart and Caan’s "Holy Moment" with Hi-Red Center’s "Symmetry Chameleon" or Andrew Broder’s "All Automatic" with Felicia Atkinson’s "Curir" — proved more difficult than I thought. I ended staying up until the wee hours of the early morning, tinkering with transitions and adjusting levels, just so that you, dear reader, would have another mix to listen to. Basically, I’m whining, but I’m done now, so just enjoy the mix and don’t say I never did nothing for you.
01. Humcrush - "Bullfight" (Rest at Worlds End)02. Hi Red Center - "Symmetry Chameleon" (Assemble)
03. DM Stith - "Pity Dance" (Heavy Ghost)
04. Andrew Broder - "All Automatic" (We Had to Eat the Owl)
05. Stuart and Caan - "Holy Moment" (The Mayfly Dance)
06. Swan Lake - "Spanish Gold" (Enemy Mine)
07. Crystal Antlers - "Andrew" (Tentacles)
08. Felicia Atkinson - "Curir" (La La La)
09. Emeralds - "Up in The Air" (What Happened)
10. Animal Hospital - "...and ever" (Memory)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Don’t Doomgaze Childhood Wander Alone"
[March 2009]
This mix is more of a trip than my last installment, less post-coital and more absinthe freebase. The bizarre "future primitive" vocal loop stylings of Scotland’s Wounded Knee and the prickly acoustic guitar of Washington’s legendary Kelly Joe Phelps sandwich a selection of hypnotic tracks that struggle to fall easily into a genre classification. With the possible exception of the upbeat Brazilian MPC house excursion of Azaxx (generously provided by Tru Thoughts), I feel all the tracks more or less build off each other like a proper mix should, rather than as the random collection of exciting new tracks it basically is. The birds from Balky Mule’s Syd Barrett-meets-Damon Albarn mesh with Bibio’s nostalgic wilderness, which leads to Shuttle (one of the electronic tracks to hear this year) going down a cave, and so forth. Buy the ticket, take the ride.
01. Wounded Knee - "My Wooden Cupboard" (Shimmering New Vistas)02. The Balky Mule - "Dust Bird Baths" (The Length Of The Rail)
03. Bibio - "Weekend Wildfire" (Vignetting The Compost)
04. Shuttle - "Tunnel" (Tunnel EP)
05. Tycho - "Cascade (Live Version)" (Ghostly Swim)
06. Gui Boratto - "Colors" (Take My Breath Away)
07. The Show Is The Rainbow - "Who He Says He Is" (Wet Fist)
08. Azaxx - "Wild Strawberry Jelly" (The Exotic Delight Bay)
09. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - "München" (Mutations EP)
10. Kelly Joe Phelps - "Blowing Dust 40 Miles" (Western Bell)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Brained By Falling Masonry"
[March 2009]
This was originally supposed to be my "indie rock" mix. I don’t listen to a whole lot of it and thought it’d be a nice challenge to create a mix that would, in my mind, place more emphasis on the form rather than the content — trying to examine the recurring characteristics of my mixes through a style I’m admittedly very picky about. However, my predilection towards the more adventurous quickly seeped its way in. Consequently, what results is a mix that I feel unfairly makes some of the "noisier" sounds — Alva Noto, Anthony Pateras & Robin Fox, Giuseppe Ielasi — function as "transition" tracks (so if you find these tracks interesting, seek out the albums!). I suppose the assumption is that melodic music is more befitting of a mix — but, oddly enough, what originally started out as an "indie rock" mix now has me thinking about how I can turn this assumption on its head. Are you pumped to hear this mix now??
"Brained By Falling Masonry" tracklist:
01. Alva Noto - "Xerrox Teion" (Xerrox Vol. 2)02. Banjo Or Freakout - "Mr No" (single)
03. Anthony Pateras & Robin Fox - "You’re All Answers" (End of Daze)
04. Cryptacize/C. Spencer Yeh - "Mini-Mythomania" (remix of Mythomania)
05. Shearing Pinx - "Smarts" (Ultra Snake)
06. Antony and the Johnsons - "The Crying Light" (The Crying Light)
07. Giuseppe Ielasi - [Untitled - Track 1] (Aix)
08. Blackout Beach - "Astoria, Menthol Lite, Hilltop, Wave of Evil, 1982" (Skin of Evil)
09. Mirah - "Gone Are the Days" ((a)spera)
10. Lotus Plaza - "Whiteout" (The Floodlight Collective)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"The Space Bud Fuzz Lounge Revolt"
[February 2009]
When I sit down to make a mix, I do my best to include a little something for everybody, but also united by some intangible common thread. Despite working within a limited range of only new songs, I believe I achieved this here. Running the gamut from circuit-bent indie to instrumental hip-hop and breaks, the tone lends itself to a post-coital chill, getting a bit restless and ready for pancakes by the end. Hints toward my leftist politics and my use of humor as a coping mechanism arise throughout, especially the whistling in the Odd Nosdam track, the ranting and duck calls in the Filastine, and whatever Fol Chen is. It’s a trip you can return to often, one that may reveal more about me than you ever cared to know.
"The Space Bud Fuzz Lounge Revolt" tracklist:
01. The Long Lost - "Amiss" (The Long Lost)02. Skyrider - "Everyday Of Their Lives" (Skyrider)
03. Baja - "Kitten (Chaos & Numerology)" (Aether Obelisk)
04. Broadway Project - "Keats" (One Divided Soul)
05. Fol Chen - "You And Your Sister In Jericho" (Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made)
06. Odd Nosdam - "Fly Mode" (T.I.M.E)
07. Sleeper - "Condition OR Effect" (Behind Every Mask)
08. Filastine - "Bitrate Sneers" (Dirty Bomb)
09. Nanda - "Caveman" (Constant Change)
10. Qua - "The Magnificent Mister" (Q&A)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Pumpkin Gets a Snakebite"
[February 2009]
This is our first 2009 mix, and I’ve already managed to contaminate the temporal purity by including a 2008 song, Ryland Bouchard’s "Woke Up Alone" (which didn’t quite fit my first mix). The rest of the tracks, however, are so fresh and new that most of them have yet to be officially released, including a track from Dan Deacon’s much-anticipated new album, Bromst, another from the hyped-up WAVVVES LP (which has been bumped to March), and one from Tim Hecker’s An Imaginary Country, which sounds significantly better in its original context. Anyway, I’m sorta in love with my transition from the Psychic Ills track to the Dent May track, so take note and prepare yourself to be in awe of my mixing skills.
"Pumpkin Gets a Snakebite" tracklist:
01. Dirty Projectors + David Byrne - "Knotty Pine" (Dark Was The Night)02. Rose For Bohdan - "Boy Heaven" (There it is, The Creeping Moral Decay of the Past Thousand Years)
03. Death Sentence: PANDA! - "New China Blazers" (Insects Awaken)
04. Psychic Ills - "Sub Synth" (Mirror Eye)
05. Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele - "Meet Me in the Garden" (The Good Feeling Music)
06. Dan Deacon - "Get Older" (Bromst)
07. Ryland Bouchard - "Woke Up Alone" (Seeds)
08. Tim Hecker - "Sea of Pulses" (An Imaginary Country)
09. Bosque Brown - "Went Walking" (Baby)
10. WAVVES - "So Bored" (WAVVVES)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Single Ladies (Put a Thing On It)"
[January 2009]
I always go into music reviews with heavy skepticism. My mood turns wary and cynical after reading someone pontificate at length over a new rock album; I sneer when a writer tries to creatively describe in words the sounds bouncing around their headphones. Such translation usually doesn’t make sense to anyone other than the writer, because music tends to elicit such personal reactions that aren’t easily conveyed. Sometimes a poorly written review will sway my view of an album before I’ve heard a note, because when we read music criticism, our reaction, whether positive or negative, is to an author, not a musician. Then, other times, something magical happens. I finally get to hear the music that so many words have been spent on. And sometimes it’s good, real good. I’m not discounting all criticism (or else I wouldn’t be here), but I am saying that sometimes the music just has to speak for itself.
"Single Ladies (Put a Thing On It)" tracklist:
01. Dj Scotch Egg - "Drumized" (Drumized)02. MoHa! - "Karibcore" (One-Way Ticket to Candyland)
03. edIT (feat. J-Dilla, Phat Kat & Dabrye) - "The Game Is Not Over" (single)
04. YMCK - "Major Swing" (Family Genesis)
05. Femi Kuti - "One Two" (Day By Day)
06. DJ/rupture - "Plays John Cassavettes pt. 2: Ekkehard Ehlers" (Uproot)
07. Food For Animals - "Virgogo" (Belly)
08. Ponytail - "Small Wevs" (Ice Cream Spiritual)
09. of Montreal - "Touched Something’s Hollow" (Skeletal Lamping)
10. Zazen Boys - "Sabaku" (Zazen Boys 4)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
"Rise of the Common Woodpile"
[January 2009]
Welcome to Chocolate Grinder, our new multimedia section! To kick things off, we’ll post a couple 2008 mixes to get in the groove and then start posting 2009 mixes on a regular basis, including tracks from albums that haven’t been released yet. These mixes aren’t necessarily intended to be promotional — there’s a reason we’re sequencing them into one continuous track — but we do encourage you to seek out the albums from which they’re culled, if only to compare how their respective contexts shape our valuation of them. The first 2008 mix, "Rise of the Common Woodpile," compiles some of my favorite tracks of last year. If you scan through the tracklist, it’s obvious I’m not aiming for comprehensiveness or popularity — they’re just simply songs that hit me in that warm, fuzzy spot.
"Rise of the Common Woodpile" tracklist:
01. YMCK - "Sabita Tobira no Dai 8 Tengoku" (Family Genesis)02. Kurt Weisman - "Mother Daughter Day" (Spiritual Sci-Fi)
03. Foot Village - "Materialistic Crap" (Friendship Nation)
04. Kría Brekkan - "Skywinnowing" (Apotropaiosong Armor)
05. The Music Tapes - "Freeing Song for Reindeer" (Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes)
06. Matmos - "Rainbow Flag" (Supreme Balloon)
07. Max Tundra - "Gum Chimes" (Parallax Error Beheads You)
08. Evangelista - "For the L’il Dudes" (Hello, Voyager)
09. Sun City Girls - “Mr. Lonely Viola” (Mister Lonely OST)
10. Karl Blau - "Noah Richards’ Sun" (AM)
[Artwork: Keith Kawaii]
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