Blurry mirrors

Curious song title. I usually think of mirrors as clear things. And I picture a planet of them reflecting reality perfectly into infinity. But this song suggests nothing nearly so brilliant. Instead, I'm hearing decay, orange rusting to brown. If it's a planet, I'm sure there's a lot of unfinished construction. And it rains all the time, which is fine because nobody leaves their spooky homes anyway.

Peter Scherer — Planetful Of Mirrors

Galloping at sunrise

Happy New Year! Really, it is a very happy one. It's amazing how eventful a span of twelve months can be. If you had told me a year ago that there'd be fundamental change in nearly all aspects of my life by now, I would be hard-pressed to envision that new world. And yet, here it is. And I'm as optimistic about living it in it as I could hope to be. So here's a toast of gratitude to the universe for that. And here are a couple tunes to kick off a year of forward momentum. Or at least one that does that and then another one that pulls over after a long day of driving through an Arizona highway and decides to throw a couple back at a dusty roadside bar and watch the beautiful evening light dissolve.

The Friends of Dean Martinez — All The Pretty Horses

The Friends of Dean Martinez — Blood Of The Earth (Or The Sun Sets Red In The West)

Feels like it likes to feel

You won't catch me digging drum solos often, especially when they kick off songs. But then there's nothing normal about Henry Threadgill — the music or the configuration of musicians he chooses to play it. Who says jazz can't sound like a monster movie?

Henry Threadgill - Like It Feels

Up in circles

A week+ in, and married life is feeling quite fine. Maybe the landscape has yet to come into focus, but so far a honeymoon seems mostly a state of mind. Which maybe means it always can. Meanwhile, the bulk of photographic evidence is still off in the selection stage, so audio memory cues will have to come first. Here's what we used to get our Jew on, the soundtrack for risking our lives aloft in chairs raised by well-irrigated men in a frantic, totally uncoordinated mess of a circle dance. Part of a wedding's joy is the thrill of survival.

Andy Statman and David Grisman - Chassidic Medley: Adir Hu/Moshe Emes

Waterfalls of light

Something always stopped me from being an actual Throwing Muses fan. It wasn't the peer pressure of seeing their CD spines running through friends' record collections when they were '90s alt rock staples. It wasn't necessarily that I couldn't really relate to what Kristin Hersh was trying to get across about her troubled head. I dunno. Maybe it'll click one day, although that time has probably passed. This song, however, was always a fave. Can't beat those sparkly arpeggios and the even more sparkly crescendo at 2:08.

Throwing Muses - Flood

Bungled Xmas

Christmas/Chanukah/Solstice songs abound. And so many good folks are making excellent seasonal mixtapes. I really can't compete. And besides, I'm in a period of deep concentration with my own stuff. So, before I split for the year, here's a crazy one that's (in)appropriate for any season. A warning – don't be in mid-coffee sip at 1:18. And do listen all the way through; you want to earn those presents.

I'm fixing to have another year-end roundup mix around New Years. New posts will recommence on Jan 2. Happy happiness!

Mr. Bungle - Merry Go Bye Bye

Assault and battery

I miss making mixtapes. I mean the medium itself and all the dinky little maneuvers involved. Popping out the two plastic bits at the top of the cassette always felt like triumphantly uncorking a bottle of champagne. One of my favorite tricks was the anti-segue, the extreme turn from something placid to a brutal piece of noise. In that spirit, I think Mr. Branca deserves the assignment. Not that this one isn't beautiful on its own terms. Just not in a very maternal sort of way. Yesterday, as an experiment, I put this on for my morning commute to see if, by some reverse logic, it would lighten my mood. No sir, it did not.

Glenn Branca - Symphony No. 5 - Second Movement

Black and white dreams

This song serves up a whole night's worth of weird mental excursions in a just a minute and a half. I'm seeing cartoon car chases and strange acts of science, all in very disorienting shades black and white. Someone brilliant really should put this to video.

Dymaxion - Ant'lrd Ally