you could DOWNLOAD THE MIXTAPE
|July 2, 2010 | Found Sounds, Philosophy, White Zombie, You Could Download
So, sometimes, if there’s no work, I get restless, I get in the car, and I go. Road trips aren’t for everyone, and I don’t know if I would have gravitated to it had it not been for all the touring I did in my 20s, when we hit all 50 states relentlessly, some more than others – Alaska once, Detroit, I don’t know, 20 times? MiamiAlbuquerqueDesMoinesTacoma. Houston was White Zombie central, the first city that really got the band ( Really. We were like the fucking Beatles there. ) – and if you’re going to play Houston, which we did, again and again, why not play Dallas and Austin and San Antonio and Lubbock and El Paso and, good God, Corpus Christi?
Touring in a van is a grind, and you would imagine that trading up to a nice tour bus and hotel rooms would make things easy, but it’s not true. You’re still tired and disoriented all the time, you’re still always getting sick, but now you’re totally isolated, except for when you get caught — and what I mean by that is, you know what it’s like to wake up in the dark and stumble into the bathroom to brush your teeth, right? Now imagine waking up in the dark, which is humid and diesel-scented, and having to find out where your bathroom is ( this is before cell phones, by the way ) ,opening a door to a blazing hot parking lot, and encountering 20 people who are fascinated by you. You appreciate these people, you really do, and when you’re in a good mood you’re downright fond of them, but you really, really want to brush your teeth. You know from your own experiences of meeting bands you loved – who turned out to be gigantic assholes – that if you don’t sign everything that’s put in front of you and listen to every story about where they were when they first heard your music, you’re going to ruin the show for these kids, and their week, and they will waste no time telling everybody they know, ” That dude’s a DICK! ”
I digress. I drive around a lot, and I think that one of the best things about being an American is that you can drive, and 6-8-10 hours later you’re in a completely different place. No borders, you just watch the scenery change. It’s not like touring, which is work, and it’s not like going to an airport, being processed by harried, surly people, getting sealed in a big metal coffin, then getting spit out at another more confusing airport. One of the things I do on road trips is buy records - it’s not like that’s the focal point of my travels, but I always end up coming home with like 30 LPs. I’m not an analog snob ( yes, if you have a well-pressed jazz LP from the 1960s and an amazing vibration-free belt-drive turntable and a beautiful, expensive tube amp, there IS a delightful, hyper-real thing that happens with the stereo soundstage, but you don’t. And neither do I ), but vinyl’s how I really connect with music right now. Records are cool, and they’re fun. I just got back from a week and a half’s trip with the aforementioned stack and I made myself a little compilation from some of the tunes that popped out at me. These songs are all from old records, 1969-1985, except for the brilliant Swedish band Dungen, who are current – but if you didn’t know that and I told you that Sätt Att Se was recorded on a rainy Stockholm afternoon in 1970, you’d probably believe me. You can download the mix here.
ROAD TRIP RIOT
01. Fleetwood Mac : The City
( Mystery To Me, Warner Bros. MS 2158 )
02. Van Der Graaf Generator : Theme One
( Pawn Hearts, Charisma CAS 1051 )
03. Wire : I Am The Fly
( Chairs Missing, EMI/ Harvest SHSP 4093 )
04. Wire : Outdoor Miner
( Chairs Missing, EMI/ Harvest SHSP 4093 )
05. Keith Moon : Solid Gold
( Two Sides Of The Moon, MCA/ Track MCA-2136 )
06. Micronotz : Proud To Be A Farmer
( The Beast That Devoured Itself, Fresh Sounds FS-211 )
07. Mott The Hoople : Whisky Women
( Wildlife, Atlantic SD 8284 )
08. MX-80 Sound : It’s Not My Fault
( Out Of The Tunnel, Ralph MX-8002 )
09. Nilsson : You’re Breakin’ My Heart
( Son Of Schmilsson, RCA LSP-4717 )
10. The Professionals : Little Boys
( I Didn’t See It Coming, Virgin V-2220 )
11. Mott The Hoople : Original Mixed-Up Kid
( Wildlife, Atlantic SD 8284 )
12. Jeff Beck Group : Spanish Boots
( Beck-Ola, Epic BN 26478 )
13. Dungen : Sätt Att See ( Instrumental )
( Sätt Att See – Musik Av Dungen, Subliminal Sounds XMLP-SUB29 )