Posted on : By : Bill Posted in : Mixtapes of Yore

Turn the Future On, Pt. 3

Our Electric Destiny/A space is made by telephone

Year: 1995
Original Format: cassette

For the most part, the music on these old tapes still sounds really good to me. But probably not as good as it did back then, when I still had those young-person high-frequency receptors. I wonder if this is why over the years I’ve tended to gravitate more toward bass-heavy music. That probably isn’t what A Tribe Called Quest meant by “The Low End Theory,” but it’s a low-end theory, anyway.

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Posted on : By : Bill Posted in : Mixtapes of Yore

Turn the Future On, Pt. 2

Words of Advice/The sun in the morning & the moon at night

Year: 1994
Original Format: cassette

This dates from that weird period right after Kurt Cobain killed himself. I was surprised at how hard it hit me; I liked Nirvana, I had their albums, but they were not a special favorite. In retrospect, this was probably the closest thing my generation had to a Kennedy assassination; I think all of us remember where we were when we heard the news — though as befits our nature, probably vaguely and incorrectly. I remember wandering around the house on Woodruff Ave. wondering what Kurt’s last moments must have been like.

The suicide was not a surprise, exactly; he had tried once before, and even written a song called “I Hate Myself and Want to Die.” But it was still hard to fathom that someone my own age (Kurt was eight months older), who seemingly had everything a person could want in life, would pull his own plug.

Around the same time I had bought the Rykodisc reissue of Young Americans, which was the first time I’d heard a lot of those songs. I was particularly struck by “Win,” the words of which seemed eerily apropos, especially

Someone like you should not be allowed to start any fires

and

Somebody lied, I say it’s hip to be alive.

I always imagined that if Kurt had heard this song at the right time he would have taken the shotgun out of his mouth. It probably isn’t so; the man had problems, and they were bound to catch up with him sooner or later. But I always like to imagine a happy ending.

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Posted on : By : Bill Posted in : Mixtapes of Yore

Turn the Future On, Pt. 1

Words of Advice: Nothing could be something

Year: 1994
Original Format: cassette

1994 was a good year for music (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain; Teenager of the Year; Stoned and Dethroned; Mellow Gold; etc. etc.), and coincided with my discovery of some great older stuff and first tentative dabbling in hip-hop. The result was a two-cassette magnum opus that is still my favorite of all the mixtapes.

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Posted on : By : Bill Posted in : Mixtapes of Yore

The Map Is Not the Territory, Side A

One Chance Out Between Two Worlds

Year: 1992
Original Format: cassette

For a long time this didn’t really have a name, which is why the title is scribbled on the spine of the cover art in pen. It’s an odd assortment of moods, styles, and running obsessions, and at times wears on my nerves a little. But it has its moments.

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Posted on : By : Bill Posted in : Sacred Songs

Sacred Songs, Part 12: Before and After Silence

Original Format: mp3
Year: 2020

The current plan is for this to be the next-to-last installment in this series; 13 is a good number, I think. It’s always been lucky for me, despite its bad reputation.

No big concept here, just a straightforward tribute to the power of music, one thing we always have to be thankful for. Here’s wishing a happy and healthy holiday, with the emphasis on healthy, to you and yours.

One note: This thing was assembled in a degenerate drug frenzy (meaning: I ate half a Space Gummy), and listening back to it I realized that for some perverse reason all the most difficult stuff is at the beginning (and the end, but that’s another story). If you can make it through the first 10 minutes, you’re gold.

OK, without further ado, smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em, and let’s do this thing.

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