Mix Annotations - Between a Head and the Guillotine
Hi Friends,
I don't know whyyyyyy, but once again I'm gonna take this space to talk about My Fantasy Jobs. This time the job that's been resonating with me a bunch lately is Dystopian Junkyard Operator.
In the event that society collapses, and thanks to g-d I'm not killed immediately, I don't know that I'm really the kind of person who is going to try and establish some sort of rural farm commune. While those spaces have lots of value, and I love it for you if that's the kind of thing you see yourself establishing, I think of myself more as someone who is going to be collecting and organizing garbage.
This is partly inspired by my recent project of cobbling together a complete foldable shopping cart from two that I found curbed on trash days this year. But in an effort to see if this was something that was truly "me" and not just an adrenaline rush because I learned how to swap out some cart tires, I came up with a few other examples of this archetype in my life to prove the theory's legs:
I watched a lot of Junkyard Wars when I was younger. It was a show where teams had to build different kinds of machines or vehicles from materials they scavenged in a junkyard, and then compete by racing them or something. Knowing what I know now about reality TV (that it's fake), I'm sure lots of the "working" parts must've been planted in the junkyard by the show's producers, but the idea still came through that people throw out lots of perfectly good things! I'm surprised the show hasn't made a comeback, given how much more I'm sure audiences would be interested in seeing all of the junk from Hoarders or whatever get a second life. Or maybe people would be interested in something with such a strong focus on reusing and recycling, given the environment.
This does seem like a show that my parents let me watch in the hopes that it would inspire me to become a welder or engineer or something. I remember watching this and lots of Battle Bots, Robot Wars, and Myth Busters, even though I really don't have the right brain for science or machinery. Though there's a good chance watching Junkyard Wars did help teach me about physics, and I think about the episode "Spiller Thriller" often when I'm carrying drinks.
Mr Covey, in grades 7 and 8, spent a lot of time teaching us about globalization and poverty in the Philippines, including some focus on people who lived on garbage dumps. They made their livings by scrounging for scrap metal they could resell or salvage. Understandably, it was a pretty dangerous and bleak picture of how people survive, but then we'd also see how sometimes someone would have a fun restaurant they built on a garbage dump where everyone who lived and worked at the dump would go to hang out and relax. You could buy a coca cola in a small plastic bag.
My mom says I would get very depressed after these lessons.
Watto from The Phantom Menace.
I'm not sure how much I believe in seeing one thing in your life and then it unlocks this whole world inside of you that you never knew was there. I'm a much more gradual person. For me, in this case at least, it's more like taking an idea and seeing if I can spot examples of a theme emerge when looking back over everything. And it's not like I see the horrific junkyard in Blade Runner 2049 and think "Ah, yes. My goal!" It's more like watching Wall-E and admitting, "Yeaaaaah, that's probably gonna be me one day." I'm just resigned to the patterns of my life as they extrapolate into and out of the future.
Anyways, here’s the link to the latest mix: soundcloud.com/draiser2022/between-a-head-and-the-guillotine
ANNOTATIONS
Nicholas Godin - Orca I think this was a Spotify Weekly playlist, but then I just heard it on the Fire of Love soundtrack, so it's really coming at me from all sides.
Taskmaster S14E06 I don't know, something about John's attitude here really resonated with me.
Frank Wilson - Do I Love You This was on a soul music playlist. I like reading YouTube comments on old songs because they're usually very sweet, but some of the recent ones on this track are like "The original is the best no matter WHO DOES A COVER," which is how I learned that Bruce Springsteen did a pretty exact cover on his new album. Sounds not bad!
Fontaines D.C. - Jackie Down the Line Close personal friends.
The Hold Steady - Atlantic City Close personal friends. In my head I kept hearing Craig Finn singing the chorus acapella, but either couldn't find (or didn't try find) where they'd done a cover. Turns out it's on a War Child benefit compilation from 2008 called Heroes. War Child! Who knew?!
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way Sharon Jones had two or three albums come out around the time I was at CFRU, and Peter Bradley was a big fan. I remember listening to "100 Days, 100 Nights" a lot, but there's plenty of good stuff on those records.
Luigi Boccherini, Les Concerts des Nations - Quintetto in Do Maggiore La Musica Notturna Delle Strade Di Madrid Op. 30, No. 6, G. 324: Passa Calle - Allegro Vivo I was listening to the Michael Nyman Radio playlist on Spotify and this came up. Long-time readers will know I'm a self-confessed Michael Nymaniac.
Charles Douglas - King of Industry I think this was something that I saw on a download site like a decade ago and just snagged on instinct. It's from a compilation of songs Charles Douglas made in his basement in the 90s while he was working through a recording contract, but dealing with too many substance abuse and mental health issues to capitalize on becoming famous.
Man Made Hill - Double Dippin' We would listen to Man Made Hill at The Beguiling pretty regularly, with this and "Constant Touching" being songs that pop up in my head a lot.
Shygirl - Coochie (a bedtime story) This got a BNM from Pitchfork in the fall, and so I gave it a listen.
Björk - Mycelia Close personal friend.
Penny and the Quarters - You and Me I was playing this the other day when Lis announced, "I like this song!" I never really know what to do when she says stuff like that. Like...okay? Then I heard it again while waiting in the lobby at TIFF, so it's really coming at me from all sides.
Françoise Hardy - Ton Meilleur Ami Close personal friend.
Melanie - Any Guy I used to work with this guy Ian at HMV who told me this story (if I remember it correctly) about seeing Neko Case at the Jane Bond in Waterloo, where she was wearing a pair of roller skates while doing a cover of "Brand New Key" by Melanie.
Rory Marsden and Alexander David Clifford Wilson - Swimming over Dominoes (b 30) There's a 30 second version of this song that plays over TIFF's Fall 2022 Season trailer in the previews. I couldn't figure out what the song was (and I wouldn't dare pull out my phone to Shazam it in the theatre) so I emailed their customer service desk to ask what the song was. They got back to me so fast, to the point where I think I can't be the only person who's asked this. It's from a sound library, from an album called Classical Pop Hooks.
Nancy Sinatra - Let It Be Me Close personal friend.
Lower Dens - I Get Nervous Close personal friends.
Duval Timothy - Wood (feat. Yu Su) Close personal friend.
Anna von Hausswolff - Outside the Gate (for Bruna) Iggy Pop played this on his radio show a couple months ago, when Brian Eno was on as a guest to promote his new album. At one point they both started singing "Get a Job," which was a song they both remembered from their childhoods. It was fun, but they also sounded awful. It was also kinda neat realizing that even though they were both close with David Bowie, it's clear he was friends with them but maybe they weren't friends with each other. They mentioned that they hadn't really talked or hung out in decades. Overall, the best part was Iggy Pop playing songs and Brian Eno being like, "I enjoyed that. Who was it?" and Iggy saying each time "You," and it was always something Brian had produced or remixed or played on. Classic Brian.
Fugazi - I'm So Tired I think someone was sharing this on instagram. It doesn't translate super well to baritone ukulele, but I'm trying to learn it. I think it's funny how this song and The Wrens' "This Boy is Exhausted" both really click for me emotionally, where I feel kind of overwhelmed when I listen to them, but it's just on the level of, like, "Man, I'm also tired..."
While space allows, I’m stashing my recent mixes and annotations in a Google Drive folder, which you can visit here: The Archive
DRAISER 2022
Designed by Olea Kim
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