Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Krautrock Kollection



This mixtape was created for you by the extremely talented musician, Brad Davis. I personally love to drive to it ... it somehow makes perfect travel music ... and in case you're wondering exactly what is krautrock, I found a pretty decent description here:
"Krautrock is an eclectic and often very original mix of post-psychedelic jamming and moody progressive rock mixed with ideas from contemporary experimental classical music(especially composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, with whom, for example, Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay of Can had previously studied) and from the new experimental directions that emerged in jazz during the 1960s and 1970s (mainly the free jazz pieces by Ornette Coleman or Albert Ayler). Moving away from the patterns of song structure and melody of much rock music in America and Britain, some in the movement also drove the music to a more mechanical and electronic sound."

Thanks, Brad!

As always,
***ENJOY***





















































Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Shuckhuckster


Being the sentimental pack rat that I am, I never got rid of any of the many many mixes that my friends made me throughout the years ... in fact, I have them all in one giant suitcase ... at least the cassette ones are ... haha

I really love mixtapes ... making them AND receiving them ... you can capture a mood, a feeling, a thought, even a bit of an era with one ... they are a bit like musical time capsules ... small personal treasures ...

This particular one was given to me by my great and wonderful friend, Ian Frearson who now lives in Seattle, WA ... I think the tape dates back to the year 1996 and most of my memories associated with it involve riding my bike all over Orr Park in Montevallo ... It also makes me remember the job I had back then at a vegetable market called Fresh Market and my funny boss, Ronnie who had a bit of a lisp and always had a big pot of peanuts boiling in the back room ... and he never called me Paul, he always called me John (the name of the guy I replaced) ... haha

It also makes me think of Ian himself, of his personality, his musical tastes, memories of things we experienced together, etc ... Listening to it these days (as opposed to back in '96) some of the songs are rather dated (The Beastie Boys, Nirvana & Luscious Jackson ones for example) while others are pretty unique and timeless (Joe Jackson, Richard Davies and Thee Headcoats) in their own special way ... and still others just make me laugh and fill me with amazement at their strange addictive playability (Air Miami, Noise Addict, Nick Drake) ... I recall in particular the Wire song ("Outdoor Miner") blowing my mind and listening to it over and over again ... It felt a bit Life-altering, really ...