Download the mix by clicking here. You can fit it on an 80-minute CD if you want a hardcopy as a keepsake.
Playlist
1. Colleen, “This Place in Time” (2007)
2. Joanna Newsom, “Colleen” (2007)
3. Nina Nastasia & Jim White, “Odd Said the Doe” (2007)
4. Sleeping States, “September, Maybe” (2007)
5. Yoko Ono, “Telephone Piece” (1971; reissue 2007)
6. György Ligeti, “String Quartet no. 1 (Metamorphosis Nocturns), vii: Allegretto, Un Poco Gioviale” (1953-54)
7. Philippe Doray, “Musique pour Residences Secondaires” (1980)
8. Grizzly Bear, “Little Brother (Electric)” (2007)
9. Sunset Rubdown, “Colt Stands Up, Grows Horns” (2007)
10. Brian Eno, “Dead Finks Don’t Talk” (1973; remastered 2004)
11. Robert Wyatt, “Just As You Are” (2007)
12. Dmitri Shostakovich, “String Quartet no. 1, iii: Allegretto” (1960)
13. Final Fantasy, “Do You Love?” (2006)
14. Le Loup, “We Are Gods! We Are Wolves!” (2007)
15. Osvaldo Golijov, “Oceana: Second Call” (1996; recorded 2007)
16. Giles, Giles & Fripp, “Digging My Lawn (b)” (1968; released 2001)
17. Yoko Ono, “Will You Touch Me” (1971; released 2007)
18. Destroyer, “Modern Painters” (2002)
19. Cat Power, “New York” (2008)
20. Willie Nelson & Calexico, “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)” (2007)
21. Fotheringay, “The Sea” (1970)
Liner notes
After a decade or so of making mixes for an annual holiday exchange with friends (including several people who contribute to this site), I missed last year. But I’d made a mental note of two things I wanted to do with my 2006 mix.
One, I wanted to take up WFMU station manager Ken Freedman’s informal “Joanna Newsom challenge.” One day after he’d played one of Joanna’s songs he went to mic break, convinced it was impossible to follow her with anything. Last year, I wanted to prove him wrong by following her with something polyrhythmic, harp- or mbira-driven, maybe something from Hans Otte’s Wassermannmusik or from one of the Konono records.
Two, I wanted to confront a similar challenge of my own: How to contextualize on a mix one of my favorite artists of 2006, Final Fantasy, whose music is so distinctive it poses a hard act to follow. I figured I’d go with a string quartet, to match the instrumentation on He Poos Clouds.
The mix posted here takes up both of those 2006 challenges, though it doesn’t take much more from my 2006 favorites list. Almost everything else was released in 2007. As usual with my end of the year mixes, though, I’ve taken a bunch of my favorite songs from the year but reserved the DJ’s prerogative to contextualize them with older stuff, forming accidental or intentional genealogies of sorts.
I’ve been accused by friends in the past of writing dissertations for my liner notes, so from here on out I’m limiting myself to one sentence per track.
1. Even though at the head of my 2007 favorites list I said my choices were packed with woodwinds, it’s the strings that tend to dominate this mix, beginning with Colleen’s departure from her old laptop toolbox.
2. Ooh, this song has a title that matches the name of the artist in track 1!
3. Who knew it would be so easy to follow Joanna Newsom … is Steve Albini producing both these songs?
4. Handclaps lead to something clearly descended from Sonic Youth — no small feat indeed.
5. Palette cleanser.
6. György Ligeti died in 2006; my brother once met his kid in a Greenpoint coffeeshop.
7. Setting you up for a little Eno a few tracks down the line.
8. My favorite song of the year; did I mention this is my new favorite band?
9. For some reason this song sounds to me like a 2007 version of this one, or at least it makes me wish I were brave enough to follow with it.
10. For a while I’ve believed that every good mix should include something by Ferry, Bowie, or Eno; I’ve wanted to use this track since the fantastic remasters came out in 2004.
11. Eno also appears on the album this comes from, my favorite album of 2007.
12. I’m pretty damn proud of the transition from this one to the next.
13. And I’m almost certain I’ve never seen anyone make that connection before, though I’m sure it’s probably already been done.
14. Keep clapping … it’s the end of the world!
15. Thanks to Alex Ross for introducing me to Osvaldo Golijov.
16. Thanks to Ed Droste for introducing me to The Brondesbury Tapes (as well as Sleeping States, #4 above).
17. A bonus track on the 2007 reissue of Yoko’s fabulous Fly; it’s one of the sweetest songs I’ve ever heard.
18. I’d wanted to use something from Destroyer’s Rubies or from the Swan Lake album, but this one was too stuck in my head when it came down to choosing time.
19. I think it’s a good idea to include something from the future on an end of the year mix.
20. Even better than the real thing?
21. Finishing, courtesy of J-Man (@ the first LA Record Club), with a track from the year I was born; doesn’t Sandy Denny, on the album cover, look a little like Joanna Newsom?
Okay. So I used a lot of semicolons in those single-sentence entries.
Is that cheating?
and the cover art?
See track 21 and commentary.
Maybe one of those tall handsome fellows is to Bill Callahan as Sandy is to Joanna Newsom.
Maybe the best album cover ever.
ah yes, the old “year I was born” device – WELL PLAYED!
Luckily for me I had a very good year. Most of us did, though.
bryan,
you are a virtuoso. this is a stellar mix. i am really impressed by the flow and some of the selections. i will be more specific when i see you this afternoon.
thanks for putting together such a good ‘un.
love,trixie
Yay for year-end mixes! Thanks, Bryan. I considered a few of these for my 07 mix, but am happy to report that there’s overlap in only one artist (but a different song). Tune in next week.
I LOVE YOKO!
Thanks for the mix Bryan. It was unexpected in a really good way; more instrumental (Shostakovich!) than I was expecting. Also, love the Willie Nelson and Fotheringay.
I loved September, maybe by the sleeping states. So good!