MUXTAPE #26: blackout

MUXTAPE

This muxtape is basically just a bunch of songs that punch you in the face sonically. Get stoked.

1. Titus Andronicus - "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ (The Airing of Grievances)"
This song is a perfect example of why Titus Andronicus have made one of the best albums of the year. This is the first song on the album, which is basically all that needs to be said. Any album that starts with that amount of bombast is bound to be a winner. The text reading at the end of the song is the point in the album when you realize that these dudes were actually trying to make the most epic rock album ever.

2. Sleater-Kinney - "The Fox (The Woods)"
I have a deep appreciation for Sleater-Kinney, though I wouldn't categorize myself as much more than a casual fan. With a band like Sleater-Kinney, I think there's more than a few different types of "casual fan," and I am the sort that appreciates every part of S-K's discography. I listened to enough riot grrl to appreciate the first two albums, I love the pop sensibility of the middle of their career and really love The Woods. The guitars on "The Fox" absolutely snarl and the drum fill in the bridge is brilliant.

3. Nirvana - "Scentless Apprentice (In Utero Albini Mixes)"
Apparently, this version of the song was supposed to be used in an episode of Lost, but the album version aired instead. This is another instance where a guitar can sound like an absolute beast, though this was mostly because of the hard work of Steve Albini, who has finely crafted his guitar sounds over the years at Electrical Audio. I would imagine Albini in his workshop, building amps and pedals with the sole purpose of making hate in sound form. It seems like he wants all of his music to sound like he is a true misanthrope, not just one of those Madison Avenue, novel writer types who "don't like people" because "they're stupid."

4. Hüsker Dü - "Broken Home, Broken Heart (Zen Arcade)"
Bob Mould has written some of the best hardcore songs of the 1980s, and this is one of them. Songs like this one and "New Day Rising" or "Something I Learned Today" just make you want to circle pit into infinity.

5. The Wedding Present - "High (Friday, I'm In Love: A Tribute to The Cure)"
The Wedding Present's recent output has been really weird. It makes me think that they're living in Los Angeles now, which they very well could be, and it also makes me think they still want to be young. I'm guessing at least half the band is actually young, but Gedge is well into his 40s, as he was supposed to be "the next Morrissey" or whatever ridiculous garbage NME put on his head. Either way, they've still got something going for them, and this Cure cover is really great. They still love the distorted octaves and playing fast, so you've gotta give them some credit.

6. April March - "Alec Eiffel (Pixies Fuckin' Die!)"
Speaking of weird tribute contributions, here's one from April March. Yeah, the one from Grindhouse. Though she got way into chanson somewhere around 2000, she put out this cover in the late 90s and it sounds way 90s; the best part is that she took a song that is one of the most covered Pixies songs and made it her own. What this version lacks in Frank Black charm (weird guitar parts, atonal noise), it more than makes up with its melodiousness. It really focuses on the beautiful pop song hidden under the surface of the original.

7. Heatmiser - "Blackout (Dead Air)"
If you didn't know, this song is basically the reason Elliott Smith ended up in Los Angeles. Heatmiser's shows got more and more violent in the Dead Air period and of course, Eliott didn't like this, so he wrote a bunch of songs that ended up being Mic City Sons and then eventually ending the band to write more songs that sounded like Mic City Sons, except quieter and way more sad. Great song though.

8. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - "Heart in the Hand of the Matter (Source Tags and Codes)"
Sometimes I forget just how much I like this album. It never really finds its way onto my "essential" or "favorite" albums list, but each of the tracks on the album is brilliant and always find their way onto my mixtapes. Though their more recent output has been spotty, I know they will continue to put out interesting music.

9. Darker My Love - "Northern Soul (2)"
This is just good music. I never really liked the band, but the more and more I saw them open up for other bands I was going to see, the more they grew on me. They do a psychedelic-Pavement-gazing thing better than any other band in Los Angeles. The funny thing about that genre is that it seems like that was totally the genre of 2008 here. Let's all start 90s college bands!