Another summer mix

coverWith the arrival of little H, I haven’t had a lot of time to scout out new music. At this point, anything under 5 years old counts as “fresh,” and I’m even breaking my taboo about including 1990s tracks. But you may enjoy it anyways. At least three of these artists are new to me in the last year, including one of the 1990s contributions.

Download here, for a few weeks only, or stream from Mixcloud.

David Pritchard – Mix 2015.07 by Drpritch on Mixcloud

In this era of easy streaming music… I feel pretty bad for the artists. If you like these tracks, please buy them individually on iTunes, or buy a few of the albums. Think of it like a tip jar.

  1. the weeknd. high for this. r&b, from house of balloons, 2011.
  2. the xx. islands. pop, from xx, 2009.
  3. antipop consortium. volcano [fourtet remix]. hip hop, from ninja tune xx compilation, 2010.
  4. gorillaz feat. mos def and hypnotic brass ensemble. sweepstakes. hip hop, from plastic beach, 2010.
  5. kid koala. skanky panky. turntablism / hip hop, from some of my best friends are djs, 2003.
  6. squarepusher. tetra sync [edit]. experimental / acid jazz, from ultravisitor, 2004.
  7. shadowy men on a shadowy planet. spy school graduation theme. rock, from sport fishin’, 1993.
  8. james. five-o. brit rock, from laid, 1993.
  9. basia bulat. the shore. folk, from heart of my own, 2010.
  10. tycho. from home. ambient, from past is prologue, 2006.
  11. burial. archangel. dubstep, from untrue, 2007.
  12. omar-s. oasis 13 1/2. techno, from fabric 45, 2009.
  13. der dritte raum. swing bop [acid pauli’s kosmik remix]. acid jazz, from future sounds of jazz 12 compilation, 2012.
  14. billie holiday. yesterdays [junior boys remix]. acid jazz, from verve remixed 3 compilation, 2005.
  15. death cab for cutie. i will follow you into the dark. rock, from plans, 2005.
  16. the smashing pumpkins. perfect. rock, from adore, 1998.

More movies online! Via the USA

My local video stores all closed two years ago, and we switched largely to iTunes rentals, plus the occasional Bay St. video or Film Buff for obscure films. I was initially quite unhappy with the selection on iTunes Canada – we watch a lot of obscure, old and foreign films, but most of the video-on-demand services are mainly good for post-2005 North American films. So, I’ve just done a quick scan of the alternatives.

The verdict: iTunes Canada is considerably better than it used to be, and iTunes US is a little better – but not massively better. Using both iTunes US and Amazon Instant Video is probably the best bet.

Here’s the math. We’ve got a list of 81 movies we’d like to see. This list already excludes many easy-to-find titles that we’ve already rented from iTunes Canada, but still has a number of popular movies. Many films on the list are from the Onion A.V. Club’s Best of 2000s and orphans lists, the American Film Institute’s Top 100, and good films I’ve previously seen and would like to watch with my wife. You can think of my list as an “obscurity-ometer” – the more you can hit off, the better for viewing obscure films.

Continue reading “More movies online! Via the USA”

Summer break mix

coverA more electronic-heavy mix, to celebrate the start of my summer break!

There’s not much more to say, except maybe that track #7 is supposed to be a metaphor about the music industry, not just raw sex.

Download here, for a few weeks only. I was hoping to post this as an iTunes Store playlist so you could buy the tracks… but apparently that feature has recently been removed.

[ Postscript: Mixcloud now lets me do something reasonable. ]

  1. tv on the radio. love dog. rock, from dear science…, 2008.
  2. broken social scene. all to all. rock, from forgiveness rock record, 2010.
  3. basti grub & mike trend. afrika am strand [short version]. acid jazz, from future sounds of jazz vol. 12, 2012.
  4. múm. the ballad of the broken string. ambient, from yesterday was dramatic – today is ok, 2000.
  5. afx. reunion 2. electronic/experimental, from chosen lords, 2006.
  6. the long lost. woebegone [flying lotus’ like woe remix]. electro / dubstep, from ninja tune xx compilation, 2010.
  7. the roots feat. cody chestnutt. the seed (2.0). hip hop / soul, from collateral soundtrack, 2004.
  8. roots manuva. chin high [manuvadelic version]. hip hop, from you don’t know: ninja cuts compilation, 2008.
  9. black sun empire. don’t you. drum & bass, from driving insane, 2004.
  10. burial. street halo. techno, from fourtet – fabriclive 59 compilation, 2011.
  11. trentemøller. nightwalker. downtempo, from the last resort, 2006.
  12. patrick watson. lighthouse. rock, from adventures in your own backyard, 2012.
  13. portishead. deep water. jazz, from third, 2008.
  14. sarah harmer. new enemy. folk, from all of our names, 2004.
  15. feist. so sorry. pop, from the reminder, 2007.
  16. thom yorke. and it rained all night. rock, from the eraser, 2007.
  17. prefuse 73. choking you. glitch, from one word extinguisher, 2003.
  18. ingfried hoffman. midnight bossa nova. jazz, from mojo club dancefloor jazz vol. 9, 2000 (original: 1969).

Spring mesclun mix

album cover - moss on wood

After a dance-heavy mix last time, this one offers a little more variety.  J is of course a folk and world music fan, and I’ve started to dig through her CD collection, picking up at least a few interesting artists along the way: Kevin Breit, Amadou & Mariam, Sarah Harmer, Basia Bulat and Tri-Continental, to name a few.

Electronic music continues to hold my attention, but I’m a little tired of the repeated echoes of electro and I never got very far into dubstep.  Ninja Tune’s recent four-CD XX twentieth-anniversary collection blew my mind, though: take the various ideas coming out of electro and dubstep, and let some eccentric artists take them in wild directions. Trippy stuff; perhaps more so if I had more of a taste for UK hiphop.

Download here, for a few weeks only.

  1. kevin drew. frightening lives. rock, from spirit if…, 2007.
  2. diplo. summer’s gonna hurt you [diplo 2010 remix]. dubstep, from ninja tune xx compilation, 2010.
  3. dj krush. pretense. instrumental hip hop, from jaku, 2004.
  4. kanye west. all of the lights. hip hop, from my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, 2010.
  5. sufjan stevens. riffs and variations on a single note for jelly roll, earl hines, louis armstrong, baby dodds, and the king of swing, to name a few. pop, from come on feel the illinoise, 2005.
  6. belle & sebastian. string bean jean. pop, from dog on wheels ep, 1997.
  7. basia bulat. heart of my own. folk, from heart of my own, 2010.
  8. patrick watson. traveling salesman. rock, from wooden arms, 2009.
  9. hot chip. keep fallin’. electro-soul, from coming on strong, 2005.
  10. grasscut. blink in the night. downtempo, from ninja tune xx compilation, 2010.
  11. béla fleck & the flecktones. prelude. jazz, from outbound, 2000.
  12. peaking lights. all the sun that shines. downtempo, from 936, 2011.
  13. parov stelar. catgroove. acid jazz, from coco, 2009.
  14. dennis ferrer. son of raw. acid jazz, from future sounds of jazz vol. 11 compilation, 2007.
  15. vive la fête! assez. electro, from nuit blanche, 2003.
  16. björk. pagan poetry. pop, from vespertine, 2001.
  17. amadou & mariam. m’bife blues feat. manu chao. world, from dimanche à bamako, 2005.
  18. harry manx & kevin breit. curly may and his brother. folk, from jubilee, 2003.

Was this list influenced by any YouTube memes or the occasional “just for laughs” impulse? You be the judge.