Compilation Central: Jarvis Cocker/Steve Mackey The Trip

The extent to which an artist-curated mixtape is a representation of his or her specific worldview is a matter of interpretation, I suppose (much like the best music blogs, no?), but over the past decade or so they've emerged as more than a curio for dance-music aficianados. Most musicians are closet curators, and the most well-known series to emerge---DJ Kicks (of which Erlend Oye's and Annie's have been the best), LateNightTales (Four Tet by a mile) and Back to Mine (The Orb) have established themselves as marginally comercially viable opportunities for artists to distinguish themselves through self-contained, meticulously organized mixes. But while the three mentioned have mostly been somewhat sonically defined (DJ Kicks as club music, LateNight and Back to Mine as downtempo/chill), one of the more unknown members of the celeb-mixtape family tree The Trip allows the curator unprecedented reign over the selection, echoing the not-so-recent trend of non-traditional DJs hopping in the booth for a set.

Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey, better known as the founders of Pulp, are the latest to undertake the 2-disc series previously tackled by St. Etienne and Snow Patrol. Over the course of 35 (!) tracks, they cover a remarkable amount of territory---more than twice as much as typically given to those involved with the aforementioned series. And their choices, fitting for a band so tough to nail down stylistically, are remarkably broad---from the cinematically emotional crooners (Gene Pitney, Bob Lind, Neil Sedaka) to the trad-cult icons (Jonathan Richman, Alan Vega, Lee Hazlewood, Elton Motello, Sonny Bono) and the magnificently chosen cover versions (The Polecates' "John I'm Only Dancing", OMD's "Waiting For The Man", Bobby Bare's "Don't Think Twice", The Human League's "Rock N' Roll" and Dion's hilarious "Purple Haze"). It's a fantastic collection, and a great bit of insight into the mind of one of the most bizarrely idiosyncratic minds from the last thirty years of British pop. I've taken the liberty of offering up the four tracks from the collection that I feel define it best: two brilliantly campy country songs by the two foremost practicioners of the style, a gleefully gender-neutral, sexually deviant and all-around dumb classic, and a quaint, pastoral ode to innocence and youth from a Situationalist industrial band.

Porter Wagoner "The Rubber Room" (mp3)
Lee Hazlewood "Pour Man" (mp3)
Elton Motello "Jet Boy Jet Girl" (mp3)
Psychic TV "Just Drifting" (mp3)

The Trip comes out March 13 in the UK, and in May stateside. Pre-order here.