marathonpacks 2009 Midterm Mix, Vol. 2

1. Wild Beasts “We Still Got the Taste Dancing on Our Tongues” The best bits of Orange Juice and Country Life-era Roxy Music, stirred into a fruity stew that sticks around long after digestion. Preppies wilding, puckering with bee-stung lips, not regretting a second of it. (Domino)
2. Cornershop “Chamcha” This is about as inna dub style as Talvin Singh gets, and so it’s not the best primer for the rest of Judy, which errs more toward the Brit pop end of the spectrum (guys: I hear Noel Gallagher’s looking for a gig). Still: hot. The new album’s “We’re in Yr Corner.” (Ample Play)
3. Javelin “Oh Centra” Which, with Micachu’s “Golden Phone” (see first mix), is my summer jam. I found out recently that Javelin was two Brooklyn beardos (which whatever, because all music is at some point made by Brooklyn beardos), but I prefer to stick with what I imagined initially: that it’s an 8-bit love song recently unearthed off a 3.5″ floppy penned to sync with a double-dutch themed Atari 2600 game (minus the sudoku reference). Best part: when they namedrop the dance styles (”girl, do the monkeyfoot!”) (over the “Push It” drop!), at the end. (self-released)
4. YACHT “The Afterlife” Lyrically, YACHT songs tend to do one (or more) of these three things: repurpose old bromides (”See A Penny, Pick It Up” inter alia), describe far-out fantastic places (”Psychic City”) and also something close to evangelizing, but not quite evangelizing. Claire Evans’ guileless delivery is the key here–she sounds like a teenage Kate Pierson welcoming campers to a hipper-than-thou youth retreat. (DFA)
5. Electrik Red “Muah” Aside from “Umbrella,” The-Dream had been pretty far off My-Radar until I put this album on. Is all his stuff this good? Because this is awesome. Tons of noises compressed into a small space, but everything sorted. That sheen. The Betty Draper-on-a -stripper pole empowerment-as-”empowerment” they’re pushing (Missy Elliott turns over in her grave. RIP Missy Elliott (’s career)), isn’t really any different than Jay-Z on the cover of Cigar Aficianado and elsewhere rapping about how his knots don’t fit in his jeans (his knots are too large. RIP my ignorance of this fact). But “Muah” kills mainly because it organizes classic pop gibberish so well, down to the onomatopoeia and the “I’m the shit/ With this shit” refrain. I love these hos. (Def Jam)
6. Junior Boys “Parallel Lines” Psst: the dude on the right totally wants to fuck you. And you will let him, because of how his frigid whisper of a voice sits in that hip, sanitized empty technospace on some Solaris shit. Junior Boys will always be special to me (and you, the one being fucked) because of the horny minimalist future-funk of “In the Morning.” “Morning” was the JBs’ own “Hey Nineteen,” though. “Parallel” happens more at the “Haitian Divorce” part of the relationship. “Morning” is a breakup song, but one that austerely focuses on the academic minutiae of the ritualized conversations that attend these sorts of separations. Greenspan’s a cold, exacting dude, and the song is righteously chilly: “It’s all right to say it/ Just as long as you don’t really think so.” Ouch man. “Or do you need a moment to rememorize/ And model it like a curse half disguised?” Jeremy Greenspan is getting his PhD in Seductive Fuck You Studies (SFYS), and this is the first chapter of his dissertation. (Domino. Man, Domino’s having an all-time year, huh)
7. Kid Cudi “Daps & Pound” I have a feeling that most of you know a guy like Kid Cudi, or at least the character he takes on here. The guy who you see basically everywhere around town, hopping between tables at the bar, not spending more than 10 minutes anywhere. He seems to “know” everyone, though no one really knows him. He always has weed. And like weed, he can be too much to deal with in large doses (what up?! what it be?!), but properly regulated he’s completely harmless, and a blast to chill with. (The Internet)
8. The XX “Crystalised” This reminds me of everything from the Kills to Young Marble Giants, to what I’d imagine Terence Trent D’Arby would do if he were to be in his early twenties right now. The Cure, guys. The best part is when they harmonize, while saying different things, Annie Hall rooftop/subtitles style. (Rough Trade)
9. Hot Chip “Transmission” The first time I put this on, I winced for about the first minute, waiting for it to turn into some Willy Wonka/Gary Numan nightmare and make me hate Hot Chip (I love Hot Chip). But no: closer to A Certain Ratio. The occasional steel drums are a bit much maybe. Not quite this, though. Also: “dance dance dance dance dance to the radio” is such a wonderful slogan. (Warchild.us)
10. Mr. Oizo f. Uffie “Steroids” Their stab at “Lip Gloss” or “Milkshake,” or “Hollaback Girl”. Haha “stab.” This song is in the vein of those other songs. (Ed Banger)
11. Circulatory System “Overjoyed” My fave song from the other album is “Joy,” and this song is, appropriately enough more than that song. The first time I encountered it, I wanted to hear “Overjoyed” eat another song, after overwhelming it like a panic attack. (Cloud Recordings)
12. Fuck Buttons “Surf Solar (Edit)” MORE JOY. This thing just fucking blazes. As such, it eventually engulfs itself. I’m assuming the album version is much longer? When can someone rap over this? Would that work? (ATP)
13. Volcano Choir “Island, IS” Bon Iver guy turns into Kyp Malone, freestyling over a Dirty Projectors loop provided by the bros he just blazed with. Lyrically, “Island” is some serious stoner vanity project shiz, and I can’t vouch for the rest of Unmap, but god damn if this gobbledydook didn’t grab lightning in a bottle (and then used said lightning to ignite the bong made out of the Sobe bottle). I assume that girls and or guys (and maybe even “those with both”) of a certain aesthetic disposition want to fuck Justin Vernon as much as they want to fuck the Phosphorescent guy. According to one of the lyrics I’ve been able to discern here, Vernon’s cool with that: “we all wanna fuck/ in the snow that’s been pushed/ to the side.” It doesn’t sound appealing at all–that snow is usually pretty dirty–but it makes for a great image. It also makes me snicker at the album cover (“It’s freezing out here! Where’d you go?!”). (Jagjaguwar)
14. Atlas Sound f. Noah Lennox “Walkabout” Another one that feels like a bit of a lark, but a fun one. I would have put good money on a collaboration between these two pleasing me, but not bowling me over. Lennox’s cathedralesque ambitions are a good foil for Cox’s woozy chants, and the whole childhood regression vibe can oscillate nicely between “bedridden during my tweens” and well, this. (Kranky)
15. The Field “The More That I Do” Yeah, the whole thing, or: The More That You Listen. (Kompakt)
16. jj “Ecstasy” In Sweden, apparently, “ecstasy” is slang for Xanax and Absolut. I gather. And a fucked-up taste in your mouth the next morning. (Sincerely Yours)
17. Santigold f. Gucci Mane “Unfreakable Girl” At this point, I’ve totally lost control of this thing. Time to hit the lights and round up the abandoned debit cards. (Southerngold Mixtape)