• MS

Here's what their blog says:

Following the assignment and the rules, make a mix and submit it by the deadline. The submissions will be made into a compilation, mixed and matched to other Tender Validators, and mailed out the following week. Participants receive an anonymous mix, a compilation, and other various tender validations.

Fun!

The March/April assignment is Just Another Manic Monday: Songs About Disorders. They say:

There are a lot of songs out there about being freaky, being crazy, killing yourself, going schitzo and the like, so let's hear em! Might as well go with the flow as they say. It could just be the cure for those pesky winter blues.

The due date is April 30th. Read more about the project and find out how to participate here.

Because I have a soft spot for quixotic endeavors—i.e., trying to convince 21st-century music fans that a lot of amazing prog-rock exists, for one—I present to you a mix of said music by ex-Pitchfork writer/current excellent multi-instrumentalist/composer Dominique Leone. This mix surfaced in late 2009, but it will always stand outside of time, in my mind. Leone’s idea of prog is refreshingly diverse enough to encompass tracks by Squarepusher, David Bowie, This Heat, Cardiacs, Zs, and Franco Leprino, while satisfying traditionalists with cuts by Yes, King Crimson, and Magma. Dig in and feel your musical IQ skyrocket.

(While you're in a Dominique Leone mood, check out his new collection of instrumentals.)

Matching Mole - Starting in the Middle of the Day...
Magma - Hhai (version integrale)
Jean-Philippe Goude & Olivier Cole - Ergo Sum Pauper
Benoit Wideman - Baleze
Franco Battiato - No U Turn
Oh No Ono - Internet Warrior
This Heat - 24 Track Loop
Cardiacs - Spell With A Shell
Happy Family - Rolling Law Court
David Bowie - Weeping Wall
Franco Leprino - Integrati...Disintegrati
Richard Pinhas - L'Ethique, pt. 1
Video Aventures - Tina
Volapuk - Impro Cloche
Weidorje - Vilna
Yes - South Side of the Sky
Catherine Ribeiro & Alpes - Un Regard Claire
Squarepusher - A Real Woman
Zs - B Is for Burning
Albert Marcoeur - Non Long
Cos - Viva Boma
Offering - Cosmos
King Crimson - Fracture

Orcas—Seattle’s Rafael Anton Irisarri and Portland’s Thomas Meluch (Kelly Wyse of the great band Pollens also sits in on keyboards)—have a sweet mix up on Self Titled. The songs here reflect Orcas’ own brand of chill-inducing melancholy and enigmatic beauty, manifested in many forms by Durutti Column, Cocteau Twins, Fennesz, Seefeel, the Zombies, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, and others. Listen to and download the mix and read the insightful commentary here.

Seattle via Russia DJ Makedon has a new mix up at The New Worck that's an odd blend of Balkan folk-inflected triphop, wonky, glitched-out funk, and mnml—what he calls "gypsy techno."

Makedon also deserves props for conceiving one of the most clever business cards I've seen from any DJ/musician.

Listen to Lucky Roma here.

TRACK LIST
Terry Hall & Mushtaq – The Hour Of Two Lights
Tipper – Furlong
Chronomad – Aksak
Thomas Brinkmann – Party Time
Chronomad – Masmoudi
Tipper – End Of Make Believe
Chronomad – Do
Tipper – Tug Of War
Mr. Oizo – Analog Worms Attack
Beats Antique – Borino
Mr. Oizo – Monophonic Shit
Tipper – Tip Hop
Mr. Oizo – Flat 55
Balkan Beat Box Vs Mahal Rai Banda – Red Bula
Thomas Brinkmann – Let’s Go
Shantel – Citizen Of Planet Paprika
Mr. Oizo – Z
Shantel – Binaz In Dub
Stewart Walker – Fernbank 1991
Style Of Eye – The Prophet
Mr. Oizo Feat. Uffie – Steroids
Makedon – Minimal Opa Copla
Konfekt – Jez(Sof)
Zelwer – Soldier Gets Married (Makedon Mashup)
Shantel – Usti,Usti Baba
Shantel – Being Authentic
Balkan Beat Box – Bulgarian Chicks (Makedon Mashup)
Yuri Gruzhy & Russendisco Vs. Zelwer – New Adventure Of Soldier (Makedon Mashup)
Figli Di Madre Ignota – Nema Problema Tourist
Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestra – Ciganka Medley (Makedon Mashup)
Mahala Rai Banda – Zabrakadabra (Makedon Mashup)
Max Pashm – Klezmernaki

There is never not a good time to listen to Turkish psychedelia, and The Wire magazine has a solid overview ready for your ears on its website right now (it's the audio component to this month's Primer on said Turkish psych; not online, unfortunately). Many of the usual Anatolian-rock suspects appear, as well they should: Mogollar, Erkin Koray, Cem Karaca & Kardaslar, Üç Hürel, Baris Manço, Selda, Ersen, Bunalim, and Edip Akbayram. The thing I love about Turkish psych is that the highs are incredibly high and the lows are thoroughly low. This stuff sounds at once familiar and tantalizingly other. These musicians feel so very deeply and it comes through in the songs with a fierce soul power. Some of the greatest music ever came out of this country in the '60s and '70s. Get into it.

While you're thinking about Turkish psych, do yourself a favor and cop Seattle-based label Sublime Frequencies' expertly curated compilation of singles and rarities by Erkin Koray, Meçhul.

Listen to the mix here.

I’m convinced that the ’70s were the best decade ever for music. Rock, jazz, and electronic music mutated into myriad bizarre configurations (progressive, fusion, glam, metal, punk, post-punk, Zeuhl, kraut/kosmische, new age, disco, etc.) and major labels still believed in funding weird shit, so you got albums recorded on sizable budgets by some serious freaks. It would take you at least a few lifetimes to fully savor all the treasures of this bell-bottomed, mutton-chopped, spike-haired decade.

Weasel Walter—former badass drummer for Flying Luttenbachers, current badass drummer and composer for Behold…The Arctopus and many others—helps you to access some of the ’70s’ odder specimens with this mix for 8tracks. He digs deep for gems by Sir Lord Baltimore, Carmen, Amon Düül II, the Residents, Goblin, the Mirrors, Streak, and more. Listen up, learn a lot.

Our old buddy Turquoise Wisdom (aka former Sub Pop employee Zach Cowie, now based in the LA area) has stitched together another outstanding, wide-ranging mix for your absorption over at Aquarium Drunkard. The prevailing mood is mellow and mystique-laden, a soulful soundtrack to dwindling light and autumn’s exit. Sink into it. (By the way, a lot of the cuts on Fall Downers could've made it into this article.)

1. Intro by Biggest Crush (with thanks to Conrad Schnitzler and George Clinton)
2. Alice Coltrane – Galaxy In Turiya (excerpt)
3. Tall Dwarfs – More 54
4. Spacemen 3 – Honey
5. Phantom & Hold – Glass Heart (endless thanks to Andy Cabic for the turn-on to this genius 12″!)
6. Brian Eno – St. Elmo’s Fire
7. Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons – You’re A Song (That I Can’t Sing)
8. Oasis – Caught Away
9. Matthew’s Southern Comfort – Road To Ronderlin
10. Moby Grape – Sitting By The Window
11. The Kinks – No Return
12. John Cale – Andalucia
13. Matching Mole – O Caroline
14. Mellow Candle – Reverend Sisters
15. Cocteau Twins – Watchlar
16. Peter Gabriel – Mother Of Violence
17. Wire – Used To
18. Michael Rother – KM 06
19. Durutti Column – Sketch For Dawn 1
20. Annette Peacock – Sky Skating
21. John Martyn – Run Honey Run
22. sibylle baier – Give Me A Smile
23. Yes – Yesterday And Today
24. La Dusseldorf – Sentimental
25. Bridget St. John – Early Morning Song
26. Roy Harper – Twelve Hours of Sunset

Right now, I'm all about this mix by Shayne Olivier and VenusX. The two form GHE20 G0TH1K (pronounced Ghetto Gothik). GHE20 G0TH1K is just something else. Tricky is in the mix. So is Radiohead and lots of other familiar and not familiar materials. Their mix reaches the condition and intensity of a chopping board.
OC Mixtape Series #3: GHE20 G0TH1K - The Cruelest Intentions Live Mixtape by OpeningCeremony