Wars & Elections
http://8tracks.com/Lammas...-elections

This was quite the challenge. I wanted songs that represent artists/genres that have been important to me. I wanted to showcase at least 2 or 3 artists you all might be sleeping on. I wanted to offer a sample of songs with which my soul sings along. And I wanted the mix to be listenable to you all! A friend once quipped that I like "funeral music" , so I'm aware my tastes can wax maudlin in areas -- but I hope this collection is buoyant enough to at least keep you awake!

By way of theme, I kept things somewhat unencumbered. I simply tapped songs that speak to sensibilities through which I navigate -- scorn and contentment, bravado and futility, sensuality and confession, yearning and exaltation -- all in the context of an actively lived faith. It's an interior walk, and sometimes a boxing match amid the urgent affairs of an exterior world. And it sounds something like this....




1. "Black Sun," by Dead Can Dance, from the album Aion - Dead Can Dance's catalog is so rich I could have composed an entire mixtape from their work alone. Moonsongs, on her mixtape, graced us with a DCD track sang by female lead Lisa Gerrard. Her voice swirls into heaven. In contrast, "Black Sun" showcases DCD's male lead Brendan Perry, whose voice here markedly plummets to earth in an epic lament. This sounds to me like the song of some battle-worn, but dogged angel, an image to which I occasionally feel some kinship.

The spoken prologue, added for effect, is performed by actress Angela Lansbury from the score of the 1984 British werewolf film The Company of Wolves. (George Fenton, composer.) It's a favorite of mine.




2. "Follow the Leader," by Eric B. and Rakim, from Follow the Leader - First, don't worry -- 8tracks.com is working properly! I wanted to juxtapose the sounds of a spiritually soaring realm with that of a place earthy, real. I strive to live effectively in both worlds. (Plus, I had to get some pipe organ in this mix somewhere. ) I opened with an excerpt from Marcel Dupré's Prelude in B, op 7, no. 1, performed by organist Kyler Brown at New York's Church of St. Mary the Virgin. I am not an emotionally expulsive guy, but the resonance of a pipe organ in some huge sanctuary can easily rocket me into some place other.

...Back in the late '80s, I liked Eric B. and Rakim, but I didn't quite appreciate just how cool their work was. Rakim's smart metaphors, those internal rhyme schemes, and the ease and authority of that flow are sooo underappreciated to me -- even as he often is named among hip hop's all-time top MCs. And the pitch-perfect gangster intrigue of Eric B.'s productions were standard-setting. I picked this track not only to affirm a show of genuine artistry in a genre on which I was raised, but -- again -- because the image of conquerer on some saving mission speaks to me.




3. "Futures," by Zero 7 with José Gonzalez, from The Garden - Zero 7 is decent enough, but I really selected this song to showcase its guest lead, Argentinian-Swedish singer-guitarist José Gonzalez. Gonzalez's second album, In Our Nature, was my favorite of 2007, but as his own sound is decidedly sparse, a song from In Our Nature might have been too serene for my mix. I think this pairing of Gonzalez's Nick Drake-ish acoustic vibe with Zero 7's trippy electronica is really successful, perhaps the best track on The Garden. The lyrics aren't terribly self-revealing, but for me there seems a familiar sense of contentment in unknowing.

Gonzalez is perhaps best known for his cover of the Knife's "Heartbeats," which was heard in commercials and several prime-time TV show episodes. As well, In Our Nature features another cover that garnered attention: Massive Attack's "Teardrop." Check out the animated video for "Teardrop" here: http://www.youtube.com/wa...B-h1EEsKDA




4. "He Moved Through the Fair," by Sinéad O'Connor, from Gospel Oak - My friends laugh at me, but I'm a sucker for a traditional Irish ballad -- and this song is perhaps one of the most beautiful I've heard. Typically sang by a male about a woman, Sinéad flips the script here.

The cool thing about old Irish ballads is that many are richly allegorical. Lots were penned while Ireland was under British rule, with the songs' love interests, often estranged or dead, subversively representing a liberated Emerald Isle. The pedigree of "He Moved Through the Fair" is debated, but the yearning in the song, whatever its history and metaphorical meaning, is crystal clear, possibly heartbreaking (if the substitute lyrics below are sang), yet simultaneously hopeful. The song is particularly poignant in my personal context when I imagine it sang by a person to a partner of the same sex.

My own love said to me*

"My mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you

For your lack of kind"

He went away from me

And this he did say

"It will not be long love

'Til our wedding day"


He went away from me

And he moved through the fair

And slowly I watched him

Move here and move there

He went his way homeward

With one star awake

As a swan in the evening

Moves over the lake.



I dreamt last night

That my own love came in*

He came in so sweetly

His feet made no din

He stepped up beside me

And this he did say

"It will not be long, love

Til our wedding day"


* Sometimes "my own love" is substituted with "my dead love."




5. "Rook," by XTC, from Nonsuch - Nonsuch didn't escape the overproduction of the early '90s, but with its intelligent writing, arrangements and musicianship, it is easily my favorite XTC album. "Rook" is the unintended standout to me. It's a brooding ballad written to the title bird, a long-time mythological envoy of death. Lead singer/writer Andy Partridge mentions he had writers block and this song suddenly poured out! He said, "I was really frightened. I mean, I couldn't even finish the demo because I was in tears. It felt like seeing yourself in a mirror and recognizing your mortality."




6. "The Opposite Side of the Sea," by Oren Lavie, from The Opposite Side of the Sea - I first heard of Israeli singer Oren Lavie last year on Canadian public radio. Lavie's husky voice takes some getting used to, but I immediately fell for the lush string arrangement of this song, which, it turns out, is pretty typical of his work. Owing to a background in theatre, Lavie's work can be melodramatic and often kitschy, but it's rarely boring. Musical merits aside, this song struck me, in part, as it speaks to a sense of leaving that'd see me depart my native country to take up personal callings. As the song implies, ignorance of things "other" can stir all sorts of assumptions -- positive, negative, correct, grossly untrue and otherwise. The experience of being somewhere beyond home, then, can be fantastically eye-opening in a number of ways.




7. "Jake's Classroom," by Terence Blanchard, from 25th Hour OST- 25th Hour is one of my favorite Spike Lee "joints" - about a drug dealer's last 24 hours before going off to serve a seven-year prison term. This song was one of the themes for the protagonist's best friend, a high school English teacher, played immaculately by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was in love with one of his underage students. I'm happy to report I don't have such problems , but there's a certain tension in this instrumental to which I've always felt some closeness: Hoffman's schoolteacher is potentially the most sophisticated character in 25th Hour, but he ever is dogged by his own shortcomings, vices and a definite, albeit endearing, eccentricity... and he knows it. I think the coupling of that sophistication with a certain characteristic clumsiness is beautifully captured in Blanchard's piece.




8. "A Triptych for Howie - Gently Johnny/Loving Couple/ Ruined Church," by Paul Giovanni and Magnet, from The Wicker Man (1973) OST - Called "the Citizen Kane of horror" by Cinefantastique magazine, the 1973 original version of the Wicker Man is one of my favorite films. It's a quaint fish-out-of-water tale: Sgt. Howie, a devout Christian detective from an unnamed Scottish city, takes up the case of finding a missing girl on a nearby rural pagan island. The surface plot is interesting enough, but the movie stirs on other levels: In bringing together this protagonist with folk who've reclaimed a long-lost faith he seeks to supplant, we see a war of worlds -- of old vs. new, of earth vs. heaven, of the gods vs. God, of the indulgent vs. the restrained. And by the end of the film, while the narrative nods to a discernible "winner," we perhaps are left to ponder the long-term implications of these dichotomies for all parties involved.

The short songs that comprise the triptych occur at different times in the film, but they sort of sum up the tension between worlds. Does engagement of one necessitate the extinguishment of the other?

ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR THOSE INTERESTED: The Wicker Man soundtrack was the only widely heard work of struggling 1970s New York musician Paul Giovanni. With a band assembled specifically for the film, Giovanni oversaw the project's entire scoring, combining original work with reworkings of Anglo-Celtic folk and even old nursery rhymes. He also employed a number of British folk vocalists, musicians and civilians, some of whom appear in the film, to achieve a more "corporate" or "festival" sound in some songs.

The soundtrack (like the film) went on to gain a sizable international cult following, owing in part to its meandering history: Upon the film's 1973 release by British Lion studios, the stereo masters and full-length film negatives went missing! Only in 1998 did a shoddy mono patchwork of audio from the film (with dialogue, sound effects and choppy edits) become available. Moreover, as the audio lift was taken from a latter short edit of the film -- the North American version -- some songs, including "Gently Johnny," were now absent. Both film and music masters were considered lost forever, and some speculated that British Lion studio boss (and known Wicker Man hater) Michael Deeley had thrown them in the landfill under England's M3 motorway! Then, in 2000, Gary Carpenter, a former member of Magnet and associate musical director of the Wicker Man, disclosed he'd kept a clean master of the songs and would be willing to release them upon securing a deal that'd compensate the surviving musicians, who were never properly paid. Things worked out, and a 2002 soundtrack release marked the first time in nearly 30 years that the film's songs were heard clean and in their entireties!

The film and soundtrack have enjoyed a resurgence in interest (with that HORRID Nick Cage remake dropping in '06 ). And a number of the songs have been covered by bands like the Sneaker Pimps, Doves, British jazz singer Sarah Bennett, '60s folksters Pentacle, etc.

...Giovanni unfortunately would not live to see this ultimate flourish, as he succumbed to AIDS in 1990.




9. "Hurricanes," by Vanessa Daou, from Joe Sent Me - Vanessa's an interesting chick. Originally from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, she moved to New England for boarding school and an eventual Ivy League education. She's dabbled in several art forms and she made a name for herself in the early '90s New York poetry circuit. She married producer/sessions keyboardist Peter Daou (also occasional publisher of the popular Daou Report political blog and internet campaign advisor to Hillary Clinton), and she has become a niche diva for underground club scenes, especially in New York and Paris. Daou's stuff all is similar to this (though often more danceable) -- electronica-meets-jazz, sang in an aspirated or spoken style, notably literate, and very often more than subtly erotic. "Hurricanes" is from an album coming out later this month. I did some ol' scandalous stuff to rip this audio from Vanessa's home page , but I picked this song because it is quintessential Vanessa Daou... and its theme of pondering life complicating life happened to be somewhat relevant to my mix.




10. "Visions of You," by Jah Wobble and Invaders of the Heart with Sinead O'Connor, from Rising Above Bedlam- What little I know about Jah Wobble I've gathered from assorted online sources. He's an English musician and former bassist for Public Image Ltd., the "leftovers" of the Sex Pistols. And here he's backed by Sinéad O'Connor (whose second appearance on my mix I didn't particularly plan).

I became familiar with Jah Wobble's work during college, when I worked in a wrecka stow. We received Rising Above Bedlam among our typical dozens of promo CDs from various distributors. I threw this on one day and immediately fell in love. I'd like the album if only for Jah's masterful bass playing and its great "ethnic fusion" vibe. (Jah apparently is a HUGE fan of world music.) But there's also always been something uplifting in this particualar song: In answer to the angst detailed throughout my mix so far, Jah Wobble declares "I'm not numbed out anymore." He goes on to describe finding the Kingdom of Heaven as completing a circle of oneness with "the turning tide" (i.e. creation), heart and mind. In Jah's video for the song, a cross hangs conspicuously behind him and the final frame is an image of the Blessed Virgin, but he avoids any heavy-handed doctrinaire ramblings, and he decidedly makes his message a universal one by incorporating musical influences from all over the world. It's sort of an inclusive mystical prayer of upliftment... and I thought it a good benediction for my mix.


"Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work -- that goes on, it adds up."
-Barbara Kingsolver

Selah.

Thanks for listening. I hope you've enjoyed!

---

Finally, I just wanted to give big props to Sander, HamsterHuey, sextonseven and everyone who has helped make this first round of mixtape trading a real high point for the org this year!! It's been AWESOME hearing what makes orgers musically tick, and I've learned several new artists whose work I need to explore. Good show! Please let's encourage this to continue!


[Edited 3/4/10 6:39am]

I love the flow on this. It's fun how I have most the songs on here, but it is great to hear them in a new setting. Dead Can Dance and Eric B and Rakim is just slamming. And they are immediately my faves.

Angela Lansbury? Murder she wrote! I love that mash-up.

And wow, you really like yer folk, don't you? I am not much into folk, I must admit, unless you count Iron And Wine and Joni Mitchell as such. And Nick Drake, I suppose.







.
[Edited 11/3/08 2:48am]

Lammastide said:

That's the reason we wanted to do this. People on this forum constantly moan that music nowadays is boring, but that's cuz they listen to radio, I suppose.

The variety of music on all the tapes has been such a wealth of new discoveries.

Been waiting on this one.

Such pressure

HamsterHuey said:

At one point I'd configured an entirely acoustic mixtape... nothing but voice, guitar and the occasional piano. It was folk heaven (or hell, depending on your position ). In some ways, I thought it more interesting than what I've presented here. But ultimately I opted to do something that better represented a cross-section of stuff I listen to.

Lammastide said:

Brilliant!

i'll follow up with my thoughts later. i have to listen to it five or ten more times.

Lammy, I'm late cuz of you. Still crafting my reply to your reply to my thread Will review your mix soon

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Thanks. I assumed my mixtape tanked, never to be revived.

Lammastide said:

Don't worry Lammy. You'll have to sequester that wife of yours. you'll see

Lammastide said:

it didn't for me. i've just been busy.

i've listen to it a bunch already.

Lammastide said:

Ooooh, noooo! I have yours and unkempt's still to review. I will get to yours and I'll try to be as eloquent as possible!

You said you toyed around with the idea of including a track that I included (RL Burnside, I believe), so seeing a track I thought about including made me smile! Well, maybe not that track but definitely something of 'the garden' by zero7. It feels good to know they did get a home somewhere in the org club!

oh:

I love Vanessa Daou, but don't know this track. Somehow I didn't like her followup to "Zipless" and stopped paying attention, though many have cautioned me about the error of my ways. I think this will finally push me over the edge into exploring her full catelogue.

TRON said:

"Hurricanes" hasn't yet been released. The album it's from, JOE SENT ME, should be coming out later this month.

ZIPLESS is a pretty tough act to follow, but if you liked the slinky, sexy feel of that album, I think you may especially like PLUTONIUM GLOW or MAKE YOU LOVE.

:IdreamofLammy,ImeanJeannie:

Sander said:

Yep. I was playing around with including Chris Thomas King's version of "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" from the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Glad to hear you enjoyed seeing something from The Garden make the first round of mixtape trades. I need to listen to that album more myself. I rarely get beyond the José Gonzalez tracks.

Lammastide said:

I *gasped* when I saw it was on there. I am the least enamoured by that album but am bewitched by this man

Your beginning, with Aion, my favourite Dead Can Dance album, has me already hooked. As soon as I can listen I'll post a proper response ~ it looks delicious! n

1. "Black Sun," by Dead Can Dance, from the album Aion

Love the intro! Black Sun is so dramatic. I feel like gathering my sword, shield and Armor and heading out to war.

2. "Follow the Leader," by Eric B. and Rakim, from Follow the Leader -

That was a sick intro!
Didn't he just win the best rapper alive poll here on the org?



3. "Futures," by Zero 7 with José Gonzalez, from The Garden -

I keep think Jose Feliciano when I see his name. I love some of Zero 7's stuff, but some of it I find a little hard to embrace. Sometimes their music is so spacey it's hard to find anything to grasp onto. I do like this track.


4. "He Moved Through the Fair," by Sinéad O'Connor, from Séan-Nos Nua -

This one didn't really grab me. Maybe back in 89 it would have. I was all over women's music back then. I do get the image of standing on a hill somewhere in Ireland on an overcast day overlooking a vast amount of green land.





5. "Rook," by XTC, from Nonsuch -

Love this tune. The vocals remind me of Joe Jackson's. The only tune I heard by XTC was the that Dear God song and I remember liking that one a whole lot.




6. "The Opposite Side of the Sea," by Oren Lavie, from The Opposite Side of the Sea -

Yeah. I dig the strings on this one, expecially the cello. The vocalist reminds me of Adrian Belew a bit.




7. "Jake's Classroom," by Terence Blanchard, from 25th Hour OST-

Love Terrence! I remember taking this women I had just started dating to see him live back in 96 or 97. he was playing this supper club and we arrived early lucked out on getting a table close to the stage. He came out and released his sonic fury upon us. Upon his first notes, I thought to myself this is going to be an incredible show. As I looked over at my date she seemed to be cringing in her seat. I wasn't sure what was going on with her and thought it was my imaginiation that she seemed to be frightend by something, so I just kept looking at the stage. Well mid way into the second song her disposition got worse and I asked if she wanted to leave and she said yes. After we get out of the club, she told me she didn't like trumpets (Btw, I was pissed) I know I had told her we were seeing a jazz trumpter before buying the tickets and reminded her of that and she said she didn't think it would bother her as much as it did. Apparently, this women had some psychotic issues (I was just finding out about this) and there was a time she had to be checked in to a mental hospital because she thought she was hearing Gabriel's trumpet. she was afraid terrence was going to trigger another episode. Oh and Terrence hasn't be back since!

7. "Jake's Classroom," by Terence Blanchard, from 25th Hour OST-

interesting story. Now I have to add this movie to my netflix queue. I really enjoyed this song. You really don't hear orchestrations like this in music anymore.




9. "Hurricanes," by Vanessa Daou, from Joe Sent Me -

very slick tune. I'm kind of reminded of Ingrid Chavez. this is well done and those piano fumblings add so much to the vibe. Beautiful voice. And after googling her image, the voice matches the person. WOW! I wouldn't doubt if Prince tried to recruit her into his paisley kingdom.



10. "Visions of You," by Jah Wobble and Invaders of the Heart with Sinead O'Connor, from Rising Above Bedlam-

I dig the groove, but I'm not feeling the vocals on this one. Yeah, nice bass line.

Wonderful mix. Very cinematic and seems to be in line with your personality, at least the one you have here on the org.

Can't wait to hear your follow up to this.

Dude, thanks so much for taking the time to listen and review!

magnificentsynthesizer said:

Thanks. I wasn't sure the intro mash-ups would work. I figured they'd either be interesting or unforgivably cheesy. And, yes, Rakim did just win the org's best rapper poll!


Yeah, Zero 7 are just OK to me. I was really close to replacing this with one of Jose's own songs, but his stuff is way mellow, and I think the tail end of my mix is already slightly too subdued. The Garden is a slight departure from the trippiness you (correctly) mention. I'm not sure I could tolerate all of their stuff.



I knew this one would lose some folk. It's sooo sentimental! I've always loved the vulnerability and purity in Sinead's version of this ballad. There are some strong versions sang by males, but I think many of those are even more kitschy! I agree, Irish ballads do make me want to buy plane ticket over there.


I love XTC. If you enjoyed "Dear God," you might really enjoy the entire Skylarking album it comes from. Todd Rundgren produced it, and the band initially hated it because in some ways it lacks their overproduction and trademark whimsy. But fans and critics routinely rank it among their best.


I hadn't thought of the Adrian Belew similarities, but I think you hit on something. My wife digs Adrian. I'm gonna have to raid her iTunes library.


I hope you ended that relationship c.a.r.e.f.u.l.l.y. How lucky that you got to see Terence. If he comes my way anytime soon, I'll definitely check him out.


Glad you liked the three songs. The movie and soundtrack are quite folky and quaint. You have to be in the mood for them. I think they're both particularly apropos for a sunny Sunday afternoon during fall harvest time.


Vanessa and Prince definitely had some similarities, and folk I know who are fans of both Vanessa and Prince are constantly imagining what a collaboration would be like! In some ways it would be interesting; in others I think it'd be impossible above, say, a one-song project. Vanessa is too erotic for today's Prince. And way too smart for the Prince of any era. She's also not particularly impressed by celebrity, so I get the feel her indy sensibilities wouldn't mix too well with Prince's industry "bigness."

This is only a rough demo for the song, as I understand it. But I love the unpolished aesthetic. I hope the upcoming released version isn't way overworked. I also enjoyed the piano work. It's not terribly different from the keyboards of Vanessa's ex-husband, Peter, on her previous work. Peter was awesome, and I hope whatever keyboardist(s) Vanessa works with from hereon help her to continue some approximation of his sound.


Yeah. Vocals aren't Jah's strongpoint. I'm with you there.



Thanks, mate. And, yeah, this sounds pretty much like the genuine me, for better or worse.

Whew! I still got a month to review

Lammy.....

Please don't make me listen to this at work

I listened to this one for the first time yesterday. It's beautiful and otherworldly. When I first saw the tracklist I thought there was no way the transition from Dead Can Dance to Eric B & Rakim could be pulled off, but it works!

I'm gonna sneak my review in before the thread gets locked in the next few days.

1. "Black Sun," by Dead Can Dance - I like Dead Can Dance a lot and really should get more of their earlier albums which I prefer over their later worldbeat sound. The songs with Lisa on lead I generally favor more, but there are tracks like this one where Brendan's vocals are spot on. The intro that you added goes really well with the song.

2. "Follow the Leader," by Eric B. and Rakim - When I first listened to your mix before reading your thread, I was like, "where in the world did he find this version?" That excerpt at the beginning is a perfect segue from Dead Can Dance. But even without that, the ethereal elements in the song (which I never really noticed before) make the juxtaposition not awkward at all. And what can I say about Rakim that hasn't already been said? Arguably the greatest MC ever.

3. "Futures," by Zero 7 with José Gonzalez - "Follow The Leader" actually meshes less with this song than "Black Sun" to me, but I do hear some common elements with the previous two songs particularly in the background. The beats really are what set the two tracks apart. But I do like the airiness of this song very much.

4. "He Moved Through the Fair," by Sinéad O'Connor - Sinead's voice is stellar here. And the music is minimal enough to not take away any of the spotlight away from the vocals. Awesome.

5. "Rook," by XTC - I was never a big fan of XTC, but if there's one way to win me over, it's to play a stark piano-based piece like this one. It's somber and haunting too so that's a slam dunk.

6. "The Opposite Side of the Sea," by Oren Lavie - Strings! Another winner here. The arrangement, both strings and vocals, is beautiful. I think this one is my favorite on your mix.

7. "Jake's Classroom," by Terence Blanchard - It's a great instrumental and I guess I can see your description of sophistication vs. clumsiness in there, but I'd have to rewatch the film to get the appreciation for it that you have.

8. "A Triptych for Howie - Gently Johnny/Loving Couple/ Ruined Church," by Paul Giovanni and Magnet - Incredible backstory behind this song. The last two parts of the triptych are nice mood pieces. I'm gonna be honest though and say this track is the one that moves me the least. Still pretty good.

9. "Hurricanes," by Vanessa Daou - I used to have Zipless, but eventually sold it because I never played it again after the first few listens. I was a lot younger then and might think differently of it and her work in general now after listening to this song, especially within the context of this mix.

10. "Visions of You," by Jah Wobble and Invaders of the Heart with Sinead O'Connor - This track rumbles along quite nicely. Sinead's vocals make the song, however. I don't think the bassline could carry it by itself.

I enjoyed this mix A LOT. I thought it was one of the best org mixtapes and it's a shame more people didn't have time to review it before the thread's expiration date this week. The liner notes were very well-written also and provided some great insight and background information for the songs.

sextonseven said:

I am in complete agreement, Paris. I listen to this mix frequently and the haunting, ethereal nature of some of the songs juxtaposed with the starkness and strength of others creates an amazing balance. I am truly sorry I don't have the complete review it deserves. We are still grant writing and fighting for our non~profit lives in Michigan so I have time for little other than work.
Thank you Lammastide for bringing this to us.

MoonSongs said:

After you told me how incredible you thought this mix was, I knew I had to give it a listen quickly. You can always edit in your review to your last post later. We are still allowed to do that after the thread gets locked.

sextonseven said:

Thanks! I will follow through with that after January 12th (due date for the next grant). I knew you would love it ~ a beautiful and fitting end song to our little music club.

...

Man, I'm glad I got to listen to this before it disappeared! A great, inventive Mix!!!

The more I hear of Dead Can Dance, the more I'm intrigued... I first heard of them when I came acros a performance Video--I definitely want to delve deeper into their catalog.

Great fusion of Kyler Brown's organ and classic Eric B and Rakim!!! (and Rakim is still the best ever, IMO....)Kool track!!!!

Nice Zero 7 track-- You're right, José Gonzalez is the standout here--I'm going to do some research on this artist!!

I hadn't heard Sinead O' Connor's stuff in awhile, and this track, (along with the kool Jah Wobble track at the end) reminds me why she was heralded in the first place--very nice!!


I'm a huge XTC fan-- Big Express, Skylarking, and Oranges and Lemons are still my favorites, but Nonesuch is the last album of theirs that I loved all the way through, and "Rook " is definitely one of the best!!


Oren Lavie-- This is my favorite track on the mix!!!!


"Triptych for Howie" is beautiful! I had seen the Wicker Man a few times, but I didn't remember this music--But now that I read your explanation, it makes sense! It's a shame that Giovani didn't live to see the soundtrack restored to its'proper glory....


Nice ethereal track by Vanessa Daou-- it's been awhile since The Black Forest, and I should check out some of her more recent output....


Again, a great mix, I love the feel and flow--and I got some more artists to investigate!! Thanks, Lammastide!!




...
[Edited 12/31/08 6:55am]