So I made another mix. Close friends have heard it, and I feel it’s time I shared it here. This was an attempt to capture my outlook right now. Or then, rather. There are distinct first and second halves, and I feel that the latter could be a “healing” side. It’s definitely a warmer, rising sensation. There’s more than that, but the sound is what matters.
It’s called In Heaven.
Change begs itself.
I needed to do something different here. Too much has happened to remain the same. This will now be a home for mixtapes. I will still write about music that I love, sometimes even in the same fashion as before, but this place will change. I have a large mix backlog that can and will be shared, but I assembled one special for this occasion. Here is the inaugural Optimistic Underground mixtape:
One of the most addictive pieces of music I’ve heard all year is the Night Bus II mixtape, by CFCF.
My last post about Lil B (Age of Information video!) ended with promise of a mix. Well here it is. For you, your friends, even your mother: this is not only designed to get the uninitiated based in 45 minutes or less, but to properly rebuke those who think this man is all hype and no substance. Play it for them. Especially your mom.
So apparently to help promote the prequel series to Battlestar Galactica, Syfy channel has worked with Pitchfork and XLR8R to curate a far-better-than-it-has-any-right-to-be compilation “inspired” by the new show, Caprica. Rather than toss together a random selection of indie pop hits aimed at moving units, those responsible have created an ostensibly futuristic sounding mixture of left-field beat excursions, austere psychedelia, and blissed out ambience – and released Music For Our Future completely FREE of charge.
That’s right, this sublime collection is just a click away. The best part is that the selection is of such uniformly high quality, containing several tracks unavailable elsewhere, that it would easily warrant a purchase price if they so chose. Thankfully, their commercial impetus for appearing generous is a freewheeling invitation for those of us more into music than television to indulge in something we don’t get every day: an official mixtape that’s not only surprisingly eclectic and deep, but coherent and fluid unlike all but the best of film soundtracks.
Basically comprised of several key satellites orbiting the modern avant electronic landscape with a foot or two firmly in more well known indie territory, this playlist promises to release listeners from the shackles of gravity and set them adrift somewhere outside the oort cloud without a tether in sight. Sliding through warm drones, cold glitch, crushing dub, rapid space grooves and minimal-everything, we’re right on the cusp of anything conceivably fitting for this particular title.
The tracklisting:
1. Lusine – Gravity
2. Atlas Sound – Walkabout
3. Hudson Mohawke – FUSE
4. White Rainbow – Raw Shanks a Million
5. King Midas Sound – Outta Space (Slow Version)
6. Low Limit – Turf Day
7. Willits and Sakamoto – Toward Water
8. The Field – I Have the Moon, You Have the Internet (Gold Panda Remix)
9. Tyondai Braxton – Uffe’s Woodshop
10. Untold – Luna
11. Nice Nice – See Waves
12. Richard Devine – Matvec Interior (feat. Otto Von Schirach)
13. Peter Kirn – Anaxagoras
[once again, this is completely FREE. so grab it and enjoy]
Optimistic Underground 