Mystery Mini Mix is a shiny new feature dredged up from somewhere within the collective imagination of the WTD crew. Basically, we’ve made a huge list of song prompts (eg. Song with a colour in the title) and are getting our favourite writers and music people to curate a list of songs according to the randomly-assigned prompts they receive. It’s then up to them to craft their very own ‘EP’, and if they want to write a little bit about their choices then that’s cool too.
The Album Wall is a one-man blog run by Joel Dear, who writes all sorts of great things like this recent piece on CHUCK’s masterpiece and this not so recent piece on the legends that are Okkervil River, plus shares super controversial opinions like this semi-insinuation that Hospice isn’t the one of best albums ever committed to tape (though his original review used the word ‘essential’, so it’s all cool).
If You’re Beautiful
by Joel Dear
Song from a different continent to your own
Caetano Veloso – O Estrangeiro
Caetano Veloso is a Brazilian musician whom I was lucky enough to see live at the Primavera Sound festival in Porto a couple of years ago. I bought his Definitive Collection CD from one of the merch stalls while I was there, and while this track isn’t particularly typical of the compilation as a whole, I do enjoy the way it sounds a bit like Nine Inch Nails so here it is.
Song for the coldest day of the year
Sharon Van Etten – Tarifa
Few songs warm me up like ‘Tarifa’. When Sharon Van Etten recorded this track, she created a sort of audiowomb that almost envelopes you as you listen to it – perfect for simulating that warm ‘n’ toasty feeling on cold days.
Sure, it’s a pretty melancholy song. But it’s a cosy kind of melancholy, y’know?
Favourite song from this year
Mothers – Nesting Behaviour
There are currently a fair few tracks in contention for my personal ‘Song of 2016’ award (and obviously there are several exciting new releases still to come this year), but ‘Nesting Behaviour’ is certainly among the front-runners right now. Its sparing arrangement is a masterclass in not overdoing things, and the way Kristine Leschper’s voice swoops and wavers before soaring up to hit those last few high notes (“Reminding me not to bloom…”) gives me the trembles every time. Stunning.
[bandcamp width=350 height=470 album=3561352011 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false track=3956562262]
Song that reminds you of someone awful
John Grant – Jesus Hates Faggots
When I was in sixth form – about eight or nine years ago now – I spent more time than I would have liked in the company of a truly awful person whose name I won’t disclose here. Let’s just call him James.
There was lots to dislike about James. He was irritating. He was lecherous. He was not very bright. He had more money than everyone else. He seemed to have no concept of personal space or boundaries; once, upon noticing my larger-than-average Adam’s apple, he literally reached across the table to try and touch it, the absolute freak.
Worst of all, though, were his religious beliefs. James was – if I remember correctly – a Baptist, and he genuinely held some of those scary beliefs that you don’t really expect to encounter nowadays outside certain parts of the USA. Most notably, he had very little tolerance for gay people; in fact, he once informed me that, if he encountered any “gays”, he would chain them to the back of his car and drag them around behind him as he drove. (Ironically, his favourite musician was Elton John, so either his homophobia was very selective or he missed a memo somewhere down the line.)
Frustratingly, most of the other people in my year seemed to think that James, for all his foibles, was a great laugh and a fun person to have around. For my part, I hated being around him – I think he’s still the closest thing I’ve ever met to the biblical bigots that John Grant imitates in this song’s choruses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDFg7kuX97U
Song that reminds you of your favourite book
The Magnetic Fields – Asleep and Dreaming
My all-time favourite book is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which means that the obvious choice here would have been Paranoid Android from Radiohead’s OK Computer (named for Marvin the Paranoid Android, a character from Hitchhiker’s Guide who isn’t actually paranoid so much as clinically depressed).
However, I didn’t want to take the obvious choice, so I instead turned to one of my very favourite albums, the titanic three-disc pop odyssey that is 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields. The beautiful Asleep and Dreaming is track number 42 of 69, and the number 42 – according to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – is The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything.
There aren’t really any parallels beyond that. I just like this song a lot and I’m kind of a sucker for number stuff.
Here’s the entire ‘EP’ as one thing, if that sounds like something you might prefer:
Be sure to add The Album Wall to your list of sites to check on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays, and follow his Twitter and Facebook pages as a reminder.
Artwork by Vicky, Joel’s girlfriend (he can’t remember why she drew this)