Tag Archives: Mixtape Monday

Mixtape Monday: Lundi Gras

Posted on February 20, 2012 by | 1 Comment
THE PILGRIM - When I think Mardis Gras, I think marching bands.  I think crowded bars and sweaty bodies, Andouille sausage in my eggs & the best goddamn Bloody Mary you’ll ever sip on.  My take on New Orleans is very simple:  I am in love.  Each year around this time I make my yearly pilgrimage to the big easy to see my loved ones there, listen to big brass bands and fill my belly with red beans & rice.  While Mardis Gras Day (Fat Tuesday) signifies the culmination of the festivities, my personal favorite day is the Monday before called, Lundi Gras.  The parades don’t start til the evening & the bands play all night (because the first parade on Mardis Gras Day begins at 8am) the music never stops.  Last year on Lundi Gras, my best friend broke her foot riding her bike in the Quarter, picked up a set of crutches & kept on rolling.  Lundi Gras is the true test of whether or not you can survive Fat Tuesday:  it’s a marathon, not a sprint.  So here’s a compilation of the 11 songs which remind me the most of the sound of my own past Lundi Gras.

1. Lil Queenie and The Percolators- My Darlin’ New Orleans
2. Dixie Cups-  Iko Iko
3. Professor Long Hair- Go to the Mardis Gras
4. Rebirth Brass Band- Do Watcha Wanna
5. Kermit Ruffins- It’s Later Than You Think
6. Treme Brass Band-  When the Saints Come Marching In
7. Jean Eric-  Bull in a China Shop
8. Kourtney Heart feat. Magnolia Shorty- My Boy
9. The Hawketts- Mardi Gras Mambo
10. Black Lips- Bad Kids
11. K. Gates-Black & Gold (Who Dat!!)


Meg Wade (Pilgrim) is an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Arizona.
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THE NATIVE - 
If you have to ask—
There is no way to convey the spirit of NOLA. Spirit, from spiritus, which is breath, which is sound, which is the closest approximation I can give y’all. So to wit, I am attaching 11 songs which are only in the smallest way representative. To understand the vigor and depth of the Mardi Gras experience for New Orleanians—not the bare breasts of tourists on Bourbon (though that’s NOLA too) nor the rarified and racist pageantry that are the Mardi Gras Balls of Rex or Comus (though that too is NOLA)—one first must come to an appreciation of the tradition, the duende of the street. The majority of my list addresses two institutions of the streets of my city: Mardi Gras Indians and brass bands.

I will not attempt to explain to you the cultural heritage embodied in the tradition of “masking Indian” but understand this: it is syncretism, resistance, pride, respect, history and mysticism to its core. Watch the first clip (which though it is from HBO’s Treme gets it right—props) “Indian Red” and know it is a deep prayer. The second clip should give you an idea of how the Indians embody those nouns listed above, not for entertainment, but for the sake of the thing itself. But this tradition is a living one, and many Big Chiefs have been able to combine it with another strain of the city’s life, funk. Big Chief Bo Dollis is a living legend in NOLA, so let the Wild Magnolias ease you into more New Orleans funk, The Meters. Riffing off of an Indian Chant that essentially translates into a pride built from necessity ( tu way pocky waypossibly from the Creole French tu n’as pas couilles “you don’t have the balls”) The Meters’ song epitomizes the good times.

My next segment addresses in a woefully small way the second of the traditions of the street, the New Orleans Brass Band. Theirs is a music of life, of sex, of drinking a cold Budweiser and passing a blunt with a stranger right in front of NOPD.  Let Hot 8, Rebirth, let Soul Rebels get you moving. And take a good look at the last clip, from one of the largest annual Second Lines, that of the Black Men of Labor Social Aid and Pleasure Club, which, though not during Mardi Gras speaks to the glory and transcendence of a culture which dirges to and dances back from the cemetery. I can’t say enough about what Second Lines mean to me so I won’t say any more.

My last three tracks are miscellany—the St. Augustine High School Marching 100, one of the seminal high school marching bands which are the real stars of the Mardi Gras parades, Quintron & Miss Pussycat (shout out to all my Bywater hipsters and assorted Crusties, y’all are New Orleans too) and to conclude a personal favorite, “Junco Partner” a standard played here by another legend, the Night Tripper himself, Dr. John.

Remember, all things in moderation, including moderation. So drink your whiskey if you wanna get frisky, and get you some heroin before you die.

1. Treme  (HBO)–Indian Red
2. Creole Wild West Uptown 2010
3. Bo Dollis and The Wild Magnolias - Handa Wanda
4. The Meters - Hey Pocky Way
5. Hot 8 Brass Band feat Mos Def - New Orleans
6. Rebirth Brass Band - Cassanova
7. Soul Rebels Brass Band - 504
8. Black Men of Labor 2010 Second Line - I’ll Fly Away
9. 2011 Mardi Gras St. Augustine @ Zulu - Marching 100
10. Swamp Buggy Badass - Quintron & Miss Pussycat
11. Junco Partner - Dr. John

Click here to listen to the A-side (Pilgrim) and B-side (Native), the music of Lundi Gras: NOLA


Blake Whalen-Encalarde (The Native)  is an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Arizona.

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Mixtape Monday: The Valentine

Posted on February 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

After enumerating my favorite love songs for this Mixtape Monday, I realized that in the end, seventeen of the eighteen songs were by Sam Cooke, the only exception being a track off of Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke. Realizing that this was not exactly a mixtape (rather, a sametape), I pressed myself to think a little bit more personally about the function of the love song.

I remembered that desperate moment when I was in fifth grade, talking to my long-time girlfriend on the phone. I could sense eminent breakup, and in a last-ditch effort to salvage what it was that we had (I wonder what that was now???), I pressed the receiver of the phone to the stereo speaker and gently nudged the volume toggle to the tune of Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply.”

Before you get to judging, realize that a) I didn’t ask for the album. I received it, opened it, and listened to it, yes. But I didn’t ask for it. b) My grandmother was in the next room watching soap operas, which demonstrated to me the absolute abandon with which one must pursue a romance. c) I had this chick pegged as Mrs. Lenhart. I mean, we had been dating since second grade!

By the time the first chorus was complete (“I want to lay like this forever / until the sky closes in on me”), I tilted the phone to my ear to hear her—what does swooning sound like again? What I heard was more terrible than the sound of the dial tone, though. She had put her older brother on the phone—a high-schooler on the other side of puberty—and he was chuckling at me. She had asked him to explain to me that it was over—no sappy pop songs about it.

I was just learning—I still am, I suppose—that love is largely about humility. Love is about desperation. Love is about sentimentality. These songs belong to couples skates and slow dances. Why is it that we’re always moving in revolutions and spinning in circles when these songs come on? Doesn’t love make us dizzy enough? These are songs I’ve learned on guitar, but rarely had the courage to play for the girl (e.g., “Emily” by From First to Last when Skrillex was still a screamo singer). Here are the songs that I, at one time or another, thought might save a relationship, crystallize a memory, or be a likely candidate for a wedding song.

1. Savage Garden – Truly Madly Deeply
2. Sam Cooke - Cupid
3. The Honorary Title – Everything I Once Had
4. Van Morrison – The Way Young Lovers Do
5. The National – Slow Show
6. Dinah Washington – Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby
7. Mamas & the Papas – Dedicated To the One I Love
8. Sam Cooke – I Love You For Sentimental Reasons
9. Blink 182 – First Date
10. The Casualties – Punk Rock Love
11. The Descendents – I’m the One
12. The Avett Brothers – January Wedding
13. Iron & Wine – Naked As We Came
14. Akron/Family – Don’t Be Afraid You’re Already Dead
15. From First to Last – Emily
16. The Ataris – Summer Wind Was Always Our Song
17. Wanda Jackson – Stupid Cupid
18. Sam Cooke – Bring It On Home To Me

Honorable mentions go to K-Ci & JoJo, Bon Iver, The Cure, and The Kooks.

Listen to the YouTube playlist here: ♥Valentine’s♥Mixtape♥

—Lawrence

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Mixtape Monday: Jazz Piano

Posted on February 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I received Sarah Schoenbrun’s jazz piano mixtape and a new pair of noise-canceling headphones on the same day. Coincidence? Nope. Words can’t introduce a wordless mixtape, so why am I even trying? Let there be blue notes and swung notes. Let there be rubato and ostinato. Behold, the basis for bebop and boogie-woogie. From the A͵͵ sub-contra-octave to the c′′′′′ 5-line octave, enter all the improvisation upon the 86 keys in between.

1. Ahmad Jamal — The Awakening
2. Marian McPartland — Love for Sale
3. Horace Silver — Song for My Father
4. Brad Mehldau — River Man
5. James P. Johnson — Honeysuckle Rose
6. Tommy Flanagan — Caravan
7. Art Tatum — Don’t Blame Me
8. Marian McPartland — Willow Weep for Me
9. Duke Ellington — Big Fat Alice’s Blues
10. Wynton Kelly — Kelly Blue
11. Mary Lou Williams — The Man I Love
12. Oscar Peterson — Summertime
13. McCoy Tyner — Passion Dance
14. Oscar Peterson — Reunion Blues
15. Bill Evans — One for Helen
16.Count Basie — John’s Ideas
17. Erroll Garner — There’s a Small Hotel
18. Sonny Clark — Nica
19. Thelonious Monk — Epistrophy
20. Bud Powell — Parisian Thoroughfare/A Night in Tunisia
21. Red Garland — Soul Junction

Listen to Sarah’s Mixtape here: Jazz Piano YouTube Playlist

Sarah Schoenbrun is a jazz pianist and MFA candidate in non-fiction at the University of Arizona.

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Mixtape Monday: Old & New

Posted on January 30, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Sonora Review members share their musical dyads. First, an old song. One that has been with them for years, likely to be their “Most Played” on iTunes. Second, a new song. A just-discovered track, recommended by a friend or Pandora or a single by a band on tour with their favorite artist. These songs clutter the “Recently Played” list like strangers waiting to be invited to the party playlist or the exercise playlist or the writing playlist. Maybe someday.

The space between old and new can sometimes be a matter of tempo (an achingly slow ballad vs. a heart-hammering romp), of amplitude (electric vs. acoustic), of key (major vs. minor), of lyricism (anthem vs. folk). It can speak to how we’ve matured, or how we’ve resisted. The odd-numbered songs are oldies and the even-numbered ones are the newbies.

1. The Shins - Girl on the Wing (Heather Hamilton O)
2. The Head & The Heart – Rivers and Roads (Heather Hamilton N)
3. Blondie – Tide is High (Kelly Scherwitzki O)
4. The Deep Dark Woods – Peggy O (Kelly Scherwitzki N)
5. Joni Mitchell – California (Andie Francis O)
6. South of Nowhere- Wasted (Andie Francis N)
7. The Beach Boys – Sloop John B (Meg Wade O)
8. Iron & Wine – Walking Far From Home (Meg Wade N)
9. Bonnie Raitt – Something to Talk About (Jess Langan-Peck O)
10. M83 – Wait (Jess Langan-Peck N)
11. Sleater Kinney – Good Things (Nancy Powaga O)
12. Niki & The Dove – Last Night (Nancy Powaga N)
13. R.E.M. – Shiny Happy People (Lewis DeJong O)
14. Four Tet – Smile Around the Face (Lewis DeLong N)
15. Elton John – Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters (Garrett Faulkner O)
16. Josh Ritter – The Curse (Garrett Faulkner N)
17. The Casualties – Punk Rock Love (Lawrence Lenhart O)
18. Kurt Vile – Runner Ups (Lawrence Lenhart N)

Mixtape Monday on YouTube: Old & New

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Mixtape Monday: Garrett Faulkner

Posted on January 23, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I don’t have much to say about these selections. Cicero wrote that literature “faithfully comforts us through the night, in the farthest lands and darkest woods.” Wise words, to be sure, but I have trouble reading in the dark, and in the car, so songs like these have, more than once, served in a pinch and served beautifully. Listening to them, I’ve also learned I’m prone to air banjo and singing full bore into the wall. If that isn’t joy, I don’t know what is.

1. Stephen Stills – Old Times Good Times
2. Arthur Crudup – Rock Me Mama
3. Cat Stevens – If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out
4. Old Crow Medicine Show – Don’t Ride That Horse
5. Jackson Browne – Cocaine
6. Elliott Smith – Miss Misery
7. Dave Rawlings Machine – Monkey and the Engineer
8. Gillian Welch – Red Clay Halo
9. Patty Griffin – Moses
10. Nick Drake – Things Behind the Sun
11. Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town
12. Mumford and Sons – Roll Away Your Stone
13. The Rolling Stones – Factory Girl
14. Simon and Garfunkel – Blues Run the Game
15. Punch Brothers – Next to the Trash
16. John Prine – Christmas in Prison
17. Grateful Dead – New Speedway Boogie
18. Jimi Hendrix – It’s Too Bad
19. Brandi Carlisle – Have You Ever
20. Belle and Sebastian – Like Dylan in the Movies
21. Bob Dylan – Dirt Road Blues
22. Sam Cooke – Bring it on Home to Me

Listen to Garrett’s playlist here: Songs to Listen to in the Dark

Garrett Faulkner is an MFA candidate in fiction at the University of Arizona.

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Mixtape Monday: Timothy Dyke

Posted on January 16, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Over winter break my brother from Missouri ended up in my Mom’s car in California. She has no CD player, no iPod connection. The radio in her Suburu doesn’t even work, but my brother dug around a bit and found something called “Tim’s Holiday Mix” stuck in the glove compartment underneath the owner’s manual. I used to make these cassettes, back in the proverbial day. I’d give them out at Holiday time to friends and family. I remember that I used to talk a lot, introducing each track with anecdote and philosophy. My brother told me there was a Rolling Stone song at the end of the 1993 tape. I didn’t listen to it. I suppose I am embarrassed by my displays of creativity from previous decades.
***
I am sitting in Shot In The Dark Cafe, the last Monday before second semester starts. It annoys me when some stranger sits on the couch after I’ve already placed myself and my stuff there. This is my couch today, bitch.  I don’t care how cool your red camouflage pants are. I don’t care how many hip folks you’re skyping with. Your soft little giggle offends me. If I had headphones, I’d put on music that helped me escape, that made me feel like I was alone today. I don’t wish to be alone today. I wish I were sitting in public on a couch of my own, headphones over my ears and Annie John in my lap. I wish I could get into Annie John. I don’t know what it is about me and other people’s coming of age stories.
***
It’s less important to me than it used to be.  I am speaking of music collection, discovery of life-changing bands and songs. It’s less important to me than it used to be.  I am going to wean myself from reality television in 2012. I am going to stop being impressed by British accents. I am fully committing to serrano over jalapeno. If someone wants to play Cure songs while I’m hanging in the coffee shop, I am not going to complain. I’m trying not to talk so much about every daily epiphany. I’m trying not to worry about what other people think of my taste, my style. It’s less important to me than it used to be. I’d like to think that’s true anyway.

1) American Music Club — The Dead Part of You
2) Stevie Wonder — Living For the City
3) The Byrds — Pretty Boy Floyd
4) Bon Iver — Re: Stacks
5) My Morning Jacket — Librarian
6) Fleetwood Mac — Rhiannon
7) The Minuteman — History Lesson, Pt. II
8) Mary. J. Blige — MJB MVP
9) Dusty Springfield — The Windmills of Your Mind
10) Randy Newman — Rednecks
11) Gaby Pahinui — Waimanalo Blues
12) Doc Watson — Snake River Blues
13) Richie Havens — Just Like A Woman
14)  The Bad Plus — Film
15) The Feelies — It’s Only Life
16) Lady Gaga — Hair
17) Usher — Confessions Part II
18) A Tribe Called Quest — Excursions
19) Mississippi John Hurt — Make Me a Pallet on the Floor
20) Miles Davis — So What
21) Chet Baker — My Funny Valentine
22) My Bloody Valentine — “Soon
23) Belle and Sebastian — Stars of Track and Field
24) The Cure — Love Song
25) Bob Dylan — Buckets of Rain

Click here for Timothy’s playlist.

Timothy Dyke is a teacher and writer from Honolulu, HI. He presently lives in Tucson, AZ, where he is working on his MFA in fiction writing. He is currently working on a memoir titled, “Behind the Half-Caff: My Life as a Hollywood Barrista.”

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