Emerging from the Ether

As I sit here in my hermetically-sealed isolation chamber called a home, I can't help but reflect on what I've been dealing with emotionally and physically. Since last November, my life has become a series of monotonous routines. While the medical condition I have is not fatal, it is chronic, and something that affects everything I do throughout the day. Due to this, my posting has been erratic at best, but it's defintely not for a lack of ideas. In fact, with the glut of material available, I have an endless playlist of undiscovered gems at my fingertips: Spotify playlists, YouTube rare grooves, Twitter recommendations from crate diggers like Egon and DJ Shadow, Rate Your Music, Radio shows from Xray.FM, WFMU and NTS. The list goes on and on to the point where my mind practically explodes with the possibilities. I keep building the perfect playlist in my mind, copying the notes from my listening sessions in Word docs and barely legible scribblings on sticky notes and various notebooks.

There are undoubtedly diamonds in the rough out there somewhere, written on a random note I filed away years ago in a file folder that has been temporarily misplaced. Each day, I continue the eternal quest for the holy grail that will have my readers salivating over the possibility of hearing this music for the first time. I keep thinking that there is something else out there that I'm missing, and I keep searching for this nebulous thing like my life depended on it. Being a music-lover can be an exhausting thing, to the point where you feel like you are destined to be unfulfilled. But extricating yourself from the feeling that you are obligated to do something, and just doing it for yourself, can be extremely gratifying.

This brings me to the subject of today's post. Andy Votel, the reviled DJ, vinyl aficionado and label-head of Finders-Keepers has been doing a radio show on NTS called Randomonium where he plays records from his own collection that have been randomly selected by his two children. This idea suggests to me that it doesn't always matter how long it takes you to compile something as long as you're pulling from a fantastic selection of songs, and that being a perfectionist can work against your favor.

Years ago, I would do this thing where I would frantically scan through the vast archive of albums and songs that I had downloaded on my external hard drives, and concoct a mix on the fly that I would eventually post on the blog. Today's mix is a result from one of these sessions from late summer of 2009 that is only now seeing the light of day.

I hope you enjoy this one!

Eclectic Mix- 9-11-09

1) Wanda Jackson- Funnel of Love- (45 Played at 33 speed)
2) Los Matematicos- La Nina Bu
3) Thee Oh Sees- Ruby Go Home
4) Piel De Pueblos- Silencion Para Un Pueblo Dormido
5) Gerson King combo- Mandamentos Black
6) Famous L. Renfroe- Feed
7) Preacher and the Saints- Jesus Rhapsody Part 1
8) Phil Upchurch- Crosstown Traffic
9) Digable Planets- Black Ego
10) Sun Ra- Hot Skillet Mama
11) Cornucopia- And the Madness
12) Smith Westerns- Dream
13) Mayfair Set- Desert Fun

Total- 48 mins

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey! Happy Holidays. Any chance a Best Of list for 2019 is coming anytime soon??
Kevin said…
Andrew: You're welcome

Anon: There is a forthcoming list for my Favorites of 2019 as well as a Best of the decade post. The decade one is strictly going to be a list of the records, but I plan on at least posting a blurb for each record on my Favorites of 2019.

Thanks for your interest, and I would like to have you share your Favorites of 2019 with me.

Best, Kevin

Popular posts from this blog

All Hallows Eve 2007

General Comments

MF DOOM: Spell his name with ALL CAPS