Or So I'm Told

Or So I'm Told by Dj Ulsan on Mixcloud

The Monochrome Set -- Eine Symphonie Des Grauens

Downloaded the Cherry Red Pillows & Prayers compilation and decided to build an entire mix around it. Really struggled to narrow it down to 3 or 4 songs as there are only a few tracks I wouldn't consider. Despite that, I knew The Monochrome Set was going first. I love the fact that I can still come across bands from this era that I've barely heard, but really enjoy once I give them a chance.

Empress Of... -- Hat Trick

Not my usual fare, but this struck me as an ear friendly (dare I say mainstream) mixture of Maria Minerva, Nite Jewel and the Cocteau Twins. Not a bad cross pollenation in my book.

Thierry Meyer -- Paradox

Always finding great download blogs and the mostly coldwave/post punk/minimal synth etc. Systems of Romance (est 2007) is no exception. This is an instrumental track of the blog's first compilation, which is very strong the entire way through.

MBV -- Only Tomorrow

Very fun the way this album was suddenly actually happening soon immediately. It's impossible to compare it to Loveless, because no matter how big an MBV fan you are, you're 22 years older than you were then and (hopefully) in a very different phase of life. Fortunately it turned out to be very good.

少年ナイフ -- When You Sleep

Not listed as Shonen Knife, but in the original Japanese on the Yellow Loveless tribute, which is just as well, because I always had an aversion to that band for reasons I do not recall. I may have done something stupid and skipped over it, which would have been a real shame because this version is really really great. Best on that compilation by far.

La Luz -- Sure as Spring

Found on the You're the Girl That Does Everything I Do comp from the So Tough! So Cute! blog, which more or less promotes a club night in London and Malmo. It seems Riot Grrrl has come into fashion for these people, which is amusing to me, having lived through the first incarnation not all that long ago and not caring too much for what I'm sure were silly reasons. La Luz sounds like it could have come out in 1995, to the extent that I was surprised for a second time to see it was released in 2012 when I just looked it up moments ago. Maybe it's the allergy pill I just took talking.

Five or Six -- Portrait

Another off the Pillows & Prayers comp. As I said before I had a hard time deciding which songs to go with off the comp and I decided on this at the end. Angular like Chairs Missing era Wire, but with less edge. Ended up buying (!) the "Acting on Impulse" retrospective and was surprised the other material isn't in a similar post-punk vein.

Part Time -- I Won't be Your Little Secret

Was just thinking in the last day or two that Part Time might just be my favorite group/project of the moment. Something about the music hits me right in my spot -- just the right amount of sleaze and amateurness mixed with a sound I can only pinpoint as Bay Area. Am about the last person to watch a music video, but again, somehow this reels me in.

Golden Donna -- Machete Bathtub

Dâm-Funk-esque. Potato in the tub.

Benoit Pioulard/Foxes in Fiction -- Ground Glass

The first song I found for this mix. I guess it's the "oooohhooohhooooh" hook that gets me. Very pretty song.

Jane From Occupied Europe -- Drift 13

I've said it before, Swell Maps -- overrated. And I say that as a pretty big fan of Epic Soundtracks. The title of the album, and subsequently this band, always stuck with me, so I'm glad there was a band worthy of the cool title.

International Strike Force -- Golden Starlet

Remember when this came out and it was huge at the college radio station I was working at and I totally whiffed on it. It even bugged me that it was so popular. Now, here I am digging it. That's life for ya. Another one from So Tough So Cute!

HEHFU -- Two and a Half Years

Don't remember which blog I found this on due right, but I bought it from bandcamp here. Reminds me of vintage Boyracer, who I was never fully into, but at times I thought they really nailed it.

Beach Fossils -- Sleep Apnea

Didn't like this album when I first got it, but it's grown on me. This song, however, struck me right away. Man, does anyone read this?

Jackson Scott -- Evie

Here's something. First came across it on Pitchfork. It's subtle, but this guy has some very Elliott-ishness about him, which is high praise indeed. Part of it is the double tracked vocals, another part is the way the drums and bass intertwine. Will be interesting to see where this goes.

Case -- Rag and Rock-n-Roller

Danish glam. Can't go wrong there can ye? I once met a girl in Copenhagen online and ended up meeting her. Fell in love. Got ugly.

The Bats -- Tragedy

Beautiful melody here. Where the title to this mix comes from.

The Stray Trolleys -- Gunslinger

Can't say anything about this better than Willfully Obscure says here. Just makes me wonder why this isn't being re-released. This copy is so awful I had to persuade myself to include it here. And yet, what I'm saying is this song is so great I had to include it despite the poor audio.

Ben Watt -- Some Things Don't Matter

Was walking to a train station in Cheonan when this song really hit me and I knew I had to include it here. Was it Cheonan? If you've ever been there you know the answer is no.

We’re All Hipsters

 Fun. From The WG News + Arts:

Hipsters never impose their lifestyle or values on anyone and welcome anyone to join but they won’t be put out if they don’t. They are bold urban pioneers occupying nabes that were lost, forgotten, abandoned, left to rot and fester. The same media who crowned the hipsters as saviors by resurrecting down & out nabes yesterday blame them as the cause of these same nabes becoming Millionaire Row today.

Dig the comments section too.

Enchanting the Ballroom

Enchanting the Ballroom by Dj Ulsan on Mixcloud

Nice mix by my friend built around the classic Sarah comp. "Air Balloon Road," which was probably the first release from the label I really got into. An ex-girlfriend had it, along with the first couple Field Mice LPs. Problem was, I knew her ex-boyfriend had turned her on to them, so the songs were always bitter sweet to me. The Orchids "It's Only Obvious," might be my favorite Sarah song ever. Also like the Blissed Out Fatalists tune here, part of an exciting new imprint on Captured Tracks called Body Double Ltd.

It was raining for what seemed like days so Wallace and I decided to pack our computes and head down to Eat Records to work on our shit. He'd been working on some song lyrics and I started an essay about confirmation bias in baseball media. Now playing: Wild Nothing "Counting Days"

Handwritten Heartbreak

Handwritten Heartbreak by Dj Ulsan on Mixcloud

Wanted to stretch things out a bit on this one, so including a 10 minute remix of Spacemen 3's "Big City," and two versions of the same song by The Greg Foal Group, I also have two songs I let run over into instrumental bits as they appear on their original albums, and "Cradle" by Dreamscape, which extends a couple minutes longer than it's end time.

The Greg Foal Group -- The Girl And Robot With Flowers Pt 1 

I don't usually listen to jazz, especially contemporary jazz. But this song really caught my ear when I came across it on Mixcloud and next thing I knew I was also including Part 6 at the end.

Alessi Brothers -- Seabird 

Another Mixcloud find, this off a mix done by Nite Jewel for FACT magazine. A lot of delightful weirdness going on here in what I'm guessing was originally a song meant for AM commercial radio.

Naomi Punk -- The Spell/ClS + Death Junket

When all was said and done, probably my #1 or #2 album of 2012. Didn't seem to get a lot of attention on those sorts of lists, but somehow reminds me of the glory days of spazzy northwest punk like Lync, Karp and Unwound.

Dreamscape -- Cradle

An obscure shoegaze time capsule find reissued. Love it. Ought to have been a classic of the era.

Magic Touch and Sapphire -- When I See You

Another great single from 100% Silk that makes me continue to wonder why I started to like house music just as I was entering the phase of life in which one would never ever encounter a club.

3B Unit -- Tango in the Rain

From an obscure Italian cassette only release uploaded to Crispy Nuggets. Poor sound quality, but I like what that does for it.

Spacemen 3 -- Big City (remix)

I remember really hating this song, especially the opening, when it came out, but it's ended up being one of my favorite songs by the band off what I think is its best album. This one goes on a bit, but I like the way it fits on this mix. Recently posted here.

Girls Names -- The New Life

Excellent new song by a band I haven't heard much of anything bad from. Another one that goes on a bit but really doesn't get tired. Off a 12" by Slumberland.

Christopher Owens -- Lysandre's Theme/Here We Go

Former leader of Girls off what is revealing itself on repeated listens to be a truly amazing album.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra -- Sleep and Swim (Like a Shark Does)

Kind of bums me out when I choose a song for a mix and it ends up as the single off the album. I'm realizing that's the case with the Owens track above, which even includes the interlude that precedes the song, just as I have it. Oh well.

The Greg Foal Group -- The Girl And Robot With Flowers Pt 6 

Turns out this group is hailed by Gilles Peterson, whose path I don't encounter often, but always like when I do. There are actually six versions of this song on the single, which I believe was released as a 10".

The Pastels -- Ugly Town

Not originally included on this mix, but was recently uploaded by I Was a Teenage Shoegazer and is thus on my current playlist. I usually think of this as a pivotal album for me, but its mostly a pivotal song "Nothing to be Done," which I'd have to put in some sort of Top 15-20 ever. So I'm actually kind of discovering parts of this album for the first time.

Heat Breaks

Heat Breaks by Dj Ulsan on Mixcloud

An older one from a couple years ago with several selections from a couple compilations -- Yeti Vol. 9 and Welcome Home/Diggin' the Universe on Woodist. Two very notable tracks on here IMO -- Ko + Friends "I'm in Hiding," a really sweet slice of 60s pop that's a one off (as far as I can tell) by Ko Melina aka Ko Shih (Korean?) of The Dirtbombs. The other track is Run DMT's "Richard," a song I could almost call a classic, but from a band/project that too often sounds like some talented people taking too many drugs, and not in the good way. Still love this song though.

Ten From Epic Soundtracks

Ten From Epic Soundtracks by Dj Ulsan on Mixcloud

Similar to the Felt collection I made earlier in the year here are 10 songs from singer/songwriter Epic Soundtracks. I got the idea to do this while listening to Wild Smile, the 2012 anthology by Soundtracks. This isn't really meant as a complaint, because any effort to bring more attention to an artist like Soundtracks is gravvy, but Greatest Hit type of releases of this nature are tricky. On one hand you have a nice (albeit lengthy) introduction for the uninitiated on Disc 1. But will said uninitiated ever be interested in the Disc 2 full of live versions and rarities? And for the rabid fan who'd like to get a hold of an A Capella version of "Don't Go to School," of what use are the 20 "hits" on Disc 1? Who pays $21.99 for it?

So I set out to create a collection for those less familiar with his work. I pushed myself to distill his catalogue down to 10 tunes. Truth be told, I think Soundtracks wrote 4 or 5 truly wonderful songs, and then quite a few more that are very nice. On occasion, I think he was able to get by simply because he was cool and probably had a great record collection. I would never put him in the class of some of the greats I think he tried to emulate -- Parsons, Dylan, Chilton and Lennon. I actually think he's a little like Evan Dando, who comes from similar origins and was a big Soundtracks fan and supporter. I'm sure that comparison would make a lot of Soundtracks fans sick, but Dando too has written a handful of truly great songs.

My own introduction to Soundtracks -- post Swell Maps, who I always wanted to like more than I actually did -- wasn't until 1999 with the release of Everything is Temporary, a posthumous collection of mostly outtakes and demos that was co-licensed (or something) by the record store I was working for at the time. By virtue of that it was played at least once a day for several months. Yeah, I know I just said demos don't make a good introduction, but "Everything" flows a little differently than a typical collection of demos. It sounds more like a stripped down album in my opinion, which is ironic because one of his strong suits on his proper albums was the production -- again, I'm sure the guy was above all else a music fan if not a collector.

Over the years I've wound my way through his albums, typically recognizing 2 or 3 songs from "Everything," and usually finding improved, fully realized versions on the full lengths. "There's Been a Change," "Emily May" and "Fallen Down" were such cases and all three are on this collection. A couple songs "Something New Under the Sun," which is really the first Soundtracks song that caught my ear, and "Night Time," are both presented in their stripped down "Everything" versions.