The Weekend Mix: Unhappy Holiday

A lot of my weekend mixes have been pretty much stuck in the early '70's, by artists I may be too familiar with.
I download something nearly every day, much of which I never get around to hearing.
I started this one by searching my hard drive for "2016", with the idea of compiling a defacto "Best Of", looking for anything I might want to hear more than twice.

At first it was pure torture. I always download FLAC when I can, in case I love it, and was dismayed at how many files I hadn't converted. I was not in the mood. Nothing sounded good.

I found a playlist entitled, "Neu Musick-Rocky". I hadn't got far in that there was only one song, Kevin Gordon's "All in the Mystery". Too bad it was from 2015.

But I kept at it and eventually found enough to fill a cd, but it didn't add up to a mix, so I opened it up to 2015, kept Keith, and ended up using one from 2013 (The Wood Brothers).

The title references my distaste for the outcome of the election, and the uncomfortable family gatherings happening this week. Use this for an antidote on the ride home. It's also a nod to Kevin Ayers last album, "The Unfairground".

Usually I change all the genres to match, but this time I let them be. Represented here are Americana, Pop, Soundtrack, Jazz, Jazzcore, Folk, Soul, Funk, Country, Alternative, Rock, "131", whatever that is, and Other.

It was a good idea beacuse the opener, Sunwatchers "Moroner" is labeled "Other", and it is that.
A 3 minute adrenalin blast of cathartic beautiful noise. It's good music, but of the noisy variety.

Then comes Keith Gordon's greasy, swingin' groove.

Pavo Pavo are from BRKLYN, and manage to capture the "SMiLE" era Beach Boys sound, but they finish the songs.
Continuing the "twee" is Lawrence Arabia's "Sweet Dissatisfaction", a pop confection full of hooks.
Which could only be followed up by The Flat Five's "Florida", the aural equivalent of a cat video, but the kind you'd share. Since they're a little "cabaret", it made sense to go from there to Broadway for "All The Yound Dudes" from "Lazarus". which I love.
The whole show has a lot to like.
"Games Without Frontiers", by The Bad Plus is Jazz, but the fun kind. They never go too long without reminding you it's a song. It's full of "Monk" chord clusterfucks, and that's a compliment.

It about time to rock, don't you think? Titus Andronicus, "Lonely Boy" recalls old school mid-late '70's hook filled rock n roll. From their album "The Most Lamentable Tragedy"(2015).
"Hey Killer" sounds like it could be the same band, but it's Jack Oblivian & The Sheiks.
Maybird's "Big Sun Explosion" is as psychedelic as the title implies.
I really liked William Tyler's first album of instrumental guitar, "Impossible Truth"(2013), and "Albion Moonlight", from his latest, "Modern Country"(2016) sounds just as good.

"Fuming Duck" (World Service Project) is technically Jazz, but has more in common with King Crimson.
"Sugar Doosie", by New Orleans jazz/funk collective Galactic is exactly what it's supposed to be.
"Set The Tone" does that. Jamil Rashad (aka) Boulevards makes exuberant funky retro '70's/'80's Dance oriented R&B on his album "Groove!"(2016).
From retro funk to soul we have Michael Kiwanuka's terrific "One More Night".

Barry Adamson was in Magazine, a Bad Seed, and has done lots of soundtrack work.
"Come Away", from his 10th album, "Know Where To Run"(2016), sounds uncharacteristcally like an out-take from Chuck Prophets "Night Surfer".
"Stories We Could Tell" is from The Mavericks accurately titled "Mono"(2015) and sounds like it was recorded in 1954. That's also a compliment.

Ball Park Music are from Brisbane, OZ. "Feelings" starts mysteriously and is full of surprises.
Good ones.
The oldest song here is from the Wood Brothers. "Wastin' My Mind" is the opener from "The Muse"(2013). Still popular in these parts.
The March Divide is essentially one man band Jared Putnam. "Over and Over" is from "Saturday"(2016), and says a lot, tunefully strummed, in two minutes.

Of course it had to end with David Bowie, and The last song from "Black Star"

Unhappy Holiday

Unhappy Holiday, too

Enjoy!
-BBJ