Musical Apocalypse in 16 Steps

CD Mixtape for
The Nationwide Communist Dance Party Mixtape Project


I signed up for a cd swap at Ryan's hilarious site (above).  This is my submission.  I'll be reviewing the awesome CD I got soon. 

This time we're going with a theme about the problems in life that lead to meltdown.  Maybe not your life.  Certainly not mine.  But meltdowns just the same.  Some are small and personal.  Some are epic breakdowns of our entire civilization as we know it.  This mix is mostly about the latter.  Why'd the theme this time turn out so dark and serious?  I have no idea.  If you like, you can try one of the CD Mix links on the left for something a little more lighthearted. 

(Right click titles to download.)

1. White Rabbits - Fort Nightly - 01 - Kid On My Shoulders (4:33)
It starts when you're small and others can push you around.  You have to endure it then, whether you're the little kid on the block, or the weaker nation on the globe.  But the whole time, you're plotting your revenge.

We held our tongues throughout it
One day we'll laugh about it

2. Donovan Frankenreiter - Move By Yourself (5:14)
As you grow older, you realize you're on your own.  No one's going to help you.  In fact, several parties may be working against you.  But when you realize this, you're free.  You can quit caring.  You can do what you want.  You can move by yourself.

I dare you to try to keep yourself from shaking it to this song. 
Don't worry, it's manly. There's guitar shredding solos and everything.

3. Broken Social Scene with Leslie Feist - 7/4 (Shoreline) (4:53)
And if you've really learned the trick, you can learn to block out all the stupid arguements and problems and just let go.  This song demands summertime speeding on the highway with the windows down.

Air drumming optional.

It's coming. It's coming in hot.

(Perfect Video for this feeling. )

4. Cold War Kids - Acoustic At The District - 02 -
Fast As You Can (Fiona Apple Cover) (3:43)
Maybe the problem is yourself?  Maybe you can't get along because you are inconsolably crazy and unreasonably stubborn?  Maybe there's no hope for any of us.

5. Aqueduct - As You Wish (3:33)
In the midst of all this trauma and drama and "modernity", nostalgia can be such sweet solace.  Sometimes it's all you have.  Remember the three rules of the Fire Swamp?

Stop it now I meant it.
Anybody want a peanut?

6. Exit - Home For An Island - 01 - Don't Push (4:18)
Things take a turn for the worse.  A fevered dream.  A lady of the night.  Somebody's leaving in a body bag.

Find your angel, lose your heartbeat.

7. Magnet - The Tourniquet - 01 - Hold on (5:00)

I can only tell you what I know
And all I know is that I just don't know
I'll get through this if I hold on
Cause the truth is I'm not alone

Cliched? Yes. Awesome? Still yes. Also good advice in a crisis like this.

8. Jamie Lidell - Multiply - 02 - Multiply (4:26)
Times are tough and we're trying hard.  Does everything have to be a struggle?  You get so tired of this.  You can repeat yourself 'till you're blue, but arguements always end the same.  Time to cut your losses.

9. R�is�n Murphy - Ruby Blue - 08 - Ramalama (Bang Bang) (3:35)
Things are getting scary.  You can feel impending doom.  You can smell nuclear winter on the horizon.  Why did we give up so easily?

10. Snoop Dogg - Gin n Juice (Elevator Version Clip) (1:44)
Nothing makes sense.  Utter disbelief.  Is this really happening?  It seems so surreal.  Nothing will ever be the same.

But - But what? We don't love them ho's
I'm out the door

11. Secret Machines - Now Here Is Nowhere - 01 - First Wave Intact (9:00)

The bomb drops.

The troops move in.  All is lost.  Conquering invasions quell the revolution.  Resistance is futile.  Apocalypse Now.

12. Of Montreal - Wraith Pinned Me To The Mist and Other Games (4:15)
This is post-traumatic shock.  Some kind of switch has been flipped.  Something's not right.  Is this what it's like to go insane? 

If you're a guy wearing fishnets and spandex on a ladder inside a 20 foot dress with a large lobster claw on one hand and a man's eyes melting out of his head behind you, your songs sound like this.

(Perfect Video for all things surreal.)

13. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther - 01 - Roscoe (4:49)
In a post-apocalyptic setting, everything reverts back to the beginning.  People are harsher, but simpler.  You build your shelter by hand.  You kill your own dinner.  You leave everyone else alone.

This is modern indie doing early 70's nostalgia for turn-of-the-century pioneer wilderness.

14. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha - 06 - Armchairs (6:57)
This is the end.  Your life flashes before you in slow, lilting scenes of delicate beauty and passionate excercises of futility.  There is never enough time.

I dreamed you were a cosmonaut
in the space between our chairs
And I was a cartographer
of the tangles in your hair

Chicago native Andrew Bird's one-man-band live performances will blow your mind.  Existential philosophy and graduate level history
sung over looped classical violin, guitar, and mystifying whistles.

Time. Time, it's a crooked bow.

15. Inlets - Vestibule - 04 - see her, seer (4:01)
Grieving your own passing would feel like this, I suppose.

16. Islands - Return to the Sea - 01 - Swans (Life After Death) (9:31)
In the end, it's not the end.  Epic journeys are only over if you put down the book.

I woke up thirsty
The day I died
And the tide was swirling
My mouth is so dry

Posted by heydomsar
2007-09-12

go back | random brainstorm | go forth

Rachel Ray - 2009-05-03
The cold wind was the reason - 2009-03-02
The Collected Wisdom of Angela Chase - 2009-02-15
All's well that ends well. - 2009-01-07
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. - 2008-10-04

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