Let's Get Faded & Bring Our Boomboxes to The Beach
An Exclusive Caural Mix CD Benefitting Chicago's Homeless
On September 28th, Rock for Kids - a Chicago organization- held its 4th Annual Music Mixer at Smart Bar. To raise money for Youth Jam (its music education program) they've asked a number of artists, DJs, music journalists, and promoters to contribute one-of-a-kind CD mixes which will be silently auctioned at the party, the contents kept secret until the winning bid is placed. With past contributors including Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, and members of Tortoise, these exclusive mixes were diverse and exciting.
TRACKLIST:
1. Caural: Somebody Page Quinton?
2. Daedelus: A Touch of Spring
3. Roy Ayers: Running Away
4. Ultramagnetic Mcees: Burn
5. Caural: I Drop My Style Like This (the X-Ecutioners versus Ol' Dirty Bastard)
6. Frankie Cutlass: Puerto Rico (Funkmaster Flex Mix)
7. Shuggie Otis: Aht Uh Mi Hed
8. Mos Def: Universal Magnetic
9. Blackalicious: Alphabet Aerobics (the Cut Chemist 2 1/2 Minute Workout)
10. Stereolab: Florescences
11. Kool & The Gang: Who's Gonna Take The Weight?
12. The Meters: Here Comes The Meter Man
13. Madvilain: Curls
14. Funkadelic: Soul Mate
15. Freestyle Fellowship: My Fantasy
16. Caural: Bust This! Mr. Large
17. De La Soul: Pease Porridge
18. De La Soul: Simply/Simply Havin'
19. A Tribe Called Quest: Footprints
20. Stevie Wonder: Sir Duke
21. Stevie Wonder: All Day Sucker
22. Akwetey: Slave Sun Day
Originally compiled July 7th, 2006
Ok, so why the title? Thinking of a theme for the mix- in the dead of July in a Brooklyn apartment with no air-conditioning- well, let's just say it came easily. I find myself listening to so much melancholy music during the year and, when summer rolls around, my iPod gets its usual overhaul with hip-hop and old classics. There's a lot of songs I could have stuck on here, but I felt these were the "sunniest": I literally went through my entire collection and tried to hear the experience of staring into the sun and maybe burning a little. But, I also thought about "Boombastic" years ago in Chicago, where people did exactly that: tuned in to the DJs' pirate broadcast from nearby Heaven Gallery in Wicker Park and- can you guess?- GOT FADED! So, adding the two themes together, I came up with the mix you have now. While there's a lot of my favorite songs on here, I excluded many others due to associations I made between them and more nocturnal or seasonal contexts; perhaps it's my own aesthetic, but- for instance- something tells me listening to Cannibal Ox on a beach makes no fucking sense.
Yet, while a lot of folks got nixed, there's some fun surprises I made collage-wise to try and include some of those who were left behind. When I first started doing acid, I remember listening to Deee-Lite's album "Dewdrops in the Garden" and thinking to myself that it was the single-most cheesy and ridiculous piece of crap I had ever heard, nearly suffocating myself in ensuing laughter. But, it was summer and the music just sounded so bright. I couldn't bring myself to put any of those songs on here, but I felt the "mushrooms" sample on the first track was particularly apt... And "Puerto Rico" by Frankie Cutlass? Are you kidding me? That song just reeks of sunburn and beer.
It'd be way too indulgent to give a rundown of each track (maybe the above paragraph is a little indulgent to begin with), so I'll let you make your own associations with the music. Ok... But, just one more: I visited a girl in Albuquerque ten years ago and spent most of an afternoon laying in her backyard listening to De La Soul is Dead on my headphones. I was sweating profusely and getting burned far worse than I thought. Finally, I walked inside of her house (which seemed incredibly dark after having been outside for well over the duration of the album) and got some Kool Aid from her fridge (yes, she had Kool Aid). I managed to pour myself half of a glass before my vision went bleach-white and I collapsed on the floor. I could've put the entire album on here for you, but whatever.