** 2002-2015 - Wishing I'd never started doing this in the first place, and had a proper life instead... **

I can be contacted by email if you type 'soundhog' followed by '@gmail' and then '.com'...
I actually have a Twitter account - I don't 'say' a lot, though...

Listen to some of my mixes in one handy place : Mixcloud
Listen to some of my tracks in another place : hearthis.at
Watch my videos, don't leave any comments : YouTube
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Spam me about your m@$hups, bitch about me when I delete you : Facebook (personal)
The proper high art stuff - The Freelance Hairdresser page : Soundcloud

Monday, January 10, 2011

Mix90 - #1, #3 and #4 re-released.

I thought it might be nice to reupload the other three episodes in the short-lived (but it's six hours worth of stuff) Mix90 series, which I did a few years ago for some reason or other. Originally I'd intended to do some sort of, ahem, 'podcast' - i.e. more like a radio show - but despite having notched up something like 20 hours of talking on the actual BBC type radio about music and records over the last few years, I'm still not very good at it and I just can't stand the sound of my own voice. I'm not the only one, either.  Ha ha.  So, they're strictly me-less.

Each is a 2x45 minute rampage through my record, tape and mp3 collection, taking in all the things which make me glad that my ears still just about work.  Krautrock, TV themes, psychedelia, library music, easy listening, avant garde, freakbeat, moogy blues, post punk, electronic weirdness, prog, beat, and good old fashioned pop music, with more besides.  If you don't like any of those sorts of things (which is unthinkable to my mind but it does happen, and I've got the e-mails to prove it) then you'd best stop reading now, and go looking for some m@$hup crap or something elsewhere.

However if you do like those sort of things, or are just willfully open minded, I don't think you'll find many duffers in here.  This is the sort of music which doesn't send me diving for the radio/TV 'off' button, doesn't force me into leaving a shop without buying what I went in there for when it comes blaring over the PA system, and doesn't send me into a mad shouty rage directed at the nearest unfortunate human, even if they weren't personally responsible for the assault on my hearing.  There's way too much noise in the world these days.  Music should be something to be enjoyed, not endured.

There's no clever digital stretchy-wankery involved here, just some deft edits, interesting juxtapositions and tunes that go nicely with one other.  There are also some little curios - old adverts, bits of TV continuity, pirate radio broadcasts and other aural oddities - dotted around and about, as an added bonus of sorts.  It's all part of what makes me the person I am.  Yeah, well... 

I won't type out the tracklistings here as you can see them on the inlay cards beneath (click on the images for bigger versions if you can't read them).   There were also supposed to be extensive typed 'sleevenotes' about each track featured, rather than me bumbling on for ages in front of a microphone, but I only did this for mixes #2 and #3, spending bloody hours on them.  By the time #4 rolled around, the lack of any response to what I was doing ensured I couldn't be arsed anymore.  You'll find the text files in the download .zips of those mixes.  Don't take everything I write as gospel, though.  I don't quite know everything, so some details may be incorrect... but that doesn't bother most people who spout off about various subjects on the internet, so sod it.

The Mixcloud versions do sound pretty rotten I'm afraid, due to the low quality mp3s I had to transcode them into to get under the 100mb limit, but they should be ok for background listening. The mp3 downloads are 192kbps, so a much nicer experience all 'round. Your choice, should you choose to listen at all. You'll find #2 here, by the way, if you've not already got it and fancy the complete set. Right, without further ado, let's party.


Mix90 #1

Link: Listen on Mixcloud
Link: Download (Mediafire)

Created & released: October 2007.

Mix90 #3


Link: Listen on Mixcloud
Link: Download (Mediafire)


Created & released: December 2007. 
Mix90 #4


Link: Listen on Mixcloud
Link: Download (Mediafire)


Created & released: February 2008. 

3 comments:

Chris Palmer said...

These tapes are the best collection of music ever. I never tire of listening to them and pass on discs to anyone who is likely to appreciate them. When I finally found no 4 I was chuffed to find Endaf Emlyn on it....

Where did the Spar advert come from and what's the "football choir" song fading in and out at the end of no 4? I've heard it before but damned if I can remember when and where.

ben_sH said...

Thanks Chris! I do think that EE was possibly the most talented songwriter of the '70s Welsh music scene, his first few albums being quite delightful and having a vague McCartney-esque air about them too. It's a real shame that it's almost impossible to get hold of any of the English language stuff he did for Parlophone between '71 and '73 though. They'd make a great mini-album, if any reissue types are reading this...

I got the ad from a radio tape-trading friend who used to be involved in 'pirate' circles, and has rucks of that kind of thing. I believe it's from around 1975. I got a bit of a collection, thanks to him. If I ever make another one of these mix things, I'll dot a few more in.. although considering it's something like four years since the last one, the desire has vanished somewhat!

'fraid I can't place that final track either. I thought it was the '82 England World Cup song for a moment, but it's evidently not. I might go on a mission to find it actually, although some might see that as evidence of complete insanity... whatever, the version on the mix is likely to be preferable!

Lucas Macdonald said...

Great post thaanks