Mix CD: Self Test

The last mix-cd assignment was to answer various questions via songs. Here is the result.


So, I'm kind of amused how foolishly eclectic this mix is. I guarantee it's the first mix ever to have both Mi Ami and Jeffries Fan Club on it. Fact.

Download it here.

1. First concert ever: Rush - Tom Sawyer
So, I'm not sure how it is in other places, but a lot of the dudes in my high school marching band were way into prog rock. I think it's that sort of "we are musicians, we want to listen to the most technically impressive music we can find." So, a couple of us went and saw Rush at the Forum on their "Test for Echo" tour when we were 15-17. I was very possibly the youngest person in the entire venue. Also, because it was in the bad part of LA, my friend Danny's dad paid for us to have a van take us there (but then learned that for a very small amount more, we could go in the lower-end limo). So, four high school band nerds in ill-fitting flannel (1996) got out of a limo in front of the Forum.

2. Current favorite song: Captain Ahab - I Don't Have A Dick
Under my musical interests on Facebook, I have "current best song in the universe," where I put the last song that really rung my bell. This is what's currently holding that spot.

3. My UFC entrance music: The Blood Brothers - Crimes
My roommate and I watch a lot of UFC, which a lot of people find surprising about me considering I own more Belle and Sebastian albums than you do and have read Pride and Prejudice. Anyway. Most dudes come out to total bro-metal, but every so often, someone will come out to something like Michael Jackson, and we think it's rad. The idea of entering into a fight to something decidedly un-manly is amazing. This song sounds foreboding and scary (which is good), but is also really "faggy." It'd be awesome.

4. Band whose poster I had in high school: Marilyn Manson - I Put A Spell On You
I used to love Marilyn Manson, and definitely had a Hot Topic-purchased poster up on my wall, held in place by that blue sticky crap that fucks up the corners of your posters and then never comes off the wall.

5. Last CD I bought: Mi Ami - Slow
As of right now, this is my favorite album of 2010. Mi Ami sounds like Can living in a neon junkyard. It's amazing.

6. Favorite song with "love" in the title: Spiritualized - I Think I'm In Love
At least right now it is.

7. Song I want played at my wedding: Sparklehorse with the Flaming Lips - Go
I've tried to get two separate couples to have this song at their wedding, and only one of them seemed really interesting. I don't think either used it, though. Daniel Johnston lyrics are awesome, romantically, but you're gonna need to find a cover to make sure you don't weird out your aunt.

8. First show ever: Jeffries Fan Club - Wish You Weren't Here
So, Rush was my first concert, but Jeffries Fan Club at the UC Riverside venue "The Barn" was my first "show." I listened to a ton of ska in high school, and my friend JR and I really latched on to THIS band for some reason. I think because they were local and we talked to their manager on AOL and such so they felt more connected to us. They sure as shit weren't as good as other ska bands we liked. Anyway, my mom drove JR, me, and this girl named Stacey I had a crush on out to the venue (about 40 minutes away). I kind of sort of tried to "skank" to the music, and JR and Stacey, who didn't know each other, stood behind me not talking to each other. It was awkward. Anyway...

9. Song I lost my virginity to: Elliott Smith - Sweet Adeline
Well, it probably wasn't the FIRST song on "XO," because you know, you got making out first and such. But, if we're being honest, it was probably before the end of "Independence Day," you know?

10. Album that changed my life: The Aquabats - Playdough
Mike Suh gave me a bootleg copy of "Return of the Aquabats" one day before freshman-year bio. He made it seem like we had talked about the Aquabats before, and that I had asked for the tape, but I really don't remember that. I do remember wearing that fucking tape out though. I had to have listened to it 1000 times. It was the first time I had ever heard ska, really, and it was the first time I ever really heard something that I thought was good that I didn't hear first on KROQ. So I became aware that there are good things that aren't on the radio, and I had to find more. And anyone who knows me knows how THAT quest turned out.

11. Great songwriting: The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Lyrically, the Goats cannot be beat for me. And, as a big fan of narrative songs, this song's story of dark age burning at the stake is really engaging and amazing, not to mention written with evocative imagery. And the way Mr. Darnielle sings it with that "vocals bordering on unhinged" really adds a sense of excitement to the song. And in addition to the lyrical meaning of the song, the message of pride/confidence/strength in the face of overwhelming adversity and ignorance is something we can all use a little of.

12. Last concert I went to: Emperor X - Everyone In Jacksonville
Sam put on one of his Acrobatics Everday shows in the 24-hour lobby of an Irvine post office. It was, very remarkably, not broken up by cops. Additionally, both bands (Emperor X and Rare Grooves) both were amazing. Then we went over to Emily's house, drank beers, saw the trailer to a traumatizing horror movie, and discussed other topics of the day.

13. First album I bought: Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet
If we're being honest, I bought a couple "Weird" Al Yankovic tapes and CD before I got this album, but this was the first like...."real music" album I bought. It was probably early in 8th grade (when I really started to listen to music). I was so excited about it. I brought it with me when I went out to Palm Springs with my friend Dustin, but he didn't really want to listen to it. We listened to the Violent Femmes, though, while driving around in his dad's golf cart, which I liked.

14. Favorite song with "Death" in the title: The Mountain Goats - The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton
Another Mountain Goats song, you say? Well, honestly, I could have put the Mountain Goats for most of this mix if I really wanted to. Also: this song is awesome forever.

15. Song to make me feel shittier: Bright Eyes - Let's Not Shit Ourselves (To Love And Be Loved)
This song makes me cry a lot. But, that's because I often cry to songs that have overt outpourings of emotion. Like, due to depression, I kind of keep myself semi-numb to avoid feeling shitty, and when faced with really strong emotion (or movie trailers, oftentimes, oddly enough), I just kind of can't handle it and start crying. But, this song has also cheered me up, as well. I'm a complicated man, folks.

16. Great songwriting: Tom Waits - Christmas Card From a Hooker In Minneapolis
I know I already answered this question, but this song is such a perfect little short story that I couldn't bare to exclude it.

17. Song I want at my funeral: Calexico/Iron & Wine - Dead Man's Will
I've thought about this question a lot, actually. This song is topically appropriate for the occasion, emotionally somber, and lyrically represents the idea that the singer has held on to these small treasures from throughout his life of the people he loved. And now that he's gone, he wants them to know that he valued and cherished these memories and the people who he made them with. I'd want anyone at my funeral to know that I loved them, and I valued the time we had together, even if it were as "inconsequential" as the innocuous items listed.