idiotprogrammer: All Mixes

Some upbeat and generally light-hearted tracks. More pop than rock, but still some oddballs thrown in for good measure (Airplane on the Highway didn't exactly fit the mood, but oh, well).

My first effort at an FMA Mix. Great stuff by Kristin Hersh & Company.

Slow otherwordly meandering through the dissonant terrain of jazz, electronica and a few other surprises.  Coming next: something more upbeat!

This mix is supposed to be more danceable and have more industrial/mechanical sounds, but I veered off topic a bit, gave it a little whimsical glitch.  Get a load of that Bud Melvin; psychodelic  chip music with a banjo? Sad Robot is a great easy to sing song. John Ellis's Stuttergun is more techno. By the way, I did an interview with the elusive VAE (aka Aleksi Virtu -- not his real name, but a joke on another performer with the same name in his Finnish homeland). His free album is not to be missed. And Gorowski's Of the Sky definitely could have been composed by VAE. (Goworski apparently has 5 albums and 40 tracks on FMA, so he's definitely worth investigating. Enjoy!

Sometimes music tends to keep going on and on...without really reducing your enjoyment. Here are some samples. I left 2 20 minute pieces for the end (including the incredible experimental improvisation Tenebroso by Squadra Omega. You have a traditional techno sound (Jurek Raben), an eerie dream piece  (Phone), tranquil piano (Fabrizio Paterlini), rowdy Latin-flavored jazz (Har-You Percussion Group),  gentle percolations (Marco Kalnenek) and  gentle singing with low-key  guitars (Giraffe). Lots of repetition, but no monotony.

Songs that are philosophical either in tone or by theme (or both).  First half is guitar-based (starting  with the hardnosed thrumming of Brad Sucks).  The second half has slower songs, with a more elegiac tone and an electronic sound. Hey, even Kiss recorded "Beth"; hard rock must get dull for rock bands after  a while.   enjoy!

From the shocking & screaming of Glass Candy to gravelly/poetic urgency of  Kristin Hersh   to the furious post-Soviet post-Zemfira  popsa of Muha, to the dreamy Didoesque fill-a-roomable   Christina Courtin to the  Japan-robotic ironic mutterings of Puma Mimi, the estrogen count on this playlist is balanced by the rowdy rocking machine called the Franks and the  hazy low-fi psychodelica of Smersh. Enjoy and Bjork, we no longer need you! (More AFSE playlists by idiotprogrammer)

Here  I highlight songs whose vocals have an attitude -- rebellious, rowdy, melancholy, silly. Leading the pack are two great hiphop mixes by Ethx with a social message, Russian Zemfira-like funkiness by Muha, angsty (and always-surprising) Josh Woodward, edgy Canadian hiphop from Audible Intelligence and  hazy strummming by Dallas Kinkaid. Counterpointing the rhythmic hiphopping  is Major Major's muted anger, the nonchalant Steadman and Sleeping Life's soft and cynical "Love is an Eternal Lie." Yes, there's something for everyone!