Friday, March 18, 2005

Monkeyfilter mixes!

I told the people in my Monkeyfilter mix group that I'd post my thoughts on their mixes onto my blog. So here we go.
Keep in mind that I am a cruel mix mistress. I believe in rules, hard and mean rules, that may only be broken in certain instances. I will award points and capriciously take them away.
But... I'm also not really taking this as seriously as that might seem. I'm not going out of my way to be a dick, just, you know, critiquing things honestly. And honestly, a couple of these mixes I probably won't listen to again (after I rip the couple songs off of them that I want). That doesn't make the mixer a bad person, it just means that we have different tastes.
However, back to the cruel part: Mixes will be rated in the order recieved. Technical points will be given for exemplary flow, for variety (extra points for crossing genres� and no, electronica is not separate from indie rock) and for working in minor leaguers (non-major label bands that I haven't heard. Entirely subjective) and packaging. Technical points will be deducted for poor transitions, using more than one song by the same artist or using more than one song off the same album. A bonus may be earned by having your mix already in iTunes, so I don't have to do the tagging myself.
Artistic points will be given for good songs, especially songs that I haven't heard before. Points will be deducted for songs that I don't find interesting. This is subjective.
The final metric will be "cheese." Points will be earned by putting on "intellectual" or "pretentious" songs, and will be deducted for "cheese." THE GOAL OF THIS CATEGORY IS TO SCORE ZERO BY PROPERLY BALANCING CHEESE WITH "CRED." (That's why you put your smart songs on there, paco, so that you can spend your cred on that cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart").
Afterwards, I'll make recommendations for albums or artists that weren't on the mix that I think the maker would enjoy. Hopefully these will be albums that they will then buy and love, thus vindicating my tastes.
Oh, yeah, and they're all gonna be 1-5. Just so you know the scale.

First Mix:
Mofilalala by Mandyman
The Man in Me- Bob Dylan [Lots of lalalas. I believe this to be the theme. T:3 A:2 C:2]
Roller Derby Queen- Jim Croce [Do all his songs sound like "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"? Yes, they do. T:3 A:2 C:3]
Family Affair 1973- Mother Father Sister Brother [Instrumental funk. T:3 A:3 C:2]
Carnaval Batucada- Brasil 66 [Decent song, a bit overlong though. Gets cheesy near end. T: 3 A:2 C:3]
Tudo que Voce Podia Ser- Quarteto Em Cy [Ah, Brazilian pop. T:4 A:4 C:4]
Casa Nova- Mia Dio Todd [After the fun of the foriegn language, this is a bit of a let down. And still cheesy. T:3 A:2 C:3]
Norwegian Wood- Brasil 66 [OMG Cheese! Heh. I would have gone with just this one or the other one from Brasil 66. T:1 A:3 C:4]
Sao Paolo- Chic [I know it goes with the Brazillian thing goin', but this is elevator music... T:3 A:1 C:5]
Rainy day Man- Bonnie Rait [Ah, some easy country... T:3 A:2 C:3]
Use Me- Bill Withers [Awesome funk/soul. I need to buy some Bill Withers if it's all like this. Listen to that squared-ff organ! T:2 A:4 C:-1]
I Need a Gun- Damon Albarn [Another good track. Points! T:3 A:4 C:-1]
Crazy on You- Heart [Cheese, but good cheese. You saved me from having to download this track. T:2 A:3 C:4]
Liar Liar- Debbie Harry [A cover of an ol' Nuggets track. OK, but I kinda like the ripping riff of the original. T:2 A:2 C:3]
You're Lying- Linx [More cheese disco. Would be fun on its own, but with the mix, it's just a little much for me. T:3 A:2 C:3]
Confusion- Electric Light Orchestra [Heh. Jesus, I think this is the cheesiest song EVAH! That calliope! Those chimes! T:3 A:3 C:5]
I Want to Hold Your Hand- Al Green [Erm. Ok, but you've already got a Beatles cover on there... T:2 A:2 C:3]
I Don't Know What I can Save you From- Kings of Convience [When it started out, I was thinking 'Cool, glitchy.' Then it brought in that cheesy guitar... Song just didn't grab me at all. Sounds like Primative Radio Gods. T:2 A:1 C:3]
All his Exes- Sylvie Lewis [Sounds like 'Que Cera Cera.' Ok. T:3 A:3 C:3]
California Dreaming- Jose Feliciano [Another cover... I really like the original, but this seemed kinda blah... T:2 A:2 C:3]

The totals! T: 44 (Avg. 2.3)+5[iTunes bonus]+3[packaging]=52 out of 95 (.54), A:47 (Avg. 2.4) out of 95=.49, C:80 (Avg 4.2) out of 95=84.5% cheese.

For me, it's the cheese factor that is the dominant attribute of this mix. Bands that I would recommend: Tim Monger. Monger's an orchestral pop singer with a great falsetto. You'll love the hell out of his album Summer Cherry Ghosts. Traffic: You probably already own some, but if you don't, do yourself a favor and go buy The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. T.Rex: Same thing as Traffic; you probably already own some. If not, I recommend Electric Warrior. You'd probably also enjoy the samba compilations put out by F�nkstorung. They have VWs on the cover, if that helps. And check out Fae Wong, who does another excellent version of "California Dreamin'" on the soundtrack to Chunking Express (it's also on her solo stuff). You'll dig her!

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