My Misspent Youth

• Hum - Stars (1995)
• Hum - Waves (2020)
• Lowrider - Dust Settlin’ (2000)
• Lowrider - Red Rider (2020)
• The Wrens - Happy (2003)
• Aeon Station - Queens (2021)
• Car Colors - Old Death (2023)
• Witch - Lazy Bones (1975)
• Witch - Stop The Rot (2023)
• Visage - Love Glove (1984)
• Visage - She’s Electric (Coming Around) 2013

Is this my first “real” podcast? I finally speak! A mix of songs by bands that had loooong gaps between albums.

• The Wrens - She Sends Kisses
• The Church - Under the Milky Way
• White Stripes - Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn
• The Who - Squeeze Box
• Big Country - In A Big Country
• AC/DC - It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock n’ Roll)
• Edward Maya - Stereo Love
• Flogging Molly - Another Bag of Bricks
• Gogol Bordello - Supertheory of Supereverything

The idea for this mix came up when a friend accused me of making a list of songs with accordions. I wasn’t doing that… yet. But I guess now maybe I am? I was definitely keeping a list of songs with bagpipes, so the accusation wasn’t THAT far off. Hopefully this mix is a good balance of familiar and unfamiliar tracks.

• Tommy James & the Shondells - Crimson & Clover (1968)
• The 13th Floor Elevators - Baby Blue (1967)
• The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night (1966)
• The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Nevertheless (2001)
• Temples - Shelter Song (2014)
• The Black Angels - Entrance Song (2010)
• The Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today (1967)
• Magic Castles - Ode to the Wind (2021)
• Morgan Delt - Some Sunsick Day (2016)
• Status Quo - Pictures of Matchstick Men (1968)
• Night Beats - Right / Wrong (2016)
• Lower Heaven - Wilderness (2011)
• Wooden Shjips - Already Gone (2018)

Psychedelic Rock, as a genre, has been going on since the mid-1960s. There have definitely been lulls in it’s popularity since then, but it had a bit of a renaissance in the early 2000s and has had a decent amount of activity since then, if you know where to look. It’s also got influences on a bunch of other genres, which I will probably explore in some other mixes, but this one is pretty much “pure” Psychedelic rock start to finish. Expect a lot of Sitars and Hammond organs.

Fun Facts

• Tommy James & the Shondells were invited to perform at Woodstock, but declined.
• (It’s All Over Now) Baby Blue was written by Bob Dylan. It’s been covered numerous times by some pretty notable artists, but aside from the original by Dylan himself, none seem to have the magic of this version.
• The sounds at the start of I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) were basically an accident as a result of recording some rehearsal sounds on a tape, flipping it over and playing it backwards.
• Anton Newcombe, the artist behind BJM, was heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones’ psychedelic phase. The name comes from Stones guitarist Brian Jones combined with a reference to cult leader Jim Jones.
• In 1989, Camper Van Beethoven scored a #1 hit with their cover of Pictures of Matchstick Men

• GUNSHIP - Tech Noir (2015)
• ACTORS - Death From Above (2021)
• Miike Snow - Silvia (2009)
• De Staat (Torre Florim) - Firestarter (2012)
• Lambchop - This Corrosion (2002)
• The Sundays - Wild Horses (1992)
• Brad Sucks - Goodbye Horses (2020)
• Simple Minds - Bring On The Dancing Horses (2001)
• Sad Lovers & Giants - Imagination (1981)
• She Past Away - Asimilasyon (2015)

Okay, I have no idea why I included 3 songs with horses in the title. I started putting tracks together and it just struck me to do a horse theme and well… whatever. Also 5 of these 10 tracks are cover songs. I love cover songs, particularly if they manage to make the song sound different enough from the original that I can have new appreciation for it.

Fun Facts

• GUNSHIP is a synthwave artist out of the UK that produces songs that are best described as love-letters to the 1980s movies.
• ACTORS is a Canadian band… similarly their body of work is best described as a love-letter to 1980s post-punk.
• In 2011, Miike Snow collaborated with the Swedish electronics lab Teenage Engineering and one of the engineers from Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) to create “The Blob” - a 9x9 ft hexagonal synthesizer.
• Firestarter is originally by The Prodigy. De Staat’s version is significantly more chill than the original.
• This Corrosion is originally by The Sisters of Mercy. It’s a 10 minute bombastic epic with a full chorus backing it… it was written as a critique about the band The Mission which splintered off from The Sisters Of Mercy. A corrosion of the SoM “sound”.
• Wild Horses is, of course, originally by The Rolling Stones. The Sundays had a top 5 hit in the UK with their song “Here’s Where The Story Ends”
• Goodbye Horses is originally by Q Lazzarus. It was featured in The Silence of the Lambs. Brad Sucks is Canadian artist Brad Turcotte. He’s been releasing quirky alt-pop songs since 2000.
• Bring on the Dancing Horses is originally by Echo & the Bunnymen. Simple Minds are probably best known for their hit song Don’t You Forget About Me from the film The Breakfast Club.
• Sad Lovers & Giants is from the UK. This song is from their debut album. They just released a vinyl compilation of their early works on bandcamp. https://sadloversgiants.bandcamp.com
• She Past Away is a Turkish post-punk band. To my knowledge they only sing in Turkish, so I have no idea what this song is about.

• Black Sky Giant - Planet Terror
• Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral
• Kyuss - Demon Cleaner
• Elephant Tree - Wither
• Earth - Old Black
• Weedpecker - Reality Fades
• Spaceslug - SpaceRunner
• Lowrider - Pipe Rider

It goes by many names: Doom Metal, Stoner Rock, Desert Rock, Heavy Psych, Sludge Metal… they’re all mostly describing the same thing. Low tuned fuzzed out guitars and slow tempos. Black Sabbath pretty much prototyped the genre, which is why I included them here.

If there are any vocals at all, the lyrics tend to involve drugs, space, paganism, or general feelings of doom (go figure). Not that it matters, they’re almost always unintelligible. 😂

In the 90s there was a big stoner rock scene in the Palm Desert, California area, which is why it’s sometimes referred to as Desert Rock. Kyuss was probably the biggest band to come out of that era.

More recently there’s been a flourishing of doom metal bands in Poland. The last 3 bands in this mix are all from Poland. 🇵🇱

Fun facts time!

• Black Sky Giant is from Argentina. 🇦🇷
• Black Sabbath pretty much invented doom metal in 1970. Good job guys.
• Members of Kyuss have gone on to form or play in Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal, and Them Crooked Vultures among many others.
• Elephant Tree is from London. 🇬🇧
• Earth is one of the pioneers of Drone Metal. (Yet another sub-genre!)
• Weedpecker, Spaceslug and Lowrider are all from Poland. 🇵🇱
• For other Polish bands, check out Dopelord, MuN, Bantha Rider, Major Kong, Fifty Foot Woman, Kapitan Bongo, Seedium, WEIRD TALES, Shine, Belzebong and Sunnata.

• Blaqk Audio - Snuff on Digital
• The Knife - Heartbeats
• Wolfsheim - Once in a Lifetime
• De/Vision - Try to Forget
• White Lies - Bigger Than Us
• The Bravery - Time Won’t Let Me Go
• The Chameleons UK - Swamp Thing
• She Wants Revenge - These Things
• Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
• Creux Lies - Portals
• Editors - Munich

I think it’s safe to say that nearly all of the bands on this playlist were influenced by Joy Division. Definitely a strong post-punk/goth vibe. There’s something about the “echo” aesthetic of the music that makes it sound like it was recorded down a long empty hallway.

I don’t think there’s a single Aussie or Canadian band in this mix. What is the world coming to?

An alternate name for this mix could’ve been “Duos” considering how many of these bands consist of only 2 members.

Fun facts time!

• Blaqk Audio is a duo consisting of 2 of the members from the punk band AFI.
• The Knife is a duo consisting of 2 Swedish siblings.
• Wolfsheim was a duo from Germany. The vocalist, Peter Heppner, has gone on to collaborate with a lot of other German DJs.
• De/Vision is also duo from Germany, though they started out as a quartet.
• The Chameleons UK were formed in 1981. They had to tack on “UK” to their name in the US, because there was already a band called The Chameleons in the US.
• She Wants Revenge was also a duo, though they toured with additional members.
• Ladytron’s name was taken from the song “Ladytron” by Roxy Music.
• Editors were previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield.

• William Fitzsimmons - So This Is Goodbye (Pink Ganter remix)
• Wideband Network - Earthbound
• MTNS - Fears
• All Hail The Silence - Looking Glass
• Tycho - Awake
• Tame Impala - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
• Neon Indian - Polish Girl
• Washed Out - It All Feels Right
• The Presets - Girl and the Sea
• God Lives Underwater - From Your Mouth

Don’t really have much to say about this mix. Probably at least half of these tracks could qualify for the “Chillwave” genre, if that even counts as a genre.

I saw All Hail The Silence open for Howard Jones in Seattle back in 2019. I was surprised when I discovered the guest vocalist for AHTS was Brian Transeau (a.k.a. “BT”) because I had seen BT open for The Crystal Method back in 1998! Thus proving I am old.

Unintentionally, this mix features 3 bands from Australia. Time to dig up some fun facts!

• Both William Fitzsimmons’ parents are blind. (William is not blind.)
• Washed Out is probably best known for the theme song to Portlandia.
• MTNS are from Brisbane, Australia.
• The Presets are from Sydney, Australia.
• Tame Impala is from Perth, Australia.
• Vocalist David Reilly of God Lives Underwater died of complications from a tooth infection. Remember to floss.

• Talk Talk - The Rainbow
• Bark Psychosis - Eyes & Smiles
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Moya
• Grails - Burden of Hope
• Maserati - Moving With Heavy Hearts
• Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine
• Tortoise - Along the Banks of Rivers
• Low - Lullaby

Talk Talk started out as a synthpop band in the early 80s. They had some minor radio hits, most notably the 1984 hit It’s My Life. However, if you look at Talk Talk’s studio discography, there’s a very clear trajectory towards something quite different. The first 2 albums are just standard pop. Their 3rd album, The Colour of Spring (1986), hints at a new direction. The track April 5th in particular shows what’s to come. Their final 2 albums move away from traditional pop song structures and into free-jazz orchestral soundscapes and pioneered what would later become known as “Post Rock”.

The Rainbow is the opening track from their fourth album Spirit of Eden (1988). Other than Mark Hollis’ vocals, it’s unrecognizable as the same band that produced It’s My Life only 4 years prior.

The term “Post Rock” was applied retroactively once other bands followed in their footsteps. Bark Psychosis’ Hex album helped solidify the term. Post Rock approximately encompasses any music produced using traditional rock instruments, but not following traditional rock structures. The results tend to be long, winding instrumental pieces up to an hour long.

An hour is not a lot of time to fit multiple Post Rock tracks, but this’ll have to do.

• Electric Six - (It Gets) (A Little) Jumpy
• Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb
• Zoot Woman - Gem
• Re-Flex - The Politics of Dancing
• Wumpscut - Wreath of Barbs
• The Servant - Cells (Instrumental)
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - All You Do Is Talk
• The Psychedelic Furs - There’s A World Outside
• Icehouse - Hey Little Girl
• Semisonic - Secret Smile
• Mike Doughty - Tigers Mirrors Mazes Dreams

If there’s a theme to this mix, I don’t know what it is.

Just a jumble of songs I like and hope go together.

Fun Facts!

• A critic once described Electric Six’s music as “macho flippancy” and “tongue-in-cheek pomposity”. Lead singer Dick Valentine estimates “90 percent of our songs, maybe even higher than 90 percent are about absolutely nothing.”
• Comfortably Numb is, of course, originally by Pink Floyd. This version reimagines it as a Beegees song.
• Robert Levon Been, of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, is the son of Michael Been from The Call.
• :wumpscut: was the project of German DJ Rudy Ratzinger. Despite being active from 1991 to 2016, it was a studio-only project and never toured.
• The movie Pretty in Pink is named after the Psychedelic Furs song. Not the other way around. Molly Ringwald was a fan of the Furs.
• The instrumental version of Cells has been featured in several movies and movie trailers.
• Dan Wilson and John Munson of Semisonic were also both members of the band Trip Shakespeare. Both bands have a star on the outside of the iconic First Avenue club in Minneapolis.
• Mike Doughty, former lead singer of Soul Coughing, has a Patreon where he releases songs weekly (if not more frequently).

• Will Johnson - Just To Know What You’ve Been Dreaming
• Beck - Guess I’m Doing Fine
• Idlewild - Welcome Home
• Jets To Brazil - Sea Anemone
• Mad Season - Wake Up
• Peter Murphy - I’ll Fall With Your Knife
• The Smiths - Death of a Disco Dancer
• Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
• Cigarettes After Sex - Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby

This mix feels mostly like a sequel to Episode 004 “Wallow”.

Perhaps I should have titled it “Wallow Side B”, in keeping with the mix tape theme.

I guess I like mopey music, or at least I certainly don’t shy away from it.

Hmm, let’s see, what can I say about this mix?

Fun Facts!

• Will Johnson is also the lead singer of the bands South San Gabriel and Centro-matic.
• Beck’s album Sea Change is one of those rare albums where I can listen to it start to finish and there are no bad tracks I’d rather skip.
• Despite Idlewild’s often country-ish sound… they’re Scottish. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
• Jets to Brazil got their name from a travel poster on the wall in a scene from Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
• Mad Season is a “supergroup” consisting of members of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and The Screaming Trees.
• Peter Murphy is the former lead singer of the pioneering goth band Bauhaus.
• The Smiths’ lead singer Morrissey has made some truly reprehensible statements over the years, but I enjoy his lyrics and vocals in spite of his being a terrible person.
• Cigarettes After Sex recorded their first EP in a four-story stairway at the University of Texas, El Paso. The quite androgynous sounding lead singer is Greg Gonzales.