raxmix vol. 4
Sep. 19th, 2019 06:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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likealarkI hope you needed some tracks for cgr because, uh
I realized I had hit the threshold for making you a mix (12 songs minimum + a bonus track) and so here is the next mix! There was a lot of music this year.
The cover is from a song called POSSESSION by Tag Underground. It is one of my favorite rhythm game tracks, pure techno nonsense. Its beatmap in every game is a tricky and complicated disaster. I adore it. This cover looks a little shitty on purpose because I got this close to putting actual vaporwave on this mix but restrained myself, so most of this mix is like one bare step away from vaporwave. Isn't shitty jpg graphics, like, a vaporwave thing (or a homestuck thing)
If you are not Rax but also like music, you're welcome to give this a listen too?
> DOWNLOAD <
( Spotify Playlist )
01. wowaka - Tsumikino Ningyou Rnb Mix feat. Pagoda
A lot of music artists died this year. Unfortunately, wowaka was one of them; he died of heart failure (which is often code for overwork) and he was the same age as me (31). He composed my second favorite vocaloid song, "Rolling Girl," a song about a girl's literal inability to give up despite insurmountable odds and incredible pain. That song dragged me by the hair through junior year of college no matter how much I wanted to quit; you pushed, and that song pulled. But this isn't that song. This is a song from the same album. This album in general dragged me through 2016. Wowaka, in general, made songs that dragged me (in the good way); either by goading me on or by making everything okay for a few minutes. This is one of the "it's okay" songs, and also a artist-made remake of one of his tracks sung by a real person, not a vocaloid. It's so breezy and light that it makes me feel good no matter what's going on. (For comparison, the original version of this track gives a sense of anxiety and being trapped.) I wanted to share something from Wowaka with you because after his passing, I suddenly realized with urgency how little vocaloid I had shared with you, despite the huge impact it has on me musically. This is the first vocaloid song of two.
02. Carly Rae Jepsen - I Didn't Just Come Here To Dance
The queen is here
Okay but in seriousness I just heard this album, Emotion, for the first time this year and it took my head off. I think kids say "it snatched my wig?" But idk, I don't experience it that way, sometimes I hear songs and it feels like they set my scalp on fire and then I'm like I NEED TO SHARE THIS WITH RAX IMMEDIATELY. This is so 80s. The groove is so perfect. There are also a lot of 80s songs on this mix. I just leaned into the vaporwave aesthetic really hard in 2019, ok. Live your best life.
03. ciki - baby crush
Did you know that there is k-indie music??? Like struggling artists trying to make it without a backing from a major label. Considering the chokehold k-pop and its label giants have on the entire Korean music industry, I was honestly a little shocked. I really like ciki, he's actually pretty great at making chillout music. This is one of his livelier tracks. What I like about it is the feel I have of small people fighting a large industry, almost like cyberpunk neo-hackers....who decide to use their powers to make music you'd hear in a coffeeshop. I think it's really cool.
04. Jesca Hoop - Dreams in the Hollow
For some reason I indelibly link this song to Pokemon fanfiction, and I also link you to pokemon fanfiction, so. It's in that older "single woman singing a la fiona apple" style, but I really like the whimsical feel of this track and the chorus is great to sing.
05. DNCE - Toothbrush
This song is so sweet. It sounds like a fanfic. (See note about fanfic above.) This is the same group that make "Cake by the Ocean," if you heard that song that was all over the radio in like 2013; this is the same album. I was torn for several months between this song and another track from that album that is Absolutely A Mood, called "Pay My Rent," but in the end this one won out because it tells a cute story that I think you'd like. Also, the kind of, charming naive trust that this song conveys is kind of how I feel when I visit you. Like, leaving a platonic toothbrush, I guess? Waking up and making hello kitty waffles? Petting your cats? That kind of thing. I don't know if that makes sense. Anyway this song is very cute.
06. Paramore - Rose-Colored Boy
Every time I sing along to this track I have to actively stop myself from singing "Rose-Colored Rhess," because if anyone is a Rose-Colored Boy, it's him. This Paramore album was fantastic, another album I only discovered this year, and it's about getting through severe depression through sheer grit and a fixed smile. I like the juxtaposition of bitter lyrics with that beachy vibe.
07. Lizzo - Juice
It should come as no surprise that I associate you with Juice songs. I just found her today! Apparently she's been recording albums for ages and she took off this year with tons of radio play, but I haven't heard any of her songs before a friend gave her to me. You might be familiar with her, though, because apparently she pals around with Doomtree?? Her voice is stellar, she can play the flute (hence her stellar lung capacity and breath control and also yes, that's her in this song), and also her lyrics are so fun. Please go listen to her other song "Truth Hurts," even if you do not get further than the first line you will thank me for it, it's amazing.
08. Reol - LUVORATORRRRRY! ver れをる feat.nqrse
The second vocaloid track. Reol is an artist who broke out through vocaloid, first starting by writing incredibly catchy songs with razor-sharp lyrics, and then got so big she got a record label deal and now sings her songs herself. So this is her singing her own song, which was originally sung by two vocaloids. The world is a beautiful and strange place. (Wowaka has a similar story; his vocaloid songs were so popular that he was able to score a record deal for his band.) Anyway, I honestly think you'd love Reol. Her lyrics are hyper-aggressive, juxtaposed against danceable melodies and her really cute raspy high pitched voice. Sort of in line with Grimes and Bis. If you are playing this song around anyone who understands Japanese, I am just warning you that this song is vaguely but also definitely about blowjobs, so you are aware of what you are putting out there. It's my favorite track of hers, though. It's so good.
09. Chromeo - Bonafied Lovin (Jori Hulkkonen remix)
I know you know Chromeo but I don't know if you know this mix and I really like this mix, because it turns it into a totally different song. I actually don't like the original track but I really dig the moody, almost haunting thing that this mix turns this track into.
10. Kishi Bashi - Say Yeah
I can't even lie, I put this on here because I flipped out over the flute solo. The rest of the song is good too, but the flute solo. I needed to share it with you.
11. Mark Ronson ft. Kevin Parker - Summer Breaking
I guess it's kind of weird that "motown" is one of my Love Languages but I can't change this about myself, and also, I don't want to. It's the Tame Impala guy doing Motown, which is not a sentence I ever thought I'd type, and for that reason alone I wanted to share this. But also, this song defined the summer of 2019 to me; I played it a lot while driving with the windows down. We're moving into fall now, but I think it might communicate that sun-drenched, hot-asphalt feeling even now. This entire album is pretty dang good if you like the motown sound; he has a few tracks with the Tame Impala guy, but I think this is the best of them.
12. Mitski - Nobody
Okay the real reason this mix came out now is because I heard this song in a restaurant yesterday, and my head snapped up. I came home and listened to it again. And every time I replayed it I loved it more and I love everything about this artist, everything, how have I never heard of her before. Her lyrics have a Richard Siken sensibility to them. She writes honest, poetic discussions of depression, and POC cultural isolation, and how weird it is to be a person living and dreaming in this time where the world economy is collapsing and the future seems so bleak. I really wanted you to listen to her, she's amazing, I'm obsessed with her lyrics and her incredible voice control. She's even better live. How.
13. Vitalic - Poison Lips
I try to toss a "vanilla ice cream" track on every mix, something eminently mixable but not super remarkable in and of itself, and here's this one. It has the grungy-yet-slick kind of sound I associate with cgr, so I wanted to pass it along to you. ♥
Bonus Track: The 5th Dimension - Time And Love
There's no band that communicates love to me as much as The 5th Dimension, who became famous through covering Laura Nyro, one of the great Janis Joplin-like female singers of the 60s who (unlike Joplin) goes largely unnoticed or unremarked. I've mentioned her before; her lyrics are things I grew up with and grew into, things that helped me understand how ugly and beautiful the world could be and how you could navigate both those poles. This is one of her most hopeful songs, covered with The 5th Dimension's lovely harmony. I shouted this song at the top of my lungs a lot this year. This has been a really fucking good year for me. So many things fell into place. Everything is better than ever; my relationship with Chris, my job, my socializing habits, and my general life stability. I've done so many things I'd always dreamed about. It's the first year where I feel like I really know where I'm going, and maybe even a small amount of how I'm gonna get there. So this song has felt true to me this year in a way I've never felt before. I want it to be true for you too.
time and love, everybody, time and love
nothing cures like time and love
I realized I had hit the threshold for making you a mix (12 songs minimum + a bonus track) and so here is the next mix! There was a lot of music this year.
The cover is from a song called POSSESSION by Tag Underground. It is one of my favorite rhythm game tracks, pure techno nonsense. Its beatmap in every game is a tricky and complicated disaster. I adore it. This cover looks a little shitty on purpose because I got this close to putting actual vaporwave on this mix but restrained myself, so most of this mix is like one bare step away from vaporwave. Isn't shitty jpg graphics, like, a vaporwave thing (or a homestuck thing)
If you are not Rax but also like music, you're welcome to give this a listen too?
|
( Spotify Playlist )
01. wowaka - Tsumikino Ningyou Rnb Mix feat. Pagoda
A lot of music artists died this year. Unfortunately, wowaka was one of them; he died of heart failure (which is often code for overwork) and he was the same age as me (31). He composed my second favorite vocaloid song, "Rolling Girl," a song about a girl's literal inability to give up despite insurmountable odds and incredible pain. That song dragged me by the hair through junior year of college no matter how much I wanted to quit; you pushed, and that song pulled. But this isn't that song. This is a song from the same album. This album in general dragged me through 2016. Wowaka, in general, made songs that dragged me (in the good way); either by goading me on or by making everything okay for a few minutes. This is one of the "it's okay" songs, and also a artist-made remake of one of his tracks sung by a real person, not a vocaloid. It's so breezy and light that it makes me feel good no matter what's going on. (For comparison, the original version of this track gives a sense of anxiety and being trapped.) I wanted to share something from Wowaka with you because after his passing, I suddenly realized with urgency how little vocaloid I had shared with you, despite the huge impact it has on me musically. This is the first vocaloid song of two.
02. Carly Rae Jepsen - I Didn't Just Come Here To Dance
The queen is here
Okay but in seriousness I just heard this album, Emotion, for the first time this year and it took my head off. I think kids say "it snatched my wig?" But idk, I don't experience it that way, sometimes I hear songs and it feels like they set my scalp on fire and then I'm like I NEED TO SHARE THIS WITH RAX IMMEDIATELY. This is so 80s. The groove is so perfect. There are also a lot of 80s songs on this mix. I just leaned into the vaporwave aesthetic really hard in 2019, ok. Live your best life.
03. ciki - baby crush
Did you know that there is k-indie music??? Like struggling artists trying to make it without a backing from a major label. Considering the chokehold k-pop and its label giants have on the entire Korean music industry, I was honestly a little shocked. I really like ciki, he's actually pretty great at making chillout music. This is one of his livelier tracks. What I like about it is the feel I have of small people fighting a large industry, almost like cyberpunk neo-hackers....who decide to use their powers to make music you'd hear in a coffeeshop. I think it's really cool.
04. Jesca Hoop - Dreams in the Hollow
For some reason I indelibly link this song to Pokemon fanfiction, and I also link you to pokemon fanfiction, so. It's in that older "single woman singing a la fiona apple" style, but I really like the whimsical feel of this track and the chorus is great to sing.
05. DNCE - Toothbrush
This song is so sweet. It sounds like a fanfic. (See note about fanfic above.) This is the same group that make "Cake by the Ocean," if you heard that song that was all over the radio in like 2013; this is the same album. I was torn for several months between this song and another track from that album that is Absolutely A Mood, called "Pay My Rent," but in the end this one won out because it tells a cute story that I think you'd like. Also, the kind of, charming naive trust that this song conveys is kind of how I feel when I visit you. Like, leaving a platonic toothbrush, I guess? Waking up and making hello kitty waffles? Petting your cats? That kind of thing. I don't know if that makes sense. Anyway this song is very cute.
06. Paramore - Rose-Colored Boy
Every time I sing along to this track I have to actively stop myself from singing "Rose-Colored Rhess," because if anyone is a Rose-Colored Boy, it's him. This Paramore album was fantastic, another album I only discovered this year, and it's about getting through severe depression through sheer grit and a fixed smile. I like the juxtaposition of bitter lyrics with that beachy vibe.
07. Lizzo - Juice
It should come as no surprise that I associate you with Juice songs. I just found her today! Apparently she's been recording albums for ages and she took off this year with tons of radio play, but I haven't heard any of her songs before a friend gave her to me. You might be familiar with her, though, because apparently she pals around with Doomtree?? Her voice is stellar, she can play the flute (hence her stellar lung capacity and breath control and also yes, that's her in this song), and also her lyrics are so fun. Please go listen to her other song "Truth Hurts," even if you do not get further than the first line you will thank me for it, it's amazing.
08. Reol - LUVORATORRRRRY! ver れをる feat.nqrse
The second vocaloid track. Reol is an artist who broke out through vocaloid, first starting by writing incredibly catchy songs with razor-sharp lyrics, and then got so big she got a record label deal and now sings her songs herself. So this is her singing her own song, which was originally sung by two vocaloids. The world is a beautiful and strange place. (Wowaka has a similar story; his vocaloid songs were so popular that he was able to score a record deal for his band.) Anyway, I honestly think you'd love Reol. Her lyrics are hyper-aggressive, juxtaposed against danceable melodies and her really cute raspy high pitched voice. Sort of in line with Grimes and Bis. If you are playing this song around anyone who understands Japanese, I am just warning you that this song is vaguely but also definitely about blowjobs, so you are aware of what you are putting out there. It's my favorite track of hers, though. It's so good.
09. Chromeo - Bonafied Lovin (Jori Hulkkonen remix)
I know you know Chromeo but I don't know if you know this mix and I really like this mix, because it turns it into a totally different song. I actually don't like the original track but I really dig the moody, almost haunting thing that this mix turns this track into.
10. Kishi Bashi - Say Yeah
I can't even lie, I put this on here because I flipped out over the flute solo. The rest of the song is good too, but the flute solo. I needed to share it with you.
11. Mark Ronson ft. Kevin Parker - Summer Breaking
I guess it's kind of weird that "motown" is one of my Love Languages but I can't change this about myself, and also, I don't want to. It's the Tame Impala guy doing Motown, which is not a sentence I ever thought I'd type, and for that reason alone I wanted to share this. But also, this song defined the summer of 2019 to me; I played it a lot while driving with the windows down. We're moving into fall now, but I think it might communicate that sun-drenched, hot-asphalt feeling even now. This entire album is pretty dang good if you like the motown sound; he has a few tracks with the Tame Impala guy, but I think this is the best of them.
12. Mitski - Nobody
Okay the real reason this mix came out now is because I heard this song in a restaurant yesterday, and my head snapped up. I came home and listened to it again. And every time I replayed it I loved it more and I love everything about this artist, everything, how have I never heard of her before. Her lyrics have a Richard Siken sensibility to them. She writes honest, poetic discussions of depression, and POC cultural isolation, and how weird it is to be a person living and dreaming in this time where the world economy is collapsing and the future seems so bleak. I really wanted you to listen to her, she's amazing, I'm obsessed with her lyrics and her incredible voice control. She's even better live. How.
13. Vitalic - Poison Lips
I try to toss a "vanilla ice cream" track on every mix, something eminently mixable but not super remarkable in and of itself, and here's this one. It has the grungy-yet-slick kind of sound I associate with cgr, so I wanted to pass it along to you. ♥
Bonus Track: The 5th Dimension - Time And Love
There's no band that communicates love to me as much as The 5th Dimension, who became famous through covering Laura Nyro, one of the great Janis Joplin-like female singers of the 60s who (unlike Joplin) goes largely unnoticed or unremarked. I've mentioned her before; her lyrics are things I grew up with and grew into, things that helped me understand how ugly and beautiful the world could be and how you could navigate both those poles. This is one of her most hopeful songs, covered with The 5th Dimension's lovely harmony. I shouted this song at the top of my lungs a lot this year. This has been a really fucking good year for me. So many things fell into place. Everything is better than ever; my relationship with Chris, my job, my socializing habits, and my general life stability. I've done so many things I'd always dreamed about. It's the first year where I feel like I really know where I'm going, and maybe even a small amount of how I'm gonna get there. So this song has felt true to me this year in a way I've never felt before. I want it to be true for you too.
time and love, everybody, time and love
nothing cures like time and love
