A close friend of the TSS community made a New Order compilation about a month ago for me to learn more about the band that used to be Joy Division. I was completely unfamiliar with New Order (I had heard about them obviously but owned nothing)  until about a year ago when this same person burnt me, their 1983 album titled Power, Corruption & Lies (Pitchfork 9.6). I just got around to listening to it two months ago and was wholly impressed, particularly with the opening song Age of Consent. The album contains the better parts of drumming from Joy Division, but is much less heavy in nature even though the lyrics contain similar meanings. All of it sounds just like how I would remember the 80′s if I had been alive for much of it.

My favorite part of the compilation was the little piece of paper attached to the disc with a typed up playlist marking what year the songs were recorded. This piece of paper was subsequently scanned to be a part of the TSS Compilation artwork.

This month’s compilation holds a very special place in my heart. It was given to me back in 2002 when I was barely listening to any music outside of electronic/techno. The person who produced this cd has asked to remain anonymous, but know that I respect his/her musical tastes more than most. This compilation marks the first time I ever heard a song from the likes of Belle and Sebastian or Modest Mouse; two bands that have been a staple in my diet ever since…..

Note from the producer: “This mix CD is from 2002. It was mixed on a crappy old school laptop that ran Windows98. By the end of the mix if you made any changes you’d have to wait ten minutes for the computer to render out the entire waveform. The program that I mixed it with came on a floppy disk. I got the samples in via tape deck to the computer’s line in jack. The Alan Watts samples are from his radio show that was playing on 90.7 FM in Los Angeles at the time and the Kesey thing was from NPR…I used to have a tape in the deck at all times to record interesting segments. The Grapes of Wrath is the source for the other quotes…my favorite movie. There are also some Bob Dylan “Don’t Look Back” quotes in there too.
You have to have an open mind to get into this CD…at times a very open mind. I wasn’t trying to be cutting edge or hip w/ the music…every piece meant something in relation to the album’s theme and should be taken completely out of their respective musical genre/zeitgeist contexts.
It’s a good roadtrip CD or a good CD for cutting and stacking wood.”

Additionally the compiler of this album believes that “not letting people know the track names ahead of time is important. If they want to know they can look in the notes. That way it’s more of a surprise and an experience, as opposed to thinking ahead of time “I hate the ………” or any thoughts like that.” I must say I agree.

more bootlegs

If you can get over the ancient html design eye-sore, this site has quite the selection. Scroll a bit down and look to the right to see the complete archive and then a little further down for the healthy list of artists.

As many of you probably read two weeks ago, George Pants gave the cyber world an exclusive insight into the underpinnings that have sculpted his musical palette. Next, he asked each of us to dive within our own playlists to discover those secret gems which lay hidden beneath the surface of common day music sites. Here is an abridged version of my response to his call to arms as well as the disc download he requested:

Download : Capt AKAK’s Top Ten Esoteric Tracks

10. The Ohsees – Quadrospazzed
Found out about this band when they opened for Dodos on one of their first tours.

9. Isotope 217 – Beneath the Undertow
Jazz song for my life as a character in a David Mamet movie or the real song that should have been playing for the Beastie Boys Sabotage video.

8. James Chance – Almost Black Part 1
Just cant help myself with this one.

7. Daniel Higgs – Living in the Kingdom of Death
The first time I heard this song it was 1 am, I needed to sleep but started copying the song to my itunes library. I had the option on autoplay once it is copying. So it started playing without me telling it. I was sent into a trance. I sat staring at my screen for an hr within surfing the internet. I just listened and looked at the screen.

6. Fire on Fire – Grin
I am just mad I missed them playing at the knitting factory 5 wednesdays ago.

5. Gastr Del Sol – Dictionary of Handwriting
John McEntire on drums to this song speaks to that 12 year old girl you spoke of GP. This song just fucking rocks.

4. James Blackshaw – The Cloud of Unknowing
One minute into the song I always want to float into space, too bad about gravity.

3. Shrimp Boat – Collecting Me
This one is perfect (well near perfect or I would have it number one)

2. Seth Olinsky – Dirt Road Cloud of Light
Tantric. His lyrical style and tone speaks to my core. “You hold on til its safe”

1. Michael Gira – Blind
Buy this song off some site if you dont have it. It is my life. It is my darkness. It is my truth. It is my hope. It is my never again. Basically take the first four chapters of the Big Book and replace it with the lyrics to this song.

For my full response:  Comments Section for George Pant’s Post&lt