like a pair of bottle rockets

25th January 2012

Photo with 10 notes

Like A Pair of Bottle Rockets Mixtape #4: 

Waiting For The Day To Come

I’ve always had a hard time sleeping. As a baby, my mom would play a taped recording of the vacuum cleaner to try to soothe me into sleep. In high school, I’d fall asleep around two or three am nightly, go through the day like a zombie and come home for a few hour nap. Until a few years ago, I made this work. Maybe it was moving to the east coast, maybe it’s New York City, maybe it’s the constant turbulence and uncertainty I’ve been faced with, but something has changed, and I’ve gone from being a night owl to a full blown chronic insomniac. Unless you’ve experienced not sleeping for a whole night, and then the next night, and the night after that, it’s hard to understand the abject despair an insomniac can feel. Reality quickly becomes delusion, thoughts wrap around themselves into infinity, anxiety and fear are given free reign for hours on end. I’ve taken anything I can find, perscription or otherwise, to try to sleep. Sometimes, nothing helps. When you’re down at the bottom of that particular nightmare, music can be the only buoy keeping what remains of your sanity afloat. 

This is a playlist I made last night when I was nearing that abyss. It starts by assuming the worst — that you are far too gone for help and have almost come to enjoy the strung-out suspended animation of your sleep deprived consciousness. But these songs slowly circle back down to earth, to a sense that somehow, eventually, it’s going to be alright. These songs are a womb in which to take refuge and embolden yourself to face down what hides in the hours of darkness. These are songs that, god willing, will lull you into sleep, and not into a nightmare. 

Tracklist:

1. Gowns - Fargo

2. Julianna Barwick - Cloak 

3. Sleeping States - The Next Step

4. Grouper - Alien Observer

5. Iron & Wine - Promising Light

6. Joanna Newsom - Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie

7. How To Dress Well - Decisions (Orchestral Version)

(download)

(please listen in order)

Tagged: insomniamusicwritingmixtapes

11th November 2011

Photo with 17 notes

Like A Pair Of Bottle Rockets Mixtape #3

The Lucksmiths For Beginners

Remember when forever seemed just fine, seen through glasses of rose-coloured wine?

This mix was requested by someone awhile ago. Luckily, I have already had a playlist in my iTunes entitled “Best of The Lucksmiths” for a few years. The Lucksmiths, a now defunct Australian indie pop group, don’t immediately stand out much from the many guitar-based pop bands out there. But there’s something about their soft melodies and brilliant wordplay that begins to get under your skin, until you realize they’re your second-most played artist on last.fm. I picked up the album Happy Secret in high school after hearing them referenced in the Tullycraft song “Twee” and instantly fell in love. The album’s lo-fi, quiet sentimentality and clever yet emotional lyrics make it a go-to when I need to feel warm and safe. Later on, I discovered other albums of theirs which are more suitable for a walk on a sunny day. I’m not the world’s expert on this band, but all of these songs are totally great. I welcome suggestions on what I’ve missed. And if you have another mixtape request (doesn’t have to be one band!) shoot it to my ask box!

Have you come to the conclusion that you’ve come to the conclusion? 

Tracklist: 

1. Untidy Towns (Happy Secret)

2. Jewel Theives (The Green Bicycle Case)

3. The Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco (Warmer Corners)

4. Self-Preservation (Why Doesn’t That Surprise Me?)

5. Sunlight In A Jar (Warmer Corners)

6. Southernmost (Happy Secret)

7. Synchronized Sinking (Why Doesn’t That Surprise Me?)

8. The Art of Cooking For Two (Happy Secret)

9. Camera-Shy (Naturaliste)

10. The Year Of Driving Languorously (Why Doesn’t That Surprise Me?)

11. Broken Bones (Why Doesn’t That Surprise Me?)

12. Fiction (Warmer Corners)

DOWNLOAD

Tagged: the lucksmithsmixtapesmusictweeindie pop