Este que ves, engaño colorido,
que, del arte ostentando los primores,
con falsos silogismos de colores
es cauteloso engaño del sentido;

éste, en quien la lisonja ha pretendido
excusar de los años los horrores,
y venciendo del tiempo los rigores
triunfar de la vejez y del olvido,
- Soneto CXLV, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

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” Spanish Blue ”

01. António Chainho – Improviso em Mi Menor
A Guitarra E Outras Mulheres (Mpg, 2000)
02. Ruben Gonzalez – Choco’s guajira
Chanchullo (2000)
03. Bajofondo - Borges Y Paraguay
Bajofondo Tango Club (2008)
04. Miguel ‘ Anga ‘ Diaz – Dracula Simon
Echu Mingua (2006)
05. Orlando Cachaito Lopez – Tumbanga
Cachaito (2001)
06. Tempo Trio – E a Gente Sonhando
Tempo Trio (1965)
07. Rubén González – Melodía Del Rio
Introducing…Rubén González (1997)

note: A place holder series that I know I won’t be able to finish. keep your fingers cross for more tho’. The entire theme is somewhere between night dance and ambient, except with darker melody. Something fuller than usual. This one come with mainly cuban texture with jazz and various other island tunes. Not a danceable list, almost annoying change of beat pattern in fact, but they are all dance tracks. Ruben Gonzalez. I like how he leaves one layer of repeated chords over melody giving an impression that the piano itself humming its own beat. The whole thing is thick with rhythms, all slow but never sparse. Roiling elegantly. Repeating chords after chords, then melodies, over and over. It’s about dance and how the body moves, but in song. Soulful song. The color of night.

see also: Music of Cuba
image: Henri Matisse, Issy-les-Moulineaux, 1915-16 (dated on painting 1916). Oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 31 7/8″ (65.1 x 80.9 cm).

photo: Florian Azar.

Digitalism – Taken Away (Lalory’s Modern Romance remix)
Taken Away Remixes (2008)
Curses! – The Deep End (Bart B More remix)
The Deep End 12″ (Institubes / 2009)
Butch – Amelie (Format B remix)
Papillon Ep 2 (Great Stuff /2009)
Disco Junkie – Push the Funk
Push the Funk (Tasty Recordings / 2009)
Modeselektor – Suckerpin (Feadz remix)
Happy Birthday! Remixes 3 (Bpitch / 2008)
Siriusmo - W.O.W.
W.o.w. (Grand Petrol / 2005)

You thought this would be a dance lesson, things were easier then. No marimbas, no clarinets; only a longing for the fun to begin.
Rain came down.
Nothing seems as remote as the days you didn’t have to think about it: always already there, gushing out.
Control was required to stop ideas from overflowing.
You did your job well, you killed them as one kills Easter baby chickens.

- Monica de la Torre.

photo: Georg Parthen

The radio aches a little tune that tells the story of what the night
is thinking. It’s thinking of love.
It’s thinking of stabbing us to death
and leaving our bodies in a dumpster.
That’s a nice touch, stains in the night, whiskey and kisses for everyone.

- Richard Siken, Little Beast.

1. Gonzales – Overnight
   Solo Piano (Pony Canyon / 2005)
2. Scsi-9 – Señorita Tristeza
   On the Edge (Kompakt / 2005)
3. Douglas Greed – Balldate (Klute remix)
   Remix Ep (Combination / 2008)
4. Trentemøller – Miss You (Pascal F.E.O.S. remix)
   Miss You (Audiomatique / 2008)
5. Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto – Uoon I
   Vrioon (Raster Noton / 2002)
6. William Basinski – Unnamed 2
   Melancholia (2062 / 2005)

With this playlist I was supposed to fill a request for a friend who asked me to give him one for the road. After several sketches, tho, the original idea started falling apart as my recent trip to Mexico city started claiming a strong influence on my listening habits. Whenever I thought of the word ‘highway’, millions of blurring lights appeared never waiting for a fox to cross. As hard as I tried the memory of driving peacefully through the countryside watching stoical cows and rising suns had dissapeared. Instead I found skyscrapers through chunks of aquamarine sky into millions of anonymous faces. I would look through the window at the night taking shape. Waiting for more.

And so, in the end I came up with this, it might not be the best companion for the highway but I believe it has some interesting contrast and flow to it and it makes for a perfect nocturnal listen in small rooms on big cities.

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… There was no sleeper more elegant than she, with her curved body posed for a dance and her hand across her forehead, but there was also no one more ferocious when anyone disturbed the sensuality of her thinking she was still asleep when she no longer was. – Love in the time of Cholera. pp 28.

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” Eternal Night. No.1 (Flowering Inferno) ”

01. Ulrich Schnauss – Suddenly The Trees Are Giving Away
Far Away Trains Passing (Domino, 2005)
02. Tommy Guerrero – Broken Blood
Soul Food Taqueria (2003)
03. Alice Coltrane – Walk With Me
Translinear Light (2004)
04. Dj Krush – On The Dub-Ble
Krush (Shadow Records, 1995)
05. Dub Trees – Butterfly Trilogy I II And III
Nature Never Did Betray the Heart That Loved Her (Lsd, 2000)
06. Quantic – Juanita Bonita
Quantic presenta Flowering Inferno (Tru Thoughts, 2008)
07. Benga – Killers About
10 Tons Heavy (Planet Mu, 2007)
08. Sacred System – Galactic Zone
Chapter One: Book of Entrance (1996)
09. Tortoise – Cliff dwellers society
Gamera / Cliff Dweller Society (Duophonic, 1995)
10. John Zorn – A Tiki for Blue
Taboo and Exile (V.A. Music Romance vol.2) (Tzadik, 1999)

note: I don’t know what this night list is about, except I noodle with it for hours back and forth around midnight. That’s why it’s a bit studied, not particularly flowing in sentimental way compared to other midnight list. But at the same time, I suppose some people might find the quicker pace enjoyable for night conversation. I’ll do slumbering rhythm in third part. Anyway, it opens with disassembled dub, then snap in various dub tracks. I also looked at archive, this is actually the first time I post a proper dub list instead of simple series of favorite picks. So at least that can be picked apart. Gem in the list: Tommy Guerrero and Quantic. I’ll post longer Bill Laswell works later in series. Also, as you notice posting frequency is about to cliff dive, since almost all of MdM posters will be busy. Maybe its time for open recruit?

see also: Gabriel García Márquez
image: unknown

” Wopbabalubop ”

01. Bach - Prélude
Johann Sebastian Bach / Elliott Carter (Ecm Records, 1994)
02. Vashti Bunyan – Leave Me
Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind: Singles and Demos 1964-1967 (Dicristina Stair, 2007)
03. Cocorosie – Raphael
The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn (Touch & Go Records, 2007)
04. Funkdoobiest feat. B-Real – Wopbabalubop
Which Doobie U B? (1993)
05. Mulatu Astatqe – Yegelle Tezeta
Ethiopiques vol.4 (Buda Musique, 1998)
06. Digable Planets – Blowing Down
Blowout Comb (1994)
07. Funkdoobiest – Sunshine
Troubleshooters (1998)
08. Cooley-Munson – Sightly sue
In Debt (Guerssen , 1972)

note: Having a little fun. Ever wonder if time ever changes, if we live in different time? I was wondering about that after mixing this list. I don’t think the set can work ten years go. It won’t sound right. not like now at least. Not only folktronica didn’t exist back then, since computing power is beyond the reach of average folks artists. But the idea hip-hop techniques can creep into folks and hip-hop street root of funk beat is now consider classic, is simply unimaginable. People will give you the look. But now it’s jsut another random playlist. Anyway, here is two layer list, current folktronica meshed with late 90′s slower east coast rap. It sounded like a soundtrack of some art gallery somewhere in Brooklyn or maybe Paris. Lazy weekend lounge with strong melody over head nooding beat. Cheers.

PS. where did Moka go?

image: nathaniel s