” Fun short pieces ”

01. Mozart - “L’ho perduta… me meschina!” Le nozze di Figaro, K.492 Act
Amoureuses / Patricia Petibon (2008)
02. J.S. Bach – Italian concerto in F major andante BWV 971
Bach: Italian Concerto; Partitas Nos. 1 & 2; etc. / Glenn Gould (2006)
03. Tomaso Albinoni – Oboe Concerto in D minor Op.9 No.2 – 3 Allegro
Albinoni: Oboe and Violin Concertos (Apex, 2002)
04. Bohuslav Martinu – Písnicky na dve stránky (Songs on two pages, seven songs an Moravian folk poetry) – 2. Súsedova stajna (The Neighbour’s Stable)
Songs My Mother Taught Me / Magdalena Kozena (2009)
05. Animal Collective & Vashti Bunyan – I Remember Learning How To Dive
Prospect Hummer EP (2005)
06. Bela Bartok – No.9 Round Dance II: Andante/No.10 Funeral Song: Largo
Bartók for Children / Jeno Jando (2006)

note: Shot evening pieces. Animal Collective request plus light melodic classics. Remember when you were a kid most of the time music never make any big thematic sense? The things they make you play. And later on you find out, they are all some kind of basic exercise to fit your limited attention span and fingering skill? Well, this is a tongue and cheek version of that. Short phrases and melody to barely fit attention span of a gnat. ha.. But I hope you enjoy them with a big smile, they are all very well executed too. cheers.

image: zandwacht

Photo: Nickolas Muray via GEH.

Allez donc vous faire bronzer
Sur la plage, sur la plage.

• Allen Toussaint – St. James Infirmary
  The Bright Mississippi (Nonesuch, 2009)
• Paris Combo – Señor
  Living Room (Tinder, 2000)
• Sacha Distel - Allez Donc Vous Faire Bronzer
  Allez Donc Vous Faire Bronzer (La Voix de son Maître, 1968)
• Sisters Love – Give Me Your Love
  Give Me Your Love (1973; reissue on Soul Jazz, 2006)
• Dusty Springfield – Spooky
  Spooky 7″ (1970)
• Kinobe – Slip Into Something More Comfortable
  Slip Into Something More Comfortable 7″ (Pepper, 2000)

An all-weekend getaway to the beach. A subtle and clumsy dance on the pool. I love this Nickolas Muray photograph. I had no idea they had such bright, colourful photographs in 1932. I’d love to lie and tell you I created this playlist inspired by it. Maybe I will.
I created this playlist inspired by today’s photograph. Manouche jazz, soul funk, rare groove… it’s a nice, vibrant soundset for warm summer days. It might just scare the rain away.

Beast that you are,
3 arms that you have to hold me,
4 hands to touch me with,
One eye to gaze upon me,
One leg,
A probosis on your lower abdomen,
No head as such,
And a tuft of coarse hair on your chest,
You are perfect,
My Darling. – David Shrigley, The Book of Shrigley

The hole you have in your heart is no hole at all, it is an endless galaxy of vitamins and boxes. I wish I could find the box with your tongue in it so I could sew up the cut and put it in your clean hand – Terri Gender Bender

1. Sui Zhen – Letter to You 001 (unreleased, 2010)
2. Telegraph Avenue – Lauralie (Mag records, 1971)
3. Gonjasufi – Sheep (Warp records, 2010)
4. Andras Fox & Sui Zhen – Petit Morte (unreleased, 2010)
5. Flamingos - I only have eyes for you (End records, 1959)
6. The Mole – Dreamer (Musique Risquee, 2010)
7. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round (4AD, 2010)
8. Dirty Projectors – No Intention (Domino, 2009)

Recently I have been spending time on skype, communicating with a loved one both present and absent. There are times when words, letters, and pictures need to be replaced by a haptic space of darkness and touch.

Whilst this can be filed under the “romantic-mixtape” category, I hope the variety of sounds, places and release dates make it one for a love beyond temporal-spatial restrictions.  For those interested, the Telegraph Avenue album is a Peruvian Psych/Pop gem well worth checking out. And for the uninitiated, Sui Zhen is a nomadic wanderer from Sydney whose talent is almost matched by her prolific output. Asides from writing songs whilst most people would scarcely have time to cook a meal (see: Letter to You 001) Sui Zhen makes films, photos and other devices for the storage of memories. Her album is being prepared for release soon, so keep an ear out.

The brink-of-Spring-Winter-blues are contagious… much like good music. Below is a quick soundtrack to close out the cold, hush the hibernation, and ease on down the road to a seasonal rebirth – enjoi.

First a howling blizzard woke us, then the rain came down to soak us; and now before the eye can focus – Crocus. ~Lilja Rogers

Analogue Transit – Analogue
(Gearheart/ 2009)
Analogue Transit – Projector…
(Gearheart/ 2009)
Fever Ray – If I Had a Heart
(Fever Ray Deluxe LP/ 2009)
Fever Ray – Seven
(Fever Ray Deluxe LP/ 2009)
Port O’Brien – My Will Is Good
(Threadbare/ 2009)
Hird – Fading Blues
(Moving On/ 2005)
Hird – Water Under My Bridges
(Moving On/ 2005)
Port O’Brien – I Woke Up Today
(All We Could Do Was Sing/ 2008)

Photo Credit: Sekator

Fulton St. from South St.

You almost never from a Lynch movie get the sense that the point is to “entertain” you, and never that the point is to get you to fork over money to see it. This is one of the unsettling things about a Lynch movie: You don’t feel like you’re entering into any of the standard unspoken and/or unconscious contracts you normally enter into with other kinds of movies. This is unsettling because in the absence of such an unconscious contract we lose some of the psychic protections we normally (and necessarily) bring to bear on a medium as powerful as film. That is, if we know on some level what a movie wants from us, we can erect certain internal defenses that let us choose how much of ourselves we give away to it. The absence of point or recognizable agenda in Lynch’s films, though, strips these subliminal defenses and lets Lynch get inside your head in a way movies normally don’t. This is why his best films’ effects are often so emotional and nightmarish

- David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.

1. Marsmobil – Astralbody
   Minx  (Compost, 2006)
2. Nino Rota – O’ Venezia Venaga Venusia
   Il Casanova (CAM, 1976)
3. Bohren & Der Club of Gore – Destroying angels
   Black Earth (Wonder, 2002)
4. Manfred Hübler & Siegfried Schwab – Necronomania
   Vampyros Lesbos (Crippled Dick Hot Wax, 1995)
5. Susanna & the magical orchestra – Sweet devil
   List of Lights and Buoys (Rune Grammofon, 2004)
6. Oleg Kostrow – Elysee theme
   Imago OST (2002)
7. Peter Thomas Sound Orchester – Lancet bossa nova
   Raumpatrouille (1966)
8. Colleen - I’ll read you a story
   The Golden Morning Breaks (Leaf, 2005)

This playlist has been on the motel’s vault for ages. Recently a reader requested a spy-themed playlist and I think this one just might fit the bill, so I’ve decided to rescue it and give it another shot before it gets completely lost into oblivion.
It’s just a humble tribute to David Lynch’s work,  a playlist which could match the aesthetic of most of his films: eerie atmospheres, discreet violence and smokey, erotic overtones. In keeping with the personality of Lynch’s film the songs move in between noir sensibility, delicate siren calls and a little hint of kitsch. I hope you enjoy.

Also see:

- David Foster Wallace on Lost Highway.
- The 10 Best David Lynch Moments.