The Signal: EP113 – 45 minutes of beats and noises, designed to accompany such diverse activities as hover-boarding, observing a hover-boarder, design and manufacturer of hover-boards, and whatever it is that you’re doing.
The file will be available for a limited period of time. I don’t know how long. It’s possible that as you’re reading these words, in some far-flung future we can’t even imagine, the file is already gone. I can’t imagine the disappointment you must be feeling. Hang in there, kitten.
If you like what you hear, the track list is in the id3 tags of the mix. Just download that sucker and use your mp3 player to take a look at the file’s properties.
01. In revisiting earlier Signal mix, I find that I feel more of a sense of accomplishment when I hear a mix where I put in some actual editing time… not just lining up the tracks so they work together, but actually layering some stuff together. As such, I took the time to spice up a vaporwave track with some spoken word oddness I’ve had around for years to make something new. I think it works. Feel free to disagree.
02. From a great album of beats. Loved the fuzzy vinyl sound to it and the choral sample.
03. Just about every mix includes a song that’s currently the hottest in my personal playlist. A song I’ve probably been listening to once a day for days or weeks, or a song that I can’t sit still for. This one’s both. That bass line is irresistible!
04. Can you believe this is the ‘alt’ version of the song? The original vocalist does a more low-key version of the song, without all the interesting percussion. Really sounds like his version should be the ‘unplugged’ b-side version. Also, the way it’s sung, it sounds like they don’t know that “riding the white horse” is a drug metaphor, right?
05. This track’s kinda longer than I usually put in a Signal mix, but there’s so many big moments in the song, I don’t think you’ll even notice how long it plays for.
06. Found an online label claiming to represent the French pop underground. Finally! I’m tapped in to the music that French pop radio doesn’t want you to hear! (Or they may be using the word “underground” to mean “just haven’t gotten popular yet.” I almost used a different track from this underground pop artist just because it referred to Peter Falk, so there at least two words in the song I understood, but the catchiness of this one beat it out.
07. I’ve been listening to lots of experimental Bandcamp artists recently, many of them wearing corporate camouflage, ironic retro labeling and trademark labels despite heavy-handed sampling. This Bananarama blowout stood out among its peers.
08. & 09. Beats! Not much to add to them, really.
10. Mexican punk rockers in Australia. Mexican punk rockers in Australia! Plus they do that tongue-trilling thing, so…
11. I included this track, which also has the same trilling sound. That’s about the best/only thematic match I made in this mix. Pretty much just had a bunch of music around and tried to find the best path through some of ’em.
12. Like… this one just happened to fit a space I had left. Didn’t know this one was going to be in the mix.
13. This one’s so powerful, I put it all the way at the end, to give you a chance to go recover afterwards. Such great harmony! Such distinct voices! Such distilled sadness! Oh man! Anyway, if you’re reading this early, make sure you have access to someplace quiet to decompress, all right?