Jimi Hendrix, "Angel"

Naming "Angel" as your favorite Hendrix song is a little like saying that Paul McCartney is your favorite Beatle. It's not as popular as John or "Purple Haze," nor is it as cool as George or "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)." But judging on songcraft alone, it stands above the rest.



Why is that? There's nothing particularly flashy about it, which might be why Jimi never released it in his lifetime. But for an artist whose songs are pretty much universally loved, Hendrix never seems to get enough credit as a composer. Sure, everyone admirers the guitar playing, but he also had an impeccable sense of melody, knowing when to use a good, subtle progression and give it breathing room, the way that he does here. Jeff Beck would have probably gussied it up until it was lost in a nine-minute jam, and Clapton would need outside songwriting help to come up with anything like it. If I believed in angels, I'd thank them that Jimi gave this song the structure and lyrics that it deserves.

Something about this magic little song transcends arrangements and performances. I love the orchestrated version, performed here by Gil Evans' band in the 70s.



Fiona Apple's rendition on MTV Unplugged is as lovely as anything I can think of (starts around 10:43).



Even Rod Stewart and the Faces could stop being silly on Top of the Pops long enough to show some reverence.



Songs usually don't get covered this often unless a) Everyone likes them, and/or b) People assume they can sing it better than the original performer (see "Blowin' in the Wind" or "Hallelujah.") With "Angel," I wonder if it's a little of both--people like it, and most people think of Jimi as the Guitar God and leave it at that. But most likely, Hendrix just created a mood that everyone wants to be a part of. Fly on, my sweet angel.

Halloween '13

No one has influenced my mix-making more than Ellen, who gave me first ever mix CD. For years, she made one mix every Halloween season, each of which soundtracked much of my high school and college years. Ellen's mixes were the first place that I heard Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Nina Simone, Joanna Newsom and others.

It's been a few years since she's made a Halloween mix, but I'm hoping to get her back into the habit this year.



Halloween '13

1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry"
2. Daikaiju, "Attack of the Crab Women"
3. Fantômas, "Night of the Hunter"
4. Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, "Lil' Red Riding Hood"
5. Johnny Cash, "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky"
6. My Bloody Valentine, "Feed Me With Your Kiss"
7. Link Wray, "Jack the Ripper"
8. Danzig, "Mother"
9. Guns N' Roses, "You're Crazy"
10. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, "Frenzy"
11. Black Sabbath, "Supernaut"
12. Jarvis Cocker & Beth Ditto, "Temptation"
13. The Specials, "Ghost Town"
14. Public Image Ltd., "Flowers of Romance"
15. The Edgar Winter Group, "Frankenstein"
16. The Five Blobs, "The Blob"
17. Thom Yorke, "Black Swan"
18. Fiona Apple, "Dull Tool"
19. Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
20. Pixies, "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)"

Rather than compete with Ellen's mixes, which came with the aura of pumpkin-carving and costume-donning, mine are meant to sound a little more sinister. Black Sabbath's most underrated song gets a spot, as do the reliably creepy Hawkins and Sam the Sham. I'm also to playing Ellen's love for movies with Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Fantômas' tribute to Night of the Hunter, the Pixies' take on Eraserhead's "In Heaven" and the original Blob theme, which, amazingly, was written by Burt Bacharach.

Ellen is also a big Fiona Apple and Jarvis Cocker fan, so I've included non-album tracks from both of them. I'm hoping she'll appreciate the cabin fever horror of "You're Crazy" and the beautifully bleak "Black Swan," and I'm pretty sure she'll find Danzig hilarious. But if she doesn't, she can always rock out to "Frankenstein."

Kate-mas 2013

Much of the best new non-metal music that I heard in the past year came from Ben-mas 2012, a birthday mix that Kate sent me from England. Artists that I had never heard of or bothered to check out because they had names like Tinie Tempah, Mystery Jets or LCD Soundsystem have been getting stuck in my head and making their way onto my playlists. My response isn't quite as chic, but I'm giving it a shot.



 Kate-mas 2013

1. Japandroids, "The Nights of Wine and Roses"
2. Andrew W.K., "It's Time to Party"
3. Dr. Octagon, "Earth People"
4. Janet Jackson, "Rhythm Nation"
5. Kavinsky feat. Lovefoxxx, "Nightcall"
6. The Zombies, "Care of Cell 44"
7. King's X, "It's Love"
8. The Roots, "The Seed (2.0)"
9. Fiona Apple, "Hot Knife"
10. Santo and Johnny, "Sleepwalk"
11. The Jackson 5, "The Love You Save"
12. Danny Brown, "Radio Song"
13. Lily Allen, "LDN"
14. David Bowie, "Sound and Vision"
15. The Knife, "Heartbeats"
16. Jimmy Cliff, "The Harder They Come"
17. Clipse feat. Slim Thug, "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)"
18. The Afghan Whigs, "Crazy"
19. Penguin Cafe Orchestra, "Telephone and Rubber Band"
20. The Giraffes, "Jr. at His Worst"

 A semi-stylish mix, as imagined by someone who prefers Anthrax to Animal Collective.

Some of my favorite recent songs are here, via Fiona Apple, Japandroids, Danny Brown and the Drive soundtrack, plus a few tracks from the the mid-2000s, around the time I worked at Kim's Mediapolis and was momentarily hipper than I ever will be again. Thus, I'm offering the new Grimes song (from when it was called "Heartbeats" by the Knife) and Lily Allen's "LDN," which plays like a Kate e-mail set to music.

Otherwise, I've included a balance of yesteryear classics that I can't imagine anyone not liking. Only a sadist could resist the best of the Jackson 5, Bowie or Jimmy Cliff, and I still don't believe anyone who can't get down to "Earth People." Finally, headbanging biases appear in the presence of celebration icon Andrew W.K., Brooklyn surf-metal heroes the Giraffes and King's X, whom have now spent a quarter of a century as the world's most underrated hard rock band. The guitar and vocal harmonies in the outro to "It's Love" should be playing from stadiums, or at least from the listening devices of thoughtful English expats.

High Five for 2012

By now you've either heard that Fiona Apple has the best record of the year so far, or you've heard The Idler Wheel... and know that it's true. But with Fiona already riding a 90 on Metacritic, she doesn't need my endorsement. Instead, may I suggest you support the five best metal records for the first half of the year, in alphabetical order.

Cattle Decapitation, Monolith of Inhumanity 

San Diego's favorite misanthropes reinvent jazz as grindcore.

Goatwhore, Blood for the Master

You see us coming and you all-to-geth-er-run-for-cover--we're taking over death metal.

 

 

 

 

 

Gojira, L'enfant Sauvage
Ishirō Honda, meet François Truffaut. Discuss.

High on Fire, De Vermis Mysteriis
Pike's Peak. Again.

Meshuggah, Koloss

The Black Dahlia Murder's arms are too short to box.

Happy listening! See you in December with the top ten.

Dad Rock

Dad mixes are some of the hardest to make. Almost by definition, your father hates the music that you listen to. Mothers get far more musical tributes, and most father songs ("Come to Daddy," "Papa Don't Preach," "Had a Dad," "The End") are wildly inappropriate. Thus Father's Day mixes can be a chore, but let's give it a shot.

 

Dad Rock

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Under the Bridge"
2. The White Stripes, "My Doorbell"
3. Shel Silverstein, "Dirty Ol' Me"
4. Squeeze, "Is That Love"
5. Fiona Apple, "Paper Bag"
6. Stevie Wonder, "Boogie on Reggae Woman"
7. Smashing Pumpkins, "Tonight, Tonight"
8. Sex Pistols, "Pretty Vacant"
9. Elvis Presley, "All Shook Up"
10. James Brown, "Night Train"
11. The Rolling Stones, "Loving Cup"
12. Harry Nilsson, "Maybe"
13. The Clash, "Rudie Can't Fail"
14. Jerry Lee Lewis, "What'd I Say"
15. R.E.M., "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
16. Joni Mitchell, "Free Man in Paris"
17. Radiohead, "No Surprises"
18. Roy Orbison, "Only the Lonely"
19. Prince, "Starfish and Coffee"
20. Neil Young, "Comes a Time"
21. Santana, "Samba Pa Ti"
22. Shel Silverstein, "Comin' After Jinny" 

In the five years where DC101's playlist was the most important thing in the world to me, Dad would occasionally meet me halfway, at "Under the Bridge" or "Tonight, Tonight" (he never came around to "March of the Pigs.") I met him at Neil Young and Prince, and years later at Joni Mitchell.

Dad and I share an appreciation for Shel Silverstein, who appears in the giddy "Dirty Ol' Me" and the bittersweet "Comin' After Jinny," and we've also agreed on "Samba Pa Ti," Santana's best number and a subject of Nick Hornby's 31 Songs. On a limb, I'm hoping to increase Dad's appreciation for Jerry Lee Lewis, The White Stripes and especially the Rolling Stones, gracing us with my favorite song here.  Dad prefers the Beatles, so I've added Squeeze's best impersonation of the Fab Four.

This year, I've gone on Radiohead and Fiona Apple kicks, represented by father-friendly tracks, and more recently caught up to Roy Orbison, who joins a few of my favorite rock pioneers. The influence of artists like James Brown and Elvis Presley is now universal, and therefore taken for granted. A mix CD is ideal for emphasizing why they really matter.

The sore thumb here is "Pretty Vacant," which outguns everything else here by miles and shouldn't be on a mix for anyone over age 30. That being said, I do worship the Sex Pistols, and Dad likes Johnny Rotten's letter to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so I'm taking a chance.

PS: Metalsucks has an excellent photo gallery of Metal Dads right here.