Mad World Mix Tape

At Christmas time, all our hearts seem to open a little bit wider. Unfortunately, our musical minds close proportionally. We want to hear all those holiday songs that remind us of the yesteryears of our youth. Tell me Santa Claus is coming to town. Ask me if they know it’s Christmas at all. Plead for me to come home. Take me to Sarajevo on Christmas eve. Photo: Chris Palmer, Flickr (CC by 2.0) It doesn’t even matter so much who’s singing it.   This year’s America’s got Voice winner? Sure. Forgotten 80’s metal band covering Bing Crosby?  A ll over it. Country dudes you wouldn’t be caught dead listening to the rest of the year? Why not. We’re all a bunch of cover band fans this time of year. However, spare me your originals. I got shopping to do. And Christmas Story marathons to watch. I don’t have the mental energy or heart hard disk space for anything new. And for God’s sake, don’t be a downer. Nostalgic...

With all due respect to love, heartbreak kicks its ass when it comes to penning tunes. And while inner peace and contentedness is all fine and good, its musical oeuvre pales in comparison to that of disappointment and self-loathing.   Alas, not everyone has the chromosomal make-up to be a successful self-loather. Fiona Apple has got it. So does Roger Waters. Jared Leto (30TM) too. Up with People ? Not so much. Which may you leave you wondering: "do I have what it takes to be a self-loather?" Well, as a public service, we at MWMT have developed a simple, less than ten minute, self-diagnostic tool to assess your level of self-loathing.  It consists solely of listening to Cloud Nothing's "Wasted Days". Image:  Benjamin Chun, Flickr  (CC-by NA 2.0) If within two minutes you're ready to move on from what you perceive to be self-indulgent overwrought dreck... Sorry, but you are undoubtedly destined to while away your likely many remaining days in...

Photo: Leyla.a, Flickr (CC by-SA 2.0) www.hotbachleorette.com Nobody sings in their car anymore.  And when was that last time you sat in traffic behind a car that was literally shaking from a driver gyrating to a song that spoke to his or her soul? I bet it’s been a while. What does this say about us? We can talk about the limitations of a young generation hooked on Ritalin and living in a virtual world where “lol” is ubiquitous but actually laughing out loud is rare. But maybe the problem is the music.  There’s some nice musicianship out there these days. Some unique sounds and catchy melodies are coming from a wide variety of bands and singer/song-writers. And lyrics are less ridiculous than at any point in recent history.  But there is a distinct lack of umph.  I sometimes question whether anyone even aspires to move you to move and sing in spite of your tone-deafness and general awkwardness.  Which leads me, at long last, to today’s Mad World Mix Tap...

photo:   Aimee Rivers, Flickr  (CC by-SA 2.0) OK, first a few admissions. This whole blog thing was pretty much just an excuse to express my feelings about this song in a public forum. When I first heard, "Ghosts on a Landscape", I declared it to be on my Top 10 list. For life. A few decades later, I stand by my statement. It's the only song I've ever uploaded to YouTube. And it's the only lyrics video I've ever made. And probably ever will. (Thank god it was a short song!) To me it's more than a song. It's a short story. It's an Edward Hopper painting ( this one ). It's beautiful. It's heartbreaking. It's got one of the best closing lyrics of all time. And it deserves to be heard by a hell of a lot more people. I kept hoping "Ghosts on a Landscape" had been missing from YouTube for all these years because someone finally recognized its brilliance and bought the rights and were in the studio readying their mega s...

To paraphrase the  Urban Dictionary , a dykeenie is a normal human who appears to be a giant as a result of the viewer's perspective (such as being the size of a sprite). The Scottish rock band the Dykeenies headline this premier post because they are, in both name and reality, the ultimate Mad World Mix Tape artist. With MWMT, we seek to cast (an ever so slightly) brighter light on the "almost-weres" and "sort-of-ares" of the rock/pop & songwriter world. To most, these artists are just another face in the crowd. But to their hundreds or thousands of fans, they are musical giants. Veritable dykeenies. As for the actual Dykeenies in question here, Wikipedia says they hung it up back in 2012 after two albums. Their biggest hit peaked at #53 on the UK singles chart. I always feel guilty when I discover a band posthumously (um, after their passing, not mine). As if I failed to be sufficiently musically vigilant or log sufficient time on Pandora. Surely my...