Deep in the Jungle of Thought There is a Clearing: 6/15 show

Notes and comments:

I first heard the Tom Tom Club in the Talking Heads movie, Stop Making Sense, when David Byrne took a break and the rest of the band played "Genius of Love." Tina Weymouth had been in the background, playing bass, and she stepped forward to lead the band; I remember the transformation. My sister bought the album and we listened to it a lot on a trip to Montreal. A year later, she left for college in Montreal and left the tape behind, and I listened to it a lot. Even though the songs on the album have so many varied associations, I still think of Montreal when I hear them. We drove up Mont Royal one evening and looked over the lights of the city; that album was the soundtrack.

But the song "Lorelei" means other things to me, too. I didn't ever analyze the lyrics too deeply, but what it always made me think is the inner life of the mind, and the idea that you could meditate and discover this place inside of you. The metaphor of the "jungle of thought" (today's blog post title comes from the lyrics to this song) resonates with me in part because I have always loved forests. A a child in the woods up in northern Michigan or at Caratunk Wildlife Refuge in Seekonk, Mass, I spent a good deal of time wandering through the woods and finding those clearings, as well as creeks and boulders and vivid mushrooms and whatever else the woods might hold.

That's a lot of associations for one song, I suppose. But this is what music is — not all of it, but the best songs stay with us our whole lives and remind us not just of people and places, but also of ourselves: who we are, who we used to be, and who we want to be. I've had this idea of creating a mix CD of the soundtrack of my life, but I don't think there's anything really served by cataloging and collecting these songs in one place; I think I prefer to happen upon them here and there, and realize while I'm listening, "this is one of those songs."

And now, the playlist:

*: new stuff
(r): requests

Artist	Song	Album	Label
Tom Tom Club	Lorelei	Tom Tom Club	Sire
Rufus Wainwright	Do I Disappoint You?	Release the Stars	Geffen
*Chow Nasty	Hot Sticky Nikki	Super Electrical Recordings	Omeg
*Von Südenfed	Dearest Friends	Tromatic Reflexxions
Mustangs	The Time for Loving is Now	Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Goombay	Numero Group
Haale	Morgue Sahar	Morning	Darya Records
Feist	Inside and Out	Let It Die	Polydor
Alice Smith	Love Endeavor	For Lovers, Dreamer, and Me	BBE
*Lavender Diamond	Oh No	Imagine Our Love	Matador
*Oh My God	But That's Just Me (Song for the Holidays)	Fools Want Noise	Split Red
The Cryan Shames	The Painter	Synthesis	Sundazed
*Gogol Bordello	Super Theory of Everything	Super Taranta!	Side One Dummy
X-Ray Spex	Oh Bondage Up Yours	Germ-Free Adolescents	Caroline
Nina Hagen	Smack Jack	14 Friendly Abductions: the Best of Nina Hagen	Columbia
*Battles	DDiamondD	Mirrored	WARP
*Bumps	Baby Johan	Bumps	Stone's Throw
Mavis Staples	99 and ½	We'll Never Turn Back	Anti-
(r)Boss Hog	I Idolize You	Boss Hog	Geffen
Edith Piaf	Milord	The Voice of the Sparrow: the Very Best of Edith Piaf	Capitol
*Montag	Mechanical Kids	Going Places	Carpark
Troubled Hubble	I Love My Canoe	Sun Beamed Off	Magic Spot
Romeo Void	Flashflood	Warm, in Your Coat	Columbia/Legacy
The Juan MacLean	Tito's Way	Less than Human	DFA/ Astralwerks
*Dommm	Hidden Sun	Yoloxochitl	Young Cubs
*Savath and Savalas	Faltamos Palabras	Golden Pollen	Anti-
*Miracle Fortress	Maybe Lately	Five Roses	Secret City
Fujiya and Miyagi	Photocopier	Transparent Things	Deaf Dumb + Blind Communications
Blondie	11:59	Parallel Lines	Chrysalis
The B-52's	Dance This Mess Around	The B-52's	Warner Brothers
Tinariwen	Awa Didjen	Aman Iman: Water is Life	World Village
*Pelican	Lost in the Headlights	City of Echoes	Hydra Head
Kronos Quartet and Mogwai (Clint Mansell, Composer)	Tree of Life	The Fountain	Nonesuch
Zerostars	Like the Daylights	2nd album preview	www.zerostars.com
*Meg Baird	River Song	Dear Companion	Drag City
Lena Horne	The Lady is a Tramp	Some of the Best	Laserlight
The Gossip	Standing in the Way of Control	Standing in the Way of Control	Kill Rock Stars
*Apparat	Hailin from the Edge	Walls	Shitkapult
Sage Francis	Slow Down Gandhi	A Healthy Distrust	Epitaph
(r)Prefuse73 featuring Sam Prekop	Last Light	Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives	WARP
*Fridge	Comets	The Sun	Temporary Residence

Labels: journal, music, personal, playlists

posted by Tony at 12:02 PM