June Mix: Late Night With Abby: 2

As you may recall, back in April, I presented a mix made in the style of the incredibly awesome Late Night Tales compilation series (highly recommended if you haven’t heard them). At the time, I was pretty sure it was one of the best mixes I’d ever made. I usually think that about all my mixes when they’re brand new. But I’ve completed the second in my series of copycat compilations, and I don’t think I’m at all wrong in saying that I’ve completely outdone myself with this one. That last Late Night With Abby mix seems amateur compared to this masterpiece.

I do feel like putting these mixes together is an art. This isn’t a typical car mix I’d make of songs I want to hear and that make me excited. No, Late Night Tales is about expressing and creating a mood. Though many songs in the compilation you may not always have occasion to listen to independently, your mind develops a new appreciation for them when presented in this context. You’re glad to hear the songs; you want to hear them. They complement each other in the order they’re given. Maybe that’s why I enjoy making these so much. It’s a creative challenge that allows me to hear music in a way I hadn’t before, and I learn to appreciate it all over again.

Late Night With Abby: 2

Nosaj Thing – Caves

General Elektriks – La Nuit Des Ephemeres

Jean-Jacques Perrey – E.V.A. (Fatboy Slim Mix)

Diamond Doves – Club Night

My 12 Songs, or Brent Hate-F***s Out A Playlist

Thirty-eight days, four hours, 15 minutes, 57 seconds.

In that time, I could shave my beard and regenerate it to an even manlier version than what currently inhabits my face.

I could hand in a two-weeks notice, slightly more than 2 ½ times.

I could start training for a marathon, turn into a lean, mean, running machine, and then decide after Day 37 to stop training for a marathon when I remember that I’m not a douchebag (OK, that one was a stretch).

More realistically, that very specific amount of time is how long it would take me to work though my entire iTunes library. That’s right — 12,660 songs at 91.62 gigs of memory on Ye Olde MacTop. Of course, that’s not even including the unlimited number of songs I access through Spotify, YouTube, my modest vinyl collection, or the Neil Diamond and Hall & Oates cassette tapes in my car for emergency use only (translation: daily use).

Now, as a way to introduce myself to the hearingade faithful, I’m supposed to pluck 12 songs out of that infinite black hole of music nerddom for a playlist (or I guess officially “mixtape,” though I’m young enough I never did such thing before the dawn of the CD burner) that more or less defines me.

Um… unfuckingpossible.

Un.

Fucking.

Possible.