Another Rat Paws Picks?! Why, yes. This one was a real flash in the pan, which may be why it leans heavily on such perennials as Dream Syndicate, Tommy Keene, GbV, etc. But the whole tracklist sort of came about quite unbidden, not unlike how I'd put together playlists when I had my radio show at WCBN-FM 88.3 FM Ann Arbor from 2008-2012. Scrambling around the maze-like library, touching, clutching, smelling the moldering (chewed?) spines of records, a bit stoned, abetted by microwaved Meijer-brand kettle-corn, I'd DJ a 3 hour show from 3-6am, then 1-3am, eventually landing a 1-3pm slot in my last semester as a DJ in summer 2012, whereupon I finally named the show Afraid of Daily Living (tagline: Eleanor's guide to the great indoors.)
Anyway. Just in case you doubted my credentials, I WAS THERE. But as it concerns this particular never-broadcasted little seed packet, I instruct you to throw it on in celebration of earlier sunsets while tempering your straight-laced respectable, outward-facing "parts" (of your self) with cider. or don't drink. Also please behold and appreciate what we refer to in this house as "shitty 80s basslines" (out of tune, skinny, wormy, rudely placed in the mix), which are sorely missing from slick contemporary forays into the post-whatever coolness-reserves. Authentic. Shitty. Baselines. Anyway, tap play on the telephone thing, and start off feeling held by Kath Bloom's inconsolable but strangely comforting blues ("My Stupid Little Heart") and then buckle in and stand clear the closing doors as we make many stops in 80s college rock land (connect the dots if you will with regards to some personnel, if you care. i.e. Chris Stamey and Kendra Smith doin' double duty here because why not.) We cross the finish line with a Tyvek song off the late 2010s album Origin of What; a feverish vision of a girl on a bicycle on an overpass, a metaphor for the fleeting phrenzy of inspiration maybe: "I'm feeling good yeah, let it last." And then maybe play the mix again! Around, around, around, and around.
Happy Virgo season,
xox
Eleanor
View from my porch earlier tonight.
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