Mixtape Monday #69: Come come fuck apart in here I
The other Aphex Twin don’t live like people do (feat. Immunity, the titular track from British recording artist Jon Hopkins’s 2013 LP, Immunity)
Liner notes: Hello, and happy new year! 2023 is, to me, the most futuristic-sounding year yet, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Because this is Mixtape Monday #69 (nice), I’m obliged to make a mixtape in honor of my college roommates. A few notes:
If you don’t experience a strange amalgam of elation and dread upon hearing the first track, I’m very happy for you. Keep it that way.
“The Stroke” by Billy Squier makes this list because of this video. Coincidentally, when I was a college radio DJ an inebriated gentleman called into the station and requested Billy Idol; I told him (honestly!) we didn’t have Billy Idol, so he asked for Billy Squier, and I played him “The Stroke.” This was all at 3 or 4 in the morning.
Shout out to the little freak who uploaded the Sardakaur throat-singing chant from Villeneuve’s Dune to Spotify as a podcast — a critical addition.
“Hey, is that the theme from Seinfeld? I lost my virginity to that song!”
There are many strange cultural artifacts in this world, but I’d argue none are more mesmerizing than the music video for Clarence Carter’s “Strokin’”. (I know this period outside of quotation marks is technically incorrect, but spiritually it’s correct.)
I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about this sound at 4:47 of “The Alien” from Annihilation and this sound at 1:04 of “Flight to LAPD” (and the moment I knew we had an omega-level super classic on our hands) from Blade Runner 2049. You might be thinking “wow, he must be a fascinating guest at dinner parties,” and you’re right — no one empties the house quicker.
An ironic love of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of the Twilight film series has transmutated into something…not exactly unironic, but if between a group of friends you have t-shirts, a lunchbox, a wedding topper, and an intimate knowledge of the lore, can you really call it ironic? The Twilight movies, especially the first one, are ludicrously, painfully, and hilariously unhinged, and their use of music stands out as particularly bizarre. The final film ends with this strange needle drop of “15 Step” from Radiohead’s In Rainbows, and it’s completely inexplicable. The original music for the movies is similarly uncanny.
Have you seen Sofia Copolla’s Marie Antoinette (2006)? If not, please don’t let another year expire before you do. Its use of pop music is the greatest in the history of cinema (please read this sentence in Michael Fassbender’s cadence and accent here).
That’s all I got. Thanks for supporting Mixtape Monday in 2022. Please forward along to any friends who might be interested! More to come soon — see y’all in a Monday or two.