I make mixes for people - friends, coworkers, classmates (back when I was in school of course) because I love music and couldn't imagine going through a day without it. I make mixes for people because I don't understand how everyone in the world doesn't love music as much as I do or more. I love helping people discover new artists and I love when people recommend things for me.
Alex, a friend/coworker of mine, is a hardcore christian. He's also the most conservative person I think I've ever met (I mean, he worships Glenn Beck... yeah) and the only music he listens to is christian music that he describes as "chill, relaxing... just good music about god" (with a little Taylor Swift thrown in). He mentioned a few groups, but because I'm probably the worst heathen ever, I stay away from christian music for fear that it will make my ears bleed... or worse and I'd never heard of any of the artists he mentioned. I guess I don't have to say that I didn't have much to go on.
Alex is an english major. This is one thing we have [...had] in common. He loves to read. When we've talked about books he seems just as passionate (and not nearly as annoying) as when he talks about god or how Obama controls CNN. In his mix I made sure to include songs with great lyrics, like Allison Crowe's cover of Leonard Cohen's amazing song "Hallelujah" (of which I have over 40 covers on my ipod... I love that song) or "I Went to Heaven" a poem by Emily Dickinson sang by Carla Bruni (who he really can't stand). He was quite shocked when I told him that the lovely first lady of France had put out three amazing albums, one of those being an english album of her renditions of famous poems, which I still think he'd love.
Also, because Alex is so conservative and so proud... and so anti gay people and because I'm the exact opposite, I wanted to include some songs by gay artists that I was sure he'd like. I originally had a song by Rufus Wainwright, but his songs didn't seem to fit well... his voice can be a little harsh and I think it would've put Alex off a little. So, now it's left up to Bloc Party's song "I Still Remember". I chose this song because it fits, it's absolutely beautiful, and it's about Kele's first boy crush. I wonder if he'll pick up on it.
Anyway, I haven't given it to him yet, but I'm pretty sure he'll love it. Right now my playlist is on playlist.com because of the unfortunate dissolution of Imeem. I loved Imeem because if they didn't have a song that I needed for my playlist, I could just upload it. So far I haven't found another site that will let me do that. A couple of my songs are different from what's on the actual mix. Instead of "Beau Fixe" by Coralie Clement on my mix, I put "Chanson de Toile" by Emilie Simon here and "Minor Detail" by Sondre Lerche instead of "(You Knocked me) Off my Feet" because they weren't on the site. If anyone knows of a good site like Imeem.com please please please let me know.
It feels like I wrote a lot, but this is how much I think about the mixes I make for people. Most of the people who I make these things for don't listen to much music at all so the artists don't get too obscure. I don't want to completely close them off from discovering new music by introducing them to something they'll find completely strange.
I'm happy you're enjoying Allison Crowe's version of Hallelujah and including it on your mix for Alex. And, a belated happy birthday to you! (I serve as manager to Allison, and, tonight, in trying to figure out what's happened to all her videos at Last.fm I've found your blog.) I don't know why, or from where it's come, and you may know this - the Hallelujah in your player here is an instrumental version. (Allison recorded it for people who want to sing the song, and don't play piano.)
ReplyDeletefyi, Jamendo.com is a cool music site/community, if you don't already know of it. The artists all release their music under Creative Commons licenses, and, there's a great range of genres. Allison's original music is on there, and plenty more!
thanks for letting me pop by, cheers, Ad
Hey thanks, I just noticed that when I was listening to it. At first I was like, hmmm this is a longer intro than I remember... and then half the song was over before I actually realized it was instrumental. Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.
ReplyDeleteHer version is really beautiful. I think her version and Jeff Buckley's version are my absolute favorites. I have to say, they're both better than the original. Her voice is just amazing.
Thanks for commenting, although I wish you could've made it here once my blog became a little more blog-like... if that makes sense. There isn't much going on here.
And one more thanks for the jamendo suggestion. I'll check it out.