The Mix of the Magi

Despite the days of cabin fever, the Christmas holidays passed well. The one thing that made this Christmas especially nice, though, was the brothers’ gift exchanges of mix cds. Per Mark’s rules, the four Lambert brothers gathered songs that they either really liked or that had some sort of unique impact on them during the year, and then narrowed down the selections so that they would fit onto an 80-minute cd. The process and outcome far exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were such that I was anticipating this as the highlight of Christmas. I have little time nor energy to theorize over the gift exchange, but in an act of generosity towards my brothers that put time into this, I thought I’d talk about each one and post a link to the cd files.

John’s mix:

John, predictably, was the first mixer on the board, sending his mix out a full two weeks before Christmas. Not that any of us were surprised—John has been by far the most eager of music fans among us, and his tastes range from distortion soundscapes to childhood nostalgia music, but rarely veer into the more accessible pop world and singer/songwriting niche the way mine sometimes do. His mix showcased this pretty well, often combining the childhood nostalgia and soundscapes in single songs, like those by Gayngs, which are two of the cooler songs on the mix—they have a smooth jazz vibe with carefully subtle distortions to update the sound. John begins and ends his mix with Juliana Barwick’s treble ambient, which I was naturally drawn to, although I like my ambient with French horns and cellos, and the songs have a strange distorted, almost shrill quality. This is not a bad thing, unless you are Kathryn.

There is also a typically strange addition of the old “Super Friends” theme. I have never understood John’s genuine enjoyment of old tv themes. Maybe it is because they were so un-innovative then that they now seem to parody the truly innovative music of the time. Maybe it just goes along with his childhood nostalgia thing, but we never watched Super Friends. His love for the Mr. Belvedere theme makes more sense because it was often on in our house, but the other stuff is like borrowed toys. At any rate, he thinks they are cooler than they are, but that is okay because my own kids’ enjoyment of the “Super Friends” theme is the only reason the cd was allowed to stay in the van for a while.

John’s mix is a solid piece of work but there is no mistaking his specific tastes—not a ton of genre variation. By the way, Boards of Canada is his favorite group because it always combines soundscapes with childhood nostalgia. And How to Dress Well was his favorite pick of last year because it combines soundscapes with distortion. Here it is.

Mark’s mix:

I predicted that we would have at least two Rush songs from Mark, and I was right. There were three, but Mark took the “songs that had an impact on me this year” as the justification rather than the “new music that was striking to me” the way John and I did. Rush enjoyed something of a comeback in relevance during the last two years. Actually, no they didn’t. But Mark is loyal, and he doesn’t really care about the music culture’s idea of coolness. And he would be right—if there was any critical community in the world that deserves to be ignored, it is the music hipsters. Not that they don’t have reasons, that they aren’t knowledgeable, and that they don’t have decent writing skills, it is just that they are predictable and holier than thou. I really like the way critics introduce us to otherwise unknown good music, but these people are insufferable, piling irony upon irony, cross-section upon intersection, derivation upon innovation to the point that their arguments finally boil down to “this is cool, and if you don’t believe me, well, you are probably not that cool.” Not that I do ignore them, I am just saying they deserve to be ignored. We are talking about music—probably the most subjective of the arts, and the most sacred, so that combination alone makes for terrible critics.

Back to Rush. Mark likes them, even their 90s stuff. And he likes the heirs to Rush, the Smashing Pumpkins. And he adores the Smashing Pumpkins’ album Adore, as do I. It is one of those albums that never gets old nor ever gets credit. That reminds me--I should do a mock review of a Pitchfork writer reviewing a Smashing Pumpkins album that derives from Rush. I don't know if there is a lot of writers parodying Pitchfork, but it has to be done. Maybe I'll review the newest Yes album in a Pitchfork persona. Remind me to do this sometime.

Perhaps the most interesting thing on Mark’s album is Hem’s “We’ll Meet Along the Way,” the opener from their 2007 album Funnel Cloud. It is a fantastic song, and his story behind including it is pretty interesting, if for nothing else than the fact that it reveals Mark’s sensitive side, which is always on the verge of creeping out, especially if you saw him back in his eco-response leadership days. Kathryn says the Lambert boys are all really sensitive—in the “things deeply affect us emotionally” kind of way—which is probably true, but that we pretend we aren’t. I don’t pretend: I have had emotional responses to the last four Pixar movies and I even cried when Terry Gross was talking about Toy Story 3 on the radio today. I had to go outside when I finished McCarthy's The Road so Maria wouldn't see me tearing up. I am not called the Cheesy Chief for nothing. At any rate, the other side of Mark’s story—the story that shows his sensitive side if he were to tell you—is that I left Hem’s album in his car when we were visiting Arizona last summer. When Mark asked about it, I told him that he wouldn’t like the album but he should listen to it anyway because I really like it. He listened to it on an emotional whim, and was deeply affected by the song. Funny, because I included the same song on my own mix. Great minds think alike, or at least sensitive guys feel alike. For myself, I could call 2010 “the year of Hem.”

Lest you think Mark is not cool for including Rush, Seal, and the Samples on his mix, just know that he somehow came across the song “Time to Pretend” by MGMT, a song that made it on lots of hip “best of” lists last year, and included it. Lest you think Mark is actually cool, he also included Don Henley’s “Sunset Grill.” Down at the Sunset Grill! Down at the Sunset Grill! Meanwhile . . . have another beer.

This is Mark's mix.

Paul’s mix:

Let me first address Paul’s major worry. He included a Mormon Tabernacle Choir performance of Mack Wilberg’s “Let Peace Then Still the Strife” despite Joelle’s feeling that we would make fun of him for being pious. I’m on the fence here: the song is great as an original hymn, and Mack Wilberg’s arrangement is like a slow build-up, which has become his signature--maybe predictable--style, and I also really like the piece. At least it wasn’t a new, overdone arrangement of “If I Could Hie to Kolob,” which really would have solidified a case against Paul. But since the rest of Paul’s mix was solid, I really have no complaints about the Tabernacle making the cut. However, Paul really should have censored his attempt at including more than one Gorillaz song. There is only one good Gorillaz song from the most recent album, and to include another one is trying too hard to be up to date and revealing that the pool from which to draw the hipness was running dry. Paul’s strength is picking out hip alternative music from a few years ago and reminding us of it, like Mohave 3’s “Between the Bars” and Elbow’s “Scattered Black and Whites.”

Paul also included the most extended “classical” pieces, although they are both minimalist pieces that have crossover appeal, but still. They are both good, and the assignment was to include pieces that moved you or that were important to you, so Gorecki’s 3^rd Movement in Symphony #3 and Glass’s Violin Concerto were okay with me. Besides, I introduced Paul to minimalism, so I felt a certain pride.

Paul's

Speaking of certain pride, I am also including a link to my mix because it was, naturally, the best one. I have no comment about it because it speaks for itself.

I suppose this entry counts as my “best of” list for music in 2010. “Best of” lists ask readers to go experience the things on the list, so it acts as that as well. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have, honestly.