Though the Blizzard Wind Doth Blow...

This year's Christmas playlist is up! ON TIME. HOLY CRAP. I think I've really captured the essence of the holiday, here. The cheer and the drunken hilarity... and the loathing, the despair, and the death. It's ... maybe a little schizo, in places, but it's better than some things I've done. Commentary, where necessary, is below.

1. The Crüxshadows - Winterborn (Subway to Sally Mix) (6:13)
I swear to god, this is totally incidental. No relation. Srsly. It's been on there since like October, when I started working on this.
2. Eluveitie - Slania's Song (clipped) (5:28)
I don't usually listen to this one. Female singer, and all. But, it eases the transition between Winterborn and White Rainbow.
3. Coil - A White Rainbow (clipped) (6:12)
Moon's milk spills from my unquiet skull... Again, this has been here since October. Prophetic, maybe, but absolutely unintentional.
4. 桜庭統 - Ice Fog Flow (3:03)
5. Vast - Winter In My Heart (3:36)
6. Alice - alcz3010 (0:01)
"I fear nothing." American McGee's Alice. My favourite source for splices.
7. Blutengel - Soul Of Ice (clipped) (4:46)
8. Trans Siberian Orchestra - Siberian Sleigh Ride (clipped) (2:55)
9. LaTour - Cold (5:30)
It goes there. Shut up.
10. Heaven 17 - Holiday (3:48)
11. Alice - alcz2020b (0:01)
"I'm not on holiday!" American McGee's Alice.
12. Alice - alcz2021 (0:01)
"Lucky me..." American McGee's Alice.
13. Dean Martin - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (1:55)
14. Tom Waits & Peter Murphy - Christmas Sucks (2:56)
This holiday cheer is a pain in the nuts... Yeah, this kinda sums up my thoughts on the whole thing.
15. Ella Fitzgerald - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (1:26)
16. Abney Park - Winter Wonderland (3:22)
17. Gene Loves Jezebel - Frozen [Razed in Black Mix] (5:00)
18. Wumpscut - Die In Winter(clipped) (4:34)
19. Eels - Christmas Is Going To The Dogs (Grinch Soundtrack) (2:57)
Srsly? I don't even. It goes there.
20. Legendary Pink Dots - Lisa's Party (clipped) (2:58)
21. Robyn Hitchcock - College of Ice (3:41)
22. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - A Mad Russians Christmas (4:42)
23. Vernian Process - The Maple Leaf Rag (clipped) (2:24)
24. Cheshire Cat - cat001 (0:05)
"I can't know everything. Pretend you're an orphan ... oh, that was rude, you are..." American McGee's Alice
25. Edda - Leikr Elds Ok Isa [The Song Of Fire And Ice] (2:18)
26. Steeleye Span - Gaudete (levelled) (2:22)
This one took a little rebalancing and screwing with, before it would play nice, but I think I finally made it fit here.
27. Arcanta - Carol of the Bells (4:51)
28. Sunday Driver - Snow Song (2:50)
I just got this track, about a month ago. Man, this band is really pretty awesome. Go buy their album.
29. The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping (5:09)
This is a must. It's here every year. It's been a standard since my mum had it on cassette, when I was a kid.
30. Alice - alcz2009 (0:01)
"Don't I know you?" American McGee's Alice.
31. Faith And The Muse - Iago's Demise (levelled) (3:00)
Another case that needed some dicking around with, but I love this song, and I never get to use it, 'cause it's not balanced for mixing. So, I kinda fixed that.
32. E.S. Posthumus - Ebla (6:09)
33. Mediæval Bæbes - The Coventry Carol (4:24)
Used a different rendition of this, last year. I love this song, in its older forms, and if there's one band that'll do it right...
34. Torley Wong - Snow (2:12)
35. Faith & Disease - 07 Silver and Gold (3:35)
36. The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York (4:35)
This is a must. It's here every year. And it's always the last track. And it's never our last... *laughs*

Playlist length: 1 hour 58 minutes 59 seconds

Warm With the Chill

1. Adam Ant - Wonderful (4:22)
Because it's true, goddammit. :P

2. Genitorturers - Touch Myself (3:21)
Not strictly true, but this definitely belonged in here, all the same. When I think about you, I eat frozen chocolate. It's about the same difference, in my world...

3. Austin Leeds, Starkillers & Terranova - Only You (Electribe Mix) (6:00)
Speaks for itself, really.

4. Abney Park - Sleep Isabella (4:27)
Needed some steampunk music. All things need more steampunk.

5. Rasputina - I Only Wanna Be With You (3:35)
I fucking love this cover.

6. Colony 5 - Accelerate (3:36)
It's so you, I almost died laughing, when I heard it again.

7. Garbage - Sex Is Not the Enemy (3:04)
*whistles innocently*

8. Depeche Mode - Nothing's Impossible (4:21)
All things are possible at all times, even if some are less probable than others.

9. La Roux - In for the Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix) (5:02)
Again, so you. Or me. Or us, really...

10. Pixies - Here Comes Your Man (3:21)
This was the irresistable and obvious choice for this transition. I don't even know. It just is.

11. Michael Penn - No Myth (4:11)
I just couldn't do this mix without it.

12. New Model Army - I Love the World (5:06)
OH GOD I LOVE THE WORLD... and it might be your fault.

13. Massive Attack - Angel (6:09)
Oddly, this was the track that got me started on this mix. It grabbed my attention in that 'you need to do this RIGHT NOW' sort of way.

14. Torley Wong - Lovers' Dance (4:13)
Torley makes me so happy, and this ... this just goes here. I was gonna do the Lovesickness/Lovewellness combo, but this one just worked better.

15. Chemlab - megahurtz (mindfield aurora mix) (5:08)
You know why this belongs here. And if you don't? Go look up the lyrics.

Unravelling

1. Franka Potente - Believe (4:55)
It's an excellent opening. Sets the scene for what's to come -- especially if you recognise it...


2. Freeland - Burn the Clock (Burning in Wonderland Mix) (5:48)
The old gonzo master said it best: When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro.


3. Front Line Assembly - Unknown Dreams (6:01)
It's mood music for a beautifully dystopian world. Actually, I had to go through most of this album a few times before I picked this one. It's just good like that.


4. Machines of Loving Grace - If I Should Explode (5:08)
Yeah, this was really my only choice, once I decided that 'Suicide Kings' was a little too fast and 'Richest Junkie Still Alive' was going to get me a shot to the teeth. This still might get me a shot to the teeth...


5. Beck - Earthquake Weather (4:26)
It's very American, but it's got the low-desert groove. It's an offset to all the dark and wet.


6. Love and Rockets - It Could Be Sunshine (4:59)
Totally tongue in cheek.


7. The Replacements - Bastards of Young (3:38)
I use this track way more than I probably should, but ... I think it's got a strange and particular significance, here. "We are the sons of no one..."


8. Lemonheads - Rudderless (3:20)
This was the first track to get dropped in. It caught my ear and insisted that whatever I thought I was going to do with my afternoon, this is what I was actually going to do. That said, I'm expecting an ashtray to the back of the head. Also, debates are still open as to whether that line is 'hope in my path', 'open my pants', or 'hole in my past'... Past attempts at drunken sing-alongs tended to yield 'hole in my pants', which it's probably not.


9. Prefasher - All and Hollowed (5:35)
I knew something on this album belonged in this mix. It just took me a minute or six to find it, because it wasn't 'New Sentience' or 'Stock Market Crash'.


10. Coil - Heartworms (clipped) (7:13)
It's all the worst things about living just under the surface, in that sloggy, grey liminalilty... "This knife's gonna make some young woman a fine husband" has a lot of fairly loaded contextual flurries.


11. Jesus and Mary Chain - Snakedriver (3:42)
I think this one speaks for itself. Mostly the opening lines. What's that? Bag of dicks? Yes, thanks. I know.


12. Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps (5:33)
It was this one or 'Teardrop'... In the end, this was just that much grittier and more appropriately thematic.


13. Beats Antique - Slapdash Era (3:53)
It's skewed. Badly skewed, in that film noir sort of way... You can watch the shadows slide down the wall at painful angles, just hearing this go by... It's moonshine and speakeasies, thin girls in short dresses smoking thin cigars... *shrugs* It just goes there. Trust me.


14. 3xInfinity - Wonderland (Vocal Mix) (5:26)
More of the dizzying interplanar slide... This one's got a bit more of a ripple to it.


15. Burning Sensations - Pablo Picasso (4:03)
"Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole. Not like you." *grins*

Kill With Me, Tonight

Yeah, Magpie and I are back with some more tasty Halloween soundtrack. This year, I'm afraid we took some thematic liberties, because we were looking for ... mmm, more of a drag queens and scalpels and glee feel than is strictly traditional. Because we're lazy fucks, we didn't bother to clip anything that wasn't already clipped, because if you're playing live, you can be lazy like that and all the transitions work, anyway. *shrugs* Still not sure 17/18 didn't need another track, in between, but we can't figure out what the hell else would go there.

1. Rasputina - Christian Soldiers (1:31)
2. Medieval Babes - Averil (3:53)
3. Phontaine (Featuring Nadia) - Sea Of Redd (4:09)
4. Nancy Sinatra - ''Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)'' (2:39)
5. Chemlab - Black Snake Voodoo Hiss (Accucrack Ver.) (clipped) (4:11)
6. Christian Death - Haloes (85) (3:42)
7. Morrissey - Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself (3:20)
8. Circle Jerks - I Wanna Destroy You (3:05)
9. Pigface - Asphole (clipped) (5:10)
10. Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore (4:20)
11. Mark Morgan - 25 - Smoldering Corpse Bar Alternate (1:10)
12. Midnight Oil - The Dead Heart (5:10)
13. Klaus Badelt - Skull and Crossbones (3:23)
14. The Butthole Surfers - Pepper (4:50)
15. Marilyn Manson - Cake And Sodomy (3:46)
16. KMFDM - Mysterious Ways (3:10)
17. Love And Rockets - Sweet Lover Hangover (5:11)
18. Rowan McDonald - I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper [Rowan's Mix] (2:40)
19. Screaming Dead - 20th Century Vampire (3:24)
20. Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant (Front 242 Remix) (5:25)
21. Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died (5:00)
22. Megadeth - No More Mr. Nice Guy (3:02)
23. Mudhoney - Deception Pass (2:53)
24. Nine Inch Nails - Physical (You're So) (5:29)
25. Ministry - Stigmata (5:44)
26. Coil - Love's Secret Domain (3:52)
27. Morrissey - Spring-Heeled Jim (3:47)
28. Roy Orbison - In Dreams (2:52)
29. Legendary Pink Dots - Premonition 16 (clipped) (3:14)
30. K.M.F.D.M. - Ultra (4:33)
31. Severed Heads - The Dead Eyes Opened (3:35)

1 hour 58 minutes 10 seconds

α-Latrotoxin

This one's for DJ Twig. Yeah, I know, it's really late. It's also unadulterated assholery, on my part. I love you, man. Happy Valentine's Day.

1. Pop Will Eat Itself/DJ Steamwerks - Wake Up! Time To Die...(Inedible Alice Mix) (5:23)
2. Hypnogaja - Lullaby (3:43) 
3. Coil - Heartworms (clipped) (7:12) 
4. Econoline Crush - The Devil You Know (clipped) (4:10) 
5. Chemlab - Jesus Christ Porno Star (6:23)
6. Bob Dylan - Lay, Lady, Lay (clipped) (3:14) 
7. Boiled In Lead - Drowning (clipped) (4:08) 
8. Waterboys - The Wind In The Wires (5:33) 
9. New Model Army - Lovesongs (clipped) (2:53) 
10. Nine Inch Nails - Ringfinger (5:40) 
11. VAST - Here (clipped) (4:20) 
12. Boiled In Lead - Newry Highwayman (clipped) (2:44) 
13. Chemlab - Force Quit (Accucrack Ver.) (4:48) 

Playlist length: 1 hour 11 seconds