Yoga Playlists (Part Seven)

I went through a period of using pretty up-tempo techno as the bulk of my playlists. I've never posted one of these before, so without further ado, here it is yo:

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1. Galaxy "La casa de Can Raco" from Science of Ecstasy

2. Markus Schulz "Traveling Light" from Without You Near

3. Alex Gaudino "Watch Out (Extended Mix)" from Watch Out

4. Art of Trance "Madagascar (Domi Nation Remix)" from Madagascar Remixes

5. Morgan Page "The Longest Road" from Elevate

6. Deep Theory "Do It (Miguel Migs Large Dub)" from Summer Night Sessions

7. Mimic "Re-Solve" from Afterhours Ibiza

8. OceanLab "On A Good Day" from Sirens of the Sea

9. Ratnabali "Spiritual Trance" from Shiva Lounge

10. Bonobo "Transmission 94 (Parts 1 & 2)" from Days to Come

11. Legion of Green Men "Constellation (Adam Shaikh Remix)" from Polymorphic Convolutions

12. Galaxy "Meet the Buddha" from Science of Ecstasy

Bonobo, OceanLab and Morgan Page are all great for yoga playlists and can easily work in playlists not so techno oriented. I went through a period where one of the three were on just about every playlist I made. Mimic is the "break after inversions" track and it's a great one for that. The intro track is a little beat heavy, I keep meaning to switch it out. "Meet the Buddha" is a pretty cool closer though. The Art of Trance track reminds me of 1999 and Oakenfold's classic Tranceport mix.

This is the sort of playlist I can only really use for specific, high energy sorts of classes - it's just too much otherwise. These days I'll use my techno playlists (I've got three of them) maybe on average once a month. If I use them on the right days the reaction from the class is great but on the wrong days they hit like a lead balloon.

Chad Vader Part Seven

Going back to the dawn of www.mrmississippi.blogspot.com I realize that there was a great uncompleted task, the first season of Chad Vader. So as to deny my faithful readers no more of Chad's nefarious schemes, I present to you finally - Episode Seven:

Newer readers may click on the Chad Vader tag to see the previous six episodes! After this episode we'll return Chad to his regular Tuesday slot on this fine blog!

Robotech Episode One: Boobytrap

So I've stuck with Robotech longer than I thought I would have done, I'm on the 20th episode right now and really enjoying it. I was browsing YouTube for other stuff and realized that they've got the whole series on there. So, for you viewing pleasure, here's the first episode of this classic Americanized Anime from my youth:

Yoga and Dancing and Living the Good Life

Mark Farina was a great show made even better by the fact that everyone I went out dancing with actually stayed boogying on the dance almost all night long! Usually I dance more than others when I go with a group and having everyone boogie down made it a truly excellent dance experience.

Speaking of truly excellent experiences, I just got back from Hot Yoga with Sanj and it was the best Hot Yoga class I've taken. I have now truly found the deep resonant love for the Bikram/Hot practice which I enjoyed before but didn't truly "get". What made it so great, outside of great teaching, was that tonight I could really hear my mind start to throw crap at me, and I had the ability to get in deep with my breath and instead of just allowing the mind to distract me, I sent my breath in to the areas where I was resistant. In my shoulders, with claustrophobia, fear of pushing further, etc - I just kept sending the breath through and letting the emotions and thoughts fully rise up without resisting them. Having the full minute in poses means that the practice can be a lot more confrontational than a more flowing practice and that confrontation was just what I needed tonight.

Hurray for yoga and hurray for life!

Dream Machine on the Dance Floor

Going to see Mark Farina tonight! Here's a great track of his:

Sonshi March

I'll Be Managing Huntington Beach

So the news I vaguely alluded to yesterday is now been officially released - I'll be managing the Huntington Beach CorePower Yoga! I'm quite excited for this, I love the studio and feel like I can do a great job here. I'm very happy that Kat will still be around at the studio, because not only can she help continue to do an awesome job with programming but she is also a great person and friend and I'm happy to still see her regularly!

Robotech!

I just re-joined Netflix and have spent the past half hour eating a home made burrito and watching the first episode of childhood favorite ROBOTECH! I've never seen the whole series before (it's over 80 episodes and hard to see every episode on TV when a kid and prohibitively expensive on VHS) so I'm kind of excited to see if I can make it through start to finish. Knowing me I will probably get bored 15 episodes in! =)

To The Future and Beyond!

I may have some exciting news coming soon in my life. If things happen this will come in the next week or two. I really never know what's around the next corner for my life and I quite like it that way! =)

I will say that California is agreeing with your old Mr. Mississippi, it's a good state for me at this time of my life.

Robyn on Letterman

Saw this on Pitchfork this morning. Damn! What a performance!

Yoga Playlists (part six)

OK, another week another yoga playlist. This one was made in '09 and I've come back to it quite a bit. Anyone used to my MN classes may remember this one too. Most should be up on iTunes and I'll look into podcasting this week!

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1. Phil Western "Fair Oaks" from 4am

2. The Fireman "Sing the Changes" from Electric Arguments

3. The Republic Tigers "Buildings & Mountains" from Buildings & Mountains

4. Feist "I Feel It All (Britt Daniel Remix)" from I Feel It All E.P.

5. Cut Copy "Unforgettable Season" from In Ghost Colours

6. The Asteroids Galaxy "Around the Bend (Radio Edit)" from Around the Bend E.P.

7. The Sea and Cake "On a Letter" from Car Alarm

8. The Go Find "Over the Edge" from Miami

9. Electric President "All the Bones" from Sleep Well

10. Steve Reich "Electric Counterpoint - 2 Slow" from Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint

11. OceanLab "Breaking Ties (Flow Mix)" from Sirens of the Sea

12. Goldfrapp "Road to Somewhere (acoustic mix)" from Happiness E.P.

13. Asobi Seksu "Breathe Into Glass" from Me & Mary/Breathe Into Glass

14. Husky Rescue "New Light of Tomorrow (Bonobo Remix)" from Other Worlds: Remixes & Rarities

15. Mazzy Star "Into Dust" from So Tonight That I Might See

16. M83 "Midnight Souls Still Remain" from Saturdays = Youth

The playlist clocks in at 1 hour 17 minutes. Phil Western makes really nice integration music, Steve Reich is a favorite for the midway rest and of course I posted the same M83 track last week. The Mazzy Star song can be a little heavy so it gets skipped unless I feel the class is ready for it. Not a ton of hard boppin' core music in this one. Asteroid Galaxy is the one, with Cut Copy as sort of a lead-in. Sometimes I double play the Asteroid Galaxy track, it's one of those tracks by a band I have nothing else by that I really dig, creates a fun mood.

What makes me keep coming back to this playlist is that it flows great, every track leads into the next, musically, tempo-wise and emotionally. In my opinion, it's one of the strongest playlists I've done.

Enjoy!

Zardoz!

Wow.

Movie Night (Yo-Yo GIrl Cop)

At home watching "Yo-Yo Girl Cop" tonight, a Japanese movie about a martial arts bad-ass undercover agent girl who fights a group of teen suicide bombers with a super-powered yo-yo. To make things even more strange for you guys, here's the trailer in German:

"Deported for who knows why from that wounded city, New York...

for some strange karma, now working for the cops...

I'd sworn I'd go it alone...

but for a friend I met by chance...

for a limited time only, Special Agent...

Asamiya Saki!"

Asamiya Saki, Yo-Yo Girl Cop, 2006

Dialog like that you just cannot make up on your own, no matter how creative you are. A great example why I genuinely love translated text, it brings a level of unintentional surrealism to the fore.

Robyn "Cry When You Get Older"

I got a new cord for my hard drive (finally after several failed attempts) so I can finally listen to my music again! So of course I'm putting together a new yoga playlist and realized that I'd downloaded the new Robyn but never got to listen to it because my hard drive pooped before I heard it. This song jumped out at me, but I bet there's lots more good on here.

Sad Kermit "Hurt"

A very sad story by our favorite green frog. You might shed a tear watching this one - you will see the pain and heartache that go along with stardom in a harsh cold light.

kosmiche at any age

Harmonia is one of my favorite Kraut projects, it is a supergroup of sorts being a meeting between Cluster and Michael Rother of Neu! They got back together and played a bit a few years back from what I hear on this clip I hope a full live album is released sooner rather than later, great stuff!

And for those that haven't heard the old stuff, here's a blog that has the first album.

Afrikan Boy "Lidl"

Since I've been bummed on the new MIA, I found myself going back to "Kala" to see if it's as good of an album as I remembered and yes, it is (especially the first five songs which are freakin' perfect). Listening to "Hussel" got me wondering whatever happened to Afrikan Boy, I really dug him and hoped he'd have an album out. No luck, though his myspace claims something is on the way but the other music doesn't bang like "Lidl" and "Hussel".

Here's the video of his one underground "hit":

Yoga Playlists (part five)

OK, I've made a lot of yoga playlists in the 2 1/2 years since I posted part four of this series. Since I mentioned that I'm hungry to make more, I thought I could get a little of that energy out by posting one of my most recent ones here. This is a nice happy playlist, it's peppy without being over-powering. It includes a lot of 2010 music as well.

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1. Cocteau Twins "Lazy Calm" from Stars and Topsoil - a collection

2. Coldplay "Life in Technicolor" from Viva La Vida

3. Lali Puna "Remember" from Our Inventions

4. Dan Black "Symphonies" from UN

5. Delorean "Endless Sunset" from Subiza

6. Primal Scream "The Glory of Love" from Beautiful Future

7. the xx "Stars (Dave Wrangler Remix) unofficial remix from Under The Influence

8. Massive Attack "Pray For Rain (Tim Goldsworthy Remix)" from Heligoland (Deluxe Edition)

9. Frightened Rabbit "Swim Until You Can't See Land" from The Winter of Mixed Drinks

10. Broken Bells "The High Road" from Broken Bells

11. Four Tet "Plastic People" from There is Love In You

12. Donna De Lory "Govinda Jaya Jaya" from The Lover and the Beloved

13. Gorillaz "Cloud of Unknowing" from Plastic Beach

14. Uh Huh Her "Dreamer" from Common Reaction

15. Goldfrapp "Voicething" from Head First

16. Burial "In McDonalds" from Untrue

17. M83 "Midnight Souls Still Remain" from Saturdays = Youth

This playlist deviates slightly from my "four pillars" method of construction in that the Four Tet song (which is the post inversion cool down track) rocks a little harder and lasts a lot longer than a track in that slot usually would, but it is still chill enough to serve the cool down in child's pose vibe but also vibrant enough to get into the whole triangle/balancing series vibe too.

The playlist runs almost an hour and a half so lots of it gets skipped. Uh Huh Her is rarely heard and the three last tracks can all serve as savasana tracks depending on the mood I want to create (light & floaty, use Goldfrapp; short & mysterious use Burial; gone to the world use M83).

I've been using that Cocteau Twins track for both the beginning and end of classes, it works a charm. Of course Burial and M83 are standard closers for me. I feel the Dan Black song will become a staple of many upbeat vinyasa classes, it is perfect for a little flow. The Coldplay song is short and so works well to create that "first motion of Sun A" feeling. It's rather like Phoenix's "Love Like a Sunset" for that purpose. The Donna De Lory track is an old yoga classic and brings back pleasant memories of taking Jaina's C2s back in MN.

One note, I won't be uploading these to iTunes anymore, it's simply too much of a pain and most the songs disappear after a few months anyways. I think the only thing not available on iTunes here is the xx remix which I linked to the track. As mentioned elsewhere today I do plan on podcasting some playlists sooner rather than later.

If you enjoy this playlists feature, comment and let me know. If there's any demand I'll bring it back as a weekly feature! =)

Jai!

Hard Drive Cord

My hard drive cord first died and then got lost so I have no access to the majority of my music. Right now, my Nano is my best source for music. I have a new cord on order and once that arrives I can make some new yoga playlists which I've been heartily craving to do for a while now.

The other thing I want to get into is creating podcasts. Podcasts both of yoga playlists and also for a series of industrial music comps I've put together. Hopefully it's not too hard to put together a podcast. It sounds like fun and once I get my "Jai Five" website up and running, it will be cool to link the site to playlists.

Front 242 "Principles"

This is on a mixed tape I made (or to be more specific a "Mixed iTunes Playlist I made") and it always makes me happy for some reason. Really early industrial, it's primitive in it's way but still sci-fi. This early industrial music really reminds me of vintage JG Ballard stories. This blog has the single and their first album for your listening pleasure.

M.I.A. just doesn't matter anymore.

So I was listening to "Maya" MIA's new album streaming on her hideously ugly Myspace page the other day and was left rather irritated by the whole affair. This is a hard thing for me to admit because up until recently I'd loved pretty much everything that MIA had put out.

When Diplo posted about much of her sounding like Skinny Puppy I thought that might be cool, it's been a long time since any artist has had an industrial influence. Unfortunately, on listening to the album I hear that Diplo is right, especially on the track "Steppin Out" but it's not "Bites" Puppy or even "Too Dark Park" Puppy it's "Mythmaker" Puppy, which itself sounds like Puppy trying to reinvent themselves as an industrial version of Britney Spears circa "Blackout". So yes, MIA has an industrial edge but it's a sound and fury signifying nothing kind of industrial edge and it never quite gels with the beats. Give me MIA rapping over a "Land of Rape and Honey" Ministry loop and I'd be a happy lad, that is nowhere to be found.

What we do get is the noisy and gross track "Teqkilla" where 35 year-old MIA raps about pot and Tequila, man that's crazy! Well, at least it would be if she Ke$ha's age, instead there's a word we use for adults pretending they're still 17 and that word is pathetic.

The Diplo track "Tell Me Why" sounds like one of those whole world together songs that the "World Cup" would use in advertisements and is a far cry from the screamingly powerful lo-fi globalism of "Bird Flu" and other KALA hits.

"Born Free" (best known for the controversial ginger child killing video that got pulled to the adults only section of Youtube which in turn gave birth to MIA's "you can't silence me" youtube-y cover) is like a low rent "Bambo Banga" sampling Suicide instead of the Modern Lovers and switching the perspective from a person on the street harassing people in their Honda to a spoiled rich person harassing you at a party with stories about how powerful and free they are. Jesus, she's got the spoiled rich person complex as much as the worst conservatives.

Not to say I don't like any of it, "It Takes A Muscle" is a really good Major Lazer song that she sings on. "Space" isn't bad either. "XXXO" is a good lo-fi Lady Gaga-style pop track, though I was unimpressed by the Jay Z remix version. The Sleigh Bells riff on "Meds and Feds" is great, unfortunately the same riff is used to much better effect in the Sleigh Bells own music.

At the end of the day it's no big deal to not like an album. It disappoints me because I'd loved her other two albums so it's a little weird to not be buying this one. Oh well, thanks to her label for posting the album on Youtube so I can now avoid it.

My guess is that this is as big as MIA will ever be, after this she'll be a little toxic and her next album will be a "return to form" that carefully re-makes her in her own old image in an attempt to grasp onto the fans but she'll never again have this big of a mainstream attention grab.

Cities I've Lived In

I don't know why, but I've been wanting to write down this list for a while and here seems as good a place as any.

Current of today, here are the cities I've lived in:

(insert drumroll)

1. Charlottesville, VA

2. Eau Claire, WI

3. Bellingham (Sudden Valley), WA

4. Maple Lake, MN

5. Buffalo, MN

6. St. Louis Park, MN

7. Minneapolis, MN

8. Huntington Beach, CA

9. Westminster, CA

Wow. 9 in 36 years. Not bad, not amazing. Great for you guys at home who collect thrilling David Miller trivia.

Slim

Everybody loves Slim Goodbody!

Chemical Brothers "Dissolve"

Article went well, got about 1000 words in on it, hurray! In celebration here's a great new video by the Chemical Brothers:

Article

I've been asked to guest blog an article for another site and I've been going through more drafts and not quite getting the right tone. I'm going to spend the next one hour focused on this task and then go out to get groceries. Either I'll have a good article by then or I should at least have a solid state start. Wish me luck!

Paramechanical World

Another day, another Kraut track. This one exudes a "stoned summer afternoon" vibe so strong that you can smell it from four decades away. Part of me still prefers the hippier Amon Duul to the more rockin' Amon Duul II. For those of you interested, this blog has the album.

it is hard to argue that it truly is a paramechanical world...

Amon Duul II "Sandoz in the Rain"

Happy In(ter)dependence Day to my American friends (and to everyone else, though the greeting won't mean as much to others). What better way to celebrate than with a little Amon Duul II? A thick and heavy kraut group made up of largely very hairy commune-livin' german hippies. Hair was important back then and the more of it the better. Here's a great blog that has some albums for you and here's one of my favorite songs by them:

I feel kind of sorry for the guy in hat in the far right of the Youtube picture above, he's the only bearded dude in the picture and yet he's been largely obscured by the locks of the pretty boy in front of him. Photographic hair wars were dangerous games played by 70s rock stars everywhere. Whoever had the most hair and stood in front won. This poor man in a hat was obviously the loser...

Julian Cope "I Gotta Walk" on Top of the Pops

One might suspect that the last Julian Cope video posted was a peak moment that could never be topped. Of course in the world of St. Julian most moments are peaks. Here he, Thighpaulsandra (armed with an enormous silver dialed and vacuum tube synth that looks like a Doctor Who set piece from the 70s) and the rest of the crew appear on the British Teeny-bopper show Top of the Pops playing their "I Gotta Walk" track off of Autogeddon (my favorite Cope album). To commemorate the moment Julian shaves both sides of his head, puts his remaining hair in a ponytail, wears a yellow mu-mu, makes faces and bellows like a horse while the teen audience bobs their heads in obviously gleeful bewilderment. Nothing like this could ever have come out from any other man...

Govinda Bolo Hari Gopal Bolo

A little techno bhangra kirtan muzak, dig it kids! I like the fact that they actually do a little call and response in the song, which is awesome. I'm still looking for something that is more straight up repetitive with more call and response.

Julian Cope "Try Try Try"

Here's the guy who got me into the whole Krautrock trip with his Krautrocksampler book (available at this blog here). This video is completely insane, with Julian wearing a hippy dippy gnome hat, crazy yellow pants and a Neu! wifebeater prancing and flying around a stage that has been decorated with Cosmic Jokers backdrops. Perhaps most absurd are the brief shots of Thighpaulsandra looking totally out of place in this cosmic hippy space, in fact looking more as if he's just walked off set of a Death In June video. However once ThighP joins in with the "Bump Bump Bump Buh Buh Bump Bo" chant you know all is safe in the universe.

Brainticket "The Space Between"

I love this spaced out kraut track. It reminds me of a goofy arty take on the "Fantastic Planet" soundtrack.

For those who'd like to sample this far out album, here's a link

Current 93 Cover "May Rain"

And here is the C93 cover:

Sand "May Rain"

It's like listening to a 1970s version of Current 93. A little lo-fi but still quite cool!

Can "Spoon"

I never get tired of this song. It's happy, catchy and really strange too. A brilliant cocktail...