JCC The JCC mixtape, Part I (archived - playlist on page 1)

Choruscan't disapprove

 

Allegedly that’s Melanesian pidgin for “God, you take the life from me,” which does make sense if you say it out loud.

Edit: I’m guessing the specific pidgin is Tok Pisin based on the languages listed on the film’s Wikipedia but every other source is weirdly cage-y. I refuse to believe it is that complicated, Google.

 

Voted for "A Friend" because it warms my heart.

All of them excellent options Coruscant.

Can I take part in this some day?

@Coruscant The Candyman film series is a trilogy of classic cult supernatural horror movies from the 90s, and I am not sure if you would appreciate them now, but I am a sucker for that genre. They are both ridiculous and scary. And Tony Todd is amazing in this role.

 

I’m going to vote for “Return to Cabrini,” since that appears to be the distant underdog on the playlist.

#endtheodenswildride

 

We’re really going to be listening to the JCC’s official playlist when all the sudden and randomly Theoden’s epic score blares through our headphones

 

Should have been Philip Glass.
But since he's not even getting close, I voted for Saint-Saëns.

 

As it should be.

 

You can also venmo me if you want.
I usually get paid at least $15 for my mixtapes or even better get a hot date, but for you I'll accept the $10 cause these times are difficult

 

Execute Order 44!

 

Uh, shouldn’t we have moved on by now? Do I have to do something?

 

Don't look at me

 

@Pensivia

 

I sent my playlist link to heels when Cor's went up...I think we know who to blame!



(lub u heels)

I also have my "liner notes" all ready to go whenever my list goes up!

 

Sorry for the double post but I forgot to actually tag @heels1785 in the post above, and I think alerts don't happen when you edit a tag into a post.

 

Wait a second it's Pensivia and there are no Cure ?

 

Hopefully my playlist won’t put people to sleep (!) I was trying to keep a consistency to the overall mood, but I may have gone too far.

In addition to an overall mood musically, I also wanted to try and stick mainly to a content “theme” of sorts in terms of either lyrics or in terms of the associations I have with a selection via either a personal experience or (for “Stardust” and the Bach piece) how the music has been used in movies that are special to me.

The “theme” I was roughly going for was how music can intensify our experiences of individual moments or general periods in our lives.

I'll put most of my notes inside a tag below for those who may be interested in some or all of them. I'll just put two things outside the tag--2 tracks that would have been my first choices to include for the artist in question but that unfortunately weren't on Spotify:

Although I do love "A Blues in Drag" and think it fits well into my list, my first choice for something Robert Smith-related would have been The Cure instrumental "Cloudberry" (_highly_ recommended for anyone who likes The Cure generally but is not familiar with it already!):

From the limited EP release Lost Wishes (1994):


And, although I like the solo piano version a lot too, my first choice would have been The organ version of Glass's "Mad Rush":

Spoiler: Liner Notes for My Playlist

“Because” (The Beatles, 2006 Love album remix): Not at all original to include a Beatles track, I know, but they really are one of my top three all-time favorites (in terms of popular music) so I had to put one in! I love this a cappella version of the song and the key lyric for my playlist theme is “Because the sky is blue / It makes me cry” – I like the way those lines represent how, in the right moment, sometimes our experience of seemingly ordinary/everyday details can affect our emotions profoundly.

“A Blues in Drag” (The Glove, from the album 1983 album Blue Sunshine)

I’m a huge Cure/Robert Smith fan, so I wanted to put something of him in, but hopefully something a little less widely known. I was introduced to this track by @B3, one of the best friends I have made here on the jc. He has really interesting taste in music generally, as well as a fellow appreciation for good old Robert! I learned from him that this track was from a side project Smith created with Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees. I love the overall mood of it.

“Lazy Calm,” (Cocteau Twins, from the 1986 album Victorialand ): I just love the dreamy, “floaty” mood of this one.

“Stardust,” (Louis Armstrong, 1931 recording): I included this for a couple of reasons. I love jazz and wanted to have a least one jazz selection. I adore Satchmo’s voice and the beautiful tone of his trumpet playing. The beauty of this song was also greatly enhanced for me by the way it was used in a memorable scene in the film Stardust Memories. The scene is basically about how little ordinary details in an “everyday” moment can come together powerfully, as we hear the protagonist’s voiceover while this version of “Stardust” is playing in the background, with the key lines:

“I don't know, I guess it was the combination of everything. . . the sound of the music, and the breeze, and how beautiful Dorrie looked to me. And for one brief moment everything just seemed to come together perfectly, and I felt happy. Almost indestructible in a way. It's funny--that simple little moment of contact moved me in a very, very profound way.”

“Bass Trap,” (U2, 1985 B-side for “The Unforgettable Fire” single): Lovely little B-side from a great album. For me, it’s sort of the musical analog of watching shimmering light play across water.

“5:11AM (The Moment of Clarity” (Roger Waters, from the 1984 album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking): I love the way this captures the kinds of thoughts one has during those “wee small hours of the morning.” Key lines: “I put out my hand… / to make sure in the darkness that you were still there / … I had a little bit of luck / You were awake / I couldn’t take another moment alone…”

Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 3 in G minor (2nd movement, Adagio), by J.S. Bach (1685-1750):

I love Bach’s music generally, but as with “Stardust,” the meaning of this selection was greatly enhanced for me by how it was used in the 1990 British film Truly, Madly, Deeply (which one review described as “the thinking man’s Ghost”). In the film, Juliet Stevenson’s character is mourning the death of her lover (played by Alan Rickman). In the depths of her grief, she starts playing this piece on the piano and she starts to hear the cello part come in while she’s playing—at first, you think it’s just in her mind/memory, but then the camera pulls back to reveal Rickman’s character (returned from the dead!) playing the cello there in the room with her. Massive sobbing ensues. ‘Nuff said.

“Coney Island” (Van Morrison, from the 1989 album Avalon Sunset): Like 5:11AM, this is another great little nugget of a song which beautifully captures a moment. Key concluding lyric (in terms of the theme of my playlist): I look at the side of your face / As the sunlight comes streaming through the window / In the autumn sunshine / And all the time going to Coney Island I’m thinking, / Wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time?”


“Mad Rush” (Philip Glass, from the 1989 album Solo Piano): I do have personal anecdotes for the last two selections in my list. I basically had the kind of experience described in the Stardust Memories scene and in the “Coney Island” song with this Glass composition (though it was with the version for organ I posted the YT vid for above):

It was the mid-1990s, and my husband (then boyfriend) and I were driving to our first out-of-town trip together (to New Orleans). It was late afternoon, he was driving, and he put the organ version of “Mad Rush” on. I had never heard the piece before, but I loved it immediately. I was deep in the bliss of new love, filled with anticipation for the trip (my first to New Orleans), and I remember speeding down the interstate, watching the late afternoon sun flash through the trees on the roadside, and feeling that “in-this-moment-life-couldn’t-possibly-get-any-better" feeling. Even almost 25 years later, that memory is so strong and clear in my mind.

Spem in alium (Thomas Tallis, composed in 1570): This beautiful piece of English Renaissance choral music is a forty-part motet composed for eight choirs of five voices each. I find it sublime and also intensely soothing. I played it over and over again when studying for my comprehensive written doctoral exams (to help keep my anxiety over those exams in check!), so now it always takes me back to that time. The whole piece is amazing, but I especially love what happens at about the 4:50 mark—the dramatic pause before the mass of beautiful voices comes in again.

Sorry to be so long-winded. For those who read any or all of my notes, thank you!

 

Cello and piano is a potent combination, like vodka and vicodin or Laurel and Hardy.