Folk & Funk

Well, as always, I am behind with the mix blogging; I ascribe this to the lovely warm weather that has finally taken hold here in Alaska. I have been able to be out in the garden the last couple weekends, and have also been out on the deck, grilling, , horseshoeing, enjoying local outdoor music, etc. Things are good in the Banks! Over Memorial Day weekend the Beechcraft gang & myself are planning a camping trip somewhere, so the sunbathing shall continue.

But on to the mix...this one came about pretty organically over the last week. Most of the mix is actually stuff I've had in my collection for a while--both things I wanted to hear again and things I "discovered" hiding in my hard drive (I love it when that happens)--and just a few new purchases. Neko Case got some good run here because she's the muse of the Alaskan spring, as far as I can tell. "Folk & Funk" describes the mix nicely, as all of the songs here could be shoehorned into one genre or the other, and many of them share qualities of both, which seems interesting. Enjoy!

Folk & Funk
1. Went to See the Gypsy, Bob Dylan
2. Star Witness, Neko Case
3. That Teenage Feeling, Neko Case
4. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Neko Case
5. The Needle Has Landed, Neko Case
6. Darkness Between the Fireflies, Mason Jennings
7. Nude, Radiohead
8. Finer Feelings, Spoon
9. Rock Star, N.E.R.D.
10. It's Love, Chris Knox
11. Untitled (How Does It Feel), D'Angelo
12. Falling Down, Tom Waits
13. Your Koolest Smile, Flunk
14. Tugboat, Galaxie 500
15. All Blues, Miles Davis

Notes:
"Went to See the Gypsy" is the best Dylan song I hadn't paid attention to yet; New Morning is a very underrated disc...Fox Confessor Brings the Flood from lovely Neko Case is an excellent album that I recommend to everyone who is at all into folk, bluegrass, or alt-country...Mason Jennings is classic...still super-excited to see Radiohead in August!...have been listening to a ton of the Spoon album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga lately, and "Finer Feelings" is one of its finer tracks...the entire N.E.R.D. album In Search Of..., from 2003, reminds me of playing Mario Kart back in the day..."It's Love" may be recognized from a recent Heineken commercial..."Untitled" by D'Angelo has to be one of the sexiest songs ever, n'est pas?..."Falling Down," here (and originally) by Tom Waits, was recently covered by Scarlett Johansson, who is apparently trying out a singing career now, like every other Hollywood starlet these days. I don't like the studio version she recorded, but I do, surprisingly, quite enjoy the live version of it here. Glad it's getting me further into Tom Waits, at least...if you're into triphop or electronica, I think you should be into Flunk...love "Tugboat," by Galaxie 500, which just came on my iPod one day while playing horseshoes. "Who is that?" I wondered to Katy. Thanks to Amy for the track!...Miles Davis IS cool. I might have to do a jazz mix one of these days.