Chung-Chung

The mixed CD exchange Gordon is running from his blog is up and running - so far I've received three of six mixes. The theme was pretty simple - Law and Order, or songs about criminals and the cops who nab them, or lawbreaking in all of its various and sundry forms. I'll gab about my mix at a later date, when the participants have had a chance to get their discs. For this post, I'll chat about Lefty's mix, Lawbreakers.

What has this mix taught me? That I really do love Fiona Apple ("Criminal"). That I really do not like Judas Priest (the mix's opening with "Breaking the Law" got me off to a wrong start) or, particularly, INXS (similarly, "Listen Like Thieves" had me itching to hit the skip button. On the other hand, I have never, to my knowledge, heard any of Robbie Williams' music, but the energetic, somewhat theatrical "Karma Killer" has me very eager to hear more - this is a great, fun track. The next track ("I'm Your Villain") keeps the energy up nicely, and makes me realize how much I really do like that Franz Ferdinand album I got and listened to a handful of times. But then we get to a Steve Earle song (Condi, Condi) - and, from this and some of the other mixes I've received so far, I have to say that I really don't like Steve Earle. This song seems to play with the idea that "Condi" sounds like "Candy" if sung in a faux-Jamaican accent. So we get a bad reggae pastiche all about how the singer would like to see Condi let loose. Hah.

Overall I liked Lefty's mix, liked the variety it offered in terms of types of music, different sounds, etc. Sure, it had its fair share of artists I don't like (Rod Stewart) or are indifferent towards (The Rolling Stones), but that's to be expected. And it did a mix's primary job well - it introduced me to a few artists I will be inspired to explore in more depth in the future. It also, in at least one case (Bruce Springsteen's "Jesse James") has reminded me to get an album I really have been wanting to check out.

Until Whenever