Vanity compiling

Away from the cybernoise about the latest sonic innovations in grime and glitch, a couple’s going away afforded an opportunity to prepare an iTunes compilation, the modern version of the mix tape. Following the golden rules of such compiling – that it is essentially an ego trip for the compiler, showing off his knowledge, educating the receivers rather than pandering to them – I moved quickly on my chosen themes of mainly acoustic rock and mellow ambient (they’re going to Asia after all). Soon enough I was knocking tunes off the list rather than adding any more. The likes of Drake and Bikini Atoll did the mellow acoustic side, Six Organs, Sufjian Stevens and Joanna Newsom did the nu-folk/acid thing, while Massive Attack vs Les Negresses Verte, Oneiro (Derrick Carter), Cinematic and stuff on Kranky rocked the more the ambi-esoterica. A centrepiece was Rufus Wainwright’s weary Oh What A World (co-incidentally, this was one of the tunes Crosstown Rebels’ Lazarus chose to highlight as one of his top five tunes ever in an Old Street indulgeathon, before the proper business of their album launch party got going over the road). After I’d sourced a picture of the two, photoshopped it, brought it into Quark and whacked some fonts and colours round it inna complementary fashion, it was ready. Bar a pretentious French intro recorded to sound like it was at an airport and one quick but irritating rejig (my blank said 80 mins; iTunes was insisting on less than 75). Et voila, bonne voyages. Can I do something more meaningful now?

Murray, Dan, Leo and co’s outlet for Sonic Truth is now over at the new site. Alerts of the new stuff will still appear on Research.asp, but you should go there now for all further Cull cold blog action. rsvp