Techie Mixes 1 and 2, from 1997

I put these together just as I was going nuts for Bjork and Meat Beat Manifesto, back in 1997. I ripped the tracks from CDs, made various edits and squished them together in CoolEdit Pro 2.1, and then burned them back onto CDs for heavy rotation in the 5-disc carousel as I hacked and slashed away. No iPods back then of course. MP3s were just barely gaining traction.

Three of the tracks in these mixes are early compositions by my friend Zach, when he was a music major at UC Davis. 15 years later they still feel fresh to my ear, like I'd encounter them as backing to some YouTube cartoon show. Well done Zach!

One track is a live recording done at Jack's house in Santa Cruz, when he threw a dinner party and decided to amuse us with his mandolin skills and deadpan profanity.

One track is also Zach and Jack collaborating with a drum machine to cover the song "Barbie And The Rockers". An instant classic ... if you define "classic" like, say, The Cartoon Network defines it.

Looking back, I find that the mixes as a whole suffer from a poor sense of pacing, due to the Meat Beat Manifesto tracks, which are all way too long but which I was obsessed with at the time. The transitions in tone are all pretty good though.

- Mix number 1, in lossless format -

Tracklist for Mix 1:

1. Talula (Excerpts From Two Mixes) - Tori Amos
   
2. Set Your Receivers - Meat Beat Manifesto
   
3. Seibolds Theme - Zach Archer
   
4. Mad Bomber/The Woods - Meat Beat Manifesto
   
5. Nuclear Bomb - Meat Beat Manifesto
   
6. Asbestos Lead Asbestos - Meat Beat Manifesto
   
7. The Cheese Level - Zach Archer
   
8. The Utterer - Meat Beat Manifesto
   
9. Duende - Delerium
   
10. Sub Unit One - Haujobb
    
11. We Have Explosive (Remix) - The Future Sound of London
    
12. One of Us - Niko
    
13. Peace on Earth - Niko
    
14. Hyperballad (Towa Tei Mix) - Bjork
    
15. Dick In My Butt - Jack
    
16. Love - Niko
    
17. The Elephant - Niko
    
18. Barbie and the Rockers - Zach and Jack

- Mix number 2, in lossless format -

Tracklist for Mix 2:

1. Possibly Maybe (LFO Mix) - Bjork
   
2. Stereophrenic - Meat Beat Manifesto
   
3. You In My Life (x2) - Zach Archer
   
4. Enjoy (Outcast Remix) - Bjork
   
5. Simulacra - Meat Beat Manifesto
   
6. Silence - Delerium
   
7. Solitudes (Heavily filtered and edited) - Dan Gibson
   
8. Clipper - Autechre
   
9. Ghost Town - Might and Magic VII OST
   
10. Domino - Pizzicato Five
    
11. The Cage Complex (Excerpt) - Haujobb
    
12. Rotorblade - Juno Reactor
    
13. Barrow Grounds - Might and Magic VII OST
    
14. Zoolok 2 (Excerpt) - Jean Michel Jarre
    
15. Trigger 2 (Anatomy of a Shot) - Front 242

Share and enjoy!

Arthur C Clarke Round 5: When Clarkes Attack!

Transcience, 1949

I suppose this would have been profound 60 years ago, but my eyes and ears have suffered a maelstrom of similar progressions expressed in music, television, novels, comics, and film.

The Lion of Comarre, 1949

Oh sure, perhaps it is naive with respect to lions and jungles and physiology, but I totally enjoyed it. It felt like the early stages of Clarke's long-running exploration of the 'uncanny valley', giving machines just enough of a sentience and soul to get the reader pleasantly confused.

I also really dig any setup where the character gets to explore a labyrinth that is operating to some mysterious purpose. (In this case, the underground complex.) It's fun to examine everything three times - first to see what it is, second to try and figure out the motives of whoever placed it there, and third to try and further deduce the grand purpose of the labyrinth.

E.g. "Oh look, a water fountain! How pretty!" "Now why in the world would the architect place a fountain here? Seems out of place... Oooh I see, this used to be a washing station for crew members to clean their boots!" "So this whole complex is a ... mining operation? Or some kind of medical facility?"

Clarke would later use this approach to smashing, award-winning success with his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Eventually I'm going to re-read that. I remember being captivated by it in the 8th grade.

The Forgotten Enemy, 1949

Saw the end coming a mile away. Heh. That's kind of funny...

Guardian Angel, 1950

The "action" scene and its breakdown in the middle of the story were the high point, because the big reveal at the end of the story has not aged well at all. First time while reading these stories that I've been really struck by the cultural divide of a half-century. A lot of what Clarke turned out was timeless, which I consider to be a hallmark of legitimate science fiction, but alas, the ending here was not.

Silence Please, 1950

The framing device was quite vivid and amusing for what has apparently been a one-time use. I can easily imagine a series of tales, five or six, spun by these nutty scientists in their cozy, atmospheric pub.

Perhaps Clarke did not receive a warm enough response from his editors and publishers to warrant it...