JD's Sleevenotes
I had a vague idea, based on your average seasonal nostalgia, that a compilation made to accompany the annual coming-together ritual would sound cozy and sweet. I should have known better, really. Let's face it: the annual roundup (the taking stock, the looking back, the facing-up to) is never easy or cute - to say nothing of the mixed emotions around family and community, or the breakdown of these, or the lack.
This ambivalence was reflected in the submissions: there's some rage, some sex, some sadness, some hardness. But it's not without light [because, after all, there's no light without shadow]. And if celebration means "enjoying strength and chance and things rearranging and collaging" to quote an email from Frances who sent the amazing Mutamassik track, then this is very much a celebration tape: a Hope Tape.
Hope: we've killed another year off, we've done what we had to do. It was good; it was hard.
Now: onward and upward, right? I'll drink to that. It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be - well, it's gonna be whatever it will be. Que sera, seignera.
So here's hopin'. And here's to you, my friend. Suck it up, swallow it down, keep on keeping on, and bon appetit.
This is what Frances would rather eat than a banquet in which gold-painted dancers are paid to dance naked in the food: "too much sweaty faux-depravity, too close to melting cheese."
Christopher's favourite meal consists of homemade sauerkraut and cheese pierogis pan fried with onions, with sides of steamed broccoli and baked macaroni and cheese.
Harry likes sushi best, because "apart from being gorgeous it's social, messy, and forbidden on many levels. "
This is the best meal Tim cooked all year.
The Brief: Feastmix 2010
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: It has been called to attention that thematic editions of Diskjammy may display a bias for the climate and traditions of the Northern Hemisphere. JD and Diskjammy are committed to providing a globally relevant mixtape as of now; and on that note, I'd like to invite you all to celebrate. With me. With one another. With, like, everyone in the whole world.
So, 2010. What a year, huh. Really [shakes head]. What a year.
Experientially speaking - because that's how human beings roll - every year is a helluva year. A hundred thousand things happen, or nothing much happens, although something's always happening for a human being walking around on the good ol' mortal coil. And at the end of every year - if we survive it, and many of us do - we get together with those we love and those we're stuck with, and we make something of it: that we're all still alive - and together. Despite our differences, despite everything.
Rituals surrounding this end-of-the-year get-together vary by culture. Apart from Christmas - and we won't go there just now - let's take a quick look at what else is going on in the world at this time of year:
Chanukah begins on December 1st and continues for eight days. Catholics recognize the 6th of December as St Nicholas' Day (for those who don't know, St Nick was the original gangsta preceding Father Christmas). The Buddhist calendar identifies December 8 as Bodhi Day - on which Siddharta Gautama reached Nirvana. Meanwhile over in Scandinavia, December 13th heralds The Festival of Saint Lucia; Las Posadas happens on the 16th in Mexico and Latin America, and Kwanzaa, most widely celebrated in the USA, starts on the 26th and carries on right through to the first day of the new year.
One thing we all seem to have in common, though, is the sharing of victuals with our ritual (see also: food holidays in December) and the coming-together of family and friends. As the year winds down, we take stock; we raise our glasses to each other. We celebrate.
I want you to send me the songs of celebration. Celebrate the end of the year [phew!], your survival in the face of; your friends, your family, your life - *clink* - your health. Or whatever you want to drink to; I don't mind.
Songs to cook to. Songs to dance to; a heavy-footed waltz across your kitchen floor. Songs to sing together, songs to keep warm by, songs to remind you of what's past and what's coming. Songs that are glorious, songs that taste good. Hot jams. Warm sounds. Songs for the last days of 2010. Let's send the old year out on a high note.
1. Squash n' Chicken - Quincy Vidal
2. Bad Bad Boys - Midi, Maxi & Efti
3. Doun Doun/The Crux - Mutamassik
4. Spornik Kolbasnii Sex_5 [artist unknown: Cyrillic fail @ Diskjammy HQ].
5. Wants For Dinner - Ciara
6. Tante Lien - De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig
7. It's Coming Down - Exile
8. Karate - Kennedy
9. Underwater (1979 Original Version) - Harry Thumann
10. To Binge - Gorillaz
11. We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed - Los Campesinos!
12. Mary's Kitchen - Old Crow Medicine Show
13. Ykhezkel - Hahalonot Hagvohim
14. Savoy Truffle - The Beatles
15. Heart Attack '64 - The World/Inferno Friendship Society
16. Everybody Eats When They Come to My House - Cab Calloway
17. I Let A Song Go Out of My Heart - Duke Ellington
18. Hope - Dirty Three
19. Sunlight, Heaven - Julianna Barwick
20. Outro feat. Clara of "Great Depression Cooking"
Thanks to Harry, Liam, Anna, Tim, Frances, Lex, Stijn, Warren P, Warren A, Andrew, Jedidjah, Daniel, Christopher, Arthur, Abigail, Raf and Adrian. xxx
kthxbai
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