Mixed Signals

I have made two mix cds in my 19-year-old lifetime. The first, filled with songs about distance that resonate with almost uncomfortable closeness, was likely never listened to. Radio Cure by Wilco, Those to Come by The Shins, Sweep Up by Andre Ethier, Season of the Shark by Yo La Tengo and What More Can I Say by Jay-Z, all appropriately butted heads and meshed. Those songs spoke volumes, but remain quietly stored on an i-pod in another province.

I received my first mix cd from my older brother Alan. He drew a happy face on the cd, wrote "Songs to make you smile", and filled it with music that I absorbed into my self. Newly acquainted to The Weakerthans and Is This It, I went to highschool and set out to meet friends with whom I could share songs, and found Smith and Snetsinger. Smith is a master of the mix cd, and gave me Dylan that got me to work and back this past summer.

Another mix cd that stands out is the one given to me by Suzanne during my first semester at Guelph. It's been listened to endlessly. When I hear one of the songs she placed on that album alongside any other song in any other context it feels as though the song is away from the home where it belongs. Devendra needs to be before Clap Your Hands Say Yeah which needs to be next to the Islands. Suzanne also put Is This It on the cd, a cover by Royal City, and it still makes me smile.

Today I gave away my second mix cd and received another in return. Mix cds are like collections of short stories. The meaning of a song stands alone in a bigger unseen setting, but rests on all the other songs in it's new environment. It's intimidating, because for a while you think you have control over the direction, flow, message, etc. and then you realize it's almost entirely out of your hands.

In respect to losing control of direction, I seem to have lost control of the images I've been posting and am unequally representing my siblings. I'll work on this. Here's Ben Kane. I call it "CowboyBenbop". Next week: Alan.