Twin Cities Mix 5
Welcome back to the Twin Cities Mix,
At the start of quarantine, and up until now, I’ve been revisiting some old feel-good content. One of the programs that never fails to charm me is the TV show revamp of High Fidelity. The show follows Rob, a record store owner played by Zoë Kravitz, as she goes through the motions of a breakup and returns to memories of old relationships while paired with a killer soundtrack curated by Questlove. However, when I watched it back, a scene that stood out to me was along the storyline of her friend working in the record store, Simon Miller. A busy day at the shop brings in Simon’s crush, a local barista from around the corner. They have a bit of an awkward exchange and in an earnest attempt to keep the conversation going, the barista asks Simon, “People still really listen to tapes, huh?” to which Simon replies, “Yeah, I do. They’re weird… but warm.”
Simon’s crush takes notice of this affectionate and heartfelt description of physical music. They experience that moment of purity among the awkwardness of when you first begin to talk to someone you have feelings for but may not know quite well yet. As any nostalgic record store guy would do, Simon transforms his description into a mixtape for his crush (yes, on a physical tape!) of tracks he finds to be weird and warm. I found the theme of ‘weird & warm’ songs to be an especially endearing way to categorize a playlist. It can include artists who break boundaries of genre and experiment with unconventionality but also makes room for the sentimental and emotional nature of music. This week I decided to create a local version, with the exception of L.A. based artist Nite Jewel, of songs both weird & warm for the latest edition of the Twin Cities Mix.
Coincidentally, Simon does include a Minneapolis track in his edition of the weird & warm mix. He starts off the ‘warm’ side of the tape with Skyway by The Replacements, an acoustic and more gentle track from the group’s otherwise hard-hitting and punk attitude. The Replacements emerged in the ‘80s, contributing to the introduction of indie rock and The Minneapolis Sound, which consisted of sparse and choppy guitar rhythms combined with a danceable blend of pop and new wave rock.
While the playlist is open to the listener’s interpretation, I wanted to highlight some of my personal picks and ideas behind the theme weird & warm. I included Unusual, the latest release from Minneapolis based non-binary artist Ness Nite, for the genre-bending within the track. Ness Nite coined the term ‘braless music’ to describe the free form sonics and ethereal presence that their music holds. Upon releasing the song during a national movement, Ness Nite used their music as a medium for justice, centering queer communities and conversations around gender-based violence. In an IG post, they describe Unusual as “the underbelly of goddess energy, a moment we’ve needed for a very long time.”
I also wanted to highlight Iceblink, project of local artist Lynn Avery, for the warm and ambient sounds found on her song Cellophane in the Bath. The entirety of Avery’s album, Carpet Cocoon, is soft but cinematic with the influence of Italian film score and weightless avant-garde instrumentals. Neon-Blaque, Minneapolis hip-hop duo, also features a sound that defies space and time. Their featured track, 94, takes a lo-fi spin on the group’s sample of Bumpy’s Lament by Mack Browne & The Brothers (and Isaac Hayes) that you can originally find on the Shaft soundtrack. Artists like Half Wolf, Little Famine Carpet, and The Nunnery all appealed to the warmer side of the mix, diving into sentimental lyricism and dreamy atmospheres for musing over your hypothetical crush in a record store.
Hope you enjoy this week’s mix! If you’re a Twin Cities musician or would like to shoutout your favorite local female, queer, and/or BIPOC artist to be featured on the next mix, feel free to reach out to me or TRASH MAG.
Thanks for tuning in,
Maddy
(@muddymelloy)
Follow TRASH MAG on Spotify and listen here!
See below for tracklist and playlist.
