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Every
month, everyone here at the HBC tirelessly writes articles,
edits, finds photos, conducts interviews, and reviews books
in order to have a fresh and awesome product for you on the
first of the month. Why would we devote so much of our free
time to this website? I mean, we're sure as hell not getting
paid. And we're not quite famous enough to get into
any fancy Hollywood restaurants without reservations.
Well,
it's a bit embarrassing to admit but…it's because we have
a huge crush on you. And in the proud tradition of schoolboy
crushes everywhere, I've made you a mixtape. Well, more accurately,
a book/reading/words-centric muxtape. Just click the link,
and follow along at home with this handy little music guide.
Check
out Kyle's muxtape for bibliophiles
THE TRACK
LISTING
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1.
The Magnetic Fields—"The Book of Love"
Judging from the HBC's last.fm
page, Stephin Merritt's witty pop songs are already fairly
popular with our readers. And I'll go out on a limb to
suggest that a healthy portion of us are the bookish,
romantic types. That said, a somber love song with the
lyric "I love it when you read to me, and you can read
me anything" is going to strike a special chord, and it
offers an excellent beginning to our book mix. Personal
self-disclosing side note: I absolutely love dating a
gal who'll read to me with my head in her lap as I'm soothed
by her voice and entertained by a good story. I'm kind
of a stressed fellow, and I find that relaxed, intimate
experience fairly romantic. You can follow this experience
with a nice cuddly nap, or hot makeouts (depending on
what is being read). It's pretty versatile. |
2.
The Metasciences—"Four-Color Love Story"
This is a beautiful little anti-folk love song about comic
books (which still count as reading material). It's a
clever little ditty, and I'd assume it requires a special
bit of talent to strip down Superman to its romantic
components. The song is not only romantic but absolutely
touching in its sincerity. Every guy wants to be the white
knight for someone he loves, and how can you not feel
like a badass saying, "I swear to God there'll be hell
to pay if anyone tries to take you away...you are my life,
you are my universe, they'll have to go through me"? And
the knowledgeable references to Spider-Man, Daredevil,
and a fairly esoteric reference to Justice League establish
some serious comic book nerd-cred. Note: I'd feel remiss
if I didn't mention that this whole album is available
for free download at the band's website.
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3.
Jeffrey Lewis—"Alphabet"
I adore this guy. Granted, his albums tend to be hit and
miss, but if he ever compiled the amazing songs from his
oeuvre onto one CD, it would be an album that never left
my stereo. His lyrics are always witty with numerous references
to pop culture, geography, and a keen and uplifting insight
into life and art. This song isn't really about books,
but I was hoping that the theme of people being letters
and getting together to form words that make a story would
be good enough to get a pass onto this mix. |
4. John Cale—"Graham Greene"
In case you were unaware, this is one of the guys in the Velvet
Underground. That Velvet Underground. The legendary
one. Anyway, this song really isn't about English playwright/author
Graham Greene, but rather it's sort of a jab at hoity-toity
English aristocracy from the Welshman Cale. But I figured
name-dropping an early twentieth century English playwright
was enough to allow inclusion onto this mix. And John Cale
is good, so everyone wins.
5. Lovage—"Book of the Month"
At this point, the mix takes a bit of a turn to prevent it
from becoming too homogeneous. Plus, using this band to switch
up the feel nearly doubles the likelihood that someone is
going to get busy to this mix. Once again, this isn't necessarily
about books (I think you'll find that very few songs are,
making a mix like this difficult to accomplish), but I doubt
anyone's going to complain about a song further strengthening
the bond between "books" and "sexy."
 6.
Matmos—"Tract for Valerie Solanas"
Matmos are a duo that makes a lot of music in a sort of musique
concrète style (meaning it is largely comprised of
non-musical sounds). For instance, they'll record a bunch
of different sounds a balloon makes (blowing it up, rubbing
it for squeaks, deflating it, hitting it, etc.) and arrange
all those sounds into a sort of weird electronic dance track.
This song comes from The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of
a Beast, an album on which they create several "audio
biographies" of various notable homosexual figures in history
by using appropriate musique concrète sources (Burroughs,
for example, gets typewriters and a gunshot).
Valerie Solanas was a gay, feminist writer who got a lot of
press for attempting to kill Andy Warhol. She wrote a vehemently
anti-male tract called the SCUM Manifesto, which advocates
an all-female society (SCUM stands for "the Society for Cutting
Up Men"). To make this song from appropriate sound sources,
Matmos uses a bunch of scissors, knives, and machetes (and
various other tools capable of quick and brutal castration),
and they found a way to play a "cow uterus, reproductive tract,
and vagina" (hence making the song title extra clever).
When I saw these guys live, they opened with this song, with
a woman on stage reading the SCUM Manifesto. As the
song increased in volume and became more and more intense
in its live incarnation, the woman's voice became louder to
keep up. And Lord knows I needed a woman screaming that I
am, as a man, "a walking abortion, aborted at the gene stage."
It was a really great show.
7. The Vaselines—"Lovecraft"
As I'm sure you've guessed from the title, this song is inspired
by noted horror author H.P. Lovecraft. When I found out that
muxtape only allows 12-song mixes (meaning I had to cut down
from my original 22), I was forced to cut a different Lovecraft-centric
song by the Mountain Goats. Even though that track is only
on the director's cut of the mix (stop by my apartment to
hear the original in all of its glory), I felt I would still
include the Mountain Goats' explanation of their song here:
American
horror icon H.P. Lovecraft moved to Red Hook, Brooklyn
to be with the woman he loved. He had never really seen
any people who were not white folks from Massachusetts.
Immigrants were spilling into Brooklyn from the four corners
of the globe. Lovecraft's xenophobia during his time in
Brooklyn resulted in some of the weirdest, darkest images
in all American literature. One must condemn Lovecraft's
ugly racism, of course, but his not-unrelated inclination
toward a general suspicion of anything that's alive is
pretty fertile ground.
 8.
The Smiths—"Cemetry Gates"
I'm sure I'm not twisting many of your arms to listen to the
Smiths. Morrissey is often the preferred witty songsmith of
the bookworm set. Plus, this song has references to Wilde,
Keats, Yeats, and Shakespeare. Combine that with some eccentric
graveyard romance. What more do you want?
9. Danielson—"Bloodbook on the Halfshell"
I hope I'm not putting anyone off this mix with the inclusion
of someone with a bit of a weird voice. To be fair, Sufjan
Steven's buddy Daniel Smith has really toned down the...uniqueness
(read: caterwauling nature) of his voice in his latest offerings.
In any case, I absolutely had to include this track due to
its pro-books stance. Beyond just loving reading, this song
loves books, as in "wants to collect them all and roll around
in the dusty stacks" sort of way. This is a feeling I'm sure
many of us find relatable.
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10.
Belle and Sebastian—"Marx & Engels"
Once again, I realize that a good portion of you probably
already have songs by these adorable Scots in your collection,
but it just makes sense to have this band and song in
the mix. Barry in High Fidelity referred to this
band as "sad bastard music," but you'll have to forgive
me if I get a little warmhearted from a song about trying
to pick up a riot grrrl in the Laundromat, who blows
off the narrator because she just wants to read the
Communist Manifesto; it's a beautiful and complete
image.
11.
Jacob Borshard—"Ernest Hemingway"
Sexy and youthful in the tradition of great twee-pop
from years gone by, Jacob Borshard pens this ukulele
jam about falling in love with the girl at the bookstore:
a topic to which I know I can certainly relate. I imagine
you have your own Barnes & Noble-based bodice ripping
fantasies, as well. Feel free to share. We can work
together on creating an all book-lover erotica collection
called Literary Lust (which just narrowly beat
out the less classy Book Boners). Again, I'd
feel remiss if I didn't let you know that this entire
album is available for free download at his website.
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12. The Lucksmiths—"Fiction"
To properly close the album, I present to you the song that
gave me the idea to make a book-lover mix in the first place,
performed by another one of my all-time favorite bands. A
beautiful, catchy, fun song about seeking solace in a party
with a gal who has tattooed "Fiction" on her arm to remind
herself of what's important to her. I love this song for its
sound, the lyrical content, and the positive notion of encouraging
ourselves to create or relax or do whatever good thing that
makes us happy. If you ever get to see these guys live (which
is rare for an American like myself, as the Lucksmiths are
from Melbourne), don't bother wearing pants; they're just
going to get charmed off, anyway.
I really
hope you enjoy the mix. I had fun making it for you. As mentioned,
the original mix was 22 songs, so I know there are
more book-related songs out there. And I would absolutely
adore to hear more. Feel free to send us your suggestions
or make your own mix and share in any of our various forums:
LiveJournal
last.fm
Facebook
GoodReads
<3,
Kyle
(July,
2008)
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