Stereogum Monthly Mix: December 2010 (2010)

El último recopi mensual del año del portal Stereogum ya está aquí, y en The JangleBox nos hacemos eco del mismo, como viene siendo norma durante los últimos meses. Aparecen temas de JJ, Abe Vigoda, Minks, Marina & The Diamonds, Salem, Zola Jesus, Destroyer… Pincha, como siempre, en el enlace, y a disfrutar del mixtape más frío del año!!

Stereogum Monthly Mix – December 2010

“Appropriately, and by design, the December edition of our Monthly Mix is the iciest. In the comments of the last installment Scott joked about me doing an “all black metal” mix, but as you’ll notice when you read through the below tracklist, I opted to go for darkness in different corners. In case you missed the concept behind these mixes: Like October and again in November, the following is a carefully sequenced run of the best free MP3s we’ve posted (or that have otherwise popped up) in the last few weeks. It works as a distillation for folks who don’t have time to listen to everything, and at the same time, sets a specific mood that should work well once the snowflakes start falling. Amrit did the last two. Future installments may involve group selections, other staff members, well-vetted contributors, etc. As mentioned, I did this one.
It opens with jj’s “Let Them,” a track that’s takes T.I. and Akon and alters and extends the source material, transforming it into another example of their weird icy, warm Swedish pop. (It also sounds like someone whispering a secret about the haters — a good entryway to a mix that’s supposed to make you-against-the-world want to hideout and stay warm beneath your bedsheets.) You also get the snowy, bright crystals of The Golden Filter’s version of Psychic TV’s “White Nights,” a cover that appeared a few days after the death of Peter Christopherson.
That pair of lullabies is interrupted by the claustrophobic stomp of Gatekeeper’s “Serpent,” a run through a smoky funhouse that opens up to a walk through “Cemetery Rain,” a set-in-December track from gray-sky obsessed goth-pop Stereogum40 duo Minks’ forthcoming By The Hedge. We head back indoors for a warping, fading remix of Marina & the Diamonds’ “Obsessions” by San Francisco producer oOoOO. You’ll easily find the otherwise elusive oOoOO in various “Witch House” features. Ditto White Ring, the Brooklyn duo of Kendra Malia and Bryan Kurkimilis, though they dig deeper into black metal and England’s Hidden Reverse than most of their cohorts. You get a sense of that on the colossal, shadowy “Felt U.”
The mix is rounded out with the High Places’s Rob Barber (aka The Urxed) and his seasonal affective dance mix of Abe Vigoda’s “Throwing Shade,” the wind and rain (and electronic accents) of Destroyer’s “Chinatown,” a great garage-punk tune by Tyvek (who may not seem so cold at first, but I spent my coldest date of 2010 in their Detroit hometown, so they’re here for that and other reasons), Jokers Of The Scene’s groggy remix of Salem’s “Asia,” Zola Jesus’ equally danceable (and frozen) Valusia opener “Poor Animal,” and the dessicated closer Heaven’s Gate by another favorite, Salem and Tri Angle pal Stalker, who turns Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface” into an end-times cult prayer.
I’d wanted to go for a perfect dozen in honor of the The Twelve Days Of Christmas and the dozen months of this past year, but Locrian’s “Elevations And Depths,” the anguished acoustic/violin closer from the Chicago duo’s highly recommended The Crystal World, drifts into such a beautiful space, I decided to attach it as a “bonus.”
Turn out the lights while you hang the garlands” (stereogum.com)

TRACKLIST
01 jj – “Let Them”
02 The Golden Filter – “White NIghts” (Psychic TV Cover)
03 Gatekeeper – “Serpent”
04 Minks – “Cemetery Rain”
05 Marina & The Diamonds – “Obsessions (oOoOO RMX)”
06 White Ring – “Felt U”
07 Abe Vigoda – “Throwing Shade (The Urxed Remix)”
08 Destroyer – “Chinatown”
09 Tyvek – “Underwater To”
10 Salem – “Asia (Jokers Of The Scene Remix)”
11 Zola Jesus – “Poor Animal”
12 Stalker – “Heaven’s Gate”
13 Locrian – “Elevations And Depths” (BONUS TRACK)