futures past mix

taisuke koyama - 'untitled (rainbow form 8)'

the mixtapes i've put together and shared here over the last 1.5 years or thereabouts have been, in their own way, snapshots of myself at different moments. much of it was dealing with, and working my way through, a difficult, challenging and unstable period of my life. after some very rough patches i made it through the other side in one piece (just) and now find myself in tokyo, embarking on a new chapter...

recently i had a growing desire to construct a new mixtape, one that said something about where i'm at right now, both mentally and musically. last week i spent some time picking tracks and creating this new mixtape of mine, and i think i've achieved what i was trying to do. it is certainly not perfect, far from it, but i feel it really expresses something important that i want to say.

more than anything, this mix is a reflection on time, specifically the way the past influences and shapes (but not determines) our future. one passage from marx has had a really profound impact on me, and sums up part of my thinking on this matter:

'men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.'

the title of the mix - futures past - is from another book that has strongly influenced me, and succinctly conveys the core idea that shapes this mix. while not intentional, it contains records from every decade since the 1970s. the earliest is about '72, the most recent came out a month or two ago. so the way music from different eras interacts and combines together hopefully works on another level to express this dynamic between constraint and opportunity that the past provides for the present and future.

chris - futures past mix

1. Terre Thaemlitz - 040468
2. Transllusion - I'm Going Home
3. Actress - Maze
4. The Black Dog - Sleep Deprivation 2
5. Tangerine Dream - Movements of a Visionary
6. Subway - Horizons
7. Arpanet - Wireless Internet
8. Sigha - Light Swells (in a distance space)
9. F.U.S.E. - Into the Space
10. Speedy J - Evolution
11. Skanfrom - In 17
12. Anthony Rother - Biomechanik
13. Skanfrom - Cashier 2
14. Drexciya - Hightech Nomads
15. Hardfloor - The Life We Choose (ERP remix)
16. Arpanet - Infinite Density (edit)
17. Jan Hammer - Crockett's Theme

i'm taking a holiday from mnml ssgs for the next fortnight or so. i'm busy with a trip to europe and it is also time to have a bit of a break from here and recharge my energy. as enjoyable as working on the blog is, it takes a huge amount of time and effort, and after a while i need some distance and perspective. recently i've been feeling this is needed... so please listen to the mix if you want, i feel it is a good statement of me right now (and there are plenty of great tracks in it too). i'll add the tracklist later on.

thanks.

chris