PC presents - housebound loveache rollercoaster mixtape

I've been thinking about love recently. Love is the answer, the message, the problem, the solution, the rubbish, the riddle, the scam, the ravishing and the revelation. When you've got it, it's the gas in your tank; when it leaves you, it's the heave in your gag reflex. As Spike Milligan once asked, with the help of a comma:

'What is this thing called, love?'

I've also been thinking a lot about mixtapes over the past while. I've been especially provoked by the always wonderful selections coming out of pontone (that actually use the mp3 medium to advantageous message), as some as the extremely thoughtful and interesting mixes on FACT and RA, such as King Midas Sound's amazing one (which I'm still caning, and of which, no doubt, you've already heard me enthuse). Theirs is a pretty unbeatable homage to meeting/finding 'the one'. Here, I've done something different...

....'cos I've also been thinking a lot about narrative and mixing. When I started playing some of the 80s vinyl I own, I found Optimo's approach totally inappropriate for me (not least of all 'cos I don't have the chops to pull off those kindsa mixes). I remember Terre mentioning how/why s/he often doesn't beatmix - let the track play, all the way through. If it's worth hearing, it's worth hearing in full. Back then, cassettes and record players without pitch control made a virtue of that contraint, I think (or, at least, it's easy to put a nostalgic halo on what was, actually, just a pain in the arse - but that's nostalgia for you). Here in terms of mixing and matching, I've opted for the middle ground, but left the Mazzy Star-style fading to iTunes (yes, quite romantic, isn't it), proving that everyone's a fucking DJ these days, even any given Ms A. McBook (of Cupertino, CA).

So, taken together: this is a semi-automated narrative mixtape about a love affair, from go to whoah to - oh no - and back again, with the eventual getting of wisdom (building up [to] some serious romantic callous). From the flowers of lust to the full blooming of hate and evil to the timid blossoming of spring once more, all the way through to the dusky afterglow of affectionate ambivalence (a summery dismissal), with the pace and tone matching the mood (I hope). Love and lust being as they are, I chose some pretty garish colours in parts. Also intentional. 'Cos infatuation is cheesy. And lust is very rude (and quite gross, if it's not your lust). And love is also the ultimate enigma. But also totally undeniable. Which is why we all love it so much.

So here it is, lad(d)ies: hot on the heels (and developed in interactive thought with) of our lists from yesterday, a mix provoked and shaped by the thing itself, the ultimate conjugation, the cause of nearly all our highs and a fair portion of our lows...

Housebound Loveache Rollercoaster Mixtape

* tips also to the rejected remainder from this one: I just could *not* get a track to fit from Yoshinori Sunahara's Lovebeat, here. But do check it out - maybe you can tell me why he wouldn't fade into the others...

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