Guest Mix: Supercontext Podcast
Today we're honored to welcome the duo behind one of our favorite podcasts, that one of our favorite labels (Future Oak) tuned us onto. Christian and Charlie of Supercontext join us for a specially curated Guest Mix, which is posted below along with their thoughts on the tracks.
“Double Dare Ya” by Bikini Kill
CHRIS: Primal punk rage that’s influenced me since high school. We discussed them with guest Cristen Conger in our episode on “Girls To The Front: Kathleen Hanna’s Activism.” You do have rights.
CHARLIE: As I have confessed on the podcast, I was too deep in prog rock to connect with Bikini Kill in high school… but I sure get it now.
“Wang Dang Doodle” by PJ Harvey
CHARLIE: This is everything I want from PJ Harvey -- slinky & frightening post-punk blues rock.
CHRIS: PJ Harvey’s one of the few music acts we both agree on, which is why you’ll find her on here twice! This song sounds like an eldritch spell cast through falsetto screeching and electric focusing implements.
“Cloudbusting” by Kate Bush
CHRIS: This homage to Wilhem Reich inspired me to visit his Orgonon estate in Maine where I learned more about his strange sci-fi ideas on manipulating the weather, sex and curing cancer.
CHARLIE: I’m fascinated by the British art rock of the 80s, especially the stuff that sounds like they were still working out the trauma of World War II.
“Space Monkey” by Patti Smith
CHARLIE: If you’ve never listened to Patti Smith’s EASTER, you’ve got to check it out. It will tear your head off in a beautiful way.
CHRIS: This sounds like a bar band playing a road house in the middle of nowhere… and then suddenly this badass lady takes the stage and starts belting out howls of insanity.
“Crow Jane” by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
CHRIS: I’m pretty sure Charlie put this on here because he couldn’t find a way to make Nick Cave work with the playlist theme. But I’ll take a traditional murder ballad any day of the week.
CHARLIE: Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs are transplanted Georgians with a horse farm and a wicked sense of humor. (I would have gone with one of the duets on MURDER BALLADS if I were trying to get Nick on here.)
“Milk” by Dahlia Seed
CHARLIE: These lyrics make me imagine a warped grade-school cafeteria riot.
CHRIS: I first heard this song in the mid-90s. It forever changed how I thought about the relationships between little boys and girls. “You wanted dumb. I won’t play dead for you.”
“Little Babies” by Sleater-Kinney
CHRIS: I don’t know why but I’ve never gotten fully into Sleater-Kinney. They’re a great band with connections to lots of acts I respect.
CHARLIE: I sing along with this song at top volume whenever I can, and last time I did my wife joined in and the kids all screamed with terrified delight.
“Lost The Thoughts But Kept The Skin” by Milemarker
CHARLIE: I really love music that sounds like you just walked into a haunted house, despite my refusal to ever step into a haunted house.
CHRIS: This is the band that does our podcast’s intro music “Human Factor,” though you might not be able to tell from this track. Precision cacophony with haunting vocals and synth by Roby Newton. They re-recorded this song for 2002’s Satanic Versus. For more of Newton’s aesthetic, try Cex’s Actual Fucking.
“On The Radio” by Regina Spektor
CHRIS: I almost put Spektor’s Orange Is The New Black theme song “You’ve Got Time” on here, but I thought it might be too on the nose. I dig her.
CHARLIE: This is the very first Regina Spektor song I ever heard, and I’ve been completely on her side ever since.
“Kill V. Maim” by Grimes
CHARLIE: Chris imagines my daughter LJ to be somehow connected to Grimes, spiritually, aesthetically, I don’t know. It freaks me out a little.
CHRIS: Totally. Grimes captures the ecstatic playfulness and young talent I see in kids like Charlie’s daughter. This song makes me think of future counterculture ladies dancing around and smashing the patriarchy.
“Peek-a-Boo” by Siouxsie and the Banshees
CHRIS: This was a staple of the alternative music radio channel I grew up with outside Boston.
CHARLIE: More haunted house music! You should definitely picture someone holding a pair of bloody eyeballs while listening to this one.
“Violet Stars Happy Hunting!” Janelle Monáe feat. The Skunks
CHARLIE: It’s been a long time since I got really excited by a science-fiction concept album but this could change my mind.
CHRIS: If you needed any further proof that we’re two middle-aged white dudes, see what we picked for this playlist. Other than Wata from Boris, I think Monáe is the only woman of color on here. First heard this after she played a surprise show at our local Atlanta record store like 10 years ago and my wife introduced me to the sound of tomorrow.
“Long Time Ago” by White Magic
CHRIS: I’m disappointed that Spotify doesn’t have more by White Magic. I’ve been following Mira Billotte’s career since she played drums in Quix*O*Tic with her sister Christina. I got lucky and caught them on the Dat Rosa Mel Apibus tour in 2008. More haunting vocals and piano. I’m seeing a theme here.
CHARLIE: Chris just introduced me to White Magic, and I am hooked.
Searching for the Ghost” by Heartless Bastards
CHARLIE: This song is on a record called ALL THIS TIME, which is one of three albums that comprise the life-soundtrack to the year my wife and I started dating.
CHRIS: Definitely sounds like the kind of song you’d fall in love to in a romantic comedy.
“Yes I Am Too, But Who Am I Really?” by Team Dresch
CHRIS: Originally I wanted to put Spitboy’s “What Are LIttle Girls Made Of?” on here but again Spotify fails to keep up. Team Dresch was another angry feminist punk band I was introduced to by the riot grrrls in my previous life.
CHARLIE: I love those riffs but I cannot stand her voice.
“Deep Red Bells” by Neko Case
CHARLIE: Try as I might, I cannot enjoy Neko Case. Everything about her work is almost what I like.
CHRIS: As previously mentioned, I’m obsessed with murder ballads lately and this song is the theme to a new story I’m working on. Again, my wife introduced me to this. If you want to know more of the disturbing tale behind Gary Ridgway’s serial killings I highly recommend Green River Killer: The True Detective Story, a 2011 graphic novel by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case.
“Party Boy” by Boris
CHRIS: Wata from Boris is the Goddess of Guitar we all deserve. Don’t believe me? Check out her solo demonstration of a wall of Orange amplifiers here in our local record store. My favorite Boris song is “Floorshaker,” also unavailable on Spotify.
CHARLIE: We’re in the stretch of the playlist with the serious differences in our tastes. I even disagree with his graphic novel recommendation. Hang on, though, a couple more songs and we’ll be back on secure ground.
“Secure Yourself” by Indigo Girls
CHARLIE: My high-school girlfriend introduced me to the Indigo Girls and Nine Inch Nails, and so all that happened after is forgiven.
CHRIS: I respect everything this band has accomplished but this just isn’t for me. It sounds like Blind Melon meets Peter, Paul and Mary. Though I suppose there was a time when I listened to both those things, it’s not right now.
“The Poisoned Mine” by Tara Jane O’Neil
CHRIS: A little better, but still sounds like Friday night at a coffee house to me.
CHARLIE: Friday night at a coffee house sounds awesome.
“Do You Love Me Now?” by The Breeders
CHARLIE: I adore the chunky guitars and angelic voices. It should be clear from my love of this song how much weed I once smoked.
CHRIS: Like most alt-rock boys in the 1990s I fell in love with The Breeders’ Last Splash. I even saw them play in 1994 and thought it was awesome. Now when I hear them I can’t help but think of fatigued twin sisters shooting heroin together. I know that’s not fair, but it’s what I’m left with.
“Chain of Keys” by PJ Harvey
CHRIS: We covered this latest PJ Harvey album on the show. There’s so many good songs on it, but this one sounds to me like Polly Jean travelled back in time, wrote a traditional, melancholy ballad and then travelled back to the future so she could cover it herself. “Imagine what her eyes have seen.”
CHARLIE: The song surrounds you and lifts you up on the drone of the horns and guitar -- that whole record is one long post-modern spiritual.
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by The Velvet Underground and Nico
CHARLIE: When I was a younger man, I thought the Nico songs on the first Velvet Underground album were the less-good songs and that the band was lucky when she was gone. I was very, very wrong.
CHRIS: Whereas I always preferred the Nico songs! One of my oldest friends’ daughter is named after her. Maybe that’s why don’t I picture her shooting heroin? I guess I think more of Charlotte Rampling in The Night Porter. Wait, that’s equally creepy...
CS: What have we learned from this experience? That I like either haunting piano, songs about murder or angry punk ladies. While Charlie likes 1990s radio, white people and romance.
CB: Listen to this guy. He puts one black woman on a playlist and thinks he’s W. Kamau Bell. We’ll fight about this on the podcast.