Canción Mixteca

Playing around with the Harry Dean Stanton monologue from Paris, Texas when I was putting yesterday’s Isolation Mix together last week caused me to play the entire soundtrack through a few times. It’s not a very long album, only ten tracks and if it wasn’t for ‘I Knew These People…’ which clocks in at over eight minutes it would be much shorter. Ry Cooder’s guitar playing, all slide guitar, delicate finger picking, reverb and atmosphere, perfectly matches the moods and look of the film- the dust of the desert, the longing of the characters, the melancholy and loss of Travis and Jane. Ry Cooder said in 2018 that director Wim Wenders caught the ambience of the south west of the USA with the use of ambient microphones which picked up the sound of the desert and the wind, which he discovered is in E♭. So for the soundtrack they tuned all the instruments to E♭. That’s the kind of detail I like, tuning your guitar to the key of the wind.

This song, Canción Mixteca, is ne of the highlights of the soundtrack and is little more than Ry Cooder’s echo laden guitar, some piano and Harry Dean Stanton singing. The song is a Mexican folk song, written between 1912 and 1915 by Jose Lopez Alvarez. He wrote it in Mexico City suffering from homesickness for Oaxaca, his home. Since then it has been adopted by many Mexican exiles who long for their hometown.

‘So far am I from the land where I was born!
Immense nostalgia invades my thoughts,
and, to see myself, as lone and dismal as leaf on the wind,
I would that I’d weep ‒ I would that I’d die ‒ out of sorrow!

O land of sunshine! I sigh for‐to see you.
Now that, far from you, I live without light ‒ without love.
And, to see myself, as lone and dismal as leaf on the wind,
I would that I’d weep ‒ I would that I’d die ‒ out of sorrow!’

Canción Mixteca

 

Isolation Mix Five

Five weeks into these isolation mixes already- doesn’t time fly when you’re socially restricted? There is a higher BPM count on this mix but also some folky darkness and post punk dread from Nick Drake and A Certain Ratio respectively, some dance grooves from Ellis Island Sound and Scott Fraser, the ultra Balearic vibes of Richard Norris’ Time And Space Machine remix of A Mountain Of One, some 1990 class from World Unite when Creation Records went all E’d up and dancey, Andrew Weatherall remixing Moby and Wayne Coyne in epic style, half of The Clash with Frank Ocean and Diplo plus the West Los Angeles Childrens’ Choir (brought to you in association with Converse) from 2014 and a very long Seahawks remix of Tim Burgess, some headspinning ambient noise set against Harry Dean Stanton’s monologue from Paris, Texas. ‘Yep, I know that feeling’.

Tracklist:

Nick Drake: ‘Cello Song

A Certain Ratio: Winter Hill

Ellis Island Sound: Intro, Airborne, Travelling (Scott Fraser Remix)

A Mountain Of One: Ride (The Time And Space Machine Remix)

World Unite: World Unite

Moby Ft. Wayne Coyne: Another Perfect Life (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Frank Ocean, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Diplo: Hero

Tim Burgess: A Gain// Stoned Alone Again Or (Seahawks Remix) v Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski and Ry Cooder: I Knew These Two People, Paris Texas soundtrack

Back To The Source

This is really good and tailor made for a Sunday morning. Balearic DJ Dr Rob has put together a mix of the source material that inspired some of Andrew Weatherall’s productions and remixes (and provided the samples). It opens with the famous Harry Dean Stanton and Nastassja Kinski dialogue from Paris, Texas (the source of the ‘yep, I know that feeling’ line at the end of I’m Coming Down on Screamdelica) and then winds its way from there through some of Weatherall’s record collection- Miles Davis, Bill Laswell, Lee and Nancy, Claire Hammil, American Spring (produced by Brian Wilson), the acid trip and tape loop drone of Tomorrow Never Knows, Billy Stewart, The Emotions, Gang Of Four, Fearless Four, Brilliant, the headspinning and heavy Hey Ho by Dub Syndicate, some even heavier Big Youth and Depth Charge- a mix that works both for trainspotters and general chilled out enjoyment.

Tracklist in full-

Harry Dean Stanton – I Knew These People
Bill Laswell – Lost Roads
Miles Davis – Saeta
American Spring – Sweet Mountain
Lee Hazlewood – Some Velvet Morning
Claire Hammil – Tides
The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows
Billy Stewart – Summertime
The Emotions – Don`t Want To Lose Your Love
Gang Of Four – What We All Want
Fearless Four – Rockin’ It
Brilliant – Colours
Dub Syndicate – Hey Ho
Big Youth – Yabby Youth
Depth Charge – Depth Charge

Bonus selection- here’s the Paris, Texas clip from the start of the mix and the end of the film, a scene and film that is always worth spending ten minutes with.

Places

‘ve been uncovering and re-discovering bits and bobs by Dreadzone recently, which includes keeping an eye on the Soundcloud page of Greg Dread. Coming out of the ashes of Big Audio Dynamite they spliced dub with dance and made many good tunes through the 90s and into the 21st century, for a variety of record labels. Last year’s Escapades album reunited them with Mick Jones for the single Too Late. This song has been posted by Greg Dread- Places, a beautiful tune and vocal, with some dialogue sampled from Harry Dean Stanton in Paris Texas (above with Nastassja Kinski). The cost of the sample led to it being removed from the released version- which is a shame as it works really well. I’m currently playing this half a dozen times a day.