Sometimes deciding a theme for a mixtape can be a time-consuming business – but not this time. If anything, not making viruses the theme for the new 5:4 mixtape would just feel like being wilfully contrary. So – a couple of weeks earlier than scheduled – here it is, a tour through some of my favourites that feel more than a little pertinent to the remarkable times we’re currently experiencing. Not surprisingly with a topic such as this, a lot of the music is serious in tone, though the way this is articulated varies widely. Many explore a quiet, often unsettlingly (in)tense simmering (Nine Inch Nails, John Oswald, Bass Communion, Vykintas Baltakas, The Noisettes, Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch), occasionally featuring hot surges (Brian McOmber, Cat Temper, Ramin Djawadi, SaffronKeira, Toru Takemitsu, Necro Deathmort, Andrew Liles, Daphne Oram, Paul Haslinger). Some go beyond these limitations into ferocious incandescence (Man Without Country, Pan Sonic, Si Begg, Reza Solatipour), the complete opposite, eerie calm (Coleclough & Murmer, Ulrich Schnauss, Justin Hurwitz), or pounding, edgy regularity (Joseph Trapanese, Aria Prayogi & Fajar Yuskemal, Picture Palace Music). The rest channel their sentiments into fierce, forthright vocals (Björk, Chelsea Wolfe, Crystal Castles, Moderat, Lydia Lunch, Cabaret Voltaire, Hecq with Nongenetic). A short jingle from Raymond Scott is a closing tongue-in-cheek moment that i hope is forgivable in these trying circumstances.
Two hours of pandemically-related tracks and tropes that are, in a multitude of ways and in the absolute best sense, highly infectious and hard to shake off. Below is the tracklisting in full, together with approximate timings and links to obtain the music.
These are difficult times we’re living through at the moment. i sincerely hope you’re all keeping as safe, fit and healthy as you can, and that you’re taking advantage of any imposed isolation or downtime to explore lots of new music. Best wishes to all of you, wherever you are.
- 00:00:00 Nine Inch Nails – Corona Radiata (from The Slip – free download)
- 00:07:29 Coleclough & Murmer – Germ [excerpt] (from Husk)
- 00:11:16 Man Without Country – Incubation (from Maximum Entropy)
- 00:16:01 Björk – Virus (Matthew Herbert’s Fever Mix) (from Biophilia Remixes | Part Six)
- 00:22:37 John Oswald – Edge Pipe Virus / tune (from Plunderphonics 69/96)
- 00:24:29 Joseph Trapanese, Aria Prayogi & Fajar Yuskemal – Toilet Nightmare (from The Raid 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack))
- 00:26:10 Chelsea Wolfe – Sick (from Pain Is Beauty)
- 00:31:38 Bass Communion – Sickness [excerpt] (from Bass Communion III)
- 00:35:38 Pan Sonic – Corona (from Gravitoni)
- 00:40:12 Ulrich Schnauss – A Strangely Isolated Place [excerpt] (from A Strangely Isolated Place)
- 00:43:59 Justin Hurwitz – Quarantine (from First Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack))
- 00:46:05 Brian McOmber – If He’s Sick, Then I Am Too (from It Comes at Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack))
- 00:48:00 Cat Temper – Sick [excerpt] (from Henry (an electronic soundtrack to Eraserhead))
- 00:51:53 Crystal Castles – Plague (from (III))
- 00:56:43 Ramin Djawadi – Virus (from Westworld (Music from the HBO Series – Season 2))
- 00:59:18 SaffronKeira – Endless Agony of Being Sick (Edit) (from … and darkness came)
- 01:03:13 Moderat – Sick With It (from Moderat)
- 01:06:58 Lydia Lunch – Disease Of The Night (from Matrikamantra)
- 01:11:00 Toru Takemitsu – Corona II for strings [excerpt] (unavailable)
- 01:16:12 Necro Deathmort – Capsule Sickness (from The Capsule)
- 01:20:09 Andrew Liles – Popular Misconceptions About Communicable Diseases [excerpt] (from The Flesh Creeping Gonzoid & Other Imaginary Creatures)
- 01:24:31 Daphne Oram – Hospital (from The Oram Tapes Volume One)
- 01:27:19 Cabaret Voltaire – Spread the Virus (from Red Mecca)
- 01:31:00 Vykintas Baltakas – (co)ro(na) (2005) for ensemble [excerpt] (from Edition musikFabrik 05: Krönung)
- 01:34:40 Si Begg – Transcend The Disease Through Music (from Permission to Explode)
- 01:37:52 The Noisettes – Coughtopia [excerpt] (from Fearmuffs)
- 01:41:27 Picture Palace Music – Spreading Disease (from Curriculum Vitae I)
- 01:46:02 Paul Haslinger – The Will to Survive (from Wildling (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack))
- 01:47:05 Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch – Wash Your Hands (from Twin Peaks Archive)
- 01:49:58 Reza Solatipour – Surviving the Darkness (from Visions of Darkness (In Iranian Contemporary Music))
- 01:54:59 Hecq – I Will Survive (with Nongenetic) (from Steeltongued)
- 01:59:40 Raymond Scott – Use Vicks Medicated Cough Drops (from The Jingle Workshop: Midcentury Musical Miniatures 1951-1965)
