Museum Shuffle #1 was my second tape ever made and was constructed from songs recorded straight from vinyl. I did this to limit myself to what was available in my collection and because the pitter-patter crackles went well with the ambient leaning jazz and folk tunes.
This vinyl only mix is inspired by the ebb and flow of emotions felt while taking small, meandering steps through a museum. Like a museum that has adjoining exhibits from different eras, cultures, and artistic styles, I tried to bounce between earthy, analog sounds and electronics ambient tunes. I love how the unsteady, chopped up piano samples in marina roll seamlessly into the moody piano ballad Turiya & Ramakrishna. Another good example is how the warm, lullabic analog synths of Kamome No Suiheisen become sparse and layered with the sound of waves as they start an indistinguishable transition to Voyager. A transition that only reveals itself when Slauson Malone brings in drums that lead you into a glitchy wake up call. Maybe my favorite moment on the tape.
As the mix progresses, the mood gradually shifts from wonder to introspection. A feeling best exhibited by Husk, a dreamy musing on mortality and how we cope with it in others around us. I consistently finish mixtapes with songs that have an end credits type of resolution and here I land on with the breezy, content acoustic Brazilian track Acabou Chorare.
Fun fact: this version of the mix includes a song by my band. Slow Zones is a short bossa nova jam that rises out of the waves at the end of Adan No Shima No Tanjyosai. I did this to fill silence in the tape because I submitted this mix to NTS Radio and thought it would be cheeky to have our own song in it. The mix was not selected for programming.
See below for the full list of songs used:
Side 1
Title Card snippet from Smile #2 by Slauson Malone (2019)
Ene alanchi alnorem by Mulatu Astatke (1974)
marina by Ulla (2022)
Turiya & Ramakrishna by Alice Coltrane (1970)
ingydar by Adrianne Lenker (2020)
Leila Came Around And We Watched A Video by Four Tet (2001)
In These Times by Makaya McCraven (2022)
Side 2
カモナの永平線 (Kamome No Suiheisen) by Hiroshi Yoshimura (1984)
Voyager by Slauson Malone 1 (2023)
Belleville by Laurel Halo (2023)
Husk by Hannah Frances (2024)
Zawinul/Lava by Brian Eno (1975)
ECSTACY REIGNS by Cities Aviv (2022)
アダンの島の誕生祭 (Adan No Shima No Tanjyosai) by Ichiko Aoba (2020)
Slow Zones by Jasper’s Skinny Arms (2024)
Acabou Chorare by Novos Baianos (1972)
