I didn't think anyone wanted these, but I'd been getting bugged about it. "Where's the new winter mix?" they'd say. Well, it's taken me all winter to find those songs worth sharing. These are the songs that have been sustaining me over this winter. So, even though these aren't exactly in time to sustain you over this winter, it is Canada after all; so you'll likely still have 2 more months of it. Admittedly, s few of these probably weren't the best thing to have going on in my head in terms of mental state. Pretty much the musical equivalent of overcast. The discovery of that Doc Watson version of "Matty Groves" wrecked me for about a week. A 300 year-old song, still as moving as ever, so simple, and edited the melodrama away into perfection. I'd known about Dalek for years, but only recent spent time in that music - "Forever Close My Eyes" became confidant/torment for late night walks. Calgarian buds Cold Craving's newest indictment of Alberta, Husker Du with the best punk song about sledding, some washy ones by Burma head honcho Roger Miller, and Raein side-project Havah. And of course stark songwriters in abundance: folk-queen Anne Briggs, Richarrd Thompson's perfect sufist prayer, Mount Eerie (with the untouchable Julie Doiron singing a stolen Bjork line on guest-vox), plus the heaviest of heavies, my main man, Jason Molina with an absolute crusher. And just like last year, I recorded a song specifically for this. It's a cover of a song from The Racoon's Christmas Special, played slow and sombre, complete with wonky 4-track eccentricities.
Like Anne says, sing the frost away, pals.
~KS
