Ken Brown put together six mixes for Bird & Whale.  I’m a tremendous fan of Ken’s and honored that Bird & Whale gets to host such a nice collection of his selections.  Think I’ll just politely step aside and post his words about the music:

I’ll be leaving Chicago to settle in another place soon, to hopefully give my sons the sort of upbringing I was able to enjoy.  These mixes were made on the cusp of my departure.  I had been thinking about making these mixes for some time, partly to screw around with some new software, partly as a way to get a grasp on my MP3 collection, and ground it in a way, so it was more than just a bunch of data on a drive, kind of like the Jams site was for a bit.  Then, when the reality of leaving Chicago set in, I thought I should compose some mixes as a sort of tribute to the last 20-odd years, with some sort of regional theme since there are so many interesting angles to attack that idea at.  It occurred to me, though, that I have not only spent the entirety of my adult life based in Chicago, but with the exception of adolescence and high school, the vast majority of my musical experiences have also been rooted here.  So any mixes I might come up with would be indebted to my experiences here: my college radio shows, time spent working in record shops like Dr Wax, Reckless, the B-Side, Jazz Record Mart & Dusty Groove, hanging out with Neal Money at Ruby’s Jewel Box or Mellow Khris at the Other Place, a handful of shows that still stick in my memory – shows like Omoide Hatoba at Lounge Ax, Slint in Ben Johnson’s basement, the Wipers at the Cubby Bear or Scratch Acid with Repulse Kava at Batteries, working at Idful when I felt there was a reason to be excited about the music happening in and around Wicker Park, the list could go on for a long, long time.  So these mixes have everything to do with Chicago, without explicitly having anything to do with Chicago.  I could probably go through them track by track and relate each song to a place, time or event here, though for anyone else, those connections are spurious.  More than anything, the idea is to capture the spirit of why I think Brad started Bird & Whale, what I might have spent time doing on a rainy Sunday afternoon or lackluster Tuesday night: making a cassette mix for the car, or to send to someone – if it’s possible, way more random, but also considerably more thoughtful than what you might hear at Danny’s or the Whistler on any given Thursday night. . .

I recently did some engineering (and a download & promo only remix) for my friend Kevin in London who records/performs as DJ Food.  He made a mix of tracks off the EP with tracks from each of the people with whom he collaborated on the EP, available here:

site link with track listing:

http://www.djfood.org/djfood/

direct Soundcloud link:

http://soundcloud.com/strictly/a-weird-world-reader

I think it’s a nice companion to the stuff on B&W.

Thanks,

KB

Bundini Brown – Bird & Whale mix 1

1. Dark Alleys – Arif Mardin
2. Prairie Road – Pete Jolly
3. The Emperor     – Donald Byrd
4. The Power Of Soul – Idris Muhammad
5. Las Vegas Tango – Gary Burton
6. Mizrab – Gabor Szabo
7. The Way I Feel – Phil Upchurch
8. Wade In The Water – Harvey Mandel
9. Gula Matari – Quincy Jones

Bundini Brown – Bird & Whale mix 2

1. Vaihtovirta – Pan Sonic
2. Drane – Autechre
3. Yes – Kapital Band
4. Overand – Autechre
5. Linienbusse – Studio Pankow
6. Moon – Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto
7. 03 – SND
8. Fifteen – SND
9. Hion – Ø
10. Sog – Komet
11. Lachen – Pole
12. Yulquen – Autechre

Bundini Brown – Bird & Whale mix 3

1. Church Of Anthrax – John Cale & Terry Riley
2. Mangrove – Pharaoh Overlord
3. Electric Guitar Phase – Steve Reich
4. Final Motif – Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
5. Eight Corners – Gastr Del Sol
6. Ten-Day Interval – Tortoise
7. Here Come the Warm Jets – Brian Eno
8. All World Cowboy Romance – Mission Of Burma

Bundini Brown – Bird & Whale mix 4

1. Between Or Beyond – The Mike Nock Underground
2. K’s Waltz – Ronnie Mathews
3. Ibn Mukhtarr Mustapha – Stanley Cowell
4. If You’re Not Part Of The Solution, You’re Part Of The Problem – Joe Henderson
5. Tawhid – Johnny Lytle
6. The New World – Woody Shaw
7. The Cutting Edge – Sonny Rollins
8. J.B.W. – Bora Rokovic
9. Mission Accomplished – Oliver Nelson

Bundini Brown – Bird & Whale mix 5

1. Keep It Up – Milton Wright
2. Trying To Get Next To You     – Arnold Blair
3. Here We Go Again – The Isley Brothers
4. Do You Realize – Aquarian Dream
5. Strategy – Archie Bell & The Drells
6. Body Talk – Eddie Kendricks
7. Come Go With Me – Pockets
8. Peace Of Mind – The Rance Allen Group
9. Rock With You – Michael Jackson
10. Heavy Love Affair – Marvin Gaye
11. Potent Love – The Impressions
12. I Can Sho’ Give You Love – Willie Hutch
13. Cool Out – Leroy Hutson

Bundini Brown – Bird & Whale mix 6

1. Peter Piper – Run-D.M.C.
2. Kool Is Back – Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
3. Hypnotic – Eric B. & Rakim
4. Know The Ledge – Eric B. & Rakim
5. Prisoners Of War – Organized Konfusion
6. Complicatem – Eric B. & Rakim
7. Releasing Hypnotical Gases – Organized Konfusion
8. C.P.Osis – CPO
9. Pure Energy – King Sun
10. Wanted: Dead Or Alive – Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
11. Set it Off – Big Daddy Kane
12. Nuff Respect     – Big Daddy Kane
13. Enter The Lords – The Chosen Ones
14. Lung Collapsing Lyrics – Percee P & Ekim
15. Speed Blocks – K Solo
16. Real Solo Please Stand Up – K Solo
17. Men At Work    - Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
18. Web – The Roots
19. A Day At The Races – Jurassic 5
20. The Outrage    - People Under The Stairs
21. Synopsis – Erule