Recent Findings from the White Heart of Beta Solae VII

personal art project, 2013

Synopsis:
A song+book project that i put together for a now-defunct mix-tape club. The theme was that you were an emissary of Earth meeting with representatives of an alien race that were about to destroy your planet, and all that you had to potentially change their mind was one killer mix.

I decided that it’d be futile for me to try and show the utter diversity and wondrous infinity that is our world. I couldn’t do the world justice, not in a million years. But as a citizen of the Earth, I was also a representative sample. I should focus on music that moved me personally, and maybe in that way, I could impress the jerks enough not to stomp on our planet.

I had an initial selection of 90+ songs, that I whittled down to 18. The resulting list comprised songs that made an impact on me at a certain point in my life. Once I had the tracks, I decided to play further with the sf-nal premise of the theme, and incorporate my usual favorites things: libraries, archaeology, books and design. So I made this ridiculous 48 page book,^︎ repurposed a ton of design imagery that I had created over the past decade, and printed the thing via blurb.com.

Tracklisting:

1. “Intro” - Kool Keith - Black Elvis/Lost in Space, 1999
   
2. “Thalassocracy” - Frank Black - Teenager of the Year, 1994
   
3. “Satan” - Deerhoof - Holdypaws, 1999
   
4. “Cristo Redentor” - Donald Byrd - A New Perspective, 1963
   
5. “Only Shallow” - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless, 1991
   
6. “Black Eyed Dog” - Nick Drake - Time of No Reply, 1986
   
7. “Banned in D.C.” - Bad Brains - Bad Brains, 1982
   
8. “Expressway to Yr. Skull” - Sonic Youth - EVOL, 1986
   
9. “Gently Johnny” - Magnet - The Wicker Man soundtrack, 1973
   
10. “Auditorium” - Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes, 1995
    
11. “The True Wheel” - Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), 1974
    
12. “Baby” - Os Mutantes - Jardim Elétrico, 1971
    
13. “Shangri-La” - The Kinks - Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), 1969
    
14. “Dance of the Inhabitants of the Invisible City of Bladensburg” - John Fahey - The Yellow Princess, 1968
    
15. “Beat Bop” - Rammellzee and K-Rob - Beat Bop 12", 1983
    
16. “From the Nursery” - Wire - Chairs Missing, 1978
    
17. “So Shy” - Sam Prekop - Sam Prekop, 1999
    
18. “Will the Night” - Low - Secret Name, 1999