I dreamed I had to take a test...

 

The spoken word in music is a tricky thing. A lot of people really dislike it. And I totally get that. Most of the time I think it's distracting or annoying or cheesy. But obviously someone like Laurie Anderson is able to pull it off successfully. If I use a track with spoken word in an ambient mix it can ruin the mood so I decided to make an entire mix featuring tracks with spoken word.

What got me going on this mix was discovering an Eno EP from 2011. I was already familiar with his album, Drums Between The Bells, which features the poetry of Rick Holland. But I somehow missed the EP, Panic of Looking. As I listened to it for the first time I wondered if I could construct an entire mix based on spoken word tracks. There are tracks from both of the previously mention Eno albums and of course a few Laurie Anderson cuts. And I think the final result works pretty darn well.

Cheers!

[ s t r e a m ]    [ d o w n l o a d ]    [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Brian Eno - the real (Drums Between The Bells 2011)
• 06:42    Laurie Anderson - Tightrope (Bright Red 1994)
• 11:51    Blurry The Explorer - Orange Tree Fallen (Blurry The Explorer 2021)
• 16:02    Felicia Atkinson With Sylvain Chauveau - Aberdeen (Roman Anglais 2008)
• 20:02    Balmorhea - Day Dawns In Your Right Eye (The Wind 2021)
• 23:33    Ryuichi Sakamoto - life, life (Async 2017)
• 27:40    Laurie Anderson - World Without End (Bright Red 1994)
• 30:09    Just a Human & David Ignatow - Revive & The World is So Difficult to Give Up...
• 32:22    Brian Eno - fierce aisles of light (Drums Between The Bells 2011)
• 34:33    Kate Tempest - Hold Your Own (The Book Of Traps And Lessons 2019)
• 38:25    Erland Cooper - Noup Head (Hether Blether 2020)
• 41:57    Cassandra Jenkins - Hard Drive (An Overview on Phenomenal Nature 2021)
• 46:51    Laurie Anderson - I dreamed I had to take a test... (United States Live 1984)
• 47:58    Ryuichi Sakamoto - fullmoon (Async 2017)
• 52:42    Brian Eno - Not A Story (Panic Of Looking 2011)
• 53:45    Brian Eno - the airman (Drums Between The Bells 2011)
• 56:52    Laurie Anderson - Lighting Out for the Territories (United States Live 1984)
• 59:04    end