01/18 Vol.2 Life in LP memoirmixtapes.com Memoir Mixtapes Vol.2: Life in LP January 1, 2018 Created by Samantha Lamph/Len Curated and edited by Samantha Lamph/Len and Kevin D. Woodall Visual identity design by J.S. Robson Cover stock photography courtesy of Daniele Levis Pelusi, publically available on Unsplash.com Letters from the Editors Dearest Friends, Readers, and Contributors: Hello again. Welcome back. We heard your origin stories last time; this time around we wanted to know about those moments that changed you, and I hope you’re ready to have your mind blown because the the albums that provided the soundtrack for those critical contributors in Memoir Mixtapes Vol.2: Life in LP definitely times. did not come to fuck around. Boy did you guys deliver. We asked them to tell us about an album that changed their life, and they proceeded to take us back in time to revisit Life in LP, Vol.2 of Memoir Mixtapes, has got a bit of those pivotal moments and experiences that changed them everything. We’ve got heartbreak, awakenings, self- irrevocably, for better, or for worse, or just for different. discovery, laughter. It’s all here. The work we were fortunate enough to have received, and the work we have been Every one of these 34 voices explores a unique experience, privileged to showcase here, reflects the widely complex and but each piece does have one thing in common: the fucked-up nature of the human condition. I’m very proud of soundtrack is fuckin’ killer. this Volume, and I hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as I have. Growing up. Falling in love. Watching love crash, burn, and die. Losing a friend. Finding yourself. Grappling with the Once again I’d like to thank my wife, Elise, for her support state of the world and of humanity, as well as the meaning of and enthusiasm for Memoir Mixtapes. I’d also like to thank our relatively brief existence on this planet. my dog, Franklin, for being the warmest pug on the coldest winter days. As well, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my friend Before I bid you adieu and let you do what you came here to and co-editor, Sam, for having this idea in the first place and do, I want to thank my friend and co-editor, Kevin, for his getting me involved. She’s the best and we owe her tireless work and steadfast dedication to the project; my everything. EVERYTHING. husband, Andy, for fixing any website crashes in 10 minutes or less; and J.S. Robson, who generously offered his time and As you may have noticed, we’ve received one hell of a facelift talents toward creating our beautiful new layout and slick for Vol.2. This is due, in no small part, to the heroic efforts of new logo. (Speaking of that logo: would it be weird to get it one of my best friends, J.S. Robson, who offered up his very tattooed on myself? Because I’m probably going to. That’s considerable graphic design talents for our cause. I want to just how much I love MM, you guys.) offer him my most special thanks this time around for elevating us from scrappy-new-kids-on-the-block to wait- I’ve saved the biggest thank you for last, and it goes out to all these-guys-look-professional. of you: Thank you for taking the time to read the words our talented contributors have so beautifully arranged for us. I Without further ado, settle in and let that needle drop. Enjoy know you’ll give them the attention they deserve because the long, curious journey that is our Life in LP. they really don’t give you a choice. Kevin D. Woodall Now, get comfy, press play, and start reading. CO-CURATOR / EDITOR Samantha Lamph/Len CREATOR & CO-CURATOR i Tracklist TR 01. Somewhere We Will Meet: My Life with Radiohead’s OK Computer Sarah Nichols OK Computer // Radiohead 1 TR 02. Healing Lights Nadia Gerassimenko There Will Be Stars // Elisapie Isaac 3 TR 03. On Wilco and Being There Mike Lindgren Being There // Wilco 6 TR 04. What Is Love Hawa Allan Sampladelic Relics & Dancefloor Oddities // Deee-Lite 9 TR 05. On “Everything Under the Sun” by Jukebox the Ghost Ehlayna Napolitano Everything Under the Sun // Jukebox the Ghost 12 TR 06. The Rainbow’s End: A First Taste of Doom Eric Bryan Epicus Doomicus Metallicus // Candlemass 14 TR 07. Sylvester’s Step II: Sylvester Taught Me How to Be Queer Peter Piatkowski Step II // Sylvester 17 TR 08. Fear of a Black Planet Yoshio Drescher Fear of a Black Planet // Public Enemy 20 TR 09. Drink With The Grown-Ups And Listen To The Jazz Prewitt Scott-Jackson Drink With The Grown-Ups And Listen To The Jazz // The Deathray Davies 22 TR 010. Heavy with Mood: On Fiona Apple’s Tidal Emery Ross Tidal // Fiona Apple 23 TR 011. Year of Dismantling Myths M. Stone Under the Pink // Tori Amos 27 TR 012. Jewel’s Spirit Laura Gill Spirit // Jewel 28 TR 013. Undertow: A Valentine to My Father Inspired by Sarah McLachlan’s album Surfacing Gavin Lakin Surfacing // Sarah McLachlan 31 TR 014. Michael Penn Free-for-All Christie Wilson Free-for-All // Michael Penn 37 TR 015. TO BE PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME Alan Gann The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars // David Bowie 39 TR 016. The Silences Steven W. McCarty American Recordings // Johnny Cash 40 TR 017. 4/19/1994 Julio Cesar Villegas Illmatic // Nas 44 ii TR 018. My Baltimore City and Lou Reed’s New York Joey Sheehan New York // Lou Reed 45 TR 019. On R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People Dean Rhetoric Automatic for the People // REM 47 TR 020. Sailin’ Shoes Ellen Austin-Li Sailin’ Shoes // Little Feat 49 TR 021. Welcome to my Nightmare Gabrielle Gilbert Welcome to my Nightmare // Alice Cooper 53 TR 022. On Hallowed Ground by Violent Femmes Steve Goldberg Hallowed Ground // Violent Femmes 56 TR 023. Mother 1914 – 1958 John Huey John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band // John Lennon 58 TR 024. On Bach’s Bottom by Alex Chilton Elizabeth Barker Bach’s Bottom // Alex Chilton 60 TR 025. And I Can’t Get Enough: Why My Love for Third Eye Blind’s Self-Titled Debut Album Goes Deeper Than Bones Lindsey Hileman Third Eye Blind // Third Eye Blind 64 TR 026. Lemonade Mara A. Cohen Lemonade // Beyoncé 70 TR 027. A Head Full of Flames: Elliott Smith’s Roman Candle Melissa Brooks Roman Candle // Elliott Smith 72 TR 028. De-Loused in the Pizzeria Kevin D. Woodall De-Loused in the Comatorium // The Mars Volta 77 TR 029. Excavations: On Richard Buckner’s The Hill Matthew Woodman The Hill // Richard Buckner 79 TR 030. Now I’m Dancing… Ingrid Calderon Like a Prayer // Madonna 81 TR 031. Extensions of a Man (for Donny Hathaway) Cory W. Lovell Extensions of a Man // Donny Hathaway 86 TR 032. A Decade in the Ring with Boxer J.S. Robson Boxer // The National 93 TR 033. A Moon Shaped Pool Frank Houston A Moon Shaped Pool // Radiohead 96 TR 034. On The Dark Side of the Moon or: Around and Through Beyond Sam Rasnake TheDark Side of the Moon // Pink Floyd 99 Contributors 102 iii Somewhere We Will Meet: My Life with Radiohead’s OK Computer Sarah Nichols I can’t tell you that I knew about Radiohead from the beginning. Maybe, in 1993, I flicked the radio dial across Thom Yorke’s signature sob-sneer of a voice, unimpressed, a cast-off Radiohead of the grunge I didn’t care about. I was sullen, depressed, and nineteen in 1993; a high OK Computer school dropout. I was the perfect audience for that earnest despair, but I didn’t feel it. I see myself rewinding my cassette of Depeche Mode’s Songs of Faith and Devotion 06/1997 (released a month after Pablo Honey), the bedroom light off, at least until the end of the Parlophone / Capitol first side. I listened to the hold-overs from the last decade; Republic might not be brilliant in the way that Technique was (and is), but it was still New Order. Wish didn’t exert the same night-blooming dread that Disintegration did, but it was still the Cure. I wanted stability, the same voices that I had devoted hours to in all of those dark suburban bedrooms. Time drifted, or sank away. I got a job at a local library; started college. I never moved away from home; it seemed like a risky idea. Anti-depressants came and went in my life like un-reliable boyfriends, causing my mouth to dry out and breaking up with me when their power wore out. I had multiple courses of electroconvulsive therapy (shock treatment) in those years, especially in 1995. My head was the detuned radio from “Karma Police.” A bad signal; flares of memory. Most of it is gone. Radiohead released The Bends that year, and I didn’t know anymore about that than I did about Pablo Honey. No one told me about the video for “Just,” where Jonny Greenwood alternately humps and shreds his guitar while Yorke twitches and lurks; the band dimly aware that, just outside, the rest of humanity is making a colossal mistake. They did it to themselves, and that’s what really hurts. I kept looking for ways to escape.