First Dispatch \ Don't Die Wondering mix

The third in our series of Dispatches will be curated from here on in by the good folks at Don’t Die Wondering. One of the most interesting, and wittiest new music blogs around, DDW has ploughed their furrow, avoiding narrow definitions of genre or taste, but never slipping below totally amazing and totally new. They are affiliated with Merok (who, as if you need reminding, release Blondes, Salem, Crystal Castles and Teengirl Fantasy) and are part of the Altered Zones network, and we’re very happy to have Noam mix for us on a monthly basis.

Don’t Die Wondering is a music blog dedicated to new and up-and-coming artists. It posts mp3’s that it stumbles across that are quite new and presents them as a humble offering before its reading audience. The blog was started in April 2009 by myself alongside a few alternating members, each of which had a contribution to its early days and shaping. After running for a few months it became crystal clear that I was the only one still going at it, and it got a bit lonely. I gradually started feeling less like I need to adhere to some kind of collective discipline and rather started viewing it more more as my own free-for-all fantasy sandbox, and instead of feeling obliged to write strictly about music, began enjoying the idea that it could also be a platform for writing about other things as well that might be a little more diverse or pertinent to myself, like myself, or people I know, or made-up versions of myself and of people I know, or semi-ridiculous scenarios or ideas that are entirely serious.

If pressed to summarize the blogs ‘mission statement’, I’d say it takes music extremely seriously, and takes what it says extremely seriously, and tries its hand at presenting both to the best of its capabilities, but doesn’t necessarily take itself as a concept too seriously, and sometimes takes a mildly perverse, self-indulgent pleasure in eschewing or playing with that concept of itself. Ultimately, DDW doesn’t have much pretense beyond being a taste blog, albeit my taste. If anyone shares and enjoys it then we can be friends. Maybe one day it will evolve and grow into something other than that, but at the moment I’m quite comfortable with things the way they are.

Primarily I’d like to use this opportunity to say thanks to the artists whose music I pillage on a daily basis and without whom DDW would just be a collection of loosely connected words and questionable graphics. THANKS.

The introductory mix below was made with the intention of being quite breezy and welcoming, and contains some older and more recent favorites from distant corners clouding my memory while putting it together.

Tracklist

1. Lucky Dragons – Mercy
2. Carly Simone – Why
3. OPN – Angel
4. Teengirl Fantasy – Hollywood Hills
5. D-Mob – They Call It Acieeed
6. Shams – Pillow Tlk
7. Gavin Froome – Sunsets
8. Rasmus Folk – Coupe
9. XTC – Procession Towards Learning Land
10. Prince – Pop Life
11. Neon Pulse – Sipped
12. Gui Boratto – Acrostico
13. Oud Hud – The Stoked American