Kicking Gas for Laughs

Kicking Gas for Laughs : Mike Downey
hrtph003

1. Casper
2. No Prob
3. No Stereo
4. Oils
5. Who's Under the Stairs, Who's Dropping Out and All of That
6. Believer
7. Rescue Rocket
8. Wheel in a White Sky
9. 100 Rooms
10. A Little More Grape Capt. Bragg
11. You Went to War
12. Wait

Download this album for free here (67mb zip file)
In 2006 I was in full recording mode. No job; I didn't have much else to do. This continued through to mid 2007. I amassed a collection of songs so large that I freaked myself out and became overwhelmed. I was used to it taking 3-5 months for a record to come out after it was finished. Not really understanding what my options were at that time I kept these songs under lock and key until earlier this year when I plucked 12 of them out and released them digitally via my own imprint heartphone. This album was called Hold Horses and I see it today as my most accomplished work to date.

I was so satisfied with Hold Horses that I thought it would maintain as my calling card for at least a year until I managed to craft another album's worth of material. Well, seeing what you see above, this wasn't the case. What I didn't consider was this other, admittedly less-planned and not as produced, batch of songs.

I've had a playlist in my iTunes for past couple of months called Kicking Gas for Laughs. This playlist was at one time over 20 songs. Over the past week I slimmed it down and not wanting to break tradition selected my 12 favorites.

So here you have it, for what it's worth, Kicking Gas for Laughs. In my eyes this is a compliment to my latest output and finally represents my music making of the past 2.5 years in full. This was the exhale. I can now take in another deep breath and start the process over again.

Waiting to be outdated

Last night while allen-wrenching the baby crib together m'sweet snapped a photo of me. I was hunched over the work-in-progress in a state of pure focus, caught her out of the corner of my eye and looked up with a smile. Click. I immediately thought that this picture will be seen by our not even born yet child one day. We will say something like, "This was only a couple days before you were born. We were getting ready for your arrival."

Think about pictures of your parents, especially those from before you were born or when you were really little. They are surely laughable. The clothing styles, hairdos, furniture, etc... was at that particular moment in time top of the line, cutting edge. But when we see those pictures it's like we jumped into a pimped De Lorean or dug up a time capsule in the backyard.

I set down the tools and drew my eyes away from the crib and looked around the room. I wondered what the camera had framed. The room is pretty basic. It looks like a baby's room from any decade, maybe even the '70s with our choice of yellows and browns. That doesn't count, not modern enough. The crib, white and classic. That surely won't be it. The PC in the background, if the camera caught it, would definitely be a sign of our times and one day hilarious. And then I realized, it won't be the room's contents that will be funny, it will be me. From my stupid hair to me geeky glasses to whatever happened to be on my 2nd hand tshirt that day. As I change, my appearance changes. I will probably have gray hair one day sooner than I think. My brown locks will be a thing of the past. Maybe I'll get that eye surgery everyone is talking about and my glasses will make for hours of laughter. Maybe I'll get fat and pictures of skinny Mike will be emailed from brother to sister to cousin.

But whatever it is, it's good. It will mean that I have evolved. Like that half built crib I too am a work in progress. It something breaks I hope I can fix it. I have an allen wrench.

Don Simon introduces you to the great fireball sun

Fellow comrade and record label co-boss (more on this later) Don Simon put together this mix to get your summer headed in the right direction. I'll let you know it's what got me through work today.

Simon says that these are the tunes that have been getting the heaviest rotation on his stereo as of late. And that's enough of an explanation. I'll let the mix speak for itself.

Listen: zShare

Download: zShare

Track list:

Summer Kick Off Mix 2008 by Don Simon

1. Sally Shapiro - Jackie Junior (Junior Boys remix)
2. Headman - Hostage
3. Kelly Polar - Entropy Reigns (In the Celestial City)
4. Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone (Fred Falke remix)
5. John Dahlbäck - We Are The Duo
6. Claude VonStroke - The Whistler
7. Solomun & Stimming - Eiszauber
8. Booka Shade - Dusty Boots
9. esa axel - Asthma Star (Socket Science remix)
10. Justus Köhncke - Parage
11. Marascia & Dusty Kid - Sineless
12. Swen Weber - The Pusher
13. Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso Vs Laidback Luke - IT

Don Simon live photo courtesy of Erik Sjödin's flick page.

Footsie

Today - June 29th. Nice.

Extreme or wild

We are playing the waiting game over here. Due date is in 16 days. Those in the know say +/- 2 weeks is normal. I keep waiting to hear a huge splash from the other room (water breaking) but those in the know also have told me that that's not so common. I have seen too many movies, or watched too much bad tv.

I had to tell myself, out loud, last night that having a baby was the most natural thing a person could do. In the midst of it all it started to feel like we were doing something extreme or wild. Nope, totally sensible and normal. I keep saying that to myself.

Weather here in Stockholm has been amazing the last 2 weeks at least. Walking around the city makes me want to keep walking around the city. Cloudless skies are rare here and I have been loving it.

Plants and flowers on our balcony were key. Nothing beats a solid balcony hang.

More news from my side once it bounces in. Until then...