i made three DJ mixes in the past 24 hours. 1 of 3.

once the sound equipment is hooked up and you’ve done a preliminary scan of your library, it’s almost too irresistible to not begin. so you, good readers, are getting two of them tonight, with some explanation. hopefully, this will become a Thing. i’ve recorded each of these sets on the first take, which is something i’m a bit married to: in part for authenticity (i don’t get a second chance when i’m DJing live), but also because i am easily frustrated and nothing feels worse than getting 30 minutes into a set, doing something kind of stupid that an inner perfectionist cringes over—something that only professional DJs and/or music-makers/lovers are even capable of detecting—and either having to start over or keep going with low morale. i prefer the latter (frankly.), because in general i am unconvinced that whatever one-second-two mistake that will keep me up at night will not be replaced by another blemish in another part of the set. so with that, i guess i’ll admit to this: every set i record and distribute has one moment that makes me cringe. in the scheme of things, it’s pretty minor. my colleagues might remake their mixes, but i don’t. there you have it.

you can also go to my mixcloud profile here, and stream/share/like/+1 from there. i never really do this, but i’m hoping to get these circulated a little bit, so if you like what you hear please reinforce me with social media participation. <3

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the sets that will follow are part of a series of cover mixes called Second-Hand Songs. way back when, i suppose a year or two ago, i partnered with several local cover bands (erotic city, the tar plains, pink noise, unknown pleasures) to do an all-cover night at the matador called Under Cover. i considered keeping the name and continuing these mixes in that tradition, but decided ultimately that my sound and the schtick itself were very different things, all the while listening to fleetwood mac and hearing “second-hand news.” so here it goes.

Dj rhienna | second-hand songs, mix no. 1 by Djrhienna on Mixcloud



second-hand news, mix no. 1 setlist:
• neon indian - children of the revolution (t.rex). an incredible cover version of one of my favorite t.rex tracks. neon indian are one of those bands who structurally have a perfect thing going, put on a terrific live show, but you’re constantly feeling like maybe you need to do more drugs to really appreciate. i found this song months ago, streaming on a music blog i follow, which i feverishly sent to my sister fueled by my marc bolan love, only to have totally missed the fact the track was available on aforementioned blog for download. didn’t i feel pretty dumb when i “found” the track a few weeks ago, and the sibling had to break the news to me.
• mister little jeans - the suburbs (arcade fire). big thanks to c. for tuning me onto this track—i had only heard mister little jean’s cover of “single ladies” by beyonce (see below) but this actually blows the original out of the water in my opinion.
• beck’s record club - devil inside (INXS). all my baggage with beck aside, his side project beck’s record club—an informal music club with Famous People who record an album (by greats like leonard cohen, velvet underground, INXS, etc. also, apparently, yanni?) in a single day—is The Shit for anyone who digs cover songs. i found out about the cohen tribute first, and another INXS track made an appearance on one of my “best of 2010” mixes from last year.
• dump - when you were mine (prince). THISSONGISSOGOODGUYS. dump, for those of you who didn’t know, is a side project by the ever-talented members of yo la tengo. this song (incidentally, one of my favorite songs by The Purple One), is on an album titled, terrifically, That Skinny Motherfucker with the High Voice. this is one of my favorite cover songs of all time.
• casiotone for the painfully alone - graceland (paul simon). this track snuck up on me, biking one beautiful afternoon on the waterfront and being surprised by how powerful simon’s lyrics are striped out of the “singer-songwriter” packaging and poured into something lo-fi and modern. i don’t think the line “losing love is like a window in your heart/ everybody sees you’re blown apart/everybody sees the wind blow” will ever not slay me.
• ludella black and the masonics - i’ve just seen a face (the beatles). i fought the temptation to make an exclusively beatles cover mix, only to realize it would invariably just sound like the across the universe soundtrack. at any rate, this song is rocking, despite my disapproval of cover artists changing the pronouns around, ludella has a great sound and breathes soul into this old song.
• florence and the machine - addicted to love (robert palmer). my favorite covers are the borderline guilty pleasure jams (see also: self’s “what a fool believes” below). florence’s version of this 80s “classic” is no exception, but it is beautiful.
• the slits - i’ve heard it through the grapevine (norman whitfield). ‘nuff said.
• raveonettes - my boyfriend’s back (the angels). an oldie but goodie, in more ways than one: this is one of the first tracks i heard by the raveonettes, as well as one of the songs i grew up with. somehow, despite a youth with ready-access to 70s, 80s and even 90s songs, instead i was fixated on music from the 50s and 60s, with a penchant for what i affectionately call the Depressing-Ass Love Ballads (which wikipedia calls, apparently, teenage tragedy songs. huh.). you know the kind; the next song is one of them.
• girls - end of the world (skeeter davis). see above. see also: girl, interrupted.
• tom waits - sea of love (phil phillips). i through this waits track in because the world always could use a little extra tom waits, but also because “sea of love” is from the same era as the previous tracks, and i am kind of wild about this version.
• sally shapiro - he keeps me alive (nixon). nixon’s a britpop band whose catalog i am completely unaware of, save this track. i actually like this cover version just about as much as the original, though sally’s not doing too much to depart from it.
• austra - woodstock (joni mitchell). austra is perfect. joni mitchell is perfect. this song sounds like it’s the wrong speed and tempo and yet, completely works. it’s also a perfect track to end on.

xo dj rhienna