Election '08 Mega-mix Tape

In this season of voter registration hoaxes, uncanny SNL performances, last-minute endorsements, and final pushes in battleground states, we here at Oh! Industry recognize the need for and draw towards paranoia and cynicism. In an efforts to transform these 'ugly feelings' into energies of utopic potential, we put out a call for contributors to our "2008 Election Megamix-tape".

Because we all believe in the power of music to change lives, minds, and even the world, here is a short compilation of raucous anthems, power ballads, and bass-dropping manifestos to provide a virtual soundscape for Election Day 2008. They are the songs to carry us through the ballot counting on Tuesday, November 4th. They are the songs we want to wake up hearing the morning of Wednesday, November 5th.

Caren Kaplan, scholar/writer
(Davis, CA)

Today Will be a Good Day by Dianne Reeves
We are going to try to kick this thing into another dimension.

***

Julie Tolentino, Performance Artist
(SFviaNYnowMOHAVE)

Depending on the outcome:

KISS
Scout Niblett/Bonnie Prince Billy

Nothing illuminates nor breaks a divide (nor changes your mind) like an aching love song.



SANS COMMENTAIRE by Autour de Lucie
"No fatty acids"
"No job"
"No i.d."
"No future (feminine tense)"

***

Ned Raggett, journalist for Allmusic.com/OC Weekly/Plan B/Metal Edge etc.
(Costa Mesa, CA)

VNV Nation, "The Farthest Star"

This song reinspired me and reinvigorated me when it came to engaging with life, politics and more, a personal recharge that seeks to reach all the universe even though it never could. It's been carrying me through everything ever since I first heard it last year.

***

Tavia Nyong'o, scholar/writer
(Brooklyn, NY)

In the category of "bass-dropping manifestos" I submit "Shake That Devil" from the latest Antony and the Johnsons EP "Another World." The song begins in the center of a whirlwind. After two and half minutes of soundscapey distortion effects providing only the barest support for Antony's quavering voice as he peals repeatedly "That dog had its way with me, shake that dog out of the tree," drums and horns roll out over the song like thunder, and lament turns into foot-stamping incantation, exhortation, exorcism. "That bird came at me with a knife," Antony sings, "told me she wanted my life. Shake that bird out of the tree, so that everyone can see." This is where I want to be with birds, pigs, and dogs falling out of trees everywhere and the devils in our minds getting shaken out of bushes throughout the land.

***

Joel Bernardo, bass player, The Jack Lords
(Jersey City, NJ)

"Road to Nowhere," Talking Heads

700 billion reasons why.

***

Juana Maria Rodriguez, scholar/writer
(Berkeley, CA)

"Mala Suerte Con Calle 13," Calle 13

Chorus: Vamos a faltarnos el respeto usando el alfabeto completo. (Let's disrespect each other using the entire alphabet). I have not had so much fun trashing politicians since "W" began running for president.

***

Ken Wissoker, editorial director, Duke University Press
(Durham, NC)

Donald Byrd, "Change (Makes You Want to Hustle)" from his fab Places and Spaces LP.

The title makes it a kind of obvious choice, but I like the way its dance floor energy always makes me feel like I need to do something. (I always heard it as makes me want to hustle.) So, the change goes from Obama's call to our action to make change happen.

***

Taiyo Na, musician/actor
(Hometown: New York, NY)

"Love Is Growth," Taiyo Na

I just hope that we all make the "growth" choice on November 4th, the choice that's going to take the country out of 8 years of hell under the Bush regime and take us to a future where we can really see our children's children happier because of it.

***

Karen Tongson, Oh! Industry/scholar/writer
(Los Angeles, CA)

"Forever," Chris Brown

There's something celebratory, hopeful, expansive about the swirling synthesizers and vocoder harmonies of this song.

"It's like I waited my whole life for this one night..."

One voice multiplied in echo and variation as it speaks to a future world in which we find salvation, right as we tumble backwards off the ledge:
"And I won't let you fall. Let you fall. Let you fall...Oh..."



I believe in this one night and where we go from here.

***

Christine Balance, Oh! Industry/scholar/writer/The Jack Lords
(Los Angeles, CA)

(the roving reporter, en route from New York to Los Angeles as we speak...)

Two anthems, one for this evening (and also found on Obama's IMEEM playlist) -



And one for the morning after -




AND FROM THE MORNING AFTER:
Genevieve Yue, writer, artisan, paper-pusher
(Los Angeles, CA)

I don’t remember if it had rained, or if I had only imagined it, as everything from the night before seemed like a dream. If nothing else, though, the morning of November 5th was surprisingly clear. So my belated pick is Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World,” which gently bridges the wide gulf between a world barely imagined and one that’s just arrived. It’s an incredible transition; from Judy Garland’s wistfulness in 1939 to Louis Armstrong’s worn and tender affections in 1968, Iz glides effortlessly between both. And though the song’s been overplayed probably more than most, it manages to sound always fresh, and never more so than on that quiet, still-early morning. “That’s where you’ll find me,” he sings, referring to a made-up place that, from his vantage point, looks real after all. On the cover of Facing Future, he’s standing with his back to us, looking out at the world over there, over the rainbow. The whole world. And though we can’t quite see it, at least not yet, we believe him when he tells us, his husky voice breaking in some places, what a wonderful world it is.