thefluidaffect

Mixtape: volume II

Recently, I have found myself revisiting the music of my youth. Reasons for this vary, but I am pleased to find a rejuvenated appreciation of this musical time period between 1988 and 1994. The excitement and pleasure these musicians brought me with their innovative sounds and identifiable lyrics between my 7th and 12th grade year seems to have returned and with it, the desire to share these feelings.

a.fluid.affect: vol II – revisit was made with this desire in mind: to share this revival, this reminiscence. The music on this album is a return to the awkwardness. It is a restoration of the sadness, of the frustration and angst, of the exhilaration and freedom, and of the first loves and first losses that encapsulated my teenage years.

It is for hearing “Drive” by R.E.M. on a cold, clear winter night as I drove home in my shitty Oldsmobile and nearly crying. It is for listening to the Pixies for the first time and thinking they were unlike anything I knew before. It is for the Cure and Robert Smith’s lyrics which kept me sane and not feeling alone. It is for slam dancing with the Jesus and Mary Chain and Ministry. It is for PJ Harvey and the Dead Kennedys informing me of how politics and music mesh. It is for the fun of singing along to “American Music” and “Teen Angst” while appreciating Siouxsie Sioux and Sonic Youth. It is for thinking “Tomorrow, Wendy” was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard.

Finally, it is for remembering that no matter how much time I could possibly place in putting together a mix worthy of all those memories, it would never suffice. This, however, is at least an attempt. Enjoy.