Past The Verge. The Heartbreak Anthology: Part 4

This is the mix for women’s sadness, which is a brutal and powerful thing to experience for most involved parties. To be clear, I’m not talking about a scorned woman. That was the purpose of HBC #002. I’m talking about the times when a woman feels truly and honestly sad, desperate , and afraid that she is not or will not be loved. When she has no ideas of how to fix things, no plans for solutions or alternatives, just a dangerous vacuum. This has it’s own special and heavy gravity. With all attempts to have female sadness romanticized, marginalized, and  mocked I feel that its true impact never changes. I think it’s possible to appear unfazed or actually be temporarily indifferent to a devastated woman, but that doesn’t last. Only true sociopaths are immune.

When woman are strong or weak there seems to have be a comfortable cliche to soften, dismiss, or reverse the situation, but when women are truly destroyed, the world seems out of balance, something is wrong. Men don’t, and probably never will, have this power. I like that. Be it chauvinism, guilt, misguided pity, the reality of maternal nature, world history, personal hang-ups, or just me being a pussy…I don’t care. I like the fact that this gender imbalance (or at least my view of it) falls into the woman’s court.

I realize that the idea of making mixes for women that are supposed to sync up with their heaviest emotions is ridiculous, but this is my offering. I tried to feature songs that had a few various root causes of women’s sadness (relating specifically to heartbreak) that I have run across, from the understandable to the illogical and maddening. In an attempt to keep the relevance of this blog I am having two guest mixes for female sadness and anger that will be done by actual females coming later this month. Seeing the contrast alone should be fun or at least educational. Here we go ladies: A soundtrack to one of the things that (most)men are afraid of.

HBC MIX #004

FOR: Dealing With Heartbreak, Shock and Depression Stages. For Her.

1. Little Dragon – Twice
2. Beach House – Some Things Last A Long Time
3. Shangri-Las - I’ll Never Learn
4. Lali Puna – Don’t Think
5. Patsy Cline – Why Can’t He Be You?
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Down Boy
7. Betty Crutcher – So Lonely Without You
8. Blonde Redhead – Misery Is A Butterfly (Wicked Version)
9. Aretha Franklin – Without The One I Love
10. Holly Golightly with The Greenhornes – There Is An End
11. Nina Simone – Either Way I Lose
12. Cat Power – Metal Heart (Original Version)
13. Heart – Alone
14. Boss Hog – Texas
15. Dolly Parton – Jolene
16. Portishead – Mysterons
17. Etta James – Fool That I Am
18. Neko Case – (Look For Me) I’ll Be Around
19. Delizia – Laissons Passer les Annees
20. Mazzy Star – Into Dust
21. Debbie Dean – A New Girl
22. Yael Naim – Toxic

LINK: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yynj3xtkdmy

Sadgasm. The Heartbreak Anthology: Part 3

Good Evening. Let’s Get Sad. To that place where someone leaves you and advice and logic are useless. The mind usually leaps into a mode to fix its own imbalance as quickly as possible. This, of course, is usually the worst sort of reaction because heartbreak isn’t commonly a quick fix. Even if there is hope for a relationship most often there is a sizeable amount of arduous time apart required to recalibrate yourself and then properly recognize, accept, and mend the toxic elements that brought everything down. That’s if you’re lucky.

This mix is for men, and a woman’s mix will be following shortly. However, I think they all the sadness mixes will work for both sexes, much more than the anger mixes. Sadness usually makes us be a bit more accepting of another point of view because, well, we want everything to be ok.

I think that the brain has a hard time suddenly losing what it had come to assume was an essential element, no matter the amount of clues beforehand. The natural human reaction to say or do anything to solve a long view problem overnight (like a rotten relationship) eventually reminds us all that we, despite our quasi-sophistication, cannot escape becoming very irrational and dishonest with ourselves at our core.  This is a generalization, but seeing how most cultures defend this behavior in art, music, etc. as an inescapable defining human characteristic, I’d say its close enough to declare embedded in us. I don’t think we can evolve out of it. So…here’s what we get back for all of that intractable self destruction and pain.

Some of these songs are by the people who “cause” this sadness and the rest were written by really, really desperate and devastated people at their most irrational and broken. They’re so fucking good.

 HBC MIX #003

FOR: Dealing with Heartbreak - Depression and Bargaining Stages. For Him. 

1. James Brown – Goodbye My Love, Parts 1 & 2
2. Peter, Bjorn, and John – The Chills
3. Al Green – Don’t Hurt Me No More
4. Willie Nelson – Both Sides Now
5. The Walkmen – Many Rivers To Cross
6. Chuck Berry – Wee Wee Hours
7. Johnny Thunders – You Can’t Put Your Arm Around A Memory
8. Elvis Presley – That’s When Your Heartaches Begin
9. The White Stripes – A Martyr For My Love For You
10. Little Stevie Wonder – Sunset
11. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Sympathetic Noose
12. Sammy Ward – Bread Winner
13. Kyu Sakamoto – Sukiyaki
14. Pavement – Here
15. Sam Cooke – Bring It On Home
16. Waylon Jennings – Delia’s Gone
17. Frank Sinatra – In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning
18. The Magnetic Fields – I Don’t Want To Get Over You
19. Otis Redding – You Don’t Miss Your Water
20. Neil Young – Heart of Gold
21. The Make-Up – Time Machine
22. LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great

LINK: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?wvmozyzzojk

Girl Trouble. The Heartbreak Anthology: Part 2

Ok, this one is a heartbreak anger mix for women. It’s always a bit dangerous soundtracking for the other gender. Picking songs that go along with male frustration and loss is a pretty effortless task, but flipping the card to score what women would find helpful when they are pissed at, well, you is uphill and bittersweet to put it mildly. I’m sure there must be some rooted psychological block foiling the idea. I must have told myself 10 times to put a Tori Amos song on this mix and for some reason it didn’t end up there. On the other hand I’m sure we all pick up some hate empathy from the opposite sex just from being around it, plus I hate most men anyway so maybe this will work. We’ll see. Open fire ladies. Leave some feedback. I hope you get a sardonic chuckle out of this one at least…

HBC MIX #002

Please keep the track order. I’ve tried everything to have it load automatically, but itunes always has other priorities. If anyone has a suggestion I’m listening.

FOR: Dealing with Heartbreak – Shock and Anger Stages. For Her.

1. Aretha Franklin – Chain of Fools [Extended Version]
2. The Fitness – Dance This
3. The Fiery Furnaces – Single Again
4. Fabienne DelSol – I’m Gonna Haunt You
5. The Slits – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
6. Loretta Lynn – The Pill
7. Von Iva – Not Hot To Trot
8. Lykke Li – I’m Good, I’m Gone
9. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – Doing All Right With The Boys
10. France Gall – Laisse Tomber Les Filles [Chick Habit]
11. Beyonce – Irreplaceable
12. The Ting Tings – Keep Your Head
13. Josie Cotton – Johnny, Are You Queer?
14. Petula Clark – Romeo
15. The Duke Spirit – Love Is An Unfamiliar Name
16. Big Mama Thornton – I Smell A Rat
17. The Kimonos – You Better Run
18. The Flirtations – Nothing But A Heartache
19. Ladytron – Another Breakfast With You
20. The 2 of Clubs – Heart
21. Erykah Badu – Tyrone
22. Annie – Take You Home

LINK: http://www.mediafire.com/?zznhymnykol

Welcome to Heartbreak City. Let The Healing Begin.

Welcome. I have looked around and never found a truely comprehensive blog of break up music, I thought that would start one. By comprehensive I mean that all of the different emotions that people go through when they have been left alone are catered to. An archeive that is always there for whatever state people are in when it come to heartbreak. The first four mixes are actually from my other blog, Production For Use (http://productionforuse.wordpress.com). It’s a blog for various life soundtracks, and heartbreak seemed to be the best and most inclusive way to start it off. Unfortunately, that accessibility started weighing on everything, and I refused to junk the mixes that I had already made so I figured a specialty blog was a good solution. There will be tons of guest mixes on this blog so that we can cover all of the bases: different races, genders, sexual preferences, etc. I hope that they help when they need to. They are also just great collections of music.

Listening to music to deal with getting your heart stomped is probably the most common use of all music, ever since humans knew enough words to say “Fuck this, I’m leaving”.  I’m sure there’s a romantic explaination…something about the heart technically being an instrument. Cruelty and sensitivty appears to be engrained in our genetic make-up, therefore heartbreak is also the most common theme in music. It beats love songs by a mile…in numbers and appreciation. This isn’t surprising. Heartbreak is one of the only things everyone can relate to. Love songs are excessive supplements, break up songs are a necessity.

Against my better judgement I decided to take on the task of finding a handful of what I thought were the most useful songs for heartbreak. Not just song about heartbreak, but songs that would be useful when you are actually going through it. As you may imagine there is a long and diverse list. Heartbreak is never simple, even when it is.  Valentine’s Day seemed like the ideal place to start. HBC will be presenting several different collections of songs for romantic loss over the coming days. This is an attempt at a handy loveworn anthology. The mixes are gender specific and loosly follow the 7 stages of greif. The kick-off mix is for men, and the tone is angry.

Remember to please retain the song order.

Heartbreak City Mix #001

FOR: Dealing with Heartbreak - Shock & Anger Stages. For Him. 

1. Steve Martin – How To Leave Your Lover
2. Saul Williams – List of Demands (Reparations)
3. Simon & Garfunkel – Cecilia
4. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – There’s Something Wrong With You
5. Q65 – Get Out Of My Life Woman
6. The Wu-Tang Clan – Dogshit
7. The Rolling Stones – Some Girls
8. Zeigenbock Kopf – I Know Sorry When I See It
9. The Sonics – Shot Down
10. The Lovemakers – Whine and Dine (DJ Cuba Gooding Jr. Remix)
11. Crooked Fingers – Solitary Man
12. Desmond Dekker – This Woman
13. Willie Nelson – Bloody Mary Morning
14. The Dirtbombs – Lost Love
15. Half Japanese – 1,000,000 Kisses
16. Baby Huey & Baby Sitters – Messin With The Kid
17. The Cold War Kids – There’s Something Not Right With Me
18. Ghostface Killah – You Know That I’m No Good (Ft. Amy Winehouse)
19. The Bee Gees – Earnest of Being George
20. Pere Ubu – Final Solution
21. Phoenix – Consolation Prizes
22. John Lee Hooker – I’m Bad Like Jesse James (Live)
23. Journey – You’re On Your Own

LINK: http://www.mediafire.com/?mcm2jvy2ezf

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