The Sun Flowers Are Singing is the title of this brilliant and beautiful new 68 minute mix from Entactogen on Mixotic. Believe me, I am clearly more than a bit opinionated on these sorts of things, and certainly prone to hyperbole when smitten by new sounds, but this is easily one of the best mixes I have ever come across, for free or not, in all of my years of loving electronic music.
As you might expect, the title of the mix superbly personifies the many emotions within, but I was completely unaware of the significance of the word entactogen until I looked it up: it is derived from the roots “en” (Greek: within), “tactus” (Latin: touch) and “gen” (Greek: produce) and commonly refers to a class of drugs designed to provoke feelings of warmth, empathy, and intimacy. Music is the best drug of all, and I absolutely love this explicit connection…
With that in mind, is it any wonder that this mix effortlessly drifts in and out of so many styles and sounds — from indietronic to lounge to folk to downbeat (and that’s just what’s listed in the permalink) to drum ‘n bass to jazz to ambient and everything else in between — yet it all feels as one. Each and every track is top quality, on par with anything I willingly shell out cash for on a weekly basis, which makes it even more astonishing to see that all tracks must be free or creative commons licensed (meaning freely and legally available on the net, as opposed to pay-to-play). This is yet another ingenious invention by Q-man, aka Entactogen, the man who made this mix and runs the Mixotic netlabel.
I am just finishing my third full pass through TSFAS, and already contemplating another. I am so happy to have found this mix, and I only hope (and truly believe) you will enjoy it as much as I do.
Robert Cringely saidbest:
Profit is to be found not just in pleasing dissatisfied customers, but in dissatisfying them in the first place so they will then pay to be pleased.
That’s life to a T in the Bush era.
This scam only succeeds because we continue to support a broken system, rather than demanding a better way. Then again, that’s true of most of our ills these days (see my previous post for more on that subject).
Of course, we could end it all in a heartbeat, if we just worked together…
The problem with America, ruthlessly laid bare by Jim Kunstler:
The people I know complain endlessly about how stupid President George W. Bush is, and how badly he has lied to the public about this or that. But a casual observer from Mars would have to conclude that President Bush perfectly represents a nation that shows such a thoroughgoing incapacity for thought, and such an aversion to the truth about its own behavior. A people so hopelessly unwilling to get its act together deserves to suffer.
And the solution to our woes, masterfully diagnosed by Prince Campbell:
Most people fail to grasp this but our emotions are stronger than our minds. And until you get your emotions under control (especially in stressful situations) your brain can’t work.
My favorite contrarian sets it up and my favorite soothsayer knocks it down. All I have to do it pull it all together…
Speaking of which, I truly believe that America is more than ready for someone or something to cut through the bullshit and call it like it is. We may be shocked by the truth, but at least it’s real; more importantly, it will even feel real after nearly seven years of Bush’s stifling delusions of grandeur.