The Jump Off

1. Ducktails Theme
2. Christina Aguilera - Still Dirrty
3. Snoop Dogg- Vato ft. B-Real
4. Brooke Hogan - About Us ft. Paul Wall
5. R.A.M.P. - Daylight
6. The Killers - All These Things That I've Done
7. Phil Collins - Easy Lover
8. Missy Elliott - On & On
9. Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now
10. Ace Of Base - All That She Wants
11. Lil' Kim - The Jump Off
12. Razorlight - Somewhere Else
13. Animaniacs Theme
14. Beck - E-Pro
15. J-Lo - Get Right (Remix) ft. Fabolous
16. ELO - Mr. Blue Sky
17. David Bowie - Magic Dance
18. Missy Elliott - The Rain
19. Talespin Theme
20. The Killers - Somebody Told Me

Among the branches and in the living room, in worlds unreal and composed on paper, spanning the hours betwixt lessons and meal time and cared for by grandparents, nurturing and supportive but also tired and at their wit's end. An exodus for this child. Colour and madness provide the ideal escape from a world where love never seems to last except between parents and their children. A grim world in the aftermath of the reign of a grotesque witch who'd drained all the joy from the people to then be replaced by a gray, charisma vacuum. Things are slow in getting better. And so off into animated lands of ducks and bears and insane siblings I go. Themes that will earworm for decades soundtrack the transition, from reality into a glorious universe of living paint and paper.

And then there are the moving pictures, another exodus from the real world. One where a legendary popstar pretends to be a king of goblins meanwhile a young, future Oscar winner seeks her abducted brother with the help of many lively puppets, is a place this now young teen frequently visits. Push existence to the side and indulge in fantasy. Ah, those songs! Such a joy.

Older now but still young and dumb, in discotheques seeking fun and drugs and sex.  Different scenes, different music, the goals remain steady. An alternative to the mundane. Snatch Club for variety, songs new and old, Establishment for bars and soul and songs about carnality and the rapture of the party. Indigo and EVOL for introspection and sensitivity masquerading as hedonism. The Mission and Genetic for the fun of costume and fake aggression and heavy music. All the while making bonds with others pursuing the same highs with analogous tastes. Vibrant interactions, drama and dancing. A magnificent time in the darkness and smoke. Nights and songs that I wont remember with people; unforgettable.

Waxing nostalgic here, thinking about the old days. An adult looking back. Now isn't bad but is it as good as then? Remember that song?! Remember that night?! What a blast. Who was that guy?! Where did she go? Why did we do that?! *groan* What fun we had. Bathe in the score of those memories for a short time, put off dealing with the now. It's okay to do sometimes. Necessary in fact.

Perhaps as middle age sets in I'll disappear into some soulful jazz, on a trip. To take a short break from living my middle aged life.

This was some of the incidental music. The three cartoon themes on this mix are grand; Ducktails had the better theme (with its wah-wah guitar solo that sounds like a quacking duck), Animaniacs was the better show. On Still Dirrty Christina Aguilera sounds good over an awesome DJ Premier beat, but her claims are unconvincing. The beat simply isn't grimy enough to sell her claims of nastiness. She doesn't sound like she really means it. Vato by Snoop is fine but if we're being honest it wasn't the most inspired of his Neptunes collaborations. God only knows where that Brooke Hogan song came from. It isn't great which I'm sure is surprising to no-one. Roy Ayers' Daylight is classic and I will still be listening to it into my old age. Two Killers tracks on this mix?! I never liked them as a band nor rated their albums but in the right setting (The Liquid Room on a Wednesday night, high on E in 2007) their singles were undeniable. Easy Lover; perfect. On & On is the ideal marriage of an utterly loony Neptunes beat and Missy Elliot who sounds more at home the more mental the instrumental is. I Think We're Alone Now is I Think We're Alone Now, which is to say; terrific. Same goes for All That She Wants. Notorious K.I.M. lucked out when Timbaland decided to give her The Jump Off. The beat knocks SO hard. She does well enough on it. Somewhere Else is one of those ones that I like but can't really explain why. It's awful. I love it. E-Pro bangs, in a peculiar way for a Beck tune. The Get Right remix is dope. Mr Blue Sky will forever, for some reason, make me think of my dear friend Mr. David Sodergren. And Magic Dance will forever, for better or worse, make me think of Mr. David Bowie's penis.

This is how we soundtrack our lives. When life is too real there is always music. A way to cope. A dalliance with another life. There will be sunny days and magic and there will be The Rain (another Missy masterpiece) and heartache. It will be hard. And it will be wonderful. And it will sound... well... varying in quality.