You Schmooze You Lose: Raus mit den alten...

Due to changing times and transitory longings, your DJ has been doing a bit of housekeeping here at the Schmoozer. The dusty sets that put this train wreck into motion have been stored safely in the blogosphere for posterity's sake; think of it as throwing your old lover's records out the window while holding on to that one rare pressing that might be worth some money someday. Now that we've released the past, let's dive face-first into the first Schmooze set of a mended heart. Some old favorites will be stumbled upon, but now we can listen to them with new ears and a new outlook. It's nice to be indifferent to indifference, isn't it? You Schmooze, You Lose: An Imaginary DJ Set By Jennie Willis Thee Oh Sees- I was Denied Starting things out with a bang is a newish track from Thee Oh Sees, a jangling triumph over being denied. Regardless of being cliche, things really do seem better the next day. The danceable distortion offered up here attests to that. Grinderman- (I don't need you to) Set Me Free We've all been sick at the thought and sight of someone, that one person who manages to scrape their way under your skin for reasons uncertain. Who hasn't spent a restless night waiting to catch a glimpse of the mirage of love that makes us break into a lonely sweat? The swirling garage spasms of Grinderman releases us from such restless illness. Whether or not you want to be set free, at some dead-end point you have to move along. Bush Tetras- Too Many Creeps Next up we have the claustrophobic funk of No Wave club favorites Bush Tetras. Living in the city and being female can leave one vulnerable to creepster paranoia and the urge to become a shut in, safe from leers and scummy manipulators. Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra- Summer Wine Once again, Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra take on their collaborative roles on this enigmatic psychedelic country selection, with Hazelwood as the disillusioned wanderer and Sinatra as the siren that provides a haven for his vagabond mind...but not without a price. Suicide- Shadazz The spacey synthesized sex of Suicide bounces along and runs an alien tongue along your neck in this ode to the crash-landing of a Creole queen singing the cosmic blues. Bauhaus- Ziggy Stardust Peter Murphy's sneer and Daniel Ash's guitar bombast take on this Bowie track and give it guts and thrust. The louder the better. Blixa Bargeld- Somewhere Over the Rainbow Einsturzende Neubauten vocalist and subterranean dreamboat Blixa Bargeld slips into our solitude subtly with this rendition of a song everyone and their mother has heard. However no other version pulses and lulls like this selection does. Bargeld's slightly sardonic vocal delivery suggests that maybe all dreams don't come true...but at least there can be beauty in circumvention. Gallon Drunk- Up On Fire Bringing us out of our stupor is this smoldering track from sleaze rockers Gallon Drunk. Desire can be poisonous and likened to a knife plunged into the jugular, but everyone has some level of masochism bubbling under the surface. Swans- Goddamn the Sun Ending the night is a desolate yet resolute selection from Swans. Addiction and loss is mourned and contemplated but accepted as aspects of living. What is worse, ignoring these things or facing them head on? Swans have chosen the latter, as you should if you want to know what it's like to truly exist.