A Mixtape for Sad Robots

I feel for sad robots. I can't really explain it. Ask Emily –this has always been the case. Once when I was quite young, probably 9 or so, I heard a song on Dr. Demento (yes, my brothers and I listened to Dr. Demento every week, and taped our favorite songs) called "Marvin I Love You," about a depressed robot who while wiping his memory banks comes across an old love message, but can't remember where it came from. The song made me cry. Seriously. I was afraid my brothers would make fun of me, so I went into the bathroom and cried. I was 9. Later, I read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams, and followed that same sad robot through many adventures.

But, to the point at hand. I have decided that sad robots would probably listen to music. Why not? I listen to music when I'm sad. Sometimes, I hope the songs will cheer me up. Other times, I want to wallow and the music facilitates my self-indulgence. Therefore, I wish to present a mixtape of songs for the sad robot, some for cheering you up, others for helping you stay down. Some of these songs are explicitly robotic, others just have a certain quality i think sad robots would enjoy. I hope you enjoy them as well.

1 - Stereolab - "Analogue Rock." I think that digital creatures would find it funny and ironic to listen to something "analogue." I also think machines would like Stereolab's deliciously driving repetition. Plus, even sad robots would like to dance. Maybe especially sad robots.
2 - Grandaddy - "Jed the Humanoid." This one is actually about a sad robot, named Jed. More specifically, it is about that which all machines fear more than anything else, technological obsolescence.
3 - Blur - "Yuko & Hiro." I am not sure if robots wish they were more human. But, some of them might find it comforting that some humans lead very robotic lives.
4 - Punch Brothers - "Kid A." You know the song Kid A by Radiohead? This version is performed by the avant-classical-jazz-grass ensemble Punch Brothers, fronted by mandolin madman Chris Thile, of Nickel Creek fame. I think robots would like listening to humans on acoustic instruments trying to sound like machines. See, they envy us too, they might think.
5 - The Bad Plus - "Radio Cure." Another cover. I love Wilco's original version of this track, but there is something more unhinged about this take on it. Curiously, the original is perhaps more robotic, with nice buzzing and blipping soundscapes in the background, but this looser jazz reading is cavernous and enigmatic. I think artsy hipster sad robots would love trying to get inside these big empty sonic spaces, forcing themselves to listen slowly.
6 - Grandaddy - "Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)." Reportedly written by the sad robot of song #2. Need I say more?
7 - David Bowie, "Warszawa." This song is cold, rumbly, and screechy - in the very best way. I lived in Warsaw (Warszawa in Polish) for 18 months. I love Warsaw - I miss it constantly. Yet, I have felt frozen winds coming off the Wisla River that would give the thickest metal skin frostbite.
8 - Kraftwerk - "Endless Endless" I don't have to justify this one; Kraftwerk makes robot music par excellence. I'll leave it to the individual sad robot to decide if this ends the mixtape on a happy or sad note. What is endless? What isn't?

Enjoy- Get it  HERE (Sorry, you'll have to put the songs in order based on my list. Or not, you know, as you will.)

Things You Don't Know (about Beatrix)

Emily and I adopted a Russian Blue / Siamese kitten last August. She was named Blythe, but it was immediately apparent that she is much more a Beatrix. As in Beatrix Potter, famous author of Peter Rabbit and others. DO NOT confuse this with Bellatrix, as in Lestrange of Harry Potter.

Here are some things you may not know about Beatrix.

1 - At 11 months old, she weighs almost 9 pounds. I weighed about half a pound more than she does now when I was born. Seriously, thanks mom.
2 - She plays fetch. Mostly with small catnip filled mice, occasionally with plastic rings, like the sort of thing you might break off the neck of your milk carton. She used to do it with hair elastics but now she prefers to chew these to tiny bits.
3 - She does not care for the song "Bugman," by Blur.
4 - She does enjoy "Tender," by Blur.
5 - As seen in the picture above, does enjoy quilting.
6 - Apparently finds headphone wires delicious, as she has eaten through two pairs this month.
7 - Favorite places to sleep: The soft cushion of a lap desk which she upcycled into a bed; my chest, right between shoulder and neck where it is most awkward; on collapsed Trader Joe's paper grocery bags.
8 - Besides headphone wires, her favorite thing to eat is paper. Any piece of paper. Including books. She tries to eat my books everyday.
9 - Wishes to destroy, with her claws, my yoga mat. Perhaps she is attempting a pose with which I am unfamiliar. On normal occasions I do not allow them to be in the same room.
10 - She is a formidable foe in stare contests. I beat her once, and she withdrew from the room in abject shame.
11 - When mostly asleep, enjoys foot rubs. She will stretch out her toes so you can tickle between them.

Hope you can meet her someday-