Mix tapes or DJ mix releases are hardly a unique concept, but it's extremely rare that one isn't a 100% 4/4 techno mix, mildly forgettable, or posing as a commercial for some record label's other releases or a resume for DJ publicity. Get a Room defies all of that and reminds me of another significant mix that defied conventions, KLF's Chill Out.
Extreme
Parallels can be drawn between the romanticism of the open American highway and the Australian Outback. While Chill Out was the KLF's soundtrack of a fictitious journey through the American landscape, I could see Get a Room scoring a long drive in Australia with nothing but scenery to look at. Like Chill Out, the journey here can act both as foreground and background. Songs morph into each other almost seamlessly, either alone or with the slightest bits of sublime effects. Songs aren't identified, tracks aren't titled, and often there are a few songs or sources playing simultaneously. While the styles range from vocal lounge to micro dub, classic R&B to atmospheric country-influenced steel guitar, orchestral soundtrack music and sound effects, the feel remains pretty easy going. It's always in motion, however; never does it feel like it's dragging nor has it wandered completely off course.
There could be dialogue over bits like on track 6, where a lazy accordion and string melody accompanies the sounds of the ocean, before the melodic climax of course; but in other spots are more vocal songs, which can't help but take center stage. I can't help but feel like I recognize a ton of these songs but I'm embarrassed to say how few I can properly identify. My guess is a lot of it has been taken from underground film soundtracks of the '60s and '70s even though there are clearly songs that come from the '90s and this decade.
The lapping of the ocean returns with what could be Italian or Spanish standards, streetside sounds accompany downbeat R&B before night falls and low tone bells sound over the noises of crickets and other nighttime bugs. It's the low tones and creepy bugs that make this release on Extreme almost make sense, but as things pick back up again to porn soundtrack-ish music, my mind is once again far from the music Extreme has come to be known for.
It's nice to have the Extreme label back in the game, as I have always found their releases pretty solid and always worth listening to. This disc, however, has been a complete surprise in terms of its versatility and has frequently scored dinners at home, car rides, and other things since I got it. I think I read somewhere that the two creators were promising a tracklisting of the album but at this point I honestly don't want to know it.
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