Month: August 2019

Dizzy Heights #61: ‘Summer’ Songs

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I’m going to take a small break from the word-themed shows, but before I do so, I thought, Let’s say goodbye to summer with a show filled with songs about summer.

This started out as a much different show, but once I spotted the alt and alt-adjacent vibe pulsing through it, I took out several well-known acts that no longer fit in. (It also stopped me from adding a brand-new Taylor Swift song at the last minute.) The Kinks, America, Springsteen, and yes, even Seals & Crofts, gone. Was that the right call? That is for you to decide, dear listener, but opening with the Barracudas and the Undertones? I regret nothing.

Thank you, as always, for listening.

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Dizzy Heights #60: Run Betsi Run (a 2003 beat mix tape, digitized and expanded)

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This post goes live on Popdose on my birthday, yay! So I decided to have some fun.

I wanted to take a break from the themed shows, so I started to look at old cassettes in my collection, with the plan to digitize them. I found a running mix that I made for my sister-in-law Betsi sometime in 2003 – I put Franka Potente from “Run Lola Run” on the cover and everything – and thought, “That’s the one.”

Over two thirds of the songs here came out between 1998 and 2003, though the overall track listing ranges between 1990 and 2005. This might be the ultimate Medsker mix, in that it’s slightly alternative (Chemical Brothers, Underworld), a lot poppy (Simply Red, Madonna), and embarrassingly trendy (Fatboy Slim, The Wiseguys). To quote “The Greatest Showman,” this is me.

And it’s true: I actually remixed the Madonna track, as part of an ACID-sponsored contest. I sent it to a musician in an attempt to persuade him to let me remix one of his songs, and he said, “You are soooo Arthur Baker,” which to this day is still one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t let me remix his song, though.

Thank you, as always, for moving your feet.

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