I do realize this mix is two days late, or thereabouts. Perhaps sometime in the near future one (or both!) of us will be able post on regularly and on time.
As a young child my favourite book was The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. I had been given a bunny for one of my first Easters and it was a fairly insignificant toy to me until I became very ill when I was five years old. My toy bunny was a constant companion throughout a year spent in and out of the hospital and operating room, and it showed. After over a year of childish anxiety and tension released through worrying my bunny’s synthetic fur and body, he didn’t much resemble a bunny any more. For obvious reasons, then, I found a special significance in the story of The Velveteen Rabbit. Realizing that I probably haven’t read it since I was a child, I just reread it for the purpose of this post and, sure enough, my eyes welled up all over again. That toy – and book – were the beginning of my affection for all things bunny.
Since then, my love of rabbits has most often manifested itself in my being drawn to cute illustrations and toys, as my attachment to them is primarily sentimental and I tend to want to revisit aspects of my childhood repeatedly. This particular mixtape was also initially inspired by the Myxomatosis title (despite myxomatosis itself being a seriously unfortunate end for our little friends) given to our biweekly playlists. Somehow, though, the word evokes just the right amount of macabre creepiness for our mixtape posts. I’m also never against a tune having to do with a rabbit, whether it’s a tale of familial tension in which a coat represents wealth (“Rabbit Furcoat”), as aids to magicians (“Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat”), or as a character that’s ostensibly wading through a wasteland of industrial noise (“Happy Bunny Goes Fluff-Fluff Along”).
Even though there’s lots of death and darkness in this mix, please enjoy a mixtape that’s dedicated to rabbits, springtime, and many future Myxomatosis mixtapes.
Animal Collective – Who Could Win a Rabbit
David Sylvian – The Rabbit Skinner
Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
Kilburn & the High Roads – The Badger and the Rabbit
of Montreal – Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider
Sparks – Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat
The Cramps – Swing the Big-Eyed Rabbit
The Jesus Lizard – Happy Bunny Goes Fluff-Fluff Along
The Magnetic Fields – Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits
The Moldy Peaches – Little Bunny Foo Foo
Throwing Muses – Rabbits Dying
