Mixtape: Onset by Ivan Salcedo
Looking back east from the west.
This month’s mix comes from Ivan Salcedo: storyteller, educator, and middle child. Born and raised in New York, Ivan now finds himself in Los Angeles where he crafted this mixtape to tell the emotional story of that journey and all the great artists and people he left behind.
It’s only natural that in the wake of Thanksgiving we take some time to explore and reflect upon this country’s second greatest pilgrimage: NY ✈ LA.
Listen to Onset and read our discussion below.
Listen → Onset by Ivan Salcedo
Tracklist:
Hope She’ll Be Happier - Bill Withers
Say Hello - BSKi
Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi - Rosalía and Ozuna
RENE - Free Nationals, Callum Connor
Down to Ride - Gary Clark Jr.
Orlando - Blood Orange
Sweet Life - Frank Ocean
Sweet Time - Raveena
Better Than I Imagined - Robert Glasper fear. H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello
Don’t Wanna Be - Xenia Rubinos
Yesterday - Noname
GREEN BANANAS: Walk us through your mixtape!
IVAN SALCEDO: The hardest part about creating this mixtape was knowing that somewhere down the road my brother Steven was going to make a contribution to this site and there is so much crossover between our musical tastes that I needed to deliberately go against my instincts because I knew Steven would do it better. I settled on a neo-soul adjacent approach because that's where my head’s at these days. Somewhere along the way, the idea of storytelling came into play. I saw the first track, “Hope She'll Be Happier,” as an opening credit sequence.
Yes, the opener. It’s this quiet, but arresting prelude, like a sunset before the dawn that is the rest of this mixtape. And, by the way, the transition from “Hope She’ll Be Happier” into “Say Hello” is one of my favorites on the mix.
Thanks, Joe.
Was there any specific inspiration for this mixtape?
Nostalgia. I just moved to LA from the East coast and I left behind a lot of people that love me so I've been dealing with a lingering bout of homesickness. “Yesterday” by Noname sounds like something I would've found as a kid when I would steal my older brother's mixtapes from college while songs like “Down To Ride” take me back to my days in East Hampton when I first started teaching. I associate all of these songs with the East coast in some way, shape, or form.
Interesting to hear these songs are all connected to the east coast because I feel there’s also a certain west coast lightness and airiness to the sound. Do you associate certain sounds with each coast?
Honestly, I don’t. I still haven’t found my west coast sound. Maybe it was the music that lured me out here.
The east coast/west coast energy balance is illustrative of what I love most about this mix. It’s one harmonious and cohesive piece, but simultaneously full of opposing themes and moods. The optimism, energy, and excitement for something new are tracking beat for beat with the reluctance, melancholy, and homesickness. Was this intentional or just more of a, let’s say, cosmic synchronicity?
Once I settled on a theme, I started playing around with the tone of the piece. There were maybe 40 songs on this playlist at one point, and I just started chipping away until the vibe started to present itself, and I could just hack away at everything that was out of place until it felt complete.
When would you listen to this mix? What are you up to when you reach for this playlist?
This is very teacher specific, but it is a great playlist to grade to and write academic reports. It's also good to put on at the end of the night whether it's at an after party, a small dinner hang, or a date.
What was the first song you added to this mix?
The genesis behind this playlist started with “Say Hello” by BSKi. Because my younger brother is a musician, I have been privileged to get to meet some really talented musicians. BSKi put this EP out about five years ago, it was produced by Greg Mayo who is a music Swiss army knife, and this song has been in the rotation ever since. There are so many talented acts in NYC right now and I wanted to base this list around one of them especially because it's been a rough few years for all of them due to COVID. But if you're in NYC and you're vaccinated (please get vaccinated), go to the Rockwood Music Hall website and go check out some killer live music. Salcedo's Latin Soul, Rebecca Haviland and Whiskey Heart, Brooklyn Sugar Company, The Thang, Nicky Barbato, Zach Jones and the Tricky Bits, the list goes on and on.
After COVID’s initial wave of basic needs-level existential dread, I remember getting hit hard by a second wave of: what will happen to live music? Thankfully things are coming back. Has COVID impacted your relationship with music in any capacity?
Of course. I haven’t been to a show in two years!
What is your favorite moment on this mixtape? Not your favorite moment in a song on this mixtape, but your favorite moment on the mixtape.
I am a huge Pink Floyd fan so I love when a song just vamps for a long time. “Down to Ride” is my vamp song, and I love that it's almost exactly in the middle of the playlist. It also has a special place because it was introduced to me by a kindred spirit of mine, Brianna Ashe, whose artwork is prominently featured on the cover of this mixtape back in East Hampton. There's just a lot of synergy going on between the theme of the playlist, a physical memory, and an aesthetic choice that resonates with me smack dab in the middle of all this.
The perfect time in a mix for a song like that. Gives you enough time to earn the listener’s respect before you ask them to indulge you for eight minutes. But while we’re on sequencing, how do you think about the transitions between songs? Or do you even think about it? I ask because you’ve done a phenomenal job here. Aside from the opening tracks, the run from “Down To Ride” to “Orlando” to “Sweet Life” to “Sweet Time” is almost seamless.
I’ve been making playlists for a long time. From making physical mixtapes, to burning CDs, and now on Spotify. Transitions have always been a top priority of mine. Every time I put together a playlist, I listen to the end of one song and the beginning of another. I don’t want to be taken out of the music. Much like a film, an unintentionally abrupt shift in tone can be a huge distraction. You don’t eat dessert between the appetizer and entree. ORDER IS IMPORTANT.
Ivan. I have never so truly-madly-deeply connected with anyone about anything as much as I connect with your thoughts on sequencing a mixtape. I am exactly the same way. It is an all-consuming task and the invisible hand that carves the sculpture. But while we’re on the order of things, let’s talk siblings. I didn’t grow up with an older sibling who could deliver unto me all of the good music, so my music taste was shaped by self-discovery, my friends, and my dad. So is it a blessing or curse to have brothers with excellent taste? Also, I love the younger brother power move of sandbagging him with extra high expectations.
Let me be clear on where I am giving credit knowing that both of my brothers will most likely be somewhat disappointed in how I explain this. Hector, my older brother, brought the hip hop but he also had the misfortune of his formative years also coinciding with the Nü Metal rise which left a void in the “Rock” genre for all of us. We dabbled, we all loved Rage Against the Machine, even though I can vividly remember my mother at a Tower Records snatching a copy of “The Battle of Los Angeles” out of my hands and disapprovingly reading the titles off the back and returning it to the shelves. Hector brought us a very heavily New York influenced hip hop. Biggie, DMX, Jay-Z, Big Pun, and so on.
Steven and I came of age during the rise of emo and the garage rock revival which was my contribution. The Strokes, the White Stripes, Jimmy Eat World, The Mars Volta, etc. I contributed the least.
Steven, my musician younger brother, has had the most eclectic taste and brings funk, soul, and salsa into the mix. Stevie Wonder, Maceo Parker, Hector Lavoe…
What was I talking about? Blessing or curse. Right. It was and still is very much a blessing. I think being the middle child, I have a tendency to rebel against both of my brothers' tastes. For example, I waited ten years after Hector’s recommendation of The Sopranos to watch it. And while Steven was raving about getting a Sous Vide, I was disparaging it not knowing that he had gotten me one for Christmas. This is all a round about way of saying, my brothers are usually right. Another great example is that Hector had to physically sit me down and make me listen to Rosalia (track 3 “Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi”), knowing full well that I would not listen to her if he had just told me to.
This has been a very long winded response, but one of the things I love to talk about is brother dynamics.
Am I crazy or does “RENE” by Free Nationals have serious Mario Kart 64 vibes to it? I mean this in the best way.
We’ve been a Playstation household since Christmas of ‘95 so Mario Kart 64 is a bit outside of my palette. But I will concede that I hear kernels of the Super Nintendo game “F-Zero” in it.
What was the last song you added to this mix?
“Don't Wanna Be” by Xenia Rubinos. Originally I had the song “Lonely Lover” by Rubinos on the playlist but I swapped it out because I felt like this song matched the vibe a little better. But also listen to Xenia Rubinos. She is a treasure. Just put out a new album. It's fantastic.
What's another song that almost made the mix, but ended up getting cut and for what reason?
I had like eight different covers of “I Shall Be Released” by Bob Dylan I tried to work into the mix. It is one of my favorites, but it just didn't make sense.
I suspect that Bob Dylan is not only the most covered artist, but also the best covered artist. There are so many great Dylan covers—many of which are better than the originals. Thoughts?
I think what’s great about a Bob Dylan cover is that his music is, dare I say, basic. It’s really easy to take a Dylan song and make it yours. Whereas when you hear a cover of say a Beatles song, or dedicate an entire movie to Beatles covers like Across the Universe or Yesterday, it just makes you want to listen to the Beatles instead. I remember once hearing a cover of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys and thinking, “Why?”
Amen.
Thanks to Ivan for taking the time to carefully craft this mix and for putting all of my thoughts on mixtape sequencing into words. Follow him on Instagram to see what’s he’s up to.
If you liked this:
Check out Loops by Zack Zimbler. Zack and Ivan are buddies and both mixes have very similar, but very different kinds of New York energy.
For the more distinctly west coast side of the coin, check out Signals by Kyle DeLash and when the road calls by Dans Karagannis.
Alumni Spotlight:
Our friend Anayat Fakhraie has a television show! (Check out his mix featuring our greatest forgotten crooners.)
Our friends at Little Fish are not growing bigger and bigger! (Check out mixtape for doing the dishes.)
Coming soon: more Christmas music.
Until then, stay safe and stay sane.