Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Mixtape Reflections: Tsovinar’s Fury ~ Ծովինարի Զայրույտը

 

The first video is just on the mix to be a cover image. Art by Andranik Asatryan.


I felt like sharing another of my mixes. Mixtapes continue to be one of my many creative outlets, and the one through which I chronicle my life. I made this as a YouTube playlist and not a mixtape because the tape deck on my boombox went rogue and started eating up my tapes (relatively rare two hour ones too, bah), despite my attempts to clean it and demagnetize it. Maybe it’s a belt problem, but I lack the time and expertise to fix that, so I will try to buy a new one of the same model while offsetting the expense by selling my old one. Anyway, I have a mighty need to make mixtapes, so until I get that new boombox I will keep making playlists to record to cassette later. I’m not sure if it will fit on a 90 minute tape, I still need to do the math, but if worse comes to worse I may have to cut some songs, leaving the playlist as the complete version (as long as videos don’t get taken down, a big reason I make physical copies of my playlists). The ones with lyrics that closely fit the theme of the mix are the safest. 

The mix is called Tsovinar’s Fury, or Ծովինարի Զայրույտը in Armenian. Tsovinar was the Armenian Goddess of the Sea, and of Violent Storms. The story behind this mix is that She has awakened Her wrath at humanity for harming the Earth, and is stirring up hurricanes to punish them. It’s a pagan interpretation of climate change. A few of the songs have an environmental message, notably “She Speaks” by Ceremonial Leather, and “No Tomorrow Only Today” by Mystic Priestess. Others are just there for the vibe, either the chaotic turmoil of a hurricane, or the gloomy inner-sadness that comes with living in a slowly collapsing dystopia on a dying planet and knowing that things are only going to get worse. In German they call this feeling weltschmerz, or “world pain”. 

I hope that my mix pleases Tsovinar. I don’t know if it will spare me from Her wrath, or if I even deserve to be spared just thanks to me being a human, but it’s worth a shot. I made this after being on the outer reaches of Hurricane Idalia and still being awestruck by the wind gusts and heavy rain, with the knowledge that the ocean is experiencing record heat, and this may only be the beginning of a disastrous hurricane season. I hope that She will instead direct Her energy and fury toward helping the people of Artsakh who are being blockaded and starved to death by Azerbaijan, which is something I personally can do little about save signing petitions, sharing Facebook posts and basically offering “thoughts and prayers” (to pagan Gods of course; maybe it won’t achieve anything but we know Yahweh isn’t going to lift a finger), so I sadly try not to think about it too much in order just to function. Some of those feelings found their way into the mix too.

Ծովինարի պառք:


Tsovinar’s Fury (click for the playlist)



Track Listing


1. Trade d’union - Marche Nocturne
2. Cashiari - La Joven con l Rostro de Marmel
3. Ceremonial Leather - She Speaks
4. Mystic Priestess - No Tomorrow, Only Today
5. Troll - Mirror
6. Exces Nocturne - L’echo des Lumiéres
7. Pillhs Castle - Repeat the Death
8. Vacios Cuerpos - Inevitable 
9. Damien Hearse - Easy Martyr
10. Alien Skin - The Beautiful Dead
11. Hante - Waiting for a Hurricane 
12. Jurimurmur - Ծովն Է Լիzoom
13. Simulacixn - La Todo Esta Muerto
14. Aux Animaux - Lost Souls
15. Harsh Symmetry - Pugilist 
16. Moonvampire- Vampire II
17. Dark Grey Houses - Drown You
18. The Lucy Show - The Price of Love
19. Antaios Nocturne - Don’t Forget to Smile
20. Saiph - Room of Fire
21. Cashiari - La Ultima Vez
22. Clustersun - Emotional Painkiller
23. A Transition - Strangers
24. Bax Taylor - Dukkha

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