Music to Shop By

"Hey, can you make a CD of music to shop by?"

That was what my brother asked me, via text. He needed background music, for the fun funky clothing shop he co-owns with his wife Sarah, KYCS (plug plug). I was only too happy to agree to do so, but since I was losing my mind all last week with preparations for Pilipinas, I only got around to starting on my "shopping mix" now. "Sige. Anong gusto mo?" I texted back. "Britpoppy stuff, American alt-rock, synth-based pop stuff, hip-hop flava, chillout?" "Kahit ano!" he texted. "Lahat!"

Ah, a challenge. I thought about the kind of clothes Kuya Che and Sarah offer: colorful, fun, young stuff, from bikinis and board shorts to bags and patterned sandals and baggadocious pants. I miss their line of Hawaiian shirts for guys -- I had about three or four of those, and wore them to death. They tend not to repeat designs though, as they're always following their fashionable noses in whatever new direction they find interesting. So I'm thinking: happy, accessible, not-so-mainstream. Maybe Cibo Matto, Luscious Jackson. Maybe Ladytron, at a stretch. Or something from Erykah Badu's Worldwide Underground. Or even Stereolab! Emperor Tomato Ketchup might make for pretty good music to shop by (and may Stereolab and their fans forgive me for just writing that). Suggestions? :)

It's fun, to be thinking of a CD mix with a theme again. I used to be part of a group that would meet every month, to exchange mixes, and decide on the topic of the next mix. We did "Happy Wake-up" CDs, and "Great Cover Versions," and we were about to do "Deadly Sins" when the whole thing kind of bogged down. I think perhaps we took on too many members. We should have kept it to ten or less. :p Anyway, that's something I always thought we should do, at the office. And Kidlat and G have been wanting to do something like that too. Of course, if we do end up doing that -- what with our jobs, this blog, and everything -- we may finally make ourselves well and truly sick of music, or at least of thinking about music, once and for all. Then we will have to go and get jobs in the meat packing industry.