I embarked upon this playlist just like others I’ve made—e.g., scary songs, songs about glitter, birds of prey songs—under the assumption that putting it together would be easy. Not so. As it turns out, the majority of music that deals with the zodiac is of the jazz or hip-hop persuasion. I wanted to make a rock and roll astrology mix in honor of this week’s feature (“Sign Language,” read here). As a result, some of the songs are only vaguely star-based, but, to quote Paul Stanley, “Do I care?” Listen to this mix at 8tracks.com.
Aural Fixation
1) "Star Sign" • Teenage Fanclub • Bandwagonesque Glaswegian power pop.
Aural Fixation
2) "C’mon and Love Me" • Kiss • Dressed to Kill "She’s a dancer / a romancer / I’m a Capricorn, she’s a Cancer" … stripped-down ’70s Kiss is the best kind of Kiss.
Aural Fixation
3) "Born Under a Bad Sign" • Albert King • Stax / Volt—The Complete Singles 1959-1968—Vol. 7 Life if hard. Stax makes it better.
Aural Fixation
4) "By the Light of the Magical Moon" • T. Rex • Best of BBC Recordings It’s almost as if all T. Rex songs have to do with the zodiac—or at least the cosmos and riding through it on a mythical beast.
Aural Fixation
5) "Cancer" • Subhumans • Ep-Lp Anarchist U.K. punk from the ’80s. This song isn’t about the star sign.
Aural Fixation
6) "Stars" • The Clean • Getaway New Zealand post-punk released via Merge, not Flying Nun.
Aural Fixation
7) "Taurus Moaner" • The Charlatans UK • "Then" Star-crossed ’90s Brit-pop.
Aural Fixation
8) "Gemini Syringes" • The Flaming Lips • Embryonic An enjoyable track from a consistently spacey and ostensibly obnoxious band. Dr. Thorsten Wörmann discusses infinity.
Aural Fixation
9) "Zodiac Girls (Pony Version)" • Black Moth Super Rainbow • Drippers Kraut rock-inspired psychedelia. You may want to stop listening now and go explore the Black Moth Super Rainbow universe.
Aural Fixation
10) "When It’s Over" • The Soft Moon • The Soft Moon Psyched-out post-punk.
Aural Fixation
11) "Queen of Eyes" • The Soft Boys • Underwater Moonlight The Soft Moon reminded me of The Soft Boys. This 1980 British punk/new wave album is fab.
Aural Fixation
12) "Satellite" • The Brian Jonestown Massacre • Give It Back! Metaphysical, cosmic rock and roll.
