Warmer Climes

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:28:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:47:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #539 | by Lee Webster

1. Lord Finesse | Check The Method
Hip Hop from the 90s was definitive of the genre. It will never be the same and I wouldn't want it to, that's the Golden Era and there it shall stay. I can listen to jams from this decade back to back for hours, endless head-nod boom-bap beats will have your neck snapping like a turtle. For me, Lord Finesse as a lyricist and producer contributed to the sound that defines this Golden Era more than any other. His style of rapping was Old Skool, he had flow and punchlines and that's how I like it. His beats were simple but full of vibes, and that to me is what making good Music is all about. This track in particular is, in my opinion, one of his best.

2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience | Red House
This could of been one of many tracks by Hendrix because the man is obviously one of the greatest musicians ever to walk the planet, I don't need to state the obvious. Jimi embodies passion in a way so pure and almost God-like it rarely fails to make everything else look pretty mediocre. I don't know what else I can say about him other than, make sure your children know who he is and they will turn out fine. Also watch the Woodstock director's cut and watch the expressions on the faces in the crowd as he goes off on a solo with ends in an off-key rendition of the national anthem. It's EXACTLY like Back II The Future where Marty plays that solo at the prom but goes to far and people are lost for words.

3. Medway | Resurrection
(On -8 pitch)... It's important that you play this record pitched down, I find myself pushing the pitch fader lower and lower every time I play this. It's synth break-down after the intro drops you into an ocean of tripped-out chords, pulsing over each other until the beat drops with its deep kick and bouncing bass, it's incredible if played at the right time. This record was on Hooj Choons if I remember rightly, I don't have much else from the label but this little gem found its way to me by accident while I was looking for something else and since then its been my secret little treat.

4. Scott Garcia | A London Thing (feat. MC Styles) (London Mix)
This is the best Garage track ever made. I LOVE the vibes on this. Before this track I didn't really get House Music. It's so Underground and remains so, in spirit, even after its brief commercial outing during the Pop days of Garage. Scott Garcia captures the Pirate Radio vibe that I love and am constantly trying to re-create in my own productions. A true classic for me that never gets old, I often find myself referencing this after a session just to remind myself of what kind of simplicity and bounce I should be aiming for with my own music.

5. Solid State | Just A Vision (Marcus Intalex & ST Files Remix)
I love Drum & Bass. There was a time in my life when it was everything to me, I guess I moved away from it a little in the recent years but still very much miss the raw energy that comes with it. Marcus Intalex is an amazing producer, How You Make Me Feel is another little gem from that rarely leaves my record box. Just listen to these tracks, even of you're not into Drum & Bass I'm sure you can catch the vibes…

6. Gregorythme | Isola
This is trippy Deep House at its best. It's for those special moments when Music speaks a language more appropriate than words, a time when conversation fades into irrelevance and all ears tune in, everything floats away and you become an Isola… This track came on one night in a mix just at the right time to catch me off guard and in a rather cliché way, touched me. It was an after party, must of been 11am and everybody was starting to zone-out a bit, I was sat in front of someone who wouldn't stop talking and this track came on and literally stole my attention to the point where I forgot where I was in space-time. True story.

7. Schmoov! | Playground
Amazing track. This is one of the most perfect tracks ever. If there was ever a track that I wish I made, it's this. Its atmospheric beginning gives way to a deep, funky bass line as children's mutterings ride over the spacey atmosphere like a misty dream. I love it, infact Schmoov! make a lot more of these. Their music makes me feel like I'm floating through space on a fucking banana, in a good way.

8. Klashnekoff | Its Murda
A UK Hip Hop track by Klashnekoff of the Terra Firma crew. This track is pure London slang, lots of rowdy talk - it's not what you would typically class as positive Hip Hop perhaps but since when does that matter when describing Hip Hop I ask myself… If I have to walk through a scary place this is the soundtrack playing in my head, it instantly gives me an expression like Yeah? And what you gonna do you c*nt?... I was torn between this and Parrowdice feat. Terra Firma crew which is also sick.

9. Nightmares On Wax | Les Nuits
I don't really know how to describe this song. If Music is Therapy then this is a Miracle Cure. It's so chilled, melancholic but with an undertone of everything's gonna be ok though floating through its notes. If prisons played this into peoples cells at night, nobody would re-offend. Also this track is perfect to wake up to in the morning.

10. Other People | Various
This track doesn't exist, but it's on my list to represent all the tracks I fall in love with every day and can't fit onto a list of top tens. My ears are slutty, they fall in love constantly and very often do not remain monogamous. So this last one is to represent all the tracks being made by extremely dope producers, you know who you are...

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:39:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:40:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #538 | by Solomon Brown [Pizza Wizard] of FaceLord/CrimeRobbers and M∆DDEN

1. Charles Mingus | Track A - Solo Dancer
My good friend and bass instructor Todd Cambio bought me this album for my 13th birthday. Still one of my favorite compositions. The spaces and counter harmonies, the improvisation and all the different characters each of the instruments play, ufff.

2. Mariah Carey | Always Be My Baby
Her voice, her bod... Nuff said. Mariah = #WINNING. Freshman homecoming dance.

3. Lakutis | Death Shark
The most #based abstract minded Post Post Rapper. Long hair don't care. Shouts out to Heems and Kool AD of Das Racist.

4. Andre Nickatina | Blood N My Hair
Andre Nickatina has the sickest West Coast flow ever of all time. So hood and yet so eloquent. Some of my favorite raps came from his collaborations with Saafir. Honorable mention, their song Hell's Kitchen.

5. George Winston | Autumn
I have been sampling this guy ever since I started making beats, and writing Winston-esque piano lines. My mom collected records and had a lot of Windham Hill label records, the label George Winston released many records on. I love my mom.
6. Salem | Imasheet
I first heard Salem through some (???) mixtape in like late 2008- early 2009, it was their song Trapdoor, I loved it. I asked their agent at the time if they were available to play shows, they were. So they played my hometown with another of my favorite bands Excepter and my band at the time. I believe it was JFR from Excepter who bootlegged the show and sent me a copy... (after mollywopping a pervy creeper in the audience in the dome with a megaphone, JFR a true hommie/thug). One of the songs on the bootleg Imasheet has inspired me lyrically and harmonically ever since.

7. Iron Maiden | Flash Of The Blade
This song was featured in the Dario Argento film Phenomena. I love everything by Maiden but some of their lesser known works are their best. My brother Cyrus, a large contributer to M∆DDEN, is the most shreddingest guitar players I've ever heard. He helps me when I need to blast Iron Maiden and finish a 30 pack of Ham's.

8. Black Uhuru | Darkness
Michael Rose, the former lead singer, is a friend of my father and a huge influence in the message of the lyrics I write. Also Sly and Robbie are the best riddem section known to the Human Race.

9. Cannibal Ox | Straight Off The D.I.C.
Future Rap. These men spit the real bonfire. El-P produced this entire album and sampled Philip Glass on the majority of it, bonus points.

10. Sade | By Your Side (Neptunes Remix)
No lie, I still cry when I hear this song. I spent a little stretch in a correctional facility and there was a local radio station (89.9 WORT) that had a Saturday night call-in Hip-Hop show. So all the dudes would call in their shout outs and what not. I would request this song for my girlfriend at the time.

+11. Karen O | Immigrant Song (feat. Trent Reznor) (Led Zeppelin Cover) (Chopped And Skrewed)
Two of the more famous Icepunks colab on a great classic Zep cover. #ICEPUNK #PIXXVGVNG #FAMOUS

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:35:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:39:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #537 | by Howard and Guy Lawrence of Disclosure

Photo by Pietro Pravettoni.

1. The Blue Nile | A Walk Across The Rooftops
One of the best hand me down records our parents have delighted us with. This track's recording/production/vocal/everything... Get the hairs standing up on our necks everytime. If you don't have this album... Find it and immerse yourself in it.

2. Wild Beasts | Loop The Loop
First heard this song when they played it at Rough Trade on Record Store Day, there was something euphoric about this one, very excited about Smother.

3. D'Angelo | Greatdayindamornin'/Booty
Only discovered D'Angelo last year, and we listened to this album Voodoo hundreds of times. This track is my favorite because a friend of mine used to play it to me all the time.

4. Blackbird Blackbird | Hawaii (Sunvisor Remix)
We like this remix because it makes a Blackbird Blackbird song MORE 80's (this pushed it up our most played)... Bass is also sick.

5. James Blake | Give A Man A Rod (Second Version)
Perfect Blake drums and percussion right here... One of the best Blake tracks... Should have been on the album!

6. Lando Kal | Further
Two things...1... This is an amazing track... 2... The guys name is Lando Kal! He is the sickest guy in the galaxy and owns Cloud City, what more could you want...

7. Prince Club | Love Jackson
Went to BLOC Festival last year and pumped this haaaarrrd in our room every night. Good memories... Which barely remain as memories to be honest... More like happy blurs.

8. Paris Underground Trax | Sexy Thing Remix
Quite an amazing Deep House track for sure, and an incredible label as well (My Love Is Underground) with one of our favourite mottos... Play it vinyl or don't play it at all. Wanted to catch their night in London but missed it sadly... Still, every release and every track never fails to fucking get you. Think this is going for silly money on Discogs now... Good news!

9. OFWGKTA | Up
As with everyone, we have caught Odd Future fever. Not the best thing to catch as I'm sure if you listen to it for too long you would eventually turn into a serial killing pedophiliac rapist... Still, this track shows a totally different side to Tyler... Much more sensitive and what a vocal sample that is! Fucking yes fucking Tyler... Fuck.

10. Blacksmif | TLC
Loving Blacksmif at the moment. Weird mixture of Garage beats, bass and almost Fly Lo strangeness. Was overjoyed when he sent us a few bangers... Always get's a play out.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:06:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:13:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #536 | by Tim Brown [Aural Burrows]

1. Real Estate | Suburban Beverage
Suburban Beverage makes me think of being in your swimming pool when it’s late at night, and there’s really no reason to be swimming but you’re doing it anyway and it’s kind of cold but you don’t care because you’re swimming at night and how often do you go swimming at night? It’s the kind of song that can play in the background in the car and you’re not even consciously aware of it, but suddenly everyone in the car is in a better mood because of it.

2. Aquarium | The Art Of Being Humble
For the longest time I had no idea what this song was called, because nearly everything written about it is in Russian. Apparently, Aquarium had to bribe their way into a government-owned studio to record it, which adds this whole other element to the song. It’s so simple and optimistic, but knowing what they had to go through to get it recorded gives it that much more depth. It’s seems unreal to me that this came out of the mid-80s USSR.

3. //bones// | Always Falling
Always Falling gives me this mental image of New York City and it’s raining and a girl ducks into a cab and she lights up a cigarette and lays back and starts looking at the raindrops collecting on the window. It’s my rainy-day song, and I mean that in the best way possible. I get this feeling of being surrounded by people but still feeling lonely, like people-watching on a subway train or something. It’s melancholy and overcast without being hopeless.

4. Small Black | Despicable Dogs
I can’t tell you how many times this song’s beat has gotten stuck in my head. Every time I hear it, I’ll end up tapping it out with my feet, and trying to sing the lyrics in a shitty falsetto voice. The synths in this song have this weezy, analog vibe to them too. The whole song is just so catchy and simple; it’s hard not to love it.

5. Ducktails | Dancing With The One You Love
The vocals on this track are what get me. It’s one of his older songs, and you can tell it was before he was really comfortable singing, but he does it anyway and you barely even hear what he’s singing but it doesn’t matter. It sends me back to middle school dances, where you’re dancing with the girl you’ve had a crush on and you don’t want the night to end but you’re not thinking about that right then. You’re just in the moment, and you know it’s a great moment and you’re just thankful that that moment ever existed and you know it’ll be gone soon but that doesn’t change the fact that it existed at some point.

6. Future Islands | Vireo’s Eye
Within about 10 seconds of hearing the intro to this song, I knew I’d love it. It’s just this powerful, catchy melody, and then it breaks into this grand string-laden arrangement backed by a Peter Hook-ianbassline. Samuel T. Herring’s vocals are so over the top, but they really add to the feeling of the song. This band has got it figured out; they’ve managed to fuse that 80s Post-Punk sound with some more modern sensibilities.

7. Orange Juice | Rip It Up
This is the ultimate Love song. Edwyn Collins’ lyrics have this element of vulnerability to them, while still coming across as tongue-in-cheek. It just perfectly encapsulates that feeling of getting your heart broken and gathering the pieces and starting over. Plus, it has the best music video I think I’ve ever seen.

8. Youth Lagoon | 17
This whole album is incredible, but 17 in particular stands out to me. It’s just so honest and innocent; it totally hits that feeling of not being a kid anymore, but not really being an adult. The way the song builds from just vocals and keys to this grand, layered spectacle is magnificent. My best friend and I drove down to Atlanta to see him [I was 17 at the time, how perfect] and this song brings me back to that night; just relishing novel experience and celebrating youth.

9. The Drums | Me And The Moon
This is another one of those songs with an incredible, driving, drum track. It’s great when you’re driving home late at night, smoking a cigarette or something. You can just belt out that Forever, forever breakdown and bang your head and stare at the Moon.

10. Dan Deacon | Snookered
Look up live versions of this song. Every time he plays it, he guides the audience through this strange, meditative ritual, and right as it ends the verse breaks out. Words can’t do it justice. According to him, the song is about a guy being hanged at the gallows, and as he’s dying and having DMT rush to his brain, he transcends to an equally fucked-up Other Reality. The song transitions between these beautiful chimes and chaotic glitch vocals; the entire song is transcendent and spiritual.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:02:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:24:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #535 | by Valentin Plessy [aMinus] of Plateau Repas

1. Simple Minds | Don't You Forget About Me
I have a huge obsession with 80s teenage flicks. Especially the ones from John Hughes. The Breakfast Club is my all time favorite and of course the soundtrack as well.

2. The Cure | Just Like Heaven
It's my happy song. At a time I was confused and a little depressed this song came on my mp3 player and everything got lighter. It's hard to describe, but it just gave me so much hope and motivation. Since then, when I feel down, I need loud speakers and this track to realize things aren't so bad afterall.

3. Lords Of The New Church | Dance With Me
Great 80s Gothic Pop. Makes me wanna dance, makes me wanna love differently, makes me want the taxi never had struck Stiv Bators.

4. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark | Almost
Heads down. Their first album is a pure Synth Pop masterpiece and I totally relate to this track, to its lyrics, its sounds and atmosphere. One of the tracks I wish I had written.

5. Summer Camp | Better Off With You
It's a warrior-feel good song. It makes the break up process quite fun too! I love this vintage adolescence energy of the band. It makes me wanna dance like Molly Ringwald does in Breakfast Club.

6. Everything But The Girl | Walking Wounded
This band is amazing. There's so many songs from their albums I could choose. Tracey Thorn's lyrics are so accurate and crystal clear. I wish I could write like her. I understood the lyrics years later I first heard it and was and still am deeply touched.

7. Kate Bush | Army Dreamers
I had to pick one from her. She's the mother of them all. She treats my mind right. I am still so impressed by how the theme of the song is overwhelming and she manages to give it a tragicomic side.

8. Philip Glass | Heroes (Aphex Twin Remix) (Orchestral Version of David Bowie's Heroes)
The best combination! I simply adore those 4 artists (including writer Brian Eno) and the result is as beautiful as it is scary but as in a nightmare-scary type of way: it's comfy and safe as you eventually realize you're in bed at home. You might as well enjoy the ride and redefine your role inside your nightmare.

9. Madonna | Deeper And Deeper
I was a child when I first heard it. I couldn't get the lyrics but I absolutely loved it, I would dance to it, make up dance shows on it, go totally insane on it. I had a feeling this song was about me. Then I had my I'm too cool for Pop phase in which I neglected all my Eurodance/Pop and Madonna past (Justify My Love and Rescue Me would also blow up my parent's speakers!) and once I got back to this track, it felt right, it felt inspiring and obvious. I get addicted easily and I just can't help falling in love, with the wrong things/people! It is also one hell of a Dance anthem a tad tacky but still, it never fails to get me exctatic!

10. The Cardigans | For What It's Worth
I remember sitting at my window and drinking wine doing what I love to do most: re-writing the past, making excuses to make it better. I'd pour myself another glass as I'd play the track again and again until I got quite drunk and cried on how truthful this song was. It's an amazing ballad and Nina Persson is an amazing songwriter.

+11. Ladytron | International Dateline
One of the most beautiful dark song I know. I discovered it as I was moving to Paris back in 2005 and facing its hard life, working 24/7 in survival jobs you can't stand. There's strong hope somehow in the melody, infering that things will change. That's mostly what I love to hear: melancholic melodies with a twinch of hope.

+12. Moloko | Forever More
This track is like therapy. It's beautiful, intense, nerve-racking and you end up out of breath just like after a long run.

+13. The Divine Comedy | Tonight We Fly
This one is my get-away song. Anyone should try it.

+14. Björk | Violently Happy
It says it all.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:02:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:12:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #534 | by Jamaal R. Washington [Rufio The Jedi/Maal A Goomba]

1. Stunnaman | Yous A Chote (feat. Chippy)
I haven’t heard some new Stunnaman in too long, I wasn’t even expecting to hear him so I was geeked when he started going in. Also, Chippy You is poppin. Also, the beat is nuts. I love this track.

2. Björk | Venus As A Boy
A classic. I was reminded of this gem when I watched Leon the other day. It gets me in touch with my feminine side, it’s great.

3. French Montana | Move That Cane (feat. Waka Flocka)
This song makes me feel extremely hype. It makes me wanna do drugs, get money, and not give a fuck, three thingz I rlly like to do.

4. Tom Richman | 24k
So sexy. Vibe is extra right. Visions of a thousand intimate situations. I'm drunk in the club. I'm picking my girl up from her parent’s house. The sprinklers are on. The Moon is out. She smells rlly good… OMG.

5. MΔRRI$ | Affairs
I’m in a cave and it’s dripping with emeralds. The girl I need is at the end of the tunnel waiting for me. She’s the baddest bitch ever.

6. Maal A Goomba | Ball Out Remix
Out of all the songs I recorded on The Diana Frances Goomba Wave this might be my favorite. The harmony is so right. All I ever wanted was to ball out, spend a couple dollars, get some take home.

7. Common | Stay Schemin' (Remix)
I’m a sucker for a battle, I came up in that time where it meant something so I fuck with this type of move. I’m curious to see how it progresses. The beat is cold too.

8. Kirko Bangz | Drank In My Cup
This song is defiantly a guilty pleasure but I can’t help to vibe out to it when I hear it on the radio. The hook is solid.

9. Gucci Mane | Lemonade
This tune never gets old, still my favorite Gucci Mane song. Bangladesh killed the beat too.

10. Tom Richman | 92 Hardcore
I love this song. It’s like the dawn of a new age or some shit. I’d gladly walk into this world.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 07:30:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:44:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #533 | by Andrew Hamlet (ArnHao) and Mat Jones (It is rain in my face.) of Pressed And

Photo by Victoria Masters.

SIDE A | by Mat Jones

1. Panda Bear | Untitled #2
Pretty much any song from Young Prayer could be my favorite of all time. It's some of the most soulful, creative music I've ever heard. It contains deep sadness yet an amazing sense of hopefulness.

2. Big Country | In A Big Country
This song makes me feel like a sad little Irish boy standing on a hillside and understanding the importance of Life for the first time.

3. The Band | Tears Of Rage
Richard Manuel's voice on this song is so genuine and emotive... And you cannot beat that sound Robbie Robertson manages to crank out of his guitar. And oh yeah, Levon Helm is one of the best fucking drummers of all time.

4. Iron & Wine | Weary Memory
This song explains Love.

5. Van Morrison | Sweet Thing
I shall drive my chariot down your streets and cry: 'Hey! It's me! I'm dynamite and I don't know why!'... This shit will wake up your soul.

6. múm | K/Half Noise
Me and John riding our bikes on the rich folks' golf course at night.

7. The National | Mistaken For Strangers
If Life was in black and white, this is what it would feel like. Walking in the rain.

8. Sufjan Stevens | The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!
Beauty lives in the most fragile and makes them strong.

9. Sufjan Stevens | Innocent Heathen
This song is like a group of Post-Modern monk-punks bitching about how isolated they feel from the rest of the World and then realizing that everybody feels that way sometimes.

10. Bob Dylan | Shelter From The Storm
Bob Dylan is very important. This song makes me feel how I want to feel.

SIDE B | by Andrew Hamlet

1. Outkast | Rosa Parks
Gotta keep it innovative and new [...] Creative. People don't want to hear the same ole thing over and over again [...] You gotta come provocative [...] Gotta be spine-tingling with mad styles and crazy, dangerous bust-your-shit-open beats.

2. The S.O.S. Band | Take Your Time (Do It Right)
Escapist. Celebratory.

3. Jefferson Airplane | Somebody To Love
Colorful. Raw. Lonely.

4. Fleetwood Mac | Gypsy
A twenty-something anthem.

5. Bob Dylan | Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Passive Detachment. Ease of Acceptance.

6. Jay-Z | U Don't Know
For the Lone Ranger in us all.

7. Wes Montgomery | Impressions (John Coltrane Cover)
Freedom. Confidently Ephemeral.

8. The Manhattans | Kiss And Say Goodbye
This has got to be the saddest day of my life. I called you here today for a bit of bad news. I won't be able to see you anymore, because of my obligations, and the ties that you have. We've been meeting here everyday, and since this is our last day together, I wanna hold you just one more time. When you turn and walk away, don't look back. I wanna remember you just like this. Let's just kiss and say goodbye.

9. Rihanna | Only Girl
Sexy. Complete.

10. Sun Ra | Sun Song
Primal. Mythic.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:01:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:56:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #532 | by Luke Abbott

1. Squarepusher | My Sound
Squarepusher is amazing and this track is just perfect Music.

2. Cluster | Hollywood
Blew my mind first time I heard it, and still amazes me every time I listen to it.

3. Gonjasufi | Duet
A lot of the more recent records on Warp have been a bit disappointing I think, but this track makes up for it.

4. The Pharcyde | Pharcyde
I like a bit of the old Hippity Hop.

5. Death In Vegas | Your Loft (feat. Katie Stelmanis)
Best thing I've heard in ages.

6. Lukid | Lego
Lukid's album Chord is brilliant, it's currently just about the only thing I listen to on headphones.

7. Radiohead | Reckoner (Holden Remix)
Magick, makes me wanna wear a robe and sleep in the forrest.

8. Gold Panda | Back Home
I could listen to this track 100 times and still not be bored of it.

9. Tonkl | The Walk Home Called Freestyle
Recordings of the semi-mystical synth based Improv group Tonkl are very rare. Tonkl might be my favourite band ever, I love them.

10. R. Stevie Moore | Skin Mags
Lo-Fi dirty chugging brilliance from the father of DIY recording.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:22:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:45:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #531 | by Lukas Cole [Spam Chop]

1. Raekwon | Guillotine (Swordz)
I got mad styles of my own and it's shown when my hands grip the chrome microphone... If you don't like Wu-Tang you can't be trusted, could of easily listed 10 Wu tracks but I chose this as it's one I played loads in my Hip Hop days....

2. Madvillain | All Caps
DOOM's another person I could easily list 10 songs of as he's probably my favorite artist of all time. The thing I love about DOOM is how he created this cartoon persona with all the comic samples and imagery he used. This has probably subconsciously influenced what I have tried to do with Wigflex quite a bit. I love the horns in this track as well.

3. Viktor Vaughn | Let Me Watch
The keys and guitar in this tune are too much, plus I love how you think DOOM's going all soft on us throughout the track only to reveal his true colours at the end... I'd rather masturbate than fuck with Vik Vaughn, let me watch... Ha.

4. J Dilla | Workinonit
Great tune by one of Hip Hop's finest. Such a shame he was taken from us so early.

5. Madvillain | Money Folder (Four Tet Remix)
Used to rinse the whole EP, but this remix got particularly battered. It was also the tune that put me onto Four Tet, which can only be a good thing really.

6. Genesis | The Brazillian
Such an epic, over the top, pointless tune, but I love it. Can imagine Phil Collins and co. creating this in some favela, blinged up and surrounded by muckys.

7. Milky Globe & James Holden | Sun Spots
Had to include some Holden in here somewhere and while I still play Lump & Idiots at gigs this one doesn't get much airplay as it's quite slow. Love the glitched out twangy synth and the all most 2 step beat.

8. Container | Protrusion
Raw as fuck, glooped out, trippy Techno. Just how I like it. Looking forward to hearing more from this guy.

9. Salem | Trapdoor
Love how crusty all of Salem's stuff sound and this is probably my favorite off Kings Night. Fuck knows what the guys meant to be saying, but the repetitiveness of the whole tune just puts me in a trance.

10. DJ Narrows | Saved Soul
Big dutty stinking Garage banger that takes me back to when I was 16.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:13:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:09:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #530 | by Gabrielle Fröden of Foreign Slippers

1. The Hot Club Of Cowtown | Pray For The Lights To Go Out (Will E. Skidmore Song)
I think this song is so funny and so well played that it has to be on my playlist. You want to dance when you hear it and you can sing along drunkenly. I wish I could play like these guys. I wish we lived in a time when people generally played like this. Makes me think of nicer clothes and nicer clubs and red lipstick and a good night out in the old days.

2. The Jayhawks | Two Hearts
I remember when I first heard the Jayhawks and I was too young to get what was good about it. Later I returned to it and found that I really loved it. What a cool band.

3. The Shins | Sea Legs
Melodically these guys are so brilliant, I love this song. It is so cool and well arranged and really works when I run, which is a rare thing, but still. I think it feels a little trippy. I used to live in a house with too many people and if I put my headphones on and listened to the Shins, I could kind of forget that I had to deal with a lot of crazy folk later.

4. Allan Edvall
One of Sweden’s most celebrated actors. He also wrote poetry and here he is singing the poems. This breaks my heart in a way because I get really homesick and I realise I love Swedish and when it is sung this way it is really funny but also incredibly moving. He manages to sing about the beauty of the seasons as well as what it is like to be on the dole and have nothing to do and all the little things that are very Swedish. He dares to be rude and funny and vulnerable. Quite impressive.

5. Lucinda Williams | Still I Long For Your Kiss
To me this is the ultimate Americana. Slow raspy voice and brilliant guitars. When I hear this I want to sit in some diner and stare out at a small town street. This song has the perfect amount of heartbreak in it. It isn’t too much. You can tell that she is a bit angry, which is never bad when you write a song.

6. The Felice Brothers | Frankie's Gun!
This makes me think of my best friends back home. Around Christmas we always go out to our cabin by the lake and drink and hang out. One year we went out in the wintery frosty cold forest and made a fire and ate buns and I filmed it and this is the song I put on the footage. So it makes me think of Staffan carrying a fallen tree, he and Johanna in a red hat laughing and Frej keeping the fire going, like a boy scout.

7. Henryk Górecki | Symphony No. 3
When I went to music school we always performed with symphony orchestras and Classical musicians. I remember standing in the choir listening to the orchestra and loving it but sometimes wondering why I didn’t feel anything. This symphony has emotion enough for a life time.

8. Destiny's Child | Survivor
Come on! I love Beyoncé. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t.

9. Elvis Presley | Guitar Man (Jerry Reed Cover)
I want to be able to play like this! A little story told by the King. I love this so much! This sounds like so much fun. I wish I could go back in time and go see Elvis. How brilliant would that be!

10. Explosions In The Sky | Greet Death
As a young teenager I used to listen to my older brother’s records and this one set my heart on fire right from the start. I think it is nice to have some Instrumental Music now and then. I can hear whatever I want in it, there are no guidelines apart form the title. And nobody does it like Explosions In The Sky. It is heavy and beautiful. When I was young and could spend hours with headphones on, I used to listen to this and fall asleep. I don’t know if I could do that now.

+11. Loney, Dear | Sinister In A State Of Hope
Sweden’s pride. I think. How brilliant isn’t this? I remember seeing Emil play in a very early band what feels like hundred years ago. And at that time we still thought that he was amazing. Since then it just keeps getting better and weirder in a very good way.

+12. Pavement | Stop Breathin'
My teenage obsession. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I spent the summer when I was turning fifteen, at a friend’s summer house. It was one of those glorious summers just by a lake and we both loved music, so it was OK to put your headphones on and not talk. I listened to this record that whole summer and I wasn’t the same in the autumn.

+13. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers | Refugee
I am such a fan of Tom Petty. He keeps writing songs that breaks me. Again, when I first heard Tom Petty, on MTV, when I was about 11, I didn’t get it. Years later I understood. I wish I could write like Tom Petty and if I was a man, I would want to look like him. He looks amazing with a beard.

+14. Stina Nordenstam | And She Closed Her Eyes
This takes me back to being 16. Me and my best friend used to go and see bands play and then go back to someone’s house and hang out all night. It was a good time, even if you didn’t know it at the time. Whenever we slowed down and lied down we used to play Stina Nordenstam and turn off the lights, kind of hoping someone would make a move but also being quite scared they would. This makes me think of that feeling. The pain in your chest, the wanting.

+15. Gillian Welch | I Dream A Highway
These guys know how to write a good tune and how to play it so perfectly together! Such a perfect last song on a record. I fell in love with someone and this song was written for the relationship at that time. He was far away from me and I felt like I wanted to dream myself to him. This song goes on and on, which could be annoying but it isn’t. It could go on forever and I wouldn’t mind.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:07:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:12:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #529 | by Mickaël Bursztejn [Mickey]

1. Aram Khachaturian | Adagio Of Spartacus And Phrygia
If you saw The Hudsucker Proxy by the Coen Brothers, it's the main theme of the soundtrack. Stanley Kubrick used it too in 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of his masterpieces, and what I love in this song is the power and the hope it gives.

2. Selda | İnce İnce Bir Kar Yağar
That's a remain of my Turkish legacy, it's the perfect mix between Arabian music and 70’s Rock.

3. Nice & Wild | Diamond Girl (Club Version)
This song reminds me of a huge Bloc party at Buschwick (Brooklyn/NY). The DJ's played a lot of great tracks, but this one was a real bliss!!! I searched for a while to find out what the track was.

4. The The | Giant
I discovered this one in my daddy's car and it was a real head banging shock for me! The production, the voices and the lyrics of this album are just awesome.

5. Love | Andmoreagain
The most beautiful love song I ever heard, the harmony is really huge, especially when the chorus comes in...

6. The Stranglers | Strange Little Girl
One of my favorite bands of their period, the song reminds me of a shiny road trip trough Portugal. It was the only tape that we found without traditional Portuguese songs in the car we rented, so we heard it several times...

7. The Strokes | Trying Your Luck
I was 14 when I begun to listen The Strokes. I got a lot of youth memories on this.

8. The Rolling Stones | Play With Fire
When I was a teenager I lived in the South of France, for a few months, and this song never left my Discman. I was lying on the beach totally cooties pending and I prayed for 10 minutes more of battery.

9. Funkadelic | Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts
I listened to a lot of Blues when I was younger like BB King, Jimmy Hendrix, etc.... It's the way I learned how to play guitar, by sitting on a lazy amp in my teenagers bedroom and a purple kitschy guitar with rarely more than 5 chord on it and the trick was, by just jamming on their songs…

10. Karl Biscuit | La Morte
Lovely melody, frozen attitude and a touch of Tango.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:38:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:51:00 +0000

WARMER MIXTAPES #528 | by Tyler Burton [Vyxor]

This is my mixtape.
I’ve been listening to some of these tracks for a couple days, some for years.
I wonder which ones will stick around?

1. Alex Mauer | Gravity Hill
I wish I could put the whole album up here, because Vegavox II is a short, brilliant record that works best when it’s consumed in a single sitting. But Gravity Hill nicely exemplifies the album’s sensitivity to instrumentation, space, and melody. It seems like some Chiptune artists depend on the inherent extramusical baggage of their medium to connect with the audience: Chiptunes automatically invoke nostalgia, innocence, fun, etc. etc. But the retro glow has worn off; I mean, I hear Nintendo-style synths on top-40 radio nowadays. But Gravity Hill, and Alex Mauer’s work at large, succeeds in spite of its blippy heritage, because you can tell he just loves melody, and he’s amazing at it. Sure, he’s a great technician and programmer, but most importantly, he’s a composer of the highest degree, and this lyric-less song has brought me close to tears so many times. You know what it is… It’s that persistent D natural, with the slightest touch of vibrato, re-asserting itself continually over shifting chords, transitioning seamlessly from hopeful, to bleak, to devastating in less than eight seconds.

2. Capsule | Hello
I listen to this song at least once a day. It is casually sexy/nerdy/catchy/clean/auto-tuned/colorful/MELODY///. It is the perfect length (but I don’t want it to end), and it is the perfect Pop song.

3. Koji Ueno | Overture: Invention, Travel And Adventure
I was ten years old when I first played this computer game, and the experience left an indelible impression on my little child brain. The game was baffling, and the music terrified me. Ueno literally adapts the locomotive-fetishization of the game’s world into his soundtrack, by using musique-concréte train sounds for a chugging, sturdy (but highly complex) rhythmic foundation. Melodic instruments are detuned, manipulated, and used for percussive effect. MIDI string quartets sections are unwieldy, sculptural, and fiercely atonal. In the game, unmoving character models prattle on about their migraine headaches and conspiracy theories. It’s a fantasy world, but colors are muted and sad. As the player wanders through large, empty train stations, the music segues into dull, humming ambient noises: large light fixtures reverberate overhead, heavy machinery idles in the background. The effect is completely oppressive. As a kid, I remember both fearing and looking forward to the next big musical moment.

4. Chrome Sparks | Show You My Way
I can’t put my finger on it. The chords are simple and the melody is functional. It is undersung and modestly produced. But there’s something about the way the synths edge into place with a push of the pitch wheel, the gentle, bubbling arpeggios, and how that lovely, resonant, round bass pummels the track during the chorus. And then of course, the flirtatious, vaguely threatening mantra: I’ll show you my way... Just stick with me. Vocal snippets break apart and form new melodies. It’s oddly moving, but I can’t quantify it; where does the emotion come from? The parts don’t add up. What is that emotion? I don’t have a word for it.

5. Disclosure | Carnival
I listen to this song at least once a day. It is aggressively danceable/sweaty/soulful/jacking/Up-Tempo/MELODY///. It is the perfect length (but I don’t want it to end), and it is the perfect Dance track.

6. Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Sonata No. 13 In E-Flat major 'Quasi Una fantasia', Op. 27, No. 1 (Second Movement – Allegro Molte E Vivace) (Played by Glenn Gould)
I’m not the biggest Beethoven fan by any stretch. (And generally speaking, large-scale orchestral works exhaust my ears and my patience.) But I love the clarity and focus of LVB’s ideas when he’s restrained by a more modest medium (a piano sonata, in this case), and Glenn Gould cranks out all the possible contrast, nuance, and technical fuckery of this movement. The melody is simple, and is punctuated with unexpected dashes of violence and overextended phrases. Toward the end, the first section returns in a dizzying, syncopated immediate echo… It’s inhuman, compelling, and totally addictive.

7. Finis Henderson | Skip To My Lou
The most immaculate falsetto I’ve ever heard. And a bassline that won’t quit. Everything snaps, but it’s all tempered by analogue warmth. The percussion is effervescent and crisp. There is no irony, no misdirection, no mud. It is earnest and stratospheric. This track lifts pounds from your body; it will make you move, and time will pass by so quickly. It was the only record he ever released. Apparently, Mr. Henderson now has a variety show where he impersonates other celebrities and singers.

8. Bogdan Raczynski | My Love I Love (Track 3)
I want to meet Bogdan Raczynski and give him a big hug.

9. Yamataka Eye And John Zorn | M.S.T.G.L. (Moneysextripgodlove)
Georges Bataille sez: The heterogeneous world includes everything resulting from unproductive expenditure. This consists of everything rejected by homogeneous society as waste or as superior transcendent value. Included are the waste products of the human body and certain analogous matter (trash, vermin, etc.); the parts of the body; persons, words, or acts having a suggestive erotic value; the various unconscious processes such as dreams or neuroses… He goes on, but to summarize: When those heterogeneous elements intrude into our homogeneous world-view, we experience a sort of shock wherein function and reason stops, and momentary revelations into areas of non-knowledge are exposed. John Zorn and Yamataka Eye are the only people who have made me laugh, cry, get turned on, and get a little sick all at the same time. They generate fissures; expose gaps in reason by creating friction in logical musical discourse, by destroying the functional and rational modes of taste and structure. Zorn’s saxophone playing creates noise and resonating-body disharmony; a procedure that focuses on the waste elements of the instrument. Eye blurts out indecipherable phonemic mush. Like language, meaning in Music is (arguably) constructed through a series of linguistic signs, wherein ideas are fixed in sound, and these sounds become the signs of ideas; a functioning language depends on the co-existence of many linguistic signs, supporting one another by values of similarity and dissimilarity. Comprehension of a linguistic event involves the syntagmatic grouping of consecutive units (a process of accruing value through closely-arranged linguistic signs). But the sounds coming out of Eye’s mouth, from Zorn’s saxophone, are nonlinear, isolated, and nonproductive. They are grating and inconsequential. They then hammer these sounds over and over again until they accrue a specialized, internal logic. These rough, overlong repetitive actions enact a kind of musical Onanism, an analogue to the physical act of self-pleasuring; sounds without the intent of cohesive musicality, without productivity. A musical frottage that revels in the discharge. Nothing has been made, but the process got us there. Something momentarily emerged, but it was beyond reason, so we forgot.

10. Melt-Banana | Plot In A Pot
I listen to this song at least once a day. It is has volume/volume/power/ NO MELODY /// (finally). It is the perfect length (but I don’t want it to end), and it is the perfect cup of coffee.

noreply@blogger.com (W) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000