WARMER MIXTAPES #29 | by Mike Silver [CFCF]

1. The Field Mice | Fabulous Friend
This song breaks my heart. A perfectly frank, simplistic song that gives me chills and reminds me of any time I've ever been wrong, and that it was eventually OK.

2. Roxy Music | Lover
Slinky and sexy, overlooked Roxy Music song that pretty much rules hot summer evenings. The bass glides, the drums snap and Bryan Ferry's croon is silk. Decadent, and yet not a note is wasted.

3. David Bowie | Subterraneans
I can remember listening to this song on the subway and trying to take the different harmonies and sounds apart, to break it down into pieces to understand. Once the vocals and eventually the saxophone come into the picture it becomes an electronic noir fantasy.

4. ESP | It's You
A testament to simplicity, not to be confused with minimalism. A TR-707, a bassline, and some synth strings. This song creeps low and carries you along with it.

5. Junior Boys | Three Words
Summer, fall, winter 2004, all remembered for Last Exit being in endless rotation. This song is an encapsulation of all those seasons; the warm, restless summer evenings, the cold, comforting fall days and the winter nights with that fine balance of harsh winds and warm domesticity.



6. Fleetwood Mac | Over & Over
A slow, calm and assured song which kicks a behemoth of a schizophrenic record. As it develops it becomes more and more lush, its guitar melodies and flourishes are utterly comforting.

7. Arthur Russell | Soon To Be Innocent Fun/Let's See
Sparse and extremely bare, in its instrumentation and intimacy, and at the same time difficult to grasp, and though its melodies are vague it is easy to connect to. Grief and elation, at once.

8. Brian Eno & Robert Fripp | Wind On Water
The amount of times I've pulled this one up on my headphones over train rides in the past two years is countless, especially when a Great Lake is passing by in the twilight and it is all floating past, like eons of hazy, invented memories. It reminds me of Chris Marker's Sans Soleil in that sense.



9. Japan | Ghosts
Somehow this song reached number 5 in the UK. The pizzicato synths in the chorus are what really get to me. David Sylvian's voice haunts and the synths undulating underneath give it a feeling like it is held together by a string.

10. Julee Cruise | Falling
Endlessly comforting! I don't think any song makes me feel as warm as this. The Twin Peaks connection helps, reminding me of so many winter days spent indoors with episodes all day, but the song is strong on its own. Incredibly lush but not otherworldly, just worldly in a way that makes you feel it's a good world to be in, despite everything.