WARMER MIXTAPES #94 | by William Jonasson Cohen [Ishivu]

What kind of music do you like? is a question that did my head in for years, because I had no clue. In retrospective I was definitely on the wrong course sometimes. In my eyes, I was starving for my music, and clinging on to the small fragments of it I could come across. I knew I didn't want to make a hot-list out of this, because it wouldn't make interesting reading material, and let's face it, what we're really here for is the chance to venture into eachother's minds. I've made a sort of chronological progress of my musical encounters with this list. Call it a timeline. They might not all be significant today, but they are what made me and that's what this is about, right?

1. Hanson | MMMBop
This song is close to heart to me. Whenever I heard it I would get filled with a wonderful, revolving mass of warm energy, happy no matter what. First band I ever loved, and accompanied by behemoth acts such as the Backstreet Boys. What can I say?

2. Boomfunk MC's | Freestyler
My younger years had my electronic heart starving. This song (accompanied by an astounding video) superinfused my head with so much awe I was more hyped than a mouse on crack.

3. The NES Batman soundtrack
I never did reach the second level of this game. But because of the music, I didn't care. It was a bubbly sensation of mysticism, and a complete new taste for me. I've adored the now retro sound ever since.

4. Phatts & Small | Turn Around
The first French touch wave was prosperous during my youth. One of my strongest and earliest musical memories is me playing with a robot action figure to this song in the backseat of our Volvo 740. I never got to know who did it though. I looked for this song for years, and before I could find it, it was like a lost love. You know what I mean.

5. Curtis Mayfield | Move On Up
This is the antidote for sadness. Makes me wanna dance like a fool would.

6. Laura Branigan | Self Control
GTA: Vice City has one of the most lush and thick atmospheres ever. Just thinking about the game can stir up emotions for me, listening to the music takes it one step further.

7. Chromeo | Needy Girl
This song hit alot of my sweet spots. Energetic, light-weight synthwork, cathcy talkbox hooks and a funky flavour.

8. The Tough Alliance | 1981-
I have to say this song and its relatives are strongly undercut in this mixtape. The Göteborgian pop movement will always be close-to-heart, and this song might be its soul. I once called this song Diamonds, And Waves Crashing Against Cliffs. Add a setting Sun towards the end, and I think we've pretty much nailed it. I have so many summer memories connected to this song it ain't even funny.

9. Danger | 19h11
Danger is a fresh gust of wind to me. I'm mesmerized by his way of making the retro sound so fresh. His work takes me to surrealistic dystopias, and deep undiscovered jungles. This isn't so much about love and lust as the other tracks, but rather some sort of curiousity for the unknown and dark.

10. datA | Aerius Light (Breakbot Remix)
Speaks to my soul. Embodies all of those afternoons that just stand still. But at the same time, it's me running down an asphalt street during a swedish summery childhood. Warmth.

WARMER MIXTAPES #93 | by Mikey Lee [Coralcola]

1. Orbital | Halcyon + On + On
I first heard this tune in the movie Hackers and then listened to it while I tried to run progz on a 1ghz Packard Bell with a 14.4k modem. It also taught me not to be afraid to make a song longer than 5 minutes.

2. m83 | Run Into Flowers
This song is senior year of high school. My John Hughes soundtrack. My weekends & the summer & my dreams in the city.

3. My Bloody Valentine | When You Sleep
Used this song on many a mixtape back in the days. A beautiful dirty pop song. I absolutely love the mix with the vocals hushed all low. And that unforgettable lead line in. This whole album is very dear to me.

4. Joy Division | Disorder
Peter Hook is what really gets me on this one. I've always had a thing for the Joy Divison/New Order basslines. Great riff. Haunting lyrics, and those synth washes are great too. Martin Hannett doing what he did best.

5. Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark | Almost
Martin Hannett again. Great synths, great bassline, crazy ass hiss percussion. It's just so warm.

6. Burial | Homeless
It's too damn hard to pick a favorite Burial tune. Every single one of them has a place in my heart. I usually only listen to Burial from the hours of 2-7am, but it tends to be a whole lot. The muted hoover stabs in this one are too good.

7. Aphex Twin | Xtal
The brilliant opener to saw8286. The hiss that I miss. Chiller than chillwave. It's like floating down the lazy river into the chillwavepool.

8. Mr. Fingers | Can You Feel It
My definitive Chicago house jam. Maybe the best synth pad I've ever heard. If you hear this track and don't start dancing immediately I don't think you're my friend.

9. The Knife | Heartbeats
From the moment this song starts you just start swaying into it. The steel drums come in and that fill drops and one of the most beautiful voices ever recorded serenades you. By the time the hook drops you're in love.

10. Depeche Mode | But Not Tonight
Martin Lee Gore is my hero. The Black Celebration record is in my top 5 records of all time. This sad little pop song tucked away at the end is just another one of those songs that instantly brings me back to a certain place in time that I never wanted to end.

+11. Boards Of Canada | Happy Cycling
The brothers Sandison! How could I pick one tune off this...What may just be my favourite record of all time?...The seagulls make me feel I'm at this particularly trashy but lovely beach in New Hampshire at sunrise in August. I wish my little brother would stop working on his car and make some tunes with me.

+12. Brian Eno | Here Come The Warm Jets
Great fucking riff. Fading in the drums and the vocals (which no one really knows). One of my dreams is to find a bar with this song on the jukebox.

WARMER MIXTAPES #92 | by Dan Svizeny [Cough Cool] and Adam Magerman of Blackhawks and Nude Beach

SIDE A | by Adam Magerman

1. Yo La Tengo | Autumn Sweater
Sweet and sophmoric. Reminds me of high school.

2. Smog | A Hit
Like a lot of bands, Smog wrote a song about how much he sucks. A Hit is so good because it carries an attitude of disinterest. The music drags almost lazily as Bill Callahan sings about his shortcomings. He doesn't really even say he sucks, just that he'll never be a rock n' roll saint. Like he'll never be on a poster with Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon. Maybe he's right, but the song is still amazing.

3. Portishead | Mourning Light
This song is like a climax. The music builds and builds and...I'm reaching out in this mourning light.

4. Ol' Dirty Bastard | Hippa To Da Hoppa
Return To The 36 Chambers is the most fun I have listening to music.

5. Quasimoto | Real Eyes
In high school my friend's Dad gave him a VHS of Fantastic Planet, an old french film from the 70s. We used to get high and watch this on rotation. The animation is bizarre, and the music is absolutely beautiful. A year or two later I got my hands on Quasimoto's The Unseen, and found that they had sampled a few of the tracks from the film. In Real Eyes, Madlib samples a flute part from the film.

6. The Dismemberment Plan | That's When The Party Started
I heard Travis Morrison quit music. That sucks.

7. Beck | Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs
Nobody sings the blues like Beck.

8. Cat Power | Bathysphere
Her voice and guitar follow tension so well, like a manic episode. The harshness of the acoustic guitar, and her screeching vocals drive the energy in and out. Plus, that chorus drives me NUTS!

9. R.E.M. | Turn Your Inside Out
My papa used to play Green for me all the time when I was growing up. Not many people have mastered their own voice like Michael Stipe, and this song certainly highlights that ability.

10. King Crimson | I Talk To The Wind
One of the most beautiful songs ever written. Michael Giles is my favorite drummer, and he is perfect on this song, playing off of Ian McDonald's flute solos so well. This whole album is a masterpiece.

SIDE B | by Dan Svizeny

1. DMX | How's It Goin' Down
I was so into this song when it came out, it's got that laid back feel me flow style hip hop vibe, but then DMX is like get at me dawg growling all over this thing.

2. Bruce Springsteen | Jungleland
Whenever I would listen to this song in the car with my dad he would always bring up memories he had with all of the things Bruce was mentioning in the song. Like when Bruce sang they'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign that brings this fair city light my dad would be like that fucking sign was huge, you could see the fucking light from that thing ten miles away. I'm pretty sure every kid who grew up in New Jersey has the same memories with their dad. It's weird.

3. Polaris | Hey Sandy
The them song from one of my favorite shows: The Adventures Of Pete And Pete. All of the songs in the show were done by this like kind of gypsy looking indie band. They rocked, I found the soundtrack somewhere when I was like a freshman in high school. I still listen to it. This was probably my introduction to indie rock.

4. The Smashing Pumpkins | We Only Come Out At Night
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness blew my young mind. When it came out MTV was playing Tonight, Tonight on a continuous loop, I hated that song at the time, I like it a little bit now. This song is still my favorite on the album. It's scary and really pretty at the same time with the harp and all. The beat sounds like a slowed down Suicide drum track.

5. Black Sabbath | Hand Of Doom
One of my favorite build-ups in music. If your too impatient to wait for the slaying, just fast forward to about 2:05 and prepare for Ozzy to take your soul.

6. Ricky Nelson | Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear To Tread)
The guitar in this song is totally twisted. For some reason I think this version of this song was totally ahead of its time. I'm probably totally off base. There are about a million versions of this song, this is the best...Hands down.

7. Destroyer | This Night
Dan Bejar is on another planet. There was a time a few years ago when I only listened to Destroyer. My life was awesome.

8. Squeeze | Up The Junction
I love happy songs with sad lyrics. No hook, just a story in three parts. When I first found this song I listened to it about 100 times in a row.

9. Jeff Buckley | Lover You Should Have Come Over
You have to be in a pretty dark/fucked up place to write a song this sad. I always appreciate that in music. People always assume it's easier to write songs when you can't bare to get out of bed, they are totally wrong.

10. The Ronettes | Be My Baby
Girl groups make me feel great, and usually bring the best out of me.

WARMER MIXTAPES #91 | by Shane Matthew Durrant of Desmond & The Tutus

1. The Magnetic Fields | I Think I Need A New Heart
The 'Fields revolutionised how I think about music. The cynical look on love, the unusual outlook on life and the genius way it all comes together in the songs.

2. Franz Ferdinand | Michael
Back when I only listened to dance and hip hop this song slapped me in the face, grabbed my shoulders and shouted: Hey Shane, you can dance to rock music you know!

3. Rilo Kiley | The Frug
I've got a real soft spot for songs about dance moves.

4. Billie The Vision And The Dancers | Groovy
I think my love of The Magnetic Fields led to my love of Swedish pop music, the Swedes inherited a lot from Stephin Merritt - their cooky take on pop culture is adorable.

5. Brenda Fassie | Weekend Special
Brenda Fassie is a pioneer for South African music, listening to this song and learning about it's international success helped me realise how cool it is to get famous for being yourself.

6. Mos Def | Ms. Fat Booty
Mos Def's sense of storytelling on this track is great. I like to think that my songs sometimes work like old school storytelling hip hop songs.

7. The Decemberists | The Sporting Life
Another fantastic example of awesome storytelling.

8. Eat This Horse | Come And Dance In The Wooden Halls
A South African band that didn't make nearly as huge a splash as they should have, Eat This Horse are a tragic event in the South African music industry. If we had the right managers and labels in this place these guys would have been huge.

9. Frankie Lymon | Little Bitty Pretty One
Of course, my love of cute poppy music all stems from one place - the 50s.

10. Maxïmo Park | Our Velocity
Maxïmo Park is a band that contually inspires me with their dynamic take on indie rock, and, man, when Paul sings Love is a lie which means I've been lied to my head wants to explode.

WARMER MIXTAPES #90 | by Emil Johansson [Parker Lewis]

1. Bruce Springsteen | Born To Run
I first heard Born To Run when I was sitting in the backseat of my dad's car, on a vacation trip to Öland. I think I spent five hours straight, just listening to it over and over again and I thought it was the best song I've ever heard. I still think it's the best song I've ever heard. Whenever in doubt I always turn to Springsteen. I still hear new things in it, it keeps growing every year.

2. Kevin Rowland | It's Ok Joanna
Listening to this song is like overhearing a break up on a restaurant. It's so intense and private. I'm gonna spread beauty to the best of my ability, that's why God put me here. That's why you create music. That's all there is to it, really. At least for me.

3. Otis Clay | Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
There's another version of this song, recorded by Percy Sledge. I don't know what else to write about it. It's my favorite soul song, cause it's really soul.

4. Nick Lowe | Poor Side Of Town
Or actually more or less any of the songs from his last four albums. I saw Nick Lowe doing an acoustic show at WTC7 in NYC a couple of years ago. Right next to ground zero. Look everyone, The Moon is rising over the Deutsche Bank Building, he said and started playing this song.

5. Jussi Björling | Visa Kring Slånblom Och Månskära
In a very good biography over Jussi Björling (called Tills Vingen Brister) I read that someone described Björling's voice as a glassball flying on top of a fountain. Something so clear and perfectly in sync with nature that it's supernatural. You can't even hear him trying when he reaches the high C by the end of Nessun Dorma. Of all the music I've ever heard in my life, Jussi Björling is the only one who can make me cry regardless of melodies or lyrics. Listening to him is like a reminder that I'll never be as gifted as I would like to be.

6. The Soundtrack Of Our Lives | Instant Repeater '99
I remember really liking this song when it first came out, then I forgot it for some years, started listening to it again and then TSOOL got so boring that I didn't care anymore. When they did this album they still felt like they were trying to prove something, I don't know what but something. The song is really cocky yet very fragile and desperate.

7. George Gershwin | An American In Paris
It was hard to decide which Gershwin song was going to make this list. Obviously Rhapsody In Blue is my true favorite, but by using An American In Paris I can also combine my love for Gershwin with my love for Gene Kelly.

8. Jackie Wilson | (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher
Oh, God. How did this turn out to be on 8th place? It should've been much higher...(and higher, haha). I guess everyone has heard the great story about the recording of this song. The Funk Brothers and Jackie Wilson, in the middle of the night, recording in secret due do contract issues. But my favorite version is a live version from a tv-show when they play the song even faster and Wilson shows off his dance skills. Pretty amazing, really.

9. Elvis Presley | Unchained Melody (The Righteous Brothers Cover)
There's a video from his last performance when Elvis is at the piano playing this song. Someone is holding the microphone and Elvis is doing shout outs to him during the performance (hold on! keep it up!). Elvis was at his best when he was fat.

10. The Replacements | Swinging Party
I just recently recorded a swedish translation of this song. We've been playing it on shows this fall. I don't understand any of the lyrics (bring your lampshade, somewhere there's a party? come on!). I first heard it early this summer when I was staying at a new found friend's place in Oslo. Usually I really don't care about my friend's record collections. I find that most of them have really good taste in music but I can't keep my interest up enough to listen to new music just for the excitement of it. I want something that has the potential of being so good that I can listen to just that artist or band for six months straight. It makes it much more convenient I think. It's a perfectly great song anyway. It's sounds kind of like Indie but it's really rock'n'roll.

WARMER MIXTAPES #89 | by Ylva Lindberg and Niklas Gustafsson of Friday Bridge

SIDE A: Outrageous | by Ylva Lindberg

1. Tori Amos | Take To The Sky (Russia)
A song of defiance, to be put on repeat when the world doesn't think much of you. It once saved a Friday Bridge show by being played on my iPod repeatedly after I had read a very unfavourable unrecommendation of the gig in the local paper. I went on stage and was, by the way, VERY GOOD, possibly the best I've ever been. This is the magic of Take To The Sky.

2. Bryan Ferry | Zamba
Mid-80s Bryan Ferry might be a controversial choice. Ferry's smooth seediness, at this point completely unhinged after the dissolution of Roxy Music, isn't for everyone. But the magic of Bête Noire (1987) should be obvious for anyone who gives it a fair chance. Stay clear of the Johnny Marr contribution The Right Stuff (pushing The Smiths' worst song Money Changes Everything further down the drain). Instead go for Zamba; it's basically meeting Bryan Ferry in a bar of questionable reputation, letting him whisper obvious half-truths in your ear around three am, and then suddenly you're in his hotel room dancing with him humming seductively as your only soundtrack. Tomorrow, you'll regret everything.

3. Kylie Minogue | In My Arms
The brutality of an uncompromising super maxed production slaps you in the face - but not too hard, just hard enough - and then suddenly the doors open and you float out into pop chorus heaven together with a shiny, well made-up and scantily dressed Kylie. She smells of tropical fruit, or possibly cherries.

4. ABBA | Our Last Summer
One of the least known ABBA songs, and with good reason. The lyrics, an idiot's account of a French romance with a banker called Harry, are seemingly written by an eleven-old - and not a particularly talented child at that. But the melody is simply wonderful from start to finish (skip through guitar solo). In fact, melody-wise, this is probably one of the songs I heard in my early childhood that still influences Friday Bridge's output. In Horror Of Horrors from our latest album, there's a small tribute to this song: the line it was a fine and true romance is slightly subverted into It's a fine and false romance.

5. Étienne Daho | Weekend À Rome
For years, I thought that Saint Etienne's best song was He's On The Phone. Oh WELL.

6. Françoise Hardy | Je Changerais D'Avis
I first heard the Italian original to this song, Se Telefonando, by the wonderful Mina, as a child. It is, of course, the Melody of Melodies, the Song of Songs. I've tried to recreate this brilliant continuous flow of constant building up and breaking down, but have never gotten even close to this Morricone masterpiece. (While on the subject, let's speak freely for a moment: isn't Morricone, generally, quite boring? Come on, admit it. He's boring. He is.) In this French version by Françoise, who hangs as a much-hated-by-boyfriend poster over my piano, an additional layer of brilliance is added by the lyrics. Basically, a tale of ambivalence; F is with someone, but is quite open to changing if this other fellow would actually make up his mind (oh, boys). Unstable states of mind make the best pop lyrics.

7. The Sex Pistols | Anarchy In The UK
An embarrassing choice, perhaps, considering the unanimous punk glorification of self-pleased middle-aged rockumentary junkies everywhere. Still, the power of the first verse cannot be tainted by even the most persistent of Rock Man associations. You see, it’s just perfect.

8. Katerine | Borderline
I lived in Paris, France. I didn’t have all that much to do, or all that many people to see, or all that many places to be, so I walked. Which was fine with me, because wandering in cities without a place to be is my favourite pastime. Anyway, so I used to walk along the Grand Boulevards, and step into the Virgin store on Boulevard Montmartre at night (it was open until 11pm) and read a little. One night they had a Katerine CD on one of those displays with headphones. This song just stopped me in my tracks. From the insanely catchy synth riff, to the cheerfully lunatic lyrics, to K's trademark whiny weirdo vocals; it’s madness at its absolute finest.

9. Britney Spears | Outrageous
Like all the best Brit songs, a fuck you to moralists, hypocrites and others of their ilk. Outrageous: my sex drive. Outrageous: my shopping spree, she coos. Brilliant.

10. The Walker Brothers | Make It Easy On Yourself
My parents’ record collection wasn’t all that impressive, popwise. A bit of ABBA here, Imagine there. In fact, my only recollection of an addition to it in the eighties was when they bought a Suzanne Vega LP. But it contained a treasure of giant proportions - a ten-cassette low price collection of Hits Of The Sixties. It was contained in a box with a giant jukebox on it, and steered towards the softer side of the decade, to put it mildly. Swooned by Love Is Blue, infatuated with Hey Paula, charmed by Fox On The Run by Manfred Mann, my young heart was eventually stolen by Scott Walker. It still is.

SIDE B: What's Inside A Girl? | by Niklas Gustafsson

1. Richard Lloyd | Get Off Of My Cloud
I start this off with a brilliant version of a Stones classic. A one off seven inch from 1981. Wonderfully skewed! Drugs involved. Even makes me a vivid air guitarist. This is what I play between 7 and 10 pm Saturday nights. Then I take a break and return to it by 11 O'Clock again.

2. The Sonics | Maintaining My Cool
I ain't no fool...Maintaining my cool...Oh, I wish I could!

3. Kate Bush | Army Dreamers
I am profound in my love of Kate Bush. I have been in love with her since I was a kid and had posters of her on my bedroom wall. The other kids wrote Ramones or Kiss on their notebooks. Some wrote the name of the boy/girl they were in love with. I wrote Kate 4-ever.

4. The Fall | Blindness
My favourite Fall song is often from the latest Fall album. But this one is from the Peel Sessions box. A bit of an exception, to justify the rule maybe...Should go extremely well with a pint of Holt's Bitter.

5. Babyshambles | Killamangiro
For everyone doubting the genious of Pete Doherty I dedicate this one. The single version from 2004. The only single from the 2000s that's essential to me. At least for the moment.

6. The Smiths | Half A Person
I bought The Shoplifters single in 1987 and probably didn't play anything else than that song for about a month. Then I turned it over. AND, OH. MY. GOD. Actually, today I don't really know why I loved this one so much. I think I can understand that there are way better Smiths' songs but Half A Person must have said something about my life that I couldn't express myself. It sort of sucked me in. While in school, me and my friend J used to make year lists of our favourite songs. I think this one topped our list every year from 1987-1990. Call us morbid, call us pale...

7. Kirsty McColl | They Don't Know About Us
My first love was called Gabriela. She looked a bit like Kirsty on the back cover to this single. She had a jacket that was a bit the same, and the same hair. She was every bit as lovely as Kirsty. I bet they smelled the same - like sweet, sweet strawberries and Sun on their skin. Oh, I wish I was nine again.

8. The Only Ones | Another Girl, Another Planet
It's hard getting past this one. It keeps popping up as one of my favourites whatever I do trying to kill it off. At latest we played it at the soundcheck of a Friday Bridge gig this summer as well as in the set for a couple of concerts we've done as This Year's Model and The Higher Elevations. My love for this one goes 25+ years back and that's a habit that's proven unbeatable. Long live Perrett! Expect it live next time.

9. The Cramps | What's Inside A Girl
Dear Lux Interior, no-one has done more for me musically than you have. When I finally got to see you live in a tent on the Roskilde festival you defined everything I believe a performance should be. It's the best concert I have ever been to. I treasure this moment among the dearest in my life. Thank you, you were the best.

10. TVPs | I Was A Mod Before You Was A Mod
This is a bit of a Friday Bridge in-joke, and not really one of my favourites. I usually say this from time to time to the better half of Friday Bridge. And it's completely true: I was a mod long before she ever was. Friday Bridge - the only true mod group of the 2000s.

WARMER MIXTAPES #88 | by Benjamin Berry [Fear Of Tigers]

1. Underworld | Dirty Epic
One of the most enduring and romantic memories from my teenage years is driving around rural Yorkshire in a clapped out yellow beetle in the early hours of the morning with Underworld first album Dubnobasswithmyheadman gently pumping out of the speakers. Dirty Epic is my hands down favourite and Karl Hype’s patchwork vocals conjure some wonderful imagery: There comes another God he sings as a brooding backdrop heads on the midnight train to Romford.

2. Odyssey | Native New Yorker
It’s such a big big record. Big song, big strings and delicious production. When I listen to this I just want to be the person in the song: a hard nosed city girl coming home from a night of hedonism and heartache at Studio 54. When he dropped you off on East 3rd...They really just don’t make them like this anymore.

4. The Cure | The Same Deep Water As You
As an album Disintegration has got to be The Cure’s crowning moment. From the gentle opening of Plainsong to Untitled, its final track, the record makes me feel like two arms are outstretched, wrapping around me in tender despair. The Same Deep Water is Disintegration at it’s most hopeless, but somehow I’ve always resonated with the feeling of being completely and utterly lost.

5. Saint Etienne | He’s On The Phone
Now you’re talking! A girl I dated many moons ago made a tape for me and this amazing track was oddly sandwiched in-between You And Me by The Wannadies and a fantastic grune-esque cover of 60s classic Sugar Sugar which I’ve not been able to track down since. He’s On The Phone is a wonderful song and a teenage anthem if ever I heard one. But I love the production too. It’s just so cheap but it works incredibly well. If I ever use euro sounds in my music, it’s this song I’m trying to get at.

6. Sigur Rós | Svefn-G-Englar
I could have picked almost any Sigur Rós song but I chose this for its magical ability to transport me to a mythical place full of icy waterfalls, windy heaths and hidden people. I almost look forward to winter just so I can sit indoors on a gloomy afternoon, listen to Sigur Rós and wish I was in Iceland. The NME recently ran a poll of the worst rock bands of the decade and Sigur Rós were in the top-ten. But that’s the whole point. Angsty rock and roll is dead and whether they want to or not, Sigur Rós set the paradigm for the future of guitar music.

7. The Pixies | Debasser
For me The Pixies are the greatest rock band who’ve ever walked The Earth. They make Nirvana sound like Fall Out Boy and Radiohead look like a bad incarnation of Coldplay. They’ve been copied so so many times but no one has ever got close. I thought for years that Frank Black shouted Tramp in the chorus of Debasser but of course he’s saying Chien as the songs lyrics are based on Dali’s film Un Chien Andalou. I also love the fact that The Pixies are so un-rockstar like. Even in his early days Frank Black was balding and fat and there’s no pent up angst or misogyny in sight.

8. Autechre | Nil
Before I first discovered house and disco, ambient music was my thing. Warp Records were at their peak in the mid-nineties releasing records from all the ambient pioneers of the day such as Aphex Twin and B12 . Out of all the records from that era, Autechre’s second album Amber stands head and shoulders above the rest. I remember the first time I hear Nil, lying on my bed with the lights on low listening to it from a rickety old turntable that my older brother had donated to me and thinking I got to make something as good as this. The sleeve is wonderful too and just looks amazing on gatefold vinyl.

9. Ryuichi Sakamoto | Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
I first heard this on a cassette that my parents used to listen to called Inspirations. It had a bunch of late 80s/early 90s instrumental music a lot of it was very cheesy TV themes and the like (perhaps that’s where I get it from!). Of course Ryuichi Sakamoto’s crowning moment is anything but cheesy. It’s a sublime piece of music that conjures the deepest emotions from a simple set of chords and an even simpler melody. Although I love David Sylvian’s voice, it’s the original instrumental piece that I love the most. By modern standards it’s a very simple and sounds just as emotive performed as a solo piano piece as it does in the original which is surely a benchmark of perfection.

10. Soft House Company | What You Need (Luv Dup's Sat At Home Mix)
Arguably, the only club track on my list really serves as a metaphor for all googol of piano anthems and old school screamers that lie just below the surface of my consciousness. I can’t claim to have any special memory of this tune in particular but when the piano riff kicks in it makes me think I’m in a club in Northern England with the dry ice turned up to ten.

+11. Mascara | See You In L.A.
Weighing in at just over nine minutes long, this is a lesson in how to make an epic record. Soaring strings glide over bubbling syntherzizers and a bass line is to die for. The spoken word part in the middle is about as good as spoken word gets in a song: We strolled the beach at Malibu…I looked in your eyes and you kissed me again…I miss you so...Beautiful stuff.

+12. The Future Sound Of London | Papua New Guinea
It’s an apocalyptic end of the world anthem that’s positively otherworldly. It makes me think of an acid drenched sun coming up at Glastonbury whilst reality reveals itself in its full lucid glare. How did they make this record? I have no idea and I don’t want to know, I’d rather it remain a beautiful mystery.

♥

WARMER MIXTAPES #87 | by Risto Joensuu of Joensuu 1685

1. Harmonia | Monza (Rauf Und Runter)
The guitars are perfect...And of course the song is good.

2. Blind Willie Johnson | Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground
One of the blues tracks that I just love.

3. Erkin Koray | Karli Daglar
From the legendary Elektronik Turkuler album. Erkin is the man.

4. Baris Manco | Daglar Daglar
Baris Manco is also a really good turkish musician...

5. Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes | Le Silence De La Mort
This is gloomy but so good.

6. Fleetwood Mac | The Chain
Just a great song.

7. Manuel Göttsching | E2-E4
Mesmerizing, and propably the birth of house.

8. Groupe El Azhar â Maza l Nesker Mazal
Algerian proto-rai from 70s.

9. Les Vampyrettes | Biomutanten
Holger Czukay together with Conny Plank.

10. Popol Vuh | Vuh
In Den Gärten Pharaos.

WARMER MIXTAPES #86 | by Edwin Van Cleef

1. André Cymone | Kelly's Eyes
This literally has everything, it's probably the greatest song ever made...Maybe I'm being a tad hyperbolic but you seriously cannot listen to this and not love it. It has all the ingredients: An awesome catchy riff; lyrics about a random girl (why are they always the best?); and an awesome bassline. Maybe it's because I've only just recently discovered the album Livin' In The New Wave by André Cymone (I know I'm 18 years late) but it all seems so brilliant to me.

2. Robin Gibb | Rebecca
Another song about a girl that the singer may or may not have known. I've always wanted to do a song like this actually just so if I met a girl who has the same name as the song I could be all like Yeah, I totally wrote this song for you. Robin Gibb really should have done more solo stuff.

3. Ultravox | Private Lives
It's not exactly the most famous Ultravox song but when I first heard it I was in love. The unnassuming piano intro turns into just this epic synth/guitar lead and it's just so over the top it's impossible to not just want to go for a night drive and cruise along at like 200mph. The bit at the end where everything stops and it goes into the synth solo is just fantastic, without fail it totally makes me want to go out.

4. Marillion | Kayleigh
Yes, another song named after some random girl, I wasn't joking when I said they were the best. There's something weird about such a creepy guy called Fish hanging around with kids. He is singing such an awesome song though I guess if I was a kid I'd want to hang around him too...I digress, it's all about the guitar solo in the middle. So damn cool!

5. Imagination | Body Talk
It's weird that I used to hate this track, I think it's because I previously never listened past the intro. I don't know what I was thinking though as it's absolutely magnificent, the intro definitely doesn't give anything away about how great the rest of the song is. It is a bit of a marmite song though as I know a bunch of people that hate this, well those people are wrong, the little synth stabs are just pure sex.

6. Alexander O'Neal | If You Were Here Tonight
This song is just beautiful. Seriously, the sounds used in this are just so nice, why is pop music not like this anymore? It really, really should be.

7. Industry | State Of The Nation
The inspiration for my remix of DatA - Rapture, I accidentally found it when I was in a bit of a rut musically and I just had to do something with it. The intro is just awesome and the little synth lead at the start is so simple yet so evocative. Everything about it is just really really nice.

8. George Duke | Reach Out
Coolest. Song. Ever. I'm not saying it's the best, it's just massively cool. And funky. The funkiest song ever as well.

9. Zapp & Roger | Dance Floor
Okay I've changed my mind, this is the coolest song ever. The bassline is just epic, and the talkbox vocals are wicked. I really want to use a talkbox, especially after the awesome ways it was used by Zapp & Roger but I've got two main problems: 1) They cost money, and 2) I'm a bit scared of the tube you have to put down your throat.

10. Number One Ensemble | Mr. Luck
I don't remember why I know this song, I just know it's like everything-is-going-to-be-sweet concentrated into music form (except the bit that sounds like Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street, that bit is kinda depressing). I found it recently on my trawl through YouTube videos but I've definitely heard it before that.

WARMER MIXTAPES #85 | by Kurt Feldman [The Ice Choir] of The Depreciation Guild and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

1. Scritti Politti | Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)
This is one of the best vocal performances ever committed to tape if you ask me. And as far as keyboard/programming goes, David Gamson has reached enlightenment. They even got Miles Davis blowin' on the bridge section...I don't even listen to Miles Davis, but can you beat that?

2. The Associates | Take Me To The Girl
The bassline is really tight (I think Michael Dempsey from The Cure played it), and the chorus has that part where it goes all minor theme variation. I don't think enough songs do that.

3. Microdisney | Ambulance For One
Dances in rain in the garden. He's laughing with his membranes all torn. Like Morrissey, Cathal Coughlan wrote dark lyrics over perfectly played jangle pop, only, I prefer Cathal Coughlan because he's a scary Irish guy who's vocal performances, melodies and lyrics command attention and Morrissey is kind of a wuss who sings the same 3 notes in every song. No disrespect to the other Smiths - Andy, Mike, Johnny and Craig were right on time.

4. The Legendary Pink Dots | Casting The Runes
This song has some serious halloween synths which are pretty crucial for scarytime mood-setting. There's also a guitar solo that happens a little after the 2 minute mark which sounds like a swarm of metal robot locusts attacking a swimming pool. I love that part.

5. Kissing The Pink | Desert Song
This song has the word asunder in it. You could only get away with that in 1983. If I had a Porsche 911-Turbo, I would head to the salt flats, put on the leather driving gloves, and just blast this shit, top down.

6. Prefab Sprout | Looking For Atlantis
Brilliant lyrics, production through the roof, and Wendy's eerily perfect backing vocals, what more needs to be said?

7. Real Life | Catch Me I'm Falling
You've probably heard their other, more famous single, Send Me An Angel, but this one blows that track out of the water. Great, dreamy guitar sounds throughout and there's even a really tasteful shred solo towards the end of song! You should also check out the drummer in the video for this song wailing away on the Simmons pads like the dangle-earring baddass that he is.

8. Care | Whatever Possessed You
This song reminds me of winter and it has my favorite Bells synth patch ever.

9. Gangway | Believe In Me
This song is really cool because on the one hand, you've got this church organ which evokes a kind of sad vibe, yet there's this diesel swing beat and a whoa-oh-oh refrain thing which overall, makes the whole thing sound kinda hard (in the Hangin' Tough sense). Very slick.

10. Xymox | Shame
Really great and totally aggro bass programming on this track. The detuned vocal samples make it seem like there were these souls of torture victims flying around in the studio while they were recording. It's probably just an SK-1 though.

WARMER MIXTAPES #84 | by Pontus Wallgren of Afraid Of Stairs

1. The Dodos | Fables
This song makes me feel like I’m lying in a bed filled with stuffed teddybears that have come alive.

2. The Jesus & Mary Chain | Something’s Wrong
This song made me want to get serious about learning how to play the guitar.

3. Betty Davis | Shut Off The Lights
This song makes me feel sexy on the dancefloor.

4. Cocteau Twins | Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops
This song makes me feel the love.

5. Sam Cooke | A Change Is Gonna Come
This song makes me very emotional.

6. Prefab Sprout | When Love Breaks Down
This song made me appreciate music from the eighties that didn’t sound like it was recorded in a tin can.

7. My Bloody Valentine | What You Want
This song made me forget myself on several occasions.

8. Donny Hathaway | This Christmas
This song makes Christmas feel like something you actually want to take part in.

9. Steely Dan | Peg
This song made me want to buy white pants and a cocktail.

10. Marvin Gaye | What’s Going On
This song makes me want to go and vote.

WARMER MIXTAPES #83 | by Erik Undéhn of The Early Days

Here is my ten songs that my feelings go bananas when I listen to, also a nice picture of me with my Rickenbacker.

1. The Brian Jonestown Massacre | If Love Is The Drug
When I first heard this song (I think it was around 2000) it had a sound I had wanted to hear all my life. I didn't know the sound existed. It's the perfect mixture of psychedelic 60s music mixed with newer sounds and personality...The whole song is only four chords - E A G D - but the way they are played together with the organ etc. it sounds like it's more than that. Also the lyrics is wonderful, the comparison between love and drugs is very strong. Everyone that ever been truly in love can feel the lyric, the same would refer to someone that has been addicted to drugs.

2. The Byrds | Renaissance Fair
When you hear this song you don't really think about The Byrds it has some kind of backward swing which gives the song a grove that would be impossible to copy, its a one of a kind song that can't be written again. Gives me goose bumps overtime I hear it.

3. The Raveonettes | Lust
A song with a great mood and ambience, the guitar theme is so simple but played wit a lot of feeling. Also the lyrics is fantastic.

4. The Asteroid No. 4 | My Love
What can I say, one of the best songs from 2009. The vocals of the first verse makes me think of the sound that was created in 1967. Now recreated in Philadelphia in 2009. I can listen to this over and over.

5. Love | A House Is Not A Motel
One of the best songs I ever heard. When I hear it ,my mind goes directly back to a time unable to imagine without being there. I would like to know how Arthur Lee felt when he heard it the first time in it's recorded state. I think it's the only song that is just as good in the cover version by Yo La Tengo.

6. Pavement | Range Life
An early lo-fi classic by The King Of Lo-Fi - Stephen Malkmus. I don't really understand the lyrics or what he mean but this was one of the most played songs on my stereo in 1996.

7. The Hollies | Maker
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London it had the sound that only could be created in that studio, a nice mix of 60s pop and psychedelia.

8. The Quarter After | Early Morning Rider
Another outcome of The Committee To Keep Music Evil, I think it's the organ player from The Brian Jonestown Massacre that formed this band. I have never ever heard a better recreation of the sound of The Byrds. It's had not to believe that it's not Gene Clark or Roger McGuinn singing.

9. Neil Young | Cowgirl In The Sand
Listen to this and close your eyes and you're back in the early 70s...The bass player I probably dressed in jeans from top to toe, the studio smell from sweat and weed and the guys are just jamming, one of the best guitar songs ever made. There is also a great version of this song by The Byrds.

10. The Smiths | Unhappy Birthdays
All these ten songs could have been The Smiths songs. Johnny Marr is my all-time favorite guitar player. This song doesn't really demonstrates his skills as a technical guitar player but it does demonstrates his skills as great strummer on the guitar. Great lyrics and beautiful arrangements.

WARMER MIXTAPES #82 | by Autry Fulbright of Midnight Masses

1. David Crosby | What Are Their Names?
I'm a huge fan of the Crosby Stills & Nash vocal harmonies. This song is a really cool track off of a Crosby solo record with the help of Grace Slick and members of The Grateful Dead. It has great instrumentation, almost a dubby feel. The song is about secret societies, The Illuminati etc. It's really simple yet powerful.

2. Cat Power | Song To Bobby
I like an ode to a hero, especially as sincere as Chan Marshall is in her homage to Bob Dylan in this song. It's cool how she even emulates his cadence. It's really beautiful.

3. My Morning Jacket | Run Thru
This song is like a movie. Really dynamic, really dramatic. It has this entire Sergio Leone-meets-Tarantino anti-hero vibe type thing going on. Awesome lead guitar, too.

4. Ghostface Killah | Maxine
Another really vivid story told in a concise song. Crackhead mom and her friend get on the bad side of a dealer who then gets a surprise courtesy of her kids. I won't ruin it but the hint is in the closing line ...and the cops never came.

5. At The Drive In | Arcarsenal
This song was the true predecessor of The Mars Volta, in that the riffs referenced an even truer ancestor - Led Zeppelin - and did it right. This song was an amazing opener both to a classic record and for a legendary live band.

6. Dum Dum Girls | Hey Sis
I'm usually pretty behind when it comes to hype bands but I discovered this song after my roommate opened up for this band. I actually love the live version and haven't really embraced the recorded version. Still it's dark and powerful and really beautiful. Reminds me of Grace Slick covering X.

7. Sleigh Bells | A/B Machines
This is your new favorite song by your new favorite band. Only one sentence worth of lyrics- everybody sing along!

8. Donald Byrd | Feels So Good To Me
As our tour manager Dr. Wiles would say this song is fuckin' righteous and was the theme of the last tour. For dancing sober or fucked up. It was resurrected on a recent LCD Soundsystem mix. Nostalgic and fun!

9. The Doors | Land Ho!
We were playing in Boston, opening for The Secret Machines. I was kind of nervous because it was the last of the shows we were doing on that tour. Suddenly this strangely familiar voice comes over this Ennio Morricone-type music, singing a song about sailing. It was totally out of the ordinary for The Doors. Then Jim Morrisson starts singing about eating someone alive and then you're like Oh, this is The Doors.

10. Fugazi | Do You Like Me
I love this unhinged, Manic Street Preachin' to the choir delivery that Guy pulls off. It's one of the most impassioned songs I've ever heard.

WARMER MIXTAPES #81 | by Shane Alexander

My new album Mono Solo is coming soon.

1. Simon & Garfunkel | The Boxer
One of my favorites from my youth, I was first into this at about 4 or 5 years old. I think it’s the greatest outro in popular music.

2. Black Sabbath | War Pigs
My dad played me the Paranoid record when I was around 9 - the heavy guitars changed my life. War Pigs is the heaviest riff ever.

3. Ron Sexsmith | Seem To Recall
I've seen and met Ron many times. One of the greatest songwriters alive today, and this song just knocks me out.

4. The Moody Blues | Nights In White Satin
Another one from my childhood. Their melancholy tone and the lush reverb is part of my music today.

5. Doves | Catch The Sun
I used to work at a record label, and I remember this video airing on the TV in our lobby. I instantly fell in love with the riff and amazing guitar hook - a great driving song!

6. U2 | The Unforgettable Fire
Obviously U2 has a huge number of timeless killers, but for some reason, the energy and melody of this song have always stirred my soul.

7. Peter Gabriel | Solsbury Hill
A beautiful, pulsing masterpiece about a major change in Peter Gabriel's life. It’s so hopeful. By the time the big power chords come in at the end, I'm always fired up.

8. Tom Waits | Picture In A Frame
There are many songs on his first record like this one, so simple and heartfelt. I love the various noises and knocks in this track, too. The bridge I'm gonna love you till the wheels come off, oh yeah is sublime.

9. Neil Young | A Man Needs A Maid
I could do a whole list of Neil Young, probably the artist who has inspired me the most. The song, coupled with Jack Nitzsche's production, really makes a huge emotional impact.

10. Elliott Smith | Angeles
I first heard his voice in the movie Chasing Amy, and tracked down who it was. I saw him live in L.A. twice. A master songwriter and lyricist, his sound moved me instantly and this is my favorite of all of his songs. The first line, Someone's always coming around here trailing some new kill, is just so fucking cool.

WARMER MIXTAPES #80 | by Johan Vati Graden, Bård Ericson and Elias Smeds of Stay Ali

SIDE A | by Johan Vati Graden

1. Thelonious Monk | Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away)
Uplifting and cheerful. Makes me want to dance on the sunny side of the street. Sunday morning, no school tomorrow. Let's fly by the Five Spot tonight and catch Monk and friends, shall we?

2. Daniel Rossen | Deep Blue Sea
One of those songs that grabs you in its simplicity and pulls you all the way to euforia. Touched by it everytime. It will always find its way into my system, and I will always be open for it, and embrace it. Sometimes, nothing seems to beat the plainness of one man with his guitar...And I love him for it.

3. Lennie Tristano | Line Up
Lennie plays a genius solo over the chord progression from the old standard All Of Me. Blows my mind.

4. Camille Saint-Saëns | Symphony No. 3
The Organ Symphony...One of the first classical pieces of music that really captivated me. The first time I heard it was a sunny summer day many years ago. I was listening to it through headphones while mowing the lawn in my backyard. But it didn't take long before I had to stop. I wasn't capable of doing anything else, but to listen. I had to listen. To glisten.

5. Grizzly Bear | I Live With You
Everytime I go back to listen to one of Grizzly Bear's songs, I discover something new. I Live With You, from Veckatimest has grown into something divine, in my head. No more words.

6. Thom Yorke | The Hollow Earth
His new single takes me somewhere else before.

7. Wayne Shorter | Juju
Brutal and exotic. Running around the djungle, dark and humid, mysterious and uncanny. I love it.

8. Paul Simon | You Can Call Me Al
Used to listen to this 80's hit in our old Volvo while driving around town in the middle of the night looking for a place to stay. Nostalgia. Giros. Bankgiros: 7788234354

9. Radiohead | 2+2=5
I am such a dreamer...

10. Franz Kiefche | Poems Of A Galaxy
Truly amazing piece of art. I couldn't find a more interesting composer/artist if I tried, or even got payed to find one. F-major has never sounded as great as when played by the strings in the beginning, and I love you so much. If you haven't heard his rather unknown music, I recommend you all to check it out. It will blow your mind. It blew mine, and my mind never coming back.

SIDE B | by Bård Ericson

1. Frank Zappa | Peaches En Regalia
Simply the best song I’ve ever heard. The switches between different instruments and music styles are fantastic, and the melodies, rhythms and harmonies are extremely wonderful. Frank Zappa is one of my biggest inspirations, he’s made many amazing tunes but this is the best one, no doubt.

2. Esbjörn Svensson Trio | Tide Of Trepidation
Esbjörn Svensson (Swedish jazz pianist) is definitely one of the best musicians of our time. This song is one of his finest compositions, with amazing solos and production. Esbjörn tragically past away in a diving accident last year (2008), only 44 years old and on the top of his career.

3. Holst | The Planets, Op. 32: IV. Jupiter, The Bringer Of Jollity
I felt that I had to pick at least one piece of classical music, and I ended up with this one. It’s the 4th movement of the legendary Planets by Holst, and to me it’s one of the greatest compositions ever made. In the beginning very powerful and as we say nowadays epic, then it continues with a long and romantic part in the middle, and the ending is just massive!

4. SymbolOne | Love Juice (Danger Remix)
Danger is one of my favourite electronic composers and producers, and this remix is a great example of his amazing production skills. The whole song is one big eargasm, and the synth solo that kicks in at 2:11 is just SICK.

5. Coldplay | Sparks
It was very hard to pick only one song from Coldplay. This one is absolutely one of my favourites, perfect for thinking deep thoughts while sitting on the subway, looking out through the window. Chris Martin’s singing in this one is amazing, as usual.

6. Jan Johansson | Emigrantvisa
Another great Swedish jazz pianist, who tragically passed away in 1968 (only 37 years old). This is a track from the album Jazz På Svenska, in my opinion one of the best albums ever made. It’s a beautiful jazz cover of an old Swedish folksong, with only double bass (Georg Riedel) and piano. The improvised solo by Jan Johansson in this one is just amazing; he is truly a jazz legend.

7. The Beatles | Eleanor Rigby
My favourite song from this legendary band. Very cool production, with only strings and singing. No need to say anything more, really; a great song!

9. Georg Riedel | Intro for Swedish childrens tv-program Alfons Åberg
Only 23 seconds long, but this short little tune is absolutely brilliant. Made by the great Swedish double bass player and composer Georg Riedel. I can’t understand how he came up with this fantastic little melody; it’s so different and simple at the same time!

9. bob hund | bob hunds 115:e Sång
This is a great song from my favourite Swedish pop band: bob hund. The lyrics are wonderful and Thomas Öbergs singing fits perfect, as usual!

10. Gorillaz | Dare
This song from Gorillaz has everything; it’s catchy, it’s beautiful, it makes you want to dance and the production is perfect. And it has a very special sound; I have no idea in which genre I would put it!

SIDE C | by Elias Smeds

1. Bon Iver | Re: Stacks
Slow song. You feel kind of lonely while you listen to it. Feels awesome.

2. Fleet Foxes | Meadowlarks
Just like every Fleet Foxes song, - nice voices, harmonies and chords. Reminds me of fog and large woods.

3. Mr. Oizo | Z
Perfectly produced and funny harmonies...'nuff said.

4. Grizzly Bear | While You Wait For The Others
Cool song with loads of variation, and nice harmonies.

5. Barry Louis Polisar | All I Want Is You
Just the best feel good songs of our times. Full of happiness! It sounds the same for about 3 min, but i still love it.

6. Jeff Buckley | Halleluljha
Nice guitar playing and beautiful singing.

7. System Of A Down | Chop Suey
A wicked mix of different genres, and beats.

8. SebastiAn | Dog
It's an electro song that sounds like a heavy metal song...Great production and easy to sing along to. Lol.

9. Kashmir | Aftermath
Just a good normal song. Guitar song, bass and drums. Simple, right?

10. DJ Mehdi | Signatune
Cuz it sounds just about the same the whole song, but you still can't predict how it's about to sound the coming bars.