Warmer Climes: January 2010

WARMER MIXTAPES #112 | by Nicholas Ng [Fiveng]

1. The Beatles | Don't Let Me Down
Call me boring, but The Beatles are probably my favorite band. It could be the whole childhood nostalgia thing, but I think they're like the best cheese pizza in the world. Don't know quite when I first heard this one, but it feels like it's always been burrowed in my subconscious. I love simple, straight-forward lyrics, and this one really resonates with me...I think everybody is secretly whispering this to themselves inwardly. They're the reason I write pop music.

2. Howlin' Wolf | Spoonful
A really famous blues song from a really famous blues singer. I think I got into the blues like five years ago, through all the old 60s rock 'n' roll bands like The Rolling Stones. This man is probably one of my favorite singers ever. His voice sounds like someone threw a bunch of rocks down a garbage disposal. Talking about the rat race I presume, everybody's fightin' about a spoonful.

3. Dennis Brown | Things In Life
I first heard about Dennis Brown and this song through a Wong Kar-Wai movie called Chungking Express. He's my favorite reggae singer, and this song always lifts me up when I feel down. Because it's not everyday were gonna be the same way, there must be a change somehow.

4. Otis Redding | These Arms Of Mine
They don't make dudes like this anymore. This man's voice is so incredible and has so much raw soul that it just hits you deep down inside. Combine his voice with Booker T. & The M.G.'s. and you can't go wrong ever.

5. Wu-Tang Clan | C.R.E.A.M.
I know, not a very interesting choice, but the Wu are my favorite crew of MC's, and I can't think of a better song of there's. Method kills on the hook, and Raekwon and Inspectah Deck's verses are just on point.

6. Patsy Cline | I Fall To Pieces
A bit cheesy and a bit too Nashville country pop, but Patsy Cline is the best damn female country singer I've ever heard. Love that vintage 50s/60s reverb on her voice.

7. The Jesus And Mary Chain | Deep One Perfect Morning
They always remind me of my life in the late eighties/early nineties (and also that Scar Jo movie, Lost In Translation) even though I don't think I ever listened to them when I was in kindergarten or whatever around that time. A hell of a lot less interesting than their noise stuff, but this song is just so perfectly depressing: And my thoughts are turning backwards and I'm picking at the pieces of a world that keeps turning the screws into my mind...

8. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles | What's So Good About Goodbye
There is clearly a bias in this list towards oldies type music. I just prefer that warm vintage analog sound and those classic melodies. Smokey is also one of my favorite singers, and this is just a great underrated early Motown song. Fluff lyrics, but that's how it's supposed to be. I can imagine teenagers slow dancing to this at a high school prom in the early 60s. Short and sweet.

9. Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa | Baby
I first discovered Tropicália through Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes a couple of years ago. Just a perfect pop tune. Love the strings and the clav/percussive noise. I don't know what they're singing about, but it's almost certainly about love. Pop music's subject matter almost always concerns love, and I think it's a tradition that is so ingrained that it must be maintained. Baby for sure.

10. James Brown | It's A Man's Man's Man's World
Rock 'n' roll music has a history of misogyny, and this one probably takes the cake (words written by a woman no less!). But this song is so damn sick and fucking epic, I couldn't not have this on the list. Just listen to those strings and The Godfather's voice...Jesus Christ. I love this song so much I used to have it as a ringtone, and I never use ringtones. There's some old guy in downtown San Francisco that dances and grooves just like The Godfather. Fucking awesome.

WARMER MIXTAPES #111 | by Ryan McRyhew [Thug Entrancer] and Kristi Schaefer of Hideous Men

SIDE A | by Kristi Schaefer

1. Bikini Kill | Alien She
Bikini Kill is the reason I make music. And probably a reason I'm still alive. I am still so inspired by this early 90s punk because of Kathleen Hanna's beautiful and irreverent vocals along with their ability to make honest and GOOD music which is explicitly political. Thank goodness for Bikini Kill!

2. Xiu Xiu | Save Me Save Me
Such amazingly challenging and beautiful songwriters. It seems that it is impossible for me to get sick of this record. I'm a sucker for songs I can sing along to also. The darkest parts of really unhealthy love set to beautiful melodies **sigh** Xiu Xiu for life (and death)!!!!!

3. J Kwon | Tipsy
Such an infectious beat! And then the synth line comes in!!! I am an appreciator of slower tempo dance music with a simple structure that manages to also be so catchy that you eventually hate it. The beauty of this song is I still don't hate it and it still makes me dance while the bass shakes my bones!!

4. Future Islands | Heart Grows Old
I wish I had a fraction of the stage presence that Sam has. When I'm tired and uninspired, I look to Future Islands to breathe life back into me, and they always deliver. They have carried on the best parts of rock and roll and pissed on the bullshit and what has emerged is so nice.

5. Stephen Steinbrink | Overpassing
Such a beautiful song. The aftermath of a short relationship that you realized you never should have gotten into in the first place. Stephen is such an amazing creative force, who maintains this really approachable, sincere reality. He also has a voice that makes even a cold break up sound almost comforting. I love what he's doing and want the best for him.

6. Gravy Train | Titties Bounce
Just indispensable. To this day when I try to think of a new melody or catchy lyrics I think of Titties Bounce. The Catholic references also speak to me. So punk and so dancey and way more publicly sexual than I could dream of being comfortable with.

7. Gowns | Fargo
Maybe it's because I have family from Fargo and many alienating memories of the place, or maybe it's because the lady in the band was real mean to me and I'm a glutton for punishment but, I love this song!! Spooky and beautiful - two of the best qualities in music ever!

8. Tracy + The Plastics | Quaasars
This song makes me feel this amazing paranoid anxiety turned teen angst melody turned mystic voyage dance party. I never saw the Tracy + The Plastics live experience, which I am infinitely sad about, but I will play these songs until technology is dead.

9. Married In Berdichev | Feet In The Water
Brittany is an important Denver comrade and I will always get chills when thinking about the first few times I saw Brittany perform. This song is one of her most beautiful even without the magic of the live setting.

10. Thundercade | Laser Palace
Beautiful melody layered with lo-fi samples of guns layered with sick beat in a gorgeous and life affirming pattern = love...I am lucky to collaborate with this magic genius.

SIDE B | by Ryan McRyhew

1. White Noise | Love Without Sound
The tape manipulation on this song is incredibly haunting. Delia Derbyshire was an ethereal composer and entirely underrated.

2. DJ Trouble | Bangs And Wurks
Footwork is the future of music. Deep maximal tribal dance music!

3. Pictureplane | Dayglowwed
For years this song was Denver's anthem. It embodies our community on so many levels, a state of self-transcendence lost in a vast pansexual summertime rift…It's also so fucking gangster.

4. Teengirl Fantasy | Portofino
This song puts me on another plane of existence, those floating toms are gorgeous and the fusion of Raymond Scott with Rich Boy is as real as life gets.

5. Mort Garson | Witch Trial
Witch Trial reminds me of the spirits that used to haunt my home when I was younger. It's so relentless and transparent, scary as shit.

6. Notorious B.I.G. | Juicy
This track bangs so smoothly, biggie was a sorcerer. He steals souls with his rhymes.

7. Alphabets | They Must Be Invisible
Mr. Ferguson Ward takes you on a mystical journey through the cosmos while riding a giant dog that spits rainbow fire at comets with this song. It's next level classical-psycho-hyphy!

8. Lucky Dragons | Mercy
A love song of massive proportions, I feel very aware of love and life when I listen to this song.

9. Milton Melvin Croissant | Books On Tape
One day some alien archeologist will unearth this song from mass internet wastelands and it will be a symbol of a sincere planetary culture. It will become an anthem for future peace makers, and start the meta-folk iTunes IRL tag phenomenon.

10. Prince | Purple Rain (Screwed And Chopped)
Purple Rain used to make me cry when I was younger. It wasn't necessarily the content of the song just the composition. This Chopped And Screwed version takes those emotions to a new level, it's universal and makes time stop. Also things sound so much better when they are slowed down.

WARMER MIXTAPES #110 | by James Tyler Haran and Hatii Rose De Leon of Dazzle Ships

SIDE A | by James Tyler Haran

1. Modest Mouse | Gravity Rides Everything
I remember hearing shit luck in the skate video Welcome To Hell and really really digging it. After further looking into there albums I discovered Gravity Rides Everything which completely blew my 13 year old mind and changed how I looked at music forever. The lyrics, production, guitar, everything are just perfect.

2. New Order | Ceremony
I just realized my top 2 songs are both in minivan commercials....This song will always move me. I will forever rip off the guitar and bass riffs. I can picture myself as a middle-aged dad driving in a minivan on a road trip with 3 shitty kids screaming and putting this song on and completely forgetting about my shitty life as an old person.

3. Talking Heads | This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
I listen to this song every time I am driving at night by myself down a completely desolate freeway. This song makes me feel comfortable.

4. Seal | Kiss From A Rose
This song is so ridiculous I love it. I don't know why. I remember hearing it in a Wal-Mart when I was very very young while my dad was buying me ice cream. So I have good memories attached to it.

5. The Birthday Party | Mr. Clarinet
This song is so perfect, so driving with so much attitude. This song reminds me of my best friends, driving down the road at excessive speeds blaring this song and screaming the lyrics.

6. Ariel Pink | For Kate I Wait
A classic. So lovely and dreamy. My favorite part is at about 2:40. Pure bliss.

7. Felt | Mexican Bandits
Great guitar song by a great guitar band.

8. The Stranglers | Golden Brown
This song is so elegant. I am going to cover this one day.

9. Broadcast | Tender Buttons
I love Broadcast. I love everything about them. The drum machine, the guitar, the disconnected vocals. I love this song especially.

10. Sonic Youth | Mote
All time favorite.

+11. Aphex Twin | Windowlicker
I like this song because I have no idea how he made it. It has some insane production and that fascinates me. Plus the super catchy vocals that come in at 1:36 are just great.

+12. My Bloody Valentine | Touched
Also Hatii's fav...A weird choice because it's a minute long drone thing. The drummer wrote this song and it's the only time he is featured on the album. He was replaced with a drum machine.

SIDE B | by Hatii Rose De Leon

1. Q Lazarus | Goodbye Horses
This song reminds me of a lot of great times and it makes me feel really good whenever I hear it.

2. Vitas | Prosvyachenie
I went through a period of time where I was really into this insane Russian pop artists that could sing notes only attainable by altar boys, one of my favorite songs of his was Prosvyachenie which is funny because it has absolutely no lyrics but a lot of vocals. I remember my older sister Tessa would make fun of me for it and call it the Fa va fee va song. I'm reminded of her every time I listen to it. She's been missing for over a year.

3. Niccolò Paganini | Caprice No. 4
If there ever was a song that could express human emotion without lyrics it would be this one. I love it's roller coaster of speech, from sadness, to excitement, back and forth. Truly a song I will love all my life. A great version of it is performed by a virtuoso named TianWa Yeung.

4. Sparks | Sherlock Holmes
Listening to this song reminds me of being in love. Nuff said.

5. Ludwig Van Beethoven | Piano Sonata No. 8 In C Minor, Op. 13 (Sonata Pathétique)
This song reminds me of everything I felt while I was going through a tough time in my life. It brings me back but also reminds me how far I've come and the saying this too shall pass. Life goes on, and that's what this song means to me. I like this version performed by Cambry.

6. David Bowie | As The World Falls Down
This song is from the Jim Henson movie The Labyrinth. David Bowie wrote most of the music and As The World Falls Down is easily one of my favorite songs from him, despite being made for a kids movie. It's dreamy, catchy, and something I love to sing every time I take a shower. I really want to make a cover of it.

7. Ichiko Hashimoto | Yume No Tamago
Only the Japanese version of course. I'll admit that I am a pretty big snerd, and I like to watch Japanese animation. This song is from a soundtrack from one of my favorite series, I fell in love with its dreamy sound the first time I heard it.

8. Sergei Rachmaninoff | Cello Sonata In G Minor
This was one of the contributing songs that made me buy and learn how to play a cello. I think of deep rainy blue days when I hear the trickling of the piano and the sullen tones of the cello. It makes my chest swell.

9. Donna Burke | Shadow Of Sorrow
If I was ever to think of a song that would represent the ending of a great love.

10. Niccolò Paganini | Caprice No. 24
This song needs no introduction.

WARMER MIXTAPES #109 | by Annelie and Klas Blomstrand of The Talking Two

SIDE A: From A Darling | by Annelie Blomstrand

1. David Bowie | Starman
The first time I heard Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars I broke down and cried. After that, my whole world changed. It was me and my mainman. I can’t say that it was for better or for worse. I guess it’s just the way it was meant to be…

2. Prince | International Lover
This is your pilot Prince speaking...U r flying aboard the Seduction 747...This plane is fully equipped with anything your body desires...Welcome 2 Satisfaction...

3. Peter Ivers | I’m Sorry Alice
I was obsessed with Peter Ivers for a while, and listening today, I get the same feeling of decadence and intimity.

4. Serge Gainsbourg | Love On The Beat
French Bastard!

5. Junior Boys | In The Morning
And the beat goes on…Always the beat. I’m so happy that it never ends!

6. Ryuichi Sakamoto | Risky (feat. Iggy Pop)
This is pop mother, Iggy Pop! No risk in putting these two together. The one and only Sakamoto released the voice to unimagined heights. A match made in heaven.

7. Cockney Rebel | Singular Band
Cockney Rebel, where can I begin?...My Biba braces are making me so cruel?...But that was in swinging London and not even in this track. A hell of a drummer this is anyway.

8. Air | Sing Sang Sung
It sounds simple, but it’s an art keeping it simple. So smooth and so beautiful. And the lyrics, just sing sang sung…

9. Isaac Hayes | Joy
If you’re not in the mood, 15:55 minutes of Joy will do it!

10. Flight Of The Conchords | Foux Du Fafa
Okey. I’m bored, really bored and I haven’t got a clue what to listen to, it all sucks. Foux Du Fafa again? Yeees, this is a real lifesaver. Sing along: Foux Du Fa Fa, Foux Du Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa, Foux Du Fa Fa, Ah ee ah!...

SIDE B: From A Classic One | by Klas Blomstrand

1. T.Rex | Mambo Sun
When I first heard T.Rex I was too small to understand it. Years later I eventually got it and since then, Marc Bolan has been a great inspiration to me.

2. Sex Pistols | Anarchy In The UK
Being a young teenager listening to music for the wrong reasons, suddenly this raw energy appears in front of me. Yeah! I wanna be in a band and play music to. How difficult can it be?

3. The The | This Is The Day
This is the day...Your life will surely change...It certainly did.

4. Alaska Y Dinarama | Ni Tu, Ni Nadie
It’s strange but it’s true. These people have been a major influence on me since the early eighties.

5. The Jesus & Mary Chain | April Skies
It’s simple, distorted, lots of reverb and two crazy brothers. What more can you ask for?

6. Ash | Angel Interceptor
Great song from a fantastic debut album by (at the time) this really young band. They continue to deliver the goods and yes, they’re still young.

7. Black Box Recorder | Start As You Mean To Go On
Luke Haines is a really great songwriter but not the best singer in the world. A good move then, that he teamed up with Sarah and John.

8. Glass Candy | Rolling Down The Hills
Simply because italians do it better.

9. Plasticines | Barcelona
There’s always something special with french people trying to play rock’n’roll. And that’s a good thing.

10. Marina And The Diamonds | Hollywood
I seem to have a thing for female singers. Marina has a really lovely voice and a gorgeous look. And the fact that I woke up this morning with this song in my head must have some kind of meaning. Am I in love?

WARMER MIXTAPES #108 | by Adam Honingford of The Bilinda Butchers

1. João Gilberto | Insensatez
In my early and mid-teenage years, I was separated from my friends (including and especially Michalek) for several years. During this period of isolation is when I was most immersed in music. I went through a long bossa nova phase, and songs like Insensatez helped me (and continue to help me) remember that beautiful, wonderful things can be born from sorrow.

2. Rocketship | You're Too Young
This is a youth anthem done properly, by none other than indie pop favorite Rocketship! In a way, it's essentially saying what most other youth anthems say: Fuck what other people are telling you and do what you want to do!, but it's all so sincere (like all of Rocketship's music), and the lead guitar part towards the middle is so catchy, that you can't help but believe what he's saying is true and absolutely right. While, like many other fans, I favor the first album, I really do love this song.

3. Shocking Pinks | You Can Make Me Feel Bad (Arthur Russell Cover)
Now, a cover of an Arthur Russell song by Nick Harte. This is the song I listen to on repeat on rainy days (of which there have been more than a few lately). There's a place for us in the real world is a lyric that begs to be applied to one's own life.

4. of Montreal | At Night Trees Aren't Sleeping

Like many indie nerds (at least among the indie nerds I've met), I went through an Elephant 6 phase. I was excited to realize that actual, somewhat normal people were behind the music I was listening to. Cherry Peel is still one of my favorites. This song is brilliant...The line We're only waiting here to die...At least let me wrap my arms around you... is one that I will never stop loving.

5. Win A Sheep Free | Any Wonder Is No Wonder
Win A Sheep Free is a sadly forgotten Japanese group whose small body of work is one that I will always cherish. Their work has played such an important role in my listening habits and tastes for the past five years or so that I've made it a personal mission to share it with as many other people as possible.

6. Lily Chou-Chou | Arabesque
Another Japanese artist, though one undoubtedly more familiar to fans of foreign music and film. All About Lily Chou-Chou is an acclaimed Japanese film about the tensions of coming of age, and Lily Chou-Chou is actually a fictional artist within the universe of the film. This song, as well as others from the film's soundtrack, were composed by Takeshi Kobayashi, and the vocals were provided by Salyu (who was unknown before the film was released). I chose this song because not only is it beautiful in it's own right, but All About Lily Chou-Chou is one of my favorite films.

7. John Lennon | Look At Me
Though it's probably not apparent in our songs, Michalek and I first met at age thirteen and became friends due to a common affinity for The Beatles. His favorite was George, mine was John. Say what you will about each of the members' solo careers, but John Lennon knew how to write love songs, and this is a prime example. I can recall more than a few times when I've found myself laying in bed, lonesome and forlorn, listening to this gorgeous composition on repeat.

8. Luminous Orange | Before Last Night
Another group from Japan, and one of my absolute favorites. Rie Takeuchi, who provides vocals and writes the music for this group, is in my opinion one of the most talented people around these days. Luminous Orange is often too quickly passed off as a shoegaze group, but there are a wide variety of influences apparent in their music, and this breezy song demonstrates Rie's penchant for variety.

9. The Softies | Pack Your Things And Go
The Softies represent to me the quintessential indie pop group. This song is heartbreaking, and it's been my crutch in many times of need. I saw Rose Melberg with some friends a while ago, and it was one of the most pleasant and intimate shows I've ever been to.

10. Beach House | Home Again
Beach House is a group I respect immensely, and I've listened to their first two albums too many times to count. Devotion, especially, is a masterpiece and in my opinion one of the most pleasantly cohesive albums in recent memory. This song is particularly significant to me...It reminds me of a special person and a special time in my life.

WARMER MIXTAPES #107 | by Brent Tomchik [Brob Ront Experiment]

1. New Order | Ceremony
It was the first time I realized my dad didn't have bad music taste. After listening to new wave and electronic 80s bands growing up, I discovered New Order, and with that a keen sense for looking back to music of the past and how much it can change in a matter of 15 years. Also, the song is a reminder of the immortality a single person can have through a piece of music. Joy Division's late singer Ian Curtis lives on through this song.

2. Pearl Jam | Brain Of J.
The first album I had ever bought was when, at 8 years old I purchased Pearl Jam's album Yield. My friend Jason had it, and I kind of looked up to him at the time. I would make myself a fort in my family's basement and listen to this song in an old CD player on repeat. It was the only song I liked on the album, the rest sucked. I picked up the album a couple years ago and listened to it, only this time around there was not a single bad song on it. Not only that, it's now my favorite album from Pearl Jam. How does this happen? What changed? I still am not sure.

3. The Arcade Fire | Une Année Sans Lumière
My best female friend, and the girl I should have dated in high school, always said she only listened to The Arcade Fire during the winter time. They were her winter listening band. I miss her every damn day.

4. Kevin Shields | Are You Awake?
Seemingly simple charm in music without lyrics, and a perfect sound for the soundtrack to the film Lost In Translation.

5. The Smashing Pumpkins | Farewell And Goodnight
Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins will always be the type of band mate I never want to become. I am fascinated by the entire album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness; how what seemed like a suicidal double-disk release turned out as a chart-topper and timeless collection, and also how selfishness and a need for perfection can tear a band's friendships so far apart. This song incorporates every band member at the time, and portrays what I imagined the band to be like personally, while at the same time representing how I felt when I realized they weren't a real group at all.

6. Air France | Collapsing At Your Doorstep
Thanks to Air France, I was reassured that beautiful, creative music (at least in my own eyes) lies not only in the past. I just had to start looking deeper, and in this case beyond the close-minded borders of the United States. Their art, and using environment sounds in their music, really inspired me to open up my ears. I now listen to the trees, to the winds, to the cars, to footsteps. Their sound is very hard to describe, other than that it makes me happy when I groove to it.

7. My Bloody Valentine | To Here Knows When
Such a dreamy and peaceful sounding song, like a lullaby. No matter how many impersonators, My Bloody Valentine will always have such an other-worldly feel that very few are able to capture. It is this other-worldly-ness that fascinates me so much. Despite their preference for wall-of-sound style, there is a distinct loveliness to it. It makes me feel like I am finding beauty in the midst of chaos, and being able to create beauty out of chaos, and make others see it, is a rare art. Only one of my friends and none of my family recognize My Bloody Valentine as a great band.

8. Blake Reary | Nowhere Near
This guy made this tune with one piece of software, Fruity Loops, and the software plug-ins involved with it. Hell, with the right skill, knowledge, and plug-ins, nearly anyone can do almost as good a job as he does. Yet it is so rare. The home recording studio is very under-rated.

9. The Twilight Sad | The Room
What an awesome Scottish voice. Absolutely awesome. The more I listen to it, the more I am infatuated with its sound and how it works with their music. This song just builds and builds and builds and roars until the booming percussive tone just pounds at the doors of your heart.

10. The Go! Team | Universal Speech
Some of the most fun I have had listening to a song. There are so many different things going on, that it becomes playful and teasing. Like there are a bunch of children taking you by the hand on an adventure through sound and space, shoving you and showing you as many things as they can because it's all dramatically exciting.

WARMER MIXTAPES #106 | by Ed Mazzucco of The Autocollants, Evening Lights, Monterey and Tears Run Rings

I had to pick 15 (10 is too hard).

1. New Order | Age Of Consent
I'll go down in saying this is the best bass line ever written!

2. Felt | My Face Is On Fire
This song is how I fell in love with Felt.

3. Pale Saints | Half-Life, Remembered
I never liked anything on 4AD until I heard this single. Ian Masters is genius!

4. The Wedding Present | Nobody's Twisting Your Arm
I love the entire Reception Records catalogue. This song in particular is a jangle-pop guitarist's user manual.

5. Moose | Uptown Invisible
Probably the most criminally under-rated of bands known to man!

6. Slowdive | Slowdive
This song pretty much changed everything about music for me.

7. Ride | Vapour Trail
Same goes for this one! Still so timeless and amazing!

8. The Wild Swans | God Forbid
B-side of my all-time favorite 12" single.

9. James | If Things Were Perfect
When James were perfect!

10. Bomb Pops | Girl Daredevil
Probably the best indiepop song ever written!

+11. The Gist | Love At First Sight
A-side of my favorite Rough Trade 7". Heals the soul.

+12. The Icicle Works | Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)
When I started my obsession with 80s Liverpool bands.

+13. The House Of Love | Christine
Another Creation classic. I'm still so in love with that haunting guitar sound. The video is also amazing.

+14. Languis | Times Are Changing
Has to be my favorite song written in the last decade.

+15. The Radio Dept. | Lost And Found
...Still gives me goosebumps.

WARMER MIXTAPES #105 | by Adam Daver [prds/Karibien] of Kap Verde and Iwy

1. Solu Music | Fade (feat. Kimblee)
I’ve never been in Indonesia. I can’t surf. I guess you could say anything about Lounge Music, but I love it. (I don’t even know if this is Lounge…) This song gives me the chills. It takes me to Indonesia. It makes me surf.

2. Air France | Never Content
This song made me love music. According to iTunes, I’ve listened to it over 400 times. The On Trade Winds EP is still in my stereo, it has been since 2006. I’m always listening to this tune on airports. This is my airport track.

3. Prince | I Would Die 4 U (Purple Rain Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
I remember sitting in this hot bus with beautiful mountains surrounding me. The windows were tinted so everything outside was purple. I was on King's Road in Jordan. Heading to Petra, one of the World’s seven wonders. Once, we drove past a mountain village. Kids were playing football with cloths as goal posts. Old women starred at me through the tinted window. Men walking by. Children waving to me. Prince - I Would Die 4 U on repeat.

4. Iron Maiden | Run To The Hills
I'm a guitarist. Not a good one, but I've played the guitar for some years. I play in a band with two of my friends. We've never really made a whole song, but if we ever will, I hope it will be like this one. The guitar-riff in the beginning is heavy.

5. The Style Council | Long Hot Summer
The best summer tune ever made. Perfect for summer evenings in Stockholm. I use to walk through Gamla Stan, Old Town, with this tune in my headphones. Use to stop by at Comics Heaven, my favorite comic book store, buy a few Batman issues and read them by the water along Munkbroleden.

6. Jay-Z + Alicia Keys | Empire State Of Mind
This song makes me immortal, it makes me do things I usually would not do. Things that will make people remember me.

7. Curtis Mayfield | Move On Up
This is a must have in every playlist. I was once on a cruise through the Caribbean. This track somehow reminds me of that, even though I was too young to really remember anything from the trip. Something I do remember though is that they had an ice-cream bar on the boat.

8. Icehouse | Don’t Believe Anymore (Ivan Gough & Colin Snape Remix)
What can I say? It’s dreamy and it gives me needs. Tropical Needs.

9. TV On The Radio | Dry Drunk Emperor
I rarely listen to the lyrics in a song, but I’ve understand that this song is political. I don’t really care that much. This is however one of the best songs of all times. Can’t remember when I first discovered it. Must have been three or four years ago.

10. Eric Serra | Deep Blue Dream
This song was made for the movie Le Grand Bleu, The Big Blue. I’ve seen that film twice in my life, and both times I have been completely stunned by it.

WARMER MIXTAPES #104 | by Matthias Wendl [Airport Angst]

1. Hüsker Dü | These Important Years
I bought this record for 3 Deutschmarks when I was 12. It was my grandma's birthday and I was supposed to stay at her house for the whole day after purchasing the record. I wanted to listen to the record so badly, but the record player was in the living room and the mainly older party guests had already arrived for coffee and cake. I remember playing the record so quietly and pushing my ear against the speakers that I could only hear some indistinct noise. I liked it a lot, even though the guys with the mustaches on the backcover seemed a little strange.

2. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti | For Kate I Wait
I think he's a genius. My good friend Hans showed me the video to this song in 2006 and I immediately fell in love with it. Ariel's basslines are crazy. It sounded so fresh to me and I still can't tell how he creates all this weird sounds, but I'm not alone with this mystery anymore.

3. Manuel Göttsching | E2-E4
Along with Klaus Schulze he's the mastermind of early German electronic music. One hour of pure synthesizer joy. One big flow.

4. Bad Brains | Sailin' On
Years ago I really was into hardcore/punk music. When I listen to the raw energy and the speed of this song now, I know why.

5. Genesis | Carpet Crawlers
I know it's hard to mention Genesis and Phil Collins here, but hey, he's not Bono. I listened to a lot of ProgRock when I was in 8th grade. Very cheesy though, but I AM cheesy!

6. R. Stevie Moore | Part Of The Problem
He's a lo-fi pioneer. He has been writing tons of songs since 1957 and some are really likeable. Part Of The Problem is a hit.

7. The Feelies | Moscow Nights
On a very cold winter day in 2005 I went to a vintage-whatever shop and bought the Crazy Rhythms record. I didn't know the band, but the cover art was very promising. I also picked my first and only computer game I ever bought - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. My room-mate Markus and I spent 3 days playing virtual skateboarding and listened to Crazy Rhythms about a hundred times.

8. Kate Bush | Wuthering Heights
The video fascinated me when I was a kid. I watched the video one minute ago on YouTube and it's still good.

9. The Beach Boys | All I Wanna Do
I'm a huge Beach Boys fan. I remember listening to the Sunflower album on a hot summer day cycling to a local outdoor swimming-pool. The streets where shimmering and the water was perfect then.

10. The Rubinoos | I Think We Are Alone Now
I always liked the cover version of this song by Tiffany. I recently listened to quite a number of Power Pop bands and discovered the original version by The Rubinoos, which is much better.

WARMER MIXTAPES #103 | by Samuel Riot [WILDLIFE!/Young Palace]

1. Coil | Here To Here (Double Headed Secret)
Probably one of my favorite pieces of Music of all time. The simplicity and beauty of this lovely tune (based on just one chord) is simply mind blowing.

2. Arnold Schoenberg | 5 Pieces For Orchestra, Op.16: Sommermorgen An Einem See (Played by The Cleveland Orchestra; conductor: Christoph von Dohnányi
I don’t know much about Schoenberg’s work to be honest, but a teacher of mine introduced me to this Textural masterpiece a couple of years ago and it has remained one of the most played tracks on my phone.

3. Phil Collins | In The Air Tonight (Screwed & Chopped by DJ Screw) (from Chapter 178: In The Zone)
Not gonna lie, I am a HUGE fan of Phil Collins’ Music (and of a LOT of 80s Pop for that matter), and the way DJ Screw’s treatment of this already amazing track brings out a whole other Textural and Emotional dimension show’s what a Musical Genius the late Texan deejay really was.

4. Harold Budd, Ruben Garcia, Daniel Lentz | The Messenger
A dear friend of mine recently introduced me to Harold Budd’s Music… What can I say… How fucking beautiful is that stuff?!

5. Arthur Russell | Soon-To-Be Innocent Fun/Let's See
I love Arthur Russell’s Music sooo soo much and this is one of my current favorites from his vast catalogue.

6. Teiji Ito | Meshes Of The Afternoon
A beautiful piece Teiji Ito wrote for Maya Deren’s famous film of the same name.

7. Fleetwood Mac | Everywhere
Fleetwod Mac’s Tango In The Night somehow weirdly became my go to album to listen to whenever I go to the beach. I can’t really explain it, but it just makes me feel very happy and romantically joyful.

8. Nitty Gritty | Good Morning Teacher
Jamaican Music has been a big part of my musical diet of the past two decades and as much as love all the Contemporary stuff that’s currently coming from the island, Eighties and Nineties stuff holds a very special place in my heart.

9. Morton Feldman | Piano And String Quartet (Performed by Kronos Quartet with Aki Takahashi)
One of my favorite pieces of Music for traveling.

10. Eliane Radigue | Adnos I
Textural Bliss. I admire Eliane Radigue. There’s a great documentary on her and her methods on Vimeo (A Portrait Of Eliane Radigue). You should watch it.

WARMER MIXTAPES #102 | by Jason Sweeney of Simpático, Sweet William, Other People's Children, Luxury Gap, Par Avion, Mist & Sea, School Of Two, Pretty Boy Crossover, Panoptique Electrical and Great Panoptique Winter

1. Marie And The Atom | Isol
From one of the more obscure bands on New Zealand's Flying Nun label, this is one song that I've always adored, completely and utterly. Such a strange, oceanic and beautiful song. The Art Bears for our part of the world.

2. Look Blue Go Purple | As Does The Sun
Again, New Zealand bliss...And I had to give it a 50% placing with Marie And The Atom because for some reason I end up playing them side by side...And also so I could get 11 songs in! But seriously, As Does The Sun is how melancholy guitar pop should sound, reflecting sunlight and sadness all at once, being lost somewhere in a landscape but not caring if you find your way back home again.

3. Pram | Loose Threads
Quite hard for me to choose a Pram song, as they remain one of my favourite bands ever. But I think this song kind of encapsulates everything I love about them. Rosie's wonderfully perverse lyrics, the angular rhythms, the minimal pop sensibility, as if they should be surrealist pop stars on some distant planet.

4. Scott Walker | Farmer In The City
The compelling opener from the album, Tilt, which pulls you in and seduces you into this dark, velvety world. When I listen to Scott Walker I feel like I am at a beautiful soireé with David Sylvian, Antony, Billy Mackenzie, with Scott pouring the drinks. Do I hear 21? 21? 21?

5. Able Tasmans | Hold Me 1
It's the piano, Graeme Humphrey's exquisite vocals, the sort of song to fall in love to, or indeed, with. The video for this song is also such a joy.

6. Antony & The Johnsons | I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy
The name says it all really and the fact that it references Australia. Antony remains a queer icon, an artist who transcends the often frustratingly straight world of music. And I too have fallen in love with many boys in my time who certainly could be dead as far as I know...And I'm still in love with many of them.

7. Rabbit's Wedding | Sweet William
Apart from inspiring me to name one of my bands after this song by an underrated Australian band - the intense, lilting sadness of this song sums up much of why I like to make music.

8. Associates | Party Fears Two
The song I choose from the 80's electro-pop era. It is smart, strange, haunting and timeless. That opening keyboard line just kills me. Billy Mackenzie singing about taking another shower and phoning his brother up, smashing cups...The alcohol loves you while turning you blue. Ah, such perfection.

9. The Bats | Had To Be You
Because I always aspired to write songs like this. Simple, melodic, oh-so-sad. In fact I don't think there's another Bat's song where Robert Scott sounds so defeated. Perhaps Smoking Her Wings, and that's such a gorgeous thing too - 8b on my list, please Vlad? No, I'm really pushing it...

10. The Triffids | Hell Of A Summer
Hell Of A Summer is the sound of Australia as far as I'm concerned. The brutality, beauty, disappointment, delight, disturbance of the landscape and continent we live on. The driest continent on Earth? Yes indeed. And getting dryer. It's been a hell of summer to be kept lying way down so low...What you have sir, dispose of at your will. What you cannot have sir, you must kill.

+11. Not Drowning, Waving | The Same Heat
The perfect romantic match for Hell Of A Summer - these two songs next to each other are like eternal lovers, locked in some kind of drought-ridden embrace. David Bridie's lyrics and voice are melancholy writ large. If you walk upon this road, even if you walk for days and days and days...You'd be waiting for the red dust Sun...To slowly take you away.

WARMER MIXTAPES #101 | by Kevin Alvir [The Hairs] of Cowards and Knight School

1. The Aislers Set | Long Division
This is a no-brainer of a song to like in the indiepop world. There are hooks abound. The one note organ riff and the handclaps with the soul rhythm are hooky for sure. But what gets me is that this song is about someone who just wants to be alone with their thoughts and their paintbox and kick everyone out. This song makes me feel like a bad-ass.

2. Sportsguitar | Romeo Goes
I tell anyone that I like this band and I get who the hell are they? as a response. I'm not sure what this song is about really. It sounds like it's a song about a drug dealer whose life seems frantic and hectic with a wistful air. I think this band is amazing. The production is so dry and the lead guitar controls my mood for 4 minutes.

3. Royal Trux | Back To School
This song sounds like drugs. I just get memories of walking around my neighborhood in the woods at night with wet autumn leaves beneath my feet, wondering when I'll get out of my private school hell and live beyond wishing I was on the lacrosse team.

4. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names | Noodles
I find this song funny. Musicians are by and large emotionally retarded. I might be one of these people. The story is about being a fuck-up and growing up when you cannot.

5. Television Personalities | The Man Who Paints The Rainbow
In Kabbalah (I'm not a jewish mystic, btw) , there is a saying about relationships: When the one stops being the ONE, that's when the relationship really starts. Sometimes, when I like someone I think they're God. This reminds me they're not.

6. Times New Viking | Teenage Lust!
Times New Viking are loud and have killed my hearing through my iPod. Regardless, this song captures the desperation for connection with some noise that I cannot always decipher.

7. Elastica | Nothing Stays The Same
I hate change.

8. The Clean | Do Your Thing
I don't think this is a popular choice for the best Clean song. But it comes in handy when I get wind that I'm the biggest fucking loser in the world. (womp, womp)

9. Joanna Newsom | Peach, Plum, Pear
I get kind of sick of relationship songs. Do I really need an audio version of He's Just Not That Into You (the movie)? Here, Joanna expertly references self-help books to decipher the object of her affection. She's not victimized and her timbre isn't whiny (otherworldly, yes). She goes through the motions, but she knows when to run and save herself. I just feel like there's a sense of wisdom about this song and Joanna herself.

10. Imperial Teen | Open Season
The combination of title, lyrics, sound, and images play with my mind a lot. There's no clear narrative, but one is felt. The lines Preparing your face for crying on cue...You're painting your nails while eating for two are really intriguing to me. It's kinda dark but bounces along sounding like Blondie or The Amps. But y'know nothing's ever totally bad or good.

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