WARMER MIXTAPES #113 | by RxRy

1. Grouper | Fishing Bird
Ex-girlfriend and I would lay in my bed all morning, staying away from cold weather. Smell of her hair on my pillow. Frost on my window, Sun peaking through. I hear this song and I am back there. Even when I would much rather be somewhere else. Utterly beautiful. No way around it. Love is enormous, it's lifting me up. Can't really say much more.

2. Flying Lotus | GNG BNG
I grew up listening to instrumental electronic/hip hop. I totally phased out of that and got heavy into drone/ambient. First time I heard this track (which was not that long ago really), I was totally re-immersed instantly in the arts of the beat. FlyLo is without a question one of the freshest and most original beatmasters of our generation (next to RZA) and this track, with its two parts, broken beats, heavy nodders and wacky filters, made me want to be more gangster than I will ever be. Also, FlyLo is a huge inspiration on RxRy sound.

3. Belong | Same Places (slow version)
As I mentioned, my obsession with ambient music, aural textures and drone were spawned by an early interest in electronic music and instrumental hip hop. This song is fucking heavy. Organized in two movements that span the entirety of the side of an LP, there are no artists who can craft such delicate and refined music through such gigantic washes of reverb. I listened to this on a flight to NYC and had a super transcendent dream about being on the fin of a gigantic whale in the sky that was swimming/flying next to the plane. Woke up shocked it didn't really happen. Honestly though, I hear something new every time I listen to this recording, which I think speaks to the enormity of this track as a sonic accomplishment.

4. Dirty Projectors | Jolly Jolly Jolly Ego
Dave Longstrength is a troubadour. He is a musician. He is a story teller. He is a musical genius. His glitch opera, The Getty Address, is one of the most sweeping concept albums I've ever listened to. This track brings me back to freshman year of college, driving in the summer, slurpees, hanging with my friends, smoking cigarettes on the roof of a bathroom structure at a near-by park. The hook was buried in my brain for months. Watching it played live by a 7 piece band blew me away. One of the most moving concerts I've ever witnessed.

5. The Beatles | Come Together
Both my parents grew up in Nebraska. We would drive there once a year and spend a few days at a notorious and gigantic lake. There is a radio station that plays lake jams full time in the summer. The station is called The Lake. Of all the songs they would play (some terrible, some incredible) this one seemed to be on pretty regular rotation, and would play without a doubt every summer at least once. This song is that lake for me. That sugar-sand. That Sun-burn. The taste of lake water. Also, some of my favorite production on a rock record EVER.

6. Black Moth Super Rainbow | Falling Through A Field
I ate magic mushrooms for the first time in Oregon. I walked around through the woods surrounding the cabin I was staying at with my iPod on. I will never forget the look of trees swaying to this song, and moss breathing deep breaths in time with the tape hiss. After a long walk, and a glass of orange juice, I laid in the grass in our front yard and listened to this album on repeat, stretching and feeling The Sun on my skin. Pure magic. Pure mushrooms.

7. Four Tet | Angel Rocks Me Back And Forth
15 years old. Family vacation to the UK. I brought 5 CDs with me (pre-iPod days). Rounds was on heaviest rotation. This song reminds me of long subway rides, having a runny nose, trying blood sausage, holding an owl, the way fog licks hillsides there. Then, a few years later, I totally fell in love with this girl, but it was unreciprocated. This was our song, even though we didn't really need one, because we couldn't have anything together, because she didn't love me. Longing and a sense of closure. That is this song. I love the harp sample.

8. Black Dice | Night Flight
I challenge anyone to find a song that is more fucked up, yet totally accessible (maybe a few Boredoms songs...but probably not). Their newer stuff is good, but I miss when they had this organic quality to their music. This sounds like a dense electronic jungle, writhing with digital animals and beautiful pixilated foliage. Also, one of the best closing tracks to an album. Total closure to the rambling journey that is Creature Comforts. Also, super incredible (loud, abrasive, consuming, enveloping, bewildering) live. I wonder if they will ever make another record like this. I really hope so.

9. Godspeed You! Black Emperor | 2.2: Antennas To Heaven
This whole album kind of defines a really weird specific time in my life. I was graduating high school. I had no plans to go to college, but had to (for several reasons). I wanted to move away. I couldn't. So, to feel like I was getting somewhere, I would go for really long drives through the hills near my house. This album was on constant repeat. This song, in particular, is one of the most nostalgic songs in the world for me. When the song really kicks in (5:32) I remember literally screaming YES!!!! several times on these drives. I didn't need to move away, because music could take me where I wanted to go.

10. Panda Bear | Good Girl/Carrots
The first time I listened all the way through to Person Pitch I was convinced I had never heard such a complete piece of music in my life, and I still believe that. This whole album is perfect in my opinion. I really love the dynamic changes between the two movements, the sound of the production, the pummeling beat giving way to a totally laid back bounce. Seriously. So perfect. It can turn a cold living room into a summer afternoon. Also, a great track for bike rides, afternoons in swimming pools, drinking beer in cool shade and evening summer rain showers.