WARMER MIXTAPES #141 | by Myles Cooper
1. Juiceboxxx | 100 MPH
I love this song so much, I invited Milwaukee's Juiceboxxx by Greyhound bus to San Francisco so we could play a show together. 100 MPH won me over at first listen with its nervous Chicago house, non-informative party-rocker emceeing and left-field electric guitar solo. As for the show we played together, Juiceboxxx was incredible: he got gay boys dancing and the straight boys moshing. We stayed up all night, got pinkeye, saw Big Freedia at a house party in Oakland and watched the Dennis Rodman Show on VHS tape until The Sun came up...Literally.
2. Sounds Of Blackness | Optimistic
I sing this song to myself when I am taking the subway and walking down the street. I spin it in the gay club every few weeks and people always go crazy for it.
3. SSION | Clown
A mutual friend of Kansas City's SSION strongly recommended that I travel to Los Angeles for the premier of SSION's Boy at the Perez Projects gallery. The film is the classic story of teenagers selling their soul to the Devil in order for their band to hit it big. You may think this is a silly plot, but it really happens. It makes me cry optimism. It makes me feel reborn. It makes me feel like life isn't such a drag.
4. Alexis | Lonely Sea
Recently my two closest gay friends, Hunx (from Hunx And His Punks) and Alexis, broke up. I met both of them while they were in the relationship, and while I knew them as very strong individuals, it was hard to imagine them apart. I was scared for Alexis, who is both my background singer and co-party promoter, fearing that he would fall into an artistic slump of depression unable to assert himself. So when I heard Alexis' Lonely Sea, which is both autobiographical and daringly different from Hunx's material, with its lazy bongos and beach saxophones, I was really convinced that my headstrong friends were gonna be okay. This Nick from Teengirl Fantasy produced track is spot on with its clearwater dance music cliché and vocal leads from a drag queen swallowing her own words.
5. Kenny Voughan & The Art Of Love | Feels Like Heaven
This song has no gravity. I makes you feel like you are floating. I have been trying to figure out all the vocal parts. It is really fun.
6. Стекловата | Просто осень
I recently discovered Russian boy bands. Стекловата is definitely my favorite. I like everything they've done. I listen to this song Просто осень a lot because I relate with the video, which you can find on YouTube. Just like the video, I feel like a boy lost on the forest, jumping over a dangerous fire, waiting for a daddy with a guitar to save me. I also relate to their studio. I don't have a lot of money, so their outdated equipment resembles what I use to create my music today. A strong sense of commonality with these Russian boys is what keeps this song especially relevant in my life.
7. KKN | Sailor Boy
KKN...AKA Holy Shit...I met Matt Fishbeck at a really beautiful time when Ariel Pink from Haunted Graffiti and Christopher Owens from Girls were both playing in his band Holy Shit. Matt was, and still is, a very strong character with a warrior-at-battle intensity. Sailor Boy matches his cool and aloof personality quite well - frantically unfinished - traveling from here to there - with its dark ambiguously gay theme - you're never really sure if Sailor Boy wants to service you or kill you. But whatever Sailor Boy wants, it is only fleeting, he'll be onto the next port before you discover his name, or who he really is.
8. Man Like Me | Carny
I found this song on the Internet one night, and I really loved its immediacy. I have no idea who these guys are, but I listen to this song so much that I googled all the band members and tried to add them on Facebook. Only the keyboard/CDJ guy accepted the friend request which bums me out. I want to meet these guys someday. Unfortunately, I don't think they are popular enough for a US tour.
9. Anthony Flanagan | It's Alright (Dennis Ferrer's Bounce And I'm Out Mix)
This is my favorite song right now. It is healing like medicine. I listen to it while I try on outfits, I listen to it before I got to sleep, I listen to it when I wake up in the morning totally regretting what I've done the previous night. It inspires me to be myself. It makes me excited to live.
10. Big Freedia | Azz Everywhere
This track gives me chills. I love the concept of ass being everywhere. The energy of this track is unmatched. Freedia has the most amazing dancers that shake their ass to this track. I invited one, Altercation, to perform at my club. She wanted to play the piano. I really had no idea what that would entail. She painted her face black with a white crescent moon over her cheek and played songs about the NOL Saints and her father. The senior gay bartender Barry called it narcoleptic lesbian music.
I love this song so much, I invited Milwaukee's Juiceboxxx by Greyhound bus to San Francisco so we could play a show together. 100 MPH won me over at first listen with its nervous Chicago house, non-informative party-rocker emceeing and left-field electric guitar solo. As for the show we played together, Juiceboxxx was incredible: he got gay boys dancing and the straight boys moshing. We stayed up all night, got pinkeye, saw Big Freedia at a house party in Oakland and watched the Dennis Rodman Show on VHS tape until The Sun came up...Literally.
2. Sounds Of Blackness | Optimistic
I sing this song to myself when I am taking the subway and walking down the street. I spin it in the gay club every few weeks and people always go crazy for it.
3. SSION | Clown
A mutual friend of Kansas City's SSION strongly recommended that I travel to Los Angeles for the premier of SSION's Boy at the Perez Projects gallery. The film is the classic story of teenagers selling their soul to the Devil in order for their band to hit it big. You may think this is a silly plot, but it really happens. It makes me cry optimism. It makes me feel reborn. It makes me feel like life isn't such a drag.
4. Alexis | Lonely Sea
Recently my two closest gay friends, Hunx (from Hunx And His Punks) and Alexis, broke up. I met both of them while they were in the relationship, and while I knew them as very strong individuals, it was hard to imagine them apart. I was scared for Alexis, who is both my background singer and co-party promoter, fearing that he would fall into an artistic slump of depression unable to assert himself. So when I heard Alexis' Lonely Sea, which is both autobiographical and daringly different from Hunx's material, with its lazy bongos and beach saxophones, I was really convinced that my headstrong friends were gonna be okay. This Nick from Teengirl Fantasy produced track is spot on with its clearwater dance music cliché and vocal leads from a drag queen swallowing her own words.
5. Kenny Voughan & The Art Of Love | Feels Like Heaven
This song has no gravity. I makes you feel like you are floating. I have been trying to figure out all the vocal parts. It is really fun.
6. Стекловата | Просто осень
I recently discovered Russian boy bands. Стекловата is definitely my favorite. I like everything they've done. I listen to this song Просто осень a lot because I relate with the video, which you can find on YouTube. Just like the video, I feel like a boy lost on the forest, jumping over a dangerous fire, waiting for a daddy with a guitar to save me. I also relate to their studio. I don't have a lot of money, so their outdated equipment resembles what I use to create my music today. A strong sense of commonality with these Russian boys is what keeps this song especially relevant in my life.
7. KKN | Sailor Boy
KKN...AKA Holy Shit...I met Matt Fishbeck at a really beautiful time when Ariel Pink from Haunted Graffiti and Christopher Owens from Girls were both playing in his band Holy Shit. Matt was, and still is, a very strong character with a warrior-at-battle intensity. Sailor Boy matches his cool and aloof personality quite well - frantically unfinished - traveling from here to there - with its dark ambiguously gay theme - you're never really sure if Sailor Boy wants to service you or kill you. But whatever Sailor Boy wants, it is only fleeting, he'll be onto the next port before you discover his name, or who he really is.
8. Man Like Me | Carny
I found this song on the Internet one night, and I really loved its immediacy. I have no idea who these guys are, but I listen to this song so much that I googled all the band members and tried to add them on Facebook. Only the keyboard/CDJ guy accepted the friend request which bums me out. I want to meet these guys someday. Unfortunately, I don't think they are popular enough for a US tour.
9. Anthony Flanagan | It's Alright (Dennis Ferrer's Bounce And I'm Out Mix)
This is my favorite song right now. It is healing like medicine. I listen to it while I try on outfits, I listen to it before I got to sleep, I listen to it when I wake up in the morning totally regretting what I've done the previous night. It inspires me to be myself. It makes me excited to live.
10. Big Freedia | Azz Everywhere
This track gives me chills. I love the concept of ass being everywhere. The energy of this track is unmatched. Freedia has the most amazing dancers that shake their ass to this track. I invited one, Altercation, to perform at my club. She wanted to play the piano. I really had no idea what that would entail. She painted her face black with a white crescent moon over her cheek and played songs about the NOL Saints and her father. The senior gay bartender Barry called it narcoleptic lesbian music.
