WARMER MIXTAPES #186 | by Joseph Croft of Bear Driver
These are my current ten favourite tracks…
1. Glen Campbell | Wichita Lineman
My lady first played this to me. She told me how she’d had a bad day at work once and it had come on randomly on her iPod during the walk home. Apparently once the intro starts it’s physically not possible to be in a bad mood. I’d go along with that, I think it has healing qualities.
2. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti | Alisa
It was a tie between this and Are You Gonna Look After My Boys? from his Scared Famous record, I play them both a hell of a lot. They played it live at the My Bloody Valentine-curated ATP Festival last December and I felt the most euphoric I have ever been at a gig, it was weird. To me his music sounds like something you’d find on a beaten-up C60 cassette under the seat of an old Ford Fiesta.
3. Animal Collective | In The Flowers
My favourite song from my favourite album of 2009. When the track explodes into life at 2:30 I like to shut my eyes and imagine I’m on a very fast carousel or Ferris wheel. It must remind me of the funfair in some strange way.
4. The National | Bloodbuzz Ohio
Ok, so on the latest album they have this knack of sounding more like The National than The National. It’s as if they’re a concentrated version of their previous selves, if that makes any sense? It’s an incredible record and this track has it all; urgency, longing, a bridge to die for…
5. Broken Social Scene | Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day)
I’m a sucker for good brass arrangements.
6. Glaciers | Brooklyn
Nic’s a good friend of ours and for me this track epitomises what he’s all about – the whimsical storytelling, the playful vocal melodies and almost hymnal chord progressions. I like to listen to this during bus journeys in central London; I can drift off and daydream of The Big Apple.
7. Kate Bush | Man With The Child In His Eyes
My Dad used to make compilation tapes of Kate Bush or The Cure every time we’d go away on family holidays in the car. To this day Friday, I’m In Love still evokes memories of a particularly long motorway journey somewhere in France that caused us all to throw up, almost simultaneously. So I’ve gone with Kate instead.
8. Xiu Xiu | Crank Heart
This one should be played more in clubs. Once it gets going it just makes me want to move, I can’t help it. I have no idea what the track’s about but I’ll sing it at the top of my lungs regardless.
9. Jr. And His Soulettes | Sweet Little One
Our bassist introduced me to this band. They were this 70s group made up of four siblings. The eldest, who plays guitar, is 10. The youngest, on keyboards, is 6. Crazy stuff. The legend goes they made this one album and their Dad (who was in the meat business) manufactured about 300 copies and packaged them at his plant. Only a handful survived. Luckily someone found one and decided to reissue it.
10. The Blow | Parentheses
Quite a few years ago I fell into a full-on relationship with a whole heap of bands on K Records. For some reason, until recently, it never included The Blow. I can’t get enough of this track, it’s another one of those ones that I simply have to get up and throw shapes to. This can prove something of a problem, especially when on public transport.
