WARMER MIXTAPES #193 | by Michael Collins, Taraka and Nimai Larson of Prince Rama
SIDE A | by Taraka Larson
1. Psychic Ills | Electric Life
I just moved to NYC recently and for whatever reason Psychic Ills really helped me through my first month here. I remember one morning particularly lucidly when I was walking across the Manhattan Bridge listening to this song on repeat and suddenly feeling the electricity of the city as though it were the electric current coming off a single human being...Like an aura or something. It was a totally utopian moment.
2. Tater Bug | Chemical Vacation
All throughout our tours through the Midwest, we kept hearing the name of this legendary figure Taterbug being uttered in whispered reverance. Finally I got around to checking out this mysterious man and have since fallen completely in love with the resulting assault of what sounds like greased magnetic tape loop knooses suspending serial killers with angel’s voices, their feet swinging between old pop radio stations on a hazy fm dial blaring urgently pounded guitars, ghostly choirs of corn, and amnesiac love ballads.
3. Exuma | Damballa
I could listen to this song forever. Exuma is an Obean voodoo priest from the Cat Islands and Dambala is a hymn of sorts to the serpent deity from which it derives its namesake. Oh yea and those hissing sounds in the background? Totally the sounds of people being possessed by the Snake God. As the song goes on the hissing gets more and more intense and the melody gets more and more insane. That is what I’m talking about right there. Straight up voodoo shit.
4. Runa Pacha | Pachamama
I saw this tape for 35 cents at a thriftstore in upstate New York and on the cover was a levitating Incan priest summoning a glowing eagle swooping over Machu Piccu with rainbows and purple lightning coming out of its wings. Of course, it ended up being the most magical tape known to humankind, DUH. The pan flutes in this song in particular though cast the most insane spell when I listen to it...It’s as though the flutes become the whole world.
5. Amen Dunes | Diane
This song has become like a Rosetta Stone for me to decode realities that have fallen prey to mundane obfuscations. Such a gem of concentrated raw emotion and beauty, its strength is drawn from a variety of tensions of paradoxes...The dark fingers of chaos clench tightly to form ecstasy’s fist and suddenly the fringes of everything you thought you knew about the deepest joy and the most profound sadness unravel to unfold the most magnificent cloak of moonlight.
6. Indian Jewelry | Excessive Moonlight
I slowed this song down the other night DJ Screw-style and had no idea how dark this band could be. I swear Indian Jewelry has EVP all over their recordings. That would explain the drum machines that sound like the first tombstones being clanged together and the eerie whispers that swoop inexplicably across this haunted highway of pure divine riff. New Age Nightmare.
7. Amon Duul | Big Sound
The only way to describe this song is the sound of God’s fist pumping in the air.
8. Vishnujana Swami | Gaura Nityananda Bol
Back in the 60s, Vishnujana Swami shaved my dad’s head, gave him a new name, and initiated him into the Hare Krsnas. Apparently he mysteriously disappeared a few years later somewhere in the Himalayas, but luckily my dad recorded him chanting this ecstatic bhajan on cassette which I dubbed and totally cherish every time I pull it out.
9. El-g | Priere Sesual
We awoke in Brussels after a 17 hour flight to the sound of the most arresting of bass and drums. What could that be? I kept floating in and out of sleep to the score of what sounded like a three hour long goth-disco epic, sung by the spectre of Serge Gainsbourg. Turns out the dude we were staying with, Laurent, was in the other room composing this rare feat...Which actually only ended up being only about a minute and a half in the end, but I still listen to it on repeat like it’s three hours. Trance kingdom.
10. Fleetwood Mac | That’s All For Everyone
What more is there to say? Lindsey Buckingham. True Taoist. That’s all for me.
SIDE B | by Nimai Larson
1. Scott Fitzgerald | Thunderdrums
This song reminds me of driving through the deserts of the Southwest. So much mystery, enchantment and vast expanses. It's a place that I feel humbled and grounded. As a drummer, I strive to sound thunderous. If my drums don't sound as good Scott Fitzgerald's, then I might as well quit.
2. Ananda Shankar | Raghupati
The sneaky cartals and winding sitar introduce this traditional sanskrit chant. It transcends pop, it transcends sexuality, it transcends distractions. It's pure ecstasy, tastefully orchestrated.
3. Fleetwood Mac | What Makes You Think You're The One
The drums are so immediate. There is an anxious energy in Lindsay's voice. It's a sassy line, What makes you think you're the one? and What makes you think I'm the one?...Though the verses are simple, there is complex emotion that burst through the lines totally making my eyes open wide while I'm knocked over on the wood floor. It's like Lindsay is screaming See?? I told you!
4. Kitaro | Kaiso
Try this: go to a graveyard. Bring Tarot cards. Play this song. New age night party.
5. Quiet Hooves | Feelin' Down
You know how it feels when everything is going wrong and if you don't make yourself start laughing about it, you'll turn into that crybaby that everyone thinks is a pussy? This is why I love Quiet Hooves. Shit happens, but instead of writing poor-me emo songs, Quiet Hooves writes honest and endearing lyrics set to triumphant music that you can totally smile and dance to. Life ain't such a wreck.
6. T.I. | Why You Wanna
I got really into this song while living in Austin, TX during college. My friend and I would blast this song in her Prius with all of the windows rolled down drinking strong coffee. T.I. describes his interest in this woman very sensitively. All the synth strings and casual groovy beats are so suave. Women will be won over and turned on by this song.
7. Amen Dunes | By The Bridal
The way Amen Dunes sings this song, stretching out every word, creates a yearning, reaching, stretching feeling. The web of guitar shredding shoots through the minimal yet heart-wrenching chord progression. The whole song has a journey-type of mood which is the kind of mood I find myself in a lot.
8. Bad Company | Wild Fire Woman
I have a huge soft-spot for 70's rock music. It's just so masculine! And I'm a girl so I get sick of having emotions all the time. These dudes in bands like Bad Company, KISS, Def Leppard, and Dokken are all so manly and seem to have zero emotions. It's the most refreshing music to listen to when you just don't want to have feelings. You just want to feel ON TOP OF THE WORLD.
9. Woody Guthrie | Going Down The Road (I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way)
I have recently become fiercely infatuated with Old Time Folk music. It's so stripped down and honest. This particular Woody Guthrie song carries the weight of a man feeling a life-time of why me's?...I'm in a time of my life right now where I ask that a lot.
10. Mickey Avalon | So Rich, So Pretty
I went to a Mickey Avalon concert with a good friend of mine a couple of years ago. We knew every word of every song. Mickey kissed both of us after the show. Whoever this rich and pretty girl is, she sounds just like the type that is encircled in scandal and is a total glamorous slut-bag. I don't identify with her situation (what's a mani-pedi?!?!!) but boy does it sound seductive.
SIDE C | by Michael Collins
1. Chhoun Vanna | Birds Are Singing But My Lover Won't Return
I don't understand a word of Khmer, but I still sing along every time I hear this track. Vanna's voice is the sound of the sublime...It's tragic beauty is haunted by her death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, alongside 2,000,000 other Cambodians.
2. Crumb Brothers | Seat In The Kingdom
Take this kid seriously, cause he's filled with the fire of God. His soul scream rips like a sanctified sword, ready to battle with anybody who underestimates his righteousness.
3. The Rollers | Play With Fire (Part One)
I could just ride this chorus out forever...The reverb is so heavy, the vocals are belted out like there's no tomorrow...It sounds like the ladies of The Rollers are singing in a cathedral for the broken-hearted that's burning to the ground.
4. Prince Far I | The Right Way
Prince Far I is the true savior of dub, he spread the gospel of Jah righteousness and peace on Earth. Put this one on repeat and you will soon find yourself surfing saturated waves of tape delay to heavenly planets of melodica mountains and oceans of bass...Trust me, you'll want to stay for a while.
5. Stellar Om Source | Time Sensitive
Let Christelle Gualdi abduct you with her astral synthesizers and her milky ways. She hails from the Nebulalands but is visiting our planet, elevating human consciousness with revelations of aural galaxies in the universal language of analog synthesis. Her live shows are truly cosmic affairs, check her out if she's in your area...
6. Daniel Higgs | Living In The Kingdom Of Death
Higgs is a witness to the stark illusion of the material world...For the duration of this haunting mantra he transmigrates with you to the kingdom of death...Accessible only by the aid of his shamanic incantations. Turn out the lights for this one.
7. Visnujana Swami | Vasanti-Rasa
These are transcendental sound vibrations ripped from decaying magnetic tape, sung by one of the most revered Swami's in ISKCON history. The harmonium resonates throughout the temple room while Visnujana describes Vrindavan, the supreme transcendental abode of Radha and Krishna. You can tell by his voice that he's already there.
8. Abner Jay | I'm So Depressed
I first met Abner Jay in a dumpster back home in Gainesville, via some weary worn out records somebody unwittingly threw in the trash. On the cover was a grainy photo of the man layin' on his belly drinking straight out of the Suwanee river...That's why his voice is so deep. He was the self-declared last black minstrel, and wandered from Miami to Detroit in his log cabin RV spreading the good word about cocaine, unemployment, his 12 wives, and innumerable children. give him a listen, you'll be laughing through your tears.
9. Henry Flynt | You Are My Everlovin'
Henry Flynt merges tambora cassette loop drones with menacing cosmic mountain fiddle. Find a comfortable seat because, for 40 minutes, Flynt will hypnotize you like a snake charmer.
10. Krishna Dasa | Sita Rama
Krishna Dasa sings 2 octaves lower than Johnny Cash. Like what a well trained alligator might sound like. This is one of the first bhajans I learned...It's call and response, you're supposed to sing along.
