WARMER MIXTAPES #196 | by Xavier Paillat and Cyril McRummenigge of Splash Wave
SIDE A | by Cyril McRummenigge
1. The Wake | Talk About The Past (12" version)
Definitely one of the best things Factory produced in my opinion. I love so much the synth-strings sounds as well as I love so much Carolyn Allen. Probably the biggest influence on a track like Outrunning, soundly speaking.
2. Jonas Reinhardt | Atomic Bomb Living
I'm wondering if I don't prefer actual krautrock bands which are obviously kind of anachronic, but you know, when I listen to this last LP by Jonas Reinhardt or the Lie In Light one by Cloudland Canyon (still on this great Kranky label) I just have the feeling that they managed to take advantage of what was boring with German bands of this era.
3. Nite Jewel | What Did He Say
I don't know if we have to say them or she because I guess that Ramona Gonzales is still the brain of this great project, but this is Brilliant. I love the way she writes music, her singing and the way the tracks are slightly produced. Maybe I just love her, I don't know, but I could eat kebab with chocolate sauce, or something as gross, to get the LP release of Good Evening.
4. Trans Am | Run With Me
Trans Am are simply the #1 band for me. It's difficult to pick just a track, cause I quite love everything. This Run With Me on the TA album is a simple & perfect demonstration of how this band is great and could easily do anything they want till this kind of Stadium-rock Hit.
5. Devo | Theme from Doctor Detroit
What could I add about Devo? Anyway I've kind of a passion with 80's movies (and aesthetics in general of course), and this movie with Dan Aykroyd is not so good... But the Theme song is one of the most efficient Synth-Pop track from Devo, and the clip is a pure gem. Such a shame that it's a bit put aside compared to their other hits.
6. DMX Krew | Hard Times
Ed Upton caught the recipe to make an old-school hit, and when he wants to, he does. Besides, his side-projects are always lots of fun and exploring diverse ways (Computor Rockers, Bass Potatoes, Knight Ryder, Private Lives w/ Cylob...). I remember the first contact I had with him and the front picture of We are DMX. It was just something like What the fuck?. I guess it took me months to be striked by the evidence. This guy is a total killer.
7. Disasteradio | Digitial Pop
Disasteradio is the project of Luke Rowell, an awesome guy from New Zealand. I couldn't stop listening to this track on my iPod for a long time, that was the only thing I got from him, until I bought the Digital Release of VISIONS. That record truely blew my mind, it's a kind of Geek-Pop masterpiece, the perfect mix between 80's videogames soundtracks (I could almost see myself ridin' a superbike in Hang-On while listening to Believe In Yourself) and Pop Music format. He's got a real science of composition and his music is pictorially so powerful!
8. Ministry | What He Say
A Ministry track opening with synthetic trumpets, with slap bass and Al Jourgensen pronouncing kingdom of Swaziland, it's simply Priceless. But besides that, this is a great catchy song on a very good debut album. Unfortunately disawoved by Jourgensen. I used to be a big fan of the 90's Ministry (I guess I still am), and discovered that early period way much later. Even in my dreams, I couldn't have imagine a craziest turnover.
9. Eight Dayz | What's So Strange About Me?
A bit of Skate-core won't hurt us. I love so much watching skateboard, especially Bones Brigade's VHS, but being hurt is precisely why I'm not good at skateboard. So, I've recently seen this Video by a french artist named Raphaël Zarka called Topographie Anecdotée du Skateboard. It's a video made upon 40 skate videos/documentaries excerpts in which this Eight Dayz track figures. But the point here is to say that 1) Skate videos' soundtracks can be really great, hiding some true gems 2)This Eight Dayz' track is a perfect minimal paranoid pop-punk song. Less is More is probably a real true motto, no shit it's really hard, but on this track, Eight Dayz got it right.
10. Joe Satriani | Driving At Night
For most of all, Joe Satriani is something like really gross. And I guess that's mostly true, but I must confess loving some of his 80's tracks. This one in particular because the synth pads + the funky-junky chords + the dry bassline balances the shreddy stuff, and that just does a pretty good theme for a potential B-movie with Car Racing, a phantom driver that vanishes in the air doing sparks & lightnings , and maybe Charlie Sheen. Oh wait, that already exists ?
SIDE B | by Xavier Paillat
1. Stereolab | Crest
I love this band and I think this is my favorite song from them...I had a band a few years ago, we tried to do someting à la Stereolab/Electrelane and we did a cover of Crest. It was super great but ridiculous in comparison with the real one! I've seen them live two years ago, it was perfect. Of course their scenic prestation isn't huge but this isn't what I ask when. The sound was perfect, all the keys, synths and guitars...Laetitia was wearing really weird clothes but I'm still in love with her! There was a frenchie with them, the leader of a kraut-prog band called Aquaserge, he has the tough task to replace Mary Hansen did before.
2. 808 State | Pacific 707
Both the name of the band and the song reveal our taste in matter of vintage drum machines....808 State inspired us at the beginning of Splash Wave, the aesthetics for example: they had a really cool/chill way of doing electronic music, very different than the rigidity of Kraftwerk... It's not an obligation when you do music with machines to act like a robot!
3. Model 500 | The Chase
I discovered this track by a synth demo on YouTube, made by an unknown guy in his living room! Then I listened to the real one and I loved it, but I think I prefer the Youtube vid! Also I'm a bit dissapointed by the sound Model 500 have today on stage.
4. Cylob | I Believe In Braindance
I don't know this song for a very long time. In fact I guess I missed it because the guy did recently a lot of noisy/expe works, he left synths for Super_Collider and MaxMsp... I'm not into this kind of things... But this anthem which take the form of a lament seduces me.
5. Jean-Michel Jarre | Oxygène
My dad brought me a tape of JMJ from a work travel, his greatest hits (I have sometimes the idea that this guy release more Best Ofs than studio albums!!!). Anyway I had this tape and a green toy truck! Great day!!! Oxygène is the path of my discovery of electronic music, with OSTs by Vangelis and Eric Serra maybe.
6. Swiss Vikings | Shave The Razor Wheels
This is an unknown track of an unknown band...We worked for another project, Splash Wave did not take form yet and in fact we spent our time watchin' old skatebording videos! We watched the Future Primitive tape, from Bones Brigade and after the intro there's a bowl scene with this Shave The Razor Wheels, we watched/listened to extensively! Then we looked at the credits but the name said nothing to us, so we googled it, and nothing! Frustrating. We just had this 40 seconds excerpt of a track. A kick/snare motorik beat but also very agressive, a melodic synth bass and these analo-luminous chords...We were sad to just have this piece of track, so we simply did the rest by ourselves! Our Shake The Razor Wheels is based on this excerpt, it's a tribute, you could listen to it on our demo tape and on MySpace. It's quite the birth of Splash Wave in fact.
7. Neu! | Hallogallo
My first contact with krautrock! In fact the first conctact after having learned the word krautrock!
Before, with my friends we have scoured our parents dusty closets full of abandonned vinyls and found much of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze or Popol Vüh records...Four Tet mixed this Neu! song in a set during a summer festival in France. His dj set was on the beach and there was speakers on the sand AND under the water! I borrowed a diving regulator and a mask for underwater listenning! Puzzling.
8. The Durutti Column | Otis
I am surprised of this track's simplicity. The sounds (especially the guitar) are perfect and I love the sample while I really don't like this Tracy Chapman's song...
9. Oppenheimer Analysis | Radiance
I discovered this band recently by a compilation, a collaborative work between Stones Throw and Minimal Wave, called The Minimal Wave Tapes. I became a huge fan of their work! I haven't so much things to say, I just love the way that the very melodic vocal part is very different but well mixed with the entirely electronic music part. It looks like Gary Numan's demos, before a greater production in studio, but in my opinion it's way better.
10. ABC | Nuclear Apocalypse THX
I like rap music, and I had my peplum hip hop period, you know this songs with an antic production, with samples of trumpets or Renaissance with harpsichords... They EVOQUENT arenas or battlefields...I think ABC has well understood this stuff and if you speak French, the lyrics are really awesome!
