WARMER MIXTAPES #230 | by Sebastien Marshal of Detachments

1. Eleven Pond | Watching Trees
Weird stuff. From a compilation that came out recently. DJ Martyn sent it me. Me and the Simon from the label are big Cold Wave fans. I brought the compilation to the studio in Feb (2010), James Ford and I listened to this stuff to help us get in the right mood for the album. The DJ played it at an underground rave type gig we did in Brixton recently (August 2010), our whole posse hit the floor with much enthusiasm.

2. Aphex Twin | Green Calx
My mates picked me up at the roundabout as I was in conversation on the phone…to myself. On the motorway, halfway to Manchester I remember sitting in the back of a car still tripping on Acid listening to the Selected Ambient Works booming through the car speakers, I remember I had my eyes closed and was seeing Bhudda. My mates always get freaked out when I’m asleep/have eyes closed, as my eyes don’t close properly and the whites of my eyes are visible.

3. Motorbass | Neptune
That bassline, this tune makes me feel like I’m floating. I love the way the bassline that emerges, slowly revealing itself through the marine-like environment that this tune conjures up.

4. Pet Shop Boys | 2 Divided By Zero
This is probably my favourite PSB song. Noir Cinematic drama going on, seems to be about escaping from something that alludes to being sinister/possibly criminal. Romantic idea of escaping to New York.

5. Green Velvet | Stranj
His alienated, consumer society critique lyrics struck a chord. Good memories of seeing him at Fabric back in the day (when I first moved to E.London) - he was holding some sort of disco lazer thing he was constantly firing into the crowd. We were shuffling at the back, buzzing, off our faces. I remember being in the cab on the way to the club, sticking my head out of the window, flying through London. Hardcore, early noughties Electro days.

6. Drake | Unforgettable (feat. Young Jeezy)
I love this song man. Is it a guilty pleasure? He is a talented guy. For his genre - refreshingly vulnerable, sensitive. I like his voice.

7. a-ha | Here I Stand And Face The Rain
I was about 13 or 14, I used to do a paper round in the winter in the north shore residential area of seaside town Blackpool - we used to live near the often windy, rainy, stormy promenade. I had a-ha on my personal stereo (along with other 80s stuff my Auntie bought me). Music transforms the greyness around you and makes life more romantic. I love their pure Pop, they wrote brilliant songs. Pop that’s not a dirty word. This song isn’t Pop though, it’s haunting and whimsical, melancholy and epic.

8. The Chills | Pink Frost
This song conjures up strong imagery, the feeling of floating lost. I first heard this as a sixth former, I used to spend the evenings listening to my stereo (instead of doing homework properly) dreaming, hidden in my room (I didn’t get on with my parents). The song is about murder, it transpires that the frost is pink with the blood of his girlfriend. I once had a dream I’d murdered someone, the guilt was so overwhelming, oppressive, suffocating, inescapable, torture - let that be a warning.

9. The Chameleons | Perfume Garden (John Peel Sessions version)
This is sublime and powerful, the music just takes hold of me and my romantic heart soars. Thee great lost Manchester band.

10. The Jesus And Mary Chain | Never Understand
I used to listen to this lot when I was wrecked on methodone, lying in my bedroom, door closed, still living at my folks house. The masochistic white-noise squall of the marychain - the only thing to sooth the overwhelming grip of a heavy dose. No one in the family knew what I was up to. I met McGee when I first came to London, and tipsily put my arm round him and said some stuff about the Mary Chain still sounding great today, he asked if I was a singer, but I denied it, why?

+11. Joy Division | I Remember Nothing
I remember lying on the floor, back in the day, on the dole in my parents nice empty cold house, staring at the ceiling listening to this, 19yrs old. Pretty fucking low. Crushing depression. But Joy Division - when you enter their realm - you come back out and you feel a bit better. There’s a richness in the blackness, whenever you’re really fucked up, you need someone/thing who can relate to you. I guess Ian Curtis sacrificed himself for that purpose. His death was tragic, but he’s not really dead as he still speaks through his art everyday to someone around the world. I hope he’s found peace now though.

+12. My Bloody Valentine | Lose My Breath
Sublime, perverted beauty. Listened to in similar conditions to above. Kids - don’t do drugs. As a result of my fascinations - my life now is still a bit of a mess.

+13. K-Solo | Your Mom's In My Business
Ace beats, cool bassline, danceable smooth open hihat, v Cool lyrical flow. Quirky and amusing but still cool as fuck. Discovered it on a retro, early 90s hiphop mixtape. Unpredictable hiphop.