WARMER MIXTAPES #213 | by Warren Hildebrand [Foxes In Fiction]
1. Atlas Sound | Recent Bedroom
It's hard for me to consider my life without the music of Atlas Sound. I found out about Bradford Cox's body of work right around the period of my life where my family and I had just suffered the death of my 16 year-old brother Drew in April of 2008. After he was attacked at a party we were both at he suffered a head injury and went into a coma the day afterward for 10 days, before the hospital told us that oxygen had been cut off to his brain, and we made the choice to take him off life support. I had never experienced anything to completely emotionally fucked up in my whole life, and to this day it's something that I still find myself having to deal with. When I first started listening to Atlas Sound around this period by chance, and started reading about Bradford Cox's own struggles with traumas in his own life, it provided to me a healing effecting that I had never experienced from music before. It's difficult to put into words but it's in the music. Reverb. Tremolo. I make an effort to encrypt a healing effect or something people can connect to in all of my own music.
2. Boards Of Canada | Roygbiv
I bought this album on a whim while in Toronto one day after being attracted to name and artwork with no prior knowledge about what kind of music it was. I think I was about 15 and still fairly unfamiliar with a lot of electronic music. Upon my first listen my mind was completely blown open. It was like someone had taken all the hazy long-forgotten memories of my childhood (some which may or may not have existed) and compressed it into a warm and well-crafted album of electronic music. I think it's amazing despite how it being a synthesizer based album, it still has a very organic and human quality to it.
3. The White Stripes | Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground
Before I got into the White Stripes I only really listened to shitty Weezer and Our Lady Peace and other alternative stuff that was being played on MuchMusic around 2001. The White Stripes opened my mind to an entire foyer of music that I had no idea existed and instantly clicked with me. I first heard this song in an animation on Newgrounds.com when I was 11 or so and never looked back. Jack White was actually the reason I started playing guitar. I remember walking around with road at my Dad's cottage with my brother and step brother during the summer I found out about them listening to this CD over and over on my Sony discman. Humidity, freedom.
4. Broken Social Scene | Cause=Time
This was another song that launched me into state of OMG. After seeing the video for this in 2002 on the Wedge on late night MuchMusic I looked around (the internet, record stores in downtown Toronto) as hard as I could to find more information about this band. The ensuing search and discovery of Broken Social Scene secured them and the majority of their counterparts (Do Make Say Think, mostly) as some of my favourite bands of that part of my life. Too bad their new album is so shitty.
5. Benoît Pioulard | The Loom Pedal
The music of Benoît Pioulard is something I only recently discovered but something I feel like with be with me for a long time. He has an amazing ability to take influence from an array of different genres and musicians and craft them into beautifully textured acoustic-based songs and instrumental passages. Whenever I listen to his music I conjure up a Polaroid-tinged invented memory of being asleep in a expansive green forest in the middle of the forest while dreaming about his music in a time when it didn't yet exist.
6. The Microphones | The Moon
The first time I heard this song was while sitting in my best friend Christine's room in grade 10. I was sitting on her floor and she played it on her computer and I was taken away. Something about the gentle washes of faltering acoustic guitars and quivering voice hit me like nothing I had ever heard at that time. Right at the moment when the voices come in. So much serenity and nervous energy. Oh, to go back.
7. Godspeed You! Black Emperor | The Dead Flag Blues
Another discovery from the same time that I owe to Christine. She, my friend Casey and I were sitting stoned in my basement when she put this on for the first time. It was another instance where I hadn't been exposed to anything like it before and I was instantly moved by what I was hearing, descriptions of a convincingly bleak and beautiful post-apocalyptic world backed by lush strings and post-rock style guitar work. I remember Casey calling it gay...I later purchased the record (the one with the penny and all the inserts) off of eBay and would play it late at night in my Dad's basement on my hi-fi, often sitting right in front of it with the volume turned up, taking it all in after having just gotten stoned by in my washroom by myself. I still have The Faulty Schematics Of A Ruined Machine design drawn across the back of my door there.
8. Tears For Fears | Head Over Heals
Listening to Tears For Fears is one of my earliest memories of life. I have memories of being a really young kid, driving around in the back of my parents Nissan on the way home from our cottage during the summer with The Sun shining in the window, listening to this on cassette tape. I get extreme bouts of nostalgic flashbacks every time I listen to any of their songs now. It's good.
9. Deerhunter | Red Ink
This is one of my favourite ambient songs by what I consider to be my favourite band. I like putting this on loop and listening to it moments before I go to sleep, when and if that happens.
10. Neutral Milk Hotel | In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
I performed this song at my brothers funeral. I was an emotional wreck around that time and I tried to write a eulogy but I couldn't come up with anything. He and I were really big fans of Neutral Milk Hotel and I had even first showed him their record. The lyrics and all over that record and in this song in particular are filled with so much sadness and tragedy it seemed like it would be more appropriate to play it that trying to force out a speech. People applauded and I was on a lot of Lorazepam and it was a strange but cathartic experience.
WARMER MIXTAPES #212 | by Justin Enoch [Audience] of Since 1902
I couldn’t possibly fit all the songs that I wanted on this list. By the time I narrowed the songs down, I still had 50! Here’s my best try at my top songs.
1. Annuals | Dry Clothes
There’s so much to say about this song. So I’m only going to say a little bit to save you from the blabbering. Annuals are probably the most influential band that I’ve ever listened to. In fact, every song I’ve written since listening to Annuals has in some way been influence by them.
2. Broken Social Scene | Our Faces Split The Coast In Half
So music is this stimulus for your brain. You tie events to music. No song helps me conjure up great memories more than this song. I listened to this on the train from Tokyo to Kyoto and it takes me back to that place every time the opening guitar note is strum. Could there be a more beautifully produced song than this? I still haven’t found one.
3. XTC | Garden Of Earthly Delights/Snowman
This is most definitely cheating. It’s was so hard to pick one XTC song so I put two! Andy Partridge is a genius and XTC is easily my favorite band of all time. Garden Of Earthly Delights is raucous, wild, and absolutely amazing.
4. Nine Inch Nails | Demon Seed
For a while there I’m pretty sure I wanted to be Trent Reznor. I think one of the reasons was how distinct Nine Inch Nail’s sound was. Every drum machine layer, every blip and bloop, every scream and snarl, is purely Trent Reznor. It helps that this song is awesome.
5. Radiohead | Fog
Probably the most beautiful Radiohead song ever recorded. That’s saying a lot for the band that made Kid A.
6. Patrick Watson | Day Dreamer
He’s got such a good voiceeee! His production is immaculate and all the electronic flourishes throughout this song still confound me. Close To Paradise is definitely one of my favorite albums ever.
7. Sufjan Stevens | Decatur/Year Of The Ox
I think Sufjan Stevens and his band making a human pyramid during on of their shows really solidified Sufjan’s stature as one of the best artists of all time. Decatur has such great harmonies and compiles everything I love about Sufjan in one song. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to rip off Year Of The Ox. He really established his own electronic sound on Enjoy Your Rabbit.
8. Paul Simon | Graceland
What can you say about Graceland? It’s perfect in every single way. This reminds me of driving up the New England coast with the top down.
9. Neil Finn | Addicted/Elastic Heart
Neil Finn really is a god of fantastic songwriting. He’s got a great voice, awesome lyrics, creative arrangements, and two of my favorite albums of the 2000’s.
10. Yo La Tengo | Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House
The first band I saw live was Yo La Tengo, they’re some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Georgia’s voice is perfect in this song. I especially love the down-tempo chill vibe of this. It’s about as close as you can get to a perfect song
+11. Badly Drawn Boy | Silent Sigh
This is such a good melodic song. Badly Drawn Boy is such a creative mastermind. I just recently relistened to The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast and it’s still as fresh as ever.
+12. What Laura Says | Lambhair McDaniel/Garden Of Wonders
What Laura Says are hands down the best band of this year. They came through St. Louis and absolutely rocked my ears.
+13. Flying Lotus | Zodiac Shit/Galaxy In Janaki
Flyo’s Cosmogramma is the best album of the year. It’s as simple as that. It’s unfair to call what he does music. It’s definitely a whole experience every time I listen to it. Flyo is on his own plane of music.
WARMER MIXTAPES #211 | by Angelo Ismirnioglou, Tyler Badali, Jordan Raine, Andrew Beck and Wesley Nickel of Young Liars
Things have been crazy, Jordan was out of the country on his honeymoon.
We actually got the exclusive shots for you at his wedding.
We actually got the exclusive shots for you at his wedding.
SIDE A | by Wesley Nickel
1. Animal Collective | In The Flowers
Animal Collective had always appealed to me, by giving my ears something not conventional music offered. At times Animal Collective manages to lift your feet off earth and then just when you feel that you are floating away into outer space, they bring you back with colorful melodies and hooks. When I listen to In The Flowers, I imagine myself as a child, with no shoes, covered in facepaint dancing in a giant field of flowers. Not caring about anything but the beat of the song.
2. Nurses | Caterpillar Playground
Nurses is a new love of mine. I recently saw them perform at Sasquatch, and was taken away. Nurses reminds me a lot of newer Animal Collective, with bright sounding samples and keys. Although they posses a bit more structure to their songs in my opinion. For a visionary explanation of their music, I imagine being in a forest, full of reds and greys, just at the very end of a thunderstorm, when The Sun returns. And with the music playing, all the animals in the forest dance along to the beat.
3. Beirut | Elephant Gun
Beirut has always been my biggest inspirations for music. His music reminds me of an old world, full of gypsies, moonshine and ballroom dancing. Elephant Gun was the first song I had heard of his and fell in love instantly. Beirut was the reason I play accordion.
4. David Bowie | Life On Mars?
David Bowie has remained my biggest influence in all my musical endeavors. His music has represented a very timeless sound, as he has adapted throughout all the years to still create great music. Life On Mars? was the first song on piano I taught myself for years, and I still play it all the time to warm up.
5. Fandeath | Reunited
There are a lot of metal bands in Vancouver, and not that there is anything wrong with metal, but looking at the local Vancouver music scene, Fandeath was an incredible breakthrough. I had been to a few Dandi Wind shows, and then I opened a Nylon magazine with Fandeath in it. I took a listen and fell in love. They have a very strong Abba/disco feel.
6. Fleet Foxes | Mykonos
Fleet Foxes is another gem of this decade. There is very few LP's you can look back in the last few decades and know they are timeless, and often we wonder what our children will have as an equivalent to Bowie and Rolling Stones. Fleet Foxes are on the brink of becoming such a classic.
7. Grizzly Bear | Fine For Now
I had been a longtime fan of Grizzly Bear, for it's creative approach to folk experimental music. Then Grizzly Bear released Veckatimest and I was completely blown away. When I close my eyes and listen to this album, I feel like I'm being taken on an adventure all through forests and streams and mountains. Fine For Now is my favorite song off the album.
8. MGMT | It's Working
MGMT became instantly Electro Pop titans when Oracular Spectacular came out, and many of us wondered on how they would follow up that album. Congratulations has received a lot of harsh criticism, but I have grown to love it at equal levels; if not even more, than Oracular. It's Working provides a colourful serving of 60's psychedelic rock. A genre that really needs a revival. The lyrics are especially cleaver in this song.
9. Nurses | Yyo
Nurses was my big artist discovery of the year, so I've submitted two of their songs for this. We recently have gotten into using sampling more with our live sets, and I had the opportunity to see Nurses live just recently. They were big on doing live sampling and tweaking of their sound, much like what Animal Collective like to do, but I appreciate Nurses because they never seem to lose dynamic or attention. Yyo is the first song off the album and a great favorite of mine.
10. Wolf Parade | Ghost Pressure
I've heard reviews saying that neither of Wolf Parade's vocalists are singers, but I believe that uniqueness is way more desirable than normal, and therefore I believe Wolf Parade has a sound like no other. Their newest album, Expo 86 is a lot more guitar and rock driven than the previous albums have been, however the few tracks more synth and keyboard driven have really caught my attention. This is my favorite song off the album.
SIDE B | by Andrew Beck
1. Paul Simon | Homeless
I chose this track because Graceland was the first album that was ever my own. My parents gave it to me (they had owned it for years) when I got my first portable cassette player. Up until that point living in a Christian household all I had listened to was church music. I wore that tape out listening to it so many times. Homeless reminds me of my childhood. The warmth in the members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's voices just move me. I have never gotten enough of that album.
2. In Medias Res | Tonight I Am New
When I first moved to Metro Vancouver from a small town of about sixteen hundred in the interior of BC I had just started playing bass. I went to a friends battle of the bands and In Medias Res was playing. For their age at the time they were so far ahead of anything anyone else at that show was doing. It was crazy especially to a small town kid like me. I don't remember what they played or anything else. I saw them a few times after that, then they disappeared (on hiatus I believe). Shoot forward to two years ago I just happened upon a flyer saying they were playing their first show in over two years. I had just asked out my current long term girl friend and asked her if she wanted to go. That was our first date. IMR is full of great firsts for me. This song is off their new soon to be released album It Was Warm And Sunny When We First Set Out, they have a great video of it on Vimeo.
3. Mew | She Spider
Mew for me in high school was that one band that no one knew about, then someone told everyone about them, and the next day the whole school were fans. Me and Tyler drove down to Seattle with some other friends to see them because we were too young to see them in BC. It was a spectacular show. This was one of our favorite songs they played that night. On the way home Tyler ran over a meridian and had to have his car towed across the border, it may have been less of a happy night for him.
4. Dave Holland | Bring It On
Dave Holland has to be one of the best big band leaders of the modern era. I love Jazz, I wish I could play it all the time. I listened to the album Overtime constantly while on a musical exchange in Cuba. Traveling around the tropics while listening to the randomness of this track just feels awesome. It's a great album.
5. Kenna | Baptized In Blacklight
Kenna has an awesome voice. This track just works, I don't know what it is about it but it does. I love the way the chords feel in the chorus. It reminds me of driving around the downtown core at night.
6. Zao | The Buzzing
I went through an intense metal phase. I wore headphones around my neck a lot and people called me headphones kid. Zao was awesome and still is. This track is just intense, Zao is one of the best bands in metal/hardcore ever. The Wolves Lead The Sheep is such strong imagery. The whole song is filled with juxtaposition. Everyone really hates when ever I play this track in practice. I'm not afraid to let my metal show.
7. Pavement | Rattled By The Rush
Holy crap I love Pavement. If indie is a genre Pavement is the pure progeny of it. I really really really wish that I had a chance to see them this summer at Sasquatch. Pavement was my Weezer. Rattled By The Rush is so catchy while being sooooo disorganized. The tempo falls apart, there is some weird broken organ sounds, warbely vocals, just everything. Pavement is what I listened to my last year of high school and my first year of university. I can never get anyone else to like Pavement. I wish there was more Pavement, but maybe doing more at the time would have just made it bad.
8. Pat Metheny | Last Train Home
If you do not listen to Pat Metheny you are doing yourself a great disservice. He is not only quite possibly the ugliest man in music, he is probably one of the great guitarists of all time. One Quiet Night is probably the only acoustic album that will blow speakers. The bass off of his baritone guitar is just sooooo rich, it is the only acoustic album I know that can blow speakers. One Quiet Night was literally recorded in one night. He bought a new guitar, sat down, and just recorded an album making songs as he went. The album sounds like what the album from a story like that would sound like. It is beautiful playing and some of the most peaceful music. It's great for just sitting on the beach reading a book.
9. Air | Don't Be Light
I love Air, but even more I love Justin Meldal-Johnsen. I mean talk about a list of credits: Beck, Goldfrapp, Ladytron, Nelly Furtado, NIN, Ima Robot the list goes on. Don't Be Light just has this weird feel and it's just soo strongly punctuated by JMJ. JMJ tends to be my musical hero when I'm looking for something to spark some thoughts when I'm writing or sitting in the studio and things are fitting. The solo in this song just simply rocks. The feel is amazing. It goes from spacey to just a non-stop drive. Anything JMJ is on is usually gold.
10. The Roots | Criminal
The Roots are great. Just freaking pioneers of a genre. Whether backing Jay-Z or doing some of the most experimental Hip-Hop ever or playing on Jimmy Fallon's Show. That being said, I hate this song. I really used to like it. Then my girl friend decided she liked it. She doesn't get tired of songs ever. I have listened to this spectacular song one too many times. It's like every time I get into the car I just know its coming on. It is still such a great track though. The feel of the beat with the layers of guitars just feels great and warped. The lyrics tell a story. It is literally mastery of one's trade. I have so much respect for a band that so obviously loves what they do.
SIDE C | by Jordan Raine
1. Patrick Watson | Drifting
Patrick Watson is one of the amazing gems of the Canadian music scene that goes under appreciated. This song takes me every time I listen to it. Seeing them play in St. James hall in Vancouver was one of my favorite concerts. The intimacy of the old wooden hall, the sixty audience members, and the band was such an involved musical experience. One of those moments you remember.
2. Born Ruffians | Kurt Vonnegut
A pleasantly surprising concert at Richards On Richards (RIP) with Born Ruffians revived my belief in three piece bands. They are ridiculously fun. The night ended with a huge encore of Knife (by Grizzly Bear) with Plants And Animals. Epic. Another small concert that ranks high on my list. Luke LaLond takes his voice through unusually raw and fantastically high places often. Barnacle Goose also features some lyrically packed phrases and group shouts that are irresistible. I don't hear this enough outside of punk and I love it.
3. New Order | True Faith
When I was about eight years old we had an Apple Power Macintosh 4400. I loved that thing. It came with all sorts of games. About 13 years later, I stumbled upon a New Order CD and started listening to it. Then True Faith came on. It finally hit me: one of the games I couldn't figure out how to play when I was a kid featured an instrumental True Faith on during the intro. I would open the game up, let True Faith play, then close the game and do it all again. I wish I could remember that game was called...
5. Arcade Fire | Wake Up
One Friday night in my first year of university, myself and a friend decided to go to Sasquatch Festival the following day. It was a single day of amazing bands. Bright and early we left Vancouver and drove 5ish hours to the Gorge, Washington, stopping along the way to pick some tickets in Issaquah. Finally we arrived. As the day went on we saw amazing band after amazing band. We weren't allowed to bring our food in and refused to buy the high-priced food. About halfway into the day a band I had heard of but never listened to took main stage. The band of 8+ members spread out on the huge stage and took their marks. Center stage was a disheveled looking red-haired fellow with a drum strapped to his chest and tambourine in hand. He began a primal boom-kah, boom-boom-kah. Then the guitar started. Then the voices...ALL the people on stage in unison! The rest of the song (and set) continued to blow me away. The band was Arcade Fire. The song was Wake Up. The red-haired fellow was Richard Parry. Later, we shared a short and awkward conversation, in which my friend told Richard she had a crush on him. Nice.
6. Bell Orchestre | Throw It On A Fire
After such a great show, I had to see Arcade Fire again. The next time they came to Vancouver a band called the Bell Orchestre opened up for them. I was a bit confused at first... It seemed that half of Bell Orchestre was Arcade Fire. Turns out that this was a side project of the aforementioned Richard Perry and a few others from Arcade Fire. Instrumental avant-garde/indie music. A fantastic combo. The show had many great moments but at the beginning of Throw It On A Fire the band began pounding away at whatever instrument or object was in front of them. Why is it always the beats get me? Way to be Richard! Beat that upright bass!
7. Cake | The Distance
In high school, I took a TV and Film course. The majority of the time, we just ran around with a video camera, hardly making anything worthwhile. We were then assigned to shoot a music video. I can't quite remember how it came about, but we chose The Distance. After some intense brainstorming, we decided to dress someone up in a white tuxedo and run them around the city doing things. Best music video ever. For real.
8. Erik Satie | Gymnopedie No. 1
The other two are good too, but No. 1 is my favorite. This track was introduced to me in university during one of my music courses. Mr. Satie lived in the time of Debussy and was an underdog composer to his peers. He would play in Le Chat Noire Café-cabaret while his peers sat and chatted. He labelled his music furniture music. Music with the same function as a decorative table: to be looked at briefly and then largely ignored. He was either inferior to his peers, or centuries ahead of them, depending on how you look at it. His music has always been an inspiration for me and has often relaxed me during a drive.
9. Passion Pit | Sleepyhead
A friend of mine's family has a cabin on Gabriola island. A year or so ago, myself and a group of friends headed there for a long weekend away. It island is tiny. The folks are all hippies. There is no use for clocks or watches. There is a beach with the perfect view of the sunset. The place is unbelievable. After returning, my friend put together a video of the trip and Sleepyhead was used as the theme music. Everytime I hear this song it reminds me of a great weekend on Gabe.
10. The Dears | We Can Have It
Before 2003, I didn't listen to good music. In fact, I listened to bad music. The only redeeming items in my music catalogue were injected by my dad... Phil Collins and Alan Parson's Project to name a few. From 2003-2004 I discovered a lot of really good music. One of those artists were the Dears. I found a live show on KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic and loved it. Murray Lightburn and the whole gang played a great set and I couldn't believe it was online for free. Over the next month or so I watched the entire set over and over again. I'll still watch it from time to time. Hopefully they don't take it away.
+11. Bon Iver | Skinny Lover
First time I heard Bon Iver was an unlabeled song on iTunes in a house I was living in with six other guys. It wasn't actually Bon Iver but was a cover my friend did. I thought the name was really bizarre. It was great. Pretty sad, but a not quite as depressing as David Bazan. After learning it was pronounced bon-aye-ver, I was all set and even bought the vinyl.
SIDE D | by Tyler Badali
1. John Frusciante | Repeating
This song speaks to me on many level's. The first being a compilation of several high school memories with Andrew and our best friend Min. His voice is extremely similar to John's and we fell in love with his solo work through Min. This song was always playing on long drives with lots of sunshine. Another meaningful element of this song are the drums. The use of a sizzle cymbal and scraping brushes invokes thoughts and memories of my Grandfather, a talented jazz and marching snare drummer.
2. Refused | Deadly Rhythm
Refused is a band that simply won't take no for an answer. David Sandström is an amazing drummer. This track has all the a feel that makes a drummer successful in my eyes. It also brings back a wonderful memory of Andrew and I. We were the rhythm section for our high school musical. Fooling around one day, as we always did on our instruments, Andrew started up the bass line to deadly rhythm in front of the entire cast. I couldn't help but rip a good section of the song with him until the teacher's asked us to stop. We did this a lot, so it was funny that something so common for Andrew and I seemed to shock the entire crew.
3. Incubus | The Warmth
The warmth perfectly crystalizes my feelings towards drumming and music as a whole. Incubus is a band that I know will stick with me for the rest of my life. I grew up as a young musician learning and listening to José Pasillas. Their live DVD, Alive At Red Rocks, holds special meaning to Andrew and I. The main menu has a 10 second section of the bridge that plays on repeat until you select an option. At the end of the dvd, it automatically reverts you to this menu. After a long night of playing and writing. Andrew, Min and I would turn on Alive At Red Rocks and fall right to sleep. All of us, being too stubborn to get up and turn it off. Typically it would repeat until my mom would wake up and come downstairs to turn it off. I will always remember that 10 second loop of the bridge in the warmth.
4. Alexisonfire | Sharks And Danger
When I was learning different songs growing up as a young musician, Sharks And Danger taught me the power of simplicity. The song itself is an interesting adventure that always brings me back to warped tour '06. A profound adventure for me growing up.
5. The Beatles | Penny Lane
The Beatles have always brought me back to my childhood. The world at your finger tips. Having no clear sense of where to begin or where to end. Penny Lane is one of my favorite songs to hear played or sung by someone else.
6. The Bee Gee's | Stayin' Alive
Some of the best hooks and most catchy rhythms are within this song. Stayin' Alive is a timeless 4:48 minutes that will always make you move. It reminds me of several sweaty nights on the dance floor.
7. Ben E. King | Stand By Me
Inspired by many family occasions that included music and dancing, I chose this song for the countless dances I have shared with my Grandmother. I love to dance. I love to Slow dance with the one's that mean the most to me.
9. Bloc Party | Price Of Gasoline
The price of gas keeps on rising. This song has everything. Guitar lines that leave you wanting more, driving drum line, claps! This was always a favorite of mine to play at home over and over.
10. Vivaldi | The Four Seasons: Spring
This to me is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It is the soundtrack to every good dream I can remember. The composition of the different instruments interacting with one another in both a soft yet bold way. The violin came alive to me in this song.
+11. Dr. Dre | The Next Episode
I have had many experiences with this playing in the backround. From road trips camping, to the limo ride before graduation. Many close friends of mine love Dre and share my feelings of fondness towards 2001.
SIDE E | by Angelo Ismirnioglou
1. Red Bone | Come And Get Your Love
This song just makes me so happy enough said.
2. Ten Years After | I'd Love To Change The World
When I first started playing guitar, this was first song I learned all the way through.
3. Klaatu | Doctor Marvello
My father has always tried to show me new music or at least music he thinks I've never heard. It's gotten so ridiculous now that he goes on YouTube everyday, but I'm grateful because every so often he gives me a gem like this one. I'm just so amazed at the production and sound of this song for its age.
4. M83 | Don't Save Us From The Flames
Reminds me of little parties at my friend Maxeys.
5. Bloc Party | Skeleton
A really old song of theirs, every time I hear it I instantly remember driving around Gastown in Vancouver around October of '05 in the pouring rain with my best friend talking about how we wanted to start a band. Always puts a smile on my face.
6. Bobbi Brown | Every Little Step
This song makes me think of my mom, shitty hotel rooms, carne asada burritos and HBO. Sure was fun being a kid...
7. Death From Above 1979 | Little Girl
I almost drove my car off the side of a mountain listening to this song. Gets me excited every time.
8. Zapp And Roger | I Want To Be Your Man
I remember hearing it for the first time when I was dancing with a girl I had the biggest crush on, I finally worked up the nerve to ask her to dance after 2 years and when this song came on and I heard the vocals I just stood there dumbfounded totally oblivious to the girl, I just wanted to know how they did that effect to their voices.
9. Prince | Let's Go Crazy
Prince is one of my favourite artists, such a talented musician and a very underrated guitar player. I have this memory of myself running around the house going crazy wearing my little blue pyjamas when I was about 4 or 5 years old 'cause my dad was playing this song on his new sound system.
10. Pixies | Debaser
My band of first's. I lost my virginity to Doolittle, first band to make me want to be in a band and Frank Black was the determining factor on getting a Telecaster, between Prince and Frank Black, I was sold.
+11. Snoop Dogg | Ain't No Fun ( If The Homies Can't Have None)
This is a very nostalgic song for me. Whenever I listen to it I instantly start thinking of being young growing up in San Diego. I also love the sound of all the instruments used and simplicity. It's so laid back you almost forget how vulgar the lyrics are.
WARMER MIXTAPES #210 | by Silviu Badea [Contorsionist/Montgomery Clunk]
1. Tim Hecker | Paragon Point
This track takes me on a steamy street at night, yellow lightscapes and empty backalleys from another world. I can see the cars passing by, I can feel the hunger in my belly and I can honestly feel my solitude and I know that there is no one that waits me home...There isn't even a home to start with.
2. Candlestickmaker | Flat Four
Its about a guy, about where he comes and where he is, what he is. I've been there, I know how it is. This is a track that will always remind me of what's there, in flat four. Over there, a train is passing by from time to time...It is said that it's the lost train. Whenever I go in that flat I do NOT feel lost, I feel like home, simple, not complicated.
3. Mike Slott | Amanallah
You know when you get up in the morning and you feel like the heat and the city is killing you, making you deaf, you can't even hear the birds anymore...Well, this song is exactly the opposite of that. Takes me to an alien countryside with weird water creatures, birds and fairy pixies, makes me wanna scream out the window.
4. Aphex Twin | Xtal
THE ONLY UPLIFTING SONG I KNOW! Perhaps the words are too big, but when I listen to this track I just can't ignore the beauties of the space I reside in. It's been like alot of years since this one came out but for me, even to this day it's fresh and quite difficult to describe the mood that this song is turning on inside me. Aphex is godsent.
5. Zomby | Helter Skelter
Attic, wooden floor, cant escape, I feel small and secluded, he's coming to get me and I can't do shit about it. The walls are closing in and I dissapear.
6. Discordless | Red Giant
When I listen to this track I know that things can go WRONG and totally not what you would expect them to be. Twisted rythm and sick atmosphere, I don't know what to feel, makes me feel childhood but in a very wrong way. By the end of the song I know for sure that things went wrong and someone is furious. Weird mood.
7. Ultre | Being Invincible
This is like a turtleshell.The tune gives me hope, courage. I can't say it makes me feel invincible. It has some kind of a twisted fiesta vibe around it (for me at least). A tiny fiesta in a wooden hut. Mice and ants are spectating everything from within the walls, laughing at me.
8. Tycho | Pbs/Kae
This one has been passed to me by a very special person and everytime I play it I think about that person. I think about his freedom and I want to be the same even if it's impossible. So yeah I guess this is the track that makes me think of a particular person and it makes me to have a perfect image about that person. Cheers to you, CD.
9. Deftones | Prince
Straight out their freshest release...The Deftones still remain a huge part of what music is to me. Hermetic lyrics, metaphor and lots of emotion. Listen closely to the lyrics. Describes many of my choking days.
10. Hudson Mohawke | Polkadot Blues
This is the perfect proof I'm having teh SWINGZ. I like the drooling of this track. When I hear it, I instantly go retarded and saliva starts dripping in the corner of my mouth as I move my genitalia in stupid circles. PRICELESS!
WARMER MIXTAPES #209 | by Gavin Tate of The Gaa Gaa's
1. The Beatles | Tomorrow Never Knows
This was The Beatles finest hour. Revolver from start to finish is immense but this track is them at their best moment. Even though the drums are the same through out, they are still very much effective and very much memorable. This is probably or most definitely the greatest produced track track of all time. You can tell from listening to this that they spent alot of time in India whilst consuming lots of LSD. I love the seagull noises and the trippy sounds. It's great listening to this through good speakers with surround sound. It sends you to another dimension and if a song can do that, it must be good.
2. Roxy Music | In Every Dream Home A Heart Ache
This is with out a doubt one of the greatest songs ever recorded and has one of the greatest lead guitar breaks ever. Such a progressive introduction with Ferry's subtle vocal over the top. So well produced. Ive been having a massive Brian Eno phase lately but Roxy does it for me every time. To talk about great follow up records, this is one of them. It's hard for bands to follow up their first album but Roxy Music's second offer totally destroys the first on just one listen. If only bands of today wrote songs like this, I would be more interested in modern music.
3. Sonic Youth | Teen Age Riot
This song is perfect from start to finish. Kim sings on the intro and Thurston comes in on the verse. Such a great build up and the guitars sound like they're colliding. The tempo on this track is so good. There are so many changes it's hard to keep up. The video for this is amazing as well. With lots of clips of them and their hero's and messing about in rehersal. It's what inspired me to want to be in a band. I remember watching them at a festival in France called La Route Du Rock in 2005 and when they played this, tears came to my eyes. My friends and I had been waiting all weekend to see them more than any other band and the moment they came out I knew that gig was going to change my life. Nothing else has come close to being as good. Sonic Youth are the most passionate band of our time.
4. The Cure | A Short Term Effect
From the album Pornography possibly their darkest hour. This is one of the more cherpier tracks. The thing that stands out the most is the vocal delay, the way it slows down is quite haunting and I love the line static white sound. After hearing this I started using vocal delay with The Gaa Gaa's and it's become a big part of our sound so thank you Mr. Smithy. I love the bass line as well, it sounds like it's just rotating over and over but feels so distinctive as if you've heard it before in a past life. That's what makes The Cure so great. They were and still are to this day timeless.
5. Killing Joke | Love Like Blood
This is a big favourite of mine and I play it every time I DJ. They stole the intro guitar from Pink Floyd but made it sound even better. This was where Killing Joke really stumbled onto something great. I love the early stuff but this is what made people finally indentify them as a band. To hear Jaz Coleman singing about love was quite odd as most of his lyrics were aimed at politics as you can hear in the more angsty songs. The Night Time album as a whole has made a huge impact on music today with Nirvana ripping off Eighties to write one of their biggest hits Come As You Are and alot of musicians of today writing songs with more depth. You have Killing Joke to thank for that.
6. Katherine Missouri | Bury My Own
Talking of love songs, this was written for me by my girl. I love the lyrics so strange what love does. It's really bluesy but very haunting at the same time. The vocal reminds me of Hope Sandoval with Mazzy Star, it has the element of sweetness as well as darkness which is quite an unusual mixture. The chorus is very PJ Harvey esque and matches the verse's perfectly. It's hard to write a great chorus after such a strong verse but she has very much done just that on this amazing track. If you get the chance, check her out.
7. The Count 5 | Psychotic Reaction
When I was 18 I started going out to a club night in my home town of St. Helier. The night was called Bomp, a psyche/garage night. They would always play this and I grew to fall in love with it. It also inspired me to start playing harmonica as I loved how well it worked with their sound. I love the freak out at the end and again the way the tempo changes from quite erratic back to the original verse. The drums are insanely good as well. I began my huge 60's garage phase after this and it was around the same time the mojo garage complitation came out which had a huge impact on my life musically.
8. Elvis J Healey | Funeral
Written by one of my greatest friends. A ballad that will stick with you untill the day you die. I've never been able to finger pluck chords on guitar but he does it so well on this track it makes me jealous. It's about him asking a close friend or a lover to attend a funeral with him despite the fact they may not of known the person who's funeral it was. The melodys and harmonys are so addictive with lyrics We could make lots of new friends, we can wear the latest fashion trends and show them all how good we look. Us and all of them... If I ever hear a ballad better than this I'll have it played at my own funeral, untill then... Sod off.
9. The Passions | Bachelor Girls
The Passions were sort of like a more underground Siouxsie And The Banshees. They were seen as a one hit wonder band band with I'm In Love With A German Filmstar but I loved songs like Bachelor Girls more. They use the classic 50's doo wop chords on this track which is extremely catchy. Such a great vocal power and the guitars sound like rain. I think of this more of a cooler take on Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun which is also an amazing song with out losing all credibility.
10. New Order | Touched By The Hand Of God
This was the first song that ever caught my attention as a child. I think I was as young as 3 or 4. I made my older sister record it for me over and over on 2 sides of a tape cassette so as soon as the song finished, it would start again. It was a great decision for the 3 remaining members of Joy Division to form New Order. Technique is an incredible album, quite possibly their best. Out of all the synth pop bands that came out of the UK in the early eighties, New Order were one of the few that actually had their own sound that you can recognise was there own, a rare quality. I love the fact most of their songs are about football as well. Specially this track, Maradonna's goal that knocked England out of the world cup and the track that first bought music to my attention. Thank you New Order and thank you Maradonna.
WARMER MIXTAPES #208 | by Nicholas D. Futcher of Kite Club
1. Best Coast | Our Deal
I’ve had this song on repeat for weeks! It reminds me of the early sixties girl groups I so much adore, only in a modern take. A girl confused in where she stands with her guy. The innocence in her voice gets me; I want to be her boyfriend! The vocal melodies hang high and carry along the chipper groove. That old-style point bass technique that makes itself heard only when relevant. When you leave me the pad is empty and I feel crazy ‘cos I didn’t say anything...?...Aww. This girl pouring out her heart to this guy, even though he may never hear it, all the while keeping a sense of maturity about it, because if he did, she might not have the kind of presence she needs in this relationship. It’s extremely well written and I’m sure, given a few months, will remind me of now, only, then.
2. Charles Manson | Look At Your Game, Girl
This has to be one of the saddest stories in contemporary times. A true genius, fallen at the reigns of the western battle. A victim of civilisation. A martyr amongst the rats; portrayed as a heartless killer. A visionary of cult status. Whenever I play this song, someone will walk in and be like, Who is this? This is great! to which my reply quickly sets a confused look upon such face. But isn’t that... He’s a psycho... This man has one of the sweetest and reassuring voices I’ve ever experienced. This song to me is about the demographic of girls aged 17-22 that have more physical appeal than they know what to do with. They figure this out around then, and move to a city, and get by on the plethora of guys with their tongues visibly hanging out their mouths. This social monopoly has become quite common, as I’ve experienced it myself. This continues for years, until the sort of epiphany that embeds emotional damage comes to, and you’ve got a whole army of bitter 23+ girls that can’t get close to anyone. Can you feel? Are those feelings real? Look at your game, girl...What a mad delusion...Living in that confusion...Frustration and doubt...Can you ever live without the game? This recollection rings true to me.
3. Nico | Chelsea Girls
Here’s room 506...It’s enough to make you sick...Bridgette’s all wrapped up in foil...Let’s see if she will uncoil...The moment I heard this song, I was extremely creeped out. I was sharing a creative space with a few friends at Hibernian House on Elizabeth St in Sydney. Everytime we went up the elevator there’d be a gang of pigeons waiting for us, staring us down. It was quite intimidating, and it smelt. The girl we rented from was named Bridgette and it just happened to be room 506. Enough said. Also, there was a wonderful little known jazz club called 505 which happened to be next door... We’d here these blistering groups coming from next door while we did our thing. It was great.
4. Plants & Animals | Faerie Dance
*_* Fell asleep under a tree...Got woken up by birds by bees...They’re hard at work but they’re hardly working...There might be rain, but not for certain...
5. John Coltrane | Giant Steps
The first time I heard this song I was frightened. I was heavily into progressive rock at the time ie; Yes, King Crimson, The Mars Volta; and this song sent me into a primitive paralysis. What these groups had in studio presence, Coltrane was expressing through his minimal tone. His lines were conversing with my immediate conscious, it was incredible. The rhythms that were being put across was like being barked at in traditional mandarin, and magically receiving clear. It was a shamanic experience, one of which I will never forget. The unforgiving pace of the chaos sent me into a parallel realm. This also was amplified by my love for quite quick early seventies street punk. Breakneck speeds of drumming, and keeping time with this, was a highschool hobby of mine. It taught me rhythm in the highest degree. I have since discovered The Bitches Brew Sessions by Miles Davis, which speaks for itself.
6. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti | Among Dreams
I wish I wrote this song. There’s so much to express about this song, both lyrically and sonically. To be in love with someone that isn’t with you is one thing. To be feeling this among dreams is torture. You can hear this come across. The way he bursts so innocently from phrase to phrase. Among dreams we’re best friends...While in life we float apart...It bothers me that you don’t admit you love me...Though it’s precisely in your dream...I’m livin’ to love you...Oh, to be wide awake beside you. It’s up, down. From line to line, It’s positive and outward, yet reclusive and nieve. Confident yet unsure. Is the person real? Is it figuritive? The songwriting is immaculate and pure. It’s the strangest mix. He’s barely playing the instruments in time, yet it’s this obscurely symphonic signature; six or seven bass chords to a bar. Incredible. To hear this song is definitely an experience. The way it whispers across the tape. It’s a ghost of it’s own form. The scraps of the carbon copy of another, far more emphatic song. It would be impossible to recreate this. The first time I heard this song at my friends house, it haunted me. I felt I’d heard it a million times. The way it was dreamily carrying on in the background like something was going on that I didn’t know about, but was utterly intrigued to experience. The sparkled analogue strings of yesteryear. Like it was the song I was always trying to get out of my mind when I’d sit down to write. For weeks that followed, I would put on these giant headphones I’d loaned and bounce around the streets of Sydney, this song blaring in my ear drums while I would fight the urge to make elaborate hand motions; a fight I would often lose. I was homeless for a few months around then, and this song would make the world seem a little less there. I still listen to it every day without fail. Thankyou Ariel!
7. The Used | Light With A Sharpened Edge
In Love And Death is the first record I remember being alarmingly aware of the nature of production in music, and to the greater extent, the power of such things. What I now understand to be compression and saturation, shook me up upon initial affect. This spectrum that fell upon virgin ears... They almost bled. Some purists believe that production and song are seperate. I find this ignorant and to the lesser degree arrogant. If you’ve got a badass cake... It’s still a killer cake regardless, it’s just up to you how you ice it. The two work in harmony. It’s all expression anyway!! Bert is another singer who definitely influenced my style. He’s got these cheeky little pre/suffixes to his dictation. It’s manipulation of the larynx to create character. I’m sure he’s had a few takes in the booth in his life, but nonetheless genius.
8. High And Driving | Baby Girl
This is the epitome of my adoration for leave you high, two minute bliss balls. Anthony Green was one of the first, and still is one of my favourite singers to take influence from. He’s one of the first singers that I learnt the art of tone from. The way he tightens up his chest and assaults you. Also, with his upward way. It’s joyous, it’s celebratory... The celebration of your girl!... Baby girl, twist away!...When you’re talking to me, I can’t breathe!...She’s so lovely...
9. David Bowie | Ashes To Ashes
This is an awkward and dark song to me. The phased guitar and sharp high note piano being flung at you so abruptly, with no real order. It makes me feel like the results of vicious arm waves in every which way, from a confused young human, without a place, while wearing an elaborate hat. Ashes to ashes...Fun to funky...We know Major Tom’s a junkie. To me this has a high level of shock factor; letting us know there’s a little more to Major Tom than spaceships. I think it’s brave of Bowie to communicate this. I think it’s also legitimate to hear things like this, as you know that the artist has genuinely created this presence in their heads.. As if to say that yesterday Major Tom was a hero, today he’s a junkie. The story is ever-growing. I love Bowie immensely.
10. American Football | I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional
I recall stumbling upon this group in a similar artists pop-up on the P2P client Limewire around age sixteen. It was autumn, and I burnt the record onto cd-r and played it on my portable on repeat for about four months straight. We’d just moved into a new house with my Dad’s girlfriend of two years and her two kids, one my age, the other, my brothers age. It was new and exciting, being back on the Gold Coast, with all the palm trees, the sunshine, and my new mountain bike. New highschool, with new dramas. New girls with bigger dramas. Total teenage bliss. I grew a big fringe and wore black nailpolish ^_^!
+11. Atlas Sound | After Class
Stephanie Augustine was her name. She attended the College Of Fine Arts (COFA) in Paddington. I’d meet her at the corner after class and we’d walk blissfully down Oxford St, hand in hand, our long golden locks intertwined in thick city wind. We’d devised a super-plan where we’d connect both our headphone sets to a splitter jack, so we could listen to the same song, at the same time. We’d walk the kilometer to Hyde Park, where we’d sit on the grass for hours, enthralled in each others vibrations, still hand in hand. We’d wear matching shoes. I’d smoke tobacco and she’d chew strawberry gum. After the park, it’d be threatening dark. This meant her time was drawing to an end, and we’d walk the other kilometer to the bus stop near Central station where I’d see her off to her castle, far far away, only to return the next day, to do the same thing. This song was the theme to my afternoon queen.
WARMER MIXTAPES #207 | by Andreas Brixen of Bodebrixen
1. ceo | Come With Me
This is to me perfect summer music. I’ve been riding my bike a lot of times with this song playing in my iPod and every time I hear this song I’ve been uplifted. Sweet sound of Scandinavia.
2. Jens Lekman | Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig
I'm a big fan of Jens Lekman and this tune is just one of many crazy good songs. I love the way he samples old stuff and beats. The end of the song is amazing.
3. Babatunde Olatunji | Akiwowo (Chant To The Trainman)
One of the best drummer ever. The song is from 1959 but still holds 100%. Beautiful and extremely danceable. And very inspiring!
4. Metronomy | My Heart Rate Rapid
Cool cool sounds! I wish I had written this song…
5. Neil Young | See The Sky About To Rain
One of my biggest heroes. And one of my favourite Neil Young songs. What is there more to say?
6. Don Cherry/Ed Blackwell | The Mysticism Of My Sound / Medley: Dollar Brand / Spontaneous Composing / Exert, Man On The Moon
Freedom is the word I would say. Duo improvisations at their best. Playful avant-garde jazz from 1969.
7. Avi Buffalo | What’s In It For?
So charming!
8. I Got You On Tape | Spinning For The Cause
The best band playing in Denmark, and Jacob Bellens is one of the best singers in the country. Simple and nice!
9. The Flaming Lips | One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21
The Flaming Lips are one of my favourite bands. I have listened to this song so so many times. At the end of the track it is hard not to cry. I am filled with a longing for something. I bicycle a lot - and this song (and album) is perfect for summer evenings on the bike.
10. YACHT | I’m In Love With A Ripper
Cool party music! I just can’t get enough. I love this song.
WARMER MIXTAPES #206 | by Jessika Rapo of Le Futur Pompiste and Burning Hearts
1. El Perro Del Mar | Change Of Heart
A love-at-first-sight-song that is perfect in so many ways. I could listen to it a million times and it would still touch me the same way it did when I first heard it on the highway between Helsinki and Turku.
2. The Magnetic Fields | Strange Powers
This song is a combination of everything that is great about MF: The catchy melodies, the sound, the deep and dark voice of Mr. Merritt and small surprises!
3. The Go-Betweens | Love Goes On!
This is the favorite band of the love of my life. I'm glad he introduced it to me for otherwise I might have never heard this song!
4. Broadcast | America's Boy
Trish Keenan probably has one of the most beautiful voices I know. I adore its softness and the way it melts in with the noisy sounds and catchy melodies.
5. Julee Cruise | The Nightingale
The prettiest reverb in the world and a song that takes me back to my early teens when I watched the much too scary but enchanting Twin Peaks.
6. Serge Gainsbourg | Histoire De Melody Nelson
Beautiful string arrangements and a wonderful pause followed by a genious bassline. The Jane Birkin whispers are lovely, as well. Can't understand any of the French though...
7. The Radio Dept. | Strange Things Will Happen
A typical song that I'm bound to love: Some melancholy, a beautiful voice, a simple arrangement and repetitive chords.
8. Fleetwood Mac | Dreams
Someone claimed Burning Hearts has a song that is too much inspired by Dreams. I had never paid attention to this song before that, but I'm loving it now!
9. Stereolab | Sudden Stars
I lived in Spain and my life was somewhat chaotic. I remember being on a bus on my way home from the university and listening to my mini disk which I constantly carried with me. I remember the tears when I realized that the song was dedicated to Mary Hansen.
10. Arthur Russell | The Letter
An inspiring master piece from a great song writer I just discovered recently. Have to make a cover!
WARMER MIXTAPES #205 | by Cosimo Piovasco Di Rondo II [Cosimo]
I don't like to dwell on things like this too much, they're not just songs of course but if I had let myself, this thing would have taken up far too much time and I still wouldn't have been satisfied in the end. Better to just pick the things that pop up and not looking back. Hope you like it.
1. Guillaume De Machaut | Rose, Liz, Printemps, Verdure
This is my absolute favorite composer. I would have loved to hear this through the church windows in my village during his lifetime. It becomes easier to understand the wide spread of faith in God, by the human kind of that period in history, when listening to sacral music of that era. It’s simply so hard to believe something else than a higher power actually thought out something as beautiful as this.
2. Lil B | I’m God
Lil B is a pure genious. At first you may be offended, you may laugh or you may think he’s just another guy trying to get that paper. But then you become so based it doesn’t matter, maybe he is God.
3. Ensemble Tbilisi | Naduri
I love voices that come together and morph into new voices. These Georgian fuckers know how to achieve that. I hear they’re a very proud people, I think it was something about God’s own paradise or something like that. I should wish to go there sometime, perhaps for some freestyle chanting.
4. Geinoh Yamashirogumi | Tetsuo
A kind of weird constellation of people making music that sounds both hyper modern and very ancient. There seems to be no direct plan for these songs, they just flow and evolves and lets you really go along with the music. You feel like there’s no limit. I think that there shouldn’t necessary be a structure to your songs, just different patches of energy put together, like this.
5. Hiroki Okano | Hototogisu
Whenever I get as far as Venice I listen to this song. I try to search for the calm places whenever I come to such a chaotic city, screaming American children and singing gondoliers everywhere. It’s hard but it becomes easier when listening to this because your mind is at peace already.
6. The-Dream | Yamaha/Nikki Pt.2/Abyss Trilogy
More fame, more money, more hooks, more bliss. Absolute perfection. The weird thing is it’s so big, so commercial and so hyped up but still manages to feel so honest. He’s a beast. I feel like his name explains it all.
7. Donovan | Ballad Of Geraldine
Before I moved out of my family house at age 12, my father and my sister would sing this at late nights in the living room. An acoustic guitar and two voices in harmony, plus these enormous lyrics. I don’t think I got it then, what I felt. I still don’t, it just is and I’m glad for it.
8. Ernst Reijseger | Libera Me, Domine
Reminiscent of the Georgian chants but maybe more experimental. I have no memories attached to this song other than the pictures from the movie it was written for, but I feel like it’s eternal. So I can’t let it become part of something not eternal, like memories.
9. Tujiko Noriko | Shore Angel
This is mostly for the intro of the song, it’s just shimmering. There’s one sound that comes out maybe twice, like an electronic sound but still like a pitched down seagull or something. I live near a harbor so this is my home and you can’t tell there’s water in this song but I think it’s overflowing with it.
10. Complete works of David Wise
I better dig in my pockets and pay homage...
