WARMER MIXTAPES #336 | by Christian Zucconi of Grouplove
1. Hot Snakes | Plenty For All
Hannah and I drove out to Los Angeles last year from New York. It was January. There was a lot of snow on the ground. And as we headed South and West, and the weather got warmer, the windows came down and we'd blast this song speeding along the interstate. It was Southern California's calling. And a year later it still is.
2. Neil Young | Expecting To Fly
On our last Northeast tour this was frequently being played in the van. Sets a real nice tone for traveling. You know in that Neil Young biography, Shakey, he and David Briggs spent a month mixing this song? Can you tell?
3. Leonard Cohen | So Long Marianne
I think this one is a song I'll be listening to now for the rest of my life. So Long Marianne will always bring me back to the trip Hannah and I took to Greece two and a half years ago - where we would soon meet our future life-long friends and Grouplove members. We were flying into Athens and saw in the newspaper that came with the plane ride that Leonard Cohen was playing that night and that the song was inspired by his love, Marianne, whom he had met in Greece. We would have gone but it was sold out and tickets were way too expensive, but we had some good listens to the song on our ten hour boat ride through the middle of the night to Crete. We met when we were almost young.
4. Paul Simon | Duncan
I found all these old records up in the attic of my mother's house in New York before moving out to LA. So when we got here we had a lot of new music to play. When Sean arrived from London this record began a heavy rotation and we all fell in love with Duncan. Hearing the words New England, so delicately sung, really brings me back home to the East Coast when I need a little home-sick fix.
5. Alex Walker | Caught Starin
I was very fortunate to grow up with Alex in upstate New York because this cat helped me find my first footings in music when we started our first band together in high school. My friends happened to all be awesome musicians and I was just starting to learn the guitar and sing, and they provided a great welcome into what was then, the most exciting new world I'd ever seen, it was all so fresh and new. Alex just moved out to LA this month and he's been dropping his new tracks through our stereo, and this one's been on repeat.
6. Björk | Unravel
You know how you just sometimes need that Earth shattering love song up in your spot?
7. Sean Gadd | Pacific Coast Highway
Sean Gadd of Grouplove writes some real classics on the acoustic guitar. This is just one of them. He wrote it when he came out to LA to live, after a trip up the coast in Matt Wessen's (Andrew's big bro's) old boat-like beauty of a Cadillac. Highway 1 is a long way from London. I know it's not fair to write about a song you can't get your ears on but be on the lookout we'll be recording it one day!
8. Arcade Fire | Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
I got into Arcade Fire pretty late in the game. Three years ago an old dear friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a long time was visiting Brooklyn and we went out for some dinner and cigarettes and things turned a bit sad, nothing too heavy but we were just feeling weighed down by certain aspects our lives, of our memories, of our childhoods, of nolstagia, lost loves, the uncertainty of the future, death, and so on. (Wait, that does sound heavy!) Upon leaving the place we sat down on these metal steps outside the restaurant and she put headphones in my ears and played me this song. We were not alone.
9. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Swan Lake
Remember those records I was telling you about before? This one made the trip as well. Ironically we started playing it at home a few weeks before the film came out. After seeing the movie we have kept it up, keeping the black and white swan alive at the same time! What drama!
10. Black Flamingo | Golden Girl
Grouplove is in the backhouse where we live, and Black Flamingo lives in the front house. They are the best neighbors we could have asked for. And on quiet evenings out in the yard we can hear them practicing, their lush sounds floating out their windows onto our porch. They have some really great songs, but Golden Girl has been killing it lately.
Hannah and I drove out to Los Angeles last year from New York. It was January. There was a lot of snow on the ground. And as we headed South and West, and the weather got warmer, the windows came down and we'd blast this song speeding along the interstate. It was Southern California's calling. And a year later it still is.
2. Neil Young | Expecting To Fly
On our last Northeast tour this was frequently being played in the van. Sets a real nice tone for traveling. You know in that Neil Young biography, Shakey, he and David Briggs spent a month mixing this song? Can you tell?
3. Leonard Cohen | So Long Marianne
I think this one is a song I'll be listening to now for the rest of my life. So Long Marianne will always bring me back to the trip Hannah and I took to Greece two and a half years ago - where we would soon meet our future life-long friends and Grouplove members. We were flying into Athens and saw in the newspaper that came with the plane ride that Leonard Cohen was playing that night and that the song was inspired by his love, Marianne, whom he had met in Greece. We would have gone but it was sold out and tickets were way too expensive, but we had some good listens to the song on our ten hour boat ride through the middle of the night to Crete. We met when we were almost young.
4. Paul Simon | Duncan
I found all these old records up in the attic of my mother's house in New York before moving out to LA. So when we got here we had a lot of new music to play. When Sean arrived from London this record began a heavy rotation and we all fell in love with Duncan. Hearing the words New England, so delicately sung, really brings me back home to the East Coast when I need a little home-sick fix.
5. Alex Walker | Caught Starin
I was very fortunate to grow up with Alex in upstate New York because this cat helped me find my first footings in music when we started our first band together in high school. My friends happened to all be awesome musicians and I was just starting to learn the guitar and sing, and they provided a great welcome into what was then, the most exciting new world I'd ever seen, it was all so fresh and new. Alex just moved out to LA this month and he's been dropping his new tracks through our stereo, and this one's been on repeat.
6. Björk | Unravel
You know how you just sometimes need that Earth shattering love song up in your spot?
7. Sean Gadd | Pacific Coast Highway
Sean Gadd of Grouplove writes some real classics on the acoustic guitar. This is just one of them. He wrote it when he came out to LA to live, after a trip up the coast in Matt Wessen's (Andrew's big bro's) old boat-like beauty of a Cadillac. Highway 1 is a long way from London. I know it's not fair to write about a song you can't get your ears on but be on the lookout we'll be recording it one day!
8. Arcade Fire | Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
I got into Arcade Fire pretty late in the game. Three years ago an old dear friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a long time was visiting Brooklyn and we went out for some dinner and cigarettes and things turned a bit sad, nothing too heavy but we were just feeling weighed down by certain aspects our lives, of our memories, of our childhoods, of nolstagia, lost loves, the uncertainty of the future, death, and so on. (Wait, that does sound heavy!) Upon leaving the place we sat down on these metal steps outside the restaurant and she put headphones in my ears and played me this song. We were not alone.
9. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Swan Lake
Remember those records I was telling you about before? This one made the trip as well. Ironically we started playing it at home a few weeks before the film came out. After seeing the movie we have kept it up, keeping the black and white swan alive at the same time! What drama!
10. Black Flamingo | Golden Girl
Grouplove is in the backhouse where we live, and Black Flamingo lives in the front house. They are the best neighbors we could have asked for. And on quiet evenings out in the yard we can hear them practicing, their lush sounds floating out their windows onto our porch. They have some really great songs, but Golden Girl has been killing it lately.
