WARMER MIXTAPES #393 | by Stirling Myles of Alameda

1. Aloha | All The Wars
Walking to high school in Denver; I would have a morning walking path by the parks into downtown. I would start a mix that I made from the beginning and this song would always play by the time walked by the central park. This song was an incredible soundtrack to all of the vignettes of people and faces coming in and out of focus much like this song comes in and out of my life.

2. The Gloria Record | Cinema Air
I took a Greyhound trip from Denver to Gainesville, FL to visit my sister who was living there at the time. I felt very independent and I got to see very interested parts of the country at very interesting times (St. Louis bus station at 3:00 in the morning). When finally reaching Florida, I felt a calmness that I've rarely felt. My sister played this song when we were driving around the small city and I could not get it out of my head. I kept listening and felt baffled by how a group of people could create a song that was as beautifully arranged as this one.

3. Lack | Solispsist Letter To The World
The only time I've ever cried at a show was at a Lack concert packed in the back room of a now defunct Denver record store called Double Entendre. Lack was a Dutch band that wrote the most innovative Hardcore music for a while. I was up front right next to the plywood stage and there was such an incredible wave and swarm of connectedness, that I felt fully in tune with the music and people around me. This song presents a sense of urgency and beauty that I've always felt was encapsulated within their music.

4. Gillian Welch | My First Lover
This song will be on every road trip I go on! Even though I might not listen to it, it's still always an option that will put a smile on my face. Best to listen to the windswept landscape on Wyoming headed east, just when the buttes come into view.

5. Daniel Lanois | Frozen
I went to see Tortoise play in Boulder, CO years back and I was so pleasantly surprised to see their collaboration with Daniel Lanois. He played a set of songs by himself on the pedal steel and to the best of my memory, he said they they were a series of songs that he wrote in Alaska in a cabin. Nonetheless, they were gorgeous and I finally was able to track this song down and it such paints such a vivid imagery for me of a place that I've never been to, but feel that I have traveled.

6. Joseph Childress | 10,000 Horses
So much to say, but I'll simply say that Joseph Childress has been a mentor in many ways. One of the most incredible songwriters I've ever heard. A wonderful storyteller and one that constantly is expanding with his music.

7. Jeremy Enigk | Abegail Anne
Always a fan of Sunny Day Real Estate, and I found this way after he recorded it. I've always been inspired by the introspection and vulnerability of these songs. I feel that these songs were an outpouring; a moment of amazing inspiration.

8. Spiritualized | The Ballad Of Richie Lee
A very dear friend of mine introduced me to this band on an evening drive through the town we were living and I always will associate this with night drives. I learned about texture from this song, incredible simplicity and space. Portraying the evening of any memory and emotion.

9. Isis | Red Sea
I love to walk to this song on headphones, being covered with warm distortion. This song is great to listen to in motion as it keeps it place as bookmarks to whatever itinerary you have, being there even at your destination.

10. Ten Grand | Now You Got What I Got
I would go on road trips with friends to nearby cities like Albuquerque, NM and Lincoln, NE to see basement house shows that didn't make it to Denver. I saw this song played in a public park rangers hut in the middle of the city park. This band played some of the most creative interpretations to musical storytelling to date. I've always had immense respect for the place they hold in music exploration, I've always taken homage, but can never hold up a light to what they have done.