WARMER MIXTAPES #499 | by Tom Lloyd and Ferren Gipson of Pandr Eyez
SIDE A | by Ferren Gipson
1. Teena Marie | Tune In Tomorrow
I remember listening to this on CD during car rides with my dad. It's so genuinely beautiful and she does some awesome scatting towards the end.
2. Teena Marie | Square Biz
Square Biz is awesome to dance around the house to unashamedly. Teena also does a swaggin’ Rap in the middle bit that I think Missy Elliot was inspired by on one of her songs (can’t remember which).
3. Teena Marie | Casanova Brown
I used to sing this when I was about 12 and I would always try to hold the long note at the end like Teena. It’s reeeally long and I don’t advise it.
4. Teena Marie | Where's California
This is a recent addition to my favorite Teena songs. It’s my dad’s favorite and the more I listen to it, the more I get into it. It’s on the It Must Be Magic album, which has great album art.
5. Teena Marie | It Must Be Magic
Another good one for dancing. Did I mention that she did most of her own production and writing on these tracks? I love this lady. So sad she passed last year.
6. Teena Marie | You Make Love Like Springtime
There are two versions of this song—one that’s more structured and one that’s a bit more of a jam session. If you listen to the jammy one, you can hear her talking a little in the background.
7. Teena Marie | Portuguese Love
I once saw a band do a cover of this song. It was so good, we bought the singer a glass of wine.
8. Rick James | Fire And Desire (with Teena Marie)
This is a really fun song to sing because it’s sliiiightly ridiculous (in the best sense). She and Rick James performed this together not too long before he passed. I heard they had a fling for a little while a long time ago. That may not be true.
9. Teena Marie | Stop The World
I always thought this sounded like it could be the intro to a soap opera.
10. Teena Marie | Ooo La La La
I think many people will be familiar with this song, as the chorus from the Fugees, Fu-Gee-La is based on it.
SIDE B | by Tom Lloyd
1. Kraftwerk | Computer Love
I first heard this when I picked up the Computer World album from a record store in my teens. About one minute in, the music kind of filters out for a few seconds, and I remember being pissed off that my copy was worn out in that section. But I think that’s just how it was meant to sound.
2. Ultramagnetic MC’s | Ego Trippin' (Original 12" Version)
The album version of this track segues straight into Moe Luv’s Theme half way through, but one day I found a compilation 12” of Dance tracks which featured the extended mix of Ego Trippin’. That record has some pretty shit graphics on the front, like an outline of a greyhound amid some colourful polygons on a grid.
3. Sly & The Family Stone | Runnin’ Away
Simply a great song.
4. Cannibal Ox | Vein
This is some advanced shit. This whole album still sounds fresh as hell. I didn't like this one so much when it first came out, but I guess things change.
5. Jaylib | The Red
A great track from a great album.
6. Asian Dub Foundation | Buzzin’
I rediscovered the Rafi’s Revenge album again recently, having not listened to it for many years. This was one of my favourite tracks from the album the first time round, but then I developed a weird obsessive complex where if this track came on I would be filled with an inexplicable sense of doom. So I would never listen to it. But I think I’ve managed to overcome this now.
7. Björk | Unravel
I associate this track with when me and a friend decided to spend two weeks driving from the UK to Hungary and back again, having many frightening experiences along the way. We foolishly only brought a few mix CDs with us to play in the car, so we listened to them over and over again when local radio stopped being fun. It's weird that this track stands out from the others we had with us, because it is quite quiet and hard to hear when driving, especially if the window is down. We had to drive with the window down, because we slept and ate and smoked in the car frequently and it soon developed a distinctive odour.
8. Digital Underground | Sex Packets
This song is genius. I don’t even know why, but it really is.
9. Coolio | Gangsta's Paradise (feat. L.V.)
This single was the first CD I ever bought, when I was ten years old. We didn’t actually have a CD player at home, so I went round to my friend’s house to play it and record on to tape. Then his dad came in and saw that I had left the CD on the floor, and said that you should never put CDs on the floor. One of the B-sides has some vinyl crackle on it from a sample, and because I was only used to records and tapes, I thought the noise was the CD player playing the fluff from the carpet, and I was thrown into a depression knowing that I had ruined my first and only CD.
10. Slick Rick | Children’s Story
KNOCK-KNOCK, KNO-KNO-KNOCK-KNOCK-KNO-KNO KNOCK ‘EM OUT THE BOX RICK
CRUMBS
This is my tribute playlist to Teena Marie, who is possibly my all-time favorite artist.
This is a good list for anyone who's interested in getting into her music...
This is a good list for anyone who's interested in getting into her music...
1. Teena Marie | Tune In Tomorrow
I remember listening to this on CD during car rides with my dad. It's so genuinely beautiful and she does some awesome scatting towards the end.
2. Teena Marie | Square Biz
Square Biz is awesome to dance around the house to unashamedly. Teena also does a swaggin’ Rap in the middle bit that I think Missy Elliot was inspired by on one of her songs (can’t remember which).
3. Teena Marie | Casanova Brown
I used to sing this when I was about 12 and I would always try to hold the long note at the end like Teena. It’s reeeally long and I don’t advise it.
4. Teena Marie | Where's California
This is a recent addition to my favorite Teena songs. It’s my dad’s favorite and the more I listen to it, the more I get into it. It’s on the It Must Be Magic album, which has great album art.
5. Teena Marie | It Must Be Magic
Another good one for dancing. Did I mention that she did most of her own production and writing on these tracks? I love this lady. So sad she passed last year.
6. Teena Marie | You Make Love Like Springtime
There are two versions of this song—one that’s more structured and one that’s a bit more of a jam session. If you listen to the jammy one, you can hear her talking a little in the background.
7. Teena Marie | Portuguese Love
I once saw a band do a cover of this song. It was so good, we bought the singer a glass of wine.
8. Rick James | Fire And Desire (with Teena Marie)
This is a really fun song to sing because it’s sliiiightly ridiculous (in the best sense). She and Rick James performed this together not too long before he passed. I heard they had a fling for a little while a long time ago. That may not be true.
9. Teena Marie | Stop The World
I always thought this sounded like it could be the intro to a soap opera.
10. Teena Marie | Ooo La La La
I think many people will be familiar with this song, as the chorus from the Fugees, Fu-Gee-La is based on it.
Some of these have stories and some don't, but they all feel good to put on a fantasy mixtape at this moment in time...
1. Kraftwerk | Computer Love
I first heard this when I picked up the Computer World album from a record store in my teens. About one minute in, the music kind of filters out for a few seconds, and I remember being pissed off that my copy was worn out in that section. But I think that’s just how it was meant to sound.
2. Ultramagnetic MC’s | Ego Trippin' (Original 12" Version)
The album version of this track segues straight into Moe Luv’s Theme half way through, but one day I found a compilation 12” of Dance tracks which featured the extended mix of Ego Trippin’. That record has some pretty shit graphics on the front, like an outline of a greyhound amid some colourful polygons on a grid.
3. Sly & The Family Stone | Runnin’ Away
Simply a great song.
4. Cannibal Ox | Vein
This is some advanced shit. This whole album still sounds fresh as hell. I didn't like this one so much when it first came out, but I guess things change.
5. Jaylib | The Red
A great track from a great album.
6. Asian Dub Foundation | Buzzin’
I rediscovered the Rafi’s Revenge album again recently, having not listened to it for many years. This was one of my favourite tracks from the album the first time round, but then I developed a weird obsessive complex where if this track came on I would be filled with an inexplicable sense of doom. So I would never listen to it. But I think I’ve managed to overcome this now.
7. Björk | Unravel
I associate this track with when me and a friend decided to spend two weeks driving from the UK to Hungary and back again, having many frightening experiences along the way. We foolishly only brought a few mix CDs with us to play in the car, so we listened to them over and over again when local radio stopped being fun. It's weird that this track stands out from the others we had with us, because it is quite quiet and hard to hear when driving, especially if the window is down. We had to drive with the window down, because we slept and ate and smoked in the car frequently and it soon developed a distinctive odour.
8. Digital Underground | Sex Packets
This song is genius. I don’t even know why, but it really is.
9. Coolio | Gangsta's Paradise (feat. L.V.)
This single was the first CD I ever bought, when I was ten years old. We didn’t actually have a CD player at home, so I went round to my friend’s house to play it and record on to tape. Then his dad came in and saw that I had left the CD on the floor, and said that you should never put CDs on the floor. One of the B-sides has some vinyl crackle on it from a sample, and because I was only used to records and tapes, I thought the noise was the CD player playing the fluff from the carpet, and I was thrown into a depression knowing that I had ruined my first and only CD.
10. Slick Rick | Children’s Story
KNOCK-KNOCK, KNO-KNO-KNOCK-KNOCK-KNO-KNO KNOCK ‘EM OUT THE BOX RICK
CRUMBS
