WARMER MIXTAPES #342 | by Filip Velemir Nikolic [Turbotito]/(Guns 'n' Bombs, The Hammers, Djosos Krost, Ludo X, Ima Robot) and Jeffrey Paradise (Paradise Boys/The Calculators) of Poolside
SIDE A | by Jeffrey Paradise
1. 5th Demension | Age Of Aquarious
This was my very first favorite song in my life, my parents had a pretty large record collection dating from the late 60's to early 80s, I loved music and listened to nearly ever record in their collection, my mom had a strong taste for disco and I really gravitated towards the more funk, soul disco records in the collection. I probably listened to this song 5000 times before I was even 5 years old.
2. Joy Division | Transmission
When I was in high school I was looking for a sound that fit how I was feeling, I had been through a social pop punk faze and then into hardcore, scream, straight edge stuff… But then I wasn't so angry anymore, I wanted something that fit my feeling of disenchantment but that was more melancholy, not just angry… My pal Darren introduced me to Joy Division and this song really stood out and I really connected to this song as it is somehow uplifting to me, but also very disenchanted.
3. The Velvet Underground | I'll Be Your Mirror
Similarly to Joy Division, The Velvet Underground really spoke to me, it is so clearly outsider music… By outsiders for outsiders if you will. This song in particular I felt was very sweet and fragile… Different than a lot of other songs, and I really liked it because it stood in contrast. Nico's voice and the sparse dry production. Really nice.
4. Adonis | No Way Back (Vocal)
I got a job at Open Mind Music, record store in San Francisco, I got hired on as the indie buyer, and at the time I basically hated 4 on the floor dance music. The shop primarily catered to DJs and had a huge dance 12" section, at the time San Francisco house liked Naked Music was HUGE and lots of djs came in and bought it, I listed to a few of the records to just see what all these djs were buying and I was honestly in disbelief… Like light jazz, elevator music with a dance beat… It was horrible… So I asked some of the djs that worked at the store who I knew liked really good funk and soul about house music (specifically John John Friend and Kevin Koga) and they took me to a Dj night called Tabu, where David Harness spun gospel house and early Chicago records… I was in a super bad mood because I had just broken up with a long term lover, and when this song came on the crowd went wild, I was caught up in the moment and got happy had was really engaged with the music, it sounded like punk rock but with like joy and dancey etc. It was an amazing moment.
5. Instant Funk | Got My Mind Made Up
This was the first disco song that turned me on to disco in a real way, I always liked the dancey disco beats in new wave, but I only knew mainstream disco hit from Saturday Night Fever and such, I heard this song out at a hip hop club and I was like what is this?, I loved the percussion and long long long breakdowns… I have been hooked ever since.
6. Thelonius Monk | Well You Needn't
Just perfect sparse, melodic jazz with an understated groove, so so so good. I used to listen to this record in my dorm room over and over again. It fit my mood very well. Foggy San Francisco, young confusing love, couldn't get enough of it.
7. Pink Floyd | Astronomy Domine
I love the whole Piper At The Gates Of Dawn album, this song in particular captures a art rock, psychedelic groove that I have always loved.
8. Mr. Flagio | Take A Chance
I first heard this track on IF's Mixed Up In The Hague mix CD, it had so much cool italo disco that I had never heard before, this track stood out to me because it was so simple and stripped down, nothing extra in this song, like impossible to do a remix of it. And it still has a pop element to it that makes it very accessible to non-italo music lovers. So yes, I really love it.
9. Liquid Liquid | Scraper
To me this is a very perfect post-punk dance track, quite moody, and it's like lurking around and the music wants to say something, but it just has a lot of tension and groove… Really love this song.
10. The Aztec Mystic | Knights Of The Jaguar
To me this is the perfect techno song, a bit of jazzy drums, and great space in the song, lots of interesting rhythms, hard to really put into words, every time the drums drop out and then come back it's just like fuck yes!... Such a great piece of electronic music.
1. Eric Burdon & War | Tobacco Road
It's weird compiling these favorite songs lists, cause they always change depending on the day you write it. Mood weather, location etc. always bring out different songs. But no matter which circumstances, this song is probably always gonna pop up as my favorite song. Put on your headphones, close your eyes and listen to the whole song. War is one of the best bands in the world and with Eric Burdon adding his amazing voice and storytelling skills it becomes perfection.
2. Johnny Cash | The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Cover)
I've always loved this song and there are countless of great versions out there. I especially like Marcia Griffith's version and Roberta Flack also nailed it when she first made the song a hit. But when Johnny Cash covered it, everything changed. I can't listen to his version without getting tears in my eyes. It's so incredibly beautiful and makes me really happy to be a human being ha ha... No for reals! That whole album is BONKERS!
3. Nina Hagen | African Reggae
This is the first Reggae song I ever heard ha ha! When I was a kid I had no idea what this was I just loved listening to this and imagining going to Africa. I still really love this track, the production is awesome. I don't completely understand the lyrics, but I think she's talking shit about white reggae stoners, listening to Bob Marley, idolizing Jamaica and their weed while the reality is that they castrate women over there... Woah!
4. Lou Reed | Street Hassle
To me this is one of Lou Reed's most underrated songs. I can listen to it forever and when Baker Skateboards used it for the theme song of their latest skate video the deal was sealed.
5. Bill Withers | Lovely Day
It was sunny yesterday and I listened to this 5 times in a row while driving with all the windows open... Damn son! I wanted to take the biggest detour so I could make it last longer. I'II hope that one day Poolside will make make a song that can make people feel as good as I feel when driving around to Lovely Day.
6. Jimi Hendrix | Castles Made Of Sand
When I was a kid I thought this song was about me even though I didn't understand what he was singing about. I just kinda caught the part about a little brave indian ha ha. I was just about to write that Jimi Hendrix is underestimated which would be a ridiculous thing to say, but actually I just think it's a bit of a shame that he's mostly known for his noisy stuff cause his slow jams are fucking ACE! Jimi for life!
7. Chosen Few | Stoned In Love
Just a good example that you don't have to have big deep lyrics to trigger people's emotions. The original version of this song is sweet and naive, but Chosen Few take it to a whole other level of sweetness in this version. Sooooooo good!
8. Talking Heads | This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
I grew up with my dad drinking tons of redwine and blasting Talking Heads and other incredible music on his expensive big hifi systems. Twice I saw his speakers catch fire (literarily). I still listen to all the music he listens to, but I never became a big fan of playing it so ridiculously loud ha ha...
9. Michael Bundt | La Chasse Aux Microbes
I'm listening to this song right now while writing this. Nothing better than synths that are slightly out of tune, which makes me think of my favorite D.A.F. song (I guess I have to add that one to the list). Anyways, I can totally see Poolside start a Sun dawn dj set with this...
10. Deutsch Amerkanische Freundschaft | Der Musollini
Best dance song ever, in every way possible! When the main synth loses the pitch here and there you can feel it in you brain, bzzzzzzzoink! The lyrics/vocals are incredible!!!
1. 5th Demension | Age Of Aquarious
This was my very first favorite song in my life, my parents had a pretty large record collection dating from the late 60's to early 80s, I loved music and listened to nearly ever record in their collection, my mom had a strong taste for disco and I really gravitated towards the more funk, soul disco records in the collection. I probably listened to this song 5000 times before I was even 5 years old.
2. Joy Division | Transmission
When I was in high school I was looking for a sound that fit how I was feeling, I had been through a social pop punk faze and then into hardcore, scream, straight edge stuff… But then I wasn't so angry anymore, I wanted something that fit my feeling of disenchantment but that was more melancholy, not just angry… My pal Darren introduced me to Joy Division and this song really stood out and I really connected to this song as it is somehow uplifting to me, but also very disenchanted.
3. The Velvet Underground | I'll Be Your Mirror
Similarly to Joy Division, The Velvet Underground really spoke to me, it is so clearly outsider music… By outsiders for outsiders if you will. This song in particular I felt was very sweet and fragile… Different than a lot of other songs, and I really liked it because it stood in contrast. Nico's voice and the sparse dry production. Really nice.
4. Adonis | No Way Back (Vocal)
I got a job at Open Mind Music, record store in San Francisco, I got hired on as the indie buyer, and at the time I basically hated 4 on the floor dance music. The shop primarily catered to DJs and had a huge dance 12" section, at the time San Francisco house liked Naked Music was HUGE and lots of djs came in and bought it, I listed to a few of the records to just see what all these djs were buying and I was honestly in disbelief… Like light jazz, elevator music with a dance beat… It was horrible… So I asked some of the djs that worked at the store who I knew liked really good funk and soul about house music (specifically John John Friend and Kevin Koga) and they took me to a Dj night called Tabu, where David Harness spun gospel house and early Chicago records… I was in a super bad mood because I had just broken up with a long term lover, and when this song came on the crowd went wild, I was caught up in the moment and got happy had was really engaged with the music, it sounded like punk rock but with like joy and dancey etc. It was an amazing moment.
5. Instant Funk | Got My Mind Made Up
This was the first disco song that turned me on to disco in a real way, I always liked the dancey disco beats in new wave, but I only knew mainstream disco hit from Saturday Night Fever and such, I heard this song out at a hip hop club and I was like what is this?, I loved the percussion and long long long breakdowns… I have been hooked ever since.
6. Thelonius Monk | Well You Needn't
Just perfect sparse, melodic jazz with an understated groove, so so so good. I used to listen to this record in my dorm room over and over again. It fit my mood very well. Foggy San Francisco, young confusing love, couldn't get enough of it.
7. Pink Floyd | Astronomy Domine
I love the whole Piper At The Gates Of Dawn album, this song in particular captures a art rock, psychedelic groove that I have always loved.
8. Mr. Flagio | Take A Chance
I first heard this track on IF's Mixed Up In The Hague mix CD, it had so much cool italo disco that I had never heard before, this track stood out to me because it was so simple and stripped down, nothing extra in this song, like impossible to do a remix of it. And it still has a pop element to it that makes it very accessible to non-italo music lovers. So yes, I really love it.
9. Liquid Liquid | Scraper
To me this is a very perfect post-punk dance track, quite moody, and it's like lurking around and the music wants to say something, but it just has a lot of tension and groove… Really love this song.
10. The Aztec Mystic | Knights Of The Jaguar
To me this is the perfect techno song, a bit of jazzy drums, and great space in the song, lots of interesting rhythms, hard to really put into words, every time the drums drop out and then come back it's just like fuck yes!... Such a great piece of electronic music.
SIDE B | by Filip Velemir Nikolic
Here's my list, a lot of very obvious classics but that was just what
I've been into the last few days...
I've been into the last few days...
1. Eric Burdon & War | Tobacco Road
It's weird compiling these favorite songs lists, cause they always change depending on the day you write it. Mood weather, location etc. always bring out different songs. But no matter which circumstances, this song is probably always gonna pop up as my favorite song. Put on your headphones, close your eyes and listen to the whole song. War is one of the best bands in the world and with Eric Burdon adding his amazing voice and storytelling skills it becomes perfection.
2. Johnny Cash | The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Cover)
I've always loved this song and there are countless of great versions out there. I especially like Marcia Griffith's version and Roberta Flack also nailed it when she first made the song a hit. But when Johnny Cash covered it, everything changed. I can't listen to his version without getting tears in my eyes. It's so incredibly beautiful and makes me really happy to be a human being ha ha... No for reals! That whole album is BONKERS!
3. Nina Hagen | African Reggae
This is the first Reggae song I ever heard ha ha! When I was a kid I had no idea what this was I just loved listening to this and imagining going to Africa. I still really love this track, the production is awesome. I don't completely understand the lyrics, but I think she's talking shit about white reggae stoners, listening to Bob Marley, idolizing Jamaica and their weed while the reality is that they castrate women over there... Woah!
4. Lou Reed | Street Hassle
To me this is one of Lou Reed's most underrated songs. I can listen to it forever and when Baker Skateboards used it for the theme song of their latest skate video the deal was sealed.
5. Bill Withers | Lovely Day
It was sunny yesterday and I listened to this 5 times in a row while driving with all the windows open... Damn son! I wanted to take the biggest detour so I could make it last longer. I'II hope that one day Poolside will make make a song that can make people feel as good as I feel when driving around to Lovely Day.
6. Jimi Hendrix | Castles Made Of Sand
When I was a kid I thought this song was about me even though I didn't understand what he was singing about. I just kinda caught the part about a little brave indian ha ha. I was just about to write that Jimi Hendrix is underestimated which would be a ridiculous thing to say, but actually I just think it's a bit of a shame that he's mostly known for his noisy stuff cause his slow jams are fucking ACE! Jimi for life!
7. Chosen Few | Stoned In Love
Just a good example that you don't have to have big deep lyrics to trigger people's emotions. The original version of this song is sweet and naive, but Chosen Few take it to a whole other level of sweetness in this version. Sooooooo good!
8. Talking Heads | This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
I grew up with my dad drinking tons of redwine and blasting Talking Heads and other incredible music on his expensive big hifi systems. Twice I saw his speakers catch fire (literarily). I still listen to all the music he listens to, but I never became a big fan of playing it so ridiculously loud ha ha...
9. Michael Bundt | La Chasse Aux Microbes
I'm listening to this song right now while writing this. Nothing better than synths that are slightly out of tune, which makes me think of my favorite D.A.F. song (I guess I have to add that one to the list). Anyways, I can totally see Poolside start a Sun dawn dj set with this...
10. Deutsch Amerkanische Freundschaft | Der Musollini
Best dance song ever, in every way possible! When the main synth loses the pitch here and there you can feel it in you brain, bzzzzzzzoink! The lyrics/vocals are incredible!!!
WARMER MIXTAPES #341 | by Jay Brannan
1. Lisa Loeb | Stay (I Missed You)
This song came out when I was in middle school, and it's still one of my favorites. I remember being at a junior high dance and they played this song, with the video projected onto the screen. It was the first song I ever heard of Lisa Loeb (same for most people, I guess), and she would go on to become one of my favorite singers of all time.
2. Sinead O'Connor | Troy
I wasn't really exposed to Sinead O'Connor until recent years. I come from quite a conservative background, and Sinead wasn't the type of music you'd ever hear around our house. A few years ago on a jet blue flight with direct tv, I ended up watching a live concert and was blown away by her voice. Over the next couple years, I bought 3 of her albums and am in awe of her ability. She's become one of my favorite artists, and this is one of her best songs. I like to cover this one, but only if the sound system at the venue is just right. It has to sound like it's being sung in a silent stadium!! Haha!
3. Meiko | How Lucky We Are
Meiko's album is one of the few albums to be released in the past 10 years that I've gotten really excited about. So much so that I asked the manager I was working with at the time to get in contact with the man who produced it, Will Golden. Will ended up producing my first album, Goddamned. And this is one of my favorite songs of Meiko's.
4. Alana Davis | I Don't Care (Lonesome Road)
Blame It On Me was such a great album that I discovered after Alana's cover of Ani DiFranco's song 32 Flavors broke through on radio. I Don't Care (Lonesome Road) is from her sophomore album, and it's one of those tunes that has been stuck in my head ever since... I still find myself humming it from time to time all these years later. My favorite image from the lyrics is Smiled, someone at the red light smiled... Saved me, saved me from my inner strife... Baby, he just saved my life... As someone who has lived with a lot of depression and feeling isolated, that concept of a stranger being kind in the smallest way and just for a moment really resonated with me. I try to remember that as I go through my own life.
5. The Cranberries | Empty
This was probably the first CD I ever listened to over and over and over non-stop, just locked up in my room as a teenager in Oklahoma. The Cranberries are my favorite band ever, and Empty is one of my favorite songs by them. Though it's difficult to choose a favorite track from their album No Need To Argue, this song definitely brings me back to a certain time, place, and feeling.
6. Paula Cole | Carmen
I love Paula Cole's album This Fire! I'll just be blunt about this one, I lost my virginity while it was playing haha. Carmen is one of the album's most memorable tracks for me.
7. Tracy Chapman | Fast Car
I remember recording this onto a casette from the radio. It was on one of my first mixtapes, and I can still remember riding around on our huge lawnmower listening to this in my walkman and singing at the top of my lungs!
8. Ani DiFranco | Untouchable Face
My friend Brent first introduced me to Ani DiFranco when I was in college. He played this song for me, and so it is really memorable, since Ani would later become one of my favorite artists and inspirations. I like so many of her albums, but this song is the one that sucked me in.
9. TLC | Sumthin' Wicked This Way Comes (feat. André 3000)
CrazySexyCool is one of my favorite albums of all time. There are SO many good songs on this album, and -- although it was never a single or a radio hit -- this one is my favorite. I've always dreamed of Left Eye doing a rap interlude on one of my songs, but unfortunately that will never happen. May she rest in peace!
WARMER MIXTAPES #340 | by Daniel Berman [Red Rack'Em/Hot Coins]
I have chosen songs from my childhood and teen years as I feel that they have influenced me far more than any contemporary music.
1. Big Youth | Natty Cultural Dread
My Dad brought me up with Big Youth. Hearing deep spiritual music from an early age has definitely informed my music. Big Youth was talking about Rasta pride and coping with injustice in the world. As I was growing up in an unfriendly Scottish fishing village as an incomer (they even had a name for people who weren't born and bred there), I really related to the sentiments in Big Youth's music. Keep Your Dread Natty Keep Your Culture...
2. Lloyd Cole & The Commotions | Perfect Skin
I love this era of pop music when bands were bands. Band like Deacon Blue and Lloyd Cole & The Commotions could write beautiful songs, play their instruments to a high level and perform genuinely breathtaking live shows. Lloyd Cole is an amazing lyricist. He sounds so knowing. And I love the bright, sunny jangly sound of The Commotions. 90% of today's hype driven poser bands aren't fit to shine the shoes of a lot of the 80s bands I fear.
3. EPMD | Let The Funk Flow
Imagine growing up in a fishing village in Scotland with a population of 1000 people. Imagine how exotic and cool hip hop was in 1988. I used to have to get my mum to buy my albums because of the parental advisory sticker being enforced in Dundee Our Price. I grew up with hip hop and it definitely transported to me to another place. EPMD will always be one of my favourite groups. I love the relaxed flow. The dope beats. The use of delay on the last word in each verse.
4. 18th Dye | Glasshouse Failure
As a drummer/bassist in a few bands and a skateboarder, I really enjoyed grunge and alt rock in the early to mid 90s. My friend at college Iain Hinchliffe (then in Sawyer now in Part Chimp) introduced me to loads of amazing music including 18th Dye (who Sawyer might have supported perhaps in 1995). I love this track. It's the perfect example of quiet/loud and has the ever present Steve Albini on the boards.
5. Various Artists - East Coast Project | A Journey Through The Sound Of Edinburgh
Edinburgh was 50 miles away from where I grew up. And they had real producers there. With real studios and everything. I was making hip hop pause tapes and learning how to scratch on a suitcase turntable while Blackanized, Unkle Jack, 3 Bag Brew etc. were making the stuff I would dream of one day making. I still dream of making it. This album was a massive influence on me. I actually knew the people who made it. They were real people. Blackanized dug for their samples. The even had a guy called Fawaz who was their break finder. It was his job to find them dope beats to sample. Seeing this type of production culture first hand as a teenager was a massive inspiration for me.
6. Funkadelic | Back In Our Minds
This demented slice of wonky funk is an ode to somehow returning to Earth after taking a lot of acid. It had a lot of poignancy to me and my friends. We had some great times but also some pretty bad comedowns.
7. Surgeon | Magneze
Bloody hell. I get rushes listening to this right now. I went to very hard techno clubs in Edinburgh from around 1995. This track sums it all up for me. Hard as fuck. But totally funky and cool. It doesn't sound dated at all and really shows how ahead of his time Surgeon was. I had never heard music like this at high volume before. Those were great days. The only problem was I was unemployed so I used to spend my whole weeks money on one night out. It was EXPENSIVE in those days. Getting a taxi was a once a year treat.
8. Roni Size & DJ Die | It's A Jazz Thing
My love for drum and bass around 1994 came from my visits to Bath to stay with my friend Robin. He was part of a crew who went out raving and were immersed in the emerging drum and bass culture of Bristol and the South of England. I remember hearing this track on Ragga FM which was a pirate station they listened too. I immediately connected with the use of the bass and rhodes sample from the Lonnie Liston Smith track Shadows. This tune really sums up the intelligence of drum and bass at that time. I know it sounds cheesy to describe it as intelligent but it really was mind blowing music for me at the time. Soulful yet street. Hard but also emotional. For me the early Full Cycle drum and bass is the stuff that I will always cherish. I am about to sell most of my drum and bass records btw if anyone wants to make me an offer...
9. Black Jazz Chronicles | If The Creator Came Today
I think this is some of the best work from Ashley Beedle. He managed to encapsulate the spiritual African vibe into forward thinking electronic music. I love the influence of drum and bass that crept into a lot of the Ballistic Brothers stuff at this time. God I miss those days. When Jockey Slut was recommending 10 good albums every month. Dance music really was king in the late 90s.
10. Al Wilson | The Snake
What I loved about my time in Edinburgh circa 1995 was that my then flatmate Fraser would get into a new style of music every 3 months. This fast turnaround of styles was a massive inspiration on me both as a DJ and later on as a producer. He had a friend at work who was a very well dressed football casual who was totally into Northern Soul. There were big links between the football casuals and discerning music in those days be it on the house and techno scene or dub/northern soul. I remember listening to this track a lot when we got back from clubs. It was a revelation to hear hi-octane up tempo club music from a different era when you had just got back from a hard techno night.
WARMER MIXTAPES #339 | by Samuel Milton Grawe [Hatchback]
1. Interior | Hot Beach
I found this record in a new age crate underneath the 70s Rock section of a record store in Paris. It's on the Windham Hill label, but was produced by Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and features four striking Japanese fellows all dressed in white, with make-up like they just stepped off the stage dancing for David Bowie. Now whenever I see this record, which is fairly often, I have to buy it. I think I've given 6 or more copies to friends, and I have 3 or 4 myself (including the Japanese version, which features different tracks, and has an amazing diagram of their studio recording set-up). Covers, labels, producers, band photos; those are the things that attract me to a record, and make me want to buy it. But obviously what really matters is what it sounds like when you drop the needle into the groove. This track sounds exactly as the name hot beach implies. Distant pads hover as though they were mirage on the sand. A sparkling
melody gathers and drips like condensation drops on a cold can of beer. You can almost feel the warmth of the sand underneath you towel. This track is pretty amazing.
2. Irene Papas & Vangelis | Le Fleuve
I bought this record from out of the same bin in Paris as Interior (what a lucky day for vinyl shopping), but I only started getting into it recently. Actually during the Christmas holidays my family was staying with us and we listened to Odes a couple of times every day--I tried to convince everyone that it was Vangelis' adaptation of Eastern Orthodox Liturgical music, and it worked. This whole record blows me away, Vangelis is at the top of his game and the instrumentation is perfect throughout. Papas adds a distinct flavor to the music, almost like Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. This track closes out side one by taking you deep into outer space. Cosmic echoes and galactic glitter.
3. Kraftwerk | Ananas Symphonie
It's hard to think of a more perfect piece of music than these 14 minutes our Kraftwerk buddies put together back in the early 70s. The filtered beat boxes, pedal steel guitar, moogs, and everything else they were using add up to way more than the sum of its parts. My friend Craig Steely has a house in a really wild part of Hawaii where we go at least once a year to explore boredom and this track, even on the rainiest San Francisco day, always takes me there.
4. Suzanne Ciani | The Seventh Wave: Sailing Away
Women playing analog synthesizers (other than Wendy Carlos, which is another story) are rare indeed, so whenever I put this on, my wife asks if this is the one by the chick. I had Velocity Of Love, which is the follow-up to this record, but it never really grabbed me. I got this one recently in an overlooked new age bin in Mill Valley, California, and it's easily become one of my all-time favorite records. Seriously, ALL TIME. Ciani's knack for catchy melodies and chord changes is in full effect here, and there's a sort of slow-jam R&B sensuality to the music that isn't really present in, say, a Klaus Schulze album. About half-way through this jam she starts pumping a couple tracks of 808 through vocoders and filters and achieves an effect that sounds so ahead of its time--it blows me away every time. This record is top notch from start to finish.
5. Francis Lai | Les Fantasmes d'Emmanuelle
I don't know what it is, but I'm such a sucker for Francis Lai. I've been collecting all his bits and bobs over the last decade, and some of it is so good, and some of it so bad, but even though some of it is horrible and potentially embarrassing to play around other human beings, I love it all. This synthesizer and marimba track from a very steamy acupuncture scene in Emmanuelle 2 gives me intense goosebumps--nothing to do with the film, I assure you. The synth trombone melody that drops toward the end has sort of a John Barry swoon to it, and moved me so much that my wife and I decided to use it as the processional music at our wedding. It was EPIC!
6. Ashra | Oasis
Manuel Göttsching may be best known for his chess moves on E2-E4, but this little track off Correlations is so, so simple and perfect. A moogy bass obstinate cruises through the whole jam, and Manuel busts the most effortless and gorgeous guitar melodies on top. You can hear the clouds parting.
7. Edgar Froese | Stuntman
Stuntman is really a perfect record... From the mysterious album graphics to the intense analog synth workout Edgar treats us to. Somehow the music has an almost baroque vibe, although it sounds nothing like classical music. It just seems stately and proper, like music for people who still ride in carriages and dine by candlelight. I recently upgraded my HiFi with some vintage JBL speakers, and this album just sounds incredible being played at high volumes.
8. Brain Eno & Harold Budd | An Arc Of Doves
I used to listen to this album a lot when I lived in upset New York, where it snowed a ton. It will always remind me of super cold nights, and that hush that befalls the land when everything gets covered in a fresh layer of snow. This is another of those records that I think is simply perfect from beginning to end--Masters Of The Universe.
9. Gábor Szabó | Breezin'
Dan Judd, aka. Sorcerer, turned me onto to Gábor Szabó a few years back (even though I had some of his records languishing deep in my stacks) and I just can't get enough of the guy. High Contrast, which Breezin' opens, is I think, his most concise and best album. Bobby Womack kills it on rhythm guitar, adding just enough of a soulful edge, while Gábor keeps things loose and jangly. Instead of prescribing antidepressants, doctors should just make their patients listen to this song everyday.
10. Space Art | Welcome To Love
If Love Boat took place in outer space and 3000 years into the future (but somehow still managed to capture a late 1970s vibe), this is what they would play in the cruise ship lounge every night to get people on the dance floor. These french fools only made three records, but they are seriously all so genius. This track is a crazy extended vocoder workout with solos galore while meanwhile the drummer is taking things in an afrotastical Tony Allen direction. Welcome to Love indeed.
I found this record in a new age crate underneath the 70s Rock section of a record store in Paris. It's on the Windham Hill label, but was produced by Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and features four striking Japanese fellows all dressed in white, with make-up like they just stepped off the stage dancing for David Bowie. Now whenever I see this record, which is fairly often, I have to buy it. I think I've given 6 or more copies to friends, and I have 3 or 4 myself (including the Japanese version, which features different tracks, and has an amazing diagram of their studio recording set-up). Covers, labels, producers, band photos; those are the things that attract me to a record, and make me want to buy it. But obviously what really matters is what it sounds like when you drop the needle into the groove. This track sounds exactly as the name hot beach implies. Distant pads hover as though they were mirage on the sand. A sparkling
melody gathers and drips like condensation drops on a cold can of beer. You can almost feel the warmth of the sand underneath you towel. This track is pretty amazing.
2. Irene Papas & Vangelis | Le Fleuve
I bought this record from out of the same bin in Paris as Interior (what a lucky day for vinyl shopping), but I only started getting into it recently. Actually during the Christmas holidays my family was staying with us and we listened to Odes a couple of times every day--I tried to convince everyone that it was Vangelis' adaptation of Eastern Orthodox Liturgical music, and it worked. This whole record blows me away, Vangelis is at the top of his game and the instrumentation is perfect throughout. Papas adds a distinct flavor to the music, almost like Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. This track closes out side one by taking you deep into outer space. Cosmic echoes and galactic glitter.
3. Kraftwerk | Ananas Symphonie
It's hard to think of a more perfect piece of music than these 14 minutes our Kraftwerk buddies put together back in the early 70s. The filtered beat boxes, pedal steel guitar, moogs, and everything else they were using add up to way more than the sum of its parts. My friend Craig Steely has a house in a really wild part of Hawaii where we go at least once a year to explore boredom and this track, even on the rainiest San Francisco day, always takes me there.
4. Suzanne Ciani | The Seventh Wave: Sailing Away
Women playing analog synthesizers (other than Wendy Carlos, which is another story) are rare indeed, so whenever I put this on, my wife asks if this is the one by the chick. I had Velocity Of Love, which is the follow-up to this record, but it never really grabbed me. I got this one recently in an overlooked new age bin in Mill Valley, California, and it's easily become one of my all-time favorite records. Seriously, ALL TIME. Ciani's knack for catchy melodies and chord changes is in full effect here, and there's a sort of slow-jam R&B sensuality to the music that isn't really present in, say, a Klaus Schulze album. About half-way through this jam she starts pumping a couple tracks of 808 through vocoders and filters and achieves an effect that sounds so ahead of its time--it blows me away every time. This record is top notch from start to finish.
5. Francis Lai | Les Fantasmes d'Emmanuelle
I don't know what it is, but I'm such a sucker for Francis Lai. I've been collecting all his bits and bobs over the last decade, and some of it is so good, and some of it so bad, but even though some of it is horrible and potentially embarrassing to play around other human beings, I love it all. This synthesizer and marimba track from a very steamy acupuncture scene in Emmanuelle 2 gives me intense goosebumps--nothing to do with the film, I assure you. The synth trombone melody that drops toward the end has sort of a John Barry swoon to it, and moved me so much that my wife and I decided to use it as the processional music at our wedding. It was EPIC!
6. Ashra | Oasis
Manuel Göttsching may be best known for his chess moves on E2-E4, but this little track off Correlations is so, so simple and perfect. A moogy bass obstinate cruises through the whole jam, and Manuel busts the most effortless and gorgeous guitar melodies on top. You can hear the clouds parting.
7. Edgar Froese | Stuntman
Stuntman is really a perfect record... From the mysterious album graphics to the intense analog synth workout Edgar treats us to. Somehow the music has an almost baroque vibe, although it sounds nothing like classical music. It just seems stately and proper, like music for people who still ride in carriages and dine by candlelight. I recently upgraded my HiFi with some vintage JBL speakers, and this album just sounds incredible being played at high volumes.
8. Brain Eno & Harold Budd | An Arc Of Doves
I used to listen to this album a lot when I lived in upset New York, where it snowed a ton. It will always remind me of super cold nights, and that hush that befalls the land when everything gets covered in a fresh layer of snow. This is another of those records that I think is simply perfect from beginning to end--Masters Of The Universe.
9. Gábor Szabó | Breezin'
Dan Judd, aka. Sorcerer, turned me onto to Gábor Szabó a few years back (even though I had some of his records languishing deep in my stacks) and I just can't get enough of the guy. High Contrast, which Breezin' opens, is I think, his most concise and best album. Bobby Womack kills it on rhythm guitar, adding just enough of a soulful edge, while Gábor keeps things loose and jangly. Instead of prescribing antidepressants, doctors should just make their patients listen to this song everyday.
10. Space Art | Welcome To Love
If Love Boat took place in outer space and 3000 years into the future (but somehow still managed to capture a late 1970s vibe), this is what they would play in the cruise ship lounge every night to get people on the dance floor. These french fools only made three records, but they are seriously all so genius. This track is a crazy extended vocoder workout with solos galore while meanwhile the drummer is taking things in an afrotastical Tony Allen direction. Welcome to Love indeed.
WARMER MIXTAPES #338 | by Jack Campbell
This is an incredibly hard question to answer, as there are so many songs I would include in this list.
But these are the ones I've come up with:
1. Bombay Bicycle Club | Jewel
It makes me truly reflect on the inner beauty of the individual. The beautiful guitar melody and the cutting vocal highlight the vulnerability of us all. It also draws upon the contrast between external and internal judgement.
2. Bob Iver | Skinny Love
Justin Vernon's delicate vocals really touch the inside in this track. To me Justin tells the story of someone close with a terminal illness and it's uncontrollable. He then fights to overcome this loss. This piece triggers feelings of self-reflection to me and it helps to understand who I am.
3. Foals | Spanish Sahara
The track begins in a fragile and vulnerable manner which builds up to a memorable climax. This progression makes me think of the evolution of life and how death tries to break this motion.
4. Arcade Fire | Neighbourhood #4 (Kettles)
The gentle but fierce violins distinctly highlights the track from others on the record. The beautiful lyrics effectively capture the modern world of mass consumerism and immediate outcome. It illustrates that only over time things will become great. It really connects with me because I strongly believe that the modern world is becoming less cherished. The world is now all about success and not the enjoyment of life.
5. Grizzly Bear | Deep Blue Sea
Deep Blue Sea expresses the cruelty of life and how it can take those dearest. It makes me ponder why such damaging traps are put in place.
6. Bob Dylan | Girl From The North Country
This is one of my favourites of Dylan's. It lightens me up and it really gives me hope that I can find what I am seeking in life.
7. Burial/Fout Tet | Moth
I dont normally go for electronic instrumental music but this is different. I only heard it a couple of weeks ago however its electronic sounds connect with me in a way which nothing else has, unexplainable.
8. Arcade Fire | The Suburbs
Sorry for another Arcade Fire, they are just to good to ignore... The Suburbs portrays the chaos of the modern world and that sometimes the most important things to us are forgotten because of it. This is caused by the overwhelming amount of advertising and information we are all fed each day. This chaos has led us to dismiss our true values. This is such a fundamental issue which we all must understand.
9. Laura Marling | Blackberry Stone
The track easily relatable to for me as it shows that we should be stubborn when necessary to hold our ground. The beautiful melody and melting vocals are really relaxing to listen to and helps connect to the listener.
10. Local Natives | Wide Eyes
Wide Eyes has a rhythmic drum beat which is upbeat and vibrant, it makes the song very listenable. The lyrics focus on believe and that the truth is only true when it is displayed in front of us.
It makes me truly reflect on the inner beauty of the individual. The beautiful guitar melody and the cutting vocal highlight the vulnerability of us all. It also draws upon the contrast between external and internal judgement.
2. Bob Iver | Skinny Love
Justin Vernon's delicate vocals really touch the inside in this track. To me Justin tells the story of someone close with a terminal illness and it's uncontrollable. He then fights to overcome this loss. This piece triggers feelings of self-reflection to me and it helps to understand who I am.
3. Foals | Spanish Sahara
The track begins in a fragile and vulnerable manner which builds up to a memorable climax. This progression makes me think of the evolution of life and how death tries to break this motion.
4. Arcade Fire | Neighbourhood #4 (Kettles)
The gentle but fierce violins distinctly highlights the track from others on the record. The beautiful lyrics effectively capture the modern world of mass consumerism and immediate outcome. It illustrates that only over time things will become great. It really connects with me because I strongly believe that the modern world is becoming less cherished. The world is now all about success and not the enjoyment of life.
5. Grizzly Bear | Deep Blue Sea
Deep Blue Sea expresses the cruelty of life and how it can take those dearest. It makes me ponder why such damaging traps are put in place.
6. Bob Dylan | Girl From The North Country
This is one of my favourites of Dylan's. It lightens me up and it really gives me hope that I can find what I am seeking in life.
7. Burial/Fout Tet | Moth
I dont normally go for electronic instrumental music but this is different. I only heard it a couple of weeks ago however its electronic sounds connect with me in a way which nothing else has, unexplainable.
8. Arcade Fire | The Suburbs
Sorry for another Arcade Fire, they are just to good to ignore... The Suburbs portrays the chaos of the modern world and that sometimes the most important things to us are forgotten because of it. This is caused by the overwhelming amount of advertising and information we are all fed each day. This chaos has led us to dismiss our true values. This is such a fundamental issue which we all must understand.
9. Laura Marling | Blackberry Stone
The track easily relatable to for me as it shows that we should be stubborn when necessary to hold our ground. The beautiful melody and melting vocals are really relaxing to listen to and helps connect to the listener.
10. Local Natives | Wide Eyes
Wide Eyes has a rhythmic drum beat which is upbeat and vibrant, it makes the song very listenable. The lyrics focus on believe and that the truth is only true when it is displayed in front of us.
