WARMER MIXTAPES #389 | by Patric Fallon [
Courtship]
For me, good music should be a journey, as cliche as that may sound. A song that touches me is one that either takes me to another time or place in my mind, moves me to feel something uniquely and viscerally, or introduces to me a sound that I've never heard before.
Boards Of Canada's impeccable discography has delivered those experiences to me in spades, and
Dayvan Cowboy comes pretty damn close to hitting all three points at once. And that's not to mention the song's guitar tone is absolutely perfect. I strive for that kind of wavering sound every time I record a guitar track.
2. The Microphones | Solar SystemI'm a fan of
Phil Elvrum's prolific output more or less as a whole, but
Mount Eerie by
The Microphones is, in my opinion, his best work. It's a perfectly envisioned and executed concept album about, well, basically everything: the experience of living and dying as one small thing within an immense universe. While the whole record speaks volumes to me, I find this song to be its most personal and most haunting.
I know you're out there. I know you're out there.3. How To Dress Well | Suicide Dream 1 (Orchestral Version)Tom Krell's voice is easily one of the strongest in music today. You can certainly tell how gifted he is as a singer on his
Love Remains album, but sometimes the lo-fi quality of the recordings--while I would never change a thing about them--shroud his vocal power. When I saw him perform live (it was an amazing show, might I add), I realized that was the case. Since then, I've wondered how he'd come across in a higher quality studio setting. This alternate version of
Suicide Dream 1 is more than I could've hoped to hear, a choral arrangement of
How To Dress Well's intimate ballad with the soul of Krell at the forefront in crystalline sound.
4. Light Asylum | A Certain PersonAnother one of my favorite singers right now is
Shannon Funchess of
Light Asylum. The first time I heard the anthemic gallop of
A Certain Person I practically lost my breath. The first time I heard her voice my heart nearly stopped. She's at once commanding, vulnerable, completely original, and classically inspired with a vocal range rarely heard these days. The music certainly brings the '80s to mind, but for me, this song is timeless.
5. The-Dream | Put It DownGod bless Mr.
Terius Nash. He reaches my heart in ways no man really can. What makes his music so perfect is that he can wrap a song that's purely about sex in sounds that invoke love, romance, and tenderness. Everything I write owes something to
The-Dream and his ever-growing collection of pop music gems.
6. Ciara | Ride (feat. Ludacris)Another pop/R&B hit produced by Mr. Nash, but this one moved me enough that I had to write
my own cover version. I was first introduced to this song through its unbelievably sexy music video, which--if you ignore
Ludacris' intrusion--is a whole other piece of beauty on its own.
Ciara is a true star, a constant inspiration, and an utter dream.
7. Jason Burns | Back 2 YouJason Burns is actually a friend of mine who currently lives in
Cleveland,
Ohio. He's a great DJ, and has also produced a wide array of electronic music through the years. After getting back in touch with him recently, he started sending me tracks to check out and possibly post online (I work as a writer for a music magazine). He'd sent me a few I liked, but when
Back 2 U made its way to my ears, he might as well not have sent me anything else. This track drips with a kind of shimmering soul that more club productions should.
8. Clams Casino | All I Need (Instrumental)Clams Casino is easily my favorite new producer right now. His consistent outpouring of free downloads and his upcoming debut EP for
Tri Angle Records all lay testament as to why. Among his collection of beautifully blown-out instrumentals, this one gets me every time I play it without fail. The veil of fuzzy distortion, the disjointed and skittering rhythms, the swells of ghostly vocal sounds, and the sluggish pace of it all couldn't fit together any better. It's otherworldly hip-hop for souls who can't find rest.
9. Burial | FostercareThere's nothing I could really say about
Burial other than how he personally effects me. I talked about music taking me to a time and place at the beginning of this, and none can do it quite like Burial's. His
Untrue LP, his collaborations with
Four Tet and
Thom Yorke, his singles for
Hyperdub--all of it transports me to those lonely nights spent walking the streets, watching the bars let out, and refusing to go back to the only place that'll have you, your empty house. Also,
Fostercare is quite possibly the finest example of R&B vocal sampling available today.
10. Me'Shell NdegeOcello | Hair Of The DogMe'Shell NdegeOcello is a very strange and very talented artist. Her albums can be very hit or miss, but when they hit you, they hit hard.
Hair Of The Dog is one such hit (though I also highly recommend checking out her cover of
Love You Down), and the perfect closing track for any mix monomaniacally focused on love and sadness. It's a soulful slice of downtrodden R&B. It's an end of the night song for those of us who are broken and without someone to help carry us home.
