WARMER MIXTAPES #799 | by Casey Gibson of Filligar

1. John Lennon | Mind Games
It's such a happy song. It sounds like the archetype for those great Flaming Lips albums in the early 2000's. He's sung about Peace not War before, but this tune doesn't seem as Didactic as it does Hopeful. I heard it for the first time on the Radio when I was driving around LA on a sunny day and it just made more sense than any song I'd heard in a long time.

2. Turf War | Friends & Company
Turf War's Recorded Music is great, but you really have to see them Live. When I listen to this song I feel like I'm back at CMJ, spilling drinks everywhere in a tiny Rock club in downtown NYC. I got all my friends and company, we got it made… The whole record is a Party record, but this song in particular makes you think of Saturday night shows and bad decisions, in a very good way.

3. James Blake | Digital Lion
His Song Writing is Exceptional, but it's his Production that really makes James Blake one of my favorite Contemporary Artists. This song is a great example of his Genius and should be listened to on headphones with eyes closed. The happy marriage of Electronic and Acoustic Instruments is something we've long strived for and with this tune, James nailed it. We were traveling through Azerbaijan as US Cultural ambassadors when I first started listening to this album (Overgrown), ironic because he's British, but somehow it was a cool juxtaposition--the Minimal Dub vibe in my ears against the mountainous countryside in the Caucuses. It is the image I'll always associate with this record.



4. Mikaela Davis | Garden
We're on tour with Mikaela and her excellent band right now. The whole show is phenomenal, but this song is always a highlight. The Sitar/Harp/Hand Drums combination, along with her otherworldly Vocal, is Transfixing… I feel like I've stepped into a Tim Burton film when I listen this song.

5. Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir | Like A Ship
Light In The Attic Records hasn't released anything that isn't Excellent in the past few years. This record is incredible, recorded in a church on Chicago's South Side in 1971, and the first track will move you. It makes me think of our hometown Chicago obviously, but also reminds me of the churches Teddy and I visited with our School Gospel Choir when we were in High School. I like Religious Music because it always feels Truly Honest.

6. Counting Crows | Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes To Hollywood)
We were on tour with Counting Crows last summer and this was one of songs they'd invite us back out to sing with them during the encore. About halfway through the tour, Adam asked if I'd play some Organ on it, and then started giving me a Solo--terrifying but awesome. To play & sing beside such pros every night was a rush. This is a great tune that always reminds me of that tour and the amazing people on it.



7. Beastie Boys | Putting Shame In Your Game
I gets eleven points off the word Quagmire--one of the best Rap lyrics ever. I remember listening to Hello Nasty every night for the entire Fall semester of Sixth Grade when it came out. I had the poster hanging in my room, too. I memorized most of the lyrics on the album by listening to the CD on my 10-second ESP DiscMan. Anytime this song comes on at a bar I'm instantly transported back to 1998.

8. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros | Fire & Water (iTunes Session)
I heard this song for the first time when we played with them at a festival on a Native American reservation on Long Island in New York. It blew me away. Jade's Vocal is massive! It was raining, but no one really seemed to mind... We had a few friends with us and that moment really seemed to embody the whole Outdoor-Music-Festival Experience.

9. The Jesus And Mary Chain | Reverence
I was showing some new song sketches to a producer friend in LA a while back and he said, these sound like Jesus and Mary Chain, to which I responded, who?... He gave me Honey's Dead and I thought wow, this is exactly what I'm going for. When I hear the song now I just think about how lucky we are to have friends with great taste who are always willing to lend an ear to whatever we're working on. We're so lucky!

10. Wilco | Wishful Thinking
Growing up in Chicago, Wilco was an unavoidable influence. First Yankee Hotel Foxtrot then A Ghost Is Born were always spinning in our High School's Photo Darkroom, where Teddy and I spent plenty of time. This song reminds me of watching prints slowly appear in those bins of pungent liquid. Those are two albums that we still play in the van all the time.