WARMER MIXTAPES #1291 | by Billy Lynch of Les Bonbons

1. Althea & Donna | Uptown Top Rankin
Gimme likkle bass, make me wine up me waist. Ha! Just one bar in and I'm immediately transported to late 70's South London summertime. Any faint memory I may have as a child of that period seems to have this song playing in the background. It's been with me ever since.

2. Elvis Costello & The Attractions | I Want You
Now if you enjoy feeling sad half as much as I do then you'll love this song. He sounds like he's gonna cry at any moment. I think the song is about an old girlfriend who left him for Billy Idol! Hence the line Oh no, my darling, not with that clown. Naughty Billy. I was once seeing a married woman and during one of our many break up telephone calls I mentioned this song and she later told me that after our conversation she retired to her boudoir and found THIS very record on her turntable with the cover laying on her bed! Ghosts?? Eavesdropping husband?? Either way that's 2 Naughty Billy's.

3. Funkadelic | Maggot Brain
I used to have a mate who's dad would let us smoke his weed and go through his vast record collection. At the time I thought he was the dad I should've had. That's where I found this record. It came at that perfect time in any young man's life when you start discovering things like Hendrix, Led Zep, girls, bongs, etc. It all comes at once. Like a fucked up episode of The Wonder Years. Plus there's a great picture of the band on the album. Coolest of the cools.

4. The Booma Rockers | Soul Food
Before I met my mum she used to work in a record shop somewhere in Soho. So at home there was a large wooden chest full of ol' 45's. To be honest I used to use them as frisbees, but some of them survived the blitz and thankfully this was one of them. I wonder how many other lost gems are still stuck up in some tree somewhere? It just makes me feel nice to know that my mum was digging the stuff I dig years before I even knew how to dig. Dig? It's such a happy joyous song. I guess it's about food. It also has, what I consider to be, the best guitar solo ever. I'm being serious.

5. Azealia Banks | 212 (feat. Lazy Jay)
Girls are great. Rude girls that swear are even better.



6. Talking Heads | Once In A Lifetime
We've all heard that same old story of how someone was driving down the highway and a song so awesome came on the radio they had to pull over and turn it up? Well, that actually happened to me!! Except I wasn't driving (I was 9). And we weren't on a highway. And I wasn't allowed to touch the volume knob. But I was in a car when I first heard this song! I just remember hearing it and thinking I love this but I don't know why. I was too young to know what was going on, but I just friggin' loved it. It clicked and clacked and connected to something in my head and that intrigues me. Why do certain songs, or any piece of Art, connect so strongly with certain peoples brains and emotions? Interesting. No?

7. Marvin Gaye | Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
What's Going On is quite possibly my favourite album ever. I even like the songs about God and stuff. Everything sounds so good on that album. From the conga snare hits to the mind blowing bass playing to the sweet voice of Marvin. It's all good. In fact it's so good it should be in every top ten list ever listed. Unless it's a top ten shit list.

8. Radiohead | Weird Fishes/Arpeggi 
In Rainbows. It feels like an obvious choice to put Radiohead on the list, but they are great and I do love 'em so. And there is a reason. Not too long ago I became quite depressed and found myself living in the woods, (of course I'm being overly dramatic here). Whilst wandering in the Wilderness (Norfolk) there wasn't much to do, so I would borrow a mate's push bike and just ride all day long (it's very flat up there). This album was in my earholes on all those journeys and it just seemed to suit the landscape so well. It also made me want to start making Music and join the Human Race again. Some people say Radiohead are depressing. Well, they cheered me right up!!

 9. David Bowie | The Bewlay Brothers
There must be thousands of people who got into Bowie because of an older sister or brother. For me it was my sister. I had a choice of either Bowie, David Essex or Bay City Rollers. Bowie won. This song's here because it's the first time I remember being a bit scared by a song. Not the whole song, but just the weird vocals towards the end. It sounds tame and lame now, but when I first heard it, well, it made me feel a bit uneasy. And I liked it.

10. Tom Waits | Green Grass
My other favourite Tom. This is from the album Real Gone. Every line in his songs conjures up a dark heartbreaking image of a world I'd like to visit. I love his low breathy vocal on this song. God took the stars and he tossed 'em. Can't tell the birds from the blossoms. Beat that! You can't.