WARMER MIXTAPES #1457 | by Paul James Bardsley (The Cappuccino Wizards) and Chris Plack (Elysium, Readers Wives) of Bulbs Of Held

SIDE A | by Chris Plack

1. David Bowie | Quicksand
Deep, dark, lyrics. Haunting melody that suits his cracked vocal style brilliantly. Very powerful for me emotionally.

2. Cocteau Twins | Blue Bell Knoll
Gorgeous, dark, floating abstraction; soaring other-worldy vocals. Reminds me of lonely moors, wild woods. Nature at its most mysterious.

3. Japandroids | Crazy/Forever
Love the sound of the guitar on this. Like a warm hug by a faintly psychotic bear. Lush melody, and a beautiful sentiment. Reminds me to keep feeling young.

4. Kate Bush | The Sensual World
Loads of KB I could choose from. She is fascinating as a person and as an artist. This track is almost scandalously sexy; mmm, yes... Sumptuous vocals. Based on the character Molly Bloom from James Joyce’s Ulysses; stepping out of the page into the Sensual World. Wonderful concept. Saw her live at Hammersmith in 2014, and the emotional energy was overwhelming.

5. Bombay Bicycle Club | Carry Me
BBC are one of my current favourites: melodic, emotional, and endlessly creative. This song employs horns and drums in a hammering staccato rhythm. So much going on here, and the usual unerring sense of melody seals the deal. Great, great, live band.

6. Pink Floyd | Fat Old Sun
Somehow captures the pure essence of Psychedelia. Dreamy summer days lying on the grass. Reassuring warmth of Sun. Too many drugs.

7. King Crimson | Frame By Frame
Manically fast guitar riff, swooping whammy bar action, polyrhythms, soulful melody. Outrageous sonically and technically but works brilliantly. Whenever I think I might be getting good at guitar, this is one of the tracks that brings me back to Earth. Fripp is a genius.

8. The Sugarcubes | Birthday
Truly stunning virtuoso vocal from Björk. Gets me every time. So fresh and exciting even now. Sparkly brilliance and delightful innocence. I imagine this would get wearing after a while, but for an occasional listen it’s perfect. Pure joy.

9. Regurgitator | Black Bugs
What’s at the end of Satan’s rainbow? Infectious and deliciously quirky Pop. This represents 80s video games addiction for me (and it’s pretty much what the song is about). The video for this is just fabulous. A singing giraffe!

10. My Bloody Valentine | Soon
How I love MBV. Delicate vocals drowning in sea of guitar noise. This is one of their dancier outings, but illustrates the principle, and their joyful disregard for conventional song structure. Soundtrack of the early 90s for me and still going strong. If you see them live USE EARPLUGS. Seriously.


SIDE B | by Paul James Bardsley

1. Mount Kimbie | Before I Move Off
Love the range of sounds and different feelings in this song, it starts off reminding me of Amon Tobin’s Foley Room album and Taxidermia soundtrack with very dark delayed textures, then builds bleeping into a super sharp vibe with a Funk bass and some Garage style cut up vocals, lush!

2. Jonwayne | Altitude
Production wise this is solid, the sub bass is heavy, the electric piano chords are so warming, the percussion and claps are tight plus watery synth effects glue everything together beautifully. Lyrically the song is insightful and inspiring, Jonwayne is a genius with his clever and relatable words.

3. Mo Kolours | South LDN (feat. Henry Wu)
Mo Kolours has been a fave of mine since hearing podcasts and live shows last year followed by his self titled album. On this recent EP he is back smashing it once again with his intricate percussion patterns, Dub heavy basslines, excellent electronics and loose swinging organic instrumentation.

4. Inkswel | Good Times (Tom Noble Remix)
Crunchy hardware Hip Hop style sampler beats are on offer here with a cross over to Italo Disco feel, complete with muddy Industrial pads, awesome arpeggiator line and screaming chipmunk euphoric vocal that sings the feeling back home, this reminds me of good times in Manchester.

5. Four Tet | Smile Around The Face
Kieran Hebden needs no introduction... This track is one of my faves amongst his endless amounts of prolific records he has made, maybe simply because of how good it makes me feel?! Aside from the vastness of tweaked and processed unique sounds that are composed together perfectly in this cut.


6. Seven Davis Jr. | Wild Hearts
This is a beast that will continue to play in my head for days after listening, firstly discovered through listening to Gilles Peterson's radio show, me and my wild heart Katie fell in Love with this raw tune on so many levels whilst boxing things up ready to move house and live together happily ever after.

7. Lilacs & Champagne | Hamburgers & Tangerines
The feel of Lilacs & Champagne's albums carry all the range of emotions from deep moody drops, intelligent sampling methods and into Space Rock effects overload parts. This standout song could be a perfect accompaniment to any sort of eighties John Carpenter and Alan Howarth soundtrack.

8. Hounds Of Hate | Tumble Down Slow
Unconventional and fully Experimental, Hounds Of Hate really smash it. This track is fully analogue and fluttery plus dark and eerie, but, amongst this, somehow uplifting in a drugged out way. The song reminds of seedy places and times in Shoreditch and Kingsland Road.

9. Gonjasufi | Duet
Upfront and attitude ridden, this beat smith combo of Gaslamp Killer and Gonjasufi is tripped out and fully space echo layered instrumentation with a feel that makes me travel meditatively and reflect on lots of different times, places and people I have met along the way in this life.

10. Boards Of Canada | Dayvan Cowboy
No compilation would be complete without including possibly my overall favourite artists, Boards Of Canada. Every album BOC have made has amazed and moved me emotionally plus inspired me into great things. Perfectly performed, recorded and programmed, this is absolutely bloody class!