WARMER MIXTAPES #1503 | by Jakob Einar La Cour [zack christ/Master Of Cows/Tahlhoff Garten/Unit 103/Brvce Vein/Izhak Del Muham] of Nobody La La La
To whom it may concern. First of all, I want to say that this list has been a long way coming. It’s taken me a very, very long time to finally step out of my comfort zone and write something about Music. To me, Music is holy. It’s the perfect Art form. Perfectly, supremely abstract in every way. It doesn’t need to convey any meaning or make any sense, at its best it’s just Pure Emotion. A perfect language of feelings. And for me to try and put single pieces of Music into a certain context and explain why I love them is, for me, almost sacrilege. I’m a purist. Music should be felt, not talked about. Also, I feel pretentious and kind of arrogant whenever I do talk about Music. And I have hard time with lists. And I have very few lasting favorites of anything. So: If you can use these things I’ve typed for anything - Good for you! If you don’t give shit, just listen to the tracks and enjoy them - or not, maybe you dislike them - not my fault. Have a nice one!
1. Midnight Star | Midas Touch (Hell Interface Remix)
Part of the reason I love this track so much is that I have absolutely no clue why I love it so. I usually hate this kind of Music. I’m generally not at all into overly cheesy 80’s shit and I’m not really into Boards Of Canada (aka Hell Interface). I find both boring and low level and bit plebby for me. But then I heard this tune and I think I learned something; Good Music doesn’t need to be High Culture, it doesn’t need to be Underground or comprehensible only by the few. Sometimes, it only takes a Funky ass vocal, a rockin’ groove and a few cheesy sound effects and it’s done. Some tunes just work like that and that’s fine. It’s fine. Now let me dance.
2. Clark | Matthew Unburdened
I was 15, I think, and I was at this local train station with a friend. It’s more of a halt, really - calling it a train station is a bit of an insult to train stations around the World. It’s a request stop with café, okay? So we were there and my friend was like I discovered this thing called IDM. Those words, that one phrase, marked a pivotal moment in my life. From that day on, I was never the same. On that gray, boring day, in an insignificant suburb North of Copenhagen, my virginity was lost and it was never to return again. The track he played me was Ted by Clark. I was in Love. I heard the whole album - Body Riddle - and I had fallen into a Love so deep that I would never fall out if it again. Body Riddle is one of the best records of all time and Matthew Unburdened is the best track on it. That’s just how it is. I am haunted by this beauty in my sleep.
3. Airhead | Paper Street
I haven’t got much to say about this one. I have no words for how great the Sound Design is or how this track even effects me. It’s definitely one of the greatest tunes to come out in a long while. So yeah.
4. Colin Stetson | Jugdes
So, we’re at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen and we’ve just bought a drought beer each and we’re downstairs and we’re having a great one. This very compact, almost rectangular man steps out on stage, straps a 30 kilo saxophone to his chest and out comes... This. It sounds like absolutely nothing and I’ve heard before. He uses the sax as a percussion instrument and plays these convoluted melody lines and somehow sings through it at the same time. I’m baffled. We’re baffled. We go to thank him. I shake his hand. My hand is nearly pulverized. And I still don’t really understand what Colin Stetson's Music makes me feel.
5. Oneohtrix Point Never | I Bite Through It
I was sitting on a balcony on the fourth floor. It was windy and cold and I hadn’t put on nearly enough clothing. It was 3 o’clock in the morning and I was smoking a cigarette. The wind in that one tree on a small square nearby and the wind in the awnings of the stores on the side of road, a solitary car, the occasional cyclist. It was a moment of serene beauty and it would’ve passed me by if I hadn’t had this tune in my ears. I Bite Through It by Oneohtrix Point Never is a true piece of Art. It is for now, at least, let’s see how it holds up.
6. Downliners Sekt | Negative Green
Downliners Sekt has been my favourite band for years. Not because of any one specific track or release, but because of their sound. Oh, what a wondrous Sound! It tickles me in places that don’t even exist! And so I had to include a track of theirs and Negative Green is one of their absolute best.
7. Klaus | Tusk
Klaus is maybe the single artist on this list that has inspired my own work most directly. I heard his music on MySpace back when that was still a thing and I loved, loved, LOVED the Sound Design. Ever since I’ve been aiming for the same kind of quality in my own work, though I’ve never done as Minimalistic compositions as Klaus does. I’m not that great with Minimalism. Klaus is. He might be the best, actually. Just listen to it. Please. You’re doing yourself a favor. Just listen. Preferably on vinyl. Preferably at night. With a cup of strong coffee and a cigarette. Listen.
8. Four Tet | Sing (Floating Points Remix)
It’s rare to find a piece of House Music that is also an actual, dynamic, Musical composition. Most Music in this tradition is just a couple of 1, 2 or 4 bar loops following some kind of A-B pattern, with no real sense of dynamics. Not that it’s garbage or anything, that kind of Music holds a huge Musical value on the dance floor and some of it can even be sonically interesting enough to put on at home. With that out of the way, I want to say that it’s just so extremely refreshing when someone comes along and makes a piece of Listening Music, Music-Music, in a style that is traditionally Dance Music. Floating Points does that - especially with this remix - and the result is a piece of Music that is best enjoyed at home, in a rocking chair, with a blanket, but at times you will catch yourself slightly wiggling your feet. It’s groovy, but relaxing. Happy, but melancholic. Epic, but down to earth. You’re in for a treat with this one.
9. Daniel Johnston | Some Things Last A Long Time
For the most part I hold the belief that Music should be judged only on it’s own terms. That thinking about author’s intent will fuck up the listening experience and any knowledge of the artist is just useless trivia. That lyrics isn’t Music, but Poetry, and that they should be judged individually. Lyrics over here - Music over there. But in a few cases this just doesn’t hold up. Once in a while I am forced to let go of my purist high-horse Art philosophy, because my feelings towards the bigger picture are just so much stronger. It’s just so much more impressive to hear Johnston’s songs, knowing of the psychotic state in which he has lived most of his life, seeing how the antipsychotic drugs have affected his appearance, being able to relate to the emotional content of both his lyrics and his compositions but being completely unable to relate to the person behind it or the hurt that they’ve been through. I thought I would never say this, but Daniel Johnston’s Art only really shows it’s true, heartbreaking, haunting beauty once you understand who Daniel is and how it came to be. However, Some Things Last A Long Time is a staggering song - even taken out of context.
10. Truncate | Dial
It's The Rhythm. It's The Rhythm that makes a good dance tune and you ignore it at your peril. You think it's a good lead or the punch of the kick or an uplifting chord progression. No, seriously, it’s the fucking Rhythm. Do you know how there’s sometimes this kind of awkward kid, who hits puberty much later than all the others? And do you know the one about this kid who is small and skinny and vastly over compensates? Yeah, that was me. I think I lost my virginity the moment I had pubes. And, of course, when I was 16 years old I started sneaking into night clubs. To this day, I still have no idea how I got in or how I wasn’t thrown out immediately. I looked 14 and wore a leather jacket and skinny jeans - and I even got to buy beer. Dial by Truncate is a fairly new track, but it takes me back. It puts me in such a state of nostalgia that it almost overrules all of the classics. That must count for something, right? It’s that gosh darn Rhythm!
