WARMER MIXTAPES #74 | by Hans Mattias Hammarin [H.M. Hammarin] and Ulf Martin Robin Rudén of Hammarin & Robin

SIDE A | by Ulf Martin Robin Rudén

I’m not that good at English, so I let Google Translator do the job!

1. David Bowie | Heroes
The world's best track! Always! It gives me hope and makes me feel like become beer. There you are...

2. Ray Parker, Jr. | Ghostbusters
First session of the Ghostbusters were fantastic! The logo, Ecto-1, Proton Packs, Bill Murray, then a mega soundtrack! Ghostbusters makes you cool in every way!

3. Antiloop | Start Rockin'
It was the millennium and Antiloop released a demo from the upcoming album, it marked the beginning of the new year.

4. Billy Ocean | Red Light Spells Danger
It was summer 2008 and we cycled around with Red Light Spells Danger of a bad tape machine, love was in the air!

5. Vangelis | Alpha
It's winter in my home town, listening to the Alpha and suddenly you never want it to be summer again!

6. Dario G | Sunchyme
1998... I have almost finished the stage, it is summer and I'm on the class trip. On the bus journey home I loop a song in my portable CD player. Can you guess what it is?

7. Sash! | La Primavera
Can you understand how beautiful sounds and melodies of this track did the first time I heard it? I bought two copies of the single just to play one at home and one in the car. This song made me start doing music, I promise!

8. Röyksopp | Eple
Röyksopp came when you had to think about! All of a sudden, you know how much Norsk forest sounds and I personally did not know how much I was missing before I heard Röyksopp Eple song!

9. System F | Out Of The Blue
First CheeseTrance-song ever! Can you imagine how cool it was with great melodies to 4/4 kick and a lot of fat Arpeggione without vocals? Wow!

10. Bomfunk MC's | Freestyler
Okay, now we are talking fat beats with whale sing in the intro! I was young and was in the disco. Anyone who wanted to dance - wanted to dance to Freestyler. The desired number of times on the same evening and no one could tire of it. Fantastic!


 
SIDE B | by Hans Mattias Hammarin

Hello, this is Hammarin speaking. So, Vlad has asked me to list 10 songs of my liking and wrap them up with personal stories. Well, there are several ways of doing this. As always, being an artist and all, it's tempting to brag about my taste of music and try to impress you with some songs you've never heard along with some that are somewhat obvious. Truth is, I have no such ambitions! Hell, I hardly listen to music anymore... It's impossible to while you're making music, right?...So, here's my list of 10 songs that ultimately made me the artist I am today. In order of appearance:

1. Scatman John | Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)
This was on the first record I ever bought. Long before I could sing or write songs of my own. I fell in love instantly and learned to scat and rap the entire song. I then performed it to kids at my school for a fee of 10 kronor (roughly 1 euro). Don't be surprised if I throw in some scat-singing in a Hammarin & Robin song someday!  
     
2. U2 | Unchained Melody (Cover)
I was 15 years old and full of love, passion and pain. My friends hadn't yet crossed roads with the lure of womanhood and so I was alone with my feelings and cut off from the world where boys met girls on Friday night. I listened to U2's Greatest Hits album and this cover of Unchained Melody. Hearing Bono scream I need your love! on top of massive guitars I made a decision; I was going to learn how to sing.  
         
3. Jim Carrey | Somebody To Love (The Great Society Cover)
Also from when I was 15. My older brother had downloaded a bunch of random songs from the Internet and, being the first mp3s I ever possesed, I listened to them alot! It's hard to choose one among them, but Jim Carrey's cover of Somebody To Love (from The Cable Guy movie) still rocks!        

4. Di Leva | Två På Skilda Håll          
Di Leva is a Swedish artist. A really weird guy, influenced by David Bowie and various mysticism. I listened to his songs often when I was 16 and started to write my own music. I was mesmerized by the simplicity in his songwriting and the extreme character of that man. There's no denying that my own songs follow that same recipe. This one is in Swedish, but I hope you'll find it interesting anyway.          

5. Alice DeeJay | Better Off Alone
Simply because it is THE soundtrack to my first year in high school, my first kiss, my first girlfriend. All that. Hearing any of the synthesizers from that song will instantly hit bulls eye in the heart of my entire generation. We may not admit it, but it's the truth.       

6. The Cure | Disintegration
Yes, the album... Man oh man!... This one needs no introduction. In high school I discovered many of the great bands of the 80's and even though I seldom felt as dark and gloomy as these songs, they sure helped me out whenever I did.       

7. Daft Punk | One More Time What do I love about the 80s? The costumes, the larger than life approach, the unreal stuff. I despise true indie music for the fact that it's all so down to earth. I am a man of spectacles. Enough said.        

8. The Smiths | Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
I actually hadn't heard The Smiths until I was 20. One of my best friends told me that he had a video I had to watch... It's this guy, he reminds me so much of you!... And indeed he was right. I had struggled for a long time with my singing and the way I performed my songs. Most of the times I was either dead serious or just cheesy. But seeing Morrissey dance around on the stage with a tree in his pants, and at the same time singing such a heartbreaking song helped me realize what it's all about: Humor and wisdom in a beautiful marriage.    

9. Talking Heads | Stop Making Sense (live concert video)
By the time I discovered this hidden treasure I was depressed. For real. I won't go into details about my condition (you'll figure it out through my songs one day) but in the fall of 2003 my life changed. I was heading the wrong direction. Away from music and everything I had dreamed about doing. As many others I dug deep into songs and artforms that could capture the essence of anguish and it only made it worse. I needed an electrical shock, something that reignited that spark that powers your senses and makes you feel alive. After seing this video I thought: Yes, it may be meaningless. I will still die someday and The Sun will still unevitably swallow up The Earth. But in the meantime, let's dance! Let's act like fools and, goddamnit, let's make some music!          

10. Daniel Johnston | Peek A Boo
There's a sentence in this song that pretty much sums up the way I feel about my songwriting: You can listen to these songs, have a good time and walk away. But for me it's not that easy. I have to live these songs forever...