WARMER MIXTAPES #673 | by Matthew Whitehouse of The Heartbreaks
1. Dennis Wilson | River Song
A full-on Rock Gospel masterpiece lamenting City Life swallowing up Nature. Which is nowhere near as bad as I've made it sound.
2. Scarlett Johansson | Falling Down (Tom Waits Cover)
There's a Live version of this knocking around on the Internet somewhere in which she walks the tightrope of staying in tune (it is a tightrope for some of us, kids) with such Fragility that I hold my breath every time I listen to it... The best singers in the world are the ones that sing like they're much better than they really are; Edwyn Collins, Billy Bragg, Sandie Shaw... Scarlett falls squarely into this category. Easily the most Underrated record of the Twenty-First Century.
3. Blur | No Distance Left To Run
This is a song without quirks, without a raised eyebrow or a knowing wink. It's a straight down the line, Beautiful song; the kind I wish the Arctic Monkeys would hurry up and write, you know? They take a lot of courage to perform.
4. The Miracles | Heart Like Mine
I love this song because you can hear exactly how it was recorded... Down in the depths of The Snake Pit, Studio A, one take, one mic; Hitsville U.S.A.
5. The Strokes | Under Control
I've never been a particularly big Strokes fan... Due to my age (I was twelve in 2001 and too young to go to any gigs) they sort of just passed me by. But this song... I love how LOUD it is. Gloriously Bad Production.
6. Leonard Cohen | Chelsea Hotel #2
I first heard this performed by a student at an end of year concert at Lancaster Grammar School (I'd failed my 11+ but was there to see a friend). I thought the gall of standing up in front of all your teachers and your parents and singing a song about a blow job was just Magnificent.
7. Bon Iver | Why (with St. Vincent) (Annie Lennox Cover)
The first time I listened to Bon Iver I nearly fell off my seat. I didn't think people wrote songs that beautiful anymore. That voice... This is a great cover, of a great song, freed from it's dated eighties production.
8. Carl Barât | So Long, My Lover
He really nailed it with this... I think it's as good as anything he's ever written. Carl so much defined a time for people that it's always going to be difficult to release something that connects with the record buying public as much his work with The Libertines; but this is a great album, with fantastic Leo Abrahams production. It'll always have a special place in my heart as we supported him on his first UK solo tour and I watched him every single night without fail. A True Hero.
9. Bruce Springsteen | Racing In The Street
We've been listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen. His music just seems to... Resonate with us. He sings about the same things that we do; Love, Loss, Isolation, Separation... Getting jobs, working Construction. And, of course, there are the obvious parallels between Atlanic City and Morecambe. Racing In The Street reminds me of being seventeen and driving down the promenade in friend's cars. There are two types of people in the song: those who Give up living... And start dying little by little, piece by piece, and those who find something to live for. It's a Freedom song. We really felt like we had something to live for.
10. Lana Del Rey | Video Games
I know everyman and his dog likes this song but I heard it first, OK? And no matter what people say, it is quite simply the song of 2011.
