WARMER MIXTAPES #928 | by Ismaël Dersoir-Alaoui [Slight Sound Savage]
1. Pink Floyd | Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
I must have been 12-13 years old when I heard for the first time Pink Floyd, it was The Dark Side Of The Moon album. I was at my best friend’s with some mates who were a little older than me. They started to smoke pot and then they gave it to me, it was my first time, they said that it was just harvested and pure, I remember there was like Pollen on it . I smoked very slowly, then coughed like 1 minute, I was high, very high after this, LOL, and the Music was still playing in the background. These awesome Guitar Rhythms, Solos... Those crazy Lyrics, those Divine Voices, this perfectly managed Musical Progress, a New World opened in front of me and I guess that it’s at this moment that I began to give a closer look to the Music, the Real Music. I went to toilets, closed the door and looked myself in the mirror for 20 seconds, I was making a promise to myself, the promise to Start Composing Music. Then it is the Black Hole, I guess I fainted. When I woke up my buddy was knocking on the door to know what the fuck I was doing, he said I was there for 30 minutes, when I told him I fainted he started to laugh and me also. We spent the rest of the afternoon listening to Pink Floyd, everybody high, and I knew something changed inside of me from this time. It was my Musical Birth.
2. Marvin Gaye | I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Cover)
This song is for me a good and a bad memory, we were in Barcelona (Spain) with friends, it was party after party, for 12 days. During those days we were going to the Beach, enjoying the Sea Sun and girls with some beers or sometimes visiting Cultural Monuments and walking in the town, taking Photos, during the night it was only clubs, restaurants and a lot of Alchohol. There was this girl with us (we were all in the same School) and one day she made me listen to one of her favorite songs. It was Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine. I didn’t like it very much at the beginning, but she was pretty, so I pretended to like it, LOL. Finally we dated. It was nothing serious, so 2 months later in Paris we broke up. A few days before we listened to this Music for the last time, the circle was complete. Now everytime I hear this song, the sad and torn Voice of Marvin, the languishing Trumpets, these hopeful Violins, these Drums sounding like a man walk and these sweets Women Choirs... I remember this. Sometimes as a very good memory, very intense and full of happy moments... Some other time as a bad ending... But this... This is another story.
3. Sébastien Tellier | La Ritournelle
Well, I have several memories with this beautiful song. It’s following me since many years and will follow me in the Future. This song is a treasure for all lovers, because it’s full of Hope and it tells you what to do when you are with your girlfriend. It says... Show her Love everyday! Don’t miss anything and treat her good, respect her and cherish her. This Music also speaks about the Darker and sadder side of the Love, when you make mistakes, irreversible mistakes, and when you break up. For Ever. This is such a sad song, full of the Tears of All People. Sébastien Tellier did a great job on that, perfect Drums, Violins and Piano. When the Voice arrives at the end of the song... It’s like a complaint, a full pain scream, trying to let die these priceless moments in an ultimate teardrop. First time I heard this song was at 16 yo, one of my best friends had just broke up with the Love of his life, he called me and we met, he grabbed me and started to cry and yell, he couldn’t even breathe, he was broken, and I was too. He was listening to this Music on his iPod, he gave me an earphone, then we sat on the stairs outside the house, he pressed the Play button and we started to listen to it. The street was silent. And we were too.
4. Jeff Buckley | Grace
No specific memories except that when I first listened to Grace I was going to Italy with my girlfriend and her parents, we were driving in the Alps Moutains, in the border between France and Italy. There was a beautiful Sun, but it was also a bit cold, the smell of Trees and Air was so nice and fresh. Jeff Buckley had this so special style, that I had never heard before, very Expressive Voice, tortured Soul and shattered Mind . I found myself in his songs, Lyrics and Chords, especially in the Grace song, the Mix between his Dark Vision of Human Beings and his Hopeful Vision of Life gave this so special and unique Sound which is, obviously, the reason of his fame.
5. The Rolling Stones | Sympathy For The Devil
And You Can’t Get Always What You Want... These two songs are a big stone in my life, two genius and pure Rock’N’Roll attitude songs, full of Positive Energy and always reminds me of late 60’s State of Mind, where youngs were strong and they were having a life of pure sensations, free of everything and shouting loud their opinions. I don’t remember when I first heard these two songs, but I will tell you my short story about this. Summer 2011, I’m in India for a 15 days trip on my own. I’m in the Desert near Jaisalmer (North-West) since 2 days, with a guide on a Camel's Back, and at the end of the afternoon we stop to plant tents. Now, with some free time, I decide to climb the biggest dune near us to enjoy Sunset. I take my Whisky bottle, my iPod and 15 minutes later I’m on the top. I sit down, open the bottle, take a drink and start listening to my Rolling Stones Compilation. Alone with Nature. Half of the bottle after, I stand up because I see very very far away what seems to be people, but nothing sure, it could be just trees. So I decide to go there without telling it to my guide, walking on the sand with my 10kg backpack for 20 minutes. Big surprise! It is People! And some are French like me!! We decide to make an appointment for the night, to drink and play cards. Thus because our two camps are far from each other we decide that when the night comes we shall light our lamps to place our position. I get back to my camp and decide not the tell anything to the guide, except I was a little drunk. At Midnight I start to go alone in the Dark and Silent Desert to join them, the guide told me the day before that the Desert is very dangerous at Night because there is a lot of animals hunting and maybe some thieves ... I’m not totally cool, so I decide to put Sympathy For The Devil , the Guns n’ Roses version, with those Demoniac Drums, this piece of Desert, those Church Synths on the background, this Devil Voice . I’m saying in my head that if this is my last night on this Planet I prefer to die while listenning to this awesome track. I walked for 20 minutes in complete Darkness, there was too much clouds that night and Moon was hidden... Fortunately I had my lamp, and my balls, LOL. I finally found them. We spent the Night togheter, everybody was telling his story, there was two girls too, American and German, we were laying on the sand, laughing, drinking Whisky and smoking weed, talking about Everything, Dreaming... Yes, we were Dreaming that we could just spend the rest of our Life like this, just travelling all around the World, meeting people and work a little bit to earn money that we just need to eat, drive and drink. I still think this way now. Crazy night, I came back to the camp, listenning to You Can’t Always Get What You Want, completely high, talking to the Stars and shit, haha. Nice title for something that is sometimes True, we can’t always get what we want... Unless you really want it.
6. Sophie Zelmani | Going Home
Damn, this period was so bad for me... I was working on a shitty Library for the Summer and my girlfriend was away for two months, we were arguing everyday, because I had suspicions on her, I think she was cheating on me. So everyday I was waking up, going to work with this only Music playing in a loop, I was alone, all my friends were enjoying their holidays, and I was here like a moron in Paris, just fucking happy when the day was finished. This girlfriend to whom I drew a huge I Love You tag on a wall in front of her house... Youth is were you learn a lot of things, and this Summer I should have received a diploma of Love Disappointment I guess. We didn’t broke up that Summer.
7. Chinese Man | I’ve Got That Tune
Live in Paris – Elysée Montmartre 2009... I don’t know what really happenned that night, but everything was Electrical and Intense. We went with some friends to see them, Chinese Man's Music is so damn crazy, people were unchained, partying and dancing like they never heard a Beat before. They started to play I’ve Got That Tune and everybody started to jump. We stole a bottle of Alcohol from the bar, we smoked pot in the toilets, the Guard caught us, but released us, toilets were full of smoke, but we were not the only ones. After some drinks, guys wanted to fight with us because they believed that we were against Ecology, because a friend thrown a candy on the ground. When the Live finished we took some vélibs (Rented Bicycles for Parisians) and we drove all along the Seine River, near the Eiffel Tower, to finally stop on a bridge with an awesome view, still listening Chinese Man on our phones. We decided to go to our former School to say Hello to people, we were obviously drunk and I guess we screwed up there because one of us activated the Fire Alarm... Everybody went out, professors, students, 300 people were waiting outside for Security. We were like oh, shit. We ran away and got back at 10am to our homes. Two hours later my mom called me to say to me that the School had called the Police. Finally all ended well, they had no proof and even today we still don’t know if it was really one of us or someone else. Chinese Man forever, we are Young and Stupid...
8. Metallica | Master Of Puppets
I think this is one of the first CD’s I got in my Childhood, a gift from a cousin. I felt in Love with this band, the Power of their Guitars was so strong, the Power of their Lyrics too. I guess this was a period where I was angry, LOL. My parents were divorcing and I needed to listen that kind of Music. There was Korn, SOAD too, but Metallica was the perfect Mix between those Riffs full of Anger and those Melodic parts (SOAD too, but in a different way), these guys had Poetry under their Leather Jackets and I liked it .
9. James Vincent McMorrow | If I Had A Boat
There's his voice at 3:18, when he starts to sing louder and louder, that made me think he is a great artist , because for me Screaming is the more Real and Honest part in a Singer. When a Singer screams he gives you his Life, his Emotions, he just makes you a gift of his Personal Experiences. Everything is well organized between Drums, Voice, Choirs and Guitars, it begins slowly, as if we were searching for something and it finishes in an Epical and Dreamy way. My memories about this song is an argument with my Father.
10. Michael Jackson | Earth Song
This song... This song is not a song, this is not Music, this is God Himself that wrote it among Clouds with his own Breath, Angels were helping him playing Piano and some Guitars, but he decided to hire Michael Jackson and his band for playing his song down on Earth. When I first listened to this Music I was 5-6, maybe a bit more, don’t remember exactly, I was Voiceless when I saw the Video, when I saw this guy grabbing those two dead trees, Screaming to Death and Yelling his Love for the Planet in the middle of this Destroyed and Desolate Ground, those Choirs that were like the Voices of All Humans Crying and Begging for a Better World... This was so Intense that I was no more Virgin. I started from this precise day to become Aware, from this day I saw Nature differently, like a Gift... Something just popped inside of me, it defined a whole side of my Personality and it is now more than ever a Topical subject .This song is a Human Masterpiece, a Tribute To What We Can Do Better In This World , this is just Emotion. Full Emotions and Sincerity. I don’t know any Artists that gave me this Feeling in my whole life. I’m right now listening to it and nothing has changed, this is not a memory, this is my Present and this will be my Future.
