WARMER MIXTAPES #984 | by Walter Berge [Mercimer]

1. John Frusciante | Untitled #2 (from Niandra Lades And Usually Just A T-Shirt)
John Frusciante was the greatest thing ever while I was 16-17 something. I would record Covers of his tunes and try to make it sound shitty. Which really wasn't a stretch 'cause I didn't know anything about Recording. I was working in a Music Store whose customers were Metalheads or kids who never bought anything. I think this made me listen to Frusciante even more intently 'cause I was 16 and had a desperate need of doing the opposite. This Music formed a lot of my taste in Melody In Harmony. I notice that a lot of the stuff I like is melodically related to Frusciante's Writing. Pretty simple Chords and Melody.

2. The Knife | You Make Me Like Charity
Again with the simple stuff. The Knife define the Swedish Sound to me. Sounds like icicles - clear, cutting through. It's like a Clock or a Paul Auster Novel, everything has a purpose and works, I Synch with the Song. I want to put almost all of The Knife's Discography here, especially We Share Our Mothers Health. I really like that the song has basically no sub. Like Nannou. Sounds to me like the Bass Drum if Pitched Down an Octave would make the Beat pretty much Southern Hip Hop. Or maybe two Octaves. You can really hear the dirty South influence, here is what I'm getting at.

3. Serge Gainsbourg | Initials B.B.
This tune is here thanks to its Larger Than Life Chorus. That Chorus defines the sort of Harmony that just hits it for me. And I Love listening to people singing in French since everything is much cooler if you don't know what they're saying. Histoire De Melody Nelson is also one of my favorite albums. Melody and Cargo Culte has to be some of the best combinations of a Minimalist Band combined with Orchestral Elements. The tightness and restraint of the Guitar Bass and Drums just makes it.

4. Robyn | Be Mine!
This may be the Best Pop Tune Ever. It's just Perfect. If I could make songs like this that's all I would ever do.

5. Lockah | Goons And Roses
This tune is a combination of everything I Love. Big Chords, shuffled Melodies, Horns, Chopped Vocals. He's just making it too easy. When I studied in Falun I was part of a Club Concept called Paranoia (but we wrote it something along the lines of PVRVNXiV 'cause we're cool kids). The first time around was out in an abandoned Military building in the woods. Falun is a very boring town, there is no good clubs or any place to go for any sort of Dance Music, so we basically created the complete opposite. My first chance to DJ and this was the sort of stuff I had been longing to hear.

6. SBTRKT | Trials Of The Past (with Sampha)
This is a perfect example of Minimalist Pop. I have a very broad definition of Pop. I especially Love it when it manifests itself in other Genres. SBTRKT has some tracks that are just amazing in how effective they are with so few elements.

7. Rustie | Keesha Resmak
The first minute of this song is Pure Ecstasy.



8. OutKast | SpottieOttieDopalicious
I've listened a lot to Bobby Womack, Curtis Mayfield, Sly & The Family Stone and I Love OutKast, and this tune has it all. I dig Big Boi's Verse on here - horse with skates on, ya know. Some of the Best Horns of All Time.

9. Portishead | It's A Fire
Dummy is also one of those albums that changed the Direction I was taking in Music. When I started listening to Portishead I was in a band with two girls back in High School. We shared a lot of tunes and influences, and I think Portishead was eye opening for all of us. It was Dark and I had no idea how they made the Sounds they had. As a kid I hated Hip Hop, but this was, in hindsight, what brought me straight to it. The Beat on Strangers is some of the Heaviest and Grungiest I've Ever Heard. The thing the makes Portishead All Time is their Harmony. This tune is just amazing in that. That Chorus is ooooohhhhh. Real Goosebumps.

10. Burial | Archangel
First track off Untrue is basically the Sound of my View of Electronic Music Being Thrown Around Completely. This is probably True for thousands more like me. I'd never heard any Garage and almost no Dubstep so the Shuffle, the twisted Rhythm, the R&B Samples were almost too much to take at once. Since then I've been a total Anglophile. Arguably my largest influence. This has led me to move out of the grid as much as I can. I still try to push it with Detuning, Off Kilter Rhythms, basically as far as I can without going full Beefheart.

+11. Röyksopp | So Easy
+12. Trentemøller | Moan (Trentemøller Remix)
+13. Fever Ray | Keep The Streets Empty For Me
+14. MGMT | The Youth
+15. Gnarls Barkley | St. Elsewhere
+16. Funkadelic | Maggot Brain
+17. Four Tet | Unspoken
+18. Jessie Ware | Night Light