WARMER MIXTAPES #1089 | by Sonia Kreitzer [Doe Paoro]
1. Van Morrison | Sweet Thing
I was 18 and living in Ohio and thinking about dropping out of College and listening to Astral Weeks on literal repeat for a week, trying to sort out a plan. Tender moment in my life, and I can't hear Sweet Thing without my heart reminding me it's there.
2. Lauryn Hill | Ex-Factor
This whole album is a masterpiece. This is one of those songs that meant so much to me as a teenager and takes on new wisdom and meaning as a woman. Quintessential breakup song; touches on every angle of the problem.
3. Aretha Franklin | Don't Let Me Lose This Dream
I've learned so much about Singing from Aretha Franklin and this is one of my favorite of her songs.
4. Lykke Li | A Little Bit
I wish I wrote this song. It voices a perspective of female sexuality that I don't hear enough in Music - playful yet real and in command.
5. Kendrick Lamar | Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst
Epic, honest storytelling. Touching on the cyclical nature of inherited behavior and habits... Something I'm inspired to write about as well.
6. James Blake | Lindisfarne II
I first heard this recording in a Yoga class, after returning to New York from traveling for a year and living off the grid. I was out of touch with Music at the time and had never heard James Blake before. This song took me out of my body and made me entirely present at the same time. I think he has inspired a lot of musicians working today through expanding the boundaries of what is possible in how we understand the form of a song.
7. Jeff Buckley | Lilac Wine (Hope Foye Cover)
There is a quality in this song and in Jeff Buckley's voice that I am always listening for in Music. It is the allusion to the mystic experience; the notion that Music in it's purest form can transport you to other places and feels as though it came from everywhere and nowhere.
8. Future Islands | Little Dreamer
I released a cover of this song before I released any original music and I still perform it sometimes live. The lyrics move me to the magic place when I sing them; they are so personal yet universal.
9. Irma Thomas | It's Raining
In 2007, I was living in San Francisco and my friend Lech Wierzynski ( from the band The California Honeydrops) started to teach me how to sing a bit. Irma Thomas has amazing phrasing, so we went through this entire song line by line and broke it down till I figured out the exact cadence and rhythm of what she was doing.
10. The Beatles | I Will
One of the most romantic songs ever written. I Will is such a mysterious and yet committed and clear promise; a perfect title.
