WARMER MIXTAPES #1392 | by George Robinson [Secoya/Sundaze/Infini/Atopian Waves]

1. Fixxa | When You're Smiling
Midnight Mass, who now goes by the name Fixxa, was a friend of mine at School. His song Alleys under that first moniker came about around late 2008ish, I think, and it was the song that made me realise that you only need a computer and an idea to make excellent Music.

2. Sigur Rós | Varúð
This song is probably my favourite of all time. A combination of beautifully haunting melodies and a comparatively chaotic crescendo make it a song that moves through a range of human emotions. Sigur Rós generally, but particularly this song, are the reasons I make the Music I do.

3. Green Day | Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Not a huge fan of this band or the song, but I loved it when it came out and Green Day were the first artists I loved and this song started my love of Music (and also showed me that there was Music that DIDN’T come on the radio), so it’s important in that way.

4. Gorillaz | November Has Come (feat. MF Doom)
Demon Days was one of the first albums I ever got, and many of the tracks, but this in particular, made me fall in Love with Hip Hop, which is a genre that influences me in everything I write, as well as proving that simple production can make a great song.

5. Cher | Believe
I’m probably gonna get a bit of shit for this choice, but I think I can justify it. There are 3 reasons. 1. It’s an excellent piece of songwriting, particularly the Backing Music (Also, Cher’s a legend). 2. I generally dislike Autotune, but this song uses it in a transparent and creative way, rather than to save bad singing. Many songs have since done this, but this was the first (or at least the first well known example). 3. Believe really showed the masses that often, the Magic came from the producer, after the artist had left the studio. As someone who sits behind a computer making Music this is very intrinsic to my creations.


6. Sigur Rós | Hoppípolla
As with a lot of people, Hoppípolla was my first taste of Sigur Rós, a band that I find to be incredibly inspiring. I still love the melody and the emotions it invokes.

7. Miles Davis | So What
Kind Of Blue is absolutely the greatest Jazz album of all time, Miles Davis the greatest Jazz musician, So What the greatest Jazz song. Simple. Really, though, everyone seems to defy Davis and it is widely said that So What is among the best songs of all time. Occasionally, though, the majority are right.

8. Mogwai | Mogwai Fear Satan
I could’ve picked a few Mogwai songs, but I think this is the most comprehensive example of them. I saw them live, and being lulled into a false sense of Security with effortless intertwining melodies before being absolutely blown away by the sheer power of the stamp on the distortion pedal moments... It was staggering, terrifying and amazing.

9. Red Hot Chili Peppers | The Brothers Cup
Again, this entry isn’t specific to this song (though it is one of my favourites), but representative of the band as a whole. Flea inspired me to learn bass, theirs was also the first big concert I attended, and they soundtracked almost all of my life from about 2006. As a side note, Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography, Scar Tissue, is one of my all-time favourite books.

10. Hilltop Hoods | The Hard Road
I love this band, and this song showed me that the best things in Life are not easy, and the old cliché that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything, which they describe doing in great detail. This is a philosophy that I put a lot of faith into, and any act of stubborn determination in the face of overwhelming odds still inspires me, but this was the song that started it all.