WARMER MIXTAPES #1647 | by Sebastian Hughes Chesney [blyolk]
1. Methyl Ethel | Shadowboxing (Live)
I'm not sure why, but there's something magical about the way Jake Webb's feminine-like vocals blends into the huge layers of wobbly, echoey guitar sounds.
2. Tiny Little Houses | Easy
Just a perfect Folk-Pop song! Probably my favourite song released in 2015. Caleb Karvountzis' whispery vocals really make the song for me and puts them above a lot of other similar groups.
3. AC/DC | Shoot To Thrill
I've loved AC/DC since first hearing the Back In Black album in my dad's car as a nine year old. This particular song Shoot To Thrill sums up everything I love about the band: their simplicity, amazingly tight groove, Raw Power and the insane vocals from Brian Johnson.
4. Cloud Nothings | Wasted Days
When I first heard this song, I could've swore that I'd heard the lead guitar line somewhere before, but alas, I never found the similar song. Steve Albini's production/engineering on the track is absolutely breathtaking to me, the drum sounds are so big yet so natural, it totally changed my approach to recording bands as a Live entity.
5. Seasloth | Marshmellon
A band from Melbourne, Australia that I worked with producing their track. It's an amazing Shoegazy/Post Rock epic that clocks in at nearly 8 minutes long. Inspired by Steve Albini's production (see above), when I recorded Seasloth and used approaches that I imagined Albini would use. The guitarist Michael Ratcliffe got some really sparkly reverb sounds that sat perfectly with Ryleigh Pallot's soft vocals on the track.
6. Death From Above 1979 | Romantic Rights
What a bass tone, what a riff, if this isn't Dance-Punk then I don't know what is. I love the track's simplicity - only bass, drums and vocals from the Canadian two-piece. Also the singer Sebastien Grainger is the drummer which is super cool.
7. The Smiths | What Difference Does It Make? (The Peel Sessions Version)
I love the key that this somewhat famous Live version of the song is in, it's two steps up from the original version and I love how alive this version sounds. Johnny Marr's guitar playing is a game changer for me as a guitarist, in the way that instead of playing chords behind Morrissey's vocals, he played lead guitar lines. I do similar things with some of my songs.
8. Unknown Mortal Orchestra | Ffunny Ffrends
The Old School Funk beat, a kinda Jazzy take on Indie Rock guitar. It amazes me how Psychedelic Unknown Mortal Orchestra sound without using traditional Psych-Rock effects (Phaser, Chorus, Tremolo, high use of Delay).
9. Carol Woods & Timothy T. Mitchum | Let It Be (The Beatles Cover) (Across The Universe Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
This cover of the song starts out with a young male singing the song solo throughout the first verse. Then in the second verse it transforms into Gospel and the song just grows from there. I heard this back in High School in Music class, my teacher insisting I perform it like the movie, which I started out singing solo then backed by my school choir.
10. Big Scary | Invest
A beautiful piano song, there are so many voices put together. It creates this very dreamy, choral texture that makes it hard to pick out singer Tom Iansek's vocal tone, which I think is a really interesting Arranging/Recording technique - one that I employed a little on my track Don Wowry in the chorus sections. Drummer Jo Syme's almost Electronic/R&B drum fills are super cool and inspire me to this day to create interesting Beat-like patterns on my drum kit. (see other Big Scary songs: Gladiator and Luck Now for other amazing drum beats)
