Can I be honest with you? I'm getting a bit
tired of these monthly mixtapes. Not the end results; they always seem to turn
into something I would want to listen to. No, it's the endless trawl through a
seemingly bottomless pit of songs that sometimes isn't my idea of a good time.
(I see to be in a let's-listen-to-albums-from-start-to-end-like-nature-intended
phase. I'm sure it will pass.)
And yet we press on. Because we must.
"Africa", by Sathima Bea
Benjamin. Of course, we can ease into the task with a jazz number from the
mid-seventies that is held together by some very nimble percussion playing and
the kind of circular bass line heard on, say, The Birthday Party's "NickThe Stripper", or Min Bul's astounding "Champagne Of Course".
You will be so mesmerised that you will have no idea that 20 minutes have just
passed.
"Talking Central Park Blues", by
Ultimate Painting. Given that there's really nowhere you can go after as
powerful a song as "Africa", we might as well just move on to the
next one on the list. Which happens to be two English (at least I think they
are both from the UK; one is, anyway) dudes, both from other bands, riffing on
the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" (and, of course, on Dylan,
with the title of the song). "What Goes On" is a
part of my DNA, so of course I am going to go for this.
"Moonquake Lake", by Sia &
Beck. This makes no sense to me. Evidently it is from a movie. What is Beck
doing here? Being Beck, I guess.
"Inside-Outside", by
Embassylights. Information about both band and song is thin on the ground, or I
don't know where to look. (They would
appear to be from Calgary via Reykjavik.) Anyway, this is an easy song to like.
If it's the vocals that are perhaps curbing your enthusiasm, stick around: there
is a nice hint of Broadcast towards the end.
"Orange Romeda", by Boards of
Canada. Boards of Canada are the kind of band where it is always worth picking
up the crumbs. This particular crumb is only available on a Warp compilation
entitled, and I think this is a fair statement about the label (as least
through the eyes of the consumer) "We Are Reasonable People" (see
what they did there?)
"Late Train (Emperor Machine Special
Extended Version)", by Paqua. Some of the more recent output of Emperor
Machine under their own name has left me a bit under-excited. This 12-minute
remix shows they have still got it.
"Fried Neck Bones And Some
Homefries", by Willie Bobo. As (presumably) sampled in some old hip hop
track. This song is making me hungry.
"Swan Lake", by Blackalicious.
Speaking of some old hip hop track ...
"A Harsh Truth (Parts I &
II)", by Zurich. Zurich, as far as I can gather, was a one-off project
featuring Neil Halstead which took place
in the couple of years between Slowdive's "Souvlaki" and the
extraordinary final album, "Pygmalion". Halstead would go on to helm
the Americana-by-way-of-Dunedin Mojave 3, but this sounds nothing like that.
"Reve", by Vangelis
Papathanassiou. Even though this isn't taken from the "Blade Runner"
soundtrack, if you close your eyes you can practically see those rain-soaked
neon-lit streets, that once-majestic apartment building ... [sigh].
