first of all i have to say a huge THANK YOU to my blogger pals who were so generous in helping out with their wonderful guest posts while i was moving. i know everyone enjoyed having them around (and it was nice having a different perspective around here for a little while).
i still don’t have internet at my new place – but i am begging, borrowing and stealing a connection wherever possible. while i catch up on what’s been happening online i thought i’d make up for my absence with a new music mix, a pretty mellow electronica tinged affair to help ease you into the weekend.
eli mardock – everything happens for the first time
the brokenmusicbox – we will
yellow ostrich – marathon runner
ghost beach – first time
memory house – this will be our year (zombie cover)
conveyor – mukraker
mesita – on through the dark
cover image one hundred percent completely inspired by this. all music is for sampling purposes only – please go out and buy the artists’ records & support them at their shows!
i have a special treat for you. truth is it’s a special treat for me too. i have been nagging my boyfriend to make an extra special funk music mix for the blog for some time now. when i say nagging i mean, i make him coffee and shower him with chocolate speckled eggs and sweetly ask if that funk mix he’s working on is ready yet. it’s finally ready, and it’s here.
a little background story to this – when we were first getting to know each other we exchanged various bits and pieces online (as you do when you’re sussing someone out, wooing them as it were). he sent me a funk mix in a zip file – which is basically the modern day equivalent of making someone a mix tape – and it was all stuff i had literally never heard before. Anton knows his funk. you can have a discussion with him about funk. well, i can’t – but he can teach me. and now he can teach you a bit, too.
Funk is my favourite kind of music. It’s like the extroverted, more fun cousin of jazz, with some soul and R&B thrown in for good measure. Some of the best vocalists, guitarists, drummers and musicians who ever lived played in funk bands, but as skilled as they were they rarely took themselves seriously. Every time I hear funk I picture a group of people in a recording studio having the time of their lives. The mix starts with Miles Davis’ ex wife Betty who was a pioneer in her own right and pushed Miles into his later, funkier experimental work like Bitches Brew. It also includes one of my favourite artists, Sly Stone, who was a heavy influence on Prince. And then we end with a more soulful moment from the godfather himself.
Betty Davis - If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up
Carlton Basco - Don’t Chain My Soul
Hank Ballard - Butter Your Popcorn
The Meters - What’cha Say
The Sweet Inspirations - Slipped & Tripped
Cold Blood - Kissing My Love
Round Robin Monopoly - Life Is Funky
Cymande - Brothers Slide
Sly and The Family Stone - In Time
Roy Porter - Party Time
Co-Real Artists - What About You (In The World Today) *
The Fatback Band - Do The Bus Stop
James Brown - That’s Life (Live)
* my favourite. all music is for sampling purposes only – please go out and buy the artists’ records.
i’ve been wanting to make the guest music mixes a more regular thing, and couldn’t think of a better way to kick that off than this playlist from my new friend Nick. he played it in the car when we were driving around cape town on one of those perfect almost-summer days, where the most important thing on your to-do list is eating gelato by the sea.
Because I’m out of touch with the new sounds, my mixes tend to be archaeological; I’m totally preoccupied with stuff thats a few sedimentary layers down and immediately recognizable and resonant to me when I find it. “Wait, holy shit, that’s Van Morrison?!? That’s important.”
To wit, 11 tracks of some importance to take with you on a leaky boat.
1. Once Upon a Time in the West – Dire Straits
2. Hold Me – Fleetwood Mac
3. Dweller on the Threshold – Van Morrison
4. Castles Made of Sand – Rhett Butler
5. Think Too Much (B) – Paul Simon
6. But I Might Die Tonight – Cat Stevens
7. Fearless – Pink Floyd
8. Green Shirt – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
9. Cattle and Cane – The Go-Betweens
10. Things Can Only Get Better (Live) – Howard Jones
11. Six Months In A Leaky Boat – Split Enz
cover image courtesy of the gahetna archives. all music is for sampling purposes only – please go out and buy the artists’ records & support them at their shows!
when i started putting together the Girls mix i knew that i would eventually want to do a Guys version – there are plenty of guy bloggers and dudes i follow on twitter with excellent taste in music, so i have been compiling the list of potential guys in my head waiting for some free time to get my act and a nice little playlist together.
well, i’ve been beat. by some pretty cheeky boys i might add. kidding! Francois took it upon himself to create a Boys version, which made me partly jealous but simultaneously excited – because even though i had no hand in this it still means you are getting a new mix my friends. just in time for the weekend.
After hearing Diana’s mix chosen by girls, I was inspired to find more music and looked to my guy-friends. As we’re guys, we kept it simple – just a tweet got these replies from those who have great taste in music.
01. Ritual Union by Little Dragon submitted by Christopher Evans
Sweden’s electro-pop act Little Dragon are on fire!
02. Rome by Phoenix submitted by Marco Rietskins
Rome – Italy – Fashion
03. Howlin’ For You by The Black Keys submitted by Andrew Brauteseth
04. Sutphin Boulevard by Blood Orange submitted by Rhett Trickett
I love the tempo and groove of this song. It’s a truly genuine expression of present state self-acceptance and individualism. It’s about being comfortable with yourself, in the moments that may not be your finest. You could be drunk and walking alone down a street at night with no money in your pocket or pursuing an unusual interest that other people might think is weird, but ultimately you’re comfortable being who you are.
05. Truth by Alexander ft. The RZA submitted by Andy Fenner
Some tracks make you want to get in a hammock with a cigar and some good rum. None more than this. Alexander is an Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zero’s side project. Recognise that whistle AKA “Alabama Arkansas”?
06. Mornings (Acoustic) by Portugal The Man submitted by Rui Esteves
I think he chose this because the name had “Portugal” in.
07. The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash submitted by David Cope
Johnny Cash needs no introduction
08. Here Comes The Man by Boom Boom Room submitted by Jaco-Louis Groenewald
One Word: Classic.
09. Chinatown by Destroyer submitted by Rouen Smit
11. Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons by Simon Wibberley
I have vague recollections of doing a circle-embrace-stomping-dance on this song, at a wedding recently – early morning, wearing what was left of a tux.
12. 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins submitted by Luke Adams
13. Fake Empire by The National submitted by Francois Botha
This has to be one of my alltime favourite tracks. Technically this song is simply baffling and the lyrics speak to my inner-child.
14. Heartbreaker by Girls submitted by Richard Dimblebee
What an appropriate choice of track. ;-)
there are a number of tracks in here that i have included in my mixes before, you will just have to deal with some double trouble i’m afraid. all music is for sampling purposes only – please go out and buy the artists’ records & support them at their shows.
in august i sent out an email to some of my girl blogger pals asking them to contribute one of their favourite songs to a collaborative music mix. we are all busy ladies, which explains why this mix is only surfacing now, but i’m glad it finally is because it’s a wonderfully eclectic collection – exactly what i was hoping for. i can see this as a movie soundtrack… it’s only a matter of time before a movie comes out about awesome girl bloggers anyway, right?
Girls. download ithere. Playlist – in alphabetical order by contributor :
“Blues rock” usually brings to mind images of Blueshammer (gag!), but the Black Keys manage to make contemporary bluesy tunes that sound straight out of the ’60s.
I pretty much listen to it on repeat because it literally makes me feel like lifting my arms up (especially between 0:34 – 0:57 seconds) and dancing frantically back and fourth like nervous Chiwawa. Minus peeing on the floor.
4. Bombay Bicycle Club – Light Out, Words Gone (Diana aka me)
their new album,and this song in particular, has been on repeat for the past month.
I love this song because it’s so gently suggestive, you feel as if there’s a whole other layer to it hidden beneath its rhythm and lyrics. I tend to listen to it when I have a lot on my mind.
Because the day I heard this song when I was a teenager–everything else in the world froze in place and this song changed everything for me. It was like it was meant to pool up inside my ears. It still swirls around in there.
I’m a sucker for girls playing guitars, and Heart’s pent-up ode to love and lust starts with the most epic strum-driven bang. It’s also the soundtrack to the scene in The Virgin Suicides where Lux pounces on Trip Fontaine in the front seat of his Camaro and leaves him breathless, her cherry-flavoured gum lingering in his mouth. It’s the ultimate girl power song.
I really like sombre music, it relaxes me and allows me to access places that I usually don’t have time to entertain in my busy life. I listen to the songs alone and I really really love how they make me feel comfortable in my solitude.
it is the first of september, which in south africa is traditionally spring day. well, spring day usually doesn’t fail to be delightfully miserable weather wise as far as my memory serves… probably due to the fact that the seasons only turn on 23 september this year (the spring equinox, which is also my birthday – write that down).
still, couldn’t resist temptation and so created a semi-electro inspired spring mix to kick off my favourite month.
