reunited and it feels so good...
You were patient... you asked me politely, you flirted, you bitched, you whined... And who am I to argue? The people have spoken, and friendlymixtape has returned. I've got a few new projects lined up that you should check out, such as arijoseph.com and ch(ari)smatica, but I know you really came for the music so let's get right to it.
We've got two mixes this month, which is the least I could do given the hiatus.
April One
1. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - El Matador
2. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
3. Sissy Wish - DWTS
4. The Little Ones - Ordinary Song
5. Serge Gainsbourg - L'Anamour
6. Os Mutantes - Mutantes Depois
7. Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen
8. The Zincs - Rich Libertines
9. m83 - Couleurs
10. Pantha du Prince - Saturn Strobe
11. The Mary Janes - I'm Not Ready Yet
12. Geronimo - Just Like Water
13. The Most Serene Republic - Present of Future End
14. The Young Republic - Paper Ships
15. Mark Kozelek - Void
16. Sugar Bear - Spirit
Download here.
April Two
1. The Menahan Street Band - Make the Road by Walking
2. Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde
3. Red House Painters - Wop-a-Din-Din
4. Akron/Family & Angels of Light - We all Will
5. Stephen Malkmus - Pink India
6. Okkervil River - Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
7. Shugo Tokumaru - Green Rain
8. Life Without Buildings - Let's Get Out
9. Born in the Flood - Anthem
10. Brazos - Mary Jo
11. Chiwoniso - Kurima
12. Low Line Caller - Over-the-Counter Kids
13. Portugal The Man - Sugar Cinnamon
14. The Tontons - Atlas
15. Tree Wave - Sleep
16. Pocketknife - Linus and Lucy (Hark, the Holler Remix)
17. The Virgins - Rich Girls
18. MGMT - Electric Feel
Download here.
Finding out about Los Fabulosos Cadillacs is actually a rather lame story: I happened to buy a copy of Grosse Pointe Blank and never heard the song before. Little did I know, I was super late to that game. LCD Soundsystem produced what was almost objectively the album of the year with Sounds of Silver. Here is my favorite. DWTS is a catchy ditty from Sissy Wish, who come our way via Norway, where Scandinavians now own the catchiest hooks. Speaking of catchy hooks is The Little Ones, who wrote one of the more memorable music-infused love songs of late. Along the theme of artists I came to late, Serge Gainsbourg's back catalog has been surprisingly appealing to my ear. Wasn't quite what I was expecting... Os Mutantes have officially reunited to write a new album, and Depois Mutantes is their very literal song about the band over the last 30 years. Rachael Ray somehow gets indie cred for discovering Holy Fuck before me. Obviously with a name like that, you draw a fair amount of attention, but it turns out the notoriety was warranted. I saw The Zincs open for The Sea and Cake last year, and have been hooked on a surprisingly lush album ever since. M83 has changed directions and gone more dance-y, which is kind of refreshing. Great jam. I was addicted to Saturn Strobe by Pantha du Prince the first few times I heard it. It's a lush track and a great listen even if you find yourself somewhat "house"-averse. The Mary Janes' cover of Tom T. Hall's I'm Not Ready Yet conjures up fantastic images of relaxing at a small dive in a townsomewhere, listening to the house band sing covers all night. Just Like Water is a catchy ditty from Geronimo. Try not to get hooked. I've heard The Most Serene Republic compared to Broken Social Scene a lot, and I think it's appropriate given the beautiful mish-mash of their arrangements. Paper Ships has a bit of a 80's ballade/Hold Steady kind of feel to it, but I happen to enjoy The Young Repulic's take on this kind of genre than others... Sorry if I offended anyone. Those of you who know Mark Kozelek (thanks to Jess for introducing me to his incredible catalog) might notice that I've put a couple of different tracks from different projects on these mixes. See Red House Painters below. The harmonies on Sugar Bear's Spirit reminded me a lot of the TVOTR approach to harmonizing, and for that I enjoy it quite a bit.
Three words define The Menahan Street Band's Make the Road by Walking: "Black superhero music." Thanks to Jay-Z, the Dap crew has had their biggest exposure yet. I thought it would parlay nicely into another nice old-sounding almost-breakbeat on Serge Gainsbourg's Bonnie and Clyde. Red House Painters is Mark Kozelek's old band, and Wop-a-din-din is my new favorite of this project. When I saw Akron/Family live about a month and a half ago, they opened the show with We All Will, and all I remember thinking is how impressed I was with a rock band that was able to use dynamics to maximum effect. It is an amazing track, and my favorite among everything they have done so far. That being said, I can't wait to see where their career goes. I've also gone back to Stephen Malkmus' back catalog after seeing him live at the Pitchfork festival last summer, where I thought he gave the best performance of anyone. Thanks to Chris for convincing me to give Okkervil River a fair shake. I'm not sure how much I dig them across the board, but I love this track. I can't quite remember how I came across Shugo Tokumaru, but I love his creative and resourceful dream pop. You get the sense that he just recorded anything he could find in the studio, and he makes it incredible catchy and coherent. I read about Life Without Buildings in an interview with Mark Ronson, and I've been pretty into it as of late. Dave and I agree that Born in the Flood's Anthem is the great hype up song of late. Note: a lot of these bands I discovered through the SXSW 2008 mix torrent. Mary Jo by Brazos is another catchy ditty along the lines of Geronimo, above. Chiwinoso's Kurima has that afropop feel that I've been craving lately. I have to admit that I don't remember putting Low-Line Caller on here, but eh, what the hell. I'm sure it's good. Same goes for Portugal The Man, The Tontons and Tree Wave, which all came from the SXSW compilation. God bless Pocketknife's Linus and Lucy remix. Who knew Lucy was such a Baltimore booty shaker? Sorry, The Virgins, I've forgotten about you as well, but part of the fun of these mixes is to go back and listen to new stuff I haven't really checked out before. That way, it's new to all of us. Thanks to the CHIRP mixes for turning me onto MGMT. I can't get over that funky ass beat on Electric Feel.
Ok, that's it. WE'RE BACK.
