mixtape

i like making mixtapes! i recently made one for a friend and was about to post it to her when i realised that a bunch of the music on it does not really exist yet, so i couldn't very well give it away! i decided to write about it instead!!!

dakota suite - this falling sea
i'm not sure which is the artist and which is the song but i think it goes this way around... this short piece of heaven was given to me by my friend dave after he painted my portrait in berlin (blog about that to come when i get the photo developped!) - it has a profoundly relaxing effect on me...

john lennon - mother
... and the bells at the start of this song, ease me back to where i am before john lennon picks me up and shakes the fuck out of me! such a release of deamons, it's like he invites us into a very personal and sore part of himself - i sometimes feel uncomfortable listening to this song!

broken bells - citizen
i'm not even sure if the title of this track is correct, but it's a very dreamy pop song. a different friend dave sent this one my way... i love the way the vocals at the end sound all warm and close - it makes me smile :)

darwin deez - the bomb song
this song does funny things to me! dennis, friend and and gentleman, who sometimes works with us as sound engineer, had us singing and dancing around like eejits during load-out after a gig in herbolzheim last year with this record!

elbow - mercy street
it's like a honey-roast version of an already amazing song! it comes from the peter gabriel album "scratch my back" - an album where he chose his favorite artists and covered one of their songs and asked them to cover one of his. after a gig in basel and a bottle of lemoncello, i powered back up the PA, rammed up the volume until our bellys shook and we lay on the ground in a small circle, wallis, andrea and i, tripping on the wave of music washing over us...

tame impala - solitude is bliss
i found this for the first time with my friend and colleague geoffrey, when we were looking for interesting drum-micing techniques!!! that same week, fabrice (of italian weather ladies) played it for me in his car and kevin (filmy dude) came back from manchester with their record... i thought i should get their album! i remember sitting in the back of the tourbus at the start of the summer, when we were lost, as sun set over the czech hills listening to this album full blast.

isbells - the night is yours
a really pretty summer song that makes me smile... this song came from a flemish television performance that i found on youtube... i couldn't find the song anywhere so i borrowed it - i'll give it back when it comes out on their next album (i hope!!!)

prefab sprout - the king of rock n roll
a perfect pop song that perks me up every time i listen to it :) "hotdog, jumping frog, albuquerque"!

robotnik - feel again
chris and i had an online swap session of new songs a few months and i am adoring what he's working on for his second album! we used to be able to go over to each others home to do this, but now i live in bruxelles and he, in dublin - i miss this kind of thing :( this song is stunning :)

kevin ryan - jackie
i arrived in dublin last may for a tour and went straight from the ferry port to the studio where gavin glass and kevin were creating four little masterpieces with the help of danny snow, ross turner, and other blow-ins like myself! the next morning, when wallis arrived in dublin, we went back to shout some more at the microphones - what lovely vibes, and then the tour started in vantastival - pleasure after pleasure!!! this album is going to be special when it comes together!

herons - neighbourhoods
this song comes from one of my favorite albums. it is about the best thing i have heard since solid air by john martyn. i remember discovering solid air - those 40 minutes changed my perception of what can be done in music... this album had a similar effect, except that i expierenced it over the 2 week recording period instead of the 40 minutes it had taken me to get through solid air. the fact that i was there for the whole thing,  parhaps, contributes to the very special feeling i get every time i listen to it. two weeks - thats how you capture raw energy, you just get good people together and do it - i always spend so much time messing around with layers and such, when sticking up a few mics and having a cup of tea often works best!

villagers - on a sunlit stage
we were in the independente festival in cork when i finally had the opportunity to see villagers live - we had played earlier in the day and had to leave straight after our set... wallis and i ran away from the tourbus, hid in the front row of the villagers and couldn't move til it was over - we were stunned!

the increddible string band - first girl i loved
i love this song - sometimes i love to concentrate on a memory and write down where my thoughts lead, this song seems a bit like that, and the vocal is sooo brilliant! "... but me, i remember your long red hair falling in our faces when i kissed you" :)

juno falls - atom bomb
we were on shirkin island in west cork sitting in the sun outside the jolly roger. we hardly spoke a word, for the guitar being passed around - we sang and sang and sang... there was a double bass, a bunch of small percussion instruments, a couple of guitars and what became an infinate number of voices each time i closed my eyes...

carly sings - like a centaur
a demo for her second album... what seems to be shaping up to be a raw and lo-fi wonder.

al green - i can't get next to you
groovy!!! i love the way the old soul records sound - i wish i had a stereo mix of this one though - with its psychedelic guitar solo and all :)

beck - everybody's got to learn sometime
i love that he did this! such a wonderful version of a song that i found unremarkable before hearing this version.

pearl jam - not for you
this is raw!!! this is one of my favorite vocal takes ever. it's just about perfect - so much power and so much of himself exploding out - and the music is right there with him - amazing :)

... and what can follow that... well, nothing!