winter 2009 mix

image source out with the in crowd

wow, its been a while since i uploaded any mixes to this blog, its been a busy summer but that's no excuse, i started this blog in an effort to upload a new mix every month, but i obviously have a problem with commitment...

anyway, i thought it would be quite nice and a little different, looking back over my last few posts, to upload some good old indie alternative music, and give the idm, electro, minimal, house scene a little break. this mix, i say mix, its more of a play list than a mix, is dedicated to some of my favorite US bands, the national, yeasayer, tv on the radio, cat power and tonnes more, these are some of the best bands i have ever had the privilege of listening to whilst staring out of the windows of buses, walking the dark streets of london on the way home, or generally just drifting in and out of sleep on a sunday afternoon thinking too much about nothing...

i hope you like my selection, i carefully picked out some of the songs that have soundtracked my life over the last few years, music just too good to ignore.

anyway, without any further ado, i give you, american splendor, my autumn/winter mix.

download link: right click and save

track listing:

easier - grizzly bear
a method - tv on the radio
the vowels pt. 2 - why?
my girls - animal collective
sleepy head - passion pit
cross bones style - cat power
meet me in the dollar bin - les savy fav
the galaxist - deerhoof
the hollows - why?
tightrope - yeasayer
say - cat power
lovers spit (redux) - broken social scene
fake empire - the national
white winter hymnal - fleet foxes
re: stacks - bon iver
the funeral (originally by band of horses) - serena ryder

you can also download this mixtape: here

june 2009 mix

over the past month i have been listening to a-LOT of minimal tech, this is partially inspired by a small group of individuals that i have met through similar taste in music and have had the pleasure of attending some excellent gigs with. its great when you discover great clubs on your door step that you didn't even know existed. for me highlights include corsica studios in south london and cable at london bridge, both of which boast sound systems that rival that of fabric.

since i am on a bit of a minimal mission, i have thrown in some progressive house beats to stir things up a bit.

looking back over the past few posts, i can see a pattern emerging. some regular appearances by james holden and nathan fake (can't get enough of these boys), newcomers to this blog take the form of dead mau5 (the canadian genius and beatport god) and perfect stringer (aka yuli fershtat), both of whom provide the progressive beats to this mix. towards the end i hit the kompakt discography for all its worth, a lable full of little delights :)

enjoy x

download link: right click and save

track listing:

folie a deux - tipper
10101 - james holden
complicated - dead mau5
clear vision 07' - perfect stranger
outhouse - nathan fake
black river (maps remix) - bomb the bass
slip - dead mau5
arquipélago - gui boratto
sonntag - robert babicz
smile & receive (apparat remix) - swayzak

you can also download this mixtape: here

may 2009 mix

recently i have been listening to some of the artists that caught my attention in the late nineties and early 00's, introducing me to instrumental hip hop and down tempo ambient music. i stumbled across most of this stuff back in the early days of file sharing, when napster (RIP) ruled the roost, sitting for hours on end, downloading single tracks on my 56k modem... i can remember the discoveries that made it all worth while though, dj shadow, coldcut, hexstatic, herbaliser to name a few, and as a result introducing me to great labels like mo' wax, ninja tune, warp and tru thoughts, my independent label education so to speak ;D

i have selected a few of these and artists and thrown them together for your listening pleasure, enjoy.

download link: right click and save

track listing:

kitchen diaries - beardyman
smith vs. smith - jon kennedy
slipped disk - luke vibert
intermission - the herbaliser
silver - bonobo
inside a mind - dj cam
transmission 2 - dj shadow
2266 cambridge - cut chemist
snakes in the grass - quantic
tally ho! - wagon christ
mushroom compost - µ-Ziq
olson - boards of canada
journey to the end of the night - aim
music 4 no musicians - coldcut
more styles - the herbaliser

you can also download this mixtape: here

march 2009 mix

this month i have been listening to a mix of the oldies & newbies of ambient techno. i have selected a few of these geniuses and slung em together in a small mix, newer artists take the form of nathan fake & james holden, who runs the awesome boarder community label. the older and more established artists include orbital, aphex twin and a guy called gerald (not so ambient, but great old song from the nineties). if you have the time you should check out these other fine labels to discover similar artists: warp, bpitch control and kompakt (direct liks to these can be found on the right hand side of this blog under 'Independent labels')

download link: right click and save

track listing:

ageispolis - aphex twin
smile around the face - four tet
erotic discourse - bobby peru
the sky was pink (james holden remix) - nathan fake
the white flash (feat thom yorke) - modeselektor
chime - orbital
voodoo ray - a guy called gerald
i - aphex twin
the fear - µ-ziq
teared loss - kettel

you can download this mixtape: here

skins series 3 mix

i have been following the new series of skins on E4 like a crazy thing, the whole series is well polished, the actors are great and the music is fantastic. i was not so into the first and second series but for some reason this time round i got well into it.

anyway as an ode to the amazing selection of music that has been used in this series i have put together a little mixtape of tracks that have either been inspired by or used in the episodes. i hope you enjoy my selection and search out some of the great artists for more of there work x

download link: right click and save

track listing:

dog days are over - florence and the machine
halfway home - tv on the radio
beat control - tilly and the wall
machine gun - portishead
jump in - high places
white film - noriko tujiko
postcards from italy - beirut
heavy water/i'd rather be sleeping - grouper
amo bishop roden - boards of canada
love reign over me - david holmes

you can download this mixtape: here

nice