I discovered this track while researching "Electroswing" tracks for DJ'ing. I like Electroswing a lot, but I like some of the old 1930's source material even better...
Alt-pop I really enjoy...
Acoustic hip hop drinking song.
In which Bela Fleck "Brings the Banjo back to Africa". This is the most whimsical track on his album "Throw Down Your Heart" which is the soundtrack for the documentary film of the same name.
This is from the album Lost and Safe -- interesting because it's fun and folksy yet experimental and heavily sample-based... Very unique.
"All musical elements are expertly but gently balanced like a series of birds on a wire. Although not overtly apparent, the band's lyrics, in addition to being spiritually inquisitive, can be quite funny. This is most apparent during the act's current live show, during which video accompaniment emphasizes the graduate school-level word play that characterizes songs like "Smells Like Content" and "An Animated Description of Mr. Maps." It is also another element, like the use of cello and banjo, that sets The Books off on their own: the closest analog may be the so-called "free folk" of Animal Collective, although the bands aren't formally similar.
I first heard this song when it was used on an episode of TV's "House". Me -- and a million other people apparently -- flocked online to see who had made this amazing track. This turned me on to "All We Grow", one of my favorite albums in the last ten years... More on that later.
I heard Nils play when he came to Santa Fe in 2012... Didn't like his performance in person, but on this album "Felt" there are a few tracks I find myself listening to over and over.
This is one of the only brand new tracks I've composed since 2010.
If you've never seen any of Pogos videos, you're in for a treat. Video and music have never been so tightly integrated / mixed up...
Simply infectious.
I had Pacific Standard Time on repeat for about 3 weeks. Good vibes, great production... Makes me want to be a surfer...
Incredibly whimsical. Epic breakdown in the middle. Composed completely on Arp synthesizers which is a serious accomplishment in and of itself.
Um... It may not be possible to appreciate this song -- a cornerstone of New Orleans "booty music" without watching the video. NSFW. Or for your kids. Really it's unsuitable for ANYONE which is maybe why I love it so much.
While we're talking about unsuitable stuff, let's bring in one of the smartest weirdest hip hop albums made in the last 20 years, Dr. Octagonecologyst.
Dr. Octagonecologyst introduces the character of Dr. Octagon, a homicidal, extraterrestrial, time-traveling gynecologist and surgeon. The album's distinctive sound crosses genres such as psychedelic, electronic music, and trip hop. Thornton's lyrics are often abstract, using surrealism, non-sequiturs, and juvenile humor. The unique sound and lyrics of Dr. Octagonecologyst helped revitalize alternative and underground hip hop, gaining more attention than any contemporary independent hip hop album "in quite a while".
More superb hip hop from the same era.
This is from For Emma, Forever Ago -- one of the most moving albums I've heard in my life. It's got a good story, too:
The biographical details behind the creation of an album shouldn't matter when it comes to a listener's enjoyment, but For Emma, Forever Ago, Justin Vernon's debut as Bon Iver, exudes such a strong sense of loneliness and remoteness that you might infer some tragedy behind it. So, to skirt the rumor mill, here are the particulars, as much or as little as they might apply: In 2005, Vernon's former band DeYarmond Edison moved from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to North Carolina. As the band developed and matured in its new home, the members' artistic interests diverged and eventually the group disbanded. While his bandmates formed Megafaun, Vernon-- who had worked with the Rosebuds and Ticonderoga-- returned to Wisconsin, where he sequestered himself in a remote cabin for four snowy months. During that time, he wrote and recorded most of the songs that would eventually become For Emma, Forever Ago.
- Pitchfork
This independent artist has a lot of great music on SoundCloud/kmtkc.
Also from Lost and Safe.
Shh! This track is actually by Todd Terje (composer of Inspector Norse earlier in this mix) but he made this ridiculous song under this ridiculous moniker, never to be used again. I laugh out loud every time I hear the cheek-slap solo.
This album by James Blake shows how electronic doesn't necessarily mean without soul.
Eno does pop like only eno can... Another Day on Earth
Another independent artist found on soundcloud.com/aaron-mc-lipsett. I love how this track is does the funky techno house thing but also has a lush (LUSH!) backing and vocals.
Rediscovered this track on a 15-year old ambient compilation...
This 26 minute version is in fact the abbreviated / short version. I love the longer version as well (1 hour, featuring tom waits with additional vocals.) For weeks I listened to this track over and over while working. Serious trance space. Nice back-story too:
In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song - sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads - and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet"...
When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song - 13 bars in length - formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping...
http://www.gavinbryars.com/Pages/jesus_blood_never_failed_m.html
This is from White Clouds Drift on & on, an album that is unfortunately very difficult to purchase (affordably.)
So overused in documentary films that when I play it I look around for cameras because I think I'm being filmed as well. Just a great tune though.
A while back I contributed to Amanda Palmer's kickstarter project (which she later talked about on a TED talk -- and a bonus for the kickstarter funders was this "B" side track which quickly became my favorite song (not) on the album.
A heroic song.
Sid Vicious played a four-string fender bass guitar and couldn't sing
And everybody hated him except the ones who loved him
A ukulele has four strings, but Sid did did not play ukulele
He did smack and probably killed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen
If only Sid had had a ukulele, maybe he would have been happy
Maybe he would not have suffered such a sad end
He maybe would have not done all that heroin
Instead he maybe would've sat around just singing nice songs to his girlfriend
So play your favorite cover song, especially if the words are wrong
'Cause even if your grades are bad, it doesn't mean you're failing
Do your homework with a fork
And eat your fruit loops in the dark
And bring your etch-a-sketch to work
And play your ukulele
Ukulele small and fierceful
Ukulele brave and peaceful
You can play the ukulele too it is painfully simple
Play your ukulele badly, play your ukulele loudly
Ukulele banish evil
Ukulele save the people
Ukulele gleaming golden from the top of every steeple
Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother fourty whacks
Then gave her father fourty-one, and left a tragic puzzle
If only they had given her an instrument
Those puritans had lost the plot completely
See what happens when you muzzle
A person's creativity
And do not let them sing or scream
And nowadays it's worse 'cause kids have automatic handguns
It takes about an hour to teach someone to play the ukulele
About the same to teach someone to build a standard pipe bomb
You do the math
So play your favorite cover song, especially if the words are wrong
'Cause even if your grades are bad, it doesn't mean you're failing
Do your homework with a fork
And eat your fruit loops in the dark
And bring your flask of Jack to work
And play your ukulele
Ukulele, thing of wonder
Ukulele, wand of thunder
You can play the ukulele, too
In London and Down Under
Play Joan Jett, and play Jacques Brel
And Eminem and Neutral Milk Hotel
The children crush the hatred
Play your ukulele naked
If anybody tries to steal your ukulele, let them take it
Imagine there's no music, imagine there are no songs
Imagine that John Lennon wasn't shot in front of his apartment
Now imagine if John Lennon had composed "Imagine" for the ukulele
Maybe people would have truly got the message
You may think my approach is simple-minded and naïve
Like if you wanna change the world then why not quit and feed the hungry?
But people for millennia have needed music to survive
And that is why I've promised John that I will not feel guilty
So play your favorite Beatles' song
And make the subway fall in love
They're only $19.95, that isn't lots of money
Play until the sun comes up
And play until your fingers suffer
Play LCD soundsystem songs on your ukulele
Quit the bitching on your blog
And stop pretending art is hard
Just limit yourself to three chords
And do not practice daily
You'll minimize some stranger's sadness
With a piece of wood and plastic
Holy fuck it's so fantastic, playing ukulele
Eat your homework with a fork
And do your fruit loops in the dark
And bring your etch-a-sketch to work
Your flask of Jack
Your vibrator
Your fear of heights
Your Nikon lens
Your mom and dad
Your disco stick
Your soundtrack to "Karate Kid"
Your ginsu knives
Your rosary
Your new Rebecca Black CD
Your favorite room
Your Bowie knife
Your stuffed giraffe
Your new glass eye
Your sousaphone
Your breakfast tea
Your Nick Drake tapes
Your giving tree
Your ice cream truck
Your missing wife
Your will to live
Your urge to cry
Remember we're all gonna die
So play your ukulele
2013: I turned 40!
To celebrate, I put together a 2.5 hour continuous mix of the 29 most moving, fun, inspirational, and peaceful songs I've discovered over the last ten years.
This musical trip will take you into ambient, hip hop, folk, techno, and modern classical spaces.
I really enjoyed making this mix, and I hope it adds some joy to your day as well.
Right-click or control-click on this link to save this mix as a MP3 file.
- Canton