Mixtape Ahoy! Chapter Two

And here is the second part of this week's double mixtape bonanza...

GIDDY UP! VOLUME SIX PART TWO

1. The Thermals - Here's Your Future (The opening track from The Thermals' rather excellent new album, The Body, The Blood, The Machine has an intense, feral, Pixies-like fervour to it, coupled with combative religious imagery that marks it as a cut above the usual scuzz-rock stuff. Worth your time and your soul.)
2. Sebadoh - The Freed Pig (Sebadoh have recently had their III album re-mastered, re-issued and re-reviewed. Most hacks concur that this is one of the most overlooked records of the 90s, coming as it did during the whole grung thang. Sebadoh were a little all-over-the-shop for that scene and a little too full-on for the burgeoning college rock movement, but history and re-visitation has been kind to them. This, one of their strongest pop songs is testament to Lou Barlow's knack for a keening, heartfelt pop melody.)
3. Viva Voce - From The Devil Himself (Psyche-pop from Viva Voce's new record, Get Yr Blood Sucked Out with a country-ish lilt. I'd previously written VV off as a poor-man's Joy Zipper, but now I see that I was a little unfair on them as the new album is pretty neat indeed.)
4. Sparklehorse - Don't Take My Sunshine Away (Ah, the return of Sparklehorse has been greeted with much celebration chez Yer Mam! The new album is better than could have been hoped for. There's not much in the way of change really; Linkous seems to have lightened up a little, taking 'Dear Prudence' as his main inspiration for this track, the opener, but the fragile voice and the strange electronics, sprinkled sparingly but effectively on the alt-country backing are all present and correct.)
5. Keith - Mona Lisa's Child (The remixes of this seem to be doing the blog rounds at the moment, but I still prefer the original. Starting off all ominous and portentous before unfolding into an infectious loose groove that recalls Happy Mondays at their peak. Nice work.)
6. Jeffrey & Jack Lewis - Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror (Possibly one of the most hilarious songs I've heard in a long time, Jeff & Jack use Oldham's favoured Appalachian folk as a backdrop for a vicious attack on hipsterism. But is it really Will Oldham who raped Jeff as they disembarked the L train? I think that's something that's best kept between Lewis and the Bonnie Prince.)
7. Zero 7 feat. Jose Gonzalez - Futures (Rub 'N' Tug Remix) (Messrs Bullock and Duncan give the soporific sounds of Zero 7 and Mr Festival a fittingly Balearic makeover that would be best suited to soundtracking an Ibiza sunset. They just get better and better don't they?)
8. Of Montreal - Disconnect The Dots (Mixel Pixel Remix) (It's strange that it should take a remix album to get me into a band, but that is what has happened with Of Montreal's recent Satanic Twins collection, of which this is one of the best tracks. Now I'm converted.)
9. Junior Boys - Count Souvenirs (I originally said, back on the old blog, that So This Is Goodbye isn't as good as Last Exit. I take that back now, as with every listen, the new Junior Boys record gets better, with this being my current favourite. Adam Greenspan's rich croon has never sounded as good as it does here.)
10. Bell Biv Devoe - Poison (Original 12" Mix) (I posted this a while back as a one-off mp3, but I just had to sneak it onto a mixtape at some point. The outmoded lyrical sentiments may seem a bit quaint to some ears now, but the main conceit of the song, that you should never trust a big butt and a smile, is one that I still adhere to.)
11. Kelis - Blindfold Me (The mp3 says that it features Nas, but this is actually the Nas-less version, as I think that, given their personal relationship, it enters too much information territory. Get a room! This version, with just Kelis on the mic is more palatable and you can pretend that she's singing about you, if you're that way inclined.)
12. The Pack - Vans (After slagging off crunk music the other day, here's a crunk track that I actually like. It's the backpacker sentiments of the words that won me over, the juxtaposition of that with the thuggish music is what makes this good. That and the hook, "Got my Vans on but they look like sneakers".)
13. OutKast - The Train (feat. Sleepy Brown and Scar) (One of the few highlights from the Idlewild album and that's because it's a Big Boi track, essentially. They've done this kind of thing before, but no-one does it better than OutKast when they get it right.)
14. Kanye West - We Major (feat. Nas and Really Doe) (You know how the genius of an artist doesn't really hit you at first? Well, I recently re-visited Late Registration and realised just how good Kanye is. It was this song, with the slowed-down drums, cascading harp sample and the queasy trumpets that finally made me open my eyes and see this guy (at least with Jon Brion lending a helping hand) as the maverick 'Brian Wilson of hip-hop' that people reckon he is.)
15. Marit Bergman - No Party (The Field Remix) (The Field is really making a name for himself as a remixer with his re-rubs of this and a recent James Figurine track. This is my favourite of the two as this shows that The Field has an excellent understanding of just how devastating and thrilling repetition can be, taking chopped up elements of the original and letting them whirl and double-back on each other until all you want to do is dance along. One of the best remixes of '06 thus far.)
16. Trentemoller - While The Cold Winter Waiting (Finishing things up with one of the strongest tracks from Trentemoller's very strong debut album, The Last Resort. This is the one where he out-ethereal's Sigur Ros, making the widely-held belief among electro-purists that live instruments have no place on an electronic album seem as absurd as saying that all rock albums should be released on wax cylinder.)

Part One (The Thermals - Of Montreal) Zipped and Rapidshared

Part Two (Junior Boys - Trentemoller) Zipped and Rapidshared