Mixtape Ahoy!

Rightio, it's time for the first mixtape of the new blog. For the uninitiated, every week, I compile a load of songs that I seem to think go together, at least in my head. Then, I zip them all together and put them up on Rapidshare in two parts for you good, good people. If anybody would like individual tracks rather than the whole shebang though, drop me a line at norty.morty@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do...

GIDDY UP! VOLUME FIVE PART ONE

1. Rekid - 85 Space (Slo-mo electro-italo-space-disco stuff (that enough hyphens for ya?) from Matt Edwards. Haven't seen much in the way of blog love for his Made In Menorca album, but it is one fine rekkid.)
2. Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Ballerina (Released on Cottage (Idjut Boys' record label) under the pseudonym Vallerenga Disko And Blues Combo, but we like to call a spade a spade here. L&PT don't totally deviate from their well-worn template, but the pianos are a bit jazzier than they've done before. Also, I love the bit at the end where the guitar goes all detuned. Tres charmant.)
3. Jenny Wilson - Balcony Smoker (Baroque stuff here from the rich-voiced Swede. I like Wilson more everytime I listen to her album. Come play over in England, kiddo!)
4. Seu Jorge - Tive Razao (I went to see this guy last weekend and he was brilliant. A samba'd up version of this was one of the highlights from the erstwhile Knockout Ned.)
5. Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family - Paperboats (One of Frosty's strongest songs, this is a highlight from his debut record. The "oh-oh-ohhh"'s in the chorus may be a little on the cynical side, but hey, it pushes all the right buttons, so what the fuck.)
6. Sly & The Family Stone - Spaced Cowboy (Possibly the track that best sums up Sly Stone's headspace at the time of making There's A Riot Goin' On. The fudgy, muddied production is really treacly here, to the point of impenetrability even. Also present and correct is some serious bizarro shit in the way of some comedy yodelling. Sly probably thought this was brilliant. It's not, but it's certainly a fascinating curio.)
7. Map Of Africa - Dirty Lovin' (Although they tend to get lumped in with the beardo/space disco set, MOA (aka Thomas Bullock and DJ Harvey) mine the depths of murky late-60s psychedelia. Throw some pervy lyrics into the bargain and you've got something that came about thirty-five years too late for Nuggets or Pebbles, but would have easily nestled alongside The 13th Floor Elevators or The Electric Prunes.)
8. Harry Nilsson & John Lennon - Subterranean Homesick Blues (From the bona fide curate's egg that is Pussy Cats, this take on the Dylan classic gives it a swamp-boogie feel, not unlike 'Nutbush City Limits' or Nilsson's own 'Jump Into The Fire'. It'll be interesting to hear The Walkmen's take on this on their upcoming cover of the Nilsson/Lennon collab.)
9. Devo - Girl U Want (It really is amazing how sometimes a completely innocuous song can kick you in the testicles, purely because of something that's happening in your life. I heard this the other day for the first time in a while and it made me feel like punching the air, finding the girl I want and giving her a big ol' snog. Yep, my mouth is indeed watering and my mind is also spinning, but I'll never wear one of those plant-pot hats.)
10. As Mercenarias - Panico (Brazilian post-punk, no-wave, manic shit. There's something about shouting in Portuguese that can just make something that would sound pretty unhinged in any other tongue so much more mental. Panico!)
11. Link Wray - The Black Widow (Music to strut to. The fact that Link Wray did so much to further the cause of rock 'n' roll in the fifties is one that is destined to always go unrecognised. It's all Chuck Berry this, Elvis Presley that. Where's the love for Link?! I ask you!)
12. Bricolage - Footsteps (There are so few seriously promising bands coming out of the UK at the moment that when one does appear it can really take you by surprise. I suppose that referencing Orange Juice was the logical progression from Gang Of Four, but I can still hear the nods towards Talking Heads bubbling under the surface, too. Keep an eye out for these guys.)
13. Jack Mayborn - Music People (Did this rip-off the Rocky theme or did it come first. Either way, they are both quite similar. Just to be obscuro, this would be the one I'd play when I'm running up some steps.)
14. Ghostface Killah feat. Cappadonna, Shawn Wigs & Trife - Jellyfish (Fishscale is still on heavy rotation 'round our way and it's the sheer consistency of the record that lends it to multiple plays. For instance, I only really realised the brilliance of this track the other day. It's that big, warm organ sample that runs through it that elevates it above any old hip-hop shit, you see.)
15. Quiet Village Project - Too High To Move (I should have put a Radioslave track on here too and made this mix a proper Matt Edwards love-in, but the spacey, sunset vibes of this track do more than any other to assert that Edwards is one of the most underrated artists working today. Bask in it.)
16. Syclops - The Fly (Another man of many guises is Maurice Fulton. This is instantly recognisable as his work, but the live drums (?) give it a bit of a band-y feel, which is something he hasn't really done before.)
17. Poni Hoax - Budapest (These guys are about to be very hot indeed. This actually reminds me a little of Linda Lamb's 'Hot Room', but with added drama. Time will tell whether Poni Hoax are just Fischerspooner mk. 2 and for now I'm sitting on the fence. This track is fucking excellent though.)
18. Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-animation) (The original has already spread through the blogosphere like a virulent strain of bongo fever and all that BTWS (Erol Alkan is involved, if you didn't know) do is speed it up, chuck on a little gold dust, send some parts backwards and chuck the thing onto the dancefloor. That was all it really needed anyway.)
19. Teki Latex - Disco Dance With You (Possibly one of the cheesiest things I've heard in, like, ever, but also one of the most charming. Repeating the word 'disco' is always a winner though, isn't it?)

Giddy Up! Volume Five Part One (Part 1) Zipped & Rapidshared

Giddy Up! Volume Five Part One (Part 2) Zipped & Rapidshared

Part two tomorrow,

JMx