Mixtape Ahoy!

Right, this week's, or should I say last week's mixtape is well and truly overdue, so here it is, in all it's glory. Sorry for the brevity, but I'm feeling a bit wiped out tonight. I couldn't even be bothered to doctor a photo in a humourous (?) fashion to stick at the top of this post like I normally do. Hey-ho, let's go, and all that...

GIDDY UP! VOLUME EIGHT

1. Akron/Family - Gone Beyond (Happy-clappy beard enthusiasts Akron/Family have a tendency to let songs dissolve in a maelstrom of noise and classic rock histrionics. 'Gone Beyond' is not one of those songs. In fact, this track, taken from their forthcoming not-quite-mini, not-quite-full-length album, Meek Warrior shows the collective essaying some remarkable restraint and impressively so, too.)
2. Grizzly Bear - Knife (Following Akron/Family with Grizzly Bear may seem a little obvious, but this is probably the least Grizzly Bear-sounding track on Yellow House. Yes, there's still the hushed vocals, the burbling electronics and the sound of the sea, presumably, in the background, but there's a distinct 50s doo-wop vibe to this. Beautiful.)
3. Jonathan Fire*Eater - The Search For Cherry Red (This still manages to give me tingles in the way that the various pursuits ex-members of JF*E have followed since just can't (except for maybe 'The Rat'). That spindly, freewheeling guitar, the lascivious percussion and that Hammer Horror organ all combined with Stewart Lupton's still-intriguing vocal just make this possibly one of the greatest songs from the 90s that not a lot of people know.)
4. The Black Lips - Not A Problem (A recent discovery for me, The Black Lips show that there are still ways of doing garage rock that don't sound like it's been done a million times before. Up the violence quota, pile on the hiss and just write great two-minute rock songs is pretty much all you need to do. Apparently they have to be seen live to get the full experience. I'll be keeping an eye out for them.)
5. Clinic - If You Could Read Your Mind (The new Clinic album, Visitations doesn't hold any major surprises for anyone even vaguely familiar with Clinic's last couple of albums, but hey, they've found that niche. And what a niche it is, too.)
6. Professor Murder - Free Stress Test (Currently gathering a bit of a buzz about them, Professor Murder basically take the percussive intensity of Oneida or !!! and marry it to a knack for a pop tune. I smell one of the most surprising, yet welcome crossovers in recent years.)
7. Shout Out Out Out Out - Chicken Soup For The Fuck You (How can any song live up to that title? Well, Shout Out Out Out Out certainly try with this punk-funk freakout, with the emphasis on the funk. The main percussion is handclaps too, so what's not to like?)
8. Lindstrom - Fast & Delirious (One of the first things that Lindstrom released, this sees him in pretty much straight-up house mode, but there are flashes that the Norwegian master-in-waiting was about to chart a course into the cosmos.)
9. 5 Mic Cluster - Empty Pockets (5 Mic Cluster's Crystal Mic EP will turn out to be one of the last things to be released on Output, but I'm sure these guys will find a new home. The tongue is planted firmly in the cheek on this one, a tale of getting addicted to fruit machines and just gambling in general (think they're having a pop at Mike Skinner, perchance?), that is equal parts grime and Liquid Liquid.)
10. The Joggers - White Madam (The Joggers' album from last year, With A Cape And A Cane is one of the most underrated releases of recent times, in my opinion. I've dipped back into it lately and this one still sticks out as a joyous highlight.)
11. Rocket From The Crypt - Your Touch (Another band whose back catalogue I've been flicking through as of late is RFTC. I picked this one, from the 1997 album, RFTC (or Run For The Caves, as I remember them fibbing to the press was the real meaning behind the abbreviation) as probably not a lot of you would have heard it and it's fantastic. Simple as.)
12. Beyond The Wizards Sleeve - Don't Cry Girl (BTWS are Erol Alkan and Richard Norris and I have absolutely no idea what song this is a re-edit of but it sounds like some wigged-out French psych from, I'd hazard a guess at 1967-ish. Either way, it's genius.)
13. Bobby Darin - Me And Mr Hohner (First of all, I have to thank Jon from Black Country Grammar for finding this for me. I've been looking for this for years. Absolutely brilliant. Forget what you know about Bobby Darin as this is a funky little country-soul number about getting hassled off teh fuzz for, y'know, having facial hair, smoking pot and reading books. A product of its time, but just perfect.)
14. DJ Shadow - This Time (Upon which Shadow throws us a real red herring in the form of something approaching what we expect of him, before he gives us all that hyphy nonesense and freak-folky stuff later on on The Outsider. We prefer the old DJ Shadow, to be honest, that's why we love this.)
15. Amp Fiddler - Faith (Soulful as a room full of Marvin Gaye's and that's all you pretty much need to know.)
16. Beastie Boys - New York City (Rub 'N' Tug Remix) ('Unofficial' re-edit from earlier this year where Tom 'N' Eric lay the Beasties' 'An Open Letter To NYC' over huge chunks of Steve Miller's 'Macho City'. Hey, whaddya know? It works! Methinks the boys approve.)
17. Gang Starr - Code Of The Streets (A bit of a nostalgia tune for me, this one. When I hear this, all of a sudden I'm 13 again and really getting deep into hip-hop, watching Yo! MTV Raps and listening to this over and over again, while my mates were just pumping Doggystyle 24/7. I don't regret being a hip-hop nerd one bit, even if it never got me a girlfriend.)
18. Prince - Erotic City ("You're a sinner I don't care, I just want your creamy thighs". Best line in a song ever.)
19. Neil Young - For The Turnstiles (My favourite Neil Young song and, also, one of my favourite songs ever, this is just a really good song to end a mix. Young does that thing that he does really well and that's make a song sound simultaneously angry and tender. Also, it's got a banjo and I love a bit of banjo, me.)

Part One (Akron/Family - The Joggers) Zipped and Rapidshared

Part Two (Rocket From The Crypt - Neil Young) Zipped and Rapidshared

More free music in zip files next week, kids. Or maybe it'll be sooner than that? Who knows?!

JMx