Mixtape, Sir? (The Third One)

Another fine selection now, put together wiv me bare 'ands. Unlike yesterday's disco bonanza, this one's a little bit rock 'n' roll. A bit like Donny Osmond in that song. In fact, The Osmonds make an appearance towards the end of this tape and it's not 'Crazy Horses'. Enjoy!


YER MAM!'S 10p MIX-UP VOLUME TWO (DISC 1)

1. Prinzhorn Dance School - You Are The Space Invader (With a clear understanding of the raw power of rock 'n' roll's basic elements, PDS are as stripped down as they come. But the gnarled, bewitching recycled blues riff and the stark snare cracks and hissy hi-hats hit home a lot more harder than your standard, empty guitar shredding. It may go nowhere, but you try shaking it from your cerebellum after just the first listen.)
2. The Ponys - Poser Psychotic (I'm of the opinion that the new Ponys album, Turn The Lights Out isn't a patch on Celebration Castle, but it's not really comparable. The new one is a more low-key affair, upon which the not exactly ostentatious, 'Poser Psychotic' is one of the most showy songs. After all though, a below-par Ponys record is still a Ponys record and that is reason enough to celebrate.)
3. Ut - Fuel (Taken from Ut's final album, the Steve Albini-produced, Griller, 'Fuel' is a fast-slow-fast rollick through every trick in the post-punk book. Said tricks are reinvigorated by Ut's violent, shrill dramatics and Albini's raw, unfussy studio work . A song out of time, from a brilliant lost album.)
4. Flipper - Ever (Flipper's greatest strength always lay in their ability to make songs sound like they could fall apart at any given moment, yet somehow imbue those songs with an infectious, restless energy. This, the opening track from their Generic Flipper album, is a prime example of that; sloppy, offbeat handclaps play out through the song, and ramshackle drums and proto-grunge, sludgy guitars indulge in a drunken fight, throwing haymakers at each other while the bassline lies slumped in a heap in the corner. Brilliantly chaotic.)
5. Bloc Party - The Prayer (Chaotic is one thing that 'The Prayer' isn't. It's a methodical, mechanical modern rock song that's as complex as it is engaging. Producer, Garrett Lee's dance music background is pushed to the fore, making 'The Prayer' sound almost like a better remix of a lesser song by a lesser band, if that makes any sense. A rock song that you can conceivably dance to, then.)
6. Joakim - Lonely Hearts (Bruised melancholy, set to a clipped, punk-funk backing with some neat bleeps and bloops, chattering away at the back. One of the standouts from Joakim's impressive new album, Monsters And Silly Songs.)
7. Chromatics - In The City (Blissful, downbeat disco from one of the most interesting bands around now. Also, 'In The City' has the best, most effective video I've seen in ages. Watch it here.)
8. Anti-Pop Consortium - Dystopian Disco Force (This is one of those tunes that I've stuck on mixtapes in the past when I want something kickarse to fill up a couple of minutes of space. Definitely one of the funkiest two minutes in recent years.)
9. My Cousin Roy - Make It Yourself (My Cousin Roy is the shady character otherwise known as Roy Dank, Brennan Green's DJ partner. This is an edit of, well, I don't actually know what of, but it's hella funky. Just listen to that bassline!)
10. Yummy Bingham - Come Get It (feat. Jadakiss) (Ultra-sassy, nu-soul bomb from the one who rightly calls herself Yummy. The one gripe is that Jadakiss' lazy, growled, unnecessarily macho verse is forgettable but, hey, check out those horns!)
11. Busdriver - Sun Showers (My new favourite artist, Busdriver goes all new wave melancholia on this cut from his peerless new album, RoadKillOvercoat. The vocal is superbly bitter and weary and Boom Bip's off-the-wall production is the icing on the cake. It screams breakthrough hit but, the music world being what it is, I fear it won't happen. You all need to hear this though.)
12. Klanguage - Strike It (Another effortlessly cool slice of electro-rock from Yuksek and co. While I tend to steer clear of this kind of stuff, there's something so neat and tidy about Klanguage's songs that eschews the fussy, overdone blueprint of this subgenre. Recommended.)
13. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Satan Said Dance (An exercise in nervy menace from Alec Ounsworth, 'Satan Said Dance' is, arguably, CYHSY's best song to date and has been ever since I first heard them play it live about fifteen months ago. Almost worth the price of the album alone.)
14. The B-52's - Private Idaho (Our generation mainly seems to think The B-52s starts and ends with 'Love Shack', but thinking that leads to neglecting one of the best, most consistent post-punk bands of the late-70s/early-80s. I wanted to put a B-52's song on here and I couldn't choose at first. Before settling on 'Private Idaho', it was almost '6060-842', 'Lava', 'Planet Claire' or 'Devil In My Car'. 'Private Idaho' just seemed to fit though, so it stays. Enjoy!)
15. Gene Page - Firebombs (The beauty of file-sharing is that you often end up downloading things that you'd never think of searching for. That was the case with this, a funky little interlude from the Blacula OST. The whole record is full of genius blaxploitation funk but this has those vertiginous strings, belligerent horns and choppy, wah-wah guitar that you immediately think of when someone says the word, 'blaxploitation'.)
16. Pure Essence - Third Rock (No, not that moody goth-rock band from Manchester, but a funk '45 that was sampled by Rjd2 on 'Clean Living' off Since We Last Spoke and features on Peanut Butter Wolf's recent Chrome Children mix that was a joint venture between Stones Throw and [adult swim]. Breathtaking psychedelic, cosmic soul.)
17. Frankie Valli - Beggin' (Pilooski Edit) (London's Pilooski stretches out Frankie's northern soul belter to make it a little more dancefloor-friendly but the most impressive thing about this is that it isn't all that different from the original. Who knew that Mr Valli could get down so hard?)
18. The Osmonds - I I I (Quiet Village No Edit) (Another one that took me by surprise, considering the source material. Widescreen disco-funk from everyone's favourite Mormon family, treated with reverence and respect by QV.)
19. Rod Stewart - Losing You (Heavy Disco Edit) (Completing a closing triumvirate of artists I bet you never thought you'd see on a Yer Mam! mixtape, Rod's strident cover of The Temptations' classic gets an ecstatic funk overhaul from Heavy Disco (apparently, Ashley Beedle and someone from Faith).)

Yer Mam!'s 10p Mix-Up Volume Two (Disc 1) Ripped, Zipped and Sent Into Space