Yer Mam!: Mixtape y'all!

Howdy!

Last mixtape of 2007 for you right here...

YER MAM!'S SOLID GOLD SMASHES VOLUME FOUR

Ronnie Hayward - You Hound Ya Lie (Superb rockabilly bounce from the rather fun Cut Chemist & Keb Darge-compiled Lost And Found. I don't put enough stuff like this on my mixtapes. Super-cool.)
Gene Clark - No Other (Gospel-tinged, swampy, psych-country-blues rock - enough prefixes for ya? - from the late Byrd's solo album of the same name, one of my favourite albums of all time.)
Leonard Cohen - Diamonds In The Mine (I spent some time earlier this year getting into Cohen's early work, by virtue of the remasters of his first three albums. It's not all misery and gloom you know as this little country rollick goes to show. That unrefined, gravelly voice is still there though. And the highly-defined sense of finding the beauty in life's ugliness. It's just that he was still ripping off Dylan at this point of his career. It's a superior rip-off though, that's for sure.)
Bobby Charles - Long Face (Nice little soulful country number - spotting a pattern yet? - from The Band co-conspirator, Charles. Needless to say, if you like Robbie Robertson & co., you're going to love this.)
The Beach Boys - Sail On, Sailor (One of my favourite Beach Boys tunes from the oft-neglected, yet brilliant Holland album. Sung by Blondie Chaplin but with those unmistakable harmonies, it's definitely a highlight from the patchy - read largely awful - '70s period.)
The Flying Burrito Brothers - Hot Burrito #1 (Rounding off our Americana sweep is this beauty. Choosing my favourite Gram Parsons vocal performance is always difficult but this is always up for consideration. Pure heartbreak.)
Boat Club - Warmer Climes (Swedish duo Boat Club look to low-key, British electronic pop of the '80s for inspiration. Think a fey Talk Talk and you're halfway there. Like Studio but less overblown and proggy.)
A.R. Kane - A Love From Outer Space (One of the most overlooked bands of the '80s, this is one of those tracks that would have been huge if it weren't for bad timing. With its upbeat piano and loved-up vocal, it would have killed during '89's second summer of love. Alas, it came out the year before and was pretty much ignored. Right that wrong now.)
The Honeymoon Killers - Decollage (Prins Thomas' edit of this is one of the many highlights of his Cosmo Galactic Prism mix, but the original's pretty damn fine too. It makes me feel slightly queasy in the best way possible. Plus, it's sung in French, which is always a bonus.)
Patrice Rushen - Number One (Instrumental) (A boogie-era fave, this imperiously funky, slightly jazzy discoid workout still kills. Certain to slay any right-minded dancefloor the world over.)
Stevie Wonder - All I Do (One of Stevie's best. Not much more to be said on the matter really.)
7 Samurai - The African (Panoptikum Remix) (Soulful, Marley-cribbing tech-house from the G.A.M.M. stable. Those Swedes have got this music shit sewn up haven't they?)
Nagano Kitchen - Finding Kinoko (Nagano Kitchen are house producers Jerome Sydenham and Hideo Kobayashi and this is, as you'd expect, a little on the proggy side, but with some winning Balearic flourishes, such as the Gottsching-like guitar line. Blissful.)
Booka Shade - Numbers (Extended Vocal Mix) (Done for their recent DJ-Kicks mix, this shows that not all contractual obligations have to be artistically redundant. Keeps the good run of form going for the German duo.)
Etienne Jaumet - Repeat Again After Me (Ame Remix) (Another production double act on excellent form are Ame and here they turn in a stunning, malevolent primetime killer with one of the best uses of a saxophone since Kenny G had his inserted sideways into his rectum in 1988.)
Hercules & Love Affair - Roar (Astonishing stuff from DFA's Andy Butler. Retro-modernism with a coital-sounding Antony Hegarty on vox, although you probably couldn't tell if you didn't already know. Irresistibly sexy and bodes well for the full length coming early next year. Did someone say album of 2008?)