Mixtape December 2019

The final monthly round up of the decade and as Australia is baking in another December heatwave there is a Summertime theme to this month's playlist.  Keep Hydrated!

1) Wandering Star by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
I’m a sucker for chiming bells on a record at this time of year.

2) Kiss Like The Sun by Jake Bugg
A guitar stomper from Nottingham’s finest.

3) Ice Cream Party by Modest Mouse
A six minute sonic invitation and a welcome suggestion during the Aussie Summer.

4) Must I Evolve? By JARV IS...
Jarvis Cocker monologues set to unsettling musical jams like Pulp circa 1992.

5) Cane Fields by Natural High Music featuring Wayne Marshall, Jesse Royal & Kabaka Pryramid
Social justice message in a modern reggae song - however I don’t endorse fire starting in the cane fields.

6) Sunrise by Alice Ivy & Cadence Weapon
Great tune with summer vibes if you still have the motivation to jump around.



7) Beautiful World (acoustic) by The Beautiful Girls
An acoustic version of a 2018 single from these Aussie dub heads.

8) Your Capricious Soul by Michael Stipe
Another legendary frontman returns with new solo material after a quiet decade.

9) Hollow World by Elephant Stone
Psychedelic pop

10) Enjoy The Silence by Nada Surf
Lively cover of this Depeche Mode classic that is almost 30 years old. I’m feeling like Ancient Indie Kid now!

11) Everlasting Nothing by Beck
Beck has just released his 14th album Hyperspace and this electronic gospel number was co-authored with Pharrell Williams.

12) Show Love by Winston Surfshirt
Laidback grooves that will soundtrack another hot Aussie summer.

13) Talk Deep by E^ST
I can assure any youngsters that you will want sleep and talking deep all night will interrupt this.  Priorities change as you get older.
OK Boomer

14) Dance Monkey by Tones and I
This song now holds the record for spending the longest time at the top of the Australian chart (18 weeks so far).

15) Orphans by Coldplay
Coldplay have been on the scene for two decades now.

16) Get On by Easy Street
Australian band with a nod to Bob Dylan.



17) Roddy by Djo
Hard to describe but hard to dislike.

18) Out Of Control (The Avalanches Surrender Remix) by The Chemical Brothers featuring Bernard Sumner
The original is a pounding big beat monster from twenty years ago but this remix version has surfaced with the Avalanches chilling things out considerably.

19) Feel Good Summer by SCABZ
Don't be fooled by the title, this grungy takedown of entitled wankers and the end of the effin' world as we all burn together



20) White Wedding by Graham Coxon
A cover of Billy Idol's classic that didn't make his latest soundtrack.

Mixtape July 2016

It's July - have a soundtrack

Open playlist in Spotify 

1) Colours by The Avalanches.  After sixteen years in the wierderness, Australian DJ collective The Avalanches emerge with new music.  Colours is lush, backwards chanting return to their classic sound and much preferable to their annoying Frank Sinatra comeback single.

2) Wow by Beck. It's a fantastic stab at day-glow cowboy pop and together with last year's Dreams single lead me to speculate that he is about to release his album of the decade in the near future.

3) Shakedown Street by Unknown Mortal Orchestra.  It's an irresistible feel-good cover of The Grateful Dead's original.

4) Cinnamon by Cullen Omori.  I loved the indie band The Smith Westerns who produced some great singles and a classic album Dye It Blonde in 2011.  Their follow up was disappointing and they broke up in 2014.  Happily the former vocalist has gone solo with a great album called New Misery.

5) Dave's Song by Whitney.  The guitarist from The Smith Westerns teamed up with a former singer from Unknown Mortal Orchestra and formed Whitney who just released their debut album Light Upon The Lake.  So two excellent albums from the ashes of a great band.  Happy days!

6) Parachute by Kaiser Chiefs.  The Kaiser Chiefs have traded their guitars for synths and have a forthcoming album in the same vein.

7) Bulls by The Cat Empire.  Aussie Legends.
"The Bull's inside my head and the flag I wave is red".

8) I Never Get Old by Nathaniel Rateliff And The Night Sweats.  It's a modern soul classic!

9) Beautiful Thing by The Stone Roses.  This Is (More Like) The One.  Backwards loops, reverb, drums, guitar licks, blasphemy "There was no Crucifixion, just lies to steal your mind...", seven minutes long, room to breathe and a looser funkier jam.  This resets the expectations for the third album which is, after all, What The World Is Waiting For.

10) Theme From Likely Stories by Jarvis Cocker.  Why has Jarvis never been chosen to write the James Bond theme tune?  I can just hear him whispering "Casino chips, and gravy stains, it's not all fast cars and beautiful women, it's dirtier than that".

11) Hype by Dizzy Rascal and Calvin Harris.  Unhinged dance floor lunacy and great rhymes.

12) Dune Wind by Palace Winter.  Now this is more like it - in fact I'm playing noodling air guitar between typing words in this sentence.

13) Open Wound by Bob Evans.  Bob Evans a.k.a. Kevin Mitchell of Perth band Jebediah singing what feels like an album closer from a Crowded House album.

14) Since You Been Gone by The Heavy.  They sound very American but actually hail from Bath, England.  This is their first single from their new album Hurt and The Merciless.

15) Spinning Away by John Cale.  I thought this was a cover of  Sugar Ray's classic Spinning Away which graced The Beach Soundtrack.  John Cale is of course the Welsh musician and founding member of the Velvet Underground.  It appears that actually John Cale's version was the original.

16) Freedom by The Shimmer Band.  A new British band tearing up the festival circuits.  This is one to watch.    

17) Surgery Of Love by The Delta Riggs.  Ah the psychedelic pop return of Australia's Delta Riggs.  Life is better already.

18) Drag by Cat's Eyes. A Canadian singer Rachel Zeffira and Faris Badwan of The Horrors have teamed up to become Cat's Eyes and produced the wonderfully lush 60's influenced string laden album called Treasure House.

19) Feasting On The Flowers by Red Hot Chili Peppers.  I'm enjoying the 11th studio album by the RHCPs.  It's as rock n roll as a comfy pair of Ugg Boots but just as pleasing.

20) True Love Waits by Radiohead.  It certainly does and so do fans of Radiohead who have been waiting two decades for this song since it was first performed.  It was previously released as a live recording in 2001.




Update - actually Jarvis did do a cover of All Time High the theme from 1983's Bond film Octopussy.