The Universe is Walking In and Out Through All the Windows

Here's a double disc set I compiled back in '08. I can't quite believe 4 years have passed since this was created.

The goal here was to take contemporary bands who all borrow heavily from the 60's to create a retro pop mix (although Disc 2 is a little more eccentric) I'm in love with the whole pastoral vibe, and although perhaps a little early it may signpost the coming spring and sprinkle a little warmth into your heart and soul.

Disc 1

01 The Lionheart Brothers - To Make You Love Me

02 Manitoba - Kid, You'll Move Mountains

03 The Shimmer Kids Underpop Association - Sundowner

04 John Cunningham - You Shine

05 Astropop 3 - Lost in a Dream

06 Pas/Cal - O Honey We're Ridiculous

07 Golden Shoulders - Finding Out

08 The Late B.P Helium - Reminder to Self

09 The High Llamas - Up in the Hills

10 The Quarter After - Winter Song

11 Bikeride - The Mystery of Magnet Power

12 The Universe - The Bigness of Small Things

13 Orwell - Sun Holiday

14 Nobody & The Mystic Chords of Memory - The Seed

15 Timewellspent - Millionaire

16 The Heavy Blinkers - Filtered Light

17 The High Dials - The Lost Explorer

18 P:ano - Light O' Love

19 We All Have Hooks For Hands - Jumpin' Jean-Luc

20 Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Let Those Blue Skies

Zip

Disc 2

01 The Dolly Rocker Movement - Sunflower

02 Their Hearts Were Full of Spring - As Long as The Sun Shines

03 Kelley Stoltz - Tintinnabulation

04 Soft Hearted Scientists - Brother Sister

05 The 1900s - City Water

06 Say Jansfield - The Lonely Piano

07 Doleful Lions - Strange Vibrations

08 Dr. Dog - Weekend

09 Ruby Suns - Remember

10 The Tyde - Separate Cars

11 The Silent League - Canary in the Coalmine

12 The Explorers Club - Priscilla

13 Super Furry Animals - She's Got Spies

14 Kevin Tihista's Red Terror - Sweet

15 The Boo Radleys - I've Lost the Reason

16 Animal Collective - Peacebone

17 The Pillbugs - I Don't Really Mean to Freak You Out

18 Earlies - Breaking Point

19 Aidan Smith - Jam Will Suffice

20 Lone Pigeon - The Magic Mouse of Mupping Keep

Zip

Crossing Little Streams

Twitter can be a load of old guff and at times, makes me think I'm the only normal (massive caveats too long to list) person who bothers. This was made (stream of consciously with no self editing so it could be arse) for the lovely @writerraine who made me feel less alone just at the right moment.

I've used a few of these recently on other mixes but they deserve to be heard by everybody

01 Unbunny - Dental Hygienist

02 Ral Partha Vogelbacher - Messy Artist

03 Bettie Serveert - Story in a Nutshell

04 The Apples in Stereo - Sunndal Song

05 Run on Sentence - Wide Open Sky

06 King Creosote - Saffy Nool

07 Francoise and the Atlas Mountains - Wonders

08 Mull Historical Society - Public Service Announcer

09 Chriss Sutherland - Flaking in the Hands

10 Withered Hand - Love in the Time of Ecstacy

11 Kid Canaveral - You Only Went Out to Get Drunk Last Night

12 Herman Dune - With a Fistful of Faith

13 My Latest Novel - I Declare a Ceasefire

14 dEUS - Ideal Crash

15 Half-handed Cloud - Tongues That Possess the Earth...

16 Marisa Monte - Diariamente

17 Califone - Funeral Singers

18 Silver Seas - Another Bad Nights Sleep

19 Maxel Toft - Quick Fix

20 East River Pipe - Make a Deal With the City

21 Meursault - Crank Resolutions

22 Admiral Fallow - Squealing Pigs

Listen to mix

Zip folder of individual tracks tomorrow.

Hook Line & Sinker [A Cloudberry Records 50]

2 Discs of 50 primo pop gems from the splendid Cloudberry Records stable. Compiled in 2008 when i was on a C86 and twee binge. i think it still holds up well.

Disc 1

01 Hari and Aino - Gold (or Something Just as Nice)
02 Horowitz - Popkids of the World Unite!
03 Afternoon Naps - Clean Bill of Health
04 Honeyheads - Out of Marseille
05 The Airfields - Prisoners of Our Love
06 Basil - 4 AM in the Morning
07 Sparky's Magic Piano - Forget it All
08 Bedroom Eyes - Motorcycle Daydream
09 Apple Orchard - The Way You Brush Your Hair Away
10 Matador José - Still It's There
11 The April Skies - A Lifetime in the Sun
12 Funny Little Dream - It Must Been You
13 Princess Niko - Polycotton Drama
14 Peace in Our Time - These Meaningless Things
15 The Felt Tips Not Tonight
16 Post - Oh! Custer
17 The Garlands - Freedom
18 Slow Down Talahassee - So Much for Love
19 Astrolab - When the Leaf is Not Green
20 The Manhattan Love Suicides - Things You've Never Done
21 Twig - Life in a Swedish Town
22 Soda Fountain Rag - You Can't Stop Me
23 The Flower Beds - You Mean to Me
24 Indurain - Hornstull Cinema
25 Scottish Polis Inspectors - Fallen

Listen to Mix



Download Zip

Disc 2

01 The Deirdres - Claire, Are we Safe to be on our Own
02 Summer Cats - Discotheque
03 Bye Bye Bicycles - Westside
04 Zipper - A Good Man
05 Celestial - Hope, You Know
06 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - This Love is Fucking Right!
07 Stars in Coma - Invisibility Trick
08 The Westfield Mining Disaster - Not Everybody Gets To Be A Rolling Stone
09 The Occasional Flickers - A Medal won in 84
10 Fever Hut - Jean Paul Sartre
11 Charlie Big Time - Charlie Big Time
12 The Morning Papers - Fingers Crossed
13 Fantastic Day-The Icicle Works
14 Bridal Shop - Marine Thing
15 The San Marinos - Half a Million
16 The Waving Tree - Your Friend
17 Broken Down Lorry - Monty
18 The Faintest Ideas - Skip the Bridge
19 Safety Matches - Crumbs in Bed
20 Thirst for Treasures - I Want to Shoplift Your Heart
21 The Olive Shoots - Pilgrimage
22 The Mare - Us Two
23 The Vermont Sugar House - Walking Distance
24 Signed Papercuts - Nothingness
25 Acoustic Stories - Bright Ray

Listen to Mix




Download Zip

Nonbiri Bonyari

An old mix made with my mate sammyg123 whose terrific blog can be found on the side of this page. An old poptastic favourite of mine.

1. Elephant Parade - Goodbye
2. Math and Physics Club - A Little Romance
3. Rogério Duprat (com Os Mutantes) - The Rain, The Park, and Other Things
4. Spring Vs. Pez - Skool Bus
5. Les 5-4-3-2-1 - Bond Street
6. La Casa Azul - El secreto de Jeff Lynne
7. Distracto - Ladybird Bag
8. The Lucksmiths - Macintyre
9. Vertex - Fell in Love
10. Klaxon 5 - Never Underestimate the Ignorance of the Rich
11. Ariane - Ice Cream
12. Jupiter Apple - Act Not Surprise
13. Chapi Chapo & les petites musiques de pluie - Horse on a Rock
14. Stereolab - Bop Scotch
15. Momus - Kokoro Hirai
16. The Peppers - Pepper Box
17. Benny Sings - We'll Make Lovesongs
18. Sopwith Camel - Hello Hello
19. CocoRosie - Werewolf
20. The Blow - Hey Boy
21. The Explorers Club - Don't Forget the Sun
22. The Clientele - Bookshop Casanova
23. Garden Odyssey - Have You Ever Been to Georgia?
24. Beach House - Gila

Cloths of Heaven

I well recall making this for St. Patricks Day in 2007. A mix I wish I had never started if I'm honest. The songs all had to be based on the writings of William Butler Yeats, an arduous task in its own right but my insistence on seeking out poetry readings and recordings from the man himself from old library recordings became an absolute nightmare and took roughly 4 months to wrap up.

That said, I'm glad it exists

-Original comments 14/3/2007-

William Butler Yeats 1865-1939 Well now... I decided to make this mix almost two years ago and it was meant to be finished for last years St Patricks day but I got sidetracked and found source material hard to come by. I chanced upon some archived recordings at my local library of the man himself reciting his poetry and began to weave it through the songs I had collected. The songs themselves are all either direct attempts at putting his words to music or simply trying to convey the images within a tune or an air. Only the Sinead O'Connor is tenuous as it is very loosely based on his poem No Second Troy. My English Literature teacher is to blame really as he introduced me to Yeats when I was a mere boy and during my adolescent years I developed a bit of an obsession with all things W.B I even managed to persuade an aunt to take me to what was by now to me the mythical Innisfree. Anyway enough romanticizing, in terms of listening, should you be so inclined, the sequence might be hard to follow here as sometimes the spoken pieces are played over the music. Incidentally the uncredited poetry readings were taken from BBC broadcasts over this past few years. Happy St Patricks day oh and tread softly... Runtime 58:17

1 Uncredited Reading - Sailing to Byzantium
2 Lisa Gerrard - Sailing to Byzantium
3 Shane MacGowan & Cafe Orchestra - An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
4 Arty McGlynn - The Sally Garden
5 Carla Bruni- Before The World Was Made
6 William Butler Yeats - The Lake isle of Inisfree
7 Donovan - The Lake isle of Inisfree
8 Davy Spillane - The Host of the Air
9 Uncredited Reading - The Second Coming
10 John Tavener (w/ Heidi Grant Murphy) - To a Child Dancing in the Wind
11 Chris Thompson - The Song Of Wandering Aengus
12 Uncredited Reading - Aedh Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven
13 The North Sea Radio Orchestra - He Wishes for The Cloths of Heaven
14 Jolie Holland - Wandering Angus
15 Sinead O'Connor - Troy
16 Loreena McKennitt - The Stolen Child
17 The Big Huge - Wrapped in the Cloths of Heaven
18 W.H Auden - In Memory of W.B Yeats (Poem)
19 Bill Douglas - The Lake Isle of Innisfree
20 William Butler Yeats - The Song of the Old Mother

Les aventures psychédéliques de Frenchy et Dali - Your Humble Entertainers

For this past 7 or 8 years off and on I've been posting Mix Cds online. The internet is littered with hastily thrown together wannabe hipster rubbish that I now largely disown. I've recently been bitten by the bug again and long term illness dictates that I have time to kill.

One of my oldest buddies on the circuit is Cliff, now domiciled in France but still an incurable music nut. As well as being mates we seem able to very quickly compile a cracking mix in next to no time at all. He's been on a psychedelia kick for a while now so to rekindle the flame I asked him to put something together along those lines. He obliged in fine style with some cracking grooves which I largely complimented with the quirky baroque pop stylings that I seem drawn to.

We are both proud of this compilation but next time I'm dragging him kicking and screaming out of his multicoloured universe for something different.


1 The High Strung - Standing at the Door of Self Discovery
2 Gomez - Airstream Driver
3 Setting Son - Soulmate
4 Peter Pan & The Good Fairies - Kaleidoscope
5 Secret Powers - Maryanne
6 The Method - Your Humble Entertainers
7 Dumbo Gets Mad - Plumy Tale
8 The Dalai Lama Rama Fa Fa Fa - You Make Me Crazy
9 The Bewitched Hands - Happy With You
10 Last Drive - Valley of Death
11 B.C Camplight - Lord, I've Been on Fire
12 Sand Pebbles - Future Proofed
13 Cheval Sombre - Little Bit of Heaven
14 Cotton Club - Technicolor Dream
15 The Young Sinclairs - Forever After
16 Thee Piatcions - Time
17 Manitoba - Kid You'll Move Mountains
18 Miles Kane - Better Left Invisible
19 The Smiles and Frowns - Mechanical Song