Muxtape is down, as the site coyly puts it "while we sort out a problem with the RIAA." Now what do we do?
(Nobody say Celebrity Mixwit, OK?)
Showing posts with label celebrity muxtape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celebrity muxtape. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Celebrity Muxtape #4: MJ Hibbett
MJ Hibbett had a viral hit before the term had been popularised with Hey Hey 16k, is a major advocate of the ukelele, was Steve Lamacq's Euro 2004 correspondent, got called "a national institution" by The Word and will in August be at the Edinburgh Fringe performing My Exciting Life In ROCK!, an autobiographial account of his career with musical illustration, with a single called It Only Works Because You're Here out before then. We love him, so we asked him what he loves, and he told us.
MJ Hibbett's Muxtape
I've had a bit of a think and I thought I'd do a "My Exciting Life In ROCK" THEMED muxtape, based on the life-cycle of being in a band. THUS:
Art Brut - Formed A Band
When I first saw them Eddie Argos used this song to tell the ENTIRE audience to go out TONIGHT and form their own band. If I hadn’t already got one I would have done so IMMEDIATELY!
The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money
This is Macca trying to persuade the other Fabs to go out on the road and do some tiny gigs again, because it would be FUN. They disagreed – miserable sods.
Half Man Half Biscuit - Running Order Squabble Fest
This is EXACTLY what being in a band is like after the first three gigs, and is thus why most bands split up soon afterwards!
The Wave Pictures - Just Like A Drummer
I went to seem them a few weeks ago and was AMAZED by how amazING they were – even better live than on record, as the live version of EVERY song was augmented by TREMENDOUS guitar solos.
Belle & Sebastian - This Is Just A Modern Rock Song
Songs about being in a band are usually about the exciting bits at the start, the crazy bits towards the end, or sitting around in a hotel room feeling fed up. There’s hardly ANY about the bit about sixth months in when you wonder whether you should pack it in or carry on plugging away because “we're not terrific but we're competent.”
John Otway - Geneve
The Life On The Road Song usually goes “I am lonely and I miss my girlfriend, boo hoo” and is usually DREARY but Otway, being Otway, manages to make it charming, also heartbreaking. Before I even started doing gigs Otway gave me the best advice EVER. He was sitting in the front bar of The Princess Charlotte and I asked him why he was sitting with the punters rather than in his dressing room. “If I sit backstage I’ll be all on my own”, he said. “If I come out here people buy me beer and tell me I’m great.”
Billy Bragg - Waiting For The Great Leap Forward
Another Life On The Road Song, but Mr Bragg uses it as a METAPHOR for… well, everything. Also featuring: FANTASTIC FADEOUT.
The Divine Comedy - The Booklovers
For some people TOURING and recording is so DULL they are “forced” to take heroin. Me, I take a pile of BOOKS and the latest issue of “Puzzler” magazine.
Suede - The Big Time
Talking of which – SUEDE!
The Boo Radleys - High As Monkeys
People, correctly, laud Giant Steps as one of the best albums of the 90’s but actually I think Kingsize is even BETTER. Not many people hold this opinion because not many people BOUGHT it, but still: Brett, cheer up, THIS is how you should be doing it!
Wings - Rockshow
Macca at the height of his POMP in Wings, inventing stadium ROCK, not giving a toss what anybody thought of him and, clearly, having a FABULOUS time!
Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Boom Shake The Room
The big finish! I play this song at the end of my show because a) it’s brilliant and b) EVERYONE knows the words. Every time I play it I see audience members ASTONISHED to find themselves singing along, it’s GRATE!
MJ Hibbett's Muxtape
I've had a bit of a think and I thought I'd do a "My Exciting Life In ROCK" THEMED muxtape, based on the life-cycle of being in a band. THUS:
Art Brut - Formed A Band
When I first saw them Eddie Argos used this song to tell the ENTIRE audience to go out TONIGHT and form their own band. If I hadn’t already got one I would have done so IMMEDIATELY!
The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money
This is Macca trying to persuade the other Fabs to go out on the road and do some tiny gigs again, because it would be FUN. They disagreed – miserable sods.
Half Man Half Biscuit - Running Order Squabble Fest
This is EXACTLY what being in a band is like after the first three gigs, and is thus why most bands split up soon afterwards!
The Wave Pictures - Just Like A Drummer
I went to seem them a few weeks ago and was AMAZED by how amazING they were – even better live than on record, as the live version of EVERY song was augmented by TREMENDOUS guitar solos.
Belle & Sebastian - This Is Just A Modern Rock Song
Songs about being in a band are usually about the exciting bits at the start, the crazy bits towards the end, or sitting around in a hotel room feeling fed up. There’s hardly ANY about the bit about sixth months in when you wonder whether you should pack it in or carry on plugging away because “we're not terrific but we're competent.”
John Otway - Geneve
The Life On The Road Song usually goes “I am lonely and I miss my girlfriend, boo hoo” and is usually DREARY but Otway, being Otway, manages to make it charming, also heartbreaking. Before I even started doing gigs Otway gave me the best advice EVER. He was sitting in the front bar of The Princess Charlotte and I asked him why he was sitting with the punters rather than in his dressing room. “If I sit backstage I’ll be all on my own”, he said. “If I come out here people buy me beer and tell me I’m great.”
Billy Bragg - Waiting For The Great Leap Forward
Another Life On The Road Song, but Mr Bragg uses it as a METAPHOR for… well, everything. Also featuring: FANTASTIC FADEOUT.
The Divine Comedy - The Booklovers
For some people TOURING and recording is so DULL they are “forced” to take heroin. Me, I take a pile of BOOKS and the latest issue of “Puzzler” magazine.
Suede - The Big Time
Talking of which – SUEDE!
The Boo Radleys - High As Monkeys
People, correctly, laud Giant Steps as one of the best albums of the 90’s but actually I think Kingsize is even BETTER. Not many people hold this opinion because not many people BOUGHT it, but still: Brett, cheer up, THIS is how you should be doing it!
Wings - Rockshow
Macca at the height of his POMP in Wings, inventing stadium ROCK, not giving a toss what anybody thought of him and, clearly, having a FABULOUS time!
Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Boom Shake The Room
The big finish! I play this song at the end of my show because a) it’s brilliant and b) EVERYONE knows the words. Every time I play it I see audience members ASTONISHED to find themselves singing along, it’s GRATE!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Celebrity Muxtape #3: Sky Larkin
Next up to provide a selection of personal collection treats are a Leeds trio we featured in detail nearly a year and a half ago, since when they've brought out a second excellent single and recently returned from Seattle, where they've been recording their debut album with John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Death Cab For Cutie). They are and remain Sky Larkin, and these are their twelve. No notes to accompany this one, save to say that Nestor picked the first four, Katie takes up the middle and Doug does the last four:
Nestor:
Death From Above 1979 - Turn It Out
The Knife - Hannah's Conscious
Metric - Hustle Rose
Burial - Distant Lights
Katie:
Kate Bush - Rubberband Girl
The Blow - True Affection
Garnet Mimms - As Long As I Have You
Napoleon IIIrd - Hit Schmooze For Me
Doug:
Why? - Crushed Bones
At The Drive-In - Picket Fence Cartel
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
Joni Mitchell - Carey
Sky Larkin's Muxtape
Nestor:
Death From Above 1979 - Turn It Out
The Knife - Hannah's Conscious
Metric - Hustle Rose
Burial - Distant Lights
Katie:
Kate Bush - Rubberband Girl
The Blow - True Affection
Garnet Mimms - As Long As I Have You
Napoleon IIIrd - Hit Schmooze For Me
Doug:
Why? - Crushed Bones
At The Drive-In - Picket Fence Cartel
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
Joni Mitchell - Carey
Sky Larkin's Muxtape
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Celebrity Muxtape #2: A Classic Education
The second STN favourite to take part in our playlist of the stars feature is the Bologna-based band whose carefully constructed huge sweeping anthemry came to our attention at the turn of the year, and we instantly made space for them on our year in preview Covermount and have followed their progress carefully since. They've actually worked with the aforeMuxtaped Jeremy Warmsley and have just released a fine debut EP, available through their website and Myspace. With all that in mind we asked Jonathan, Paul and Luca to tell us some of their favourite songs:
A Classic Education's Muxtape
Gastr Del Sol - The Seasons Reverse
Jonathan: It just opened up a new way of feeling music for me. I was really a kid and coudn't understand what was going on in the song. It is such a great pop song, the lyrics are perfect for it. And when the fireworks go off at the end and you hear the children talking... well, lets just say i've imagined that scene so many times.
Smog - I Feel Like The Mother Of The World
Paul: It could continue for hours... this song and Bill Callahan's voice never tire me. That piano starts getting stuck in your head and never leaves.
Glasvegas – It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry
Luca: I need to listen to this song at least once a day! I just heard it even a second ago.
Mike Watt - Tuff Gnarl
Paul: It was written by Sonic Youth but here it is played by the best bass player in the world...in the history of rock and roll Watt's sound and his thumb work is what should be remembered, and not all those glam rock guitar solos! Plus you have Carla Bozulich on vocals here!
Elbow - Red
Luca: For the drums coming back in around 2:50... it's the beauty of despair.
Echo & The Bunnymen - Nocturnal Me
Jonathan: Sometimes when you hear this now you can't help but thinking, geez, it was maybe a little overblown and can easily sound funny with those grandiose lyrics. Other days though it's just what you need to get you back on track and feel invincible. Nature over everything!
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Luca: Because just like Trent Reznor said while he was listening to it, "I didn't think I had written such a beautiful song".
The Modern Lovers - I'm Straight
Jonathan: Wow, the arrogance that comes out of the words. I can feel the voice just right beside me, sweat dripping down. It's just the pure rock and roll song. "I'm straight and i want to take his place!"
Scott Walker - It's Raining Today
Jonathan: This song opens Scott 3 and it just spooks me out. Already the cover of the record is something that just gives me nightmares, but this song... The violins on the right channel just float in the air for the whole song and give it this phantom like atmosphere. The voice..what a voice. You're melted in a second.
Brian Eno - By This River
Paul: It's so simple and touching that you have to hear it once every 5/6 years so that you can rediscover it each time. It helps reminding us that you can be minimal and "leave it to the basics" when you are writing a song.
A Classic Education's Muxtape
Gastr Del Sol - The Seasons Reverse
Jonathan: It just opened up a new way of feeling music for me. I was really a kid and coudn't understand what was going on in the song. It is such a great pop song, the lyrics are perfect for it. And when the fireworks go off at the end and you hear the children talking... well, lets just say i've imagined that scene so many times.
Smog - I Feel Like The Mother Of The World
Paul: It could continue for hours... this song and Bill Callahan's voice never tire me. That piano starts getting stuck in your head and never leaves.
Glasvegas – It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry
Luca: I need to listen to this song at least once a day! I just heard it even a second ago.
Mike Watt - Tuff Gnarl
Paul: It was written by Sonic Youth but here it is played by the best bass player in the world...in the history of rock and roll Watt's sound and his thumb work is what should be remembered, and not all those glam rock guitar solos! Plus you have Carla Bozulich on vocals here!
Elbow - Red
Luca: For the drums coming back in around 2:50... it's the beauty of despair.
Echo & The Bunnymen - Nocturnal Me
Jonathan: Sometimes when you hear this now you can't help but thinking, geez, it was maybe a little overblown and can easily sound funny with those grandiose lyrics. Other days though it's just what you need to get you back on track and feel invincible. Nature over everything!
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Luca: Because just like Trent Reznor said while he was listening to it, "I didn't think I had written such a beautiful song".
The Modern Lovers - I'm Straight
Jonathan: Wow, the arrogance that comes out of the words. I can feel the voice just right beside me, sweat dripping down. It's just the pure rock and roll song. "I'm straight and i want to take his place!"
Scott Walker - It's Raining Today
Jonathan: This song opens Scott 3 and it just spooks me out. Already the cover of the record is something that just gives me nightmares, but this song... The violins on the right channel just float in the air for the whole song and give it this phantom like atmosphere. The voice..what a voice. You're melted in a second.
Brian Eno - By This River
Paul: It's so simple and touching that you have to hear it once every 5/6 years so that you can rediscover it each time. It helps reminding us that you can be minimal and "leave it to the basics" when you are writing a song.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Celebrity Muxtape #1: Jeremy Warmsley
Another new series, hopefully maintained more often than our other onrunning series. The concept is simple - we ask one of our favourite artists to list twelve songs, often with some elucidation, and then we stick them on a Muxtape for all to share in. We begin with the first person we interviewed for STN, here caught just after his well received The Boat Song/Temptation double A-sided single and ahead of the September release of his second album - Jeremy Warmsley.
Jeremy Warmsley's Muxtape
Flaming Lips - Race For The Prize
Perfect drumming and one of Wayne Coyne's greatest lyrics make this a prog-pop classic.
Toto - Africa
Surely one of the greatest cheesy pop songs of all time? And an overlooked influence on today's post-soft movement (Feist, Hot Chip, etc). Plus the lyric "sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti", presumably thrown in at the last minute to secure some hip, mystical cred.
XTC - Jason And The Argonauts
From their great album, English Settlement, this song bewilders and bewitches with its cyclical guitar part. Check out the 80s flange in the weird middle section.
Arab Strap - Hey! Fever
One of the first "indie" songs I ever fell in love with, this remains a firm favourite. "And I used my best shampoo on my pubes, just in case..." The barbershop quartet outro is an eccentrically brilliant touch, but the girl singing faux-soul melismas definitely grates.
Billie Holiday - Life Begins When You're In Love
Not much to be said about this perfect nugget of '20s pop.
Les Paul - How High The Moon
The man who invented multitracking shows what can be done with it. Every sound on this weirdly beautiful record was made with his 6-string or with his wife's voice but it sounds like four times as many musicians.
Little Anthony & The Imperials - Goin' Out of My Head
Tom Waits mentions this group in his Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis off Blue Valentine ("...and I still have that record by Little Anthony and the Imperials - but someone stole my record player, now how'd you like that?") and sings snatches from the song in some live performances (like the oustanding Cold Beer On A Warm Night from a late 70s Sydney radio session). None of which prepares for the outsdanding production and performance on this forgotten 60s classic.
Of Montreal - Voltaic Crusher/Undrum To Muted Da
Observe the lyrics... "I'm a flaw, I'm a mistake... oh God, please don't be a bastard..." In the hands of anyone else (Nine Inch Nails, for instance) this would be accompanied by some sort of dirge. Instead, this bounces along on its own self-satisfied merriment, synths parping away. Great. From their Icons, Abstract Thee EP.
Thom Yorke - Atoms For Peace (Four Tet Remix)
I think Thom Yorke and Four Tet should make a record together. If it was all like this and Four Tet's Skattrbrain remix (from Radiohead's Com Lag EP) it would probably be the best thing either has ever done. This has a drum performance from Steve Reid, which is a welcome addition. (Although mysteriously uncredited on the sleeve).
New Order - Thieves Like Us
I hate New Order. They're so bad. Yet so good. How anyone can make good the lyric "Love is the cure for every evil/Love is the air that supports the eagle" is beyond me but they definitely manage it.
The Microphones - I Want Wind To Blow
If you don't know this band, you need to hear their The Glow, Part II and Mt Eerie albums IMMEDIATELY! Put your headphones on and you're away. Essential.
Kate Bush - Brazil
With orchestral arrangements from Michael Kamen, this beautiful, unique take on a lovely standard was taped for Terry Gilliam's great film of the same name. This version is probably wholly responsible for the song's rehabilitation in this decade, with covers from the likes of Beirut and Arcade Fire surfacing recently.
Jeremy is playing every date of July's Transgressive Hot Summer tour. Check local press for details.
Jeremy Warmsley's Muxtape
Flaming Lips - Race For The Prize
Perfect drumming and one of Wayne Coyne's greatest lyrics make this a prog-pop classic.
Toto - Africa
Surely one of the greatest cheesy pop songs of all time? And an overlooked influence on today's post-soft movement (Feist, Hot Chip, etc). Plus the lyric "sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti", presumably thrown in at the last minute to secure some hip, mystical cred.
XTC - Jason And The Argonauts
From their great album, English Settlement, this song bewilders and bewitches with its cyclical guitar part. Check out the 80s flange in the weird middle section.
Arab Strap - Hey! Fever
One of the first "indie" songs I ever fell in love with, this remains a firm favourite. "And I used my best shampoo on my pubes, just in case..." The barbershop quartet outro is an eccentrically brilliant touch, but the girl singing faux-soul melismas definitely grates.
Billie Holiday - Life Begins When You're In Love
Not much to be said about this perfect nugget of '20s pop.
Les Paul - How High The Moon
The man who invented multitracking shows what can be done with it. Every sound on this weirdly beautiful record was made with his 6-string or with his wife's voice but it sounds like four times as many musicians.
Little Anthony & The Imperials - Goin' Out of My Head
Tom Waits mentions this group in his Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis off Blue Valentine ("...and I still have that record by Little Anthony and the Imperials - but someone stole my record player, now how'd you like that?") and sings snatches from the song in some live performances (like the oustanding Cold Beer On A Warm Night from a late 70s Sydney radio session). None of which prepares for the outsdanding production and performance on this forgotten 60s classic.
Of Montreal - Voltaic Crusher/Undrum To Muted Da
Observe the lyrics... "I'm a flaw, I'm a mistake... oh God, please don't be a bastard..." In the hands of anyone else (Nine Inch Nails, for instance) this would be accompanied by some sort of dirge. Instead, this bounces along on its own self-satisfied merriment, synths parping away. Great. From their Icons, Abstract Thee EP.
Thom Yorke - Atoms For Peace (Four Tet Remix)
I think Thom Yorke and Four Tet should make a record together. If it was all like this and Four Tet's Skattrbrain remix (from Radiohead's Com Lag EP) it would probably be the best thing either has ever done. This has a drum performance from Steve Reid, which is a welcome addition. (Although mysteriously uncredited on the sleeve).
New Order - Thieves Like Us
I hate New Order. They're so bad. Yet so good. How anyone can make good the lyric "Love is the cure for every evil/Love is the air that supports the eagle" is beyond me but they definitely manage it.
The Microphones - I Want Wind To Blow
If you don't know this band, you need to hear their The Glow, Part II and Mt Eerie albums IMMEDIATELY! Put your headphones on and you're away. Essential.
Kate Bush - Brazil
With orchestral arrangements from Michael Kamen, this beautiful, unique take on a lovely standard was taped for Terry Gilliam's great film of the same name. This version is probably wholly responsible for the song's rehabilitation in this decade, with covers from the likes of Beirut and Arcade Fire surfacing recently.
Jeremy is playing every date of July's Transgressive Hot Summer tour. Check local press for details.
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