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MIX NOTES

I do Want What I Have Not Got – What better way to start a mix for wandering in the desert than an acapella song by a great American soul singer specifically about wandering in the desert. I need to work on my run-on sentences.

The Tennesee Toad – Athens GA blues man Leo Kottke knows how to make slide guitar sing. Anytime I hear this I feel like I’m watching that 1981 Powers Boothe movie “Southern Comfort”. yes that soundtrack is by Ry Cooder, but still. If you’ve never seen it and you liked Deliverance, you’ll dig it.

Chachipen Bullerais – A really great recording of a really great Gypsy Flamenco guitarist from Sevilla, who passed earlier this year. This is from one of his few recordings, 1996’s aptly titled “Gypsy Flamenco” on Chesky Records.

Brother Where Are You? – A lovely, relaxed, soulful take from a 1965 session at The Cellar Door in DC. Phil Upchurch, who played with Dizzy, Hubert Laws, Ramsey Lewis, Quincy Jones, and Curtis Mayfield (to name a few) is on bass.

Indigo Bay – I must confess I never really got that into Yello. Bostich and that Ferris Bueler song, sure, but not much else. This is from their 2003 LP “the Eye”. It’s great for headphones and made a nice foundation for Rudyard Kipling reading his iconic poem “If”.

I Could Hear the Telephone (3 Floors Above Me) – This came out this past summer and it has a clangy garage rock sound that is sorely missed in 2015. Thankfully somebody’s keeping the flame burning.

What Is Your Landmass – I was too heavily immersed in dance music to really absorb the vast labyrinth that is post rock / math rock, but several years of attending the All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival reminded me that I had indeed missed a lot. How can you not dig this?

Will She Come Back – Cliff Martinez can do no wrong in my book. This is a just a transitional snippet from the Solaris soundtrack. His OST for Cinemax’s The Knick is awesome and definitely worth picking up.

Chelsea Hotel – A great version of the 1974 Leonard Cohen song – the sad lyrics of which really speak to me. I dare say I think I prefer Meshell’s version. You be the judge.

I Loves You Porgy – JB in his prime. BTW if you haven’t seen that feature film GET ON UP, it’s surprisingly great. Seriously.

Wake Up Alone – Speaking of movies, do not miss that Amy Winehouse documentary. Really powerful. Filled with amazingly candid footage I never knew existed. I got to meet Amy once at Gourmet Garage on Broome St. I ran into Mark Ronson and he said “hey you should meet my friend Amy. I’m recording her album right now”. She looked sexy and tattooed up. I had no idea who she was or how much I would grow to love her music, particularly “Back To Black“, her masterpiece.

Don’t Let Me Down – Every headphone mix needs some sort of Beatles presence. It just does. I feel like I personally must acknowledge how deeply they changed the world.

Donaueschingen – Peter Kruder tends to make everything way too mellow and dubbed out, even for a reggae head like me. But he let this track really move. And he does know his way around a mixing board, so its a sonic delicacy.

Light My Fire (jr dynamite edit) – Actual Doors songs are almost too cliché at Burning Man. He wrote so much about desert highways and Native Americans, it just too on-the-nose to hear it out there. But I can dig a good cover.

It Had To Be You – Tough call between this version and Ella’s, but there’s something spookier about Betty Hutton’s trembling descending notes that won the day this time around. Thanks for reading all this and ENJOY!