The Letter ‘B’ Mixtape. Part 2

As promised here is part 2 of the letter B Mixtape….

And still no sign of The Beatles.

If you’re a Spotify user click here to play the mixtape and if you’re a YouTube purist click here to play the videos. ♥

1. Billy Bragg - A New England  (A voice of disparate youth, I always feel like the person singing this feels like a lone voice, not realising so many people are listening to this and thinking exactly the same. It sounds like a sigh and proves you don’t always have to shout loud to make you message loud and clear).

2. Blur – Good Song (Let us gloss over the shambolic Brits performance, just remember they are great recording artists. I like them most when they’re at their most tender – no pun intended. For fans of David Shrigley he is responsible for the music video).

3. Bon Iver – Skinny Love (For no other reason than a Bon Iver track had to make the playlist and the title of this makes me smile)

4. Band Of Horses – Funeral  (I was late to discover this band, they only really came to my attention when Infinite Arms was released. Adore this track more than any other of theirs)

5. Bombay Bicycle Club – Lights Out, Words Gone (People seem to either love or loathe BBC. They are the Marmite of bands. I’ll stick my neck out as a Marmite lover. I am a terrible sleeper, insomnia is frequently my bed companion. This track is calming and helps me feel restful)

6. Beirut – Postcards From Italy  (People went batshit over Beirut last year, quite rightly so. This is the song that made me fall for them. I love the clash of cultural sounds, it feels like it bridges many countries if that makes sense? The New Orleans horns, The Moroccan drums merging with European strings)

7. Bob Dylan - Hurricane  (Bob Dylan’s ode to the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a protest song against his imprisonment, eventually overturned. Dylan stuck his neck out after visiting Carter in prison. You have to take your hat off to a man who uses his talent to defend those wronged, to stand by a cause. Sticking it to the man)

8. Breeders – Cannonball  (The second this starts you’re waiting for the bass line. It’s all about that. Simply one of my favourite songs ever. Sounding dirt and filth way before Sleigh Bells arrived on the scene)

9. Band Of Skulls – The Devil Takes Care Of His Own (Still find it hard to believe this band are from blighty! Caught them supporting The Black Keys earlier in the month and their albums have been overplayed since)

10. Bjork – Triumph Of A Heart (Spike Jonze directed the love-story with a cat video. It is insanely brilliant, never fails to make me laugh. She’s a creative force of nature, always amazing me)

***Find me on Twitter***

2011 Definitive, J’adore, Batshit, Swoon Mixtape

I first started compiling my picks of 2011 back in July and have intentionally not revisited the list, interested to see if the final list will be utterly and completely different given the multiple personalities that seem to tiptoe out of me through my music choices.

Twitter spoke when I asked how many tracks should make up this list, the majority said 50 so here they are (in no particular order as that would have been as painful as picking my favourite Rum)

You can play the mixtape via Spotify or YouTube. Enjoy reminiscing over 2011′s music and let me know what I’ve missed so I can kick myself! ♥

1	Slow Club – Beginners	2	Metronomy – She Wants
3	Little Scream – Boatman	4	Lykke Li – Sadness Is A Blessing
5	Ghostpoet – Us Against Whatever Ever	6	Brett Anderson – Brittle Heart
7	Florence + The Machine – Shake It Out	8	Sissy & The Blisters – Let Her Go
9	Hooray For Earth – True Loves	10	Beyonce – Countdown
11	Bjork – Cosmogony	12	Sleigh Bells – Riot Rhythm
13	Anna Calvi – Black Out	14	Josh T. Pearson – Country Dumb
15	Lana Del Rey – Videogames	16	Wye Oak – Civilian
17	Beirut – Santa Fe	18	Bombay Bicylce Club – Shuffle
19	I Break Horses – Winter Bears	20	The Horrors – Still Life
21	The Kills – The Last Goodbye	22	Michael Kiwanuka – I’m Getting Ready
23	Emmy The Great – Iris	24	Wild Beasts – Bed Of Nails
25	Friends – I’m His Girl	26	The Drums – Money
27	Theme Park – A Mountain We Love	28	Black Keys – Lonely Boy
29	Wu Lyf – We Bros	30	Zulu Winter – Let’s Move Back To Front
31	Summer Camp – Better Off Without You	32	Tom The Lion – Golden
33	Friendly Fires – Blue Cassette	34	PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder
35	St. Vincent – Cruel	36	Joy Formidable – Whirring
37	Gang Gang Dance – Mindkilla	38	Wild Flag – Boom
39	Battles – Ice Cream	40	R.E.M – Uberlin
41	Au Palais – Tender Mercy	42	Metronomy – The Look
43	Bon Iver – Holocene	44	SBTRKT – Hold On
45	Gil Scott-Heron – I’ll Take Care Of U	46	Black Lips – Family Tree
47	M83 – Midnight City	48	The Maccabees – Pelican
49	Field Music – (I Keep Thinking) A New Thing	50	Summer Camp – 1988

July 24th Mixtape – 2011 Challenge

This weeks mixtape turned into a challenge set by Marc via twitter. I have two standard responses to challenges. The first is to approach it with an energy & ferocity equal to Keith Moon’s drumming. The second it to approach with a slow pod, calmly confident I will get there in the end much like listening to Guy Garvey. I’ve approached this somewhere in between. I started off whizzing through it but then trying to whittle it down was a plodder.

I was to list my top 25 tracks of 2011 (so far) and although it sounds easy enough to do Marc had put his in order too. Well, painfully I’ve managed to get the list down to 25 after spending 5 days on it. As for showing favouritism, I just couldn’t do it. Every time I tried I felt guilty about placing Anna Calvi before PJ Harvey, or Black Lips over Bon Iver. So, although my list is no way near as cool as Marc’s here are the tracks that have stood out for me this year. Hope you enjoy, click on spotify to listen, the final three tracks are via YouTube.

If you have a playlist challenge for me email me at fromdesktilldawn@gmail.com. ♥

1. Beirut – East Harlem
2. Metronomy – She Wants
3. PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder
4. Emmy The Great – Iris
5. Bon Iver – Calgary
6. Lykke Li- Sadness Is A Blessing
7. Wild Beasts – Bed Of Nails
8. The Black Lips – Family Tree
9. Friendly Fires – Hawaiian Air
10. Anna Calvi – Blackout
11. R.E.M. – Uberlin
12. Sleigh Bells – Riot Rhythm
13. Cold War Kids – Louder Than Ever
14. Sparrow & The Workshop – Snakes In The Grass
15. The Joy Formidable – A Heavy Abacus
16. Wye Oak – Civilian
17. Fleet Foxes – Someone You’d Admire
18. Patrick Wolf – The City
19. The Strokes – Undercover Of Darkness
20. Foo Fighters – Rope
21. Wu Lyf – Lyf
22. The Go! Team – Buy Nothing Day
23. Little Dragon – Ritual Union
24. The Horrors – Still Life
25. Bjork – Cosmogony

Follow me on Twitter & Facebook!