::REVIEWS:: 2013 Secret Mixtape project

[Leatherhead]

Great mix, thanks for sharing. Particularly fond of the Hexvessel and Caretaker tracks but every one was a winner.

I guess I'm just completely out of the loop when it comes to this kind of music.

[washing machine]

To my mixer, I'm just trying to look up the tracks you used so I can finish my review. It'll be done soon!

My mix for WtoB is below. A lot of the instrumental r'n'b type stuff at the start is what I spin when I DJ. I went some psychedelic wah drench 70's acid funk rock to close out. It's all one track cause it's a dedicated mix. Don't be shy now children.

Fuzzchargers Funky Dance Jams
1. Groove Holmes - Beastie Boys
2. It's Your Thing - Isley Brothers
3. Oh Oh Here He Comes - Herbie Hancock
4. Nobody Beats The Biz - Biz Markie
5. Chocolate Buttermilk - Kool and the Gang
6. Mother Popcorn - James Brown
7. The Seed 2.0 - The Roots
8. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - US3
9. Cooking - Stark Reality
10. Theme from Black Belt Jones - Dennis Coffey
11. I Just Want to Make Love To You - Muddy Waters
12. Stepping Stone - Jimi Hendrix
13. Hit It and Quit It - Funkadelic

http://tinyurl.com/kwmpno2

This mix would have been a most welcome companion to a wild funk/r&b kick I went on last summer. Well done.

[Birds in Hell]

Great mix, thanks for sharing. Particularly fond of the Hexvessel and Caretaker tracks but every one was a winner.

Yeah that looks like a great mix, spenno

Fuzzcharger and Spenno's mixes sound really good from their tracklists.

Thanks, guys.

I guess I'm just completely out of the loop when it comes to this kind of music.

Hey, no problem - maybe it's just not your thing? It's a pretty low-key mix, I expected it wouldn't appeal to everyone.

Your mix looks really cool, I might add: Baroness, Mastodon, Wellwater, Fugazi, etc.

[LetMeSleep]

Hey PhatJ. I'm out of range most of the next few days. I'll write my thoughts and post when I can. Enjoying it more on second listen.

[LetMeSleep]

And still no one has picked my mix yet.

[PHATJ]

Hey PhatJ. I'm out of range most of the next few days. I'll write my thoughts and post when I can. Enjoying it more on second listen.

Sounds good man.

[WtOB?]

OK, so my mix review. I listened to this the other day when mowing the lawns and enjoyed the feel and flow the whole way through. There were some songs that I knew and most that I didn't. I've listened a few more times since and the mix has held up as a good mix should. 12 individual tracks which I'm glad of - I'm not a fan of the 'single track mix' idea.

So, first song and straight away this is Shark Fin Blues by The Drones. The song is in the discussion for best song of all time, so for sure this is a fantastic start. And yeah, I know that wtob made this mix. All good.

Second song and we have the cool bass build with the drums front and centre. Not sure who this is but I like it. This song has proved to be a bit of a grower with me.

Next up is a shoe-gazer number, pretty sure this is MBV at a guess. Assuming it's them, never been a big fan, although I have tried. The track's not my thing but it fits the flow the mixer's going for here.

Into the next and the flow continues nicely with a familiarish female vocal and a great drum line through the song. Not sure who this is but I've def. heard them before. Nice track.

Next up this is the Grates with Aw Yeah. I like these guys and will admit to a bit of a crush on Patience Hodgson. This is a great tune - I love their take on garage-pop.

Now we have a transition into some smoother, ambientish stuff. This type of music done well can be really good, and this is. Sort of come down music for a late night or easy Sunday morning. I get the feeling that I should know who this is but don't. It almost sounds like it could be Nico singing, but of course it's not. This is a really great track.

OK, onto something else now. It's Sunday afternoon and I'm on my way to the Sunday Session! This is the Naked and Famous Punching in a Dream. Good song and one to play loudly. I do actually feel like having a beer now!

Next back to a bit of dreamier stuff again. I'm not a huge fan of the breathier back of the mix vocals generally, although this tune doesn't suffer as badly as some from it. With headphones on I can make out the majority of what's being sung. Generally this isn't my thing, although there is an underlying Stone Rosesie kinda dreamy thing going on here that sort of works for me. This one is an interesting one.

This one had the tag left on - Radiohead's Separator. Can't miss those vocals regardless. Nice song, again fitting the vibe of the mix well.

Another smooth building tune now, got that little bit ominous thing going on too, that works well. This is a bit spacey and atmospheric, building till the guitars kick in and it goes a bit 'Musey' (but thankfully not reaching that level of bombast). Then the fingerpicked outro just brings it all back from the precipice beautifully. Nice. I think all mixes require an instrumental or two.

Oh! Can't miss the e-bowed (?) chords here, and certainly not the vocal. This is The Drones again with Nine Eyes. "What kind of arsehole drives this lime green commodore" indeed? Great song from a great storyteller. Broke a mix tape rule here though with a second song from the same band, but I'll forgive you.

OK, track 12. This one's longer and is the big closer. No idea who this is but it has some nice things going on at the start. The big climb to epic get's to me a bit in the end though.

Thanks adam, that was a great mix. Some great tunes and well sequenced, the mix having a good flow throughout. I'm interested in the tracklisting here and will for sure be checking a few things out because of it.

Cheers!

really glad you enjoyed it and what i was going for worked out. i threw a few local Hobart bands i like amongst the mix that i thought fit in as well as popping a sneaky lizard johnny tune at the end there just to put some stuff out there people wouldn't have heard. you were probably the perfect pick for the mix in the end, even though i had it prepared before i knew you were the victim.

(sorry about the seperator tag, it was one of those files that refuses to let you change anything )

Tracklist:
The Drones - Sharkfin Blues
Babylon Howl - Nothing to Lose (Hobart)
My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
Bat For Lashes - Glass
The Grates - Aw Yeah
Air - Another Day
Naked and Famous - Punching in a Dream
DIG? - Fly Away (Hobart)
Radiohead - Seperator
John Murphy - In the House, in a Heartbeat
The Drones - Nine Eyes
Lizard Johnny - West of Mars (Hobart)

RM Mix

[dsb1218]

This mix really stretched my ears in a lot of new directions. I wouldn't peg any of the tracks as being in my wheelhouse, but after a few spins while driving and twice through today while cleaning the house I've come to better appreciate this (mostly) quiet, contemplative mood mix.

I really dug the lead off track (Oms - Addis). The chanted a cappella cold open is a slow burn that drew me in as it layered in percussion and various stringed instruments. I could see using this in future mixes as a solid first track.
My Shazam app has no idea what the second track is, and the only way I can think to describe the short instrumental is that it could be the score to a film scene featuring a Native American tribal ceremony.
Next was Sylvan - Nothing Is Happening Everywhere. My internet sleuthing calls this industrial jazz. I found this track pretty cold, and I'm not a fan of the singer's voice. This song has a half dozen different things going on at once, a few of which I thought were really interesting and engaging...but the majority of which I couldn't stand.
Fourth was Kwaidan - Space As Support. A great choice to follow the previous track from a mix-flow perspective, as this opens with a simple percussion rhythm over a few long sustained chords. Another slow build that I enjoyed as the song became more complex.
The next track (Matt Elliott - The Pain That's Yet To Come)starts out well enough with acoustic guitar, but this was another case of the singer's voice just pulling me out of a song.
On to Daughters of Bilitis by Grails. I can't put it any better than the iTunes store review - "…the swirling string textures...create a love theme drenched in dread". Another instrumental, and one that I quite liked. The iTunes album review used phrases like "ambient texture, lush overdubs, understated samples and washed out backdrops". I'll be checking out more of their stuff.
Next was a Mark Lanegan - Duke Garwood collaboration track, Driver. Moody and mysterious. Need to sit with this one some more.
Next up was another fuzzy, atmospheric track with a slow build to a big finish. I liked it and need to try out more once I discover who created this sonic landscape.
And then it was time for the folk-y sounds of Stranded Horse - And The Shoreline It Withdrew In Anger. The always trust-worthy internet tells me that the sound I'm hearing is not, in fact, an acoustic guitar but a kora - a 21 stringed West African instrument.
Then came a quiet, soothing instrumental with various stringed instruments and an accompanying piano. Nice and mellow and it flowed almost imperceptibly into the next track, Sixteen Horsepower - Horse Head Fiddle. Another piece with a sloooow build, almost ominous in how it plays out.
When the opening guitar of Mirel Wagner's No Death unfold, I thought the mix was making a clean break. But then the vocals kicked in and this sad lament of a lover's death is pretty heavy.
Then came…something. Maybe more industrial jazz? Shazam had no idea what it was and I still have no idea what to do with it. The underlying groove is rock solid, but the horns make, in the words of my grandmother, "a God-awful racket".
Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Kang - Kidung closed out the mix. The female singer has a beautiful voice that easily transcended (for me) the language barrier. A soft and mellow fade to black to end the mix.

This mix wasn't easy (for me) to love at first listen, but I definitely found some areas I want to explore further and I discovered some tracks that make for great mood music while I'm doing stuff around the house. I'm way too new around here to even hazard a guess at who put this together, but thanks for turning me on to some new sounds and new artists.

[Heathen]

I found this track pretty cold, and I'm not a fan of the singer's voice

David Sylvian's voice is one of my favorite voices in the history of voices. I would be happy to just hear him read a grocery list.

[retortion]

I have listened to my mix a few times, unfortunately in parts, ill get a dedicated listen/review tomorrow night. there is one track on there, i don't know what it is but I love it.

[VinylGuy]

Fuzzchargers mix is fucking awesome.
Its going to be my soundtrack when i finally leave my job to become a pimp.

[kreng]

This mix really stretched my ears in a lot of new directions. I wouldn't peg any of the tracks as being in my wheelhouse, but after a few spins while driving and twice through today while cleaning the house I've come to better appreciate this (mostly) quiet, contemplative mood mix.

I really dug the lead off track (Oms - Addis). The chanted a cappella cold open is a slow burn that drew me in as it layered in percussion and various stringed instruments. I could see using this in future mixes as a solid first track.
My Shazam app has no idea what the second track is, and the only way I can think to describe the short instrumental is that it could be the score to a film scene featuring a Native American tribal ceremony.
Next was Sylvan - Nothing Is Happening Everywhere. My internet sleuthing calls this industrial jazz. I found this track pretty cold, and I'm not a fan of the singer's voice. This song has a half dozen different things going on at once, a few of which I thought were really interesting and engaging...but the majority of which I couldn't stand.
Fourth was Kwaidan - Space As Support. A great choice to follow the previous track from a mix-flow perspective, as this opens with a simple percussion rhythm over a few long sustained chords. Another slow build that I enjoyed as the song became more complex.
The next track (Matt Elliott - The Pain That's Yet To Come)starts out well enough with acoustic guitar, but this was another case of the singer's voice just pulling me out of a song.
On to Daughters of Bilitis by Grails. I can't put it any better than the iTunes store review - "…the swirling string textures...create a love theme drenched in dread". Another instrumental, and one that I quite liked. The iTunes album review used phrases like "ambient texture, lush overdubs, understated samples and washed out backdrops". I'll be checking out more of their stuff.
Next was a Mark Lanegan - Duke Garwood collaboration track, Driver. Moody and mysterious. Need to sit with this one some more.
Next up was another fuzzy, atmospheric track with a slow build to a big finish. I liked it and need to try out more once I discover who created this sonic landscape.
And then it was time for the folk-y sounds of Stranded Horse - And The Shoreline It Withdrew In Anger. The always trust-worthy internet tells me that the sound I'm hearing is not, in fact, an acoustic guitar but a kora - a 21 stringed West African instrument.
Then came a quiet, soothing instrumental with various stringed instruments and an accompanying piano. Nice and mellow and it flowed almost imperceptibly into the next track, Sixteen Horsepower - Horse Head Fiddle. Another piece with a sloooow build, almost ominous in how it plays out.
When the opening guitar of Mirel Wagner's No Death unfold, I thought the mix was making a clean break. But then the vocals kicked in and this sad lament of a lover's death is pretty heavy.
Then came…something. Maybe more industrial jazz? Shazam had no idea what it was and I still have no idea what to do with it. The underlying groove is rock solid, but the horns make, in the words of my grandmother, "a God-awful racket".
Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Kang - Kidung closed out the mix. The female singer has a beautiful voice that easily transcended (for me) the language barrier. A soft and mellow fade to black to end the mix.

This mix wasn't easy (for me) to love at first listen, but I definitely found some areas I want to explore further and I discovered some tracks that make for great mood music while I'm doing stuff around the house. I'm way too new around here to even hazard a guess at who put this together, but thanks for turning me on to some new sounds and new artists.

hey man, that would be my mix
I'm glad you liked parts of it. I couldn't think of what i wanted to do with my mix and then within an hour or so it all came together. Personally it's one of my favorite mixes i've made. the context, the flow, it just all came together really nicely.

here's the complete tracklist and download link (with tags)

01 - Addis (by OM of the album: Advaitic Songs)
02 - Sin Título (by Rancho Shampoo of the album: El Vuelo Del Golondrino)
03 - Nothing Is Happening Everywhere (by L A N D of the album: Night Within)
04 - Space as Support (by Kwaidan of the album: Make All the Hell of Dark Metal Bright)
05 - The Pain That’s Yet To Come (by Matt Elliott of the album: The Broken Man)
06 - Daughters Of Bilitis (by Grails of the album: Deep Politics)
07 - Driver (by Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood of the album: Black Pudding)
08 - Unarmoured Love (by Abul Mogard of the album: Drifted Heaven)
09 - And The Shoreline It Withdrew In Anger (by Stranded Horse of the album: Humbling Tides)
10 - Bluebeard 6 (by Danny Norbury of the album: Bluebeard)
11 - Horse Head Fiddle (by 16 Horsepower of the album: Folklore)
12 - No Death (by Mirel Wagner of the album: Mirel Wagner)
13 - Would I Whip (Without Noticing) (by Fire! of the album: (Without Noticing))
14 - Kidung (by Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang of the album: The Face of the Earth)

http://www35.zippyshare.com/v/88244799/file.html

[VinylGuy]

So after a while listening to the mix i receive ( thanks Dr.) here are my thoughts:

First of all, kudos to the dr again for making such a good mix, the whole thing flows very well and feels cohesive and seems to share a theme; someone who seemed to just fucked up at something and he is still trying to be there, to be happy.

The first song is too mainstream for me...i dont know how to describe it, but feels like a Coldplay b side or something that closes a Greys anatomy chapter...At first i kinda hated it but then again, it sounds good within the mix itself, and its actually a nice song.
Down in the valley is one of my favorites..such a nice, little song..those strings,the piano,the lyrics...and pretty much the overall theme of this mix..goddamn if this is not a great song...
Shovels And Rope...wtf is this? and who sings?? its an amazing song, reminds me of Heartless Bastards, some Janis thing going on too. Gotta say Doc...Dr Dog seems to be a cool band, but its not my thing i guess..Its the first song i really, really dont care about it... and then Albert Hammond Jr´s two songs, fuck i love this guy..saw him live a few months away and i was surprised to hear him in this mix.
Devil Whale?? fuck yes!! this song is great, once again im dowloading a new album. After that great start, comes the surprise of the mix; Tegan and Sara. I dont like them at all, yet their song feels like it belongs to this mix..its fresh, it has a sense of urgency that separates them from the previous artists...Great placing.
After that all i have to say its that the finish of the mix is as good as the beginning; you cant go wrong Deer Tick, Heartless Bastards ( fuck i love them and miss them) and Elliot Smith.

And Blind Pilot again.. very classy move to begin and finish with the same artist. Remember that mainstream feeling i got at first? Im just a stupid boy Dr, this band is great.

Thank you.

Tracklist:

Half Moon - Blind Pilot
Down in the Valley - TH&TH
Birmingham - Shovels and Rope
Hang On - Dr Dog
Everyone Gets a Star - Albert Hammond Jr
Barracudas - Devil Whale
Morning Thought - Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr
Chemicals Collide - Cloud Cult
Back in Your Head - Tegan & Sara
Call an Ambulance - Albert Hammond Jr
Fit Against the Country - Horse Feathers
Cats & Dogs/Coeur d'Alene - TH&TH
The Rabbit, The Bat, & The Reindeer - Dr Dog
Standing at the Threshold - Deer Tick
Gotta Have Rock & Roll - Heartless Bastards
LA - Elliott Smith
We Are the Tide - Blind Pilot

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

so you did like the 2nd Blind Pilot song? i got into them a couple of years ago when we got to see them 2 times at Bonnaroo, and the 2nd set was a short set on a really small stage and they opened with Half Moon and closed with We Are The Tides, and both songs worked really well like that, so i figured id try that for my mix. the opener and closer were what i started with and tried to make everything else work in between, and the next song was picked because i had about 30 or 35 songs i was considering in an itunes playlist and was listening on shuffle and when down in the valley started after half moon it just flowed perfectly. any theme in the mix is by accident, as ive said many times, i dont usually pick up on much from the lyrics, they will go over my head a lot and the singer is just another instrument in the band most of the time, this was put together just by flow and the songs were picked because they are bands and artists im really into right now. Shovels and rope is an awesome husband and wife duo that if you ever get a chance to see live you really need to, they will trade back and forth between guitar, drums and keyboard, and they make some awesome music with just the 2 of them. Dr Dog is a favorite of mine but i can see them not really being for everyone, but they are also a band that everyone should see live, they put on a fantastic show, and i did one song from each singer to try to give an over all feel for the band. ive got a HUGE smile on my face from reading that you liked the Devil Whale song, i hope you enjoy their whole album "teeth", Chloe and i got to see them open 2 shows for the Head and the Heart a couple of years ago and i was in love with them right away.
i can probably give quite a bit of info on why i picked most all of the songs, so ill call it good for now, but really happy you enjoyed it, and thanks much for the nice review

[VinylGuy]

I actually liked both of the Blind Pilot songs...the first one was a wtf moment and after a while i just loved it. Very classy of you to open and close with those two songs.

[kreng]

1 - Movie dialogue?, interesting start. don't recognize where it's from.
2 - Faust, it's an ok song.
3 - remember that guy Jo-John somebody? this track had potential and if executed differently i might have actually liked it. This track is only about 5:30 mins long but feels like it goes on forever which is not always a bad thing but in this case....ENOUGH ALREADY.
4 - beautiful track, love the rain sounds intertwining with the music. I feel like i've heard this before. It transitions beatifully into the next track.
5 - Kate Bush - Late Tahoe. I was turned onto this album when it first came out and was highly questioning why people whose musical opinion i respected would even talk about this artist/album. But to my surprise i ended up listening and loved it. I must admit i haven't heard it in a long long time but this is a nice reminder.
6 - Aphex Twin, i really only know Window Licker and this is nothing like it. neat track that sort of meanders about without getting boring.
7 - nice transitional track, i feel like i know what this is, can't quite place it though.
8 - 4-8 go together really nice, this sounds like The Caretaker or somesuch.
9 - markettes, surf music i guess, cool track but didn't really fit with what has been going on with this mix so far.
10 - Dirty Beaches, i'll admit i always thought this was some indie crap band (this happened to me before re: Kurt Vile) but this is actually pretty cool.
11 - the intro really threw me off as it sounds like RHCP and i was waiting for Kiedis to come in until it morphed into something else altogether. i feel like this song has a lot more potential than what it's showing. it gets a groove early on but never really goes anywhere after that. it becomes kind of a generic instrumental. meh.
12 - Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin, i was kind of disappointed with this album but this track is one of the better ones.
13 - a 8+ minute monologue, voice sounds familiar.
14 - funky song. first time i listened to this mix it seemed completely off, having listened 3-4 more times and i start to like it more and more as a closing song. i still wouldn't seek this time of music out for myself but somehow it works here.


I'm sorry about my poor reviewing skills. truth is, i usually enjoy creating my own mix, and then listening to my partners mix a lot more than actually having to put into words what i think of it. At first i thought it was 'bain who made this based on the artist names that weren't untagged (Faust, Aphex Twin, Kate Bush) but then i realized he didn't even participate. Based on the movie dialogue/monologue stuff i want to say this might be Malloy who made mine, but otherwise i have no clue.

[Fuzzcharger]

RM Mix - December 2013

1. "Dream Gypsy" - Bill Evans & Jim Hall (Undercurrent,1962)
2. "Locomotive" - Thelonious Monk (Straight, No Chaser, 1967)
3. "The Rain" - Eddie Gale (Ghetto Music, 1968)
4. "A Letter in Birch Bark" - Hexvessel (No Holier Temple, 2012)
5. "Falling Asleep" - Christoph Berg (Paraphrases, 2012)
6. "The Boys II" - The Necks (The Boys, 1998)
7. "Sketch 4" - Tim Hecker (Dropped Pianos, 2011)
8. "The Real Devil" - Zelionople (The World is a House on Fire, 2012)
9. "It's Raining Today" - Scott Walker (Scott 3, 1969)
10. "I have become almost invisible" - The Caretaker (Patience (After Sebald), 2012)
11. "The Lost Day" - Brian Eno (Ambient 4: On Land, 1982)
12. "Maximum Black" - Bohren & der Club of Gore (Black Earth, 2002)


MP3

I've been digging this. Quieter, moody vibes have been working for me of late so this hit the spot just right. Good job!

[Fuzzcharger]

Fuzzchargers mix is fucking awesome.
Its going to be my soundtrack when i finally leave my job to become a pimp.

This mix would have been a most welcome companion to a wild funk/r&b kick I went on last summer. Well done.

Fuzzcharger and Spenno's mixes sound really good from their tracklists.

i would like this one, yes indeed.

Cheers guys. Glad you dug it. I look forward to hearing everyone else's mixes when I can.

[William Bloke]

RM Mix - December 2013

1. "Dream Gypsy" - Bill Evans & Jim Hall (Undercurrent,1962)
2. "Locomotive" - Thelonious Monk (Straight, No Chaser, 1967)
3. "The Rain" - Eddie Gale (Ghetto Music, 1968)
4. "A Letter in Birch Bark" - Hexvessel (No Holier Temple, 2012)
5. "Falling Asleep" - Christoph Berg (Paraphrases, 2012)
6. "The Boys II" - The Necks (The Boys, 1998)
7. "Sketch 4" - Tim Hecker (Dropped Pianos, 2011)
8. "The Real Devil" - Zelionople (The World is a House on Fire, 2012)
9. "It's Raining Today" - Scott Walker (Scott 3, 1969)
10. "I have become almost invisible" - The Caretaker (Patience (After Sebald), 2012)
11. "The Lost Day" - Brian Eno (Ambient 4: On Land, 1982)
12. "Maximum Black" - Bohren & der Club of Gore (Black Earth, 2002)


MP3

I've been digging this. Quieter, moody vibes have been working for me of late so this hit the spot just right. Good job!

Yep, quiet day at work tidying up loose ends and what-not whilst I can without too much client disturbance. This has proved a lovely background to an easy day.

Now I'm funking out to fuzz's mix and getting down and groovy wit it, aw yeah.

[William Bloke]

Come on reviewers - I need more mixes to check. Get this shit done, y'hear?

Leatherhead, Alex and Doc - are there linky-poo's available for yours?