#123

thanks for the mix, @paulo13. The first track feels like a quiet nighttime walk alone in the snow, and then it goes a bit mad, and it’s like an unearthly light has just shone down and I’m being abducted by aliens. This is a good thing.
The mix settles down after that, but I liked the way it gradually became more cosmic and floaty as it went on. Kind of like one of those television shots where it zooms out from a street to the town to the country to the continent to the globe and so on until you’re just looking at a tiny dot in space. I particularly liked the tracks by Johann Johansson and Old Amica - I’ll be investigating some more of their stuff (just looked at the Old Amica bandcamp - very spacey!). Good work!

#124

Got yours today, not heard a single track on it so excited to give it a listen.

Got halfway through CD1 of yours @bornin69x will likely finish it tomorrow.

#125

Excellent, thank you! Glad you liked - thanks for the lovely review, makes it all worthwhile (although I had fun making and listening to it myself)! I was wondering a bit whether I should have that Hans Appelqvist song at the start, because of the scariness of the second-half, but then that just became the reason why I had to keep it there!

and I’m so pleased that you liked Old Amica. They have pretty much been one of my favourite bands from the past five years - devouring everything that they’ve released, waiting for a new album hopefully this year. I definitely recommend The Burning Dot (Parts 1 and 2) eps/album on bandcamp (or you can buy the nicely packaged album from a link on that page), and the instrumental album Drone and Hum is really quite nice. Fabula is ok also, but not as good as two of their other released which aren’t on their bandcamp for some reason - an album called Debris and an excellent EP called For A Second. Not sure where you can download them from now, but they’re on Spotify. They’ve also done a rather laid-back cover of Haddaway’s What Is Love. Anyhow, I’ll stop now - I’ve just checked my last.fm and they’re my most listened to artist, so I could easily continue praising them!

#126

@WardrobeGruber and @bornin69x muchos gracias to you both for the excellent mixes. Have listened once through to each of them and scribbled a few notes down which I’ll write up sometime soon, but both very enjoyable and spacey in different ways.

@ericthefourth @Trev @woweezowee I’m burning yours right this very moment. Made a few last minute alterations to the tracklist as I’ve been in the space zone all morning. Some of them aren’t explicitly cosmic but I think they fit into the context and flow of it pretty well. There’s a loose narrative in my mind where some humans leave earth, fly around in space for a bit, have their minds expanded, then return home and subsequently get visited by aliens. Not sure if that will come across or if it even matters. Looks like this:

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I’ll get em sent later today, hope you dig!

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#127

Awesome - certainly dig the nice artwork Gert! I look forward to receiving. Thanks!

Some lovely artwork this time around. Pulled together a fairly simple composite for mine and in keeping with the retro-futurist theme of the mix itself, but I think there are more interesting efforts upthread:

#128

yours arrived here yesterday as well, impressed by the full colour sleeve as mine tend to be decidedly cheaper looking. not very much i’m familiar with on yours so looking forward to giving it a spin this week. also glad you chose a different Flaming Lips song to me but i did consider that one!

#129

Glad to hear it arrived safe and looks interesting. That Flaming Lips song is one of a couple on there I figured people would already know, but worked well within the mix, so it made the cut. Hope you enjoy.

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#130

@Keith, thanks for your mix, I’ve been listening over the last week. I already knew a few of the songs on there well – Chemical Bros, TVOTR, Portishead, Sonic Youth & Fuck Buttons. There was a purple patch in the middle of the mix where three songs came together which I didn’t know and really liked. The first was Exploding Star Orchestra who I’d never heard of before. That piece was excellent, quite Reich-ish and I’m going to have to pick up some more of their stuff. The second highlight was Dr Octagon – I’m a fan of his Dr Octaganacologist album which I used on my mix, but I’d never investigated him beyond that. I think maybe I’d feared that he’d peaked on that record and I’d only be disappointed listening further. Good to hear that’s not the case. Thirdly, the Janelle Monae song was a gem – I was vaguely aware of the name, but had never knowingly heard her before.

The only one that didn’t do anything for me was Blue Oyster Cult. My gut feeling was that they weren’t for me, but this one confirmed it. Theme appropriate mind :slight_smile:

Black Sabbath must crop up on about half of the mixes I’ve received in these exchanges! Funny how some bands seem to always have something which fits the brief. There are a couple I’ve now self banned myself from including on the basis that I’d end up sticking them on every compilation I make otherwise.

Thanks again for sending, three interesting follow ups to make.

#131

Thanks @static Had a good few days with your mix now and I’m loving it. From the track listing I only knew New Kingdom who I was only introduced to by @funkycow on the apocalypse mix but it’s a great start.
The run from the guitar riff of Bats, to the keyboard riff of Single Frame to the NASA Arseholes of Roommate is fantastic and I’ll be investigating all further. Spacedust + Handcuffs is firmly lodged in head.

The only two I haven’t really taken to are Sontag Shogun and Figurine. Thought I might take to Sontag on repeated listens but nothing so far. Not that it’s dislikeable in anyway but it just hasn’t grabbed me. Figurine is fun and although I don’t find it that jarring in the context of the mix I guess it does interrupt the flow slightly. To have mixed so many genres and only have one that stands out as not fitting in highlights what a great job you’ve done though.

Wedged in between those two was a real highlight for me with The Boats. A very lovely, layered, textured song. Never heard of these guys but will definitely be rectifying this very soon. The final three tracks are epic, flow beautifully and I really get the feeling of rocketing into orbit with The Evpatoria Report followed by the weightlessness of floating around space with Paul Jebanasam track. I tried to end my mix in a similar fashion but you have definitely outdone me! Thanks again for a great mix.

1 Like
#132

just dropped through my door a few minutes ago. impressively packaged as always. i have the same Girl Band track as you but there’s lots i’m unfamiliar with! will get listening in the next few days

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#133

I was a bit worried I’d gone too mainstream so I’m glad there was stuff you didn’t know!

Aliens is from The Return of Dr Octagon which is very patchy (much like pretty much every other Kool Keith release. It’s worth a listen but don’t invest too heavily! I’d recommend Diesel Truckers as other favourite from his catalogue.

I love Astronomy but definitely felt it was one of the marmite moments. I thought about a space themed hard rock disc but decided against it when I saw the tracks I had available. There was no way Supernaut wasn’t going on there though.

I know nothing about Exploding Star Orchestra as they arrived on a USB stick from my jazz friend along with a stack of other good stuff. The album it comes from is very cosmic jazz/ Steve Riech and is excellent.

I’ve only managed your mix once through but I’m back at work tomorrow so will attempt some feedback on Friday.

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#134

Thanks @maggieloveshopey Along with the mix from @static an almost complete track listing of unknowns for me. Not something that has really happened with any other mixes I have received since signing up and it definitely felt a little daunting at first. There is something comforting in having a few you know buried away. I guess aside from the fun you have in putting together your own mixes the idea of this is to discover new music though so it ended up being a positive.

Firstly bit of a confession. I have been mainly listening to your mix on my shuffle which means I have no way of telling tracks names or numbers but I have been carrying your list around with me to try and keep up. So I start listening and think you’ve absolutely nailed it with the opening track. What a prefect start. It’s big and brash like an opening theme tune to a show or a great house band kicking in when the host strides on. Then I put your cd in my car and a completely different tracks starts up and it transpires that I never copied track 1 onto my shuffle. I would have to retract the above statement if I subsequently hadn’t enjoyed Spacerocks as much as Soil & Pimp but I did so it’s a great opening combo.

TAMTAM was fun and poppy, really enjoyed this. The turning up of the guitars from God Is An Astronaut to No Spill Blood worked really well although I was less taken with the latter due to the vocals. Sonically though fitted the theme and mix perfectly.

As with @static you both injected a bit of comedy at the midway point which worked well the Bender track especially. Something I need to keep in my mind for my mixes which can be far too serious!

Clipping was my only known track and although I had heard the name The Comet Is Coming I had always been put off by the jazz connections. I wish I hadn’t as this was one of my highlights!

Very easy to float away to the final two tracks. The trance like Banco De Gaia into the slightly darker and icier Lycia. Will check out more of both. Is that a snippet of Mercury Rev right at the end?
Thanks again for a very enjoyable and interesting mix!

1 Like
#135

Excellent - hope you enjoy! The cover art is a painting by Peter Elson - he did a lot of fantastic space artwork in his career, loved his stuff as a teenager. Hope the music is good enough to accompany the art…

#136

@dollarsandcents @LastAstronaut @Prob500 Finally got to a point where I’m happy with mine so they’ll be in the post to you tomorrow!

#137

thank you - it’s arrived today! Love the cd packaging/cover and the cd cover - I need to learn how to do that!

Adem was close to making my final cd - there were a couple songs from that album that I was umming and ahh’ing with, but then it just didn’t make it. Am a big fan of him, especially his Homesongs album which is pretty much perfect.
& I put a different Johann Johannsson song on my mix, but I don’t have/know this one.
& the rest of it is either unknown to me, or I maybe have heard a song or two from a few.
Looking forward to listening to it later this week!

1 Like
#138

Great, glad you enjoyed it. I don’t really know anything about that Spacerocks track. it’s something that turned up on a blog somewhere that I enjoyed, and it’s just hung about in my library waiting for an occasion like this. The one thing I can remember is that the B.F.O.S.R. of the title stands for “Big Fuck Off Space Rocks”. This may or may not enhance your enjoyment of the tune.
Soil & Pimp are a Japanese jazz band - I saw them a few years ago in Bristol, and no lie, it might have been the greatest gig I’ve ever been to in my life. TAMTAM are Japanese as well. I know very little about them, but the album I have is great, very smooth polished pop stuff with just enough of a dub disco slant to stop it being boring. And yes, it is Mercury Rev right at the end, a snippet of a cover from a bootleg I have. Thought it’d be a nice way to end, and I deliberately left it off the tracklisting.

As a technical aside, I hope it worked okay in terms of one track fading into another. This was the first mix I’ve done on Garageband and so I could work with transitions a lot more than my previous “burn iTunes playlist to disc” efforts. I enjoyed all the messing about, but I’m sure I could do better with a few more under my belt.

#139

@Scagden thanks a lot for your space disc. Some real favourites on there - the Bill Callahan song, Jon Hopkins and I’ve recently picked up the Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith album which I can see developing into a favourite. Had a bit of WTF at the Circle Takes the Square song which was a bit jarring coming straight after Hopkins and really wasn’t sure at first about the cookie monster vocals merging into a Decemberist-eqsue pastoral prog. But after repeated listens I’ve actually grown to really like it. Was impressed by the Belle & Sebastian song, haven’t knowingly listened to them since The Boy With the Arab Strap and that was a really good reinvention of their sound. Possibly the highlight of the disc was the John Murphy song. Which I hadn’t heard before, but felt naggingly familiar (backing music for a planet earth as a whale crash lands in water? or some stirring backing music as a marathon runner struggles across the line?) but it was an incredible piece of music, and was a suitably stirring soundtrack as I drove home last night after Carlisle United’s herculean failure in Exeter last night.

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#140

And thanks for yours too @LastAstronaut . Cracking way to start the disc (hadn’t heard that before). Wish I’d thought of the Ben Frost song for my comp (AURORA was my album of the year a couple of years back), that Sabbath song is a monster, and really enjoyed that Butthole Surfers tune. I’m guessing with your user name you are the man to recommend their best stuff. I could see them being right up my street but for some reason I’ve only ever picked up a couple of albums from second hand shops don’t really have a feel for their discography. Was planning to have a proper exploration before seeing them at Safe As Milk, but that obviously didn’t happen so recommendations welcome. The only song I had to skip on my repeated listenings was the Necro Deathmort one which seemed to drag on far too long, and not in an interesting way. But otherwise it was all good and flowed really well through the genres.

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#141

Oh, and I’ve finally sorted out my playlist and discs are burning right now. Hopefully get the sleeves sorted over the weekend and in the post next week. @ninetyeightytwo @allnerve @Otto @static @Scagden expect something soon (ish)

2 Likes
#142

Hey @LastAstronaut - I’ve listened to most of yours, but I won’t give full feedback until I’ve heard the lot.

I will say this, though - whoever remixed that Monster Magnet song did a great job. Made them sound like Nine Inch Nails!

Oh, this too - I love how it’s mixed. Properly mixed! With songs blending into one another, and grouped by genres but still flowing beautifully.

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