I was halfway complete with a "normal" mix when I realized I had two instrumentals in the list. I figured I'd run with it and pull together my favorite instrumentals. I tried my best to include songs by bands who are normally known for having a singer. There are certainly a few instrumental only bands on here, but by and large these cuts are from albums where every other song had words. I enjoyed going back through my collection to find songs I hadn't heard in years, but which brought me back to a place and time when I remember hearing it and listening over and over. This mix may fade into the background for some of you who are lyrics-first people, but I think there are some great sounds in here worth spending time with. Enjoy.
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The Meters / Sophisticated Cissy
Everything about this track is just super slicked back, if I had to pick, the lazy drums are just unbeatable. These guys are the real deal and this song wins for my intro
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The Meters are an American funk band formed in 1965 by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar), and Art Neville (keyboards) in New Orleans. The band performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977 and played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint. Their original songs "Cissy Strut" and "Look-Ka Py Py" are considered funk classics. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Pavement / 5*4=Unity
I never really got into Pavement when they were together, moreso Stephen Malkmus' solo stuff. However, I've come to appreciate a bunch of Pavement's work. The guitar dueling in this song is discordant but beautiful. I love the little up riff at 0:38. Just four perfect notes.
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Pavement are an indie rock band that formed in Stockton, California in 1989. For most of the period to 1999, the band consisted of Stephen Malkmus (vocals, guitar), Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg (guitar, vocals), Mark Ibold (bass), Steve West (drums) and Bob Nastanovich (percussion, vocals). During that period, and since, they have frequently been described as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the American underground of the '90s. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Calexico / Minas de Cobre
I've seen these guys a few times live and it was always a killer show. This recording was done live and it captures some of the energy. I think these guys capture what I think of as the southwestern US. A mix of Mexico and LA, or something like that.
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Calexico is a Tucson, Arizona based, Americana, Tex-Mex, indie rock, band. The band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Quarterstick Records, while their 2005 EP In the Reins recorded with Iron & Wine has reached the Billboard 200 album charts. Their musical style is influenced by traditional Latin sounds of mariachi, conjunto, cumbia, tejano, as well as country, jazz, and post-rock. Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Byrds / Bound to Fall
A killer album and killer track. I love how the drums and guitar riff are seemingly off and then come together on the "choruses"
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The Byrds were a popular American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. They are considered one of the most important and influential bands of the 1960s. Their music bridged the gaps between the socially and spiritually conscious folk music of Bob Dylan, the studio trickery of The Beach Boys, and the sardonic rock of The Beatles. Some of their trademark songs include pop versions of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and Pete Seeger’s Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) Read more on Last.fm more...
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Phish / The Inlaw Josie Wales
Phish is known for quite a few instrumentals, but this one sticks out for me. There is a lot of music like this that I enjoy, but this one has something special for me.
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Phish is a rock band which formed in 1983 in Burlington, Vermont, United States. For most of their career, the group's lineup has consisted of Trey Anastasio (guitar, vocals), Page McConnell (keyboards, vocals), Mike Gordon (bass, vocals) and Jon Fishman (drums, vocals, vacuum cleaner). The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a rigorous touring schedule that draws a famously dedicated fan base. Their music blends elements of a wide variety of genres Read more on Last.fm more...
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Lambchop / The Lone Official
This is a great driving song, drumming your hands on the wheel. The drum beat is like a train engine.
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Lambchop is an American alt-country band from Nashville, Tennessee, the capital of country music. Originally called Posterchild, the band (which formed in 1986) cannot easily be classified into a genre and certainly not into that of traditional country music. The collective around frontman Kurt Wagner has a fluid membership, at times including as many 18 musicians, and is frequently associated with alternative country. Lambchop’s music combines Read more on Last.fm more...
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Tom MIsch / The Journey
This song was going to be on my mix before I even decided to go all instrumental, and might be the reason I did so. It's essentially an underlying beat to a hip-hop song, but something about it makes it work on its own. I can imagine a lyricist laying down some slick slow jam verses over it. I love the beginning but it really shines when the guitar solo kicks at 2:58. It is probably sacrilege, but the riffs remind me of Prince for some reason. Then again, when I watch this, I realize I have no business making that connection.
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“Apparently, I have a sound , and people can hear it,” Tom Misch claims modestly. For someone with a cohesive and sprawling body of mellow beats behind him, he seems mildly bewildered that this is the case. “I try so many genres that it’s hard sometimes to pinpoint. I guess my sound is uplifting, soulful, funky — and happy more than it is sad.” It’s a perfect description of his debut album, due in 2018, which brings together low-slung hip-hop beats, glittering disco, and noodling jazz instrumentation in a way only Misch can. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Mos Def / May-December
Not my favorite song from this album, but a memorable one
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Dante Terrell Smith (born December 11, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, United States), now known by the stage name Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), is a Grammy Award-nominated rapper and actor. He now works under the nom de plum Yasiin Bey, and has performed under the aliases Mighty Mos Def, The Freaky Night Watchman, Boogie Man, Black Dante and Pretty Flaco. He began rapping in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics in 1994, and then formed the duo Black Star with Talib Kweli in 1998. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Amon Tobin / Bridge
A song I remember from my freshman year at Boston College. A bit repetitive, but some great drum licks in there.
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Amon Tobin (born Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin on February 7, 1972) is a Brazilian musician, composer and producer of electronic music. He is described as a virtuoso sound designer and is considered to be one of the most influential electronic music artists in the world. He is noted for his unusual methodology in sound design and music production. He has released seven major studio albums under the London-based Ninja Tune record label. It began for him sometime in the mid-90s when Read more on Last.fm more...
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Cymande / Dove
This song HAD to make an appearance on this mix. What a beast. It's long, but I always get into it and wish it wouldn't end. The basslines carry it, and there are several. There are a few voices the filter in on the back half, but no words so I'm keeping it. Enjoy.
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Cymande were an eclectic band who released several albums throughout the early seventies. They arrived in London, England from Guyana and Jamaica and developed a subtle, deep funk style heavily influenced by Calypso rhythms, Jazz, African music, and American Soul. Cymande can now be seen as one of the most sophisticated of the heavy funk acts that evolved in the early 1970's. By the mid-seventies the band members were going their separate ways. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Pixies / Cecelia Ann
A classic, surf rock anthem from the classic UMASS band. I actually just learned that Black Francis lives on Lincoln Ave in Amherst, about a half mile down from J Mascis' house on the same street. Indie rock gods on Lincoln, who knew.
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Pixies are an American alternative rock band which formed in Boston, Massachusetts, United States in 1986. The band consists of Charles (Black Francis) Thompson IV (vocals, guitar; also known as ''Frank Black''), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), David Lovering (drums) and Paz Lenchantin (bass, vocals). Until 2013, the band also featured Kim Deal on bass and vocals. The band officially split in 1993 and reunited in 2004. They went on hiatus in 2007 Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Clientele / Jamaican Rum Rhumba
Palette cleanser, light weight, but a beauty. Love the guitar tone.
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The Clientele are a London-based band with Alasdair MacLean on vocals and guitar, Mark Keen on drums, James Hornsey on bass and Mel Draisey on Keys and Violin. MacLean and Hornsey began collaborating musically while still in school, after MacLean saw that Hornsey had written the name of the band Felt on his pencil case. The band formed in 1991, with the current lineup along with Innes Phillips, who shared singing and songwriting duties with MacLean. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Uncle Tupelo / Sandusky
Just a great little song and melody.
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Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville Records, before signing with Sire Records and expanding to a five-piece. Shortly after the release of the band's major label debut album Anodyne, Farrar Read more on Last.fm more...
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Modest Mouse / Custom Concern
Modest Mouse on two mixes in a row... Some great songs on this record, and this one works for sure.
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Modest Mouse is an alternative rock band which formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, United States. The band's original lineup consisted of guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy. Since being signed to Sony's Epic Records in 2000, Modest Mouse has attained significant popular success with songs such as "Float On" and "Dashboard." The band's current configuration is Isaac Brock (vocals, guitar), Tom Peloso (strings, horns Read more on Last.fm more...
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Ween / A Tear for Eddie
One of the world's cheesiest drum machine beats, but for some reason I'll always love this song. It's off a classic Ween album (if there is such a thing), and the song is dedicated to Eddie Hazel of Parliament-Funkadelic
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Ween is an American alternative rock & experimental rock band that formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween) and Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean Ween) met in an eighth grade typing class. After a 28-year run, Freeman quit the band in 2012, citing the need to focus on his alcohol and drug addiction issues. Nonetheless, Ween reformed in late 2015 and is currently touring with no stated plans to release new recorded material. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Minutemen / Cohesion
A brief breather on Double Nickels. Such an interesting break from the rest of the album.
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The Minutemen were a punk rock trio which formed in 1980 in San Pedro, California, United States. The band comprised guitarist/vocalist D Boon and his childhood friend, bassist/vocalist Mike Watt, along with a former high school classmate on drums, George Hurley. The group played funk influenced punk rock music in the early 1980s, never finding (or even seeking) much mainstream success but influencing many subsequent musicians. The group ended when Boon died in an automobile accident in Arizona in December 1985. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Ray Charles / One Mint Julep
Hell yes, love this. Such a great recording of this song. This is the one song on the mix that is allowed to have a single line of vocals in it, and they are: "Just a little bit of soul now" Indeed.
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Ray Charles (Ray Charles Robinson, Albany, Georgia, September 23, 1930 - Beverly Hills, California, June 10, 2004), was an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, and band leader. As a rock and roll, rhythm & blues, soul, blues, jazz, country and pop musician he helped to shape the sound of rhythm & blues. He brought a soulful sound to everything from country music ("I Can't Stop Loving You") to rock and roll ("Mess Around"), to pop standards to a now-iconic rendition of "America the Beautiful. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Broken Social Scene / Pacific Theme
A song I remember from when I had just graduated college. I remember listening to this record a bunch in the car.
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Broken Social Scene is an indie rock group formed in 1999 in Toronto, Canada. The band's core members were Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. This duo recorded and released the band's ambient debut album Feel Good Lost, in 2001, with contributions from Ohad Benchetrit (also known as Years), Evan Cranley, Leslie Feist, Justin Peroff, Bill Priddle, and Charles Spearin. All of these musicians would emerge as key members of Broken Social Scene in future endeavors. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Erik Satie / Trois Gymnopedies
Another song that prompted me to go instrumental on this. It's just a heartbreaker. This recording is performed by Bojan Gorisek.
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Alfred Éric Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866–Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer, pianist, and writer. Over the years, Erik Satie was described as a precursor of movements and styles as varied as Impressionism, Neo-Classicism, Dada, Surrealism, Conceptual art, minimalism, and ambient music. As well as taking the first steps towards techniques such as prepared piano and music-to-film synchronisation, Satie became one of the first musicians to perform a cameo appearance in a film Read more on Last.fm more...
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Allman Brothers Band / Little Martha
I could have picked from a wide variety of incredible instrumentals by the Allmans, but this song is such an amazing melody, two minutes of perfection.
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The Allman Brothers Band, formed in 1969 in Macon, Georgia blended strains of Southern Rock music - Blues, R&B, Country, Jazz, and Gospel - into a flexible, jam-oriented style of Rock and Roll that reflected the emergence of the “New South” and set the style for Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, and countless other Southern rockers. Oddly - or eerily, some would say - the band’s unusual string of untimely deaths has been repeated in other Southern-rock bands. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Explosions In The Sky / Your Hand In Mine
Hard to do an instrumental mix without these guys. Not sure who has seen Friday Night Lights, but this song or some variant of it serves as the theme song. This sound is forever attached to that show for me. Such a huge sound and a perfect long play to close things out.
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Explosions In The Sky is an American instrumental post-rock band, which formed in Austin, Texas in 1999. Munaf Rayani, Mark Smith, and Michael James had just moved to Austin from Midland, Texas, and drummer Chris Hrasky had just moved to Austin from Rockford, Illinois. The band quickly gained a reputation for their live shows even amongst other established local bands such as Lift To Experience. They also garnered a small amount of media attention as a result of their second album Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die Read more on Last.fm more...
