Can you believe we've doing this BurnMix thing for over six years now?
Someone at the office asked if my mix had a theme when I was testing it out on Friday afternoon. I said, "Not really. Just good stuff." "That's a theme," he replied. And, I guess it is.
I started out with an idea of calling it "Doublets" and having two songs each from 7 or 8 artists. But I couldn't make it work. So I have a few doubles - Foy Vance, Quiet Hollers, John Wizards - but the rest are singular fly-bys. Hopefully a good mix for the dog days of summer. Enjoy!!
Photo, by the way, is a cropped view of the curved exterior of the Wynn in Las Vegas.
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Foy Vance / Noam Chomsky is a Soft Revolution
Foy Vance was my big discovery in the past six months. This Irish guy slays it. I had various songs vying for the pole position for some time, but once Noam slipped in there, it was to stay. This song kicks ass!! Love the pounding simplicity.
More Info from Last.FM
Foy Vance is a songsmith born in Bangor, County Down, who is now living in London. He released his first single "Gabriel and the vagabond" c/w with "Indiscriminate Act of kindness" on December 18th, 2006 on Wurdamouth Records. The songs "Gabriel and the Vagabond" and "Homebird" was featured in the second season of the US TV drama Grey's Anatomy and received an incredible response and demand to release the track as a single. "Indiscriminate Act of Kindness" Read more on Last.fm more...
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Alt-J / Every Other Freckle
This production is just awesome - lots of twists and turns - and ethereal, but sexy, lyrics. Not many people can write a song about freckles and make it sound so mysterious. "I'm gonna kiss you like a sunrise." Yup....
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Alt-J (sometimes stylised ∆) was formed when Gwil Sainsbury (guitar, bass), Joe Newman (guitar, vocals), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards), and Thom Sonny Green (drums) met at Leeds, UK University in 2007. The band currently resides in Cambridge. Unger-Hamilton studied English Literature; the other three Fine Art. In their second year of studies, Newman showed Sainsbury a handful of his own songs inspired by his guitar-playing dad and hallucinogens Read more on Last.fm more...
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Kevin Morby / I Have Been to the Mountain
Came across this guy recently and became a quick fan. Boy moves to Brooklyn from Kansas City and makes good. Love when the bass line kicks in the middle of the first verse. Best bass line I have heard in a long time - all the way through - the whole song hangs on it. But I was hooked when the angelic choir and Toreador trumpets kick in at 1:20. And while it's not quite modulation (I don't think) there is a great chordal trick as he comes out of each chorus and you expect it to resolve back to the root chord and it stays on on the V chord. Love this tune.
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Kevin Morby is an American musician, singer and songwriter. Formerly the bass guitarist of the folk rock band Woods, and the frontman of The Babies, Morby began a solo career in 2013. Harlem River marked the solo debut. Known for his work as the singer/guitarist for the Brooklyn band The Babies and bassist for Woods, the Kansas City native and new Los Angeles resident, calls the record “an homage to New York City,” his adopted home for the past five years. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Quiet Hollers / Mont Blanc
This guy kind of reminds me of the fellow from the Nationals - whom we saw walking down the street in NYC a few years back - we think. Kind of a depressing lyric, but paints a beautiful and haunting picture. "those same distant headlights, sweeping back and forth across the shells of the summer homes." Wow....
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Quiet Hollers is an indie band from Louisville, Kentucky, United States. They released three full-length albums: I Am The Morning (2013), Quiet Hollers (2015) and Amen Breaks (2017). "Quiet Hollers are a cult/gang/band and ragtag group of misfits. Playing weird, sad music for weirdos like you." Personnel: Shadwick Wilde, Nick Goldring, Aaron West, Jim Bob Brown, Jake Hellman. Read more on Last.fm more...
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KONGOS / Where I Belong
I'd call this modulation. What makes the song is the steady shifting back and forth between the minor and major chord as they chug through the verses. Makes for a unique and very memorable melody. They're a band of four brothers.
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Kongos is a rock band of four brothers - Johnny, Jesse, Dylan and Danny Kongos. Sons of multi-million-seller British singer-songwriter John Kongos, they grew up in London and South Africa, and are now based in Phoenix, AZ, USA. Written, produced and engineered by themselves, their debut album was released in 2007, receiving glowing reviews and earning a spot on Get Out's top 10 local albums. Later that year, they were named Best Rock Band of Phoenix (Phoenix New Times). Read more on Last.fm more...
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John Wizards / Lusaka By Night
You might say this song calls out to me. Lusaka is the capital of Zambia, but this group hails from Cape Town, South Africa. The studio album this came from is a couple years old, but I just came across it recently. Love the quirky syncopation and instrumentation. The breakdown at 2:08 is awesome - lapping itself somehow to re-engage 2:30. Crazy.
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South African duo from Cape Town making the sound of seven virtuosos from across a wide variety of styles both traditional and electronic. John Withers (music), Emmanuel Nzaramba (vocals), with live assistance from Geoff Brink, Tom Parker, John Withers, Alex Montgomery and Raphael Segerman. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Josh Ritter / Birds of the Meadow
I think of Josh as a soft folkie, but this album is pretty powerful. Love how his voice jumps an octave at 1:29 - breaking down momentarily at 2:22 to re-emerge and bring it home at just over 3 minutes.
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Josh Ritter (born in Moscow, Idaho on October 21, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and author who performs and records with The Royal City Band (as Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band). Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006 he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine. Born to two neuroscientists, Ritter bought his first guitar from the local K-MART after hearing the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash classic Girl From The North Country. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Foy Vance / She Burns
Another Foy tune - this is the best song I've heard this year. At a recent songwriter's group that I attend, someone commented on the importance of the first line of a lyric. "She is a little explosion of hope" fits the bill. Love the tap tap of the bass drum at the beginning - like a heartbeat. Aside from a beautiful production this is just very very fine songwriting. Here he is in a spare video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TspZ1MS424 Hope to catch him when he swings through the northeast in October.
More Info from Last.FM
Foy Vance is a songsmith born in Bangor, County Down, who is now living in London. He released his first single "Gabriel and the vagabond" c/w with "Indiscriminate Act of kindness" on December 18th, 2006 on Wurdamouth Records. The songs "Gabriel and the Vagabond" and "Homebird" was featured in the second season of the US TV drama Grey's Anatomy and received an incredible response and demand to release the track as a single. "Indiscriminate Act of Kindness" Read more on Last.fm more...
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Blood Orange / Best to You
This is actually a Brit named Dev Hynes. Great syncopated rhythms and a swooping baseline keep this tune percolating. Love the xylophone drop at 2:40.
More Info from Last.FM
Another alias of Devonté Hynes also known as Lightspeed Champion and member of the now defunct Test Icicles. His first release under the 'Blood Orange' moniker was in June 2009 via his personal blog. 'Said No' and 'Champagne Coast' appeared as a ltd. 7" bonus disc for the fourth release on Rise's album of the month club. 500 copies pressed on orange-coloured vinyl. 'Sutphin Boulevard' was the first release through Domino Recording Co., the label that would release the first album offering, 'Coastal Grooves', on August 8th 2011. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Boz Scaggs / Last Tango on 16th Street
Just couldn't keep this smooth tune off the mix. Tried, but it kept making a comeback. Love the vibe of Boz and this is a great tribute to San Francisco.
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Boz Scaggs (born William Royce Scaggs on 8 June 1944 in Canton, Ohio) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1960s as a guitarist and sometimes lead singer with the Steve Miller Band and in the 1970s with several solo Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour. After learning guitar at the age of 12, Scaggs met Steve Miller at St. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Brazilian Girls / The Critic
This was the lead-off song for awhile, but relinquished that spot to Noam Chomsky. Love the fast tempo of this tune - na na na na - and especially the keyboard break that ends the tune at 2:48..
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Brazilian Girls' music incorporates bits of reggae, electronica, jazz, bossa nova, and various other influences. Despite their name, no one in the band is Brazilian. The sexy/quirky/mysterious Brazilian Girls were three men -- Didi Gutman (from Argentina) on keyboards and computers, Jesse Murphy on bass, and Aaron Johnston on drums -- and one woman, Sabina Sciubba, the vocalist. Sciubba often enjoys wearing lacy eye masks on-stage and sings in no fewer than five different languages. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Rihanna / Never Ending
I'm not a huge Rihanna fan for the most part, but this is a very catchy and beautifully written tune. Great guitar playing and vocals - especially the harmonies.
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Robyn Rihanna Fenty (born February 20, 1988), known by her stage name, Rihanna, is a Bajan singer. She has attained fourteen Billboard Hot 100 number ones thus far and is the second Bajan artist to win a Grammy Award. She is also a cultural ambassador for Barbados. Rihanna was born in Saint Michael, Barbados to Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor, and Monica Fenty, an accountant. Her mother, a native of Guyana, is Afro-Guyanese and her father is Bajan and Irish. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Tall Heights / River Wider
When I was a kid I used to love hearing new music on the radio and predicting whether something would be a "hit" - or not. My track record was pretty good. This tune is a hit, I think - or will be. It is so hook laden it's almost ridiculous. Maybe a bit too poppy for some of you, but I love the vocals and infectious melody. Shades of Fleet Foxes and Sufjan. Two guys with a guitar and cello who used to busk on the streets of Boston recorded their first few albums in Goshen VT. At the Iron Horse on 9/30. And first line, "The dog days of August...."
More Info from Last.FM
Tall Heights is an American electro-folk duo based in Boston, MA. The group formed in 2009 and consists of singer/guitarist Tim Harrington and singer/cellist Paul Wright. Recent touring has also featured percussionist/singer Paul Dumas. In the summer of 2010, Harrington and Wright were playing for spare change in Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace. In two short years since, Tall Heights has headlined packed listening rooms across New England, toured down to Austin Read more on Last.fm more...
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John Wizards / Leuk
Love these guys - the music is so quirky, but still engaging and sonically beautiful. Listen to the boobly sounds at 1:27 on headphones. Love the crackling snare at 2:13 - sounds like it's plugged into high voltage. And the breakdown at the end - the last 30 seconds - is so completely unexpected.
More Info from Last.FM
South African duo from Cape Town making the sound of seven virtuosos from across a wide variety of styles both traditional and electronic. John Withers (music), Emmanuel Nzaramba (vocals), with live assistance from Geoff Brink, Tom Parker, John Withers, Alex Montgomery and Raphael Segerman. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Quiet Hollers / Broken Guitar
Love the piano riff that anchors this song and the steady punch to the tempo.
More Info from Last.FM
Quiet Hollers is an indie band from Louisville, Kentucky, United States. They released three full-length albums: I Am The Morning (2013), Quiet Hollers (2015) and Amen Breaks (2017). "Quiet Hollers are a cult/gang/band and ragtag group of misfits. Playing weird, sad music for weirdos like you." Personnel: Shadwick Wilde, Nick Goldring, Aaron West, Jim Bob Brown, Jake Hellman. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Joe Bonamassa / Drive
This guy fills concert halls, but seems to still be under the radar. I was testing a final draft of this mix in the office late Friday afternoon. This song came on and Kath, our admin person, spun on her chair and said, "Ohhh, I love this song." Now, if you know Kath, you know this is not like her, but I happen to know she is, in her own quiet way, a pretty serious music fan. Had to keep this on there after that outburst. Love the steady acoustic strum and the way the kind of slappy random rhythm tightens up and starts pumping on the second verse. Good tune for cruising with the windows down.
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Joe Bonamassa (born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Bonamassa was born in Utica, New York. He started playing guitar at age four, encouraged by his father, who was an avid music fan and exposed him to British blues rock records by Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, greatly inspiring him. At 11 years old Joe was mentored and trained by American guitar legend, Danny Gatton. When he was 12 years old, he had his own band called Smokin' Joe Bonamassa Read more on Last.fm more...
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Junius Meyvant / Domestic Grace Man
I had to include one song that started with guitar strumming so Grogan could check his email. This seemed like a lovely tune to end the mix on. Why is there so much cool stuff coming out of Iceland these days?
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