Hey Burnmixers - I really needed to break out of the six month rotation we'd establshed, so adding two new members and shaking up the calendar had me inspired going into this mix. I hope the rest of you will feel the same. While most of the songs on #33 are from this past year, a few are older. I was really looking for a "mix" - diversity with quality. I tried to position electronic wizardry adjacent to acoustic rawness. I combed alot of the "best of" lists and struggled, as usual, on which songs to keep and which to delete. Anyway, this mix is all over the place, as you will see, and I hope in a good way. Enjoy!!
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Chairlift / Sidewalk Safari
There is a precision to this song that I love - so tight and right. Crisp and precise. Tough picking that first song on a mix. This one was ensconced for months.
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Chairlift was an electro-pop band formed in 2005 in Boulder, Colorado, United States. The band consisted of Caroline Polachek (vocals, keyboards) and Patrick Wimberly (bass, drums). The third founding member, Aaron Pfenning (guitar, synths, vocals), left the band in 2010. In December 2016, Chairlift announced that they would be breaking up, with a final tour in the spring of 2017 . The band formed in Boulder, Colorado in early 2006 to make live music for haunted houses. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Bonnie Raitt / Take My Love with You
Followed by the loping rhythms of Bonnie. I never fail to sort of relax when I hear this song - I think it's the tempo. Effortless perfection. I try to find a wasted note and I don't think there is one.
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Bonnie Raitt, (born November 8, 1949) is an American blues and R&B singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was born in Burbank, California, the daughter of Broadway musical star John Raitt. Raitt began playing guitar at an early age, something not a lot of her high school girlfriends did. "I had played a little at school and at camp," she later recalled in a July 2002 interview. "My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but it was a hobby—nothing more. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Deadmau5 / The Veldt
EDM. Jars you out. Love the relentless kick drum. Crank this one up on the dance floor...
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Born (January 5, 1981) and raised in Niagara Falls, Canada, Joel Zimmerman (aka "deadmau5") has become one of the most sought-after artists on the electronic music scene in recent times. He is known for his highly entertaining live gigs, often performing wearing a large cartoon mouse head. He first started his career as co-producer of the Niagara Falls radio show “The Party Revolution” (101.1 The Planet). After gaining exposure to all the many facets of electronic music Read more on Last.fm more...
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Rufus Wainwright / Out of the Game
What a voice!!
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Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born 22 July 1973) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, USA, to folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (they divorced while he was a child). He began to play the piano at age six, and by age thirteen he was touring with his sister Martha Wainwright, mother Kate, and aunt Anna as the McGarrigle Sisters and Family. His song I'm A-Runnin', which he performed in the movie Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller (in which he also played a minor character) Read more on Last.fm more...
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David Byrne & St. Vincent / Who
Talking Heads softened by a female lilt. Love the attitude of this song. Hmpf... And the minor/major chord thing keeps this interesting.
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David Byrne and St. Vincent collaborated on the album "Love This Giant". David Byrne and Annie Clark of St. Vincent began working together in late 2009, using a process that Byrne had previously used on his 2008 collaboration with Brian Eno, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today." The Who Songfacts reports that Love This Giant was recorded in Hoboken, New Jersey over a two-year period and features 10 songs co-written by the two musicians, with each one fully penning one additional track. Read more on Last.fm more...
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John Fullbright / Gawd Above
Oh man I love the first 8 bars of this song - that jangly guitar. Very irreverent, but terrific lyrics. And when the harp comes in after the bridge...I get shivers every time I hear this. Crank it up.
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John Fullbright (born April 23, 1988, in Bearden, Oklahoma) is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter. A former member of the Oklahoma Red Dirt bands Turnpike Troubadours and the Mike McClure Band, he released his first solo album, Live at the Blue Door, in 2009. In 2012 he was awarded the ASCAP Foundation's Harold Adamson Lyric Award Fullbright began playing the piano at age five and taking piano lessons at the age nine. While still in high school, he performed at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in the nearby town of Okemah, Oklahoma. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Kishi Bashi / It All Began With a Burst
Noah and I caught his show at the Iron Horse last night and it was....astounding. I don't know where to start with this guy. Lots of depth here. Intricate looping, engaging rhythms and incredible musical talent.
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Kishi Bashi is the pseudonym of singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Kaoru Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975). He is a founding member of the New York synth rock outfit Jupiter One, as well as a touring member of Georgia based indie rock group of Montreal and has also toured with Regina Spektor, predominantly as a violinist. Kishi Bashi is Kaoru Ishibashi's self-recorded and self-produced project started in 2011 with his first EP; Room For Dream, released in May 2011 http://kishibashi.bandcamp.com/ Read more on Last.fm more...
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Tinariwen / Imidiwan Ma Tenam
Jeanie ignores most of the stuff I play. But whenever this tune comes on she says, "I like this song." This is high and rare praise. Just goes to show that you can write a great song that has one chord. So earthy....
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Tinariwen (Tamasheq language: ⵜⵏⵔⵓⵏ, plural of ténéré "desert") is a band of Tuareg-Berber musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band's fifth album Tassili, released in 2011, won the Award for Best World Music Album at the 54th Grammy Awards. Formed in 1982, in strikingly unusual circumstances for a musical ensemble, Tinariwen blend ancient musical traditions with radical contemporary politics. Despite severe natural and man-made hardships Read more on Last.fm more...
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Tedeschi Trucks Band / Midnight In Harlem
Oh boy. Is the groove this song starts with just the best? That B3 organ intro? I smile every time I hear this song kick in.
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Tedeschi Trucks Band (formerly known as the Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band) is an American blues rock group based in Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 2010, the band is led by husband-and-wife musicians Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, and primarily features members from their solo groups. Their debut album, Revelator, won a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album. The band was founded after both Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi put their solo bands on hiatus to form a new group that lets the married couple focus on making music together Read more on Last.fm more...
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Laura Veirs / July Flame
This is from a 2010 release, but the complex counter-rhythms of this song are infectious. Love the way this song floats off the surface. It's all about the upbeat.
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Laura Veirs (born Laura Pauline Veirs on 24 October 1973 in Colorado Springs, Colorado) is an American singer-songwriter. Veirs was raised in Colorado, studied geology and Mandarin Chinese at Carleton College, worked as a translator for a geological expedition in China, and now lives in Portland, Oregon. Veirs has said that she didn't seriously listen to music until she was in her 20s; instead, she just heard what was in her environment. She listened to folk / country / classical / pop, around the house & on the radio, during her youth. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Joe Pug / Hymn #101
Okay, this is Dylan with a lisp. But the lyrics are very good and it does have that strength of simplicity. Great imagery.
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Joe Pug (born Joe Pugliese on 20 April 1984) is an American singer-songwriter from Chicago. He has released two EPs, Nation of Heat and In the Meantime (the latter of which has been made available for free on his website) as well as the albums Messenger, The Great Despiser, Windfall and The Flood In Color. He has toured extensively since 2008 and has opened for alt-country pioneer Steve Earle, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter and folk rocker M. Ward among others. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Lianne La Havas / Is Your Love Big Enough?
Whoa! Love this lady's voice. Funkified chunka chunka. This is really an excellent song.
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Lianne Charlotte Barnes a.k.a. Lianne La Havas (born August 23, 1989, in London, England) is an English folk, soul, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. La Havas was born in London, England to a Greek father and Jamaican mother. She was raised in Tooting and Streatham, spending the majority of her time with her grandparents, following her parents' separation as a child. La Havas' cites her parents' diverse musical tastes as having the biggest influence on her music. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Daughn Gibson / In the Beginning
This will grow on you. I'm not kidding. Spacy layers and some very interesting harmonies
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There are moments of genuine noise and terror on singer-songwriter Daughn Gibson's debut solo LP, All Hell, but not of the devil's-horns kind. Instead, the 31-year-old Carlisle, Pennsylvania, resident fashions ghostly, haunting country-ish ballads out of Christian gospel samples and looping audio software while his rich baritone narrates small-town tragedy. Gibson's affinity for country music-- as well as the genre's cherished storytelling tradition-- began when he started driving trucks for a living nearly a decade ago. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Jai Paul / Jasmine
Okay, this is a little intense - and a late addition. But, boy, the low notes and halting flow gives me a little headkick every time.
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Jai Paul is a British songwriter and record producer from Rayners Lane, United Kingdom. He is signed to XL Recordings. Paul's 2007 demo "BTSTU" received widespread blog coverage throughout 2010, and has been played on UK national radio by DJs including Gilles Peterson, Zane Lowe, Nick Grimshaw, Reggie Yates and Fearne Cotton. In December 2010, Paul was longlisted for the BBC Sound of 2011 poll. "BTSTU (Edit)" was playlisted on BBC Radio 1 following its release as a digital download on April 21, 2011, via XL. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Lost In the Trees / Neither Here Nor There
Klicky klicky tap tap. I love these rhythms. This is so unique and intoxicating. Plus great high vocals, intricate melody - great song, tap, tap, tap, tap....
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Lost in the Trees is an experimental indie-pop band comprised of Ari Picker on guitars and keyboards, Mark Daumen on bass and tuba, Emma Nadeau on piano, and Joah Tunnell on guitar. Their most recent album, Past Life (2014), is considerably stripped down from the orchestral approach of its predecessors, All Alone In An Empty House, and A Church That Fits Our Needs. Lost In The Trees was known, until recently, as a folk orchestra from Chapel Hill, NC, led by composer and songwriter Ari Picker. Read more on Last.fm more...
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The River Has Many Voices / She Wasn't Doing Nothing, Just Standing On the Balcony
Easy going acoustic tune - and my new pronunciation of balcony.
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The River Has Many Voices is the work of Matthew Payne, who lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country around Austin, TX. Born under the blue skies of North Carolina just a stones throw from blue ridge mountain mists, Matthew Payne is a Southern Appalachian musician by birth. In 1989, he moved with his three brothers and two sisters to Austin Texas, home to the most diverse and exhilarating music scene of the south. Years ago, out in Big Bend National Park, he first heard Townes Van Zandt, driving a truck around the desert mountains. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Gabriel & The Hounds / The World Unfolds
Hey...... The first few strident guitar chords are so unexpected.
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Efterklang / Dreams Today
I always feel like I'm jogging on a path along the river as this song starts. It's very clear and beautiful - great piano - very simple.
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Efterklang is a band from Copenhagen, Denmark consisting of four core members (Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen, Thomas Husmer & Rasmus Stolberg) who have played together since 2001. They are often joined by musicians like Peter Broderick, Frederik Teige, Heather Broderick and Niklas Antonson when they perform live and they also have a 5th member (Rune Mølgaard). They have also regularly performed with Martyn Heyne (piano, guitar, choir), Tatu Rönkkö (drums) and Katinka Fogh Vindelev (piano, vocal). Read more on Last.fm more...
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Fun. / Some Nights
This song does kind of hook your gut in the first few bars - I think. Great when the drums kick in. Nice variety as the tune floats along on chunky rhythms.
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fun. is an American alternative pop-rock band which formed in New York City in 2008. In February 2015, the band announced that they were not splitting up, but taking some time off to pursue other projects. The band consists of Nate Ruess (vocals), Andrew Dost (keyboard, bass) and Jack Antonoff (guitar, trumpet). Ruess is a former member of The Format, Andrew Dost is a former member of Anathallo and Jack Antonoff is a member of Steel Train. The band also includes touring members Nate Harold (bass) Read more on Last.fm more...
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Jamey Johnson & Alison Krauss / Make the World Go Away
Another song without one single solitary wasted note. Each one contributes. Country perfection.
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Jamey Johnson (born in Enterprise, Alabama) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single "The Dollar", which reached a peak of #14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. An album, also titled The Dollar, was released in 2006. Johnson exited BNA in 2006 and signed to Mercury Nashville Records in March 2008, releasing his first single for the label that month. In addition to his own material Read more on Last.fm more...