Not sure how successful this one was to be honest. I was going for a mood thing, all glacial and majestic, but suspect I may have ended up simply being repetitive. I would like to apologise to Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen, which I can only have omitted for reasons of temporary insanity, Cooltide by John Martyn (because if there was one thing this mix needed, it was another twelve minute track), and all the uptempo tracks on my inital trawl through iTunes that got kicked out. Maybe next time, kids.
Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean – Explosions In The Sky Remember how my last mix ended with a song from beyond the grave by cancer victim Warren Zevon? This one starts with a number inspired by the sinking of the Kursk and the slow death of the sailors trapped on the seabed. It’s always a right laugh round my house, I can tell you.
Water From The Same Source – Rachel’s I don’t actually know a terrific amount about this group. If I had to assemble a mental checklist, it would go: from Chicago, arty, er, that’s it. Great piece of music, though, from the “systems/layers” album (told you they were arty)
Where Water Flows – Calexico Oh I love Calexico. Their country-mariachi schtick is right up my street and they might just be the best band I’ve ever seen live
Twilight Home – Justin Sullivan The singer with New Model Army (of whom more later). Disregarding his band’s “shirts off, let’s hit each other” image, a few years ago he put out a lovely mellow solo record. This song is a bit like I imagine a bath of warm honey might be (on a similar tip, the latest Ian McDonald novel put me onto the Mellified Man legend, which is just really cool).
Kalypso – Sweet Billy Pilgrim Took me a long time to click with this album (Twice Born Men), but when I did, I really fell for it. They were in The IT Crowd this series as well, but don’t hold it against them.
A Song For Starlit Beaches – Yndi Halda another band I don’t know much about. Picked up their CD from a listening post in HMV Shibuya and really enjoyed it. It’s more epic post rock though isn’t it? By this stage in the mix you must be getting really bored with that stuff.
Watermark – Our Broken Garden Scott – SCANDO ALERT! Ish – they’re from Denmark, and the second act on this mix to be signed to Bella Union….
Restless Water – Tortoise See the comment on Rachel’s. It all applies.
Burial At Sea – Mono Even more epic post rock. Wow, those guys must really like water, hey?
Ocean Rising – New Model Army Justin Sullivan from earlier’s main band. Usually traduced by the music press, when their existence is acknowledged at all, they are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year – or as the t-shirt says, “bringing fury and redemption since 1980″
Neptune City – Death In Vegas Up and on and out. Goodnight
