Here’s a new mixtape for fall, or as I like to call it, Beard Season. Mellow, fuzzed-out indie & electronic stuff. Good for indoor listening.
How do you like that deer? Pretty rad, huh?
DOWNLOAD: Jess Besack Mixtapes - Beard Season
- Patrick Lee - Luna Moth
- Gang Gang Dance - Vacuum
- Radiohead - Videotape (Phaseone Remix)
- Zero 7 - Ghost Symbol
- Black Moth Super Rainbow - Drippy Eye
- Onra - Boundless Boundaries
- Volcano Choir - Island, IS
- Washed Out - Belong
- Junior Boys - Teach Me How To Fight
- Cocteau Twins - Sugar Hiccup
- Phoenix - Rome (Neighbors Remix feat. Devendra Banhart)
- M83 - Run Into Flowers (Midnight Fuck Remix)
- Boards of Canada - Chromakey Dreamcoat
- Bear in Heaven - Dust Cloud
- Badly Drawn Boy - Cause A Rockslide
- BLK JKS - Tselane
In life, few things are certain. Death. Taxes. The fact that, when you are 23, you can scamper around the Lower East Side, drinking gallons of Stella Artois, meeting musicians and flirting with bartenders, having drunken Myspace profile-photo shoots with your friend in front of some ”artsy” graffiti - AND, you can still get to work on time the next morning. This is exactly what I was doing in 2005: absorbing as much of the alcohol-soaked underbelly of the city as I could, listening to boatloads of dark Manchester new wave and trying painfully hard to be cool.
I’m assuming that all this hipstering around caught up with me that fall and I got sick, given the hyper-literal title of this “Headcold Mixtape.” It’s a semi-cohesive assemblage of basic Madchester tunes with some vaguely interesting indie hits sprinkled in, most of which suck terribly. This mix tries really hard to be cool. I literally laughed out loud when it got to the Elliott Smith song! Nevertheless, it’s still pretty solid…good for rainy days and snotty noses, I guess.
So, after I recovered from the titular head cold, I met a guy in a go-nowhere indie punk band at some shitty bar in the LES. We couldn’t hang out at his place because he had a “weird mold problem” in his apartment. I wish I was joking.
Back at my place, we opened some lagers and I turned on this mix. By track four, he turned to me and said, “Is this Antony & the Johsntons? Wow, Jess…you’re really hip.”
I was hip!
DOWNLOAD: Jess Besack Mixtapes - Headcold Mixtape
TRACKLIST:
- The Cure - Disintegration
- Sun Kil Moon - Ocean Breathes Salty
- The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
- Antony & The Johnstons feat. Lou Reed - Fistful Of Love
- Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic
- Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
- New Order - 1963
- The Long Winters - Ultimatum
- Her Space Holiday - My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend
- Elliott Smith - Waltz, No. 2 (XO)
- People In Planes - If You Talk Too Much (My Head Will Explode)
- Badly Drawn Boy - Silent Sigh
For a few months in 2008, I was balls-deep in all those great funk n’ soul blogs out there on the interwebs; you know, Soul Sides, Funky 16 Corners, Diddy Wah…all the greats. Seriously, it was like all I listened to. I think I even slept on the Hot Chip record for a few days because I was so all-consumed (ok, that’s a lie).
Anyway, this mix comes from that time in my life, just a nice collection of quasi-obscure funky tracks guaranteed to turn your cocktail party into a certified jam palace.
No album art on this one, and very little segueing, which is nice. Two of these tunes were sampled in Jay-Z tracks, one was sampled by Eve, another by Missy Elliott, a couple of them will weird you out a little bit, and at least all of them completely kick ass.
Jess Besack Mixtapes - What It Is
- Larry Ellis & the Black Hand - Funky Thing*
- Betty Davis - Anti Love Song
- Fred Cherry - Busride to the Zoo
- Soul Searchers - Ashley’s Roachclip
- Menehan Street Band - Make the Road By Walking*
- Roy Ayers - Chicago
- Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Keep On Lookin’ (Kenny Dope Remix)
- Janet Dubois - Queen of the Highway
- François de Roubaix - Dernier Domicile Connu **
- Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons - Beggin’ (Pilooski Edit)
- Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers - Blow Your Whistle ***
- Syreeta - Your Kiss Is Sweet
- Stevie Wonder - All Day Sucker
- Ray and His Court - Soul Freedom
- The Professionals - Theme from “The Godfather”
- Soul Majestics - I Done Told You Baby
- Penny and the Quarters - You and Me
* Sampled by Jay-Z in ”Success” and “Roc Boys” from American Gangster
**Sampled by Missy Elliott in “All N My Grill”
***Sampled by Eve in “Tambourine”
I must have been in a really good mood in January 2008, because this mix is like audio endorphins. It’s probably because early 2008 was the last time in memory that I had a surplus of money, you know, before the recession kicked all of our collective asses. It might be safe to assume that this is a mix about love and money, which is great because I’m pretty much a certified expert on both. (Did you catch that sarcasm right there? Did you? Look again…)
Anyway, this was really fun to dig up. The cringe factor is pretty low, though I still question the inclusion of “Music Sounds Better” and that awkward Phoenix dub I jacked from a Walter Meego mix. But there’s a very nice dreaminess to this mix…a lot of layered harmonies and synths and cobwebs and stardust and all that good stuff.
Top Three Best Things About This Mix:
- The 10cc>Paradise opener. Unbeatable.
- Herb Alpert! He closes out this mix like the janitor sweeping up around the boozy, champagned-up couple dancing the last dance at a wedding.
- That one piano note around the 1:50 mark on LCD Soundsystem’s “Sound of Silver.” You know what I’m talking about. Best single note of all time.
Jess Besack Mixtapes - Lush Life
- 10cc - I’m Not In Love
- Paradise - In Love With You
- Snoop Dogg - Sexual Eruption
- Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
- Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better (Todd Edwards Dub Better Mix)
- Stardust - Music Sounds Better (In Miami Horror Mix)
- Feist - 1234 (Van She Mix)
- Hot Chip - Don & Sherri
- Thom Yorke - The Eraser (XXXchange Mix)
- Simian Mobile Disco - Wooden
- Aphex Twin - Pulsewidth
- LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
- Herb Alpert - This Guy’s In Love With You
Well, I moved about a month and a half ago, which meant shoving all my “loose CDs” into liquor-store boxes and hoping they survived the journey. I had a shit ton of discs that never made it on to my new hard drive, and for that, I dreaded opening the boxes after the move. I knew the guilt of not having the three-disc Gang Of Four retrospective, or that one DFA remix disc that came out at Christmas, or the first Futureheads EP on my Mac would eat away at me. I put off opening those boxes for weeks.
Tonight, I opened ‘em up, and right on the top of its treasures lay this gem.
This here is not a mixtape. This here…well, this is a futile attempt at snaring a boy, disguised as a mixtape. Back in (I think) 2006 I had a “thing” with a touring musician. And by “thing,” I mean, I called him all the time and obsessed over his stupid band, and once in a while he would call me wasted and invite me to Vegas. A higher love, I assure you.
Maybe it was the absurd Yes>Method Man segue, the bizarre inclusion of both Jon Brion and Nino Rota soundtracks next to Living Colour and Mahavishnu Orchestra, or the balls-out ridiculousness of the last track (I won’t get into it, just listen)…but this guy made out with me one more time after this mix and then BOUNCED.
But you know what? Despite its wackiness and lack of focus, I still think this mix is still fun to listen to. And that guy’s band is nowhere, so I am pretty sure I’m the big winner.
Download here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/c2tro7
TRACKLISTING:
- Tenacious D - The Road
- DJ Shadow - Organ Donor
- Yes - Siberian Khatru
- Method Man - Bring The Pain
- The Police - Voices Inside My Head
- Serge Gainsbourg - Lola Rastoquere
- Belle Orchestre - Throw It On A Fire
- Faith No More - Epic
- Mahavishnu Orchestra - Miles Beyond
- Jay-Z - Public Service Announcement
- Smokey Robinson - Baby That’s Backatcha
- Nino Rota - Cupido Ha Sonno
- Prince - I Would Die 4 U
- Cal Tjader - Soul Sauce (Guachi Guara)
- Jon Brion - Theme from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Mr. Lif - Long Distance
Oh, Somali-Pirate Hits…I’m not sure if there is an actual theme here. I made this mix mostly for a friend, right around the height of SOMALI PIRATE MANIA!! You know, back before shit got figured out.
I guess I liked it because some of the songs sounded threatening, foreign, harsh (see Major Lazer - “Zumbi”) Stuff that would only enhance the suckitude of being taken hostage from a boat by Somali pirates. Stuff my mom would be afraid of.
The goal was to sound rough….then again, there’s some inexplicably non-threatening Lady Gaga and Gorilla Zoe ish on there! I am fairly certain I made this mix in one day, so I cannot vouch for its quality or consistency. Dope cover art though, if I say so myself! Those guys are terrifying.
Jess Besack Mixtapes - 17 Best-Loved Somali Hits
- Holy Thursday - David Axelrod
- C’est Super (Michna Remix) - Daedalus
- Kalemba (Wegue-Wegue) - Buraka Som Sistema feat. Pongolove
- Good to Go - Schlachthofbronx
- Chillin’ - Wale feat. Lady Gaga
- Spread Love - The 45 King
- Lamaban - Papa Diabate
- Dance Dance Dance (Buraka Som Sistema Mix) - Lykke Li
- Zumbi - Major Lazer feat. Andy Milonakis
- Came Down - Al Fatz feat. Yung Joc & Gorilla Zoe
- Many Moons (Trackademicks Mix) - Janelle Monae
- Bring the Ruckus - El Michels Affair
- Paper Planes (Ad-Rock’s Remix For The Children) - M.I.A.
- Be Thankful For What You Got - The Intruders
- Cross The Dancefloor - Treasurefingers
- Carmencita (Toy Selectah Raverton Remix) - Devendra Banhart
- Louie Louie - Richard Berry & The Pharaohs
