Pholk Tape #7

 

So it's that time again, I'm getting more and more used to this fortnightly commitment and it's going well (I hope). While my mixing skills are still at the same level as they were at the tender stage of Pholk Tape #1, they haven't got any worse either. Also despite my initial concerns I have managed to find nearly an hour of new music each fortnight - with a few fillers that I fancy adding - and therefore continue doing these little "tapes".

This fortnight has thankfully been no exception and I have found 14 new tracks to fill up this weeks podcast. There are 15 tracks of course, I felt "Sugar On My Tongue" was too good to pass up as it had recently been re-posted on the Mad Decent site, so I'm still holding to a theme.

This tape sees a return to the gentler vibes of tapes 1-5 after last fortnight's more… well rowdy mix I suppose. That's not to say it's melancholic throughout, indeed it starts off at a very danceable tempo before descending to a more peaceful pace.

The Whitest Boy Alive kicks things off and moves so tastefully onto Noodleman's edit of "Get Down It's Saturday Night" you may be fooled into thinking I went and bought myself a set of mp3 decks and ableton last week, although I can assure you it was merely witchcraft, or perhaps coincidence. You may quickly recognise "Get Down It's Saturday Night" as Room 5's "Make Luv" although the common ground lies in their sampling use of Oliver Cheatham's "Get Down Saturday Night", the original from which both take their sound.

Jahcoozi's "Namedropper (Solo Remix)" is more of a return to last week's style with a high tempo and more of a hip-hop feel, but worry not if it's not your particular shade as it quickly gives way to another 'Awesome Tape from Africa'. This time it's the turn of Ghanaian A. B. Crentsil who's song "Nawa To Be Husband" is a little slower but equally danceable.

Next up is New York based "The Magnetic Fields" who's song "You Must Be Out Of Your Mind" has a much more rural sound than the setting in which they live. London based Dance types Monarchy follow on with a less upbeat "Black  The Colour of My Heart", although I'm not a huge Monarchy fan on the whole, this track was too good to miss.

Broken Bells' "The High Road" kicks off the less danceable second half to the mix and is followed by Talking Heads' still excellent "Sugar On My Tongue". Indie Shoegaze types ARMS are up next with the wonderfully stripped down "Tiger Tamer" which moves into a far more operatic sounding version of Marina & The Diamonds' "Hollywood". I'm not entirely sure what Mr Gonzales was thinking when deciding to take such an aggresive song and add in tubular bells strings and piano but it's worked so wonderfully. Marina herself carrying the orchestra along with her stunningly powerful voice.

This is followed by Owen Pallett's "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt" which sounds like the innards of the factory in which meaningful Valentine's gifts are made. Chugging along with Owen himself overseeing the whole process, it's absolutely gorgeous and quickly becoming one of my favourite songs for it's sheer stirring quality, if you don't end up singing the refrain by the end you need to ask questions of your humanity.

Then it's the turn of The Radio Dept., a band who can do no wrong by me after producing a lovely song named after me, well not me specifically, but it's called "Ewan", and I'm yet to find another that can boast that quality. "Heaven's on Fire" has the same uplifting quality as "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt" so you should be humming along by this point. The intrumentation in both these pieces is so rich and yet perfectly measured, creating a beautiful mesh of intertwining melodies and harmonies.

Exciting news of the fortnight - in fact today for me - Josh Ritter is back! Yes, a new album is set to hit the shelves in May and as that's such a long way away Josh is giving away the single "Change Of Time" free off his website, and if it's anything to go by the album should be a corker as has come to be expected from such a gifted songwriter.

This gives room for a final cover, Hot Chip showing how well they can do 'minimalist' covering Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" (originally written by Prince) and bringing everything to gentle close.

With the official ending passed there's still a little time for South-African, possibly hoax/possibly not, Nu-wave cult sensation Die Antwoord. The comedy present within their music comes from their blazé rebellious attitude and near enough parodying of the modern music scene. "$copie" cuts so close to the flow of Nu-wave rap in recent years it's hards to tell if it's meant as a joke or whether it's a genuine interpretation of the genre itself. Either way it's highly catchy and that's why it's on there.

Here's the Tracklisting then:

01: The Whitest Boy Alive - High On The Heels
02: Oliver Cheatham - Get Down Its Saturday Night (The Noodleman Edit)
03: Jahcoozi - Namedropper (Solo Remix)
04: A. B. Crentsil - Nawa To Be Husband
05: The Magnetic Fields - You Must Be Out Of Your Mind
06: Monarchy - Black The Colour of My Heart (Demo)
07: Broken Bells - The High Road
08: Talking Heads - Sugar On My Tongue
09: ARMS - Tiger Tamer
10: Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood (Gonzales Version)
11: Owen Pallett - Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
12: The Radio Dept. - Heaven's On Fire
13: Josh Ritter - Change Of Time
14: Hot Chip - Nothing Compares 2 U (Sinead O'Connor Cover)
15: Die Antwoord - $copie

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