Another damned mix

People have been sending me some pretty fantastic mixes lately…Rob’s brother is apparently a lost soul mate of mine…his Smoking Figs compilation, which Rob sent me, has the Bell-Rays and Black Francis and Sharon Jones on it. Clif made a really kicking garage mix on which my favorite, so far is a song by the Gitanes, who are French and also sometimes known as the Vietnam Veterans.

It’s called “Bang Bang”


And Doug W. made me an all-Australia mix that I am still getting a grip on, though I know already that I love Eddy Current Suppression Ring and that Robert Forster song burnt a hole through my heart first time through.

So I thought I would reciprocate with a mix of stuff that I’ve been liking lately. Download it here, or you can just read about it and make fun of my picks.

1. Death “You’re a Prisoner” from the reissue that half of Dusted nominated as record of the (mid) year.
2. Peter King “Shango” from Nigeria 70
3. Group Doueh’s “Beatte Harab” Crazy psychedelic guitar from West Africa
4. Andre Williams and the Eldorados, “Daddy Rolling Stone” best cover of this song I’ve heard yet, and I’ve heard a bunch…from Norton’s I Hate CDs Volume 2.
5. The Phenomenal Handclap Band’s “Testimony”…still on the fence about this very beautiful people project, but I do like Aurelio Valle from Calla who guests on this track.
6. The Ohsees “Ruby Go Home” Dwyer’s latest, truly amazing garage psyche band has a new album called Help, and it’s top ten for sure.
7. The Box Elders’ “Alice and Friends” Bonus offering when I asked for Ty Segall’s Lemons at Goner…super fun, rough-edged, garage pop. (Ty’s not on this one, because I haven’t figured out which is my favorite yet.)
8. ca-USE co-MOTION’s “Because Because Because” My favorite do-I-love-them-or-hate-them? band since the Walkmen. (Though, cautionary tale, I decided finally that I hated the Walkmen.)
9. Discipline’s “Wrong Lane” Ken Stringfellow is one strange and interesting guy…maybe the most twisted artist around to own a perfectly 70s pop voice like Eric Carmen’s…here he’s got some sort of Scandanavian pick-up band backing him up.
10. The Dukes of Stratosphear’s “25 o’Clock” Psychedelic side project from XTC circa 1986 or so.
11. Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh’s “Little Blue Dragon” Round two in the psych folk cage match.
12. The Clean’s “Factory Man” Did I mention that my #1 record just changed?
13. The Bats’ “The Guilty Office” And everyone past #5 is moving down a notch?
14. Liechtenstein’s “Reflections” This sounds so much better on a real stereo…I’m starting to wonder if I shafted the girls with my snotty 3 ½ stars.
15. Black Moth Super Rainbow’s “Bubblegum Animals” Good freaky stuff…the mix will end not in a bang or a whimper but an extended fizzly squawk.