The Top 10 Songs About Robots

Now this has been a long time coming. The last few months for me have been a ride, to say the very least. January, usually a slow time in my life was quickly filled with personal projects I had been putting off for a long time. I followed up with a lot of people I’ve wanted to collaborate with, under the assumption about 30%-50% of them would have the time to commit to a collab… imagine my surprise when just about everyone was into working together.

Long story some-what short, I asked my friends in Sex with Strangers (@SWSmusic) to put together a Mixtape for me at a pretty busy time for them as well. When I sent them a message asking for the Mixtape they had just begun a Canada-wide tour, so it took them awhile to get back to me.

Unfortunately, when they finally did, I was juggling a ridiculous amount of other projects and work which had started to pick up, so this last weekend was literally the first moment I had to sit down and commit to producing a mix and cover. Honestly, it’s felt a little like Hatch (of SWS) is skulking in the corner, peering over my shoulder, wringing his hands gleefully as I’m listening to the final mix.

And this is a good thing.

Sex with Strangers invites you to see as their three concept albums come together to form a post-apocalyptic trilogy about robots. As an intro, they present to you The Top 10 Songs About Robots:

1. The Robots by Kraftwerk
2. Mr Roboto by Styx
3. I, Robot by Alan Parsons Project
4. Friday by Rebecca Black
5. Paranoid Android by Radiohead
6. (My 1st) Big Break by Cut Chemist
7. Robot Rock by Daft Punk
8. The Body Electric by Rush
9. I’ll Replace You With Machines by Guided By Voices
10. I Love You (Miss Robot) by The Buggles

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…By a Fire: Volume 2

I tried something new last year when I gave you the …By a Fire Mixtape, an alternative—although not entirely disparate—Holiday Mixtape. An hour long, commercial-free Holiday Mixtape where only 1/3 of the tracks are actual Christmas songs. To this day, I’ve considered producing another Mixtape in a similar fashion. I know it’s nice to be able to put some music on and forget about it. I also hate the silence between tracks on regular Holiday albums so we kill two birds with one stone. Now, enjoy …By a Fire: Volume 2.

1. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by Dean Martin
2. I Was Young When I Left Home by Antony & Bryce Dessner
3. Blue Beard by Band of Horses
4. Melt Your Heart by Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins
5. Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt
6. Summer Kids Go by The Moonbabies
7. Winter A-Go-Go by Yo La Tengo
8. Journey of the Featherless by Cloud Cult
9. The Christmas Waltz by She & Him
10. Christmas Ghosts by The Raveonettes
11. Oh, Magnolia Tree by Ducktails
12. Love Me Like You Used To by Class Actress
13. It Takes Time to Be a Man by The Rapture
14. Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley
15. A Thing for Me (Breakbot’s B-LIVE Miami Mix) by Metronomy
16. Silent Night by Hawksley Workman

Photography by Adam Flewwelling. Visit admflwlng.com for mixtapes and awesome posts.

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Summer Sessions

Well well, we’ve neared what is the warmest time of the year (typically) in the Western Hemisphere. It’s the end of July, it’s August long weekend and there are a number of reasons for you to be outside with your friends, or outside alone, basking in the wonderful rays from that orb in the sky we call the sun.

A Summer Sessions Mixtape will go perfectly with your outdoor adventures, whether you’re on that annual camping trip, looking to go for a hike through some beautiful woods, or even on the patio with a few besties for a BBQ. And always remember, the key difference between a Mixtape and a Mixcast is this Mixtape is 100% music with no vocal interruptions. Awesome.

1. Something Good Can Work (Ted & Francis Remix) by Two Door Cinema Club
2. June Evenings by Air France
3. Dreamin’ by Feldberg
4. We Are the People (Ted & Francis Remix) by Empire of the Sun
5. Mystery (What Kind Of Breeze Do You Blow? Extended Edit) by Lake Heartbeat
6. Disappear by Pacific!
7. Sleep on the Roof by Memory Cassette
8. The Heart of the Nightlife by Kisses
9. Tighten Up by The Black Keys
10. Across 110th Street by Bobby Womack
11. You Gotta’ Teller by Zeus
12. Ring the Bell by YACHT
13. Hoop Dreams by Teengirl Fantasy
14. In Heat (Javelin Rmx) by HEALTH
15. Chlorophyl by MillionYoung
16. Norkuy by Com Truise
17. Damnation by Baths
18. Puzzles by The Mary Onettes
19. Somebody to Love Me (feat. Boy George and Andrew Wyatt) by Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.

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Cheer Me Up Thank You

Happy Long Weekend and Thank God It’s Mixcast Friday! Today I am pleased to present another guest Mixtape, this time by Andrew Lee of The Ruffled Feathers. Andrew and I met during the 2010 year of the PEAK Performance Project (where he was playing with 41st and Home) and have kept in touch (of a fashion) since then, through random tweets and Facebook comments. Andrew was another one of the large amount of amazing folks I met, but didn’t have the time to really get to know as well as I’d like. It’s hard with so many people on such a whirlwind schedule, but the beautiful part of the internets are that you can maintain contact with people.

Music has always been very important to me and, to my understanding, many if not most people should and do feel the same way. I crave music. It temporarily feeds this insatiable, creative hunger in me. It, at time, expresses crucial feelings and emotions with and for me when I may not know how. It’s a release after a long day, or a way to foster positive vibes right from the start. Even musical tastes are somewhat individual and, in that sense, speak to us about who a person is.

Basically, music as a nice way to get to know people? I’m in. So I asked Andrew if he’d like to share with me a Mixtape, that I, in turn, would share with you. A way for all of us to pay-it-forward, and get to know each other a little more while listening to some new music. Maybe we’ll find new favorite bands or even make friends?

Andrew submitted to me his personal mix, a human touch to a digital age. Passed on in the same way we may have (or still ironically do) a well-timed and deftly planned and executed mixtape. Imagine my complete delight when the theme of this Mixtape sprung from past lovers, the way a good Mixtape should:

These are some of my very favourite songs, but the happy/sad thing is that each song is connected in my memory to ex boyfriends. So, I put them all in this playlist for you as some sort of therapy I guess. I hate when songs I used to love get a little tainted, so I’m repatriating these ones while teaching myself that past relationships can be thought of fondly, not just in spite! Most, if not all of them include a lot of the classical instruments that I love so much (as a trumpet player).

This spoke to me so clearly as I can still remember a time I didn’t listen to Death Cab for Cutie’s brilliant “Transatlanticism” after a break-up in ’05. But time passes and you realize you still really fucking love that song, so you take it back. Thank you, Andrew Lee (and Ben Gibbard).

1. Good Intentions Paving Company by Joanna Newsom
2. Black Rainbow by St. Vincent
3. Scandal at the Parkade by Owen Pallett
4. Time of My Life by Patrick Wolf
5. Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens
6. Beijing by Patrick Watson
7. Bottle Rocket by The Go! Team
8. That’s All by Clare and The Reasons
9. We Say No by Great Aunt Ida
10. Masterswarm by Andrew Bird
11. Cheer Me Up Thank You by New Buffalo
12. Rut & Nuzzle by Snowblink
13. I Didn’t Know That by The Books
14. Misread by Kings of Convenience

Photography by anonymous and Hunter Desportes.

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Only Dreaming

Back with another Mixtape. I know it’s been a long time since a Mix of anything, believe me that I have the next three Mixcasts already sorted in their folders, I even have 5 other Mixes near completion, three of them are part of a Summer Sessions series I plan on doing, but maybe they’ll all end up in a beachy Mixtape… we’ll see. Anyway, this has been mixed since about 2 1/2 weeks ago, last night was the first chance I had to get to the ‘cover’ artwork. This Mixtape is totally psychedelic, listen to this one alone to ensure full trippyness. Take it on a dark walk with headphones, lie back in your bed smoking that “hand-rolled cigarette” and enjoy this psychotropic trip of music.

1. Threshold by Steve Miller Band
2. I Swim Around by Beyond the Wizards Sleeve
3. Your Hidden Dreams by The White Noise
4. Ritz 107 by Fischerspooner
5. Solitude Is Bliss (Mickey Moonlight Remix) by Tame Impala
6. Electric Feel (Rasta Wigs Remix) by MGMT
7. Ulysses (Beyond the Wizards Sleeve re-Animation) by Franz Ferdinand
8. Wonderful You by The Dandy Warhols
9. Star Eyes (I Can’t Catch It) (feat. David Lynch) by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse
10. Set in Stone (M83 Remix) by Fires of Rome
11. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun by Pink Floyd
12. Peachfuzz by Hollydrift
13. Only Dreaming by The Time & Space Machine
14. In the Year 2525 by Zager & Evans
15. The Day We All Died by The Reindeer Section

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Krautrock

Aidan Whiteley (@aidanwhiteley) has thrown together a Mixtape spanning some of the most influential Krautrock artists of the last few decades. Krautrock was an avante-grade, experimental trek into a sub-genre of progressive rock starting in the 60s. Bands like Amon Düül II and Can paved the way for the Radiohead’s of the world. This mix sounds about as cold as West Germany before the wall fell, but is a at really great pace for background music when you’re studying, or working diligently on some project, some where.

1. Krautrock by Faust
2. Thief by Can
3. Soap Shop Rock: Burning Sister by Amon Düül II
4. Watussi by Harmonia
5. Hero by Neu!
6. It’s a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl by Faust
7. Das Modell by Kraftwerk
8. Future Days by Can
9. Caramel by Cluster
10. Radioaktivität by Kraftwerk
11. Frank Herbert by Klaus Schulze

Photography by Maschinenraum

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Admflwlng.com Live, Shares ‘This Unfolds’ Mixtape

@admflwlng started his blog over the weekend and has put together a short, flighty Mixtape with it. Check it out and show him some love!

• Submarine by Hunter Sounder
• Kelly (M83 Remix) by Van She
• Again With the Subtitles by Yppah
• Thule by The Album Leaf
• So So Lovely by Shigeto
• This Unfolds by Four Tet
• So This is Goodbye (Pink Ganter Remix) by William Fitzsimmons
• Aquarium by Noasj Thing
• Your Mouth by Telefon Tel Aviv

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…By a Fire

If you’re starting to feel exhausted from the Christmas rush, I’m betting its fair to say you’re getting tired of the Christmas music. Well, the good news is I’m not really your Christmas traditional, and while I do enjoy some classics, I’ve put together this alternative—although not entirely disparate—Holiday Mixtape called …By a Fire.

If the idea of an hour long, 100% commercial-free Holiday Mixtape where only 1/3 of the tracks are Holiday related gets you going, allow me to introduce this all-killer, no-filler, stress-free set of indie feel-good. Perfect to play when the company comes over, when you’re walking down the street in the snow, when you’re hosting a dinner party, and especially when you’re huddled up by a fire.

1. Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Dean Martin
2. Comme Des Enfants by Coeur de pirate
3. You Are Too Beautiful by Hawksley Workman
4. Eskimo by Damien Rice
5. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Death Cab for Cutie
6. Christmastime by Smashing Pumpkins
7. Evening Kitchen by Band of Horses
8. Mercury by John Murphy with Underworld
9. Green Butterflies by Maria Taylor
10. Just Like Christmas by Low
11. Christmas in Hollis by Run-D.M.C.
12. God Bless Us All by N.E.R.D.
13. Helicopter (Star Slinger Remix) by Deerhunter
14. House of Mirrors by Ducktails
15. Hold Your Breath by The Acorn
16. The Christmas Song by The Raveonettes
17. The Indie Queens Are Waiting by Dan Mangan

Photography by Aidan Whiteley

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