Spotify Recommendations Thread

[Paranoid Android]

Surfer Rosa's sounds quite groovy

I still need to listen to mine properly. I don't now if Karma has listened to the one I sent her much yet. She was having problems accessing the site, dunno if it got sorted out.

[KarmaTsunami]

I seem to be able to get onto the site now. Not sure who my ISP is, but fuck if they didn't take an age to update their DNS servers or whatever the fuck was wrong. Anyway, here's my review:

So, I enjoyed the mix I received from Paranoid Android with the snappy title A Mix About Nothing.

Thee Oh Sees - Enemy Destruct - Nice and noisy! Initially I wasn't sure about the vocals but they grew on me and I liked that they were more experimental sounding than the actual music which was kind of indie, kind of garage rock. If I heard it on the radio I wouldn't be able to say if it was contemporary or something from the late 70s! Next up, pop music! Florrie - Experimenting With Rugs - This made me listen to more by Florrie. I enjoyed it. It made me want to dance. I want to request this on my big gay night out next weekend since based on the title alone it should be a lesbian dancefloor anthem. Nice pop music. The Other People Place - Let Me Be Me - If LCD Soundsystem tried minimalism. It's a catchy wee track. The kind of thing I listen to when I go through phases of listening to electronic music.

I should point out that I can't write about hip-hop without resorting to hyperbole, so I'll just say that I really fucking liked Outkast - Da Art of Storytellin' (Part 2) and that Big Boi's flow is insane.

British Sea Power - Please Stand Up -I've always been a bit 'eh' about British Sea Power but I really like this track and now I'm not sure why I've always been a bit 'eh' about them. It's nice, the vocals are well good too. Then it gets really good. You wouldn't think I write about music would you? Anyway, next up was Pantha Du Prince - Eisbaden - I like Pantha. Good stuff. Minimalist, but with enough going on to retain your interest and make it more than just background listening. I haven't listened to this album in a while. Girls Aloud - Wake Me Up - I fucking love a bit of Girls Aloud. I'm going to listen to this when I'm getting ready to go out. I also now know that if I make another mix for Paradroid I'm sticking a bunch of pop music on it.

The Roots - Don't Feel Right - I like The Roots anyway, so I like this song. Maimouna Youssef's vocals are great. AraabMUZIK - Streetz Tonight -Not what I'd normally listen to, but I like it. Nice and dreamy with a good beat. I was worried it was going to get all ned-dance-music but then I remembered who made the mix and then the song didn't do that and I was happy. Deerhoof - Fresh Born - I was expecting something a bit more mental, maybe verging on annoying so this was a nice change of pace. Oh wait, there it is after 30 seconds. Just a bit weird sounding though rather than annoying. I don't think I've listened to this Deerhoof album. Nadia Oh - Taking Over The Dancefloor - Hrm. Wasn't taken with this song but the beat is pretty catchy. I'm going to have this stuck in my head for fucking days. And last but not least, Kendrick Lamar - HiiiPower - I like it. I like the beat, the rhythm, a'hin.

Overall, a solid mix. Wasn't sure about the jump from hip-hop to guitar rock to minimalist electro, but fuck it. It was good to get something eclectic.

[Mr Owl PhD]

Sandwiches: They're Okay! by Woodsinho

I've listened to this mix a couple of times and have enjoyed it quite a bit - it was good fun and there were a fair few artists I'd not heard of before.

1. Cheese on Bread 'The Search for Colonel Mustard Pt1'. This was a rather rousing and nicely quirky and amusing tune. Reminded me a bit of a band called Blast Off Country Style, who also did a few sandwich related tunes.

2. Meshuggah 'Futile Bread Machine'. Another band I'd not heard of. I quite liked this - a bit sort of Beefheart-like at times.

3. Ham Sandwich 'The Naturist'. I enjoyed this one a lot - liked the singers voice and the song builds rather well.

4. Smashing Pumpkins 'Rocket'. Must confess that, despite being a big fan of 90s American indie-rock, I've never been that keen on the Pumpkins. Probably a bad thing to say around here. Something about Billy Corgan's voice doesn't do it for me and their music often sounds rather pedestrian. This one is okay I suppose.

5. Pastrami and the Users 'Eagle-eyed Fools'. Wasn't too into this one. A little bit 'Chilli Peppers' dare I say.

6. Chumbawamba 'Pickle'. I'd not heard this song before and quite liked it. I'm often keen on Chumbawamba when Alice sings.

7. Stereolab 'Emperor Tomato Ketchup'. A favourite band of mine. Title track from one of their best albums. Need I say more.

8. Jeff 'Salami'. Another one I wasn't that up for. More 'meat and potatoes' than 'salami'.

9. Salt n' Pepa 'Push It'. I like this song more than I'd really like to admit to. A bit of a classic.

10. Brakes 'All night disco party'. Struggling a bit to see the sandwich connection, but I quite liked this - more than other songs I've heard by the same band.

11. Joey Sanchez 'Butter knife suicide'. I liked this song and suspect it might grow on me the more I listen.

12. Cheese on Bread 'The search for Colonel Mustard Pt2'. As good as part 1.

[Paranoid Android]

Florrie - Experimenting With Rugs - This made me listen to more by Florrie. I enjoyed it. It made me want to dance.

Listen to more! She's lovely. This blog about her approach to music should be enough to help fall in love. http://florrie.com/home/2011/7/21/florrie-explanations-experiments.html

Check these tracks if you haven't already

and

I really fucking liked Outkast - Da Art of Storytellin' (Part 2) and that Big Boi's flow is insane.

Awesome track from one of my fave hip hop albums ever. Everyone, listen to Aquemini. It's a must.

British Sea Power - Please Stand Up -I've always been a bit 'eh' about British Sea Power but I really like this track and now I'm not sure why I've always been a bit 'eh' about them

I always liked their first album but never anything more than recently I all of a sudden clicked with their other stuff. The second album, "Open Season". (which the track is from) is especially awesome.

Girls Aloud - Wake Me Up - I fucking love a bit of Girls Aloud. I'm going to listen to this when I'm getting ready to go out. I also now know that if I make another mix for Paradroid I'm sticking a bunch of pop music on it.

FUCK YEAH you should love girls aloud. Awesome group. Track is from "What Will the Neighbours Say" but "Tangled Up" is the best. Pop Perfection.

AraabMUZIK - Streetz Tonight -Not what I'd normally listen to, but I like it. Nice and dreamy with a good beat. I was worried it was going to get all ed-dance-music

Ha! This album continuously treads this balance. Interesting hip hop beats with chavvy trance.

Nadia Oh - Taking Over The Dancefloor - Hrm. Wasn't taken with this song but the beat is pretty catchy. I'm going to have this stuck in my head for fucking days.

Listen more, it will get under your skin. It might be my fave album of the year. Definitely best pop. She's just so wonderful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOLGE6yn7oY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBZ5Le07dcU

Thanks for the overall positive review. I'll get my review of yours up tomorrow. Please make a mix of pop music for me at any time. This place really needs a pop thread.

[Flights]

Here is the link to mine

Road Trip Mix Tape

[Paranoid Android]

This should be the link to my mix Karma Tsunami reviewed http://open.spotify.com/user/aberdeenjames/playlist/1MxQXymYfvOkXu2aCketgr

[Soda Jerk]

I'll post my review up soon. My internet is down due to BT being clowns, and I don't got no Spotify on my phone.

The words "internet" and "down" in the same sentence are just utterly harrowing. I wish I was dead.

[ca_gere]

I've not heard back from my Spotify buddy yet so I'm just gonna post my playlist here for all: Totally Wired

[Surfer_Rosa]

Handclaps by Karma Tsunami

To put it simply this mixtape was an absolute winner. With handclaps it was always going to be. I think it helped that I was kicking back after work with a pizza and a few beers on my first listen, which this mix suited perfectly.

So the handclaps started straight off with Kissing the Lipless by The Shins, a band I’d only heard wee bits of previously. The strained shouty chorus is exactly the kind of thing I dig, and this set the tone nicely for the rest of the mix.

Life and Limb by Fugazi, which I was looking forward to since I don’t own The Argument (and for some reason thought there wasn’t any Fugazi on Spotify) was second. Hearing a more laidback track from them was awesome.

Next was Bang On by The Breeders. Blown out sounding bass drum, sparse guitars and Kim Deal sounding effortlessly cool as always really hit the spot.

Then it was Deceptacon by Le Tigre. My flatmate played this song all the time when I started uni, so this brought back fond memories, despite the fact I’d never actually learned what the song was. It sounds a lot better now it’s not being heard through a wall. Yelpy female vocals and really tight sounding bass and guitar lines, producing the kind of music that makes you want to dance really unfashionably.

Then it was Windsurfing Nation by Broken Social Scene, a band I’ve always thought I would like but never got round to listening to. A bit psych and a bit chaotic, it didn’t do much for me on first listen, but it’s turned out to be the big grower of the mix.

Some Americana (maybe more Mexicana?) next with Alone Again Or by Calexico. Probably didn’t enjoy this as much as the rest of the mix, but the end of the first half is IMO the best place for weaker tracks.

Le Loup’s Morning Song followed. Really nice banjo driven track with great vocal harmonies.

Chez Chef by Stapleton and King of Beach by Wavves came next, and were the kind of tracks that sprung to mind when I first saw the theme was handclaps; glorious, sunny, punky, good time pop songs.

On the other end of the scale the next two tracks, Breaker by Low and Earthquake by Deerhunter were more dreamy and mellow, with the handclaps adding to lo-fi electronic drums that lie under the rest of the music. Really enjoyed both of these, and both from bands that I’ve been meaning to check out more for a long time.

And to end things with a bang was Enfilade by At the Drive-In. Loud shouty choruses are the best end for a great mixtape.

So all in all it was a really good listen, and has added to quite a few albums to my to-buy list as a result, which is what mixtapes should be all about.

[girl anachronism]

Handclaps by Karma Tsunami

By who?! Glad you enjoyed it!

[Surfer_Rosa]

Oh jesus, I'm sorry. Err, does anybody know how to edit posts on this site anymore?

[girl anachronism]

'fraid not. You'll just have to live with your mistake. Forever.

[ca_gere]

now that it's been reviewed can i post my mix up for others to enjoy/hate?

here it is anyway... Songs of the Sea

maybe we should put the link up to the mixes we've received when we review them? that would make more sense right? i realise i set the precedent by not doing it, my bad.

I listened to this when I first got to work this morning.

Man alive, King Creosote is good at this music lark. I'm pretty new to his stuff and the track you've got in there is a treat.

The Hannah Peel track is lovely too. Gonna look out more of her stuff for sure.

The peterheed reference the corries one made me smile and the playlist ends on a right good unexpectedly heavy note with ISIS. The fact you had MONO before it made me want to do an ALL CAPITAL LETTERS BAND PLAYLIST.

This is exactly what Spotify should be used for. Great stuff.

[girl anachronism]

I've not heard back from my Spotify buddy yet so I'm just gonna post my playlist here for all: Totally Wired

This is an excellent mix.

[Old Gold]

Just saw the mix that Warden's making. Inspired.

[ca_gere]

BO/dyParTs

Davewarden's playlist about body-parts is good fun. Some amazing band names and song titles. Most i'd never heard of to be honest. Those that I did know (NOFX, Beastie Boys, Take a worm for a walk week) were tracks i'd not listened to much.

I really liked the Blood Brothers track. Some interesting drum parts and cool vocals. Will definitely listen to more from them.

Misttle toe ho' by Seething Fuck Patties off the album Greates Shits is probably the stand out track. For the name alone.

Musically, my favourite was probably Gilded Cunt by Thee oh Sees. Lo-fi, dreamy with clangy guitars and vocals you can just about make out in the distance... right up my alley

[Paranoid Android]

Thee Oh Sees are wonderful.

They were the opening track on the mix I sent to K.T

[Paranoid Android]

Karma Tsunami's mix Girls Girls Girls

The theme should be obvious.

First track My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow. Long time favourite of mine. The album is wonderful and this is a clear standout track. Great way to start the mix. If you don't know this, sort yourself out.

Moving on to PJ Harvey - The whores hustle and the hustlers whore. I got into PJ this year when I fell in love with Let England Shake. I investigated some of her previous work and found it all pretty great. This track is another great choice. This mix is 2 for 2.

Patti Smith Group - Gloria: In Excelsis Deo. Patti Smith is one of those acts I'd always been aware of but just never listened to. Turns out that was a mistake. This track starts off nice enough, nothing attention grabbing but the pace picks up and it all builds into something awesome by the end. Love this.

Sleater Kinney - What's mine is yours. I mainly know of Sleater Kinney through Karma Tsunami talking about them on here but I'm not sure if I've ever actually heard a track of theirs. They sound kind of like I imagined they would, nice track.

Now here's an advert for a George Micheal gig at the Palau sant Jordi. Spoiled the girls theme a bit. George doesn't really care for girls at all.

Helium - Baby's going underground. Never heard of this group at all. Nice guitar riff and some gentle vocals. I like it but it would have been much more to my taste a few years ago. It's going on a bit longer than it needs to really. Not bad but my least favourite of the tracks so far.

Lemuria - Lipstick. don't know this group either. Seems to be the same sort of indie stuff as the last track. They sound quite 90's to me but Spotify tells me I'm wrong. Much more recent than that.

Team Dresch - Council. This track has a bit more bit to it than the last couple. I like it. You might have realised I'm rubbish at describing / reviewing music. I'm running out of things to say really. I like this though.

Ad time again. Some Barcadi sponsored club night. More tempting than george michael at least.

Anni Rossi - Wheelpusher. The best way I can describe this is that it sounds like it could be used on one of those annoyingly twee mobile phone ads. But it's not really that bad. Not my thing really.

The Breeders - Happiness is a warm gun. Beatles cover obviously. and obviously a good song. Lets see what this version is like. Pretty pretty good. But still it makes me want to listen to The Beatles and not The Breeders

Olympic Swimmers - I wont sleep. For whatever reason I don't have much to say about this. The song has just finished and I can't remember what it sounded like.

Slant 6 - What kind of monsters are you? Nice rocking track here. I got a bit distracted trying to remember the previous track and thinking of something to say but I did like this.

Le Tigre - Deceptacon. I love this track. It's perfect. I was a bit surprised to see it as the closer but really it's great to listen to any time. I can listen to this over and over and over. It's wonderful. Excellent end to the mix.

Overall a very good mix. A couple of tracks that didn't do much for me but nothing bad and most were at least good and at best awesome.

The highlight was probably Patti Smith as of the artists here I'd not heard before she is the one I will certainly listen to a lot more after this.

[KarmaTsunami]

I could have probably varied my mix a little. Thrown some Kylie on there or something. I'm on a big 90's sounding indie kick at the moment which is why it's the more dominant sound on the playlist. Patti Smith is always ace but I just finished 'Just Kids' which is about her time in NYC with Robert Mapplethorpe before they hit it big so I've been listening to her a fair bit. Hence the inclusion.

[Paranoid Android]

Maybe something a bit different thrown in the middle would have been good. Good mix though, I enjoyed it, good job.

I'm starting to think about my next one but perhaps making this fortnightly rather than weekly would be more realistic?

[ca_gere]

Girl anach's mix is a treat. Some right good toe tappers followed by some mellow ones you wouldn't automatically associate with 'handclaps' and I had the exact same thing to surfer rosa with the le tigre track. A guy i used to live with played it a lot and I never knew what it was. The Calexico track I know from somewhere too, is it in a film/ad/tv show or something?

Really like the Breeders - Bang on. Wish it went on for 2 mins longer though. Have never heard of them.

Still not sold on Deerhunter but I might persevere.

It's also given me a good idea for a mix : 'Non-Christmas songs with sleigh bells'

[KarmaTsunami]

Maybe something a bit different thrown in the middle would have been good. Good mix though, I enjoyed it, good job.

I'm starting to think about my next one but perhaps making this fortnightly rather than weekly would be more realistic?

I blame being all mixed-out at that point. I'd constructed a really fucking awesome mix. In my defence, it was for a girl and therefore merited a higher level of diligence.

[girl anachronism]

Girl anach's mix is a treat. Some right good toe tappers followed by some mellow ones you wouldn't automatically associate with 'handclaps' and I had the exact same thing to surfer rosa with the le tigre track. A guy i used to live with played it a lot and I never knew what it was. The Calexico track I know from somewhere too, is it in a film/ad/tv show or something?

Really like the Breeders - Bang on. Wish it went on for 2 mins longer though. Have never heard of them.

Still not sold on Deerhunter but I might persevere.

It's also given me a good idea for a mix : 'Non-Christmas songs with sleigh bells'

Glad you enjoyed it! I really dug yours too, and I see you've extended it! In fact, I've enjoyed all the playlists so far. Really need to buy some Hudson Mohawke after hearing them on Surfer's mix. The Calexico track is a Love cover, they seem to have disappeared from Spotify though, booooo. It may have been on something, although I'm not sure. The Breeders are ace.

I already have a new playlist lined up, bring on the next swap!

[KarmaTsunami]

This is really very good. I'm going to have these songs stuck in my head all day.

Dengue Fever – Cannibal Courtship

[Flights]

The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage

I always forget how good this is