I sometimes wonder if – of the two or three people that listen to these mixes – if they appreciate the variety of the mixes as much as I do or if it just comes off as a self-congratulatory exercise in showing my taste. I don’t think anyone else in the world would couple Pete & The Pirates with Slum Village in a mix, but I really like the coupling here. Pete & The Pirates are the other face of (Hearsay 2006 favorites) Tap Tap. The voice is the same, but I have to admit that I wasn’t aware of the Pirate variation of the group until the WOXY session that they at SxSW. They played a bunch of new songs in that set that I’m looking forward to, but I’m absolutely in love with “Moving.” I’m pretty sure that I found this Catcall song after watching a Pitchfork.tv video of it last year. It almost made the videos of the year list on the strength of the song alone. I still know very little about them, except that they (she) are from Australia. There you go.
A couple throwback hip-hop tracks here: a remix of Nas from a Justus League bootleg CD, and the aforementioned Slum Village track, which I’ve found myself returning to ever since Finale’s album closer/bonus track, produced by Flying Lotus, that pays homage to it. Speaking of which, there’s a Flying Lotus remix of Mia Doi Todd on here too. I mentioned Diamond District last month – the Oddisee-helmed group from DC/Maryland/Virginia (self-termed as “DMZ”). “The Shining” is one of only 2 tracks that aren’t produced by Oddisee, and even though I love his tracks, it is somehow more emblematic of the album’s vibe than any other.
If you don’t keep up on the blogs, The Rural Alberta Advantage is a band that is getting a lot of attention, first for the similarities in the vocals to that of Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel fame. It’s a fair comparison, but one that ignores the peppy Broken Social Scene feel of the instrumentation. They also signed to Saddle Creek. I really dig “The Deadroads.”
June 2009 Mix
01 Nas – Second Childhood (Bluegrasspedroremix)
02 Catcall – August
03 Pete And The Pirates – Moving
04 Slum Village – Fall N Love (prod. J Dilla)
05 Diamond District – The Shining (prod. Dung)
06 Why? – As I Went Out One Morning (Bob Dylan cover)
07 The Rural Alberta Advantage – The Deadroads
08 Helene Smith – True Love Don’t Grow On Trees
09 Mia Doi Todd – My Room Is White (Flying Lotus Remix)
10 The Be Good Tanyas – Waiting Around To Die (Townes Van Zandt cover)
