Sebastien Leger - "Ice Cream"

This is a limited edition track released on the Riviera label back in 2000. A dancefloor winner, sure to get my man E. out on the floor. This was a staple of my Thursday night House night at the Backroom Vodka Bar back in the day.

Sebastien Leger - Ice Cream by gintesten

The Barr Brothers - "Sarah Through the Wall"

I heard an interview with these guys on CBC, and it was an interesting story. Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Brad and Andrew Barr grew up playing music together, and in 2004 formed the band 'The Slip' (whose excellent "Children of December" is one of my all-time favorite tunes and is featured on Mixtape 5). They moved to Montreal. In Brad's first apartment in his new city he shared a wall with a harpist, Sarah Page, whom he could hear practicing through the wall. He started aping some of the tunes that he could hear, and eventually mustered up the nerve to knock on her door and offer to play some accompaniment to her classically based stuff. A musical relationship was formed, which eventually lead to the formation of a new band "The Barr Brothers", with brothers Brad and Andrew Barr, Sarah, and drummer Andres Vial. They joked in the interview about the logistical difficulties of touring with a several hundred pound harp. Their debut self-titled album was released back in September.

It doesn't contain this one though. "Sarah Through the Wall". Enjoy.

THE BARR BROTHERS - Sarah Through The Wall from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.

Holy Ghost! - Some Children

This is the lead track on Mixtape 10, by Holy Ghost! You might have recognized the voice of Michael McDonald, formerly of the Doobie Brothers, and the cheese-soul classic "What a fool believes". Mike McDonald has done lots of backing vocals for many tracks, leading to this awesome SCTV parody, where he dashes into the studio for his take. His voice caught me off guard the first time I heard it, but it really grew on me. Resurrecting the career of some questionable old timers is en vogue at the moment, but I think this was done with straight up respect, unlike let's say the guys of Lonely Island did with Michael Bolton.



Thanks for downloading Mixtape 10! Now back to regularly scheduled programming.

Mixtape 10

I'm excited to post this link to Mixtape 10 today. Here is my latest collection of songs that have tickled my eardrums over the last few months. It is available for download here.

These are tunes of love, lust, obsession, joy, and despair. Some of them have been featured on the blog over the last couple of months. This collection is curated for your enjoyment, to celebrate and hopefully get your dance on too. Let me know which ones get you going!

01 - Holy Ghost! - Some Children
02 - Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work (The Twelves Remix)
03 - Gauntlet Hair - Top Bunk
04 - David Myles - Simple Pleasures
05 - James Vincent McMorrow - Sparrow and the Wolf
06 - Casiokids - Fot I Hose
07 - The Kills - DNA
08 - Grand Ole Party - Look Out Young Son
09 - Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La
10 - Rafter - Fruit
11 - Eternal Summers - Pogo
12 - Colormusic - Yes!
13 - Brisa Roche - Stone Trade
14 - Lana Del Rey - Video Games
15 - Beach House - Norway
16 - Tanam Raga Aberi - Violin Improvisation
17 - CHLLNGR - Change
18 - Summer Camp - I Want You
19 - Washed Out - Echoes
20 - Flight Facilities - Crave You feat. Giselle

Thanks to Flickr contributor Mosh el Cabron for the use of his photo. Check out his work here:

Cassius

Cassius is a French music production duo, consisting of producers Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francart, better known as Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass. These guys started out in production behind MC Solaar on his second album "Nouveau Western" (1993), sampling Serge Gainsbourg and Bridget Bardot's classic 'Bonnie and Clyde'



In 1994 they named themselves "La Funk Mob" releasing singles on Source Records which was the French mirror to the early UK Ninja Tune sound:


"Motorbass Gets Phunked Up"

Their first album in 1995 was a collaboration with DJ Cam, and Bob Sinclar in his downtempo guise of 'The Mighty Bop'. They also did some awesome remix work...remember this dope track?


"Bomb the Bass - Bug Powder Dust (La Funk Mob Remix)"

In 1999, the duo began creating house music and changed their moniker to Cassius. They released '1999', a house album in the vein of Daft Punk and helping to define the French sound of the early '00's.


'1999'

'Feeling for You'

Their biggest hit came in 2007 with 'Toop Toop' a guitar rock crossover track featured on their album '15 Again':


Here's the thing that makes these guys particularly interesting. In 2009, Philippe Zdar, recorded and produced the fourth studio album for French rockers Phoenix, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix". This album went gold in the US, Australia, and Canada, and won the Grammy for Best Alternative Album. Lead single '1901' was featured on Mixtape 7:



Cassius is still at it, releasing 'The Rawkers EP' in 2010. 'Brotherhood' came up on the shuffle the other day, inspiring this lengthy post about these guys, and reminding me of all my brothers with whom I used to shake it up back in the day! Pump it up!

Avett Brothers ~ "January Wedding"

So it's been said in my circles that Bob Dylan said (like 76 degrees of separation) that these guys are the best sound he's heard in over 20 years. I must admit, and to the shock of my friends, I'm too busy these days to even remember who the bands/artists of songs I put on to mixes are. Shameful, yes, but a reality of a busy life.

Anyway, these guys have been forcing their way onto my conscious radar – amidst the hundreds of indie / alt country bands I have going on my play list – and I was nothing but impressed.

It was also great to learn that they made the Grammies for something – I'm all for good sounds making mainstream, you will not find me supporting a "keep them hidden" attitude. If artists are good, they should be heard, and they should be rewarded.

So here's one of my favourite songs of the Avett Brothers, this video being shown to me by my brother-in-law Ben, who just recently ripped out his 10-year old stereo system (pic above) in hopes of a brighter stereo future.

Thundercat - "$200TB"

Thundercat's debut album "Golden Age of the Apocalypse" was released a couple of months back on Ninja Tune, and I'm just getting to it now. It is a spacey-jazzy-funky-mystical-futuristic ride. This album was produced by futuristic funk hip-hopper Flying Lotus. Thundercat is a bass player, and plays on the side with L.A. Punk/Thrash group Suicidal Tendencies (!?). It reminds me a bit of a 1998 Ninja Tune release by the Clifford Gilberto Rhythm Combination.


This tune is not on the album but was uploaded to Soundcloud by Flying Lotus. It is just so smooooth.

Thundercat - $200 TB prod.Flying Lotus ft. Austin Peralta by Flyinglotus
$200 Tera-bucks would probably take care of my retirement difficulties and allow me to bail out the EU.