mixaZEN - A blog about Art, Design, Film, Music, Photography

In honour of the recent release of Björk’s sixth studio album Volta, you’d do well to get your ears around her Breezeblock mix as featured on UK station Radio 1 in 1998. It’s an hour’s worth of nice electronica and wonky sounds (she was enjoying her Aphex back then, put it that way), with a few unexpected surprises tucked in for good measure. Even Céline Dion makes an appearance! Sort of. Mary Anne Hobbs makes with the introduction, describing Björk as being “dressed like an archangel”. Fantastic, but did nobody tell her she was on the radio? Could’ve saved her some time getting ready - it’s not like the listeners would’ve noticed! But this is Björk we’re talking about here. And you can always count on her to do something a bit different. Hit the jump for the link and a tracklist that oozes good musical taste. Bless á meðan!

Björk: Radio 1 Breezeblock mix (1hr, 54MB) [rapidshare]

Tracklist

1. Nico - Le Petit Chevalier
2. Nico - My Only Child
3. Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy (Little Lord Faulteroy Mix)
4. Sähko - Track 1
5. Black Dog - Chesh
6. Tuhai Merz Sanam - I Will Always Love You
7. Mangal Singh Sud Amor - Unknown
8. Oval - Do While
9. Meredith Monk - Gotham Lullaby
10. Northern Circuits - Track 3
11. Aphex Twin - Afx 6/B
12. Oval - Shop In Store
13. Matmos - Three Guitar Lessons
14. Sähko - Track 7
15. Michael Jackson - We’re Almost There
16. Space Age Pop - Track 11
17. Aphex Twin - Logan Rock Witch
18. Arvo Part - Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
19. Public Enemy - Rebel Without A Pause

Westwood on the rewind, baby! By which I mean, here’s another choice snippet from the big dawg’s early days. Not an awful lot of info on this one, but as usual Rich Color fills in the gaps:

“Tim Westwood broadcast this on his LWR hip hop show in early 1985. It’s a live scratch mix taking ‘Hip Hop Beat’ by UK group Rapologists as it’s main break. DJ Undercover gives shout outs at the start, as Westwood drops the fader on “…the whack mother fuckers who stole my records from the Wag”. Undercover adds nice warmth during the mix by flicking the mic on a few more times to add some more shouts, and Westwood can’t help but giggle at the end when ‘You’re Wondering Now’ gets scratched in. With it’s casual attitude and innovative sampling, this mix will make you smile”.

Good stuff. And if by some massive quirk of coincidence, you were one of those ‘whack mother fuckers’ who inched Undercover’s vinyl at the Wag that night back in the mid-eighties and are reading this now, FOR SHAME! No DJ deserves that kind of nonsense…

DJ Undercover: One Time Mix (11mins, 10MB) [rapidshare]

It’s The BIG DAWG! Yeah yeah yeah, blowin’ up the spot tonight. It’s important to know that before Tim Westwood presented a TV show about tarting people’s cars up to look worse than they were to begin with, he actually had a hand in promoting quality hip hop back in the early pirate radio days.

This particular mix is taken from 1985 on LWR. It is rather short and, in truth contains approximately two tracks, but don’t let that put you off. Novelty value can be found from hearing Mr Westwood delivering a radio introduction that doesn’t descend into a melee of mock-hop stylings from a b-boy old enough to be your dad. Also, no overly repetitive explosion samples (once per show really is enough, Tim). It seems this mini mix was actually a cut from a larger mix, but no way of knowing for sure (do get in contact if you know otherwise).

Minor trivia fact: Jeep Beat Collective released an 2 x 12inch EP in 1996 featuring various versions of a track entitled ‘Westwood Is A Twat (Allegedly)’ on the second disc. Wonder if Tim scored a copy?

DJ Hollywood & Brucie B: Tim Westwood Shout Mix (6mins, 9MB) [rapidshare]

Softlightes - Say no to being cool say yes to being happy

(Modular, 2007)



The wise rhetoric of the Californian indie-pop band’s debut album title can be regarded from two different perspectives. One is the general way Softlightes’ beautifully-softvoiced leader Ron Fountenberry describes it – to listen to music that you like rather than what’s cool, although it’s bordering on hypocrisy for an artist on the so hot right now Modular roster to dispense that advice. The second way to interpret the title is as it relates to the artistic merits of the album itself, to forget about people’s perceptions, and create an album that produces happiness. It’s here that this album truly succeeds, as whether it’s the cyborg foot stomp of The Robots In My Bedroom Were Playing Arena Rock, or the pining nomadic loneliness of A Town Named Blue, there is an embracing assertion of hope; warm and anxiety-conquering like a the feel of a cuddle as you sleep. Guitars, computers and pianos all lead different tracks, but throughout the melodic record’s entirety there remains an indelibly human touch and a need to connect with other people. When Fountenberry leads The Microwave Song’s anthemic chorus of I am just a microwave, it doesn’t matter that the anthem is meaningless, when it’s the act of singing it with somebody else that’s unifying. American bands of a similar sound like The Flaming Lips and The Postal Service have been issuing material along the same lines for a while, but shrugging Softlightes off as just another in a long indie-pop line would be like dismissing Marvin Gaye because The Four Tops had already done Motown. An endearing album with life-improving potential.