In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share my favorite releases of the year. Not exhaustive, just some personal highlights. Happy holidays and a happy new year!
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[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 68: Summer Disco Special
My newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio is one of my favorite yearly traditions, the summer disco special. Because summer is meant for twirling! Featuring a few of my favorite Paradise Garage-style longform bangers, a few more spacey and cosmic tracks, and (in my opionion) a very tasteful Latin closer. I hope you like it, and that June is treating you well. You can download an mp3 version here.
Previous summer disco specials: 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018
Tracklist: 1. Aurra – When I Come Home (Larry Levan 12” Mix) 2. Dan Hartman & Loleatta Holloway – Relight My Fire (12″ Disco Remix) 3. Ecstasy, Passion & Pain – Ask Me 4. Skyy – Here’s to You (12″ Version) 5. Taste of Honey – Sukiyaki 6. First Choice – Let No Man Put Asunder (Shep Pettibone 12″ Mix) / The Player 7. Odyssey – Native New Yorker (12″ Disco Mix) 8. Stephanie Mills – Put Your Body In It (12″ Version) 9. Dee D. Jackson – Automatic Lover (Long Version) 10. A La Carte – Price Of Love 11. Sergio Mendes and the New Brasil ’77 – The Real Thing
[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 67: Minimalism Special
This month’s episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio is a minimalism special. Largely Italian, mostly vocal-less, piano-heavy. Twinkly, meditative, excellent background music. I hope you like it! You can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist: 1. Arturo Stalteri – La Pescatrice Di Perle 2. Daniel Bacalov – Ishii 3. Franco Battiato – L’Egitto Prima Delle Sabbie (excerpt) 4. Sebastian Gandera – La Visite Au Musée 5. Charles Ditto – Eastern 6. Ludovico Einuadi – Talea 7. Riccardo Sinigaglia – Ringspiel (excerpt) 8. Dominique Lawalrée – Flight 3.0.5. 9. Ann Southam – Rivers: 3rd Set, No. 5 10. Michael Nyman – 1-100 (excerpt)
[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 66: Country Special
This months episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio was a country special, a sequel to the previous one which you can find here. It’s largely my favorite kind of Golden Age country: mostly from the 50s and 60s, lots of reverb, warbly with ghostly backing choirs and hazy heatwavey pedal steel guitar. It also features “Wichita Lineman,” an all-time favorite which I sometimes think is the most beautiful song ever written. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! You can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist: 1. Marvin Rainwater – Gonna Find Me A Bluebird 2. Brenda Lee – The Grass Is Greener 3. Loretta Lynn – Fist City 4. Jerry Lee Lewis – You Win Again 5. Hank Williams – Lovesick Blues 6. Jeannie Seely – Don’t Touch Me 7. Eddy Arnold – Cattle Call 8. Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton – Last Thing On My Mind 9. Bobby Helms – My Special Angel 10. Webb Pierce – In The Jailhouse Now 11. Davis Sisters – I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know 12. Marty Robbins – Singing The Blues 13. Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman 14. Lucille Starr – Heartaches By The Number 15. Don Gibson – I Can’t Stop Loving You 16. George Jones – The Race Is On 17. Wanda Jackson – Right Or Wrong 18. Little Jimmy Dickens – May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose 19. Roy Clark – The Tips Of My Fingers 18. Louvin Brothers – I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby 19. Jim Reeves – Welcome To My World 20. Connie Frances – Your Cheatin’ Heart 21. Dave Dudley – Six Days On the Road
[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 65: Lata Mangeshkar Special
My newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio is an hour celebration of Lata Mangeshkar, the beloved Bollywood playback singer who passed away earlier this month. If you’re unfamiliar, Mangeshkar is an enormously celebrated and influential vocalist and is considered to be the most recorded voice of all time, credited with over 30,000 tracks and 1,200 films during her seven decade long career. With a legacy this enormous, I’m far from an expert and have barely scratched the surface of her catalogue. Still, these are some of my favorite moments of hers, many of which are among her greatest hits. She was an extraordinary voice, and the stories she told mean so much to many–it feels incredibly lucky to have been alive at a time in which we could hear her sing. Thank you for everything, Lata, we’re so happy to have had you. You can download an mp3 version of the mix here.
Tracklist: 1. Lata Mangeshkar – Aaina Wohi Rehta Hai (From “Shalimar”) 2. Lata Mangeshkar & Kishore Kumar – Is Mod Se Jate Hain (From “Aandhi”) 3. Lata Mangeshkar – Wada Na Tod (From “Dil Tujhko Diya”) 4. Lata Mangeshkar – Tu Jahan Chalega (From “Mera Saaya”) 5. Lata Mangeshkar – Rajnigandha Phool Tumhare (From “Rajnigandha”) 6. Lata Mangeshkar – Yara Seeli Seeli (From “Lekin…”) 7. Lata Mangeshkar – Aye Mere Dil-e-nadan (From “Tower House”) 8. Lata Mangeshkar – Main Teri Chhoti Bahna Hoon (From “Souten”) 9. Lata Mangeshkar – Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya (From “Mughal-E-Azam”) 10. Lata Mangeshkar – Dil Dhundta Hai (Excerpt) (From “Mausam”) 11. Lata Mangeshkar – Woh Bhooli Dastan Lo Phir Yaad (From “Sanjog”) 12. Lata Mangeshkar & Kishore Kumar – Dekha Ek Khwab (From “Silsila”) 13. Lata Mangeshkar – Zindagi Pyar Ka Geet (From “Souten”)
[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 64
My newest mix for NTS Radio is exactly what I want during the coldest part of the year: cozy, warm-toned folk and blues, with a few leans towards classical, and lots of room tone and vinyl crackle. I hope you like it and that you’re staying warm, wherever you are. You can download an mp3 version here if you’re so inclined.
Tracklist: 1. All In One – In A Long White Room 2. Lee Hazlewood – Your Sweet Love 3. Emitt Rhodes – Somebody Made For Me 4. Arthur Russell – Instrumentals 1974 Volume 1 Part 02 5. Ted Lucas – It Is So Nice To Get Stoned 6. Rosa Ponselle & Carmela Ponselle – Where My Caravan Has Rested 7. Richard & Linda Thompson – I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight 8. The Durutti Column – Madeleine 9. John Jacob Niles – Go ‘Way From My Window 10. Nino Rota – Sarabande 11. Fred Neil – Little Bit Of Rain 12. Linda Cohen – The Dust 13. Patti Page – Confess 14. Unknown Artist – IV 15. John Cage – In A Landscape (excerpt) 16. Dan Reeder – Nobody Wants To Be You 17. Washington Philips – Train Your Child 18. The Roches – Runs In the Family 19. Mother Nature – Orange Days And Purple Nights 20. Elizabeth Cotten – Mama, Nobody’s Here But The Baby 21. Mark Fry – Song For Wilde
Oscilation Circuit – Série Réflexion 1, 1984
Another treasure from Sound Process, a Japanese label, book publisher, and sound design consulting firm founded by Satoshi Ashikawa, whose Still Way was included in the label’s short and excellent catalogue (as was Hiroshi Yoshimura‘s cult favorite Music for Nine Postcards). Oscilation Circuit was a four piece outfit, and this was their only release. True to the label’s ethos of sound design not as a means of filling up space, or “decorating,” but instead as a highly-conscientious way of paring sounds down to those that “truly matter,” Série Réflexion 1 is extremely minimal, though it feels uniquely adjacent to minimalism in its more academic Steve Reich-esque sense when compared with many of its Japanese ambient peers (particularly closing track “Circling Air,” which is almost certainly an homage to Terry Riley). There’s no synthesizer. There are no field recordings of birds or running water. No bells. Minimalist minimalism? Ideal winter listening. I started ketamine infusion therapy last year and this has been a favorite soundtrack during my infusions. I hope it brings you some joy too.
22 Favorite Releases of 2021
In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share my favorite releases of the year. Not exhaustive, just some personal highlights. Happy new year!
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[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 63: Early Choral Music Special V
My newest episode of Getting Warmer on NTS Radio is the fifth installment in the annual Early Choral Music special. Entirely acappella and sacred, with a little bit more of a Spanish focus this year. I’ve listed the performers as the artist, and then the composers in parentheses after the song title. In full transparency, I’m neither an expert on this stuff nor am I at all religious–I just really love this music, and I think it makes an ideal winter hibernation soundtrack. I hope you like it too. You can download an mp3 version here. Stay warm, and happy holidays!
Previous early choral music specials: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018
Tracklist: 1. Sequentia – O Pastor animarum (Hildegard von Bingen) 2. Tonus Peregrinus – Missa Da gaudiorum premia: Sanctus (John Dunstable) 3. La Capella Reial de Catalunya – Sibil·la Valenciana: Gloria Tibi Domine (Bartomeu Càrceres) 4. The Cambridge Singers – Justorum animae (Orlando de Lassus) 5. Anonymous 4 – Ave Maria gracia plena (Anonymous, 13th century France) 6. The Tallis Scholars – Funeral Motet: Versa est in luctum (Tomás Luis de Victoria) 7. Discantus – O rubor sanguinis [Antienne] (Hildegard von Bingen) 8. A Sei Voci – Messe Vidi Turbam Magnam: Graduel [Exaltent Eum] (Gregorio Allegri) 9. The Tallis Scholars – Osculetur me (Orlando de Lassus) 10. Capilla Flamenca – De profundis (Sebastián de Vivanco) 11. Ensemble Project Ars Nova – O gloriosissimi lux (Hildegard von Bingen) 12. The Tallis Scholars – Missa Papae Marcelli: Kyrie (Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina) 13. Anonymous 4 – Codex Calixtinus: Portum in ultimo (Anonymous, 12th century France) 14. Capilla Flamenca – Quae est ista (Sebastián de Vivanco) 15. The Tallis Scholars – Motet: Sicut lilium inter spinas (Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina) 16. Discantus – Ave rosa novella (Anonymous, 13th century France) 17. Pro Cantione Antiqua – Missa Aeterna Christi munera: Kyrie (Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina)
[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 62
My latest mix for NTS Radio is a chilly, moody descent into winter: minimalist avant-garde, icy synths, a David Sylvian sandwich, echoey whistles, and another surprise Bono cameo. I hope you like it–and if you do, you can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist: 1. David Sylvian – Preparations For A Journey 2. Dory Previn – Mama Mama Comfort Me 3. Muslimgauze – Sapere Aude 4. Viola Renea – Chariot of Palace 5. Mabe Fratti ft. Claire Rousay – Hacia el Vacío 6. Edson Natale – Nina Maika 7. Lucille Starr – Wooden Heart 8. Larry Chernicoff – Woodstock, New York 9. Svitlana Nianio & Alexander Yurchencko – Prologue 10. Unknown Artist – Siciliana (comp. Ottorino Respighi) 11. Daniel Lentz – Midnight White 12. Uakti – Montanha 13. John Cale – Please 14. Chas Smith – October ’68 15. Osnabrücker Jugendchor – Tibi Soli (comp. Gregorio Allegri) 16. Passengers – A Different Kind of Blue / Beach Sequence 17. David Sylvian – Silver Moon Over Sleeping Steeples