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2023 mix tape

It's that time again with the annual playlist...

  1. Caro Emerald - The Ghost Of You. Know this one from its use in The Peripheral, and although I watched it a while earlier for some reason this track bubbled back up later.
  2. The HU - This Is Mongol. The Hu and Alice In Chains, what's not to like? :)
  3. VNV Nation - Wait. New single that I played to death.
  4. Up Down Jumper - Boris Brejcha. Came up on a random discovery list in Tidal and got thoroughly stuck in my head.
  5. Anyma & Chris Avantgarde - Eternity. This track was all over social media with its inseparable visuals, but what really impressed me was how they adapted it to a long, narrow venue (clearly not what they'd designed it for). Bit odd to end up on a music playlist because of the lightshow, but it is what it is!

Next three are from an absolutely massive gig, Regurgitator's "Unit" show which was really a mini festival. It was my first gig since Tool, pre-covid! Also it was like a time machine back to Brisvegas in the late nineties, in the very best way.

  1. Butterfingers - Get Up Outta The Dirt
  2. Custard - Girls Like That
  3. Regurgitator - Polyester Girl

Back to the randomness..

  1. Armin van Buuren - Computers Take Over The World. Another one that came up on Tidal, at a time when everyone was talking about AI taking over everything AND I was learning to make music. Also it's very tongue in cheek, self-referential humour for music producers. Bit of a gimme for me, then.
  2. Underworld - and the colour red. Underworld released another amazing track. That's it, that's all they need to do...
  3. VNV Nation - Invictus. Double-dipping VNV as this one got stuck in my head after the album came out.

Big run to the finish with three gigs that happened in the space of about two weeks, which were all amazing in their own ways, so I'm double-dipping all three.

G. Love & Special Sauce was a total wildcard, suggested by a mate. It lead to an improbable night of running into another mate at the venue; and shenanigans ensued that were Very Inner West.

  1. G. Love & Special Sauce - Blues Music
  2. G. Love & Special Sauce - Cold Beverage

Devo's Freedom Of Choice album was one of the first cassettes I had, after my sister dubbed a copy for me. Pretty sure the tape had Scritti Politti on the other side. She was also showing me stuff I might like on VHS-recorded episodes of MTV and Rage - I remember Tears For Fears, The Cure, and lots of totally bonkers Devo film clips.

Somehow though I never quite made it to a Devo gig, nor saw them at a festivale, etc. So when they announced it was their last tour, it had to happen... and it didn't disappoint. They were just as unapologetically weird as I'd hoped.

  1. Devo - Freedom Of Choice
  2. Devo - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Followed that up just a few days later with Kraftwerk, which was just amazing. To be able to go see the urtext of electronic music felt like a privilege to me.

  1. Kraftwerk - Metal on Metal
  2. Kraftwerk - Tour de France (Etape 2)

While it's not on YouTube, honourable mention to Tycho's release of Tasty (Special Edition)... finally you too can enjoy the Banned By The BBC mix of Tainted/Who ;) Not to take away from all the awesome new tracks Tycho have released this year, it's just that Tainted/Who has a very special history.

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