The following is a mixture of tunes that are front of mind for me at the moment and tunes that have been important to me roughly since the inception of Myxomatopesis. I have written a short bit on each, which may sometimes be saying something you already know. Then again, communal affirmation can be pretty tasty.
Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring prefigures a fuck of a lot of hip hop and was cut in 1968. For this alone it deserves our love. But, more importantly, it is an absolutely drenched groove.
Ewe by Fabiano Do Nascimento is surely on the Pearly Gates’ Myxomatopesis. If you’re not hip to señor Do Nascimento’s album Dança Do Tempo, get hip to it; it is a sumptuous and encompassing collection of Brazilian nylon-strung musings that are giddy, austere, haunting, epic, joyous and – as here – celestial and gorgeous.
Total Giovanni I know nothing about – although they obviously love Bowie – but I have listened to Human Animal about 25 times this week.
Allen Toussaint’s Singin’ the Blues is off his masterful The Bright Mississippi which is one of my favourite albums of all time. The combination of magnificently warm, clear and balanced modern production and rootsy, New Orleanian authenticity makes it pretty unique, at least to my knowledge. Singin’ the blues is also one of my favourite ways to pass time.
Cymande are one of my favourite bands of all time. They have an exceptionally tasteful and balanced sense of instrumentation, syncopation and harmony. The music is also deliciously intercontinental, with African, South American and European elements all in juiciest evidence. Bra is arguably their flagship tune. It is a ship on which I have spent many grinning hours.
Slow Boat to China is topical. Blaze Foley has a voice that hits you right in the perineum.
As well as being a close relative of Jonny Guitar Lifschutz, Johnny Guitar Watson is a massive joker. Superman Lover is a priapic yet charmingly self-questioning ode to himself.
The first time Tryin’ Times was played to me was 15 months ago and I was absolutely battered and I had that feeling that many of you will be familiar with where the chiming affinity was so strong that I literally couldn’t believe I had never heard it before. Roberta is a giant.
Beyond Belief by the great music man Elvis Costello is a bit of an anomaly here I suppose, possibly even for anomaly’s sake oooooooooooh.
This version of is my favourite Duke Ellington recording, which is an inherently ridiculous statement. I like to think of Duke as sort of the Shakespeare of jazz. This doesn’t just make him a guy I want to know, but also directly links him to the title of this playlist, which feels absolutely right, both because of his place at the head of the table of my musical listening and because in the very broadest musical sense, just as The Dude abides, The Duke presides. On a side note he has fittingly cut an album based on Shakespeare’s works – Such Sweet Thunder – which you must get hip to if you aren’t already.
Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou is a 94-year-old Ethiopian monk and has had a pretty mad life. Read up on her if you haven’t, for the sheer yarn if nothing else. Listening to Mother’s Love is a bit like listening to Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, Ahmad Jamal and Mulatu Astatke at the same time. This is not a quartet to be sniffed at.
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter is a beautiful premise for a tune and is playful and elegant as fuck.
A Vuchella is best listened to first thing in the morning or when absolutely hammered. Or both. Pavarotti is Pavarotti.
Oh War. War, war, war. Masters of the very fattest harmony lines and pioneering groove plungers. Just when you think they can’t go any deeper, they always always do. Slippin’ into Darkness is nothing short of a funk symphony.
Hope you enjoy, beauties. I have so enjoyed all of yours. Music is nang.
D xx