A strangely titled mixtape maybe and perhaps you don’t want to think too much about what the header picture actually is.
For anyone not familiar with the concept of nose strips: You make your nose wet, stick a strip made of I don’t know what on it, wait until it dries and the strip goes hard, and then rip it off of your face pulling all of the gunky crap that blocks pores on your nose with it. You then spend far too long looking at and analysing the stuff that you have just extracted.
Today is a nose strip day, and that requires either a soundtrack of beautiful calm songs or one of suffering and pain. This time round we have gone with the first option.
You can also find these tracks as a playlist on our Spotify and Youtube channels.
Iris by Goo Goo Dolls
I genuinely don’t think I know any Goo Goo Dolls songs apart from Iris. I also haven’t seen City of Angels, the film it was written for. What I do know is that it’s just a good pop/rock song and a love song that manages to be sentimental without being overly soppy or cheesy.
The opening line gains significance if you know that the main character in the film is willing to give up immortality to be with the person he loves, but surely anyone who has been in love has had a moment of that feeling.
Come Undone by Duran Duran
This song was released in 1983 and the video features a woman singing underwater… In 1985, Simon Le Bon, singer of Duran Duran had a yacht built to compete in a round the world race, during it’s first ‘test race’ the yacht capsized, trapping Le Bon and five other crew inside underwater. Mere coincidence?
La Femme D’Argent by Air
La Femme D’Argent translates as The Silver Woman. What does it mean, who knows? No lyrical clues as there are no lyrics.
It’s Air, it is from Moon Safari and the entire album is beautiful, it has an amazing bassline and the possibly the best use of rain sounds in a song anywhere.
Glory Box by Portishead
There is something about Beth Gibbon’s voice and the whole sound of any Portishead song that I can’t define or explain but that makes me just stop, listen and smile to myself.
Glory Box is lyrically interesting, a kind of subtle journey through different aspects of being a woman, the first verse seems submissive, the second strongly feminist and the third describes a balanced and equal gender relationship.
Heartbeats by José González
This is that rare thing, a cover that is better than the original (personal opinion, you are free to disagree but you will be wrong). There is nothing wrong with The Knife’s synthpop original but this version by José González is just magical.
You and Me by Damon Albarn
Blur are great, Gorillaz are great, but Everyday Robots shows a whole different side of Damon Albarn and it is pretty sublime.
You and Me is actually two seperate songs sandwiched together, the first called You and the second called Me, the instrumental interlude in the middle is the point where we jump tracks.
Destiny by Zero 7
Long before she gained mainstream recognition and became a global star, Sia sang backing vocals for Jamiroquai and contributed lead vocals for Zero 7’s first three albums.
Destiny is classic Zero 7, it is lush and atmospheric with layers of keyboards, guitar and electronica, Sia sings the verses while Sophie Barker sings the chorus. Sophie might not be as well known as Sia, but her solo albums are worth checking out.
Say it Ain’t So by Weezer
I haven’t listened to this, or anything by Weezer, for at least a decade but for some reason it just popped into my head today. It still sounds bloody good!
Let’s Go Swimming by Allo Darlin’
In the words of Elizabeth: “This is a song about the shock of realising that not all nature wants to kill you”
Regular mixtape listeners will know that I love Allo Darlin’. There isn’t a bad track on their debut album but Let’s Go Swimming is one of my favourites.
Perfect Storm by John Smith
“What is love if not the perfect storm?” – Quite, John, well said.
Apart from being a very talented musician and songwriter, John Smith is a genuinely nice guy, he is not signed to any record label and self finances his albums. He is also not nearly as well known as his music deserves, listen to Great Lakes and Headlong.