VAMOS A LA PLAYA

I have been obsessed with all things balearic for a year or two now, and I'm realizing I really haven't yet imparted any knowledge about the legit old-school stuff to you dudes on this blog. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but pieces like this one at DJ History certainly sparked my interest in the stuff, and I've been trying to fill in all the blanks to this mythical genre ever since. 'Balearic' is so mysterious a term that it can signify anything from spacey komische krautiness like Ashra to new-agey guys like Kitaro to questionable eighties pop like Phil Collins. It is about recontextualizing pretty much any type of music- seriously it could be classical or industrial or minimal composition or smooth jazz- into something that nonetheless has a distinctive, undefinable "feeling". So yeah, it's the kind of thing where people will say, "it's not a genre, it's a feeling" and they're actually kind of right.


But don't let that dissuade you. There is something for everyone under the balearic umbrella, and I think you guys may particularly dig these mixes from Jose Padilla, from the legendary Cafe Del Mar in Ibiza. Cafe Del Mar has a reputation for their sunsets, and if you combine this with the immaculate/cheesy interior and the evocative music on mixes like this you get a pretty damn good feeling of what these vibes are all about. The DJs would provide an intensely mellow soundtrack for most of the evening, and when the sun would finally go down they would attempt to peak their music in a variety of ways- whether it be with a rise in tempo or just by releasing building tension in the music. You definitely hear the more ambient/new-age/moody side of things with this first mixtape, which I found on the Dj History forums...


Jose Padilla - Cafe del Mar Mixtape #27

pieced-together tracklisting...

01 - Kilar Wojciech - Love Remembered
02 - ?
03 - Kitaro - Tunhuang
04 - Ennio Morricone - For Love One Can Die
05 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Song Lines
06 - Wim Mertens - Close Cover
07 - This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren
08 - Ulvi - Kudsi Erguner (with whale noises over top)
09 - Ennio Morricone - Gott mit uns (?)
10 - Art of Noise - Crusoe
11 - Art of Noise - Island
12 - Ennio Morricone - A Fistful Of Dynamite
13 - excerpt from 'The Cook Thief Wife and his Lover'
14 - Ennio Morricone - Cockeye's Song
15 - Amorphous Androgynous - Mountain Goat
16 - Brian Eno - From The Same Hill
17 - Ennio Morricone - Deborah's Theme (whale noises again)
18 - ?
19 - Mark Isham - Theme from Mrs Soffell
20 - Frank de Wulf - The End

This next one I found on the excellent Test Pressing blog, and has much more drive to it than the last- I think a drumbeat or two actually make an appearance here! I don't have a tracklisting as of now, but I DEFO spotted not only Laurie Anderson's "O Superman" but also a kickin' smooth jazz instrumental version of "Mercy Mercy Me", along with more field recordings and other similarly awesome tunes.

Jose Padilla - Cafe Del Mar Mixtape # 7

25 Most Underrated Guitarists of All Time

Ok, so the title is a parody of Rolling Stone's comprehensive critical perspective on the nature of guitar heroes. So, until my deluxe John Mayer triple LP boxset arrives in the mail, I'll have to settle for some lesser known guitar gods.

Charlie Parr. This guy sounds like he should have been on Takoma in the early sixties. And Parr definitely should be on Tompkin Square's Imaginational Anthem compilation featuring Max Ochs (Phill's cousin)Glen Jones, Jack Rose et al. I happen to be a fan of Jack Rose, and relocating to Philly only helped that. However, sometimes Rose and Jones' technical wizardry masks the downhome nuances and idiosyncrasies that tend to personalize and immortalizeguitarists. Charlie Parr spins such downhome blues that you might be related to him. So, since gods are immortal and guitar gods are immortal, and Charlie Parr kicks major ass so who cares about his time in the limelight because he'll have eternal life in heavens stage lights. I guess his d.i.y ethos is so strong that it boosts his street cred, but his street cred rarely leaves the street. So check out this video and dig.

He'll be in San Francisco for a rare out of state performance on July 26th, so make the pilgrimage. Plus, my reasoning could be wrong because according to Rolling Stone, Charlie Parr is not an accredited guitar god. That means Charlie Parr might eventually die. If you don't go see him, it would be like passing on seeing a Woolly Mammoth because they'll "always be around."