WARMER MIXTAPES #536 | by Tim Brown [Aural Burrows]

1. Real Estate | Suburban Beverage
Suburban Beverage makes me think of being in your swimming pool when it’s late at night, and there’s really no reason to be swimming but you’re doing it anyway and it’s kind of cold but you don’t care because you’re swimming at night and how often do you go swimming at night? It’s the kind of song that can play in the background in the car and you’re not even consciously aware of it, but suddenly everyone in the car is in a better mood because of it.

2. Aquarium | The Art Of Being Humble
For the longest time I had no idea what this song was called, because nearly everything written about it is in Russian. Apparently, Aquarium had to bribe their way into a government-owned studio to record it, which adds this whole other element to the song. It’s so simple and optimistic, but knowing what they had to go through to get it recorded gives it that much more depth. It’s seems unreal to me that this came out of the mid-80s USSR.

3. //bones// | Always Falling
Always Falling gives me this mental image of New York City and it’s raining and a girl ducks into a cab and she lights up a cigarette and lays back and starts looking at the raindrops collecting on the window. It’s my rainy-day song, and I mean that in the best way possible. I get this feeling of being surrounded by people but still feeling lonely, like people-watching on a subway train or something. It’s melancholy and overcast without being hopeless.

4. Small Black | Despicable Dogs
I can’t tell you how many times this song’s beat has gotten stuck in my head. Every time I hear it, I’ll end up tapping it out with my feet, and trying to sing the lyrics in a shitty falsetto voice. The synths in this song have this weezy, analog vibe to them too. The whole song is just so catchy and simple; it’s hard not to love it.

5. Ducktails | Dancing With The One You Love
The vocals on this track are what get me. It’s one of his older songs, and you can tell it was before he was really comfortable singing, but he does it anyway and you barely even hear what he’s singing but it doesn’t matter. It sends me back to middle school dances, where you’re dancing with the girl you’ve had a crush on and you don’t want the night to end but you’re not thinking about that right then. You’re just in the moment, and you know it’s a great moment and you’re just thankful that that moment ever existed and you know it’ll be gone soon but that doesn’t change the fact that it existed at some point.

6. Future Islands | Vireo’s Eye
Within about 10 seconds of hearing the intro to this song, I knew I’d love it. It’s just this powerful, catchy melody, and then it breaks into this grand string-laden arrangement backed by a Peter Hook-ianbassline. Samuel T. Herring’s vocals are so over the top, but they really add to the feeling of the song. This band has got it figured out; they’ve managed to fuse that 80s Post-Punk sound with some more modern sensibilities.

7. Orange Juice | Rip It Up
This is the ultimate Love song. Edwyn Collins’ lyrics have this element of vulnerability to them, while still coming across as tongue-in-cheek. It just perfectly encapsulates that feeling of getting your heart broken and gathering the pieces and starting over. Plus, it has the best music video I think I’ve ever seen.

8. Youth Lagoon | 17
This whole album is incredible, but 17 in particular stands out to me. It’s just so honest and innocent; it totally hits that feeling of not being a kid anymore, but not really being an adult. The way the song builds from just vocals and keys to this grand, layered spectacle is magnificent. My best friend and I drove down to Atlanta to see him [I was 17 at the time, how perfect] and this song brings me back to that night; just relishing novel experience and celebrating youth.

9. The Drums | Me And The Moon
This is another one of those songs with an incredible, driving, drum track. It’s great when you’re driving home late at night, smoking a cigarette or something. You can just belt out that Forever, forever breakdown and bang your head and stare at the Moon.

10. Dan Deacon | Snookered
Look up live versions of this song. Every time he plays it, he guides the audience through this strange, meditative ritual, and right as it ends the verse breaks out. Words can’t do it justice. According to him, the song is about a guy being hanged at the gallows, and as he’s dying and having DMT rush to his brain, he transcends to an equally fucked-up Other Reality. The song transitions between these beautiful chimes and chaotic glitch vocals; the entire song is transcendent and spiritual.