Mix tape 2018 A handful of dust

December 15, 2018 | 2 Minute Read

For over ten years now I have been making an end of year (ostensibly Christmas) mix tape, in conjunction with and inspired by the critical gaze of a small group of friends who’s musical tastes I respect more than my own. There mixes are made under a set of conditions, under one hour, features at least one new act from the year, at least one artist who passed during the year, one act that you saw live in the year and one Christmas song. I have decided to ignore the final condition this year.

The process of trying to distil a year’s listening and feeling into a one hour mix, that reflects what I have been listening to, always starts with total chaos. Seeing a (somewhat) coherent whole emerging from the fragments never fails to excite. Sometimes it comes easier than others, a few mixes have been made in essentially one sitting, many have not.

This year’s is most definitely one that did not come easily. For example, was a lot of great expansive, psychedelic jazz that I was really feeling, but I simply did not have the ability to fit it coherently into this mix - notable exceptions from the mix include The Sons of Kemet and Idris Akamoore and The Pyramids, spanning generations but producing a cosmic soulful vibe that has soundtracked so much of my year. Unfortunately given the time constraints of the mix, most of the tracks from this kind of scene were just too long to include.

And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

TS Eliot - The Wasteland

• Dur Dur Band - Dooyoo
• Yazz Ahmed - Whirling
• Cornell Campbell - I’m Lost
• Furniture - Why are we in Love?
• Black Spade - After
• El Michales Affair - Tearz
• Nat Birchall - Hail Don D Jr
• Nimco Jamaac - Buuraha U Dheer (The Highest Mountains)
• Beak> - The Meader
• The Scientist & Roots Radics - Dangerous Match Number Seven
• Hello Skinny - Mr. P.Z.
• Moontribe - Bottles
• Carla dal Forno - Blue Morning
• He Said - Pump
• Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Still an Tresen
• Aretha Franklin - Sweet Bitter Love (Demo)