levity mixtape

On my first day at Levity i made fast friends with the office stereo.
Shortly after i realised my co-workers were pretty rad too so just like a granny with a fresh batch of cookies i made everyone mixtapes.
For my first blog i decided it was only fair to create another for old times sake.

Not long ago METRONOMY was a slightly chubby pastel cardigan wearing loner who created remixes on his dads computer. Not exactly what you call a sex symbol but you havent heard his version of toxic - cut out the Britney, add some synths and accordions and you have 6 minutes of electronic arousal. He has since been joined by his cousins band "the food groups" as it's abit hard to operate a light show,3 keyboards, a drum machine and a bass by yourself and created songs that turned out better than the uber underground bands they're known for remixing. I would gladly chew off my right arm to see this band live. Plus their synchronised dance moves are so special i just want to wrap them up in bubblewrap and take them oppshopping for moogs.



Levity isn't the only one who gets the all important bond between music and fashion. Chainstores are famous for regurgitating fluro hotpants as shown on mtv so little kiddies can practise krumping in their bedrooms. GOOSE stay true to this trend by forecasting the latest in streetwear....Rubbish!



So when you find yourself with nothing to wear simply bathe in glue then roll around in a party goods dumpster for a truly original look. (Just remember to check the mirror before you go caz something tells me used condoms and bandaids wont be the latest hair accessories in vogue anytime soon) They were the standout out act for me at Parklife last year but in 28days i will be battling pillpoppers and tech heads for the front row centre position on the barricade for DOES IT OFFEND YOU YEAH?!!


Next time your on the town and see that special someone across the dancefloor, dont go home to a jar of Vaseline wondering "what if?"... be brave and request track 6 from the DJ. The constant refrain of "Lets Make Out! Lets Make Out!" is the best song to swap saliva with shy strangers since the Dandy Warhol's "Bohemian Like You"


THE BLACK GHOSTS debut album hasn't been getting the best reviews in the streetpress recently which i find extremely hard to believe for 3 reasons.

1. this track is stella

2. It is Simon Lord from Simian Mobile Disco's side project (aka god)

and 3. i wouldn't want to piss off a band that look like the most wanted members of the 'bald & deadly' biker gang.

I think the root of the hatred comes from the videoclip that makes musicians worried that robots will one day steal their jobs.

LATE OF THE PIER are the type of band i would follow to the ends of the earth. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing to see hot indie boys dance around wearing texta and not much else. They keep churning out tracks that are continuously surprising and awesome. Look up "the bears are coming" and tell me honestly that tribal intergalatic indie rock with gameboy bip and beep samples isnt the best thing you have heard in a long time. Sure they are overacting in their new video but a pop art recording demon emerges from the pits of hell and bashes them up for it.



To help combat the afternoon energy slump i have inclued the UK's most kinetic math rock quintet and (fellow tour mates of Cut Off Your Hands) - FOALS. Who finally got around to releasing an album this year. Which is great as listening to their camera phone recorded demos on the internet for another 6 months would of made me go wrong in my mind tank.



When i was 12, my mum bought me a "facts of life pop up book" that featured a cardboard baby crowning out of a ladys legs and when you pulled the tabs you could make sperm swim up the fallopian tubes. This present was deeply traumatising not to mention embarassing and is something i supressed till i saw the amazing new video by SHIT DISCO (who take the cake for most awesome band name of the year next to fuck buttons)


if you now have a fetish for origami and cute indie music looking up "Pink Squares" by I Was A Cub Scout will fill the void.

I have a confession to make, the first time i heard a snippet of "L.E.S Artistes" i thought it was the best Tegan & Sara song they have put out to date.
Turns out the song in question wasnt by the sisterly canadian vagitarians but an incredibly hot and talented black woman called SANTOGOLD Oh the shame!


(if you pester jbhifi they can order you in a 'top ranking mixtape' which is packed full of 35 Santogold bsides and Diplo mashups)

When it comes to making intern mixes, i like to include some quieter tracks caz the coolcats at Levity dont just sit around talking shit about indie bands 24/7 theyre often known to work from time to time. For optimum productivity The White Rabbits, Bill Callahan and Deerhoof does the trick.

LYYKE LI -my favourite sweedish pop angel with a lisp, is the perfect soundtrack for those important conference calls.



The video however is abit creepy and distracting to say the least. Spray painted muscle women pounding drums, spooky Frida Kahlo twins and old people swimming backstroke on the floor. Click HERE to watch the live version featuring some of Sweeden's finest exports - Robyn, The Shout Out Louds and The Concretes.

If you like athmospheric, zany yet magical music like the track above you may like to lose yourself in THE HELIO SEQUENCE. The drummer (ex modest mouse) pulls the most disturbing faces you may start to think he has escaped a mental ward and been shackled to the kit. But he has what i like to call "keithmonella" -a virus that makes the face shrink up in pain when ones concentrating on keeping the beat.
I would of loved to of been a hobo under an underpass in Portland one winter and awoke to see this band shooting their new video in fairy light suits. Kinda makes eating garbage worth while.



Although the next song has been my most played track of half eight. Im not a big fan of the constant sweaty abandoned slow motion shots in this video.
(looks like they are beating off in a sauna!!)


For those of you who are abit slow on the uptake, THE DODOS are a Californian pop trio that makes the kinda of music the Animal Collective or Zac Condon would make if he was stranded in an african jungle and decided to teach the natives Shins songs.

'White Winter Hymnal' has been my profile song for the past 6 months to much dismay from some of my friends who cant understand why i constantly listen to "beardy old man hippy folk music" Although they do dress in flannos, have jesus beards and sing five part harmonies about rivers, trees and sunshine, FLEET FOXES are not hippys nor are they oldtimers (The AM country radio-meets-Paul Banks lead singer is only 21! and became best friends with the guitarist due to a shared love of dragon ball z in high school!!)
Their self-titled album is full of hauntingly- beautiful-luscious melodies and imaginative storytelling of a simpler time. Perhaps recorded around a campfire a few centuries ago. Ive never been so caught up in a piece of music before. 'its like watching the sun rise over distant mountaintops, over and over familiar and captivating all at once'
I found myself in a simular situation a few years back when all i wanted to do was lie in bed and listen to 'trials of van occupanther' on repeat rather than get shitfaced at the uni bar. My mates thought i had become depressed so they staged an intervention and stole my precious disk!
Like a true junkie i spent my food money that week on Midlake's latest offering only to have it hidden by my housemate again.
I havent touched a drop of folk music since ...until now mwa ha ha!




(Anyone recognise the blonde haired lass being serenaded by the flight of the conchords look alike bellow?) Yep before she was famous singing about ghosts, cheating, nightmares and hung out with the mystery jets, Laura Marling was doing backup vocals as one fifth of the cutest british folk pop band -NOAH AND THE WHALE.


This band really is a little gem in my record collection. Its not just their wes anderson inspired videos, the ukelele solos , or the matching juno running team / mariachi band outfits with choreographed nerdy dancemoves that makes them go down a treat with the old folks down at the RSL. Its simply because they make me feel warm and fuzzy everytime they get shuffled on my ipod. If their work doesnt make you smile from ear to ear or shed a tear (you need to eat more jellybeans:)

And coming in last to end this madness is MGMT.
If i was hit by a steamroller and lost my memory, i have a feeling i could remember 'Oracular Spectacular' note for note due to the amount of times ive listened to that album this year.

If you camped out recently to see them but like me missed out on tickets due to scalpers and teenyboppers with daddy's credit card snagging them first - i can understand your heartbreak.
For the rest of you I HATE YOU. And i hope you piss your stovepipes from excitement as soon as you get there so your forced to spend a few hours smushed up against strangers who tease and threaten you during the support acts so you end up going home crying to your mother who will happily retell the story to your future dates for the rest of your life.
I also hope you dont get too much pleasure seeing Ben dressed up as a giant beer bottle and Andrew as a ciggarette lighter in this video for Destrokk.
The donut from the chewing gum ad does vocals & MGMT's snot provides backup -too cute!





!!! Kings of Leon's new album comes out in 23 days!!!