LAMPSHADE

When he's not co-managing Noumenal Loom, one of the best active tape labels around these days, Garrett Crosby is cranking out unclassifiably blissed-out saccharine productions under his Holly Waxwing alias. Based out of the tiny liberal arts college town of Montevallo, Alabama, Crosby seems to be having a great year with the label, and his own tracks keep getting better and better. I'm obliged that he stepped up to put together this sun-drenched eclectic ANTS mix, which he's calling "Holly Waxwing's Velvet Falernum Warmup." @hollywaxwing @noumenalloom 1. Sister Nancy - "Bam Bam" 2. Gregory Isaacs - "Cool Down the Dub" 3. Douster - "Wine Riddim Version" 4. Dubbel Dutch - "Inevitable" 5. Africa Hitech - "Too Late Dub" 6. Holly Waxwing - "Dolphinpods" 7. Co La - "Manhattan Possessions" 8. Drew Price's Bermuda Triangle - "Roshe Girl" 9. Jam City - "Club Thanz (Dub)" @douster @mixpak @dubbeldutch @warp-records @co_la @friendsrecords @bermudatriangle @jam-city @nightslugs

The first volume of Moon Cities’ live mix series is here, and it’s a slab of amped up, genre-agnostic electronic dance music. His mixing’s got a raw immediacy to it that’s thrilling – my favorite moment is when a the bassline from a significantly sped up “You’re Nasty” slams down over Daft Punk’s acidic french house, in sync but a beat ahead. It’s the kind of thing that could make a dance floor explode – or make your car ride that much more exciting. Music to vanquish to.

1. Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory – Science is Fun (Portal 2 Soundtrack) 2. Factory Floor – Here Again 3. Daft Punk – Indo Silver Club 4. The 2 Bears – You’re Nasty 5. Young Galaxy – Pretty Boy 6. Lo-Fi-Fnk – Taking U 4 Granted (produced by FRIENDZONE) 7. La Roux – Bulletproof 8. Calvin Harris ft. Ne-Yo – Let’s Go (Wild Boyz! Remix) 9. MSTRKRFT – Beards Again 10. Out Hud – Dad, There’s a Little Phrase Called Too Much Information 11. Erlend Øye – The Athelete

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A proper tribute to Frankie Knuckles, Live from the Library, Volume 3 starts meditatively and never loosens its grasp on that emotional thread, even while delicately punching its way up to a workout. It's pure house and pure heart that crescendos into a classic, often leaving you breathless with tears--or stars, or both--in your eyes.

1. Kyle Bobby Dunn - Kotylak 2. Simon James Phillips - Poul 3. Christian Loffler - Notes 4. Bob Moses - Interloper 5. Isaac Tichauer - Questions 6. David August - Epikur 7. Stimming - Buxton Pipes (k civ edit) 8. Leon Vynehall - Be Brave, Clench Fists 9. Wanklemut - My Head Is A Jungle (MK Remix) 10. Drumtalk - Time 11. Fiona Apple - Every Single Night (Its Overture Remix) 12. Ame - Junggesellenmaschine 13. Voices from the Lake - Sentiero 14. Vincenzo, Language - Merry Go Round (Axel Boman Mix) 15. Slove - Flash (Panchanga Boys Remix) 16. Max Cooper (ft. Braids) - Automaton 17. Jamie Principle & Frankie Knuckles - Your Love

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"Feels", that piece of post-Tumblr Millenial slang, is as much misunderstood as it is derided. But let's get to that later. Pure Feels (the name chosen as a homage of the iconic Pure Moods compilation) draws from ambient music, not the genre proper, but the music that was going on while other things were happening. Music from Dreamcast and N64, the sounds of spas and suburban malls, elevators and hold lines. It might seem strange that that songs so influenced by background music, music essentially designed to be ignored, are invested with such sincere emotion. And that's part of the reason why stuff like vaporware is assumed to have been made with a hefty amount or irony. But that's not it at all  The whole thing is soaked in the nostalgia of those times. Those feelings of comfort, of control, of limitlessness, of certainty, of prosperity, are as tied to the 90s as they are to childhood for people of a certain age. Using the word "feels" as a noun may seem at first like childish artifice, but it's inarticulateness is the point. It's an emotion that can't be named, but only felt, deep and inchoate. That's the vein Moon Cities has tapped into on Pure Feels. This is the New New Age.

1. Sega Saturn - NTSC Boot 2. Vektroid - YR HEART 3. Macintosh Plus - ECCOと悪寒ダイビング 4. USF - Kneepads 5. Meishi Smile - Summer Blue 6. Pastel Ghost - Dark Beach 7. Clams Casino - Wizard 8. Rivka - Gone 9. Friendzone - Poly 10. Saint Pepsi - Mr. Wonderful 11. Miami Vice - Climate Control 12. Classixx - A Fax From the Beach 13. Anamanaguchi - U n ME 14. Jim Guthrie - Cabin Music 15. Balún - El Medio Contenido 16. Chalkboards - ta på jakken din 17. Teen Daze - I Fell into the Light 18. Kosumo Notto - Desperation Move 19. aivi & surasshu - The Hill (from Steven Universe) 20. Lullatone - Finding a Leaf in your Girlfriend’s Hair

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Just in time for summer, Moon Cities’ Direct from the Caribbean is a warm breeze of tropical mood music. It starts in a sort of woozy 60s California nostalgia, but quickly becomes blissfully unmoored from both time and space, effortlessly leaping across decades and international borders alike. Just as its fraternal twin Direct from the Islands was made on location in Hawaii, Direct from the Caribbean was assembled on location on a Caribbean cruise, and still bears the distinct aroma of saltwater and sand. Grab your sunscreen and pour whatever you’re gonna drink into a coconut - this is music for a jetsetter equipped with a time machine. 

1. The Avalanches - Pablo’s Cruise 2. Disneyland - Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me) 3. Lord Kitchener - Love in the Cemetery 4. Harry Belafonte - Jump in the Line 5. Django Reinhardt - Brazil 6. Monster Rally - Baja Samba 7. Dimitri from Paris - Le Moogy Reggae 8. Fantastic Plastic Machine - Pura Saudade (Nova Bossa Nova) 9. Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 - The Frog 10. Esquivel - Cumana 11. Sven Libaek - Open Sea Theme 12. Belasco’s Orchestra - Blow Wind Blow 13. Franco & Le TPOK Jazz - Tcha tcha tcha de mi amor 14. Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Reggae Merengue 15. The Little Mermaid - Kiss the Girl 16. The Paragons - On the Beach

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Scholastics has taken the feeling of existential dread that can be experienced at 4 am in a dead town and has transmuted it into an hour and a half of chills-up-your-spine bone-rattle music. A spiritual cousin to Golden Ghost Forest.

1. Rachel's - Cypress Branches 2. Castanets - Into The Night 3. Scott Tuma - Red Roses For Me  4. Other Lives - Dust Bowl III 5. The Archivist - Street Night Om 6. His Name Is Alive - Send Me A Dragonfly 7. Tom Carter & Christian Kiefer - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues 8. Woven Hand - Animalitos (Ain't No Sunshine) 9. Antic Clay - Broken Throat Blues 10. Carla Bozulich - Drowned To The Light 11. DM Stith - Creekmouth 12. Secret Pyramid - Depths 13. The Gentleman Losers - Wind In Black Trees 14. Evan Caminiti - Night Of The Archon 15. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Moving On 16. Liz Janes & Create! - All The Pretty Horses 17. Jay Munly - Dar He Drone 18. Jonny Greenwood - Open Spaces 19. TG Olson - I 20. Calla - The Swarm 21. Jasper, TX - In All Your Blinding Lights 22. Zoe Keating - Seven League Boots 23. Pausal - Topography 24. Grizzly Bear - Colorado

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The third in the ongoing Chapter of Seas ambient mixtape series ventures out into deepier, choppier waters. But the brutality of the opening third gives way to an ocean of celestial drone. Salvation is reserved for those who endure.

Tracklist:

1. Superstorms - Part 1 2. RxRy - Cetus 3. therefore - Free Soundtrack 4. Seth Nehil - Grave 5. ISIS - Hym (Thomas Koner Remix) 6. Infinite Body - Out To Where I Am 7. Kid606 - Dandy 8. Fridge - Cutup Piano and Xylophone 9. Golden Poultry Error - It’s Raining Fingers 10. Keith Fullerton Whitman - Stereo Music for Yamaha Disklavier Prototype, Electric Guitar and Computer 11. Secret Pyramid - A Descent 12. Antonymes - Strange Light 13. Abiotha - Distant Ghostly Citadels

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The second mix in the Live from the Library series is a lot brighter and more sprightly than the first. It's also about 15 minutes longer, clocking in at just over an hour.

Scholastics - Live from the Library, Volume Two 1. Philip Jeck and Jacob Kirkegaard - Soaked Pt. 7 2. Tim Hecker - Spring Heeled Jack Flies Tonight 3. Coma - Raindrops 4. Tomson & Benedict - Switch 5. Cesar Merveille & Ryan Crosson - Orca 6. Softwar - One Day (Detroit Swindle Remix) 7. Ciara & Justin Timberlake - Love, Sex, Magic (Bodhi Remix) 8. Rainer Weichhold - Memories of a Child 9. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (Vamos Art Edit) 10. BeyoncÈ - Grown Woman 11. Emmanuel Jal - Kuar (Olof Dreijer Remix) 12. Tale of Us - Another Earth 13. Art of Noise - Moments in Love (Theatre of Delays Remix) 14. Argy Feat. Bajka - Upon Ourselves (Osunlade Stripped Mix) 15. X0 - No Scrubs 16. Final DJs - Feel Your Breath

genre tags: ambient, minimal, house, pop

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I'm a man who loves Christmas music. I'm also a hardline no-Christmas-until-after-Thanksgiving seasonal separator. So the few weeks between Christmas and the new year are filled with wall-to-wall Christmas music for me. Over the years, I've amassed quite a collection, and I've become something of a connoisseur of original Christmas songs. A good Christmas song has elements of classic Motown, strings, bells, and balances the continuum of joyous and sacred. The lyrics can't be too generic or cheesy. Sufjan Stevens excels at this--there's one of his tracks on here, and some tracks from his friends and cronies, as well as 19 other Christmassy tracks that will make you feel right at home for the holidays even if you've never heard them before.

1. George & Jonathan - The Best Christmas  2. Joy Electric - Lollipop Parade (On Christmas Morn)  3. xmas movie soundtrack - Boxing Day  4. I Was A King - Over Mountains  5. Candy Claws - Snow Face  6. Monster Rally - Christmas in Dreamland (Santa's Hula)  7. Half-Handed Cloud - Öh, It’s Christmastime Again  8. Via Vegrandis - Christmas Date  9. Starflyer 59 - A Holiday Song  10. Los Campesinos! - A Doe To A Deer  11. Parenthetical Girls - Rejoice! Rejoice!  12. DM Stith - I Stay Still  13. Sufjan Stevens - Jupiter Winter  14. Create (!) - Hymn for St. John of Shanghai  15. Aaron Roche - the the the snow  16. Ash Reiter - Christmas in California  17. The Rosebuds - Thru That Door  18. Firebreather - Peppermint Delight  19. Coconut Records - It’s Christmas  20. Rosie Thomas - Why Can’t It Be Christmastime All Year 

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As much as I love doing heavily plotted, extensively planned concept mixes, they take me a pretty long time to do. And I haven't had as much free time on my hands recently, so I'm starting the Live from the Library series. The concept of this series is there isn't a concept - I play music from my library that sounds good together. Here I play connect the dots a little before settling into a deep house groove that's both moody and ebullient. I hope you enjoy it. (40 min).

Scholastics - Live from the Library: Volume One 1. Philip Glass - Video Dream/New Cities in Ancient Lands, C 2. Tom Trago - Avenido 3. Kanye West - Love Lockdown 4. Nick Nikolov - Come Down 5. Disclosure - My Intention Is War! (Fig ii) 6. Jakkin Rabbit - Jakkin Jill 7. Status IV - You Ain't Really Down (Jazzanova's Hey Baby Remix) 8. Safeword - Be The Light 9. Octo Octa - Please Don't Leave 10. Lopazz and Casio Casino - I Feel Love (Pt. 2)

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This started as a Halloween mix and transmogrified into more of a Fall-oween mix, it seems. It's not so much spooky and ghosty (though there is that) as much as it is music for cold, windy nights, full of moonlight and magic.

1. Tim DeLaughter - Pink Trash Dream [Thumbsucker] 2. Zulma Yugar - El Trasnochador 3. Monster Rally - Ribbons 4. George Bruns - Jungle Beat [Jungle Book] 5. Candy Claws - Night Ela (Mystic Thing) 6. Helado Negro - Dance Ghost 7. Balún - El Medio Contenido 8. Beach House - Lazuli 9. Datahowler - Weight of Dreams (Preface) 10. Mellow - Multithing [CQ] 11. Blind Slime - Dark Vibrations (In The Sky) 12. The Clientele - Graven Wood 13. Frankie Rose - Moon In My Mind 14. Air - Ghost Song [The Virgin Suicides] 15. Bat for Lashes - What's A Girl To Do? 16. Ombre - Cara Falsa 17. Michael Andrews - Waltz in the Fourth Dimension [Donnie Darko] 18. J. Tillman - Crosswinds 19. Shigeru Umebayashi - Bamboo Forest [House of Flying Daggers] 20. The Mountain Goats - Tyler Lambert's Grave 21. Clogs - I Used To Do 22. Jim Guthrie - Like a Lake 23. Damien Jurado - Cloudy Shoes

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I started playing this in the car and my two-year-old son said "Scary music!" but when I asked him if he wanted me to turn it off, he said no. Scholastics has put together a little over half an hour of Halloween slasher music that uses synthesizers instead of knives.

1. Makeup and Vanity Set - A Prologue  2. Glass Candy - Redheads Feel More Pain  3. Umberto - Temple Room  4. Xinobi - (I Hate The Sound Of) Guitars  5. Gatekeeper - Visitor  6. Gatekeeper - Bog  7. Zombie Zombie - I'm Afraid of What's There  8. ZOMBI - Slow Oscillations  9. Tangerine Dream - Betrayal  10. Padded Cell - City of Lies  11. Cliff Martinez - Skull Crushing  12. Royksopp - Happy Up Here (Boys Noize Remix)  13. Gesaffelstein - Viol 

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Halloween 2012 (mark 2) by Moon Cities

Here's a redone version of last year's Halloween mix tape. It's spooooooooky!

Tracklist:

1. The Revival Hour - Hold Back  2. M83 - In the Cold I'm Standing  3. Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers (Daytrotter version)  4. Dead Man's Bones - My Body's a Zombie for You  5. Jookabox - You Cried Me  6. Sufjan Stevens - They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh!  7. Yo Gabba Gabba - It's Halloween  8. Monster Rally - Beach at Night  9. RJD2 - The Horror  10. Keith Ruggiero - Horror  11. Do They Know It's Hallowe'en (Cadence Weapon Remix)  12. Perturbator - Nightmare Interlude  13. Clip of Doctor Orpheus' Speech from "A Very Venture Halloween" 

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