We’ve made it to our 100th mixtape! Can you believe it? To celebrate we thought we’d do a little something special and ask some of our favourite artists to let us know which song they’d lock in a time capsule to be unearthed in 100 years. From Clubfeet loving a pop superstar to Trash from The Red Paintings showing a fellow Aussie musician some love, this very special mixtape truly is one for the ages.
The Vasco Era – ‘Rock And Roll Is The Only Thing That Makes Me Feel Good’
Chosen By Jo Syme of Big Scary
Low – ‘Murderer’
Chosen by I, a Man
“A band from Duluth, Minnesota that’s based around Mormon husband/wife Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. They usually operate at very slow tempos with hushed dynamics and spare arrangements. Their songs generally lean towards the melancholy and almost always feature the two of them singing close harmonies together. In the 15 or so years they’ve been around they have stuck to this method pretty closely for the most part. Their album Drums And Guns which this track is off probably steers the farthest from what I’ve delved into. It was produced by Dave Fridmann and definitely takes more of a studio approach to the arrangements with lots of twisting loops and interesting mixing methods. If in 100 years the human race hasn’t wiped itself out of existence then this is a brilliant song written by a Mormon still prepared to take God to task.”
Paul McCartney – ‘Jenny Wren’
Chosen By Spender
“Basically , Sir Paul was dead to me. I’d never dug much on Wings ( that being said I didn’t give it a proper go) and the Beatles suck, only because they are literally so good that it pains me even to think about their contribution to modern pop music and production. This song ‘Jenny Wren’ was played to me by a drummer. When I heard it my jaw dropped and became obsessed. I never bought the rest of the record, just this one song from his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in The Backyard. It’s a whimsical happy/sad mark 2 of ‘Blackbird’ about a different species of bird called the Jenny Wren. However , it’s spine chillingly good. The acoustic guitar playing/double tracking is literally breathtaking in its complexity and precision, the production elements so simple yet bold. A tom being hit with a mallet, and an Armenian “duduk” think oboe but more ‘duckish’. Also, the old bastard can still sing Really Fucking well. People would open up the time capsule and be like ‘What the fuck is this? Whoa! Who the fuck is Sir Paul Mcartney and his side project , The Beatles ‘ And then they’d all go back to dancing to some retro Skrillex.”
Greasers – ‘Metamorphosis’
Chosen by Liam McGorry of Saskwatch
“Hands down my favourite band of all time. Greasers encompass everything I love in music and aim for playing in bands. Killer songwriting, Great playing, honesty and taste in the music, Great Sounds and 3 Best mates in a room playing music they love. The first track from their incredible (and only) album Night To Night – ‘Metamorphosis’ (in my opinion) showcases all of these attributes. So good.”
Gareth Liddiard – ‘Did She Scare All Of Your Friends Away’
Chosen by Cameron Avery of The Growl/Tame Impala
“The whole album is incredible but this song in particular in my opinion is unmatched in concept and execution. If I had to give someone a reason to listen to it other than the fact it has the most amazing turn of phrase, melodic structure and such an intricate saga throughout the entirety of the song, I think this song highlights a rare breed of musician, who’s inspiration stretches further than just self experience or current musical trend, who has a deliberate calculated idea but all the while has the ability and belief in their ability to but smear themselves all over the product which comes out at the end. It’s an inspiration to me and I think should be an inspiration to other people, even if they live in the future.”
Something For Kate – ‘Eureka’
Chosen by Trash McSweeney of The Red Paintings
“If I was to pick one Aussie band to reflect on the times I would without question pick Something For Kate as that band. It’s way too hard to pick just one song when so many of Paul Dempsey’s songs speak so accurately and with such satire towards the past, present and future beings on the planet. But I’ll choose “Eureka” from their new album and ‘Feeding the Birds And Hoping For Something Un Return’from Echolalia. I’m sure those will hold a great impression on the backbone of mankind.”
Kylie Minogue – ‘Spinning Around’
Chosen By Clubfeet
“I mean, can you get a more worthy piece of art to represent our generation? It’s actually quite profound – never mind the looped existential disco refrain, Kylie herself epitomises the end-of-alphabet- generations – fading soap-opera glamour, overworked face with K2 cheekbones, gold hotpants & double-sided tape. Hot! There’s apparent ‘time capsule’ lyrics too, all smiles as we erase the past: “I’m through with the past/ Ain’t no point in looking back/ The future will be/ And did I forget to mention that I found a new direction/ And it leads back to me?” Cult personal development anyone? Ah shut up, finish your cosmo and meet me on the rotating dance floor.”
Boys Next Door – ‘Shivers’
Chosen By Alex Wall of Bleeding Knees Club
“I reckon this is one of the best Australian songs ever. The guitar by Rowland S Howard is so eerie and powerful.The combination of music and lyrics is perfect, in that when you hear it you kind of feel like killing yourself. It’s incredible that it got banned from the radio, just because it references suicide. I guess it was “too real” for the average person. Also it’s cool when you the watch the video of them playing this where Nick Cave is singing, and you can see Rowland in the background who actually wrote the song just looking so bummed-out that this dude is singing such an emotional and personal song.”
Cybotron – ‘Colossus’
Chosen By Prudence Rees-Lee
“My favourite 70s Kraut inspired, synth driven prog. Also featuring saxophone and a gong, Colossus is banging and sexy and exciting. Cybotron are quite an anomaly in Australian music and the world would certainly be a poorer place if they were forgotten.”
My Disco ‘Wrapped Coast’
Chosen by Tom Gould of World’s End Press
Having been to countless My Disco shows in Melbourne since my early 20’s it has been exciting to watch and hear the evolution of their sound. Repetition, minimalism and intensity are what they do so well. My Disco have been a huge influence on the Melbourne music scene. The intensity of their live shows has been a big influence on what I expect from a live performance.
Sarah Blasko – ‘All I Want’
Chosen By Owl Eyes
Sarah Blasko – All I Want
It would be nice for future generations to discover an artist like Sarah Blasko and particularly the song ‘All I Want’ so they can understand the beauty and simplicity of an exquisite voice paired with great songwriting. She is an artist who doesn’t change for the times but still manages to stay current.
