Colleen' Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 156th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on December 05th 2023.
About this show. – Balearic Breakfast is the place to be if you're curious about Music and feel like discovering artists and DJs you have never heard about before. In this 156th episode, just after Colleen took the con at the London Loft Party during a 7-hour long set (yes, you can have your Wow moment, laughs!) on Sunday, December 03rd, she introduced a lot of us to someone whom she's been following for years and whose inspiration could not be dismissed: Mark Barrott. The English DJ, record producer and label owner is a talented musician, and his moving interview with Colleen allowed us all to reconnect with our inner humanity. A Beautiful episode, with one heavenly ending...
I have long been a fan of the record label @internationalfeelibiza which was founded by Mark Barrott about 15 years ago and surprisingly many of the records are actually him under a different moniker: Young Gentlemen’s Adventure Society, Rocha, Boys from Patagonia and more. He also released an album called Johatsu as Mark Barrott earlier this year. He and I had a chat about International Feel, Johatsu and the new album he is currently recording and he also put together an exclusive mix for today’s Balearic Breakfast. Thank you Mark!
Colleen, instgr, 05/12/2023
Listen back to the 156th episode of Balearic Breakfast:
PLAYLIST
Jennifer Vanilla – Pastoral (Love Injection's Celestial Mix)
Cocteau Twins – A Kissed Out Red Floatboat
Kuniyuki, Soichi Terada & Sauce81 – Let Us In
Ace – How Long (Charles Vaughan's Loving Mirrorball Edit)
----- Mark Barrott Interview & Mix -----
Mark Barrott – Bush Society
Bepu N'Gali – I Travel To You
Talamanca System – Balanzat
Mark Barrott – Kyoto
Mark Barrott – Shinrin-yoko
Mark Barrott – Icarus
Mark Barrott – One Friday in September
Mark Barrott – Kamikakushi
Miles Davis – In a Silent Way
Japan – Cantonese Boy
Talk Talk – I Believe In You
Kate Bush – Hello Earth
THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
After her 7-hour-long musical trip at the London Loft, Colleen prepared a beautiful and moving show for us. The first 4 tracks set the tone of what would be a memorable episode on all accounts. Today's show opener is Jennifer Vanilla – Pastoral (Love Injection's Celestial Mix) [2023 - Bandcamp], taken from the expanded edition of her "Castle in the Sky" album, which was originally issued on August, 5th 2022 (more about her here). Love Injection records, Paul Raffaele and Barbie Bertisch shared on their socials a few days ago the news about this very remix they worked on, saying, "Our remix of Jennifer Vanilla is out today via Sinderlyn, included in Castle In The Sky (Expanded Edition). Our thanks go to the duo and label for the opportunity and to Toribio for his keyboard contributions, as well as the legendary Dave Darlington for mixing it. We set out to strip down and rebuild our version of an ethereal world, Jennifer Pastoral as the track is named, resulting in two versions: Earthly and Celestial. More news on the Celestial Mix soon, but the Earthly Mix releases today. Turn it up and let loose."
A big-sounding piece with a wonderful soundstage, this remix for sure is a Balearic Treat, followed by Cocteau Twins – A Kissed Out Red Floatboat [1988 - Discogs], a song without real lyrics as Colleen explained it to us on the chat: Liz Frazier doesn't sing in any known language, most of the time. Instead, she vocalizes some sort of secret language of her own (read this interview to discover more about Liz's musical and personal journey & head over to Classic Album Sundays to find out more about their album "Blue Bell Knoll"). The two aerial musical moments are followed by two other more uplifting tracks, the first one being Kuniyuki, Soichi Terada & Sauce81 – Let Us In [2022 - Bookmat]. It is indeed a classic that closes the first part of today's edition, as Ace – How Long (Charles Vaughan's Loving Mirrorball Edit) [2023 - Soundcloud] is a well-known song of all music lovers alike. Taken from Ace's first 1974 studio album 'Five-A-Side', this song is not your typical love-affair tune, laughs! Ace's bass player Terry Comer was working with other bands - he played briefly with The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver - and he didn't tell his bandmates, who felt cheated when they found out. Paul Carrack, Ace's lead singer, then wrote the song, one of his own first which remained a big hit. "How Long?" was released on the Anchor label in 1974, backed by "Sniffin' About" and produced by John Anthony for Neptune Productions. It has been recorded many times since. Terry Comer, the bass player a rival band were trying to "nick," returned in time to play on the original recording. Sadly, Ace disbanded in 1977. "How Long" has been a solid musical companion over the years; often, I would listen to the track on an endless repeat loop! I reached out to Charles, wanting to know how he worked on this gem, and he gladly shared his memories with me:
"Basically, I discovered the track on social media and had it on repeat for a few days, but was driving myself insane that the original was just a few minutes. I wanted to make an edit similar to Todd Terje’s edit of "I Want Your Love" – simple, drawing all the best elements out, euphoric yet pulled back. I grabbed the stems from an AI software I use and did it all in 2-3 hours – just getting everything extended and rebalanced the way I wanted, plus add some extra layers to make it more spacey! Love the result – wanted to make something that would evoke a real loving energy on the dancefloor, a final embrace under a disco light!"
Charles Vaughan, 05/12/2023
Mark's selections left the Balearic Breakfast family wowed. Both his interview, his thoughts, the way he changed over the years, his humility, the way he works with music today, trying to seize its pure moment and not overdoing things, and of course, the music he composes, left us all humbled, absolutely humbled and several members of the Balearic Breakfast Family shared on the chat how much the interview, and the show, moved them.
Starting with "Bush Society" [2015 - Bandcamp], a track that came "from the desire to make timeless, exotic music, dripping in-depth, melody and atmosphere... Music that can be cherished in the present and discovered 20 years into the future with equal surprise and joy. Music for imagination. Music for people that know there's something more" and offering a visual universe like no other, blending music with sounds of nature, Mark then takes us to Africa with Bepu N'Gali – I Travel To You [2012 - Bandcamp]. The story behind this track is awesome, and I encourage you to read its description on Bandcamp! The "righteous summer jam" is then followed by the very Balearic tune that is Talamanca System – Balanzat [2015 - Bandcamp]. Mark then takes us on a small journey through his new album, Jōhatsu.
Following Mark's last few words about the failure of Globalization, and encouraging us, people, to get connected on a smaller and collective level, Colleen's musical choices for the end of today's show fit perfectly, allowing us all to slowly drift away into our own days... Starting with Miles Davis – In a Silent Way [1969 - Discogs] – an album that would be recorded during one three-hour single session with Miles Davis encouraging his musicians to capture the moment – Colleen then played Japan – Cantonese Boy [1981 - Discogs] – Japan's Keyboardist Richard Barbieri recalling that recording the album "was a very laborious process, but creatively satisfying(...) it was the first album where we actually produced something (...) completely original." – easing things down toTalk Talk – I Believe In You [1988 - Discogs] – whose haunting atmosphere led Mark Hollis in dealing with his Brother's heroin addiction – and, lastly, beautifully ending the trip with Kate Bush – Hello Earth [1985 - Discogs], which, according to Kate Bush is "a lullaby for the Earth. And it was the idea of turning the whole thing upside down and looking at it from completely above. You know, that image of if you were lying in water at night and you were looking up at the sky all the time, I wonder if you wouldn't get the sense of as the stars were reflected in the water, you know, a sense of like, you could be looking up at water that's reflecting the stars from the sky that you're in. And the idea of them looking down at the earth and seeing these storms forming over America and moving around the globe, and they have this like huge fantasticly overseeing view of everything, everything is in total perspective. And way, way down there somewhere there's this little dot in the ocean that is them."
I can't help but think that Colleen, in these last tunes, wanted to musically expand Mark Barrott's message... All in all, what a way to end the show!
Events. – Colleen will take part in these forthcoming events:
December 09th: Mastersound's 15 years celebration (find out more about this great brand here);
December 09th: Love Affair Presents: Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy.
Click on the images to get your tickets :-)
