Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 167th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on March 19th 2024.
About this show. – Balearic Breakfast is a musical celebration that never misses its goal of bringing to the forefront important moments of each year, and Springtime is one of them! On the 16th of March, Colleen posted the request line on her socials, sharing with us these few words: "Good morning! Here in the northern hemisphere spring is around the corner and a feeling of renewal in the suez. What would you like to hear this Tuesday on Balearic Breakfast to welcome in the new season? And for those south of the equator, please share the songs you’re feeling right now (...)".
The Balearic Breakfast Family got together and requested songs about Season change, Spring (the vernal equinox happens on Wednesday morning – 20th – at 3:06 in the UK), hope, and happiness, including, of course, some Balearic gems! In the end, the show did not disappoint. It brought to our ears a delicate flow, with a specific sonic signature (especially identifiable in the first hour) helping us to picture Spring's awakening on a Beach!
Listen back to the 167th episode of Balearic Breakfast:
PLAYLIST
(1986) Jun Fukamachi – Morning Glow
(1988) Vernal Equinox – Sunrise
(2024) Hermanos Gutierrez – Low Sun
(2021) Dora Morelenbaum – Japao
(1996) Boards of Canada – Roygbiv
(1991) Saint Etienne – Spring
(2024) Mike Salta & Mortale – Hey Moloko
(Unknown) Dorothy Ashby – Little Sunflower (Danny Krivit Re-Edit)
(1977) Dexter Wansel – First Light of the Morning
(1977) Ramsey Lewis – Spring High
(1980) I.C. Bell – Explosion
(1983) High Resolution – Sweepin’ Off (Extended Mix)
(2024) Kim Yaffa – Once Bitten (Nick The Record & Dan Tyler Re-Edit)
(2023) Smashed Atoms and Backdoor Man – Hey Dreamer
(2005) Matsubara – S.O.S. (Prins Thomas Rework)
(2024) Viscardi & Il Duo Magnetico – Amore Mio
(1998) Tom & Joyce – Vai Minha Tristeza (Bob’s Le Mix)
(2000) Kevin Yost – Spring Again
(1958) Blossom Dearie – They Say It's Spring
(1959) Nina Simone – It Might as Well Be Spring
THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
A rising sun gently illuminates an empty beach... Slowly, there, somewhere, silhouettes appear, one, two (of course, you can't separate these two...), three... hundreds, thousands of moving tiny stars, each one representing a spirit, a Soul, a member of... the Balearic Breakfast Family... Welcome to our Balearic World, dear reader; embrace the new sun and head over to new musical adventures. Our captain will show you the way, and we will hug you in a huge and friendly embrace.
Jun Fukamachi's Morning Glow is a perfect example of how much a musical piece can allow you to travel. The album "Nicole (86 Spring And Summer Collection - Instrumental Images)" was never officially released, only made available to the people attending the 1986 fashion show for the Nicole brand’s "Spring and Summer collection" until "We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records" reissued it in 2017! Were we talking about a new start? Laughs! Speaking about that, the first 48 minutes of this show (yes, I'm very precise, laughs!) will help you to picture the dawn of a new season! Although Vernal Equinoxe's Sunrise Start, taken from their "New Find World" 1988 studio album, is slightly more preoccupied intellectually, it keeps the mental representation very alive! I'm sure you noticed that the first three musical pieces are all about the sun! To me, Hermanos Gutierrez's Low Sun is quite close to the opening track; we have the same sun-rising pictures awakening in our minds... With Japao, Dora Morelenbaum offers the listener an awakening "Brazilian song about Japan" (as Mixmaster Morris stated on the chat ^^)... In an interview, the singer explained: "Originally, I wanted to record new songs composed by my friends, including “Vento de Beirada.” I had a few songs of my own but I didn’t recognize them as ready to record yet. It was only when I began to face my own songs, so to speak, and imagine possible directions for them, that I began recording. “Japão” and “Avermelhar” came at the same time, and they both had this feeling of the start of something—the beginning of my first songs, you know? They worked well with the whole idea behind the phrase “vento de beirada,” which is a surrender, a leap of faith, or first step that is recording a debut EP."
Clearly, the feeling of a new start is very well represented in today's 167th episode of Balearic Breakfast. Add to this Colleen's glowing jacket (green in reality 😉 – such a clever idea I must say!) and you have the whole picture of the Joy we all experienced while hearing Boards of Canada's light but solid, complex and psychedelic Roygbiv (an acronym for the colors of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). The following three songs (Saint Etienne's Spring, Mike Salta & Mortale's Hey Moloko & Danny Krivit's Re-Edit of Dorothy Ashby's Little Sunflower) have a quicker tempo, with a more upfront soul while retaining a gentle approach to the listener this feeling being present throughout today's episode! Something else needs to be mentioned here: all of these tracks have a solid but "neutral sounding" bass; the sound is very neutral, almost "dry"; it's not attacking the listener, it simply presents itself. I don't remember feeling that way to that extent before while listening to Balearic Breakfast! As Colleen is not forcing the mix, you can hear these details more than in a mix that imposes itself on the listener.
I like it very much when Colleen gathers together songs sharing a common theme, a common musical structure, and a common spirit. You can easily feel that as Dexter Wansel's First Light of the Morning plays on. It is pretty close to Dorothy Asby's Little Sunflower! By the way, a member of the Family shared with us on the chat a mix he crafted using several versions of that Classic tune; listen to it just here!
To me, the show's second hour starts with the great Spring High by Ramsey Lewis. By the way, if you're a fan of the all MIghty Cerrone, I'm sure you noticed that this track does have a close sound to the ones found on his "Back Track" album, issued in 1982! As very often, Colleen keeps the musical flow throughout her presentation, and she then takes us to the dancefloor with the next three songs (I.C. Bell's Explosion, High Resolution's Sweepin’ Off (Extended Mix) & Kim Yaffa's Once Bitten (Nick The Record & Dan Tyler Re-Edit), nicely put together!
Balearic Breakfast is all about musical discoveries, and Smashed Atoms and Backdoor Man's Hey Dreamer is a perfect example of that. The track blends the sonic elements of disco, Balearic, and electronic music in a spacy, danceable tune; definitely the wow effect of that episode! Keeping the spacey approach very alive, Colleen then plays Matsubara – S.O.S. (Prins Thomas Rework) & Viscardi & Il Duo Magnetico's, Amore Mio not searching to mix these tunes together, as evoked earlier this gentle way of letting the music play enhancing today's theme strength! Keeping a light touch on the mix, Colleen then plays Tom & Joyce's Vai Minha Tristeza (Bob’s Le Mix) & Kevin Yost's Spring Again, two very Blearic tunes indeed! Till the very end, this show surprises the listener as we do not get one but two beautiful closing songs!
The first one is Blossom Dearie's They Say It's Spring. Colleen then ends the 167th episode of Balearic Breakfast with Nina Simone's It Might as Well Be Spring. The slightly sad song, which captures the sense of anticipation we associate with the season, was performed by Jeanne Crain in the film State Fair, her voice being dubbed by Louanne Hogan. In his biography of Richard Rodgers, William G. Hyland explains: “The song originated while Hammerstein was musing about the uneasiness of the female lead. He told Rodgers that even though state fairs were never held in the spring, Margy’s mood was such that it might as well be spring. Rodgers immediately recognized a song title.” An American standard, “It Might As Well Be Spring” initially reached Billboard magazine’s Best Seller chart on November 8, 1945, lasted 12 weeks there, peaking at number 5 and has been covered by many artists since its release!
Such a refreshing show... Don't you think? Let there be Spring!