Balearic Breakfast | Episode 186 | Summer Cool Grooving...
- by The Lioncub
- Jul 30, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: Sep 2, 2024
Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 186th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on July 30th 2024.
About this episode. – Right after playing at the BBE store on Thursday, July 25th, Colleen launched the request line for the next Balearic Breakfast on Saturday, July 26th, sharing with us: "After a great party at BBE with @handsonfam on Thursday, I’m blessed with a full weekend off. Thanks to all who came down for a boogie - that was truly special.
Music is always on my mind and i’m wondering what requests you have up your sleeve for this coming Tuesday’s Balearic Breakfast? I’m streaming Tuesday 10am to 12 noon BST on my Mixcloud Live. A note to Twitch users: as that platform didn’t comply with music copyright Twitch is redirecting participants on dj streams to the mixcloud live platform anyways do@you may as well join us over there!"
Today's show, despite some technical difficulties (that manifest themselves at two moments in the recorded stream), was as eclectic as it can be, and it also had a beautiful rhythmic and tonal unity, as we shall see in the listening session.
But before delving into these specificities, let's hand the mic to our captain, as usual: "A big thank you to Mixcloud for salvaging yesterday’s Balearic Breakfast, which is now archived on my Mixcloud (and please give me a follow while you’re over there). On this week’s show I look back to my indie roots with a tribute to the late Martin Phillips of The Chills and also to Tadashi Yabe of United Future Organization – may they both rest in paradise. And in addition to your requests there’s a lot of new music. I gotta go as I’m in the studio working on a new remix – shouldn’t be multitasking. So for now please enjoy yesterday’s show with music from…. @warriors_of_the_dystotheque @thechillsnz @united_future_organisation @claremont56 @quinnlamontluke @isitbalearic @alicemcrussell @tru_thoughts @jamiefinlaymusic @wahwah45s @natbirchallmusic @kennethbagerofficial @findlaybrownofficial @musicfordreams @emperormachine @gracejonesofficial @farout_recordings and more…"
Listen back to Balearic Breakfast's 186th episode:
THE PLAYLIST
(2024) Warriors of the Dystotheque – Smile While You're Sleeping
(2014) The Chills – Pink Frost 13
(1992) The Cure – A Letter to Elise (Blue Mix)
(1992) United Future Organization – Nemurenai Insomnie (Instrumental)
(1993) United Future Organization ft. Galliano – The Sixth Sense
(2024) Hillside (ft. Quinn Lamont Luke) – Crossing
(1973) Aretha Franklin – Mister Spain
(2024) Lono Ritmo (ft. Leo Power & Pablo Dominguez) – Luz de Luna
(2024) Alice Russell – Gravity
(1978) Toto – Georgy Porgy
(2024) Jamie Finlay – Rain Will Come
(2024) Nat Birchall – Lalibela
(2024) Kenneth Bager & Findlay Brown – Love From Outer Space
(2024) The Emperor Machine – La Cassette
(1991) Pale Saints – Porpoise
(1981) Grace Jones – Pull Up To the Bumper (Party Version)
(2024) Marcos Valle – Life ls What It Is
(2017) Allan Harris – Mother's Love
(Nobody’s Gonna Love You Betta Soulfeast Mix)
THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
Blending jazz-infused musical moments with delicate yet solid pop/rock songs, Colleen takes us on a relaxed sonic trip for the first 25 minutes of today’s show. And, from the start, when listening, we feel there is a strong sonic connection between the songs chosen by Colleen (doesn't Pink Frost 13 and A Letter to Elise remind you of another track from the paylist?)...
Warriors of the Dystotheque – Smile While You're Sleeping. – A transatlantic outfit with members from Ireland, France and New York. This very song is taken from WOTD second album It's a Beautiful Thing, which came out on Chris Coco's label Disappear earlier this month. This is how they describe their synthesis and their music: "Growing up in the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the 90s rave days, life in the sunshine in Florida, a mash-up of live and electronic music, friendship and loss, Ibiza sunlight and dark cloudy nights, despair and enlightenment and the power of music to lift us up and create joy and harmony, which we hope you can agree really is a beautiful thing".
The Chills – Pink Frost 13. – The band was founded in 1980 by the then 17-year-old singer songwriter and guitarist Martin Phillips (ed. see also this interview), after the demise of one of the early Kiwi punk bands The Same. Martin was the driving force behind The Chills throughout various formations, propelling singles into the charts in New Zealand, the UK, and also the college radio charts in the US. Sadly, he passed to the next realm this past Sunday, and is mourned by many. A true genius, his influence on so many that followed in his wake is enormous. – The song was dedicated to the band's drummer, Martyn Bull, who died at the age of 22, just after leaving the band following unproductive rehearsing sessions (read more about this here).
The Cure – A Letter to Elise (Blue Mix). – This track is The Cure's single from their most commercially successful album 1992's Wish, which debuted at number one in their native UK, and surprisingly number two in the USA. Not only a testament to Robert Smith's great songs, the song also embodies the impact of college radio in the 1980s when the young generation championed bands like The Cure (Colleen playing The Cure for her high school radio days) with college radio launching the careers of R.E.M., Nirvana, U2, Depeche Mode, The Chills, and The Cure, who had an incredible run in the mid to late 80s with The Head on the Door, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, and then the gargantuan Disintegration. Smith never forgot the dance floor, producing deft remixes like the one we just heard. – A love song inspired by Robert Smith's love for literature, here finding roots in some of Kafla's works but also some of Jean Cocteau's writings, A Letter to Elise has the power to speak to everyone who listens to it, although it has been composed in times of sadness by The Cure's frontman...
Slowly stepping up the tempo, the second half-hour lets us enjoy some Balearic Melodies, allowing the sun to sink in on our musical skins and Colleen's mixing delicacy to touch our souls (the first Wow Moment of the show happens when our beloved captain oh so perfectly blends “Crossing” with “Mister Spain” followed by the mesmerizing “Luz de Luna”).
United Future Organization – Nemurenai Insomnie (Instrumental). – Tadashi Yabe, one of the three founding members of Japanese new jazz project United Future Organization, along with Toshio Matsuura and Raphael Sebag. They were one of the pioneering acts of the nascent acid jazz scene and signed to Gilles Peterson's Brownswood and Talkin' Loud labels, and they also hosted a residency called Jazzen at Tokyo's legendary Club Yellow. One of their guests was the UK's Patrick Forge, who wrote this of the late Tadashi Yabe: "He was the quietest in many ways, the deepest of the three UFO members, and it was always inspiring to talk to him about music. He had very eclectic and left-field tastes."
United Future Organization ft. Galliano – The Sixth Sense. – This track is taken from United Future Organization's eponymously titled debut album, released in 1993. The song also features Galliano (they have a new album, Halfway Somewhere, coming out on Brownswood).
Hillside (ft. Quinn Lamont Luke) – Crossing. – Last week, Colleen met Quinn Lamont Luke in person (from the Phenomenal Handclap days). They have many mutual friends and crossing of paths as Quinn worked with Count Thomas Phil Mison, Ron Basejam, Flying Mojito Brothers, and skateboard legend Tommy Guerrero. Quinn also runs a studio (ed. El Triángulo) in Oaxaca, Mexico, which is where Flamingo Pier recorded their latest single, Mazunte, which Colleen played last week. The latest Claremont Editions compilation, now on its fourth volume, opens with a track from Hillside, which is Murphy along with Alex Searle and Patrick Doers, and it features some blue-eyed soul vocals from Lamont.
Aretha Franklin – Mister Spain. – From Aretha Franklin's 19th studio album, Hey Now Hey, The Other Side of the Sky, released in 1973. Aretha released 38 studio albums and six live albums in her nearly six decade career. The album was produced by Franklin along with Quincy Jones, and they originally planned to make it a straightforward jazz album, but they took a little detour with the title cut and Mr. Spain. – The album was not something people, and medias, were expecting from Aretha Franklin back in the day (see the Rolling Stone review linked above), at all, and both the album's cover and the adventurous musical paths Franklin chose lost the listeners: "The brooding “Mister Spain” finds an introspective Franklin atypically tackling the subject of drug abuse, singing on a prideful black man’s plight with heroin addiction and pleading for him to end it."
Lono Ritmo (ft. Leo Power & Pablo Dominguez) – Luz de Luna. – Beautiful flamenco sounds from Leno Ritmo featuring Leo Power and Pablo Dominguez. It also has Ibiza's DJ Pippi and Willie Graf remixes on the flip side.
Acting as a pivotal point, ending the first hour of this blissful musical show and starting the second, Alice Russel’s "Gravity" and Toto’s "Georgy Porgy" (a song already featured in the show in the past) both do enhance today’s episode tonal unity. And I would love to take this opportunity here to salute every member of the Balearic Breakfast Family, as it is thanks to you that we’re all able to enjoy the Best Show of the 21st century! To all of Us, Eternal Hugs from the Lioncub…
Alice Russell – Gravity. – British soul singer Alice Russell recently performed the Love Supreme Festival in the UK, and she played some songs from her most recent album, I Am, released on True Thoughts, co-written and co-produced with Russell's longtime collaborator, T.M. Juke. This is her most personal album to date, dealing with generational trauma, healing and life's darker side through her glorious vocals. Gravity is the most recent single from the LP. – On June 6th, Alice Russell shared Gravity's Club-ready remix.
Toto – Georgy Porgy. – By the American rock band Toto, Georgy Porgy was written by band member David Paich and included on their self-titled debut album in 1978. Released as the album's third single in 1979, the lead vocals are performed by guitarist Steve Lukather. Cheryl Lynn provided the female backing vocal, singing an adaptation from the nursery rhyme "Georgie Porgie."
Colleen takes us to higher grounds with Jamie Finlay’s “Rain Will Come”, which, to me, acts as the real second-hour starter! It is strange, but I can’t help hearing in this episode both a sonic and rhythmic unity (pay attention and listen again to songs like "Rain Will Come", "Lalibela", or "Pull up to the Bumper", there’s like a musical pattern there, can you hear it too?!
Jamie Finlay – Rain Will Come. – Another Manchester act, Rain will come is from composer, songwriter and producer Jamie Finlay debut album Sun dogs out now on Dom Cervini's label, Wawa 45s. And it's a great album featuring some of his fellow Mancunian musicians from Secret Night Gang and A Certain Ratio. – “Rain Will Come is a musical representation of a storm, and is about finding stillness in turbulent times. The phrase ‘Rain Will Come’ repeats like a mantra while the music becomes more chaotic until eventually returning to calmness. It’s about standing still and stoic, and letting storms pass over you.”
Nat Birchall – Lalibela. – Mancunian bandleader, composer, arranger and saxophonist Nat Birchall has a new album out called Dimension of the Drums, Roots Reggae Instrumentals. He's a real prolific artist as he's been releasing albums since 1999. And in fact, his first album was called The Sixth Sense, just like the song by UFO, played earlier in the show.
Kenneth Bager & Findlay Brown – Love From Outer Space. – The latest single from Danish Balearic maestro Kenneth Bager and British singer-songwriter Findlay Brown new collaborative album that's coming out on Bager's Music for Dreams label, set for release in early 2025.
The Emperor Machine – La Cassette. – Andy Meacham, who was also in Bizarre Inc. and Chicken Lips, has been releasing albums as The Emperor Machine for 20 years now. His new double album is called Island Boogie and came out on Lange (Paul Murphy and Simon Pernell's label) a coupe of weeks ago.
Pale Saints – Porpoise. – Leeds band Pale Saints with the song that came out on 4AD, another huge label for Colleen and also for college radio in the 1980s. Porpoise, can be found on the 1991 Flesh Balloon EP. It has a lot of kind of indie rock, college rock requested for this show. One really cannot underestimate the force of college radio in America in the 1980s. – There is an astounding review of Pale Saint's 1990 "The comfort of Madness" on 4AD's website (in french). Use google translation on your web browser and read it, it will take you back, or allow you to discover, what it was like to be a teenager in these years. A must read.
Grace Jones – Pull Up To the Bumper (Party Version). – The 1981 party version of Pull Up to the Bumper by the amazing Grace, Grace Jones. The original version can be found on her Nightclubbing album, one of my favorite Grace Jones albums, although it's really hard to pick a favorite. Grace Jones still going strong at the ripe age of 76. If you haven't read her autobiography, I'll never write my memoirs. Please do. It's great summer reading and it will really give you a newfound respect for this amazing artist. – „Pull up to the bumper” always had some kind of controversy going on as to its supposed, alleged (shall we say imposed?) sexual meaning. We can't help but think here about other songs having these dual readings by the listeners, one of the most famous of them being "Ring My Bell" by the great Anita Ward. Grace Jones consistently refuted this sexual interpretation of the song: “So, we have a car, and it’s long, because it’s a limousine, speeding down a Manhattan avenue… and you want to keep it clean, so you wax it and rub it, giving it a shine, and it’s hard to park, because we’re in the city, and it’s so big, so you have to squeeze it into tight spaces… You make it fit, and it is such a great feeling… If you wanted, you could imagine that I’m not singing about a car at all. But that’s up to you,” she concludes. “If you think the song is not about parking a car, shame on you.” Yet, for those of us being kinky enough, when you know, well, you know...
When you listen carefully, you notice that today’s show doesn’t get "excited to the max", it keeps a cool groove, getting stronger with time which also explains why I chose this title for today’s post! The relaxed vibe of this 185th episode is real, with one exception being Marcos Valle's "Life ls What It Is". Sadly, and for obvious reasons, the second Wow Moment of the show hapenned when Colleen played the beautiful "Mother's Love". A stunning but heart-wrenching tribute closing another unforgettable episode.
Marcos Valle – Life ls What It Is. – Celebrating 80 years of life and a 60 year career, Brazilian legend Marcos Valle has a new album coming out called Tunel Acoustico to be released on Far Out Recordings in September. This song is the latest single, composed in the late 70s in LA alongside Lodir de Oliveira from the band Chicago, and it was first released on Chicago's Chicago 13 album with lyrics by Robert Lamb. Over four decades later Marcos Valle looks back upon his good times on the West Coast, recording his own version of this song for his new album Deepening the Groove for a Blast of Irresistible Summer Soul.
Allan Harris – Mother's Love (Nobody’s Gonna Love You Betta Soulfeast Mix). – Colleen dedicated this song to to the spirit and to the memory of Giancarlo Bianchi's mother, who sadly passed away recently. – The song, which can be found on the 2016 "Nobody's Gonna Love Your Better" studio album, was composed by Allan Harris and was dedicated to his own Mother, a classical pianist who encouraged him to become a musician.
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