Balearic Breakfast | Episode 202 | And the Snow Started to Fall...
- by The Lioncub
- Nov 26, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Dec 3, 2024
Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 202nd episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on November 26th 2024.
About this episode. – Following her trip to New-York, where she played back-to-back with François Kevorkian, with whom she also paid tribute to the late and great Quincy Jones during a friendly radio show, Colleen then headed to Berlin where she played at the Globus Room in Tresor in Berlin on Saturday night.
A few hours before that, our dear Captain published the request line on her socials, allowing the Balearic Breakfast Family to request songs for today's show. And, the least we can say, is that we all had a great time sharing music we desired to be played by Colleen! Requests included brand-new songs by artists we deeply love and true classics.
What we can never anticipate is what will come of these musical suggestions, and today's show was both a cool, assertive musical moment and an adventurous and unexpected one, keeping its snowy visuals alive wherever we looked. But more about that in the listening experience part of today's post!
Good Day! This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud at https://shorturl.at/MNdcH and features your requests and a lot of new music. It was great seeing so many people on the Mixcloud Live stream chat this morning, too. Our family continues to grow and its so cool to see people from all over the globe forming friendships through music. Thank you Balearicans.
A reminder that I will not be streaming next week as its my Mum’s last day in London before returning to The States. This weekend we are heading up to Scotland and I’m looking forward to seeing some of you at Coorie Doon. And I look forward to seeing some of you at our London Loft party the following weekend on 8th December. On that tip, many of you have told me you are not receiving our email invitations. Please have a look in your inbox for invitations from thelondonloft@loftparty.org and if you don’t see one and want to join us please send us an email.
But for now, kick back and enjoy today’s show with music from Caixa Cubo ROGÊ Far Out Recordings Lumberjacks in Hell Danny Krivit Floating Points Fat Freddy's Drop Ray Mang Michael Kiwanuka Ilya Santana MUSIC FOR DREAMS @lumberjacksinhell Stee Downes Jamiroquai Black Science Orchestra Charlotte & Reinhard Ezra Collective Salsoul Records IRMA Records
Listen back to the 202nd episode of Balearic Breakfast:
PLAYLIST
(2024) Caixa Cubo – A Rocha
(2024) Michael Kiwanuka – Rebel Soul
(2020) Hermanos Gutiérrez – Mesa Redonda
(2024) Charlotte & Reinhard – My Love
(2024) Fat Freddy's Drop – Oldemos
(1977) Elkie Brooks – Night Bird
(1977) The Brothers Johnson – Strawberry Letter 23
(1980) Renée – Lay Me Down
(1986) William Pitt – City Lights
(1992) Jamiroquai – When You Gonna Learn
(2024) Ezra Collective – Everybody
(2024) Erin Collective (ft Devon Miles) – Resistance
(2024) Rogê – A Forca
(2015) Maalem Mahoud Guinia, James Holden & Floating Points – Marhaba
(1992) Black Science Orchestra – Where Were You (Back to Philly Mix)
(2024) Ilya Santana – Cosmovision (Disco Version)
(NOL) Lyma – The Fool Ain't Me (Ray Mang Remix)
(2004) Salsoul Orchestra – Salsoul Rainbow (Danny Krivit Re-Edit)
(1976) Maynard Ferguson – Pagliacci
(2011) Luvbirds (ft. Stee Downes) – Want You In My Soul
THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
A positive, somewhat slow but affirming opener, Caixa Cuba's A Rocha perfectly sets the tone of today's show, easily allowing the listener to picture beautiful landscapes under light falling snow. Happiness was everywhere, in the music, of course, but also in the chatgroup, where the Balearic Family felt as one, returning to Colleen's beloved record room. This feeling of belonging and of walking under the falling snow kept evolving as Michael Kiwanuka's Rebel Soul entered Balearic Breakfast's musical scene (a song about how we deal with our insecurities). Michael Kiwanuka's new album is calmer than its predecessors, it is more open, there is a constant light in the music and especially in the title song, Small Changes.
“Then you get told what the boundaries are by the media or whatever is around you and you start to believe a lie, essentially. Think about impostor syndrome – for that to happen, you have to feel like there’s a door that you’re allowed to go in and out of. If you realise those doors shouldn’t – or don’t – exist, you can’t impose any more. You’re free to go anywhere. Stay inspired, stay vibrant – just be open, like an eight- or 12-year-old. It’s the hardest thing, but that’s how you keep yourself excited. And that,” he concludes, “is how you make nice music.” (Michael Kiwanuka)
The next song, Hermanos Gutiérrez's Mesa Redonda, perfectly follows Rebel Soul. Its key is close to Kiwanuka's compositions, thus perfectly blending into today's episode. This showcases how much Colleen knows the artist's music she plays! Charlotte & Reinhard's My Love expands today's show visuals, keeping the positive and free feeling the show lends to the listener's ears (the song's lyrics directly add to the positive feeling too). Many of the songs featured in today's episode share a common intellectual approach by putting landscapes, nature and visions of destiny through decisions that must be taken at the core of their existence, always keeping a positive mindset. That's very interesting and must be noted here.
Although Fat Freddy's Drop's Oldemos ("a cinematic desert ride" 😉 – the band is on tour) is slightly more worried, it keeps the visuals intact and positivity is never too far away (winning the first WOW Effect of today's episode), perfectly representing the way the band worked on the album :
"Slo Mo is a more purely-studio creation, with 'Oldemos' coming to life over drum loops courtesy of Riki Gooch, and slap bass on 'Getting Late' played by Tyrone McCarthy. The album is also sequenced to reflect a live show, moving from the reggae bounce of 'Next Stop' and 'Stand Straight' to the techno pulse of closing track 'I Don't Want to See You'. Mu says songwriting is always democratic, but "in the studio there are definitely stronger personalities that will make the calls. And that's good I think, and we all respect each other, and know each other enough, that there's not too many egos getting in the way."
Please, don't search for negativity in the next song, as Elkie Brooks' Night Bird embraces everything the show laid out since its beginning! For your information, Elkie Brooks recently embarked on her Long Farewell tour.
Keeping the energy flowing, Colleen then selected The Brothers Johnson's Strawberry Letter 23, a cover of Shuggie Otis' 1971 song, making a very nice tribute to Quincy Jones who produced this love letter song and the album on which it is featured, perfectly followed by Renée's Lay Me Down, William Pitt's City Lights (a song I featured in the tribute mix dedicated to the show) and Jamiroquai's When You Gonna Learn! Did you hear Colleen's astounding precision in this snowy mix? Can you see the Snow Falling now? It's everywhere! Pure Musical Beauty right here folks!!
Today's show's second hour will propose a change, musically speaking, and a very interesting one as we shall see. Starting with Ezra Collective's Everybody, a track embodying unity like no other, Colleen then plays Erin Collective's Resistance, followed by Roge's A Forca (proposing a beautiful musical twist while still keeping the rhythm intact!), and ending this small set with Maalem Mahoud Guinia, James Holden & Floating Points' Marhaba ((مرحبا) a common greeting used by Arabic-speaking people. Levantine people (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan) use it to mean Hello and Welcome. Christians believe Marhaba has roots in the Syriac (Aramaic, Assyrian) language and was by the first Christians. Mar refers to God/Master and Haba means love, and translating loosely to God’s love, or God is love. Marhaba is also certainly related to the Arabic root رخب (rḥb) 'to welcome').
This last song is astounding as it proposes a very realistic recording, blended with a futuristic approach with the use of synthesisers (being very close in rhythm and tonality to Lil' Louis French Kiss), allowing the DJ to include it in a broader set...
As we approach the end of today's show, Colleen is going to take us into an unexpected, dancy and futuristic musical moment, starting with Black Science Orchestra's Where Were You (Back to Philly Mix), followed by the astounding Cosmovision (Disco Version) by Ilya Santana (Supernature in the mix, anyone?😁), the very 90's sounding The Fool Ain't Me (Ray Mang Remix) by Lyma! A WOW Effect moment in all of its glory for sure as far as I'm concerned!! I really wasn't expecting such a musical twist in today's episode!
But the best is yet to come with the next two songs: starting with Salsoul Orchestra's Salsoul Rainbow (Danny Krivit Re-Edit), Colleen then plays Maynard Ferguson's Pagliacci
which came to me as a total surprise as I knew the Aria from the Italian Opera's by heart (it has also been famously covered by Queen in their It's a hard life song). What I didn't know was that my favourite trumpet player ever recorded such an astounding version! In an interview about her father's life, who sadly passed away in 2006, and when asked if she had a favourite track played by her father, Wilder said: "Pagliacci !! Maynard really loved this tune and when he played it at some huge fairground he climbed up this big cliff, that formed the back of the stage and finished the tune up there. It was such a crazy thing to do, but he was really having fun." Of course, as a Pavarotti fan, I can't resist putting here his own astounding, mindblowing version of Ruggero Leoncavallo's Vesti La Giubba. Were we talking about... Positivity? ...
I declaim! While taken with delirium,I do not know what I am saying,or what I am doing! Yet it is necessary, I must force myself! Bah! Are you not a man? Thou art Pagliacci (clown)!
Put on your costume and apply make up to your face. The people pay, and they want to laugh. And if Harlequin invites away Colombina laugh, Pagliaccio (clown), and everyone will applaud! Turn the spasms and tears into jokes, The tears and pain into grimaces, Ah!
Laugh, Pagliaccio (clown), your love is broken! Laugh of the pain, that poisons your heart!
If you want to discover more about Maynard Ferguson I can only recommend you listen to his double live album, Live at Jimmy's, it's simply astounding (it is featured in this mix from 18min on).
With Luvbirds' Want You In My Soul, Colleen ends the show just the way she started it... with an affirmed positivity... Oh, did you notice? It's not Winter yet, but... It started Snowing already...
Fun fact: During the stream, at the favor of an informatic bug I believe, our friend's logo "Balearic Clouds" appeared for a few minutes. I felt it was a great occasion to let you know that our dear Panagiotis is still going strong, publishing covers of brand new Balearic albums on his instagram account. Follow him at Musica Balearica!
So glad she played my request of Michael Kiwanuka