Balearic Breakfast | Episode 259 | The Balearic Slingers...
- Feb 24
- 11 min read
Updated: Mar 5
Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 259th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on February 24th, 2026.
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Although this one wasn't announced on her socials this morning, we knew Colleen would be live today because of the request line posted there last Saturday! Hurray Hurray, it was a Holy Holy Day, laughs! Also, Colleen's agenda is full, as one would expect. She played last Friday with Crazy P at Night Tales loft.
In any case, today's episode was quite interesting, with a slow, evolving pace that made me think about a few things, like how you behave when life gets tough, how you react, and how you move on. But we'll delve into that in the listening section of today's post, and you may even learn a thing or two today!
This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud and features your requests, some new music from @fsqofficial @prinsthomas @justsayfouk @jimpster_gram @slammode @jillscott.official @joutra___ @djbernardopinheiro and a tribute to the late and great salsa pioneer Willie Colón.
It was great hosting the radio show live from my record room after so many weeks trotting around the globe. Thanks to all who joined me on the live stream for making my morning so special. And of course, thank you for your requests - we had so many that they will tip over onto next week’s show.
Just giving you a heads up that our annual International Women’s Day Balearic Breakfast marathon special will be broadcast live on Tuesday, the 10th March. As I have a lot going on at the moment, I’m posting up the request line this Saturday as I need to get a head start on putting it together. Please get on your thinking caps!
Wishing you all a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing some of your at our @lastnote_party this coming Saturday in Perugia. Ciao!
Listen back to the 259th episode of Balearic Breakfast:
THE PLAYLIST
(2022) Patricia Wolf – Woodland Encounter
(2026) Slam Mode – Mojo
(1981) Willie Colón – Oh Qué Será
(1971) Willie Colón & Héctor Lavoe – La Murga
(1974) Fred Wesley & The JBS (ft Rev Jesse Jackson) – Same Beat
(1967) Letta Mbulu – What is Wrong with Groovin
(2026) Jill Scott – Beautiful People
(2025) Matt Johnson ft. Valerie Etienne – Flowers in Their Hair
(2025) Payfone – Movin' On
(2022) Stella – Pourquoi
(2026) Doe Paoro – Teach Us Of Endings (Auntie Flo Extended Version)
() Joutro e Pinheiro – Sandra
(2017) Ambala ft Laid Back – Walk with the Dreamers
(Leo Mas, Fabrice, Giorgio Li Calzi & Luca Donini Remix)
played in honour of the Buddhist Monks, Walk for Peace
(2025) FSQ, Moniquea, XL Middleton – Feeling Wide (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
(2005) BoomBox – Stereo
(2025) Tigerbalm ft Joi N'Juno – Mexicana (Pete Herbert Remix)
(2026) Jimpster – Crispy Pancakes
(TBR) Fouk & 79.5 – Reverie (Instrumental)
(2023) Nyamekye Junction – Too Many Bags (Kaidi's Remix)
(1986) Willie Colón – Set Fire (Latin Jazzbo Version by Yvonne Turner)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(from Colleen's presentation)
Our International Women's Day special will be held on Tuesday, the 10th of March, and I'm putting up the request line this coming Saturday, as I have a lot going on, and I need over a week to put it together.
So I'm heading over to Berlin on Friday, the 6th of March for an International Women's Day Bonanza with Lakuti Tamasumo and Suze Ijo at Panorama Bar, and if you're in Berlin, so please join us, and then a couple of days later, we have our London Loft Party, so start thinking of those International Women's Day requests now, please.
(...)
And also looking forward to seeing some of you at our sold-out last note party in Italy this weekend. If you're making summer plans, and would like to join us at our summer party, it will be on Saturday, the 6th of June in Perugia. And you can email info@lastnote.com for more info.
And the following Sunday, I'm heading to another following Friday, I'm heading to Panorama Bar on Friday, the 6th. And then a couple of days later, it's our London loft party. And you can join our friendship train for reservations at loftparty.org.
MORE ABOUT THE SONGS
Woodland Encounter by Portland, Oregon, musician and field recordist Patricia Wolf, and that's from her second album, 2022's See Through, which is about the spirit of rebirth in contrast to her debut, I'll Look for You and Others, which was written in response to the passing of a loved one. Wolf says, "after a long period of grief, I have been hoping to find my to a place of lightness, peace, playfulness, curiosity, and sensuality again. What I was surprised and pleased to find is that for the most part, I had".
Now, I had never heard of her until Rick Van Veen made this request, and I love getting turned on to new music and artists, so thank you, Rick. I listened to the entire album this morning and loved it and highly recommend it. It's a great fit with my recent Pauline Oliveros reading and listening as well.
This is a request from Tomohiro Yamada in Osaka, Japan for Slam Mode, a New Jersey duo comprised of Angel Rodriguez and Michael Cole. They've been releasing records for 35 years, and they came onto my radar with their Tabula Rasa EP on their own label, Deep Worldwide Music, in 1997, and later that year, they did the Fiat Mistura EP for Spiritual Life Music when I was working at the label. Their sound is deep and transcendent, whether it's for the mind or the body, and always for the soul. I had them up on my Club 89 radio show around that time as well. They have a new one out, released last week, and it's called the Acoustic Session EP. It's on my friend Antonio Ocasio's label, Tribal Winds, and you can find it on Bandcamp. This is Slam Mode with Mojo.
La Murga from Willie Colon and Hector Lavo's 1970 album, Asalto Navideño, which means Christmas Assault, perhaps a more honest description of the holiday period, and that was requested by Marcos Costumato as salsa pioneer Willie Colon passed the next realm this past weekend. The trombonist, singer, songwriter, producer, and actor was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents and was signed to one of the most significant labels for Latin American music, Fania Records, when he was only 15 years old. A couple of years later, he released his first album, El Malo, with singer Hector Lavo, who was also Louis Vegas' uncle. As a composer, Colon combined rock, jazz, salsa with the rhythms of traditional music from African descendants in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Brazil, and he was also an advocate for Puerto Rican people in America. He used his songs to depict their lives in the United States, and he also reflected and paid tribute to their cultural contributions, and along with his career in music, he was an activist. He served as a member of the Latino Commission on AIDS, and he even worked with New York City Mayor David Dinkins, but it's his music he will be remembered for most, as he was one of the most influential Latino artists, selling over 30 million records, and one of the songs he will be remembered for most is the one we heard before, Oh, Que Sera, the opening song to his 1981 romantic salsa album, Fantasmas, named one of the 50 greatest salsa albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. Rest in Paradise, Descanse en el Paraíso, Willie Colon, and we will have something else from him later in the show.
Well, we also lost civil rights activist and leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson. May he rest in power. He courageously stood for president in the 1980s, I remember that well, opening the way for Barack Obama decades later. One of my favorite authors, James Baldwin, wrote at the time, "Jackson's presence presents the American Republic with questions and choices it has spent all its history until this hour trying to avoid, and nothing will ever again be what it was before". Jackson became an activist when he grew up poor in North Carolina, and he excelled at school. He needed a book for an assignment and it wasn't available in the, quote, coloreds only library, unquote, and he was denied access to the whites only library. He staged a sit down and was arrested, and that moment in 1960 marked the beginning of his civil rights activism. Sean E requested this song that samples Reverend Jackson reciting the poem, "I Am Somebody", which he also recited on Sesame Street. It's Fred Wesley and the JBs with Same Beat Part One.
South African singer Letta Mbulu with her 1967 hit penned by Hugh Masekela, What Is Wrong With Groovin? And it was released a few years after both Mbulu and Masekela left their native country due to the brutal apartheid regime. And as an African woman, she had a hard time trying to make a living from her art in the USA in the 1960s. But she was resolute, and she performs that song with fire. It addresses social conformity, controlling behavior, and anti-discrimination. And thank you to Steve Wakley for that request.
Philadelphia poet, singer, songwriter, actress, Jill Scott. She's back with a new album called To Whom This May Concern, her sixth album since her incredible debut back in 2000. And it's her first album in over a decade. And I listened to it this morning. It's gorgeous. The birds were still trying to get in, so I guess they liked that one too. It's rooted in community, reflection, and sonic exploration. And I just love her soaring vocals and melodies.
We heard the first single, Beautiful People, and thanks to Poppy Shepard for that request.
Flowers in Their Hair by Matt Johnson, featuring Valerie Etienne on vocals. And the Matt Johnson we just heard is not the thus Matt Johnson, but the British keyboardist, songwriter, and producer who was in Jamiroquai. And over the last five years, he's released a couple of solo albums, including last year's Warrior Princess, which features a song we just heard. And thank you to Constantinos Folias in Greece for that request.
After over a decade of releasing chuggy, grooving singles on labels like Golf Channel, Lange, and their own label, Otis Records, Payfone released their first album, Lunch, last year. It's a great album, originals without samples, down and mid-tempos, great grooves, and a lot of collaborations with singers. If you want to find out more, I interviewed Payfone frontman Phil Passera for The Balearic Breakfast Show on the 17th of June. And Phil also provided an exclusive vinyl mix, so you can find it archived on my Mixcloud. Here's a song from that album that hasn't been played on the show before, and was requested by Barry Bernitz in Washington, D.C., featuring Willis Earl Beal on vocals, Payphone with Movin' On.
Pourquoi, by Parisian-born, Berlin-based singer and DJ, Stella Zechri. And it's from Stella's 2022 album, Détends-toi. And the title cut is killer, too. We've played it on the show before. Now, I expect you spotted it's a cover of Carly Simon's Why, her 1982 hit that was penned and produced by Sheiks Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. And thank you to Victor Altenew in Romania for that request.
The Auntie-Flo extended version of Teach Us of Endings by Joe Paolo, I should say, the Costa Rica-based singer-songwriter, sound healer, who was born in America as Sonia Jill Kreitzer. And she's released three Joe Paolo solo albums. And earlier this month, Auntie Flo, that was Brian D'Souza, released two remixes on his Bandcamp, and you can head over there if you want vinyl copies. I'm sure they won't be around for long. It's a great collab, as Auntie Flo, like Joe Paolo, also seeks to create acoustic ecologies that explore the psychological and physical benefits of sound, and that's something I'm really researching at the moment, too. Thank you to Kieran McCann in Glasgow for that request.
A rework of a song called Sandra by Joutro A. Pinheiro, and that's Brazil-based DJs and producers Joutro Mundo and Bernardo Pinheiro, who've been doing some faithful and soulful edits and reworks of Brazilian classics. I just love their work. And I've searched my inbox and cannot find out how I got this. I guess it's coming out soon, so put on a Google alert for that one. I think I will, too.
This next request is from Fuzzy Dunlop, in honor of those wonderful Buddhist monks, their rescue dog, and their walk for peace. I'm sure some of you know, but some of you may not know about the group of nearly two dozen Buddhist monks from Texas who completed a 2,300-mile or 3,700-kilometer walk for peace to Washington, D.C., setting out on October 26 and finishing earlier this month, on the 10th of February. 108 days in which they promoted mindfulness, compassion, and nonviolence.
Fuzzy requested this song, Walk with the Dreamers, by Ambala, featuring Laidback. Ambala is filmized in the cantonment of Thomas Schultz, and Laidback is a Danish duo of white horse fame. And it's an all-star lineup, as this is the remix from Leo Maas, Fabrice, Giorgio Licazi, and Luca Donini, Walk with the Dreamers. Love that one.
A forthcoming remix from Norwegian disco don Prins Thomas. A nice, long, extended disco mix of Feeling Wide by FSQ, Moniquea, and XL Middleton. And that's coming out soon on SoulClap Records.
Boombox, ending very quickly there. That wasn't my fault. That was from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Boombox. They're an electronic duo. And we just heard Stereo from their 2005 album, Visions of Backbeat. And they've released four albums since then, including 2018's Western Voodoo. And they describe their sound as a little house, a little blues, a little funk, a little rock, and a whole lot of soul. Blast through Boombox. And thank you to Mark Williams for that request.
Three years after her debut album, International Love Affair, London-based DJ and producer Rose Robinson, aka Tigerbalm, has a new album coming out in April. It's called Bubblegum Discos. And she's been releasing some tropical-tinged singles in the run-up, including one this week with my friend Daisy Bell. But this is another one I wanted to play for you, a remix by Pete Herbert of her single featuring Joy Njunu, Tigerbalm with Mexicana.
Crispy Pancakes in honor of last week's Shrove Tuesday. That's Pancake Day here in the UK. You know, so understated, you know, you have Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, you have Carnival in Brazil and Trinidad. Here we eat pancakes. But I missed it again, because I was just returning from America. But I made up for it this weekend when I made buttermilk blueberry pancakes with maple syrup from trees tapped by my uncle Tim. He makes his own maple syrup in the sugar shack he built in New Hampshire. Anyways, back to the song Crispy Pancakes. It's by Jimster and it's from his Basic Rollers EP on his own Free Range label. And I've long been a fan of Jimpster, nay Jamie O'Dell, great keyboard player, love his beats, his very deep, deep house sound. And also loved his stellar work with the Jam Bound The Bays. So I'm excited as he's invited me to his own manor. I'm playing with him at A Canteen in Chelmsford. That's just outside London on Friday, the 20th of March. So looking forward to a real knees up.
Ahead of that, Dutch duo Fouk with an instrumental of a song they did with New York City-based project 79.5, led by Kate Madison. And the vocals lovely, but I love the instrumentation. It really shines. So we heard the instrumental and that's coming out this week on Boogie Angst.
Fantastic lyrics there from Nyameke Junction with Too Many Bags. And we are listening to the Kydie Tatum remix as requested by Rob Calcutt. And Nyameke Junction came about through some chance meetings in Accra, Ghana, and brings together Burundian producer and vocalist Bettina Quest, Ghanaian singer-songwriter Eli Afri and German percussionist and instrumentalist Matic. And their name is from a bustling junction in the Ghanaian capital, as it signifies a musical approach of the band at the junction of their cultural heritages.
Well, until next week's show, I'll leave you with one last request from Susan Chan and Thanos Kotronis for a favorite by Willie Cologne, May He Rest in Paradise. It's Yvonne Turner's Latin jazz remix of Cologne's Set Fire, also a loft classic. And David Mancuso and I included it on our loft compilations that we produced for Newfonic. It's a gorgeous production and a lovely last song and a tribute. Thanks for listening and looking forward to connecting through music again next Tuesday.
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