Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy & Ariana | Beats, Boats n Bloodlines

Beats Boats n Bloodlines presents Colleen and her daughter Ariana (here in her first radio show ever) for a two-hour musical chinwag!

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About this show. – Colleen made her first appearance on the Boat pod alongside DJ Marcia Carr in 2023 (check out the great interview here). She returned as the headlining DJ on Wednesday, 19th July, with a special guest: her daughter Ariana!

"Beats Boats n Bloodlines present DJ 'Cosmo' and her daughter Ariana (who we've now poached for our on board DJ network). Look out for DJ Ariana coming soon. Mother n daughter dig out some gems while discussing their influences and musical journey together. This is also up on our youtube channel to watch back. Big sunshine vibes. Enjoy!"

This show is one big, happy, surprising musical journey. It also has a beautiful human touch as we discover Ariana's musical tastes, superbly brought to the forefront by our dear Captain. Let's welcome Ariana to the Boat Pod and wish her many lovely musical adventures!

"Proud mum alert. I was thrilled to co-host our daughter Ariana's first radio show at The BoAt Pod.

It's all over the musical spectrum: MJ COLE Bahamadia Mike Skinner and The Streets King Krule Imogen Heap Candido, Barry Biggs and more. But the banter is even more fun - learnt a thing or two 😉"

Listen back to Beats, Boats n Bloodlines:

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PLAYLIST

(2024) Audrey Powne – Feed the Fire

(1975) Junior Byles / The Upsetters – Long Way

(1976) Barry Biggs – Work All Day

(2023) Frou Frou – A new kind of love

(2024) Mount Kimbie (feat. King Krule) – Empty and silent

(2021) Greentea Peng – Jimtastic Blues

(2006) Clyde and Capital A – Serve It Up (Starship Interpretation)

(2022) Emma-Jean Thackray – Venus (Black Science Orchestra Tough Love Vocal Mix)

(1983) Midnight Star – Freak-A-Zoid

(1982) Django Django (feat. Yuuko Sings) – Don't touch that Dial

(2002) The Streets – Has it come to this

(2000) Bahamadia – Pep Talk

(2023) Goldie – State Of Mind (Searchlight Remix)

(2000) MJ Cole – Sincere

(2000) Wookie (feat. Lain) –  Battle

(2023) Nicolas Conte – Life Forces

(1970) Candido – Thousand Finger Man

(2017) Charlotte Gainsbourg – Ring-a-Ring O' Roses

(1964) Françoise Hardy – Mon Amie La Rose

(2024) Amy Winehouse – What is it About Men (live)

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THE MUSICAL CHINWAG

[Colleen]

Good afternoon and welcome to Bloodlines, a show that brings together parent and child onto the boat to play some tunes together. I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy and I'm here with my daughter Ariana and I'm absolutely thrilled to be hosting her first radio show here with her on the boat pod. We'll be taking you until four o'clock.

Ariana, welcome to your first radio show.

[Ariana]

Thank you.

[Colleen]

How are you doing? You okay?

[Ariana]

I'm good. I'm excited. Are you excited?

[Colleen]

A little bit nervous, maybe?

[Ariana]

A little bit nervous, but not that nervous. I'm trying not to dupe it. I think it's going to be fun.

[Colleen]

It will be fun.

[Ariana]

We're playing songs we both know very well, so that'll be exciting.

[Colleen]

Exactly. Now you picked that. In fact, you picked most of the songs that are playing on today's show. I thought the music was so good, I wanted to add very, very, very little. The first thing we heard was Audrey Pown, Feed the Fire, and that's on BBE. Can you tell us why you picked that song? Tell us a little bit about it.

[Ariana]

I'm working at BBE at the moment and this is her debut album. She's a multi-talented artist. She actually plays trumpet as well. But this is probably my favorite album besides the Muscle Cars that's come out this year on BBE. And it's definitely my favorite track on the album. There's some other great ones too, but it's a very long album too. But this is the standout track and it's probably done the best as well. I think it's the main single of the album.

[Colleen]

Yeah, it's a lovely album and it's her first album as well. And she's done some really cool stuff. She's also worked as a session player with people like Maceo Parker.

And also Midnight Oil, a really famous indie band from Australia.

[Ariana]

She's young as well.

[Colleen]

She's young and she's from Melbourne, isn't she?

[Ariana]

Yeah, the whole album is actually about the Melbourne fires. The whole album and the tragedy of it.

[Colleen]

What do you do over at BBE? Do you want to tell the people who are listening what you do over there?

[Ariana]

I do a few things at the moment. I'm doing the admin, but I'm also doing bar work. But I'm just kind of doing random things. I do a lot of the Instagram PR, YouTube videos, all those kind of things. Creative jobs. Mostly creative right now, which is quite fun. But then on the weekends, I'm at the bar. And you're playing next week.

[Colleen]

Yeah, I'm playing. Thank you. Thank you for that link, Ariana. You're a radio pro already. You already know how to promote me. I am playing over at the BBE store on Thursday, the 25th of July. Along with Hands On Family. And Cindy, actually, from Hands On Family.

[Ariana]

And Free Entry as well.

[Colleen]

And it's Free Entry. And you'll be attending bars, so people need to come by.

[Ariana]

Mmmh !!

[Colleen] 

Well, our next track that we have lined up is one that I picked. And it's along the Jamaican music lines. And that's because your dad, my husband, is Daddy Ad from Trojan Sound System. And when you were growing up, your first festival, I think you were six or seven months old. It was over at the Big Chill. And I was playing, and your dad was playing with Trojan Sound System. And you recently saw Trojan.

 What's one of your favorite gigs that Trojan Sound System did?

[Ariana]

Probably last year at Boomtown, because all my friends were there. And it was so fun. And it was a really sunny day. We were all out. Loads of people were out there. And it was one of those stages that had all the trees around it. It was in the really cool, trippy Boomtown, you know, the garden festival bit. But that was really fun. And it was a long set. And everyone was in a good mood. And it wasn't too late in the festival, not too early. So it was like everyone had still a bit of energy left.

[Colleen]

Okay, well, let's get back to the music. It's a beautiful Friday afternoon here in London. And we are on the canal, on a boat. Ship's ahoy. And our next track is by Junior Byles. It's his 1975 single, Long Way.

[Colleen]

Well, I'm definitely not working all day long. And I think a lot of people are taking the day off, because it's a gorgeous day. And I can't consider this work, because I'm here at the BoatPod Studios with my daughter, Ariana. That was Barry Biggs' Work All Day. And Ari, when you first turned me on to that song, I had never heard that song before. It's incredible, incredible.

 Tell us how you dug it out.

[Ariana]

Gabs showed me that song. My boyfriend showed me that song. And he showed me that maybe like a year ago now. And I remember showing Dad. And he was like, yeah, I know this song, I know this song. But then I had to really show him the song properly.

[Colleen]

I know he's playing it in sets now.

[Ariana]

Yeah, now he's playing it in sets. He's got it on 12-inch. But it's definitely like a very underrated reggae track. And it's kind of up there with a lot of the good stuff. And I haven't heard that track being played anywhere, really.

Which I'm unsure why.

[Colleen]

Yeah, well, I think Dad played it in his last gig. So now people are going to pick it up. All because of you and Gabs. How about that? All right, the next tune is the next couple of songs you picked yourself. And I couldn't really figure anything else that would match with it.

Because I thought they kind of sounded really good together. So do you want to announce the next song?

[Ariana]

This is a completely different vibe, though. This is Frou Frou. I'm pretty sure it's Clown's Casino and Image and Heap. I know it's Image and Heap. But this track is a very ethereal track. I was kind of scared that too many people would know this song. But then again, it's just such a classic. And also, when I discovered it, it was already famous. And I didn't know the song.

[Colleen]

What's the name of it?

[Ariana]

A New Kind of Love, Frou Frou.

[Colleen]

This is A New Kind of Love on Bloodlines.

[Colleen]

Empty and Silent by Mount Kimbie and King Krule. And that was one of my daughter Ariana's choices for today's Bloodlines show here on The Boat Pod. Why did you pick that song?

[Ariana]

He's one of my favorite artists of all time. I saw him recently in Mexico City as well. And that was probably one of the best gigs. Mainly the crowd. But the actual band he has right now, the studio musicians are crazy.

[Colleen]

This is King Krule, not Mount Kimby.

[Ariana]

This is King Krule. And then Mount Kimby as well is also amazing. But he's a whole different thing.

[Colleen]

So why were the Mexican fans so amazing?

[Ariana]

They didn't push. They didn't push. And they knew all the words. They were so respectful. But also just so dedicated. And it was a whole different vibe. Even the UK concerts have become so pushy and so less communal. Camping festivals are a whole different thing. But King Krule, he's such a good artist. He grew up in Bermondsey. When he was 14, he started making beats. And he even applied to play at Glastonbury when he was 14 in a competition.

And he won it.

[Colleen]

Really?

[Ariana]

Yeah.

[Colleen]

Wow. He's a great lyricist as well.

[Ariana]

Very great. He's more of a poet, I think. But he's definitely very influential for current artists right now in our generation.

[Colleen]

Now speaking of your generation, which festivals are you trying to hit up this year?

[Ariana]

Definitely going to be out here. Definitely for all days. Potentially Boomtown again.

[Colleen]

If you get on the guest list?

[Ariana]

If I get on the guest list. Festivals are so expensive now.

Festivals are so expensive. You could go on like a two-week holiday for the same price.

[Colleen]

I know.

[Ariana]

It's crazy. It is ridiculous.

[Colleen]

But the artists do need to get paid.

[Ariana]

They do.

[Colleen]

And also a lot of people are out of work for many years because of the pandemic. So things are different. Now this next artist that we're going to play is one that you did see at We Out Here. And that's Greentea Peng.

[Ariana]

She played in 2021. And I was in the front row. And I remember we could like jump over the fence to go see her at the end of it. So me and my best friend, we jumped over the fence, went to go see her. And we could smell where she was. We couldn't see her. But we could smell this like scent of roses. I'm not even kidding. And we followed the scent and eventually found her trailer.

[Colleen]

Because you couldn't smell the green tea.

[Ariana]

No, she smelled like roses. Eventually got there. And she was so sweet. But she thought it was a bad gig. But we loved it. It was such a great gig. She's definitely one of these artists that are very versatile. Especially for my friendship group and my generation too.

And my group in general. But she's so versatile. Very soulful. But she's definitely shaped a lot of us as teenagers in terms of what we're into. And the kind of vibe we're going for. And she definitely fits that.

[Colleen]

Very inspirational.

So what's the song we're playing?

[Ariana]

Jimtastic Blues.

[Colleen]

The Black Science Orchestra remix of Emma-Jean Thackray's Venus. And I just love that mix. And Black Science Orchestra is Rob Mello, Ashley Beedle, and Darren Morris. And I remember when they were working on that track. Because your dad manages them. So I got to hear it as an award. But you still loved it. Because you're the one that picked this record. Why?

[Ariana]

My dad showed me. And then I didn't like it at first. Because I thought that it wasn't cool enough. Because my dad was showing me it. And then I started.

I listened to it by myself. And my good friend Christabel, Rob's daughter, we played it together. And then we were like, this is actually a really good track.

[Colleen]

It's a really good track.

I mean, she's amazing too.

[Ariana]

She's amazing. She plays quite often as well. She was playing at We Out Here a few years ago. But she might be on the... Is she playing this year?

[Colleen]

I don't know.

[Ariana]

I think I saw her name.

[Colleen]

I hope she has a new album coming out. Because that was from her 2021 album, Yellow. So you would think that there's a new one on the horizon. I certainly hope so. Ahead of that, we had Clyde and Capital A, Serve It Up. And I used to play... That record originally came out in 2003. And there was this hip-house mix that I used to play. And when I became pregnant with you, I had this residency at AKA in central London. I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant in the beginning. And I used to play that song all the time. But I was thinking of this song the other day. And then I just found that other mix, which came out a couple of years later. But by 2006, I had my hands full with you. So, I had no idea it came out. But I really, really love it. And Capital A was also on Silk 130's album, When the Funk Hits the Fans. So, some Philadelphia musicians there for you.

Now, this next one is one of my choices. And it's something that really brings me back to the underage disco that I used to sneak out to. Sorry, mom. She's probably listening. It was called The Gazebo. It was on the very lush location of Route 9 in Framingham. Just down the road from where I worked at Strawberries Records and Tapes, the record shop. In any case, this is kind of like early electro-funk. But it was a band that also put out a bunch of R&B and soul records. And this was their fourth album. They're originally from Kentucky. They're called Midnight Star. But they signed to the Solar label in late 1970s at the height of disco. And this was their big breakthrough album. And this one I just love. It sounded very futuristic at the time. It may not as much now. But I think you'll still like it. It's Midnight Star with Freakazoid.

[Colleen]

So many of us know that song. Couldn't live in London without hearing it in 2002 or Manchester. The Streets, Has it come to this from the Original Pirate Material, The Streets' debut album. And I remember when that came out. Because your dad was one of the owners of Jockey Slut. And they put Mike Skinner on the front cover. And such a great tune. Why did you pick this one, Ariana?

[Ariana]

It's one of my favorite songs ever. It always has interchangeable memories, though. It's such a nostalgic song for me. But the memories remind me of always happy or sad. And they interchange very often. But it's just a very prominent song of my mid-teens.

[Colleen]

And it's such an earworm. My gosh. That hook.

[Ariana]

It's just the beat.

[Colleen]

The beat's great. The hook's great. It's so good. As well as the song before, Django Django featuring Yuuko Sings. And Django Django is an art rock band from London. Yuuko Sings is a Japanese rapper. And I was turned on to this song a year ago by one of my listeners. And I ended up playing it all the time in my sets.

And it's just such a great tune.

[Ariana]

Everyone loves this song.

[Colleen]

Everyone loves this song. It's so rhythmic. It has a real 1980s kind of electro vibe. Which is why I play the Midnight Star. I even played it this week in the Netherlands. When I was doing a set between 3 and 6 on Tuesday morning. I know, Wednesday morning. I play Wednesday morning from 3 to 6 in the morning. I think that's a first.

So why did you pick Django Django? Because you love that song.

[Ariana]

Because I heard it at your set.

[Colleen]

You did? Where did you hear me play it? Everywhere.

[Ariana]

No. There was this one time. You remember.

It was with Gabs.

[Colleen]

Oh, maybe.

[Ariana]

Central London.

[Colleen]

Central London somewhere.

[Ariana]

Somewhere in Central London. But I've shown everyone since. And everyone always loves it.

[Colleen]

It's such a tune. Such a tune. All right. This next one is another Philadelphia rapper, Bahamadia. And can you tell us why you picked this one?

[Ariana]

My friend showed me this song. But I wasn't really used to the sound from her. But it all made sense. It remains one of the best tracks off her album, BB Queen. But it is a whole different sound to what she normally plays. She's also playing it this year. Everyone's playing it this year. But this is one of the best ones on the album.

[Colleen]

What's it called?

[Ariana]

Pep Talk.

[Colleen]

 You're listening to Bloodlines on the Boat Pod with Colleen Cosmo Murphy and Ariana.

[Colleen]

One of the originators of UK Garage, Wookie, featuring Lain with Battle, which was a hit for him back in 2000 when it was released as a third single from his only album. And it so reminds me of when I moved to London. And I was living in Tottenham in 2000 and listening to all the pirate radio stations, including one called Y2K, which sounds very corrupt FM right now. But, oh, my gosh, it was just so great to hear that sound. It sounded so fresh coming from New York City. And the reason why I picked that is because you, Ariana, picked the song before, which was MJ Cole's Sincere, which was another big record for me.

But you talk about that one.

[Ariana]

I think it was during lockdown I found that song. But it's just bad. It reminds me of, like, just being drunk in the field when I was 14.

It does, though.

[Colleen]

The truth comes out. Maybe we should have been...

[Ariana]

It does. And K-Side is even worse. It's, like, really outdated.

[Colleen]

It sounds very corrupt FM as well.

[Ariana]

No, but this track was always, like, one of my favorites. I used to bring my massive speaker to these shows and, like, I would always play that song every time. Oh, in Hackney Marshes? Yeah.

[Colleen]

Yeah, very, very nice. Ahead of that, we also had a great song by Goldie, State of Mind. And the original version came out on his 1995 LP, Timeless, which is a timeless classic album.

It's one of the ones that really put drum and bass onto the musical map as a really serious, serious art form. And I was working at Downstracts when that came out, a record shop in New York City. And we sold heaps of them, even in the U.S., where drum and bass wasn't as big. But that's a different remix by an Irish duo named Searchlight. And I played that as my last song on the beach at First Light Festival in Lowestoft recently. And people are a bit surprised I was playing a bit of drum and bass, but I used to. I like to keep people on their toes, Arianna. I like to keep them on their toes. You're listening to Bloodlines with myself, Colleen Cosmo Murphy, and my daughter, Arianna, here on the boat pod.

We're going for another half an hour until 4 o'clock. And this next little section revolves around the loft and David Mancuso, a very dear friend of mine, the late David Mancuso, who started his loft parties in 1970, and he's one of my mentors. And he saw Arianna really grow up for, I guess, the first eight years of your life when he was still coming over to our house about four times a year to listen to records and have dinner.

And he just loved being in a family home and just absolutely adored watching you grow up. And you picked a loft classic that we're going to play in another song, but I wanted to play something a little more recent, something new that I will play at our London loft party. And this is a great one by Nicola Conte.

Nicola Conte is a composer, arranger, I think guitarist, producer from Bari, Italy, where the Schema Records scene is also in Bari, Italy as well. And he kind of melded acid jazz along with bossa nova and Latin jazz. And recently he was signed to Far Out, which do a lot of Brazilian reissues, but also newer Brazilian music, even though he's Italian.

In any case, this song is called Life Forces, and it's remixed by my old boss over at Dance Tracks, Joe Claussel, Joaquin Claussel, and the song is called Life Forces.

[Colleen]

The late Cuban percussionist Candido, who moved to New York City in 1946 and ended up playing with some big bands like those of Stan Kenton, Machito, also Dizzy Gillespie. But then he kind of was able to switch gears during the disco era. And that song he did originally release in 1970, but he kind of disco-fied it a little bit. It's very, very, very deep. In 1979, when he was signed to the Bronx record label Sal Sol, which was kind of a combination of salsa and also soul music. And it's a complete loft classic, and it's very deep and very, very subtle, and it always surprises me how much you love that song, Ariana.

[Ariana]

It's just so dramatic.

[Colleen]

Yeah.

[Ariana]

It's a very dramatic song. It also reminds me of The Loft. It's a very good car ride song as well, because it takes up a lot of the journey.

It does.

[Colleen]

Are we there yet? Nine minutes.

[Ariana]

Yeah, it reminds me of The Loft. It also reminds me of Could Haven Ever Be Like This, those long, passionate, very detailed songs, very intricate.

[Colleen]

And very ethereal as well.

[Ariana]

Yeah, very ethereal. But yeah, it just reminds me of The Loft and being a kid, and that's just kind of one of those ones that sums it up a lot for me.

[Colleen]

Oh, good. Wow, fantastic. Well, we're going to switch gears and kind of go a bit more down-tempo now as we wrap up the show. This is Colleen and Ariana on Bloodlines, taking you for another ten minutes or so. We're going to squeeze in a few more tunes. This next one is by Charlotte Gansbourg, and can you introduce it, Ariana?

This is one of your choices.

[Ariana]

This is quite an eerie song. Most of her tracks are very haunting. I think she's quite good at that, like Deadly Valentine, and this is Ring-a-Ring O' Roses.

But this is, yeah, one of those emo-eerie songs that I found when I was in my emo phase. But this is Ring-a-Ring O' Roses.

[Colleen]

on Bloodlines.

[Colleen]

Mon Amie La Rose by Françoise Hardy, who the late French icon, singer, also actress, fashion icon, and a French cultural icon who sadly passed away last month. A beautiful French chanteuse, a lot like what Charlotte Gainsbourg is right now, and you, of course, picked that one, Ariana, the Ring-a-Ring O' Roses, a beautiful song. Well, this is Colleen Cosmo Murphy and my daughter, Ariana.

We're getting ready to wrap up this episode of Bloodlines here at the Boat Pod, and it's been so much fun. It's Ariana's first time on the radio, and we're going to finish with one of your favorite singers, one of your favorite musicians of all time.

[Ariana]

I think she is my favorite singer of all time.

[Colleen]

Well, why don't you tell us a little bit about it?

[Ariana]

The next track I'm going to play is Amy Winehouse, What Is It About Men, live at the North Sea Festival. But this track is so special to me because I'm not sure. Have you watched Amy, the documentary?

[Colleen]

Yes, I have. Yeah, it's amazing.

[Ariana]

And this live version features in the documentary, but I watched it again recently, and I always cry at the same bits, but I've watched it about six times now. But they play this track, the live version, in the documentary, and it's probably one of our best performances of all time.

[Colleen]

Wow.

[Ariana]

It really is so spiritual, but also there's a massive reggae influence in the live version. And it's only been 13 years since she passed away in three days' time, so this is also a big thing, four days' time. But yeah, this is What Is It About Men, live at the North Sea Festival.

[Colleen]

And Amy Winehouse rests in paradise. Thank you all for joining us. Thanks to The Boat Pod for having us, and Ariana, I just have to say it's been such an honor hosting your first radio show with you.

Thank you so much.

[Ariana]

It's been so fun.

[Colleen]

And thank you all for listening.