At the start of May each year, i always find myself thinking about birds, as the first Sunday of the month is marked globally as International Dawn Chorus Day, something i celebrated in a podcast back in 2010. So the theme for this month’s mixtape is of an avian persuasion – not actually focusing on actual birdsong (some of which were featured in last month’s Spring mixtape) but on music that in some way either references, alludes to or simply takes its name from birds. It’s a typically eclectic mixture, encompassing playfulness (The Real Tuesday Weld, Venetian Snares, Clark, Secret Chiefs 3, Broadcast, Tangerine Dream, Patrick Wolf, Neil Richardson), elegance (Chubby Wolf, Tōru Takemitsu, Aidan Baker, Simon Goff & Thor Harris, Dita Von Teese, Robin Guthrie, Deerhoof, Bernat Vivancos), gritty noir (Gorau Glas, Christopher McFall, Tout Croche, Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch, James Newton Howard, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble), experimental (Akita / Gustafsson / O’Rourke, Jan Jelinek) along with tracks that are either imitative or almost entirely transparent (Åke Parmerud, Chris Watson, Steve Peters, Douglas Quin – whose music punctuates the mix at 30-minute intervals).
90 minutes of feather-strewn blasts and murmurations; here’s the tracklisting in full, together with links (where possible) to obtain the music.
• Douglas Quin – Screaming Piha (from Oropendola – Music By And From Birds)
• The Real Tuesday Weld – The Birds and the Bees (from Where Psyche Meets Cupid)
• Åke Parmerud – Electric Birds [excerpt] (from Growl)
• Gorau Glas – A Lone Bird Skirts a Perimeter Fence [excerpt] (from II)
• Christopher McFall – You’ll Love Her Until The Birds Pick Your Bones Clean, Now Won’t You (from Disengaged Songs for Disenchanted Lovers)
• Chubby Wolf – Bird Whisk (from It’s a Small Place to Be)
• Tōru Takemitsu – A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden [excerpt] (from A Flock Descends Into The Pentagonal Garden)
• Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch – Owl Cave (from Twin Peaks Archive)
• Tout Croche – Strangling The Night Bird (from The Whole Shabang)
• Douglas Quin – Aria Locustae [excerpt] (from Oropendola – Music By And From Birds)
• Venetian Snares – Második Galamb [excerpt] (from Rossz Csillag Alatt Született)
• Akita / Gustafsson / O’Rourke – One Bird [excerpt] (from One Bird Two Bird)
• Clark – Snowbird (from Clark)
• James Newton Howard – Jabberjays (from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Original Motion Picture Score))
• The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Bird’s Lament [excerpt] (from Tribute to Moondog)
• Secret Chiefs 3 – The Owl In Daylight (from Path Of Most Resistance)
• Aidan Baker, Simon Goff & Thor Harris – Red Robin (from Noplace)
• Broadcast – It Must’ve Been the Magpies (from Berberian Sound Studio (Original Soundtrack))
• Douglas Quin – Kingdoms and Phyla: Part 4 [excerpt] (from Oropendola – Music By And From Birds)
• Tangerine Dream – White Eagle (from White Eagle)
• Jan Jelinek – Wood Pigeon (from Music For Fragments / Music & Birds)
• Dita Von Teese – Bird of Prey (from Dita Von Teese)
• Robin Guthrie – White Bird (from White Bird in a Blizzard)
• Patrick Wolf – Vulture (from The Bachelor)
• Chris Watson – Magpie Jay Ringtone (from Whispering in the Leaves)
• Neil Richardson – Firebird (from KPM 1000 Series, Vol. 1)
• Deerhoof – Whither The Invisible Birds? (from Friend Opportunity)
• Bernat Vivancos – El cant dels ocells [excerpt] (from Blanc. Choral works)
• Steve Peters – Surf n’ Birds [excerpt] (from Pico, Azores)
• Douglas Quin – Green Oropendola (from Oropendola – Music By And From Birds)
