by Piotrek Czarnecki

I feel like I owe you, guys. Big time. It has been quite some time since the last music selection has been delivered to you. I won’t get into details, but thank you for your patience. This is the main reason for presenting not one but two playlists this time. As much as I don’t like dividing songs into categories, there’s enough division in the world today, the idea behind it is that this way it is easier to manage the extensive amount the music gathered over the past two months. Think of it as two sides of an old school single that complement each other, and not a musical Jekyll and Hyde (THE FUTUREHEADS). While the A-Side of the mixtape focuses on the familiar, The B-side takes a trip off the beaten track(s). Usually, I’d mix these two worlds for your listening pleasure, but this is an emergency.

             So what’s on the menu? The A Side features some tracks you’ve might already heard including MADONNA’s latest, divisive single “Future”, as well as “New York City”, the new song from upcoming KYLIE MINOGUE’s greatest hits compilation, LANA DEL REY’s latest,“Doin’ time” and the winner of this year’s Eurovision song contest for Netherlands, DUNCAN LAURENCE with his top prize snatching “Arcade”.

There are a handful of lesser known artists showcasing serious mainstream ambitions (“Looking for a hug by UNPERFECT, “Adrenaline” by RACHEL CHINOURIRI, “Mixer” by AMBER MARK or YUNA’s “Forevermore”) as well as highly enjoyable obscurities that manage to escape banality and totally deserve your time and attention. For the latter check out the songs by MORMOR, JACOB OGAWA, OMAR APOLLO, EKKAH.

Pop music aside, the majority artists included on this side are some of the most established names in the so called alternative game; some veterans  (EDITORS, THE FLAMING LIPS, NOEL GALLAGHER, RAMMSTEIN, JARVIS COCKER as JARV IS) complemented by a bunch new artists who have already earned their battalions of fans; I’m talking about FONTAINES DC’ with “Boys in the better land”, FKA TWIGS with “Cellophane”, as well as ROSALIA, IDLES, SEVDALIZA, TYLER, THE CREATOR. To the more avid listeners, they don’t need no introduction anymore. At least they shouldn’t.

The A-sides have been the more obvious choices to promote an album, but the B-sides were often hidden gems that with time would become fan favourites. Some of them  reached the same fame or even became better known hits than their side A. For example, this has been the case of “We Will Rock You” by Queen which had originally been released as a side B of “We Are The Champions”.  This isn’t my goal here but B-Side playlist will take you a little bit underground with the selection for more demanding listeners. Packed with newcomers, lesser known artists and more, makes it an adventurous ride. Lo-fi pop songs   (ALFIE TEMPLEMAN, TEEN BODY, MEN I TRUST) go along nicely with the deep house material (COMPUTER DATA, SEB WILDBLOOD, BALTRA). Ambient soundscapes from CHRISTOPHER WILLITS, TIM HECKER, HANIA RANI help to calm down the riotous joys of AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS. EABS, RESAVOIR, ISHMAEL ENSEMBLE, KOKOKO! And HONEY OAT deliver different takes on jazz. A handful of tracks got here from various directions; DELIA YIRDIRIM with GRUP SIMSEK pay us a visit from Turkey, BLANCO PALAMERA from Spain, EL PETIT DE CAL ERIL from Catalonia, NOIA Mexico and as usual Poland is being solidly represented (ÄLSKAR, DYBUK, ZAMILSKA).

In a weird coincidence I have recently found few deconstructed covers of pop tracks by indie artists. “Careless Whisper” by TAKEN BY TREES, “Eternal Flame” covered by SAINT SISTER and  OKAY KAYA’s stripped down treatment of Cher’s “Believe” provide some, although skewed, familiarity. But it’s the sensational version of Madonna’s “Ray of Light” by the Aussie psychedelic rockers, POND that serves as a proper link connecting this month’s two playlists. So, I have stuck it onto both sides.

In total, that’s nearly 300 tracks to check out. Get cracking, then. You won’t have to wait for the next mixtape. I promise. Well, I’ll try.