“I grew up in Colorado but I’ve always had family in Arizona. Every summer my father would drive my sisters and I from Denver to Phoenix to stay with my grandparents. It’s a 14 hour trip and we listened to tons of music. My dad had insanely good taste. He’d play us Kraftwerk, Big Audio Dynamite, Massive Attack, The Beatles, Neil Young. It shaped me forever. So an ode to him with a mix you can drive at night to. It’s mellow, but with just enough wattage to keep you alert behind the wheel…

I’ve written a little background to each song as to why I love it and I hope you will too:

1 . John Martyn - “Let the Good Things Come” | A recent(ish) discovery, John Martyn seems to me crazy underrated. Picks up where Nick Drake left off whilst adding upright bass, tape delay and textures. He has so many great records. This album catches him transitioning from stately folk to more adventurous song structures and grooves.

2. Emiliana Torrini - “Lifesaver” | Ghostly and haunting yes, but also warm and comforting. I just love the ship creaking in the background. Makes me feel like I’m swaying back and forth on a ship’s hammock underneath the moon. A perfect song. 

3. Nick Drake - “River Man” | The legend himself. So many artists were inspired by Nick Drake’s work and have aped his sound. To me it’s untouchable. While Pink Moon is my favorite record of his, “River Man” off Five Leaves Left is about as close to orchestral-folk perfection as possible. The song’s time signature of 5/4 makes it even more hypnotic. 

4. Helado Negro - “Pais Nublado” | A little more contemporary here. At 40, Roberto gives me hope that my best work can still lay ahead. At 37 myself I better get moving though, good lord. The balance is masterful on this album and this cut is no exception. Every element sounds like it was sculpted, carved and put in exactly in it’s place of intention.

5. Oso Leone -“ River of Jasmines” | These guys were one of my favorite discoveries of 2019. I absolutely love the album from start to finish. Like Helado Negro, they place the highest premium of textures being in perfect balance. At times they remind me of Talk Talk. Brilliant and underrated.

6. Diamond Mine - “John Taylor’s Month Away” | Two brilliant artists collaborating here. Jon Hopkins is a master in the electronic world and his sound is unique to him. He’s also a classically trained pianist and writes beautiful, minimalist pieces in both his solo work and here in Diamond Mine. King Kreosote I discovered through this project and I just love his voice. Also unmistakeable. I don’t think 6:30 minutes can drift by you any faster than they do here. The textures are lithe and hazy. 

7. Tricky - “Broken Homes” | A small pivot and back couple decades to one of my favorite artists. My dad took me to see Tricky when he toured this album in ’97. I had a cool dad. The show blew me away. Shadowy and esoteric, I rarely caught Tricky’s face as he ducked in and out of a single spotlight from above. This song kills me. PJ Harvey handles lead vocal duties and Tricky just creeps in the background. PJ is so strong and powerful. Then you add the gospel choir behind it and fuck, it’s magic. Watch them perform it on Letterman on YouTube. I’m reading Tricky’s autobiography right now. Also highly Recommended. 

8. Aldous Harding - “Blend” | Ryan at Lost Tribe Sound turned me onto Aldous. He obviously get’s me. Like Emiliana Torrini, Aldous can deploy icy sounds that are simultaneously warm and comforting like a hug. This song is only like 4 elements, each with distinct purpose. I love the less is more approach. It takes discipline, confidence and bravery to write and record songs like this. I want to have more of all three. She’s an inspiration. 

9. Billie Holiday - “Body and Soul”  | Talk about untouchable. Billie Holiday for me is one of those timeless artists I can put on any time and enjoy. Happy, sad, day or night. But there might not be a better choice if you’re burning the midnight oil, as I often do. She lived such a hard life. You can hear every drop of heartache in her voice and lyrics. She lived it. I wish I could hug her. I love her and this song. 

10. Ilyas Ahmed - “Come On” | Ilyas is a beacon. I look up to him as an artist and activist. Follow his Instagram. I love his recording techniques. Lots of damaged tape. His songs ooze analogue character. He leaves tiny little imperfections in his recordings which increase authenticity and for me, repeatability. I love the guitar interplay on this song in particular.

11. Danny Paul Grody - “Four Years” | Did someone say guitar interplay? Here’s a fine example. This song sounds like autumn. It’s melancholic and just flat out gorgeous. I read some article where he said something like he doesn’t really know how to record. Great. That makes me feel real good. 

12. John Cale - “Andalucia” | Not to get too morbid here but we played this song at my father’s funeral. He was a huge Velvets fan and of John Cale’s solo work. As am I. To me, nothing sounds better sonically than the folk records of this era. And this song is a slice of baroque-folk perfection. I also love the lap steel guitar here. Like myself, Cale doesn’t have the best voice. But where I try to stay in my range, Cale just goes for it. I love that about him. He gives zero fucks. I’m way more fragile. His music is better for it. 

13. Gravenhurst - “Winter Moon” | An all-time favorite song and artist. I don’t know many cover songs but I know this one. Nick died at 37. I am now am 37. I think about that a lot and how I haven’t scratched the surface of what he accomplished. He’s on another level and criminally overrated. I’m friends with his former guitarist and frequent collaborator Paul Nash. I asked Paul how the hell they got that incredible lo-fi character on the recording and he said they ran it through an optigan or something. I’ve looked up optigans and still have no clue what that means. But sometimes you shouldn’t spoil the magic. 

14. Blusom - “Undercurrents” | Speaking of friends, Mike Behrenhausen and Jme White are two of my best. I saw Blusom open for Alaska here in Denver back in the early 2000’s and immediately forced myself into their inner-circle. Mike played drums in my post-rock band Mombi. In Blusom he plays guitar and sings. His voice reminds me of Tom Verlaine of Television. Jme is a production genius and recorded both of their full-length albums. I’m praying they do a third. They still work on it. Jme recorded my first full length under the name Khale. At the 4:04 mark Mike stops singing and says “that’s it” and the song keeps going. Those little moments make songs. It’s like a magic trick. I love this song and these guys. 

15. Grouper - "Alien Observer” | What a track. Talk about a few elements distilled. What time signature is that guitar part? It’s almost free-form. It’s what gives the song all it’s slack and looseness. I love when Liz goes for it and sings loudly. Here with multiple harmonies. God damn. A career song. 

16. Rodriguez - “Forget it” | Unless you lived in South Africa where he was a cult superstar without him even knowing, you learned about Rodriguez from the 2012 documentary Searching for Sugar Man. For me, it’s one of the greatest and feel good rock n’ roll stories I’ve ever heard. This song is a perfect closer for the mix. “Thanks for your time, then you can thank me for mine. And after that’s said, forget it”.

Cheers from Colorado!

- Kael Smith / Mute Forest

Before you stuff this digital mix cd into your pocket and disappear down some other corner of the internet, make sure to follow Kael / Mute Forest on the Twitter / Facebook / Instagram and then give the latest album ‘Riderstorm’ a listen below…

…and if you like what you’re hearing, go do some more mute-forest-flavoured audio exploring over on Bandcamp /  Spotify.