HAPPY NEW YEAR! It's 2015! Imagine that! We made it! We're still here! And to kick-start this year – whose numbers, if you're into numerology, add up to 8 (v lucky number) – we have an exclusive tasty guest mix from a producer whom I admire quite a bit. What a New Year's surprise this is!
First time I stumbled across music created by this man he went under the name Snorlax. As any good Pokémon fan, I followed my nose and leapt into his pool of music and found it to be like, well, just a delight, if I'm allowed to say so. Now creating music under Goodnight Cody, a moniker little closer to real life (his name is Cody Farwell) this producer and bass-player from Los Angeles creates music that at once introduces groove and atmosphere in scene-setting unions, tracks that jiggle your body and your mind at the same time – take, for instance, the wonder that is 'Full Count (Bases Loaded!)', it conjures an actual baseball game, a cartoony, Peanuts-esque baseball game. And that bass, right?!
And yes: he plays bass, has been since age 12, soon after realising he was "a horrible drummer" (which he started playing when he was 8). Then he started writing songs on guitar and piano at 15. "I've always been drawn to music," he tells me, "and I believe that is what started me to create it."
Coming from a punk background, the first electronic music that attracted him was that of Squarepusher; Cody "fell in love with his extreme sounds." Afterwards it was a case of "digging deeper and deeper for new sounds & styles, looking for inspiration."
After I asked nicely, he very kindly agreed to make a mix for YES/NO. And what a mix. Self-confessedly "constantly digging for timeless music from all over the world," it really shows in the collection he's put together for us.
I think what continues to inspire me is the search for the perfect song for the perfect moment
CODY FARWELL
"These tracks in the mix are very important to me," he explains, "as they are all by artists that have changed the way I perceive music." He tells me he never understood or enjoyed electro-pop until he heard Sonic Coaster Pop a few years back, and likewise with blues or gospel – "I didn't think [it] was very interesting, or that it would eventually change my life." He divulges it was listening to Blind Wille McTell that changed all that for him: "I found it to be an experience like no other."
This selection of music – "a good look" into the sounds Cody loves, an international hotch-potch ("I also love hearing a melody or an instrument and knowing what country or region it's from," he says) – is a pick-'n'-mix of wildly different flavours, from the soul-elating gospel of 'It's Been a Mighty Good Day', penned by Dr. Maceo Woods, and its sleepy, acoustic-guitar-laden neighbour 'Doçura Forte' by Brazilian singer Joyce, to the frenetic 'Amscray' by LA producer / boss of label Magical Properties, Daedelus, and the sugary hyperactivity of international J-pop phenomenon Perfume on their track 'ポイント'.
That's not to mention two gems from the brain of Yann Tomita, namely the heart-melting 'Some Day, That Place In Time' (by Doopees) and mix opener by Astro Age Steel Orchestra, 'Living Message From Pan Yard #2', or the v famous 1928 song 'Statesboro Blues' by Blind Willie McTell, or a spot of raï singing in 'El Fermlia' from Algerian artist Boutaiba Sghir – it's all lovingly patched together with Goodnight Cody's mixing skills, a mélange of seemingly disparate genres, jarring time periods and contrasting artists, all united with heart and soul.
So, now it's time for you to enjoy this, the longest mix ever made for Y/N! Have fun! :)
• T R A C K L I S T •
- Astro Age Steel Orchestra - Living Message From Pan Yard #2
- Sonic Coaster Pop - Spiral Neo Wave
- Sonic Coaster Pop - SOCOPOGOGO
- Gangpol & Mit - la comptine
- Gorillaz - Dub Dumb
- naivepop or petitfool - Chopstick Rest -休息は大事だよ-
- Harpo Marx - They Say That Falling In Love Is Wonderful
- 800 Cherries - Frozen
- Hello Astronaut, Goodby Television - Masterpiece Backwards
- Oleg Kostrow - Falling Dreams
- Daedelus - Amscray
- YMCK - 左折して右折して
- Soundmurderer - Awamori
- Bells Of Joy - There'll Be No More Sorrow
- Perfume - ポイント
- Boutaiba Sghir - El Fermlia
- Itsutsu No Akai Fusen - I will kick a pebble
- Squarepusher - Rebus
- Hazel Nuts Chocolate - Kitten's Breaks Dub
- Mount Kimbie - Maybes (James Blake Remix)
- Blind Willie McTell - Statesboro Blues
- Doopees - Some Day, That Place In Time
- Sam Cooke - (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
- Dr. Maceo Woods - It's Been a Mighty Good Day
- Joyce - Doçura Forte / Água e Luz
- Mr Cody is a part of beat collective Team Supreme – go check 'em out!
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