REV. AUSTIN'S MILDLY ASTOUNDING [MP3] MIXTAPE!

A recent conversation (if posting on the internet can class as a 'conversation') with some chums has resulted in us all making a list of our top 13 albums, and a subsequent compilation featuring one track off each album to swap, so as to broaden our musical horizons and show each other what cool music we like. I thought it might be nice to share my own comp with the whole internet, and all my loyal readers, so here it is! Oh, and I might also make this a regular thing - regular as in'I'll do it more than once'.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DM4VDOTH - part a (about 30MB)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KNIHQPMU - part b (about 30MB)

I picked 13 albums that I can listen to pretty much in their entirety and not feel like missing one or two songs out. There are some startling omissions of bands/artists I love to bits (eg no Angelo Badalamenti, FrontLine Assembly or Nick Cave) but that's because I wanted to try and pick a good mix of stuff, not just baroque lounge or industrial electronica :D My top 13 albums, and the songs I've put on the comp are:

MEOW MEOW - SNOW GAS BONES. Song: Cracked.

Some of the tracks on the comp are my favourite ones off whichever album, but generally I've tried to pick a tune that sums up that album. 'Cracked' is an example of this; fuzzy indie pop rock with Beach Boy vocals meets Sonic Youth noise, like a lot of the album. Very nice.

THE EGG - TRAVELATOR. Song: Ben Hur.

Ridiculously uplifting funky jazz, with daft samples and a cheeky sense of humour. When I saw these playing at Glastonbury years ago, they ended this song with a really loud sample of someone shouting "TWAT!"

SKELETONS AND THE KINGS OF ALL CITIES - LUCAS. Song: Hay W'Happens.

Wonky jazz meets experimental Americana. This album is utterly terrifying, and this song's perhaps the most monged one off it.

FLEET FOXES - FLEET FOXES. Song: Your Protector.

Sounds like a bunch of medieval hippies playing country music.

THE PAPER CHASE - NOW YOU ARE ONE OF US. Song: ...And All the Candy You Can Eat.

A thoroughly sinister album of guitar and piano skronk, peppered with horror movie samples and crackly radio transmissions. John Congleton's lyrics are hard to beat, with warped fairy tale references and a bitter sense of humour that I find wholly appealing.

POP WILL EAT ITSELF - DOS DEDOS MIS AMIGOS. Song: Everything's Cool.

The much-maligned PWEI released this album as their swansong and confused a lot of their 'crusty' fans. Suddenly, they weren't the goofy grebos of their last few albums, but a (fairly) serious band with a dark industrial heart.

37500 YENS - Astero. Song: Chapitres.

A recent edition to my 'favourite albums' list. They're an almost entirely instrumental French two-piece (guitar and drums) with mathrock sensibilities that spill over into jazz and noisecore tendencies.

FOETUS- FLOW. Song: Someone Who Cares

JG Thirlwell wears so many musical hats it's a wonder he hasn't squashed his head down into his neck. Foetus is generally industrial jazz (or at least, used to be) and this album is the best mix of those styles, if you ask me. Like dirty blues sang by a drunk tramp with metal limbs.

KARMA TO BURN - KARMA TO BURN. Song: Mt. Penetrator.

I love this band. LOVE THEM. Whiskey-and-cigarettes stoner with songs about Appalachian women, nameless gunslingers and all sorts of really cool stuff. This is one of their grooviest songs, although almost everything they do is really groovy. Apparently they were forced to get a vocalist for this record for it to be released (they got rid of him/he left after this was recorded) which is a damn shame because he's got an amazing voice, and way with lyrics.

PIGFACE - A NEW HIGH IN LOW. Song: Nutopia.

Pigface are the very definition of 'supergroup' as their revolving door band member policy means each album sounds quite different to each other, but all underpinned by Martin Atkins utterly incredible drumming and production. This album revealed a wholly new take on industrial music that owed more to dub than electronics.

GODFLESH - LOVE AND HATE IN DUB. Song: Frail [Now Broken].

Sludgy industrial pioneers Godflesh took their incredible hip-hop-flavoured album Songs of Love and Hate and de-constructed it into the pummelling and creepy Love and Hate in Dub. The drums and bass become the main instruments, with desolate guitar feedback and bleak vocals swimming around in the background to give you the willies.

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN - IRE WORKS. Song: Dead as History.

I think 'Milk Lizard' is my favourite song off this album, but this tune captures all the elements that make it so great: glitchy electronica, screams, heavy guitar, jazz, and a surprising level of accessibility.

ADMIRAL ANGRY - BUSTER. Song: Sex With a Stranger.

Monstrous, bleak, disgustingly heavy. The end.

Usual copyright disclaimer gubbins: the whole point of this mixtape is to spread the word of bands you might not otherwise have heard of, or bother with. If you like what you hear, track down the band/album :)

If anyone feels like making their own mixtape, let me know! I'm always interested in what other people listen to, if it's not bog standard in any way. Or maybe even if it is bog standard, who knows?