#15 - Godzilla - Bear McCreary Feat. Serj Tankian

Last night I celebrated my birthday by finally got around to watching the latest American attempt at a Godzilla movie with "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" directed by Michael Dougherty one of the most painfully underappricated directors whose previous work includes Krampus and Trick 'r Treat. Here getting to play out his Godzilla nerd fantasies by making the film that we want to see ie. Giant monsters destroying cities and battling each other not fancy cutaways and boring soldier characters embarking on cross country journey's. Needless to say as some who has been obsessed with these movies since they were 8 (now 37) this movie delivered big time.

What also certainly stood out though was this end titles track by Bear McCreary which also teases the upcoming Godzilla VS. Kong. McCreary though is one of the truly great modern composers and whose credits include Battlestar Galatica, The Walking Dead, Black Sails and Happy Death Day and here he knocks it out of the part again, really capturing the destructive nature and awe inspiring sight of the Kaiju on screen. At the same time his score is peppered with elements of Akira Ifukube's previous Godzilla scores which McCreary pays homage to throughout the film.

With this track though a cover of a Blue Öyster Cult's 1977 track "Godzilla" it's all about the legend himself Godzilla with that pounding drumbeat, orchestral soars, taiko chanting and aggressive rifs capturing the magisty of the King of Monsters. Adding to this is vocals from System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian who these could easily be one of his own tracks wether with his band or his solo work as he is certainly no stranger to this kind of dramatical flair in his own composures. If anything though this is certainly one not only for this mixtape but the gym tape aswell.

Follow the Mixtape

#14 - Nancy Boy - Placebo

Possibly the most important song on this mixtape as one of my all time favourites soundtracking my college years, a time which saw me being able to move on from being the small fat kid who got beat up everyday at school partly because of my place in the social order but also because I ran my mouth all the time and seemed to relish in the choas of pissing the wrong people off. Regardless college meanwhile was the place were you got to celebrate your quirks and more importantly find the tribes which represented yourself which for myself was the skater punks, movie nerds and horror junkies.

It was seeing the the MTV bumper "Verebrae" which sampled the song which not only introduced me to the song, but also in many ways painted out the path I wanted to follow. To be the kid with the big headphones following thier own path....the chipped nail paint never happened.

A key track for the band as the band's forth single it became a suprise hit entering the charts at #4 and pushing the album from #40 to #5 though the boy photographed for it's cover would claim that it ruined his life attempting to sue the band in 2012 compared to the kid who was the baby on the cover of Nirvana's "Nevermind" who admited he used it as a way to pick up girls.

For a song which was fuel for so much change in my own world view the song also looks at change as lead singer Brain Molko explained

"People who think it's fashionable to be gay-guys who think that because some of my best friends are gay that they are going to try it out because they are in a milieu where it's cool, but they haven't actually had the desire themselves. In the song, I'm questioning people's reasons for sleeping with someone of the same sex. In the same way that heroin is very hip today, being bisexual seems to be very chic." It's an exploration into somebody's misogyny yet heartfelt. It's angry, nasty, insulting and completely politically incorrect."

To this extent you could put the song next to The BloodHound Gang's "I Wish I was Queer So I Could Get Chicks" but at the time these lyrics went completly over my head as the refrences to drugs, sex, gender confusion and bisexuality were instead lost in the noisescape the band create here as like so much music I tend to focus more on the sound than the words, but even viewed in this way there are devious lines like "Eyeholes in a paper bag/greatest lay I ever had" which only add to the song.

The video directed by Howard Greenhalgh who blurred Drummer Steve Hewitt's face due to him still being under contact to another band while having the band look like they are playing in a Clive Barker disco with the combination of disemboded limbs, spikes and melded bodies which while lacking the budget Greenhalgh would have no doubt have liked to run with for this surreal vision still creates one which melds with song taking you on a journey from wondering what the hell your watching to an almost strange sense of acceptance once it's finished as Greenhalgh brings his approach of drawing from the song lyrics to create this memorable video.

Greenhalgh while a name which might not leap out as the most recognisable despite his work promently featuring throughout the 90's would also create videos for the Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, Muse and Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" which won him a reader's choice award for best video by Spin magazine.

While the band might care about the song for years excluding it from thier sets, it's still one of my favourites of their backcatalogue and while I might not still be the same rebel without a clue I was in my college days it still taps into a good place whenever I hear it.
Follow the Mixtape

#11 - Wave of Mutilation - The Pixies

Suprisingly for a band with such cult appeal this is actually the only good version of this song online as the band have continued to tinker with it over the years to mixed results with a more slowed down version found on the "Southland Tales" soundtack being one of the stand outs.

The fact that it's not got more of a presence / fan videos online is only the more suprising when "Doolittle" the second album for the band which it's taken from is often regarded by both fans and critics alike as the band's best album, even though personally I always leaned more towards "Surfer Rosa".

Perhaps in some alternative timeline the Pixies fell into the same unrelenting noisescape as Sonic Youth especially with the howling vocals of Frank Black set against the guitar fuzz and catchy riffs; but somehow as out there as they seemed with some of the tracks there was never the feeling that they were just making it up as they go with Doolittle as an album seeing the band at thier most accessable making it the perfect starting point for those new to the band.

Follow the Mixtape

#10 - Bug City - The Presidents of the United States of America

While there might be a number of people who wrote PUSA off as that one hit wonder band with a random affection for Peaches really will have missed out on some great track / random musical daydreams. Over the course of six albums crafting songs about Kitty, Chicky, Angry Tiki Gods and a dune buggy driving spiderman all while crafting a sound which really makes you want to hire them to play your Barbeque.

Sadly disolving in the summer of 2015 with lead singer / bass player Chris Bellew stating that it was due to the band members being "Old People Now" but they leave in thier wake a host of great music still worth discovering with thier two self titled volumes being well worthy of a place in your record collection.

Follow the Mixtape

#9 - Army - Ben Folds Five

Tapping into the same slacker / nerd culture as the Flaming Lips and Weezer (before it became the Rivers show) Ben Folds Five walk that tightrope between the kind of emotion driven and thoughful material that Folds would focus on with his solo efforts while at the same time playing the slackers hanging out, being dumped (Song For The Dumped) and even on one occastion being too short (one angry dwarf and 200 solemn faces).

Ben Folds best viewed as the Elton John for the MTV generation knows that the piano is not limited to one kind of song and instead like the aforementioned Elton John and Billy Joel puts it front and centre even if on occastion it sounds more like he's attacking the keys and only making his first song book "Learn to Play Piano With Ben Folds" all he more humerous as nobody plays piano like he does.

This track I first stumbled across when it was used for the end titles of the fantastic "Nirvana: The Band, The Show" and since then it's become one of those songs I can just keep on repeat and it never gets old with the video perfectly highlighting the lyrics of the song with it's use of changing scenery and theatre flats in a style reminisant of Michell Gondry though no details seemingly exsist about who directed it only making it more of a curiosity amongst 90's music videos.

Follow the Mixtape

#7 - The Words That Maketh Murder - PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey much like Bjork was one of those artists I overlooked for the longest time with "Let England Shake" being my entry point into her discography with this track getting some pretty heavy rotation even.

Sure this album might not be her strongest work, but then some times the worst first impression only can lead to better things.

#6 - Lord Only Knows - Beck

Originally I had another Beck track in mind for today's selection but this eventually won out as it matched more of my caffine deprived mood.

Taken from Hit and miss "Odelay" an album though which ultimatly defined his cut and paste style after struggling to break away from the One hit wonder branding of "Loser" this album really came to define the anything goes randomness that is Beck's style here using subtle samples of "Lookout For Lucy - Mike Millius" and "When It Comes - Edgar Winter" for this fusion of blues and country.

Follow the Mixtape

#5 - The Trip - Still Corners

A track I stumbled across during one of those youtube deep dives were you go looking for funk instrumentals and stumble across somthing all together more intresting.

Defined as "Dream Pop" a sub-genre of alt-rock and Neo-psychedelia this opening track from the duo's second album released through Sub-pop a label that currently is well worth finding a sampler for, this track is really one for the big headphones.

Follow the Mixtape