That time already, is it? Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the mixing desk up pops another ‘connoisseur’s choice’ with the phrase ‘Balearic’ by way of an exclamation. And although clearly nothing of the sort, this latest in the ‘Late Night’ series does offer up a tasty selection of soft and smudgy downtempo classics ideal for a night spent in your girlfriend’s slippers, shuffling up and down the length of the lounge, the only energy likely to be expended on altering the dimmer switch from ‘soft light’ to ‘really really soft light’. Not that it’s a bad thing necessarily as the boys Cato and Findlay don’t put a foot wrong, something owed in part to their total honesty; this particular mixtape being the audio equivalent of not only revealing what kind of underwear you wear, but what kinds of stains are likely to grace them. With the exception of Jarvis Cocker and Steve MacKey, who else would combine Paul Carrack and Ace’s 70s soft-rock classic, ‘How Long’ and Peter, Bjorn and John’s beautifully acid-gothic, ‘The Chills’? Chris Rea’s ‘Josephine’ and Midlake’s woozy astral journey, ‘Roscoe’? Kitty Grant’s cheesy and unapologetically kitsch, ‘Glad To Know You’ and The Cure’s ‘Close To Me’?
Musically it’s like realising a profound embarrassment and the same time as attaining spiritual enlightenment or dancing like a Jessie in your bedroom only for your coolest mate to stumble in. It really is as fresh and as liberating as that. It does exactly what mixtapes SHOULD do: it stimulates rather than kills debate. And it has an exclusive cover of Numan’s ‘Are Freinds Electric?’ by the Armada boys themselves.
One of the most audacious and curious selections in the Late Night series’ five year history and bristling with no end of aural relief.
ALBUM: ‘ LATE NIGHT TALES – OUT 10TH MARCH 2008
features: Roxy Music, Human League, Max Berlin, African Dreams, Will Young, Marvin Gaye and Finley Quaye