The Brunch Table

Brothomstates, MDRMX (from Claro)

Even though it’s a bit repetitive, this is the sort of clicky, crystalline electronic track that makes me feel like I’ve just drank a mug of hot cocoa. Incidentally, Brothomstates is an old demoscene composer for the group “Orange”–I first heard of him when I was listening to the commentary track on the Mindcandy Vol. 1 DVD.

Sporto Kantes, Car Video (from Act.1)

This is a wonderfully goofy, upbeat track by a couple of French downtempo pastiche noodlers. The loping dub beat and ridiculous pitch-shifted vocals samples make me want to go on a road trip so that I can blast this song with the windows down.

I:Cube, Mingus in my Pocket (from Picnic Attack)

“Hey, you got your driving tech-house beat in my echoing vibraphones!” “No, you got your vibraphones in my tech-house beat!” Beautiful.

Sporto Kantes, XX Live by 1 Smith Lane (from French Girls)

I haven’t been able to dig up any details on this “1 Smith Lane” entity that I presume remixed a so-so original track into one of the highlights of the “French Girls” compilation. What started out as an off-kilter dub/blues tune with male vocals ended up somewhere between a Portishead tune and Sophie B. Hawkins’s old Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover track, with a few raw female vocal snippets to punch up the energy.

Everything But The Girl, Corcovado (from Like The Deserts Miss The Rain)

This track starts with Tracey Thorn singing in Portugese over a percussionless minimal synth bed, then morphs into a breathtaking drum-n-bass bossa-nova.

Kristin Hersh, Heaven (from Live at Noe Valley Ministry)

Live at Noe Valley Ministry is a 2-disc “official bootleg” that is mostly sold at Hersh & Throwing Muses shows, and it’s a great tour of her solo work. I don’t have Strange Angels, so I hadn’t heard this track before. I’m a sucker for Hersh’s raw voice and poignant melodies.