Carter Tanton, pka Luxury Liners, got nostalgic for his contribution to our Friday Night series. I wish I had friends like his growing up. I gave out a lot of tapes in adolescence with little to no reciprocity. He and his friends played record digger growing up though, testing their knowledge to see who could unearth the strangest cut to slide into their mixtape unexpectedly.
With The War On Drugs and Lower Dens in his past, Tanton had the opportunity to be around bandmates with eclectic taste. He includes TWOD member Dave Hartley's Nightlands project on his mix, while the rest is a series of slightly blended doses of schizoid interests, finding no issue with connecting Sun Ra to Harry Nilsson or John Frusciante to Kraftwerk. As improper as it reads on paper, Tanton's mix lacks speed bumps, which raise questions like “is Nightlands influenced by Robert Wyatt or just Robert Wyatt covering Chic? Is that possible?”
As I side note, I would like to personally thank Carter for bringing Dirutti Column's “Sketch For Summer” to my ears, as it was sampled in a very early Anticon release and it pleased me to make that connection.
Carter explains his mix further:
I made this mix in the same spirit as my favorite mixtapes from friends back in the day. We were not making lets say “mix for the beach” or “road trip '99” tapes but rather the more random the collection of songs, the better. Hence, we've got Billy Childish, Steve Lacy and an early 20th century Austrian men's yodeling choir all hanging out together. One track I want to highlight is “Height Down”, from John Frusciante's second solo record Smile from the Streets You Hold. River Phoenix sings lead vocals. The rest of that album can be a hard listen but this track is a real gem.
Luxury Liners, “Friday Night Mix” (Also streaming in our player below, note the black strip at the bottom of the browser)
Luxury Liners' They're Flowers is out April 2 on Western Vinyl.
Luxury Liners' mix tracklisting:
The Headcoats, “The Day I Beat My Father Up”
Teebs, “Double Fifths”
John Frusciante & River Phoenix, “Height Down”
Kraftwerk, “Neon Lights”
People Like Us, “A Crossed Line”
Brass Pins and Matchheads (international 78's collection by Ian Nagoski), “Men's”
Yodeling Choir
Egyptrixx, “Naples”
Sun Ra, “Advice To Medics”
Harry Nilsson, “Dayton, Ohio 1903”
Durutti Column, “Sketch For Summer”
Nightlands, “You're My Baby”
Robert Wyatt, “At Last I Am Free” (Chic cover)
Onra, “Relax In Mui Ne”
Sibylle Baier, “Softly”
Steve Lacy, “Hemline”
Strawberry Skies, “Games” (ft. Laurel Halo)
