The first refeatured artist since Thoughts for Tonight began is going to be… Organ Morgan. I reviewed his brilliant Avalanches-esque debut, the Cocaine Afternoon E.P. last year. This weekend he was kind enough to tweet about his new mixtape. I’ve been in a bit of a mixtape frenzy of late, having spent numerous hours streaming Mr. Scruff’s various five to eight hour sets from his Soundcloud, so the chance to see Matthew Mayes’ first under the Organ Morgan guise was met with much approval.
While DJing electronic music obviously requires considerable talent – knowing when to drop a certain tune, reading the crowd, and the technical knowledge to seamlessly mix hours in front of a club – it still doesn’t show off a record collection in the ways that other DJs can. Organ Morgan’s Garden Party Mixtape takes you on a four hour tour into the musical mind of Matthew Mayes. Loosely this mixtape does what it says on a tin, and if this was being played to you at a casual, sun soaked Garden Party you’d be thrilled, but there’s an eclecticism in play that pushes past the mixtape’s name. The result is euphoric and melancholic, happy and sad, drunk and sober, dancey and relaxed, up and down, and all mixed together subtlety with perfect timing.
From the electronic jitterings of Nathan Fake and Four Tet, to the sample-laden inspirational Avalanches, the chilled out nostalgia of Royksopp to the folk of Yeasayer, the girlpop Shangri-Las to the soulful smoothings of Tina Britt. The mixtape is relaxed, it’s calm, but it’s fused with an energy, and a commendable balance and pace that, unlike so many other mixtapes of this length, keeps you listening throughout.
The song selection will be familiar to many, certainly not all of it, but for the most part the likes of The XX, Gold Panda, Passion Pit, and The Go! Team will be recognisable. This is not to say it is not without its surprises; mid-way through I hear the psych-fuelled “What’s In It For Me?” by Avi Buffalo, and an hour later the afrobeat Amadou & Mariam segues into the chirpy pop of The Go! Team perfectly. I discovered a lot of good new (and old) music that I didn’t know or remember before, mixed together with three more hours of music I loved.
The Garden Party mixtape avoids the temptations to flood the listener with hours worth of rare and unheard of soul and jazz records; wonderful no doubt, but you’re always left dying to hear something you know as well. Instead it opts to educate and please, and where it educates it does so within the boundaries of what you will almost certainly like and love.
This mixtape reiterates that Matthew Mayes has got brilliant taste. His producer releases gets to chop and sample thirty songs to four minutes, but this mix allows for an expansion that is perfectly welcomed as well. Organ Morgan impresses again.
Download the Garden Party Mixtape (link via sendspace)
Click “Read More” to see the full tracklisting for the mix.
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