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owl icon O.W.L. Ltd. Mixed feelings
The following mixtapes, playlists and reviews are covered by the H O V S rules for usage:
1. Listen & make cool things. 2. Share with your friends. 3. Let me know if you like them.

“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.”
- Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

It's better not to take advice from someone like Rob Gordon. But for mixtapes, we'll make an exception. The mixtape has a long and winded history, and it has fulfilled many functions over the decades. It could be a love (or a break up) letter, a political statement, or simply a concentrated effort to make a good party a great party. It can also simply be an expression of how you feel at a given time.

In eiter case, the mixtape is in this sense a pure for of curation. When done badly, it takes a work of art out of its context, making it estrange its listeners. But when done right, it takes something that the artist might not have consciously embedded into his work, and it places it together with other works that share that characteristic, to create something new that makes you realize that it fits, that makes you think
"this sounds so good."

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Wildflowers

Let me drink from the waters where the mountain streams flood. Let the smell of wildflowers flow free through my blood.
I collected these songs based on their wild, ritualistic energy. It is playlist of sounds across ambient, folk, rock and electronic that breathe the free air of meadows and mountains. It's quite different from my usual, but as I collected these songs over the past two years, it's grown to be one of my favourites.

Artist Song
James Holden & The Animal Spirits Incantation for Inanimate Object
James Holden & The Animal Spirits Spinning Dance
Devin Townsend Unity
Nils Frahm The Whole Universe Wants to be Touched
Eddie Vedder The Wolf
My Baby Sunflower Sutra
Sigur Rós Gobbledigook
Nelly Furtado & Caetano Veloso Island of Wonder
Nicolas Jaar Wildflower
Roomful of Teeth & Caroline Shaw Partita for 8 Singers: No. 3. Courante
Lisa Morgenstern Levitation
Talk Talk I Don’t Believe in You
Devin Townsend Project Monsoon
Eddie Vedder Toulumne
Bob Dylan Let Me Die In My Footsteps - Studio Outtake
Baroness Cockroach En Fleur
Nils Frahm Sunson

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Drifting Through Space

The road is the cosmos, your mind is a Mustang. You may not pass the breathalyzer, but your trip is so far out no one will ever catch you.
This is the first in a series of road trip playlists, the best kind of playlists! There will be more to come, so stay tuned.

Artist Song
Steve Miller Band Space Intro
The Comet is Coming Summon the Fire
The Byrds Mr. Spaceman
Squid Houseplants
Moses Boyd Rye Lane Shuffle
BADBADNOTGOOD Confessions Pt. II
Mörglbl Jazz for Deaf People
Max Graef Jazz 104
Arcade Fire Month Of May
Gorillaz & Little Dragon Empire Ants
The Comet is Coming Final Eclipse
Circle Mercy and Tuesday
Yussef Dayes, Alfa Mist & Mansur Brown Love Is The Message
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Rattlesnake
Alfa Mist Keep On
BADBADNOTGOOD Eyes Closed

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Bat Shit Crazy

Bonkers tunes and tunes about bonkers
This is my soundtrack for crazy days, when songs about satan's ice cream truck make more sense than real life.
This is a cross genre playlist. But it can't be truly bonkers without some good metal and jazz in there, so soft ears beware!

Artist Song
Mr. Bungle Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy
Zimmers Hole Fully Packed
Devin Townsend Ants
SHINING Healter Skelter
System Of A Down Sugar
Primus Theme From Hellbound 17 12
Amateur Transplants Masochism Tango
Queen I’m Going Slightly Mad
Scroobius Pip The Struggle
Steely Dan East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
Diablo Swing Orchestra How To Organize A Lynch Mob
Diablo Swing Orchestra Black Box Messiah
Devin Townsend Band Vampolka / Vampira
Mr. Bungle None Of Them Knew They Were Robots
Zimmers Hole 1000 Miles Of Cock
System Of A Down Vicinity Of Obscenity
Austin Wintory Give Me The Cure
Diablo Swing Orchestra Bedlam Sticks
Strapping Young Lad Satan’s Ice Cream Truck
Zimmers Hole Two Headed Anal Baby
Guttermouth I’m Destroying The World
Pink Floyd The Trial

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SOTY2019

As 2019 comes to a close, here are my 10 favourite songs of the year
Not all of their records hit home in the same way, but these songs, individually, made a big mark
Sorted for listenability, no particular order. Except as always, 1 which, in my humble opinion, led the pack this year.

Artist Song
Rammstein DEUTSCHLAND
James Blake I’ll Come Too
Leprous Distant Bells
Flying Lotus & Denzel Curry Black Balloons Reprise
Hot Chip Hungry Child
Vorna Virvatulet
Borknagar Up North
Yugen Blakrok Land of Gray
James Blake Don’t Miss It
Alcest Le Miroir

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