To mark the re-release of Movietone's self-titled debut album through our own in-house imprint, Kate Wright has stitched together a mix that maps the band's collective listening during that early period, and with it provides a little insight to how it is they chanced upon their still unique and enduringly ineffable sound. There's been a fair amount of discourse around this record, but it's testament to the music that i still don't feel like anyone has truly got to the centre of its delphic charms. Perhaps this mix might shed some extra light, or perhaps it might colour a little more mystery? Either way, it's a joyous ride through some classics that works perfectly in its own right.
"Here are some records that I listened to a lot while writing songs for the first Movietone record. There are so many that I had to miss out but hopefully it will give you an insight into what we were listening to in the late 1980’s and early 90’s. We didn’t all have the same music taste but we all loved a lot of the bands that are on this compilation. To be honest, it was really hard to choose which Stooges or Velvet Underground song to put on as they are all so great.
Here are the bands (in no particular order) which I missed out of this mix but were very much there on the turntable, on heavy rotation, during those times: Codeine, Dinosaur Junior, Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, The Pastels, Jad Fair, The Pebbles Psych Compilations, Gallon Drunk, Fugazi, Beat Happening, Daniel Johnston, My Bloody Valentine, Faust, Shimmy Disc Records, The Pixies, The Breeders, Disco Inferno, Joy Division, Mercury Rev, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Neil Young, The Byrds, Beatles, Beach Boys, Love, The Doors, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and any Beat writers, John Cage speaking. No doubt I have forgotten to add many great bands and for that I apologise." - Kate Wright
Movietone s/t is out now.
Tracklist
1. The Monkees - ’As We Go Along’ from Head (1968). ‘Porpoise Song’ came close second.
2. Big Star - ’Nightime’ from 3rd (1978). 'Thirteen’ and ‘September Gurls’ came close second
3. The Stooges - ‘Open Up and Bleed’ from Rubber Legs (1987). This is a studio rehearsal recorded in 1973/74, but to be honest anything from The Stooges (1969), Fun House (1970), Raw Power (1973) were played over and over.
4. Nick Drake - ’Fly’ from Bryter Layter (1971)
5. Galaxie 500 - ‘Snowstorm’ from On Fire (1989)
6. Tindersticks - ‘Marbles’ from Tindersticks (1993)
7. Pavement - ‘Here' from Slanted and Enchanted (1992)
8. William Carlos Williams - ‘Flowers by the Sea’
9. Tim Buckley - ‘Buzzin’ Fly’ from Happy Sad (1969)
10. Nina Simone - 'Black Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair’ from Live at Village Hall (1969)
11. Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra - ‘Some Velvet Morning’ from Nancy and Lee (1968)
12. John Coltrane Quartet feat. Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison and McCoy Tyner - 'Alabama' from Live at Birdland (1963)
13. The Velvet Underground - ‘Ocean’ from VU (mixed 1969, released 1985) - all these albums I played over and over, and the first song that Rachel and I tried to play was ‘I'll Be Your Mirror’
14. Francoise Hardy - ‘La Maison ou J’ai Grandi’ from Francoise Hardy (1966)
15. Can - ‘Mother Sky’ from Soundtracks (1970) - this is just an excerpt as it is over 14 minutes as I ran out of time on this compilation. We all loved their records.