Mixtapes:8: Rhodri Marsden

The best of lists that pop up at the end of the year are often hobbled by chronology or genre. It suggests that listening begins in January and ends in December or that people are experts in only one kind of music. People never really only listened to that which was made in one year, and the modern rock crit area was birthed by professional nostalgists and crate diggers. In asking a variety of professionals to mark what they were really listening to while maintaining the concept of an annual I didn’t want to engage in that act of crate digging, but I really did want to get a sense of what people were listening to. Think of it as the games people play with mix tapes, if mix tapes where really about what people listened to in 2006. The entries, comments (if offered) and biographies (if offered) are written by the critics (with their own eccentricities) themselves and they are arranged by their arrival in my inbox.

Rhodri Marsden

Rhodri Marsden is a writer who contributes self-depracating prose to British newspapers and magazines, including a weekly technology column in The Independent. After a serendipitous moment in an East London pub, he also recently became keyboard player in Scritti Politti.

This was the soundtrack of 2006, for me:

Songs:

• 5th Dimension: Everything's Been Changed, from the album Living Together, Growing Together (Bell, 1973)

  I passed my driving test in April, and the quest began to find songs that sound marvelous on a shit car stereo.

• The Scaramanga Six: Baggage (Wrath, 2006)

  The best single of the year, from an amazing band so utterly ignored it's almost funny.

• 4tRECk: Folk sans Mettle Neuf, from the album Je Me Promenade (Partycul System, 2005)

  Sam started playing understated live shows this year - he's an incredible talent.

• Bob James: Touchdown, from the album Touchdown (Warner, 1979)

  This makes the theme to Cagney and Lacey sound like Fantomas. In a good way.

• Desalvo: Brown Flag (Rock Action, 2006)

  And, by contrast, the best live band in the UK, on account of screaming and machine-gun drumming.

• Double Exposure: Ten Percent, from the album Ten Percent (Salsoul, 1976)

  Reading Peter Shapiro's fantastic book on disco unearthed this gem.

• Jeffrey Lewis: Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror, from the album City & Eastern Songs (Rough Trade, 2006)

  I saw Jeffrey play this every night when on tour with Scritti Politti in the US, and it got better and better.

• The Free Design: 2002 A Hit Song, from the album Heaven & Earth (Project 3, 1969)

  Cynical, perfect pop, from a time when you imagined cynical, perfect pop didn't exist.

• Man Aubergine: Bastard Brother (Run Of The Mill, 2006)

  Bizarre, quirky, bluegrass trio from South London, who I aim to see live next year.

• Magma: Köhntarkösz, from the album Concert 1976, Opera De Reims (Seventh, 1999)

  The last 5 minutes of this is possibly the most ridiculous bit of prog rock ever recorded.

Albums:

• 15.60.75: Jimmy Bell's Still In Town (Hearpen, 1999)

  The best live album I've ever heard.

• Talc: Sit Down Think (Wah Wah, 2006)

  The living embodiment of yacht rock, direct from West London

• A Witness: I Am Johns Pancreas (Ron Johnson, 1986)

  Re-released on CD this year, a welcome recognition for one of John Peel's favourite mid-80s bands

• Bob Hund: Omslag, Martin Kann (Silence, 1996)

  A Swedish masterpiece, failing to set the world alight only on account of it being in Swedish, I guess.

• Sudden Sway: Spacemate (Blanco Y Negro, 1986)

  Absurdist, poptastic, futuristic double album in a cardboard box, a preposterous project which surely deserves a re-release

• The Doobie Brothers: Minute By Minute (Warners, 1978)

  Channel 101's Yacht Rock was responsible for me digging out a lot of this stuff. Kenny Loggins almost made it onto the list, terrifyingly.

• Field Music: Tones Of Town (Memphis Industries, 2007)

  The best album of next year, no contest, all bets are off.

• Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark (Asylum, 1974)

  Like getting into a warm bath, or a relaxing shower, depending on your bathroom preference.

• Art Of Noise: What Have You Done WIth My Body, God (ZTT, 2006)

  Re-release of extended outtakes from 1984-5 sessions. A band based around a Yes drum sound. haha.

• Shudder To Think: Pony Express Record (Epic, 1994)

  One of the most magnificently skewed albums to appear on a major label. Triumphant.

Anthony Easton

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