Here's the ninth installment of my muxtape, and you'll play it here. There's no red thread through these tracks other than this one's calmer, in comparison with the earlier lists. I don't think it lacks dynamics though, and mind you, the list kicks off with something other than calm, namely

1. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Ode to Isis"

2. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Will You Smile Again?"

Another trademark overture marked by chaos in a little box, these two tracks open ToD's album "Worlds Apart", which I sincerely recommend to anybody even slightly interested in music. Listen. Explore.

3. M83 - "Waves, Waves, Waves"

Pun intended, this track reminds me of Polygon Window's ((Another one of Richard D. James', a.k.a. Aphex Twin, pseudonyms.)) album "Surfing on Sine Waves"; it's just as good, filled with atmosphere and lush, warm, analogue synthesizer sounds and good arrangements. The album this track is from, is called "Digital Shades Vol. 1".

4. Beastie Boys - "Futterman's Rule"

An instrumental from their penultimate commercial album, this is one of the jams based on the days where the guys skateboarded, played basketball and The W'ed all day long.

5. Charlotte Gainsbourg - "The Songs That We Sing"

...they don't really mean a thing, ta-da-daah. Such a star-studded album: Beck, Jarvis Cocker, AIR, and it actually turned out very good. I thought CG would be as convincing as Kate Moss appearing on albums by Primal Scream and Babyshambles, but no, she can carry her own. Ethereal, and this track really proves that Charles is her daddy.

6. Mono - "The Remains Of The Day"

I saw this lot live at ATP a couple of weeks ago: three young Japanese guys in the front, wearing all white, sporting long hair and bodily waving through their grinding, reverb-y tracks that went on forever; I think they went lopsided live, but this album is really good, reminiscent of Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai, but still holding its own. Produced by Steve Albini, no less.

7. Shearwater - "Rooks"

As their new album is due for release in June, Jonathan "Okkervil River Cohort Since Forever" Meiburg and his companions have released this sound. It takes a very special lot, in my mind, to make music like this, haunting and at the same time coherent enough to make it for an entire album. I love the part where Jonathan sings "And we'll sleep until the world of man is paralysed". Wonderful. Chromewaves has a very recent article about the band plus another bonus track here.

8. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Relative Ways"

I'm down this road, and I can't leave it yet.

9. Larry Ellis & The Black Hammer - "Funky Thing"

Breaking off ToD with a funky track like this, off a Quantic compilation, is sometimes a must.

10. Miles Davis - "Blue In Green"

At first, I hated this track. I thought one was supposed to love it, just because the album it's from - "Kind of Blue" - is regarded as a jazz masterpiece. I can't even begin to tell you about my problems with jazz. I've hated it for so long, more than Lauren hates Heidi. Even so, I've reconciled with jazz ((Albeit somewhat! I still cannot stand fusion.)) and this is a standout track for me.

11. Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Face To Face"

A very late 80's track, actually the main track from a Batman-soundtrack, where Siouxsie and her band show us that a singer's voice and a good song can survive the sound of the 80's.

12. Andreas Ammer & FM Einheit - "Canto XI"

Very pretentious way to end this muxtape, but what The Hell; in this track, merely one of the many where Ammer and Einheit take us through Dante's "Inferno", dear, belated and beloved John Peel acts the part of radio DJ, introducing us to The First Circle of Hell (i.e. limbo), where Blixa Bargeld chants at us in German, paired with monotone recitals in Latin from somebody else. Violins, celli, horns. The Downward Spiral to Hell!