The Giant Golden Radio

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

You lucky dogs. We’ve got a real good one for you this time, with tracks new and old, running the gambit from a modern day interpretation of an old immigrant folk ballad to some remixes fit for the sweatiest of dance floors. And you’d be surprised how few songs it takes to transition between those two extremes. In the new newness department, we have some tracks by MGMT, Thao (pictured), the Seattle band The Helio Sequence, Ravens and Chimes, and Lightspeed Champion. The group formerly know as Say Hi To Your Mom is now know as just Say Hi, which I personally think is a tasteful simplification. They’ve moved to Seattle and felt compelled to write a song about northwestern girls (“It must be in the air here…”). And I’m pretty pumped up about Sam Amidon, whom I just discovered during the making of this episode. He does a powerful reprisal of the classic folk song Saro on his new album, full of muted horns and very deliberate guitar picking. Apparently, missing your girlfriend has been a persisting sentiment throughout history (“’Tis not this long journey that grieves me for to go /Nor the country that I’m leaving /Nor the debts that I owe /There’s one thing that grieves me and bears on my mind /That’s leaving my darling pretty Saro behind”). You’ll also come across a lovely little instrumental from the guitarist for Band of Horses, Tyler Ramsey, as well as a beat from the LA producer edIT that sounds to me like a warm bath. But that’s just me.

1. MGMT – Time To Pretend
2. The Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead
3. Ravens And Chimes – This Is Where We Are
4. Say Hi – Northwestern Girls
5. Thao – Bag Of Hammers
6. Ambulence Ltd. – Anecdote
7. Luna – Malibu Love Nest
8. Tyler Ramsey – Birdwings
9. Sam Amidon – Saro
10. Lightspeed Champion – Dry Lips
11. Headlights – Cherry Tulips
12. Phoenix – Napoleon Says
13. The Little Ones – Lovers Who Uncover (Crystal Castles remix)
14. Black Lips – Veni Vedi Veci (Diplo remix)
15. edIT – Southern Belle
16. Junior Boys – In The Morning (Hot Chip remix)

Subscribe to the podcast to receive these mixtapes whenever they are published, or if you’re so inclined you can download the individual episode.