"I Made you a Mixed Tape" (Featuring guest blogger Rochele Potter)

"I made you a mixed tape"

Do you remember the days of mixed tapes? Do lovers still carefully curate a disc of songs for their objets désires? I still have the very first mixed tape that a boy ever gave me. He had broken my heart at the beginning of summer, and apologized in September by handing me the cassette and a note. I remember the second tape I was ever given, too. That tape set off a decade of eclectic playlists. The songs on his tape didn’t belong to any specific genre; he compiled them because he liked them. I followed his suit, and almost none of my mixes make any sense. As an adult, I now find them jarring to listen to the contrasts in genres.

Some time long ago in high school, downloading music and burning CD’s became prevalent. I wasn’t allowed to download music because my parents had a legitimate concern that I was going to Y2K the computer with a virus, so I paid a guy $15 to download and burn a CD of mixed songs. Music cataloging was a little sketchy back then.

These days we won’t even have to download music to share it. We make a playlist in YouTube and share the link. Or, in this case, it gets embedded. I’m glad it’s a lot easier, I can play DJ for all of my parties, but there was something so very special about being handed a tape or a CD. It became yours.

Enjoy this mix, I named it ‘I made you a mixed tape’ for old times’ sake. (click the link for the playlist)

Tracks:
1. Wildcat! Wildcat! – Garden Grays
2. Kevin Drew – Good Sex
3.Wet – You’re The Best
4. Cherub – Doses and Mimosas
5. Tei Shi – Nevermind The End
6. Lianne La Havas – Elusive
7. Bibio – Lovers Carvings
8. Mikky Ekko – I Love You (I Always Have)
9. The Chain Gang Of 1974 – Sleepwalking
10. Panama – Destoyer
11. Franz Ferdinand – The Universe Expanded
12. Beck – I Won’t Be Long Beck
13. Lianne La Havas ft. Willy Mason – No Room For Doubt
14. The Concretes – Miss You

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Thanks Rochele!
-Marty
@martyzylstra

Seven! Released today!

Seven!

Marty's new song "Seven" produced/mixed by Carl Davis (the Left/the Pompadoors) and mastered by Abbey Road Studios (the Beatles/John Lennon) is released today in all digital formats!  This song is his 2nd single of 5 (or more) tracks that will be continue to be released throughout 2014.   This new song simply titled "Seven" is a guitar driven countrified adult alternative rock and roll track about typical 20 something life lessons to domestic bliss in the 30's and beyond.  "Seven" takes the listener to a place they've been before but forgot about and glad they've returned.  When you hear the hooks in the chorus you will not be able to help singing along! 

Click here to be redirected to "Seven" on iTunes

10 AMAZING songs to download right now! (#8: British Invasion) ***Guest Post feat. Michael Coutts (of the Day Trippers)***

The Beatles kicked off the British Invasion in February of 1964 and paved the way for countless other British bands to take the world by storm. Here's a sample of what some of these other British bands were producing at the time that drove fans wild and helped reinvent the musical landscape of the 1960s.

Song #1: Glad All Over by The Dave Clark Five

Song #2: She’s Not There by The Zombies

Song #3: You Really Got Me by The Kinks

Song #4: I’m Into Something Good by Herman’s Hermits

Song #5: Ferry Cross The Mersey by Gerry and The Pacemakers

Song #6: For Your Love by the Yardbirds

Song #7: Here Comes The Night by Them

Song #8: The Game Of Love by The Mindbenders

Song #9: We Gotta Get Out Of This Place by The Animals

Song #10: Bus Stop by The Hollies

Special bonus track:

Song #11: Wild Thing by The Troggs

 

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Thanks Mike!

Love,

-Marty

@martyzylstra

 

10 AMAZING songs to download right now! (#7: Acid Jazz Edition) ***Guest Post feat. Bill Farrant (of Weird Party)***

In the spring of 1997 I went to Europe with my best friend Nigel. Leaving for the airport, I grabbed an assortment of cassette tapes for my walkman. The first time I used it I popped in what I thought was the entire catalogue of Smashing Pumpkins demos, but it turned out to be an audio book for people with anxiety disorders on side A- my father was a psychologist, I must have picked up one of his tapes by accident. On side B, however, was a style of music I had never heard before: acid jazz. Nigel and I were taking a night train from Bremen, Germany, to Basel, Switzerland and this new musical style was the perfect backdrop to the relentless rhythm of the train tracks and the low light of the passenger car. With my headphones on, and the car nearly empty, It was if I was in my own private club, the fact it was a smoking car enhancing that feeling immensely. I listened to that cassette a hundred times over the next five weeks and when I got home my obsession for alternative rock was gone, and born was a love for groove, dance, funk, and horns. The album, United Future Organization’s self-titled 1993 album, is still one of my favourites, and has influenced my musical path ever since. Below are my top ten songs inspired by that night:

United Future Organization - Self-Titled - On Est Ensemble Sans Se Parler
Greyboy - Home Cookin (compilation) - Unwind Your Mind (feat. Carl Denson) 

DJ Mark Farina - Mushroom Jazz Vol. 2 - Piano Grand (Tony. D)

Air - Moon Safari - La Femme D’argent

St. Germain - Tourist - Sure Thing - Blue Note

Fila Brazillia - A Touch of Cloth - The Bugs Will Bite

Dimitri from Paris - Rewind - Morning Kids

Herbert - Bodily Functions - The Audience

Bob Sinclar - Paradise - My Only Love

US3 - Hand on the Torch - Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)

 

Thanks Bill!

Love,

-Marty

@martyzylstra

10 AMAZING songs to download right now! (#6: 90's Edition) ***Guest Post feat. Jordan Irwin (of River of Kings)***

Check out this week's guest post featuring Jordan Irwin of River of Kings:
--Best 90s Gems--

Remember Much Music in the 90s? Back when they still played music videos and the music was awesome? Well this is basically a list of songs that you probably haven't heard in a really long time that kick ass.
And I mostly stuck to mid-late 90s Can-rock. This list could have been at least 40 long, but I was asked for a top 10...
In no particular order.

Limblifter - Tinfoil
Age of Electric - Untitled
Matthew Good Band - Indestructible
Hayden - Bad as They Seem
Rusty - Misogyny
Treble Charger - Friend of Mine
Killjoys - Today I Hate Everyone
Pluto - When She Was Happy
Pure - Anna is a Speed Freak
Wide Mouth Mason - Companion

Honourable Mentions:
Jet Set Satellite - Baby Cool Your Jets
Zuckerbaby - Andromeda
Glueleg - Dragonfly
Sandbox - Curious
Toadies - Possum Kingdom

--
Thanks Jordan!
Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra

10 AMAZING songs to download right now! (#5: Brit-Pop Edition)

Song #1: Go by the Maccabees
Song #2: Sun Hits the Sky by Supergrass
Song #3: Kill the Director by the Wombats
Song #4: Aggro by the Enemy
Song #5: Never Miss a Beat by the Kaiser Chiefs
Song #6: I'm Not Sorry by the Pigeon Detectives
Song #7: Hard to Beat by Hard-Fi
Song #8: Heavyweight Champion of the World by Reverend and the Makers
Song #9: Chocolate by the 1975
Song #10: Hey Dude by Kula Shaker
special bonus track:
Song #11: So Young (Misery Dictionary) by the Stone Roses

My new song "Seven" to be released digitally VERY soon!

While you wait, feel free to read my biography!
Marty Zylstra has a unique Canadian perspective. Growing up as a preacher’s son across rural Canada from northern British Columbia to the prairies and Northern Ontario and back set a scene for a future music path that is as wide and all-encompassing as this country is vast. Marty learned to sing from old time gospel hymns and with influences strongly entrenched in early 60’s Beatles and the myth and legend of John Lennon to 1970’s Tom Petty & the eclectic nature of David Bowie to modern Canadian heroes Sam Roberts and Sloan to the pop rock British invasion of the 90’s and back again.

After grinding it out regionally in local Vancouver power pop band “Sweetheart” for the last number of years, Marty decided that it was time to stretch his legs and create something that spoke more directly to his youth and heart. A monumental and life altering short vacation to Memphis in 2012 on Elvis Presley’s birthday baptized Marty’s soul in rock and roll in the way only the birthplace of rock and roll could. Rejuvenated and invigorated upon his return to Vancouver, he started work on the seeds of new songs and ideas that have now come to fruition in this new recording. Carl Davis (the Left, the Pompadoors) produced this new three song EP in an old school and almost Nashville style studio session where the songs were finished on the studio floor with only the best Vancouver based studio musicians. 

Mixed by Mr. Davis and mastered by Sean McGee (the Beatles, John Lennon) at Abbey Road Studios this initial offering shows three sides of Marty’s personality which includes an affinity for British culture, lyrical themes of a vision of past life lessons and future domestic bliss, and a sheer twisted humour. Throughout 2014 each song will be released individually through digital channels and will include a new piece of visual media: one of video, print, or clothing. Local and regional shows will follow in 2014 and hinging on a loose plan to grow a grassroots following by starting small but thinking big, will likely continue to write new material and record with as many of his friends as possible over the next year and release numerous eclectic recordings.