Matt Kivel, Jesse Kivel, Abe Burns and Mark Nieto were right to call their band Sleeping Bags. Just as the name conjures images of warm cocoons and drowsing out underneath the stars, the California quartet wraps you up in pillowy layers of sound with dreamy, half-buried vocals. Quickly making a name for itself amongst its shoegazing brethren, the band’s self-titled debut was just released on Easter Everywhere Records. Nieto made us this mix tape to celebrate.
“Pehr” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/Pehr.mp3
Sly & The Family Stone “In Time”
When I listen to this song, I hear the past 30 years of pop music. The production sounds so modern for the time. Video
Sleeping Bags “Pehr”
“Pehr” is Sleeping Bags in our purest form. The name comes from a gallery in Echo Park, which has been very good to us. It was the first place we played, and since then, they’ve allowed us to throw our own shows. But more importantly, they’ve given us a venue to experiment and hone our sound. It’s where we’ve played live the most and feel most comfortable. It’s like our home. Video
Ahu “To: Love (Dimlite Remix)”
If Sly is the past, then Dimlite is the future. I think he blows away all other electronic musicians these days. Video
YMO “Cue”
This song fills me with hope. It makes me want to run up a hill. I loved it when I first heard the Cornelius cover, but there’s something charming about the original. Maybe it’s the repetitive nature of those old synthesizers. Video
Britney Spears “Till The World Ends”
When the chorus hits, it makes me want to play soccer. Video
Asobi Seksu “Red Sea”
A perfect pop song wrapped up in some kind of Phil Spector/My Bloody Valentine-wannabe production. So many bands have tried to pull this off, but I think Asobi Seksu actually sounds good doing it without totally resorting to lo-fi recording. I still don’t know what she’s singing about. Video
Asa-Chang & Junrei “Hana”
I just heard this for the first time a couple weeks ago, and it’s unlike anything I’ve heard before. It’s indescribable to me. It’s like “Fuck it. Let’s take Arvo Part, program some traditional Japanese drums on top of it and run the the vocals through vocoders.” Whenever I play this for people, it seems to freak them out, but I find it very soothing. Video
Squarepusher “Iambic 9 Poetry”
This song kills me. I think this is some of the best drum playing ever. Don’t read the rest of this until you listen to the song! The bass intro is perfect, and then he brings in this corny, generic-sounding hip-hop beat, and over the course of the song, it evolves into something much more special. That surprise is what hooked me after the first time I heard it. It’s some of the most expressive drum playing I’ve ever heard, all held together by his beautiful chord progressions. Just wait for that ride cymbal to come in. Video
Art Of Noise “Eye Of A Needle”
There’s a bar I DJ at on Saturday nights with a couple friends, and before the crowd gets there, we’ll put on records for each other that we wouldn’t feel appropriate playing later on. My friend Alex put this record on it, and watching people sip their cocktails to this was a surreal experience. Like lounge music from Blade Runner. Video
COMBAT! “Heavy Accent”
COMBAT! is another project that I’ve been working on for a while. This is the first song to be released off the upcoming album. Video
Girl’s Generation “Gee (Mirrored And Slow)”
In the age of the internet, it still surprises me when a pop song can be a massive hit in one part of the world and remain relatively unknown throughout the rest. It reminds me of how large the world really is. Anyway, when I saw the original video for this song, it hit me hard. This song, along with the dance and video, were huge in South Korea, and everyone was trying to learn the dance. People started uploading slowed-down and mirrored versions of the video so that you could learn the moves and dance along at home. These versions were a lot more interesting to me; like when you’re showing someone a record and you don’t realize you’re playing it at the wrong speed, but you keep listening to it anyway. Slowed down, you can hear all the little flourishes and ear candy that normally zip by in the song. The track takes on a whole new character. They played the Staples Center in LA a year ago, but I didn’t get to go. I hate chopped and screwed music. Video
