The other day I was chit-chatting with Marco „Peedoo“ Gallerani of Hell Yeah Recordings when he told me about this pearl of a mix entirely done with covers. After he sent me the link and just about three songs into it we were hooked. The perfect companion for the summer that finally came around the corner here. The mix was done by Enzo Baruffaldi from Bologna and it’s such a sweet thing that you’re gonna be afraid it’s going to melt in the sun.

Here’s what Enzo, who’s running the superb polaroid blog and curates a radio show on Radio Città del Capo called "polaroid" (the nod is to Douglas Coupland and Belle & Sebastian, not the camera), where he plays indiepop and indie rock, has to say about it: „To be honest, when Marco “Peedoo” Gallerani asks me to play records somewhere, I don’t really think of playlists or anything. I just see him in front of me, once again at our old playground, waiting on the free throw line, hands on knees. I’ve got the ball, outside the three points. I know it be will be very hard to get to the basket. Going to play music in Peedoo’s backcourt will cost me sweat and commitment. The convocation for the Balearic Bassa 2016 party was simply: “a set of mellow covers”. The first thing I thought of was Math And Physics Club’s rendition of "Angel Gone”. And not only because it is one of my favorite Beat Happening songs ever, but also because this is one of my ideals of indiepop cover: it’s like the small Seattle band is playing the negative of the original song, turning all the harshness upside down, into something gentle and sweet, and still managing to narrate all the bitterness of that story. The second track that came to my mind was Yo La Tengo’s cover of “Friday I’m In Love”: I know, this one is more predictable, but you have to admit that YLT are the world champions of mellowness. Now it was just a matter of connecting the dots, and that was a challenge already, a neck-to-neck match, throwing in some old friend, some hobby-horse, keeping in mind the mission requirements. I hope you enjoy this mixtape, at least as much as I enjoyed putting it together. See you at the next Hell Yeah Records party, cheers!“

Thanks Marco for connecting, and thanks Enzo for delivering a mix that definetly will take weeks, months, years to fade - if it ever does.

 

 

Playlist:

01) Math And Physics Club - Angel Gone (Beat Happening cover)

02) Tashaki Miyaki - All I Have To Do Is Dream (Everly Brothers cover)

03) Fuck - Oops!... I Did It Again (Britney Spears cover) 

04) Ben Lee - Float On (Modest Mouse cover)

05) Tindersticks - Here (Pavement cover)

06) Be Forest - I Quit Girls (Japandroids cover)

07) Le Man Avec Les Lunettes - So Bored (Wavves cover)

08) Fanfarlo - A Minor Place (Bonnie "Prince" Billy cover)

09) El Perro Del Mar - Dream Baby Dream (Suicide cover)

10) A Classic Education - Spanish Harlem (Phil Spector cover)

11) The Bilinda Butchers - This Love Is Fucking Right! (The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart cover)

12) Au Revoir Simone - Oh! You Pretty Thing (David Bowie cover)

13) Iron & Wine - Peng! 33 (Stereolab cover)

14) Tennis - Tell Her No (The Zombies cover)

15) Horrible Present - The Optimism High (Chris Cohen cover)

16) Jens Lekman - A Little Lost (Arthur Russell cover)

17) Girlpool - Cut Your Bangs (Radiator Hospital cover)

18) Yo La Tengo - Friday I'm In Love (The Cure cover)