Mixtape #117

With a new month comes a wonderful new mixtape, this time round lovingly put together by French electronic musician Aārp. A classically trained experimental producer, Aārp stunned us earlier this year with the release of his debut album, Propaganda. We're excited to present his mix, with tracks from the likes of The Ronettes, Queen Latifah and Aaliyah, and including three gems from Aārp himself. Enjoy!

  1. The Crystals – Da Doo Ron Ron [Blues & Roots Records]
  2. The Ronettes – I Wonder [Philles Records]
  3. The Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice [Capitol Records]
  4. The Winstons – Amen Brother [Metromedia Records]
  5. Paul McCartney – Dear Boy [MPL Communications]
  6. DeBarge – All This Love [Gordy Records]
  7. Aaliyah – Back & Forth [Background / Jive / BMG Records]
  8. Men At Large – You And Me [Rhino Atlantic]
  9. Queen Latifah – U.N.I.T.Y [Motown]
  10. Aārp – Less Than 1% Of Patients Become Addicted [InFiné]
  11. Aaliyah – More Than A Woman [Virgin]
  12. Tigran Hamasyan – What The Waves Brought [Universal Music]
  13. Lawrence Brownlee & Jason Moran – There’s A Man Going ‘Round Taking Names [NPR Live Session]
  14. Aārp – Gemma III (Edit) [InFiné]
  15. Aārp – Les Malheureux Sont Les Puissances De La Terre [InFiné]

Aārp’s debut album Propaganda out now, watch the video for ‘Axis Of Evil’

Last Friday saw the release of Propaganda, the debut album from French experimentalist Aārp. As its title suggests, Propaganda is a political record, with each single track being informed by the press propaganda machine. Coinciding with the release, Aārp has shared a new single and accompanying video for ‘Axis Of Evil’. He comments on the song:

“[It] is taken from “The Axis of Devil States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world”. That was the full line as it was told by G. Bush on January 29, 2002 and repeated over and over during his term of office, and was intended to get the American population to consent to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in which they had no interest, but which were of capital interest to the neoconservative camp of Republicans seeking to weaken the Middle East”.

Just like the video for previous single, ‘There is no Alternative’, the video for ‘Axis Of Evil’ was also directed by Marco Dos Santos and features political stock footage. Dos Santos explains:

“To make war, for the good of the evil that heals by evil, for the evil that is good and for the good of those who have not be best pleased. After all, evil would only be a dark interpretation of good, as it is never bad enough to act alone. But from blow to blow, the first one to offer would always be wrong, and the last one no comfort. 3 minutes of the axis of evil in a mixed video, “enjoy your meal”.

Watch the video for ‘Axis Of Evil’ below.

Propaganda is out now through InFiné

Aārp unveils video for ‘There Is No Alternative’ off upcoming album

French experimentalist Aārp has announced the release of his debut album, Propaganda. A political record, Propaganda is partly inspired by the death of a young man in Nantes last summer, who drowned following a violent police raid at a music festival. The portrayal of this negligent event by manipulative media, deliberately spreading misinformation, was aimed at distorting the truth to allow French authorities to evade any consequence. On Aārp’s upcoming album, where each single track is informed by this kind of press propaganda, he asks “listeners to consider fact, open their minds and to think before spreading questionable news in an era rife with deception, when fabricated click-bait holds more currency than expertise.”

Propaganda is set for release on May 22nd through InFiné and ahead of it we can already hear the new single, ‘There is no Alternative’. Speaking about the track, Aārp explains that what was “uttered by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and insinuated that liberalism is the best model of society and that there are no freedoms beyond it. This idea is largely motivated by the literature of G-F. Hayek and his Road to serfdom.”

‘There is no Alternative’ comes with an accompanying video made by Marco Dos Santos. Watch it below.