Mix-Tape 40 - I Knew You

It's been almost 4 years since I first started dabbling in the art of playlisting on Spotify. Inspired by the beautiful, quirky and random mixtapes folk around my age used to make when we were kids and young adults. At first we created them to record songs we liked off the radio and not have to rely on radio DJs or our own meagre record and tape collections to listen to our favourite tracks. 

Later, as we became more practised and relatively affluent, our mixtape skills focused on compiling songs that worked well together and then sharing our mixes with friends. To make a mixtape for someone was one of the most romantic or caring gestures we could make. That hand-sized plastic package of carefully chosen music with a handwritten track list and sometimes a handmade insert or cover crafted from magazine cut out collage, could seal new friendships, heal broken ones and keep us company through the many tough times of adolescence and early adulthood. 

The idea of being able to stream and buy digital copies of our favourite songs and tracks was something we could not even dream of yet. To have such a vast quantity of music available 24/7 would have been unbelievable to our younger selves. Yet here we are - unlimited streaming, vast catalogues and endless playback. 

Playlisting itself has developed into an art form of its own and despite lacking the tactility, smell or physical presence of analogue cassette tapes, digital playlists can carry a similar potency. The initial magic ingredients of taking time and thought to carefully curate a list, perfect for a certain time, a certain moment, a certain someone, remains. 

My first attempt was a little roughshod mix for a friend going through some momentous life changes. It runs over 5 hours long and includes such disparities as Pete Tong, Robert Plant, Alex The Astronaut, Billie Holiday, St. Vincent, Fleetwood Mac, Geri Halliwell, Elbow and many many more but each track is carefully selected and ordered (although back then, I naively imagined that the ultimate track order would be whatever I chose by clicking on ‘date added’, ‘album’ or ‘song title’ (ascending or descending) rather than the original order of tracks as they were added) to give an overall effect of playful curiosity and burgeoning confidence wrapped up in a soothing hug. I hope that comes across!! 

As you can see by the notes I added to the playlist description (or imaginary cassette insert if you like) there is magic in the giving of as well as the reception of a well thought out mixtape: 

This ‘mix-tape’ was put together as a musical hug for a friend. I've listened to it almost daily these past few months which have been a super challenging time for me. It has been a life buoy, comfort blanket, spirit lifter, solace, distraction + inspiration. I hope you feel moved by the music too x 

My first Spotify Mix-Tapes were considerably longer than they are now, reflecting my excitement at the seemingly endless possibilities of curating a soundtrack gift to share. They contained anywhere between 37 and 78 tracks - up to 5 ½ hours of play! Now they are limited to 27 items but are still derived from an addiction to the curating of music to share. 

In the beginning stages of writing practice back then, it seemed natural to bring that craft to the playlist too. Feeling the need for a challenge to shake up my early writing style, I gave myself the challenge of writing a piece of poetry or prose using all the track titles listed to construct a conversation, a letter, memory fragments or some other form of communication - a message in a bottle if you like. Thus the Mix-Tape Poems were born. 

Mix-Tape 1 - I Believe In Music - Jun2018 

November 2021 I began creating my fortieth Mix-Tape called I Knew You, titled after the first soul baring track by Future Islands. I'm not sure why this mix needed a full hibernation period before sprouting its wings out into the world, but this slowly emerging spring feels like the right time to unearth its gems and let it grow. Personally, I am falling in love with it, and the magic of the mixtape process, all over again. I hope you do too.. x

Mix-Tape 40 - I Knew You - Winter2021/22

Description Poem:

Always running down / this dead end street is hard / There's music in the darkness / grooves pounded into heart / sways with our emotions / Hush. Yonder door is open / bright lights beam our way / disco balls glitter, say / we've arrived.. x

Fragments:

Our last sundown fell aeons ago, way beyond our horizons yet

Was it so long-ago that you knew me babe and I knew you?

 

We were love’s refuges rolling a dark train of disappointment

Pushed underground through a tunnel snaking dark and long

 

Myriad memories meander over this aging mindscape-

That last year as surprising as the seasons confused

 

Like time runaway we were far from our true selves..

Unnaturally warm spring and it was cold in summer

 

A lonely girl in the rain and my love, I kissed someone (it wasn’t you)

Though I was thinking of you I swear, your face was all I saw..

 

They say, you’re on your way and I wonder after all this time

Will you remember me? Will you recognise these darkened eyes..

 

You came back then and I can’t believe we had another chance

Yet there on Redondo beach we claimed our own secret Paradise

 

The clouds lifted and we danced, you in your faded blue jeans

My white dress torn like my heart, a tattered shell, unshored

 

But you held my hand, said ‘I know places’ and you know how it is

When you love too much, I swear my heart was a firework - constant

 

Explosions - all senses flowing like a river to the open sea

We were in heaven, and I swear, it was just like old times..

 

At Groovata the sun swelled over the midnight ocean

In your arms I felt serene, full of grace by your side

 

I only feel cool when I’m with you and something wonderful-

Something unparalleled fell into our laps, babe, magic, I swear.

 

Our eyes fixed, you breathed ‘My Millennium Angel’, and I belonged

From that moment on, I swear I was yours. Even now, all it takes-

 

A touch of southern breeze can bring me back to you, those nights..

You remember how the edges bled and we lived in soft filter babe

 

Polaroid kisses, even the whale song called out to our wildness

The sound fills me with heartbreak now, time and time again

 

Sunset’s arms still stretch wide though there’s only me now

But you’re coming back, and I swear babe, if this ain’t love

 

I don’t know what is. This summer will be my last here so

Whatever the weather, find me babe, come give me love.. xx

Music For Your Ears

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:

Music plays a leading role in the life of this curious mother. Except for those moments when I need a dose of relative silence, am entertaining Pixie, or am recording my own music, these four walls reverberate almost continuously with Spotify playlists, new releases or the latest tunes I've bagged on bandcamp. For me, an excess of it is a rare occurrence.

The Mix-Tape playlists I curate on Spotify began way back in the summer of 2018 and will I'm sure continue for some time. They are akin to mood-boards on which I pin lists of tunes that I enjoy listening to, new and old, under headings that either create a certain ambience or tell a story in lyrics and music. My Corona series for example tells a tale of the pandemic in ongoing stages of development. It is a musical documentary of sorts using music to relay some of the issues, situations and feelings that arose from and continue to arise from Covid and explore how these factors affected / affect us.

Sound is such a powerful and potent element in all of our lives in one way or another. Even if you're not as addicted to music as I am, life's soundscapes, the natural world's vibrations and the feelings music creates in us can make or break our days, take us away from the mundane either straight into the eye of a chaotic storm or into a more serene, ethereal space providing respite from anxious and debilitating thoughts.

I'd like to share a bit more of the music that soundtracks my days in the studio and some of the tunes, tracks and songs I'm currently listening to and loving. You can find all myshared playlists here and below are some of the gems I purchased recently via the incredibly useful medium that is bandcamp.

WavesAs Tall As Houses by St. Clair

I love the fairground folky style of St. Clair's music and this lush little EP doesn't fail to impress with deeply primal beats pounding like waves beneath beautiful voices - a chorus of Mer-people sirening us under the water, a lone haunting vocal or heart-breaking violin drifting along the sand from an indistinguishable point on the rocks. This deliciously delicate sound floats like a dream around our ears and combines with profound yet relatable lyrics to ensure the music hits our hearts and touches our souls in an unforgettable way. One to play on repeat whilst storm watching.

Wanderers (feat. Michelle B.) by The G

LA artist and producer The G writes and performs emotive synthwave music and this title track from his recent Wanderers album on the New Retro Wave label, is full of the feelz. The music takes us back to a re-lived 1980s, lying - as nonchalantly and romantically as a young awkward teen can - in sun-drenched playing-fields, daydreams skipping hand in hand with strange thoughts and feelings that seem certain one moment, mad foolishness the next. Michelle B's breathy yet controlled vocals carry the heated lyrics perfectly. One to play on repeat this summer. Check out the album too - it’s a beautiful piece of new retrowave synth-saturated nostalgic delight as is The G’s playlist ‘Wanderers:a Vocal Synthwave Playlist’.

Lately (Charlotte + Carolina version) by Charlotte Carpenter

This beautifully tender track released in June, is a new version of Lately recorded at home by Charlotte and Carolina in celebration of Pride month. Charlotte’s soothing vocals, spare lyrics and exquisite guitar always work refreshing wonders for the harangued listener. Here, her vocals harmonise effortlessly with Carolina’s and this deceptively simple siren song drifts gently through the ears, reaching parts of the soul we were previously unaware of. A restorative tune for trying times.

All proceeds go to Mermaids charity supporting transgender and gender variant children and their families.

Inner Song Remix Series by Kelly Lee Owens

This LP contains a plethora of remixes by techno producer and musician Kelly Lee Owens, of her second album Inner Song which was released last summer on Smalltown Supersound to ecstatic reviews. I have to confess to not yet having listened to the whole original album but can tell you that these remixes stand alone as exemplar pieces, soundscapes of sparse thumping techno combined with otherworldly vocals, distant voices. It feels a bit like wandering into the back room of a club towards the end of the night, losing yourself in the dancing whilst the phone calls and thoughts of your fellow dancers and those lounged around the edges are played out loud. This I guess is the point of the original record - a glimpse into Kelly’s mind and some of its many facets and voices. At once recognizable and strange. Find a quiet spot, relax and let the sounds flow through, taking you on a journey. And it is a trip, enjoy x

Scarlet and Teal

My first story on @Vocal_Creators has been published, yay! 

Scarlet and Teal is about a girl whose red as thunder heart dissolved into a sea of blue. Will she make it back to shore? x

Review: Harry Potter Book 1 - The Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Glad I resisted reading the HP books when they came out and have just read the first 3 for the first time with my 7 year old. We loved them all. Great stories, well written, likeable characters (obvs).

This opening book sets the scene well for more adventures to come but also stands well on its own. The story telling is compelling and the plot is well thought out with a continuous stream of interesting situations for young Harry + his new friends to deal with. The magical v muggle world detail is impeccably thought out, described and tantalisingly believable culminating in the extraordinary game of Quidditch. A joy to read at 7 or 48 years of age!

p.s. We read the super lovely 20th anniversary Bloomsbury house edition - paperback, Gryffindor, non-stripy as seen here.

View all my reviews

A Harmless Lullaby

I can’t get out of bed she says,
I’m scared of Mannequin.

Mannequin sighs from ‘neath red wool hat
which Daddy placed on top
to hide the two neck bolts
that sometimes look like eyes.

At night-time whilst she sleeps soft
Mannequin comes to life
her fixed form glows
under moon enchanted,
bends and dips,
her one leg glides
‘cross bedroom floor,
bags sway like arms
in time to starry chorus
a constellation of notes work fire on dark skies
as Mannequin’s song sings soft -


‘Sleep soundly little one
There is no need to fear me
When this night is done dear one
Those night dreams will prove only
Flights of pure fancy little one
An imaginative journey
And when the moon is gone dear one
You’ll think nothing of me
A tall, silent mannequin
Single leg and no real arms
But I will watch over you little one
And keep you safe from harm.’

#VSS365 #VSSPoem 7thFeb2020

Entanglement Theory

Long, long, long ago,
Beyond the scope of time,
Your shiny, spinning rock star
Collided into mine.
Left a meteoric scar
Across my cosmic heart –
A crater lying aeons deep
A lifetime’s width apart.

Far, far, far away.
Bonds that can’t be severed,
Bound my lonely heart to yours
Our orbits changed forever.
In a cold, dark, empty space
Our bodies out of time,
Knew we’d be together, love
Further down the line.

If the numbers all add up
And the cosmic maths is right,
The physics that is drawing us
Won’t give up the fight.
A million miles of galaxy
Can’t keep us apart –
We bleed the same blue star dust;
Same plasma in our hearts.

A promise made so long ago
Sends us spinning through the skies
In opposite directions –
You turn left and I spin right.
Yet we are still together,
Connections running deep -
The stories and the songs we share
Will bring you back to me.

Nothing can tear our hearts apart
Without forcing a hole
In the holy matter of time and space,
In the fabric of our souls.
And so our planets circle
Around the same bright star
In spirals of galactic love
That keep us near and far.

Interstellar longing,
A message from above:
Find your inner compass -
A universal Love.

Places of Poetry - Honing Time

Here is my first poem for the wonderful Places of Poetry project where you can read, rate and pin your own poems about places in England & Wales.

This piece - Honing Time was conceived just outside the St Peter & St Paul church at Honing, North Walsham in Norfolk.

Sat in the car, warm
artificial coziness embracing
life worn bones, lovelorn tones
cossetting weak flesh in sleepy summer aroma.

Outside, mini helicopters whirr,
dragonflies zipping back and forth amongst
fields of wheat, ferociously engaged
in a busy ballet, a network of greetings.

Transported through millennia
in the blink of an uncertain eye
by the rogue time machine
that is this Norfolk countryside.

Searching for clues of who I might be –
notice the field, its hand has revealed –
the five of spades caught up in the shape,
the fiery beacon of glimmering trees

alight in the shimmering heat of just gone noon
on this pleasantly barmy august day.
Green olive branches sway gracefully,
long swathes of ecstatic leaves reach

out in all directions, beckoning me
towards their haze fuelled dream.
An aura of whispered secrets glows
translucent, spectrums sing

a multicoloured halo of time
traversing tales, long ago stories
of what might have been, what was
and what may be on its way.

Hypnotised mind fills with memories,
dreams and long forgotten hopes.
In a trance, I am thinking the thoughts of another;
Do I see what she sees too?

How many others have sat in this spot;
how many others have stood in this place;
observed the same view transformed
by the passing years? How long have these trees

watched us, overheard our sighs and
wondrous gasps? How long have they danced
their magic entrancing her and him and I
through glowing portals to other times?

Ask the dragonflies, what have they seen?
They will laugh at our notion, ridiculous
of individual lifetimes. Prehistoric creatures
have seen more than we could ever hope to be.

Mix-Tape 4 - The Sweet Darkness - Dec2018

Words to accompany my latest Spotify mix-tape The Sweet Darkness - Dec2018

Our final Mix-Tape of 2018 is The Sweet Darkness. It comes with a story so let’s gather round the fireside, blankets pulled up close, press shuffle (or play in date order as you wish) and allow ourselves to get lost in the flicker & glow of the flames as the music pulls us into a dream. This is no festive frolic - more a venture into the dark depths of winter’s renewing wonderland. So, pull on the thick, hooded cloak of friendship, grab an oil filled lantern of good hope and take my hand as we embark down a musical rabbit hole on a journey into the dreamy darkness of Winter…

Goodbye England (Covered In Snow). The Nightfall Pale Blue drifts down over this place where The World Is A Ghetto and the Hourglass is Falling, Catching the last beams of daylight behind the Winter Trees. We’ll leave the Dirty Old Town behind us this December Day, Burning Bridges as we go.

‘Everybody Loves You! Wdsg?’ the Villagers’ Fool yells down from a flaming flyover, running towards us with a toothless grin. He offers us V4 Fake Sugar which we politely decline as we pass by The River where Club 8 are Swimming With The Tide and Avril tries to Keep Her Head Above Water.

Turning away, we enter the enchanted forest through a Tunnel of evergreen hedgerow. Radio Silence falls and for a moment or two we are overwhelmed by the peaceful lushness of ancient trees and wild flowers blooming proudly in the moonlight. The cool calm covers us in a blanket of Serenity whilst high above in the canopy, Bowie sings his Opus ‘Wild Is The Wind’ from a glittering trapeze swing, making us sway with vicarious Vertigo as we watch the tails of his turquoise suit floating behind him like wings, a yellow rose in his lapel.

‘No CD!’ he calls down to us, dropping The Rose at our feet like a Sacrifice. We both move to pick it up, but before we get a chance, Eric appears from behind an old, beautifully snarled oak and holds up a warning hand.

‘Let It Grow’ he advises of the lemon flower and ushers us towards a new path. ‘Please Be With Me’.

We follow him into the darkest part of the wood where the trees have joined upper limbs to create a chamber-like arbour in which Cat’s Eyes glower in the gloom at the only Girl In The Room. Myela is stuck in a groove, lost in her past, Always whirling around singing,

‘Who Hurt Who on the 25th Of Last December? Now I’m Dancing On My Own…’.

We spin around the dancefloor with her for a moment until she disappears into the misty darkness and we sense another presence hovering behind us.

‘Is Someone Out There?’ we call through the greying murk. The only response is a repeated refrain of our voices echoing back and forth. A crunch of footsteps finds us spinning around again.

This time we spy Muse lurking in the shadows, softly tempting us to The Dark Side three times over in their Alternate Reality. We find ourselves drifting towards them when suddenly Lily runs over exclaiming,

‘I’ve Lost My Mind! If you find it, please Send To Robin Immediately!’

She hands us a battered leaflet with the faded headline ‘Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution’ before running off into the trees. What does it mean? It feels like a relic from another world.

‘Tough Love’ mutters Iggy Pop swinging down off the back of a passing Three Oh Nine bus. As he walks alongside us, we notice the landscape has changed to a more urban environment and we amble, unsettled, along the edge of a raucous city park complete with deafening fairground and dizzying carousels.

Iggy, sensing our desire to return somewhere quieter and more familiar, indicates towards the grand houses on the other side of the street and explains,

‘This is where The Pure And The Damned reside. Have you tried Thinking Of A Place When There’s Love?’ This seems like portentous advice, but we can hear Roberta inviting us to join her party. Glancing at your face, I can see you Feel Like Me and that we’re doing better than we’ve ever been, so we follow Minnie’s suggestion to ‘Close Your Eyes And Remember’ and cover our faces in gloved hands.

The Chromatics’ Camera clicks into place (and we love it despite the outrageously banging donk on it!) Opening our eyes, we find ourselves in a clearing surrounded by painted rose brambles and silver birch. In the centre of the clearing sits an enchanting, wood-framed, cob cottage bathed in a welcoming flickering glow. Like instinctive Detectorists we know we will B. Inspired to find the gifts waiting for us inside, so we head towards the golden fireside to tell our stories and sing our songs assured that Love Will lead us home.

The End.

Enjoy the holidays. Much love, Rache xx