Mixtape: The Balm
Tropical tunes with digital dimensions.
Liner Notes
The Balm is a collection of songs that are as digital as they are tropical—which is to say, not totally, but mostly. 🌴 1
This mix is balmy and palmy in every sense. Its tropical sounds are soothing and eccentric. It’s airy. It’s aromatic. It’s pleasantly warm. Cold beer. Hot nights. Loose shirts. Bermuda shorts. Casios on the beach.
The Balm is the sound of people, sounds, and worlds coming together—not with a collision, but with congeniality. It’s the music of different cultures being palmed back and forth. The Balm is not an explosion, but a handshake. 🤝
Ghana to France, Brooklyn to Barbados, the Netherlands to Nigeria, Massachusetts to the Mediterranean, California to the Caribbean.
It’s new wave by the waves. 🌊
It’s British music inspired by Jamaica and Jamaican music inspired by the British.
There are songs in broken French about Brazilian women in London.
There is tropical Japanese music sharing space with an iconic dancehall riddim that was built entirely upon a keyboard preset programmed by a Japanese woman in 1981.
The Balm is your salve. Spread it on.
▶︎ Listen to The Balm
Tracklist:
Seaside Woman - Linda McCartney
No Golden Throat - Lizzy Mercier Descloux
(Si, Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star - Bill Wyman
Under Me Sleng Teng - Wayne Smith
Darkroom - Paul McCartney
You’ve Got A Woman - Lion
Shimendōka - Haruomi Hosono
meet me in brooklyn - Yaya Bey
Miraculous Weekend - Peter Ivers
Redondo Beach - Patti Smith
Don’t Let Me Down - Marcia Griffiths
Will You Promise - Ebo Taylor
Don’t Huzzle for Love - The Apostles
Ride on Baby - William Onyeabor
I Love Hot Nights - Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers
Gentle Persuasion - Doug Hream Blunt
▶︎ Listen to The Balm
More music like this:
The weather is warming up and we have mixtapes for that. ☀️ Here are some for spring and summer.
In fact, handy seasonal icons have been added to the site’s menu bar for your browsing convenience. 🙄
Here are two more mixtape that might pair well with The Balm:
☊ Woodward — Organ-ized noise for the return of summer and society.
☊ Punch-Ups — Crunchy drummed up summer punchers.
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A working title of this mix incorporated the “word” tropital. In the end, I just couldn’t get there.
It is actually a little long.