MIXTAPE
TRUSTFALL
Image by Ot Pascoe
The Hook mixtape is compiled through a series of music related questions. Each artist who fills it out can answer as many or as few of the questions as they wish, and elaborate on their choices, or let them speak for themselves.
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Artist
Trustfall
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Location
London
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FYI
Trustfall was mentored by the lauded experimental composer William Basinski, and has gone on to work with Kelsey Lu and Holy Herndon amongst others
Press Clippings
'I’m not sure if I succeed but in the end I’m trying to make pop music. It’s a language or a mode of construction that allows you to communicate with people..' Something Curated
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The last piece of music you paid for (streaming doesn’t count)
“Metal,” This Heat. Not only did they invent everything interesting that would happen in guitar music for the next forty years, they also made uncanny tape pieces like this. Post- punk gamelan etude. Pretty sure this was a Gareth composition. I don’t believe too much in the concept of heroes but they are my musical heroes. Where total autonomy and freedom meet commitment and focus.
Your favourite place to listen to music
Launching over sand dunes in the Egyptian desert. Probably the peak was blasting “L’ammonique” by PNL at sunset. A modern cowboy lament.
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A song which reminds you of your childhood
The first song I can remember being obsessed with is “Whip It,” by Devo.
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Your go-to karaoke song
“21 Seconds,” So Solid Crew. No verses skipped!
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A song which could change the world if everyone heard it
“Gabriel,” Roy Davis Jr w/ Pevan Everett. As angelic as its namesake, should be the UK’s national anthem.
A song you’d rather never hear again
I don’t really retain songs that I don’t like, so I’m going to select a song that I could listen to every day: “King In My Empire,” Rhythm & Sound featuring Cornell Campbell. Rugged, peaceful, determined.
A song which reminds you of someone you don’t see anymore
“You Don’t Know What Love Is,” Chet Baker. My grandmother loved Chet and would play him all the time. If you read reviews of his vocal records from the time, most critics didn’t understand his voice at all: “too high,” “too soft,” “too feminine.” Of course, those are all the things that made him a visionary.
A song which gets you in the mood (for dancing)
“We Can Get Down,” Groove Chronicles. Though nearly every single thing GC did together is a stone cold classic, the slightly slower pace of this one is my favorite vibe. 2-step/garage of that era to me is still the most incredible dance music-- people react instantly to it in the club.
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A song which gets you in the mood (for romancing)
“The Place,” Inc. Delicate but with body. The best band of the 2000’s.
The soundtrack to your last holiday
Ahmed Sheba, “Oh If You Played Luck.” My friend Ibrahim put us on, and we played it on the hour every day of the trip to Egypt. I love that it’s beatless in the beginning and then turns into a banger. It’s a song about gambling, trying your luck, the heartbreak of grifting-- another cowboy lament.
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A song which has changed your mind
“Tan,” Lafawndah. Militant, sensual, unafraid, free-- she’ll turn your mind from a rock into a tidal wave.
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A song which makes you cry
“Dior,” Triplego. There’s been too many gems from the last few years of Maghrebi-French rap, but Triplego hit me the hardest. I really feel the sadness in them, and the level of attitude set against these icy shoegaze rhythms is so fresh.
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A song which makes you laugh
Recently it’s been discovering what the lyrics for Gloria Estafan’s “Turn the Beat Around” actually are: “Turn the beat around, love to hear percussion!”-- it’s just descriptions of the instruments playing in the track. It’s a zen koan, totally in the moment.
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A song which gives you goosebumps
“Never Thought I’d See the Day,” Sade. How did they manage to not just make a torch song almost entirely out of negative space, but to also have it hit with soundsystem weight? A purple hour dub ballad from the beyond.
A song which makes you feel empowered
“Man Don’t Care,” JME. It’s like a hitman, unstoppable shark propulsion. I wish JME would come back but also don’t blame him for bodying everyone and leaving it at that.
An artist you regret never having seen live
Dimi Mint Abba. The legend- matriarch of Mauritian music-- home of the most no-bullshit, powerful singing in the world. “Hassaniya Love Poem” is a great first taste.
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An artist you hope to see live soon
Last year I saw Mansur Brown’s debut solo gig at Corsica Studios. It was completely transporting and left me eager to see him perform again. Mansur is blessed-- his musical personality moves me so much. “Mashita” is already a modern classic.
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A gig you'll never forget
Probably my very first concert, around age 11: David Bowie touring for Outside with Nine Inch Nails. They duetted on “Hurt” as a transition between sets. My Dad was super confused, I don’t think he had any context for, like, “Bowie does a jungle album with Eno.”
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An album you know by heart
The Argument, Fugazi. Somehow both cold and paranoid but also earthy and sprawling. I’d argue the last great guitar record before we washed out into the long 2000’s. For an aspiring punk from Oakland, Fugazi were my Grateful Dead, live sets and all.
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A cover which is better than the original
“I’m Not In Love” by Kelsey Lu. All due respect to 10cc for writing a great one-- she ate this song.
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A song you first heard on a film soundtrack
“Alto Cutelo,” Os Tubaroes. When this song hits in Pedro Costa’s “Horse Money,” you realize how long you’ve been holding your breath for. Costa (a music freak) is always extremely careful in his use of music-- most of his films have next to none. But when he does drop a song-- like this ballad for Cape Verdean independence-- it’s with commitment and purpose.
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A song you love in a foreign language
“Greetings” by Hamza El Din. Hamza’s voice and playing makes the centuries roll back instantly.
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An instrumental song you love
“Amsterdam Blue,” Jon Hassell. You just want to keep sinking further down in it, but there’s still momentum the whole way through. This is probably my favorite era of Hassell’s music, right around the album “Fascinoma”…modal, inky narco-dub streaked with pedal steel. Less “4th world” and more sparse, ambiguous, resigned. Speaking of Chet Baker, this is Hassell’s tribute to him.
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A song which gets stuck in your head
“Everytime” by ELHEIST. I love everything she does, and live she’s a force to be reckoned with. She can sing, she can MC, she can produce, she can kill a crowd every time-- and she’s the most beautiful human being. This tune like many others of hers is produced by Haich Ber Na-- whose solo material is also some of my favorite current music coming out of London, check “Nowhere Like It.”
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A recent musical discovery
“Conflict,” John Carroll Kirby. I was amazed after months of listening to this every morning that it was so recent. Truthfully though it doesn’t come from any specific time or place, just a gem sprung from a clear feeling and open mind.
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