This morning we welcome Markus Floats to select three snake-hipped Sunday morning tunes with us on MailTape.
Markus Lake is a musician in Montréal/Tiohtià꞉ke’s thriving independent music scene. A co-founder of DIY space ‘Drones Club’ and bass player in a number of bands, Markus isn’t constrained by a single genre or style. At home in post-punk as well as Afrofuturism, he currently makes experimental electronica under the moniker, Markus Floats.
Markus Floats’s selection
Ma$e (ft. Billy Lawrence) – Love U So
Markus: ” Remember this song? Harlem World? 1997! 23 years ago, haha! It’s ok to feel good for a while. It’s nuts out there but I’m giving you permission to feel good for a little while here. Bop around a bit. Roll your shoulders. Pretend to sing into a pantomimed microphone. Do a little one person wave when they go “Woo!”. It’s not illegal to smile, right? You deserve it. It’s nuts out there. “
Change – Hold Tight
Markus: ” This song bangs. It’s by this studio band called Change from 1981. The lead singer on this track, Diva Gray, went on to do vocals with Chic, Sister Sledge, Roberta Flack, George Benson and Bette Midler. For real though, it’s nuts out there. It’s not just your imagination. Things are definitely and undeniably “getting worse” in a “Oh-Shit-Global-Collapse” kind of way, y’know? “Staring-You-In-The-Face-Sci-Fi-Dystopia” kind of vibes going on. And it’s not looking like things are gonna “get better” any time soon. The next decade or so is gonna be, pardon my french, fuckin’ rough. Let’s be real. If you’re like me and most of your life has been pretty good - not perfect of course, but generally quite comfortable - it’s all a bit overwhelming. I get it. What are you, a single person, supposed to do? You’ve only got at a handful of skills and they’re all starting to feel increasingly superfluous on a planet that’s falling apart. “
Kashif – Baby Don’t Break Your Baby’s Heart
Markus: ” Mmm, listen to this groove though. Kashif is one of those freaks that kind of doesn’t have any bad songs. Like, across the first four albums there’s only a few duds. Most of them are total hot-shit bangers. Wait until you get to the xylophone part on this track, it rules. I don’t know where you are in the world or what you do, and I def don’t know what your life is like or what you’re going through so take this with a grain of salt, but…I think a totally solid thing you can do is to get involved in community organizing. Whether you do a few hours a month or go full-time-on-the-ground-grassroots-worker, every bit helps and the whole point is that no single person could possibly do all the work that needs to be done by themselves. It’s nuts out there! You’d be surprised how many people could use your particular skillset. So, I dunno, do a little googling. Find out what’s going on in your neighbourhood/municipality/city and find an organization doing something that directly impacts the lives of people in your area. Show up and keep showing up. “
MailTape’s selection
Markus Floats – Forward Always
Sanjay: ” With recurrent tumbling notes and angular drawn-out drones throughout, Markus somehow manages to keep this track sounding like a pleasant walk in open habitat. Different arpeggios work against one another, as this final track on ‘Third Album’ reiterates many of the sounds, textures and timbres heard previously. “
Bill Withers – Grandma’s Hands
Sanjay: ” The late Bill Withers needs no introduction; suffice to say this is my favourite non-romantic love song. “
Gino Soccio – Try it Out
Sanjay: ” A horn-laden wiggler from the early 80s, and wow, that fat plucked dust-raising bassline, too! This track also featured a salacious trumpet solo from Roger Walls and feelgood vocals by Memphis singer Erma Shaw. “
Cubie Burke – Down for Double
Sanjay: ” Rounding off this week’s playlist with some more bouncin’ boogie beats in the form of another killer early 80s one-off jam from Keni Burke’s brother, Cubie. ”
That’s it for this morning. As always, thank you so much for joining us. Much love to Markus Floats for his Sunday selections and to Anthony Dujardin for this episode’s brilliant illustration!
