The Thousands

Who listens to an album sequentially, keenly listening to one track after another? Considering that a dizzying playlist can be compiled with a one deft movement of an index finger there can’t be many of you. However, rather than just relying solely on your own taste to guide your mishmash listening experiences, sometimes it’s refreshing to lead your ears down the garden path via someone else’s record collection. Tako’s recent mix for Red Light Radio is one such twisty adventure.

Originally broadcast out of a shop in Amsterdam’s red light district, Tako’s mix is a 3.5 hour excursion in 70s boogie, 80s electro-funk, folk, psyche, and straight up weird electronics. Highlights include Minnie Ripperton’s heavily sampled ‘Lovin You’, some crazy private-press afro from a 5 year old kid called Francis the Great, and the bootylicious disco of Made in the USA’s ‘Shake Your Body’.

Although 3.5 hours is an almighty undertaking, this is the mix’s greatest strength: rather than dragging out, you quickly become lost in a seafood basket of unknown music. Particularly seeing this is the week where most you poor souls will be returning to the orifice (aka office), this mix will help you pass the long hours ahead.