MIXTAPE

WORDS: LISA LOVEBUCKET

Hi, I’m Lisa Lovebucket, founder of Arts Lab Teesside, Teesside Rising, The Creative Arts Recruitment Squad and The Red Room, and I’ll be launching The Post Apocalypse School of Teesside as part of Middlesbrough Art Weekender. We have The Sarah Connor Sessions on Friday 1st October at The Auxiliary, and then a sundown forage over the border at St Hilda’s, whilst, in VR, we’ll be fending off zombies and learning to survive in sub-zero conditions. The following day, The Red Room finally returns IRL at NE Volume Music Bar in Stockton with The Post Apocalypse School of Teesside’s Inaugural Freshers’ Ball.

The usual music policy at The Red Room is ‘institute of unpopular music, gong-show style’. Which is to say that we seriously mix it up, and anything goes. However, punters are issued with kazoos on arrival and, if two or more people hum out a protest, the track is skipped. You might hear anything from Terry Venables’ version of Bye Bye Blackbird and Nouvelle Vague’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, to Bel Air by Can and Josh Wink’s Higher State of Consciousness. This time the music will be a bit different at The Red Room, with Charlie Thomas giving us a 40-minute set and DJ Horace Zontal in charge of the decks.

This Mixtape will give you a flavour of the sort of thing that floats our boats.

CHROMATICS - SHADOW

From the moment it begins, I can hardly breathe, every single time. The atmosphere of nostalgic longing, for something that never was, perfectly sums up so much of the original series of Twin Peaks, and The Return even more so. Effortlessly cool, an ocean of wonder to drown in.

SPACEMEN 3 - TRANSPARENT RADIATION

Spacemen 3 regularly fill my ‘fave band of all time’ slot, and Transparent Radiation regularly fills my ‘fave Spacemen tune’ slot. The Spacemen may have de-orbited but, in their stead, we have Charlie Thomas. Described as ‘Nick Cave meets Lou Reed and Spacemen 3 round David Lynch’s house’ Charlie’s a perfect fit for The Red Room and I reckon he can match this perfect musical prescription.

SILVER APPLES - OSCILLATIONS

One of the best gigs I’ve ever been to was Silver Trees supporting Silver Apples at The Westgarth. It was a brilliantly put together night. I didn’t know Mr Zontal or the rest of the Lost in the Woods crew back then and it was one mighty fine introduction.

ANGELO BADALAMENTI - THE PINK ROOM

Well, what can I say? The Pink Room is the club we all want to go to – louche, lascivious, seedy, decadent and indulgent – though somewhere you’d definitely avoid taking your little sister. The Red Room emulates The Pink Room scraped free from the dirty underbelly of the evil that some men do. Chug-a-lug punters.

BONGWATER - THE POWER OF PUSSY

This is the song Donna, Maddie and Laura should have made, after ditching soppy James and hitchhiking their way to New York to sign up to Shimmy Disc. A psychedelic ride into the nether regions. “Some have teeth, some have hair, some have soft sweet petals, some look like Cher...”

THOUGHT GANG - A REAL INDICATION

A Lynch/Badalamenti collaboration and a total full-on, funky, slow hip-swiveller straight out of Fire Walk With Me. Even when I used to DJ peak of the night, whipping out my bangers, I’d still sneak this one in to mix it up a bit before heading back to the beats.

GALAXIE 500 - DON’T LET OUR YOUTH GO TO WASTE

Though I love The Modern Lovers’ original, for me this cover is even better. The title has always reminded me of Laura Palmer but, since The Return, it makes me think of Sarah Palmer, especially with lines like “someone who can share my face” and “I could drink up everything you have”. Mesmeric, arm-swinging, head-swirling majesty.

MOBY - GO

I’m not a massive Moby fan but every single mix of Go is an absolute belter, with Woodtick Mix and Low Spirit Mix the cream-corn of the crop. I once DJ’d a 23-minute remix of this track and it kept the crowd rocking throughout. Belter.