Monolith Cocktail Blog

PLAYLIST
Compiled by Dominic Valvona

Cool shit that the Monolith Cocktail founder and instigator Dominic Valvona has pulled together, the Social playlist is a theme-less selection of eclectic tracks from across the globe and ages. Representing not only his tastes but the blogs, these regular playlists can be viewed as an imaginary radio show, a taste of Dominic’s DJ sets over 25 plus years. Placed in a way as to ape a listening journey, though feel free to listen to it as you wish, each playlist bridges a myriad of musical treasures to enjoy and also explore – and of course, to dance away the hours to.

The first volume of 2020 includes a couple of live ones from the cosmic, country rock doyen Mike Nesmith (taken from his performance with foil Red Rhodes; released as the The McCabe’s Tapes last year, slipping below the radar and just missing our albums of 2020 features), and from that ever exhaustive archive of lost and under wraps David Bowie material, a brassy resonating eastern and ethereal alternative take of ‘The Man Who Sold The World’.  There’s also Thai go-go beat nonsense from the Erawan Band; Afrobeat Salsa from Gyedu-Blay Ambolly; rattling garage punk from The Pandoras; 80s nu-soul funk from Konk; House(ing) diva funk collaboration from Kym Mazelle & Robert Howard; a rock steady grooving transformation of a classic from guitar picking Ernest Ranglin; plus the usual unusual mix of jazz, no wave, punk, post punk, power pop, country, avant-garde and whatever else tickles my fancy.

Track List

Erawan Band  ‘Khon Muangkhan’
Episode Six  ‘Morning Dew’
Eula Cooper  ‘Try’
Paolo Ferrara  ‘Afrotheme’
Bronx River Parkway  ‘Song For Ray’
Gyedu-Blay Ambolly  ‘Simigwa-Do’
Rikki Illonga, Musi-O-Tunya  ‘Sunshine Love’
Konk  ‘Love Attack’
Kym Mazelle & Robert Howard  ‘Wait’
Ernest Ranglin  ‘Summertime (Rock Steady)’
Eugene McDaniels  ‘Tell Me Mr. President’
Josefus  ‘America’
The Carpettes  ‘Radio Wunderbar’
The Pandoras  ‘You Burn Me Up And Down’
Total Control  ‘Future Creme’
Rosa Yemen  ‘Decryptated’
La Floripondio  ‘Dime Que Pasa’
Nat Birchall  ‘Ism Schism’
Ted Daniel Quintet  ‘Mozambique’
The Lyman Woodard Organization  ‘On Your Mind’
Engineers  ‘Forgiveness’
Wall Of Voodoo  ‘Dark As The Dungeon’
The Shivvers  ‘When I Was Younger’
The Velvet Illusions  ‘Town Of Fools’
David Kilgour & The Heavy Eights  ‘Smoke You Right Out Of Here’
Walter Ghoul’s Lavender Brigade  ‘House Of Small’
Emit Rhodes  ‘Mary Will You Take My Hand’
Michael Nesmith & Red Rhodes  ‘Grand Ennui (Live)’
Michael Nesmith & Red Rhodes  ‘Some Of Shelly’s Blues (Live)’
David Bowie  ‘The Man Who Sold The World (ChangesNowBowie Version)’