CMU Playlists

Playlist: The Hundred In The Hands

By | Published on Saturday 3 July 2010

Following a tour with their former band, The Boggs, in 2007, Jason Friedman and Eleanore Everdell decided to get together and play some music on their own. Over a couple of days, they wrote and recorded the song ‘Dressed In Dresden’, and then got on with their lives.

A year later, The Boggs had disbanded and the pair decided to brush off that song, using it as the basis for a new project, The Hundred In The Hands. Sticking the roughed up pop tune online, they were quickly contacted by UK record shop and label Pure Groove to release it as a single. That single led to a UK tour, which brought them to the attention of the legendary Warp Records and the rest (as I am told they say) is history.

Warp are set to release the duo’s eponymous debut album in September, and tomorrow they kick off a string of UK tour dates with an appearance at the Wireless festival in Hyde Park.

Ahead of that, we asked Jason to put together a playlist for us, which, to our delight, he did.

JASON FRIEDMAN’S TEN
Click here to listen to Jason’s playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about his selections.

01 Toots And The Maytals – Pressure Drop
It sounds like they recorded this in an unbelievably sweaty room in the middle of the night. With its repetitive lyrics, Toots’ weathered, desperate vocal and the falsetto backing, it just kills it every time.

02 The Fall – A New Face In Hell

“Wireless enthusiast intercepts government secret radio band and uncovers secrets and scandals of deceitful type proportions”. So cantankerous, so thrashy, so paranoid; Mark E Smith is one of the best lyricists in rock n roll. And as added bonus points, it’s safe to say that without this there’d be no ‘Slanted And Enchanted’ by Pavement. Conspiracy theories amok.

03 The Rapture – Olio

They are some of our best friends and have helped us a lot. It’s possible ‘Echoes’ sounds even better now then it did back when. And their new tracks that we’ve heard… amazing.

04 Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough

Every part of this song is perfect.

05 The Supremes – When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes

There’s just way too many Motown songs to love, and too many Supremes songs to love. ‘Lovelight’ is an early one and they hadn’t quite got the formula yet. That kind of makes it a bit more ‘punk’. It’s dirtier and less polished than the later tracks. Plus that “Ahhhhhheyaayh” yelp rules.

06 Dinosaur Jr – Freak Scene

It’s one of those tracks that “changed my life”. The first time I heard it I literally jumped on my bed and yelled out, “this is what I’ve been waiting for!” Indeed.

07 Amerie – One Thing

The go-go beat and desperate vocal that never explains what the one thing is exactly… totally underrated.

08 Young Marble Giants – Final Day

The perfect YMG track. Super short, brilliant lyric, and drone on the keyboard. When we started THITH, we had it in mind we wanted to sound like YMG produced by Timbaland. In the end, we went another way, and then The xx appeared and we were like, “yip, that’s what that would sound like”.

09 Talib Kweli – Get By

Impeccable flow and lyrics. “I let them know we missin you, the love is unconditional/Even when the condition is critical/when the livin is miserable/Your position is pivotal, I ain’t bullshittin you/Now, why would I lie? Just to get by?”

10 Broadcast – Corporeal

There’s something really English about the way she sings, with a choir-girl like sound about it. And then there’s a suggestion of teasing darkness, it’s like she’s fucking with you. The melody lines are always interesting and go all over the place. Always original and well crafted.



READ MORE ABOUT: |