Mixed Business is Gertrude's new and growing program of mixes and playlists created by Gertrude Studio Artists. In the spirit of the 'desert island mixtape', artists have been commissioned to bring together a selection of their favourite music, spoken word, or experimental sounds. Accompanied by artist-selected album art and liner notes, these compilations are provided to soundtrack moments of isolation proliferating in the current era and offer a form of sonic riposte to threats of disconnection: a mix to start an impromptu lounge room dance; to generate a contemplative reverie; or even lean into the bizarre chaos of the present.
Mixed Business
Tim Riley Walsh
Adieu Au Dancefloor
Is it time to say farewell to the dancefloor or at least wallow in the mere thought? What might a post-dancefloor world even sound like? Appropriately—especially coming from Gertrude, the supposed HQ of ‘new gothic art’—it is all a bit apocalyptic in tone. There is some optimism at first, teary goodbyes to the subject at hand (but in French, ooh la la), and then a whole lot of chaos, disease, hopeless thoughts, being ‘not okay’, what sounds like some mortar fire – before ending in “total disarray”. Confoundingly, it is also kind of danceable.
Darcey Bella Arnold
Painters & Rockers
Here are some artists who make music, and some musicians who make art.
"Well, you know, my hobby (one of them anyway) is using a lot of scotch tape . . . My hobby is to pick out the different things during what I read and piece them together and [make] a little story of my own" - Louis Armstrong on making collages, 1953.
Commissioned for 'Mixed Business', Gertrude Contemporary, 2021.
Tracklist
- Jon Campbell and Matt Griffin - Mid Career Artist Blues (00:00)
- Daniel Johnston - The Story of an Artist (03:58)
- Martin Creed - Feeling Brown (09:06)
- Sonic Youth - Sugar Kane (12:08)
- Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Which Way to Go (18:05)
- Laurie Anderson - O Superman (21:22)
- Yoko Ono - Kiss Kiss (29:49)
- Destroy All Monsters - You're Gonna Die (32:34)
- Suicide - Dream Baby Dream (35:29)
- John Cage and Herbert Henck - In A Landscape (41:50)
- Florian Hecker and Mark Leckey - I (51:37)
Sarah Brasier
Happy Calm
Sarah Brasier has compiled a playlist with audio and visuals. Gertrude recommends enjoying the mix here for the optimal experience.
What did the zen buddhist say to the hotdog vendor?...
...Make me one with everything.
One with everything can sometimes be a bit much
I made you a little visual mix of songs with animated film clips to soothe the soul post becoming one with everything.
A playlist to cultivate happy calm. Perfect for if you’ve just come home after a long trip but you’re not quite ready to call it a day. Nice colours, nice energy, nothing too abrupt. Enjoy x
Mia Salsjö
Mixed Up Mix
This mix is the tip of the iceberg of music l listen too. Here is a wide range of styles that l find deeply moving and/or intellectually stimulating.
Andrew Atchison
Spin, Span, Spun – Circling the Sun
This is all music that I have discovered and listened to on heavy rotation in the period since lockdowns began. I have selected these tracks because, for me, they all share the quality of being able disrupt - to punctuate - the day-to-day, seemingly seamless sameness of these weirdly atemporal times. There are moments of transcendence, energy, gabber-y intensity, motivating rhythm, joy, humour, ersatz velocity and spaciousness scattered throughout.
Every one of these tracks manifests sensory pleasure and intelligence in a singular expression, which appeals to me and, I think, characterises the best art. Played loud enough there are a healthy number of ‘4am’-type danceable moments, too. That’s it, my dance about architecture.
Justin Balmain
World Wide Marketplace
As we are in lockdown, of course we can only listen to music:
and wait
and refresh
and order
and hope
and conference
and postpone
and relocate
and up-skill
and procrastinate
and resubscribe with a new email
and dream
and cancel
and return
and FaceTime
and know one and a half metres
and clean
and log on
and balance
and call
and sleep
and receive
and look at the news
and comment
and let anxiety demand
and read
and persist
and update
and sign-up
and scroll
and unsubscribe
and imagine
and dance,
because we have music
Georgia Banks
The Party
Lockdown got you missing eating out?
If so, sink your teeth into this throwback playlist to my 2018 performance ‘The Party’, where I wrapped my mouth around delectable sounds in delicious karaoke duets.
Whet your appetite for tasty songs about sweet innocent honeys begging for that melt in your mouth lovin’. Even in lockdown, with ‘The Party’ playlist, everything’s on the menu.
Playlist thumbnail image: The Party (Promotional Image), 2018, Courtesy of the Artist
Artists