Forest Swords lives in what seems like a landlocked bog that looks like the place Fever Ray recorded her scarier, swampier videos. Back in August of 2009, he told Dollars to Pounds columnist Scott Wright that he's "interested in music that kind of echoes the environment it was created in," and this mixtape underscores that—though it traverses angular pop, hip-hop, shoegazery stuff and dub reggae, it all sounds like it was birthed from the same submerged netherworld, King Tubby bumping into Liars and trying to have a quick conversation in the heat before the storm. This aesthetic is most evident in Forest Sword's own tracks on here, though—"Miarches" excerpts vocal samples that sound extracted from a dubstep track and interwoven with dub clatter and eerie guitars, where "The Light" is basically the sludgy emotion going through our minds on a precipitating Sunday afternoon right after it starts to get dark and cold in the fall. This guy is as crossroads-y as the music he loves, so cop it if you need a good primer to his upcoming album on Olde English Spelling Bee. Also though, if you're feeling even mildly depressed, you should probably hold onto this until you're in a better mood, cause shit is all the way gloomed out. Tracklist after the jump.
Download: Forest Swords Mixtape (viaGvsB)
A Grave With No Name - As The Sun Sets
Barrington Levy - Here I Come
Arch M - Mountain Tan
Antelope - Concentration
Erykah Badu - On & On (Arthur's StarCayzer remix - exclusive)
Yoga - Dreamcast
Jeru The Damaja - My Mind Spray
These New Puritans - Canticle
Forest Swords - Visits (excerpt)
Ducktails - Gem
Liars - You, Drum
King Tubby - Dub Of Righteousness
Forest Swords - Miarches (remastered)
Forest Swords - The Light (excerpt)
Madlib - Lifetime Lifeline
Wild Beasts - Hooting & Howling (Forest Swords rework)
Pariah - Blackfriars
Burial & Four Tet - Moth (Forest Swords rework)
