Sister Ray Davis’s Spectacular Ransom Note Mixtape

They are, by their own admission, complete beginners as DJs. We handed them the airwaves anyway.
What came back is exactly what you’d expect from two people who learned to hear music through Nuggets compilations and Delia Derbyshire records, who want biblical noise and dream of piloting the Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound. It’s a mix that’s charming and oddly coherent: dub basslines, psych and proto-electronic tangents, the kind of selection that could only have been assembled by people who think in pedals and reverb tails rather than BPMs. A journey with a clear first step, even if the destination remains gloriously unclear.

Not a DJ mix in any conventional sense, just an excellently varied record collection let loose.

Fancy painting us a picture – who are Sister Ray Davies?

We are Sister Ray Davies, which is two guys from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, named Adam Morrow and Jamie Sego who make shoegazey music. Nerds with offset guitars, pedals and Brian Eno books. Sore thumbs on the Southern US landscape. Complete beginners as DJs – thanks for having us.

What are you: genus, species, etc.

Proponents of the Wall of Sound, by way of the Thames Valley shoegaze scene, the murky New Orleans explorations of Daniel Lanois, all available video clips of Lee “Scratch” Perry working, that one picture of King Tubby sitting in front of that massive sound machine while he wears the crown, the history of the rhythm section in Muscle Shoals music, grown men who were bored suburban kids drooling over guitar pedals, pretentious goofballs who keep themselves entertained as best they can while the theatre of the absurd tests the decibel limits of creation.

Where did this mix get committed to tape – and what was the vibe in the room?

Committed to a hard drive in the front room of Adam’s house, where most of our music starts its life.

What’s the proper context for listening to this? Moon phase, weather, distance from the sea –  give us the full environmental brief.

Under the sprawling, subtle energy of the Imbolc sun.

Dress code for listening – and we’re not just talking practicality here, we mean the full semiotics of it.

Whatever makes you feel proud to be seen.

Fantasy mix scenario: if you could record anywhere, any time, on any system — real, imagined or from science fiction – what’s the full spec?

We are complete amateurs as DJs. Rookie amateurs, really. Our mix is us doing our best on a new frontier. Our best is likely to be very mediocre. That said – I want biblical noise. I want to pilot the Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound circa 1974.

Which tune in this mix is currently doing your head in the most, and how long’s that going to last?

The bass line in Augustus Pablo’s “Cassava Piece” has been stuck in my head for well over a year now. It’s like a load-bearing statue in there at this point.

What’s the one recorded mix that completely rewired your brain? Your personal ground zero.

If you count compilations as mix tapes, those have been huge to me from a young age — Nuggets, Back From The Grave, No New York, Messthetics, Minimal Wave Tapes. So many. If you’re talking about the craft of mixing sounds, I remember discovering proto-electronic stuff like Delia Derbyshire or Silver Apples — I think through reading about Broadcast — and that blew my mind as a teen.

Time machine question: you can go back-to-back with any DJ from history. Who are you picking, and what’s the actual reason beyond the obvious answer?

I would be the faster draw on Phil Spector and direct him at gunpoint into Gold Star Studios circa 1965.

The big philosophical one: first track or last track — which one actually matters more when it comes down to it?

I always gravitate towards the feeling of going on a journey. First track for me.

What was the first record you ever bought, and what was the most recent?

The soundtrack to Space Jam, on cassette. Last? Yuragi’s In Your Languages.

If this mix was something you could eat, what would it taste like?

A platter of street tacos, more salsa varieties than you need, and frozen margaritas.

Animal kingdom: if this mix was a creature, which one would it be and why?

A newborn giraffe wobbling on its spindly legs.

Name one record you own that’s completely unmixable – the thing that just sits there refusing to play nicely with anything else.

I have a copy of Paralyzed by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. I would love to see someone do something with that.

What’s coming up in your world, then?

We head to the UK for a tour in the second half of April, including a few dates opening for shoegaze legends Chapterhouse. We also have an EP of remixes dropping April 17th via Sonic Cathedral, based on our debut album Holy Island. Come find us.

Buy the album

Tracklisting:
Augustus Pablo — “Cassava Piece (’79 Style)”

Fern Murphy — “Mona 2”

Jogging House — “Red”

Duquette Johnston — “Whiskey and the Wine”

Wussy — “Teenage Wasteland”

Ride — “Vapour Trail”

School of Seven Bells — “Half Asleep”

Them Two — “Am I A Good Man”

Brian Eno — “An Ending (Ascent)”

WordHarmonic — “Ubi Caritas Et Amor”

The Clientele — “The Age of Miracles”

Exploded View — “Orlando”

Boards of Canada — “Open the Light”

Bowery Electric — “Fear of Flying”

Jogging House — “Slew”

Suicide — “Radiation”

Marie Laforêt — “Et si je t’aime”

Chapterhouse — “Pearl”

Lee “Scratch” Perry — “Return of the Super Ape”

Hailu Mergia & the Walias — “Mestirawi Debdabe”

Glen Campbell — “Galveston”

Nabihah Iqbal — “Sky River”

Niney the Observer — “Dub 100”

Andy Bell — “Skywalker”

Wray — “Good Time”

Wire — “Go Ahead”

Slowdive — “Crazy for You”

Alice Coltrane — “Journey In Satchidananda”

Yo La Tengo — “For You Too”

Wussy — “Teenage Wasteland” (duplicate)

Dirty Beaches — “Lord Knows Best”

Faine Jade — “It Ain’t True”

Glenn Branca — “Lesson No. 1 for Electric Guitar”

KVB — “Violent Noon”

Oppenheimer Analysis — “Radiance”

Wray — “Good Time” (duplicate)

Syrinx — “Hollywood Dream Trip”

Midnight Garden — “For the Last Time”

Harmonia — “Dino”

Solid Space — “Spectrum Is Green”

Salon Music — “Wanna Be Tied”