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Dinner Party Deep Cuts

May 08, 2015

The Dinner Party Download's Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newnam stopped by The Current's Morning Show ahead of their show at the Fitzgerald Theater this weekend. They also shared these (mostly) lesser-known tracks — hand-picked by today's better-known artists — to help you win your dinner party.

1. Sidi Touré - "Ay Hôra: My Dance" from Laura Marling's soundtrack

The English folk singer, twice nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize, picked this 2013 Sidi Touré song to impress her dinner party guests:

"He's a Malian singer and guitarist. I was going to choose Fela Kuti but then I thought, you want to like one up your guests, and everyone knows Fela Kuti … This song, I'd have it ready to go as people were arriving, so I'd keep putting it back to the beginning if people hadn't arrived yet. I think it's important to have a welcoming, happy soundtrack, but I'm going to weirder as the evening goes on."

2. Jackie Shane - "Any Other Way" from Benjamin Booker's soundtrack

Fans of The Dinner Party Download loved Booker's soundtrack so much, we included it in our recent All-Music Episode. Here's what he had to say about this unique cover of William Bell's country-soul throwback track:

"Jackie Shane is an R&B singer from Toronto, who used to wear women's clothing, and dress up. Like, this black soul-singer cross-dressing guy. And it's the most incredible stuff that you've ever heard. I don't think people know very much about this guy, and that's what makes it so crazy. It's like, what was happening in Toronto that you have this guy who's doing stuff that's completely taboo in the early '60s? Where does he come from? I don't know — you tell me. You tell me!"

3. Spice - "Like a Man" from Seinabo Sey's soundtrack

This Swedish soul sensation suggests a bold contemporary track by DJ/singer Grace "Spice" Hamilton. Jamaica's self-proclaimed "Princess of Dancehall," Spice makes you move with this track:

"The song is really funny, because she's like, 'So men make more money — let me sound like a man.' And then she sings just really low, and everyone's face goes, 'Whaaaat!?' when they hear that for the first time … My ideal party would actually be just inviting my friends into my little studio apartment in Stockholm, and I'd probably cook some food from Gambia — which is where my dad is from. I grew up there a little bit, as well."

4. Courtney Barnett - "History Eraser" from Corin Tucker's soundtrack

The Sleater-Kinney singer-guitarist highlights this track from Melbourne's singer-guitarist Courtney Barnett. Even Corin's musical encyclopedia husband Lance Bangs hadn't heard of this. Courtney's deadpan ramble will go well with the cocktails you serve at your party:

"The song to me is just incredibly strong narrative of her being, I don't know, drunk at a party and making out with someone. But the way she phrases everything is so singular. It's very compelling. I think there's something about 'I changed all the letters around on the page so they would spell out your name.'"

5. Gavin Bryars - "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" from Wayne Coyne's soundtrack

This haunting track was featured as part of the The Flaming Lips' frontman's David Lynch-inspired soundtrack. If this doesn't mellow out your guests as they get ready to head home, we don't know what will:

"Bryars builds this orchestration and chord structures and melodies around this loop. But it really just repeats this loop over and over and over, and I think it's for about 35, 40 minutes, you know? And it's pretty compelling. There's stories of Bryars — while he was building the loop, it was playing in a section of the art school that he was working in, and people that were painting next door came to him sobbing, and said, 'You've got to turn that off! It's affecting us too much.' "

Dinner Party Deep Cuts

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