Let The Music Play with Maxwell Gosling of Little Ears 🎧
Welcome to Let The Music Play (LTMP) Volume 2 — a series showcasing what music supervisors do best: making playlists. These particular playlists are special, as they’re made up of music discovered in DISCO Catalogs. You just might find music from your own Catalog in the mix.
LTMP vol. 2 is by Maxwell Gosling, a Los Angeles-based, Emmy Award-winning music supervisor and founder of Little Ears. Gosling has licensed music, supervised, and sound-designed original scores for global brands like Nike, Calvin Klein, Google, Mercedes, Delta, Toyota, Starbucks & Adidas.
His mix blends cool vintage finds with bright and fun contemporary songs, perfect for listening in your backyard while sitting in the sun and enjoying the day. “I wanted to show that you can find a mix of vintage and new stuff. It was fun to come across a lot of music I like already — like Ebo Taylor. It made me want to dig in and listen to more!” Gosling shared.
“DISCO Catalogs is awesome, I love the flexibility of doing my own search without always having to hit up the busy rep, who can be the bottleneck when you’re looking for something specific but difficult to describe. I can directly add music I find into my own playlists, giving me easier access to find great music. It’s another tool for us.”
Side A
Track 1: Infinite Sun — Laraaji, Carlos Niño, Superposition: Infinite Sun (Familiar Music Group)
I’m a big fan of all these artists and Carlos especially as we got to work together years back on a really fun campaign for Sonos. He’s such a kind human and such an immense music head that working on a project with him was actually really intimidating! We met around that time and have stayed in contact since. Laraaji is also amazing, Numero just put out an amazing release with him and he’s playing shows with some of my fave musicians Sarah Davachi & Makaya McCraven soon. Sadly, not in LA. This track felt like a really great opener to a mix — so here we are.
Track 2: You Want It Darker — Leonard Cohen (Hipgnosis)
Not a whole lot you can say about Leonard Cohen that hasn’t been said already. I love this song of his and it was the easiest decision of all time to throw it onto this mix.
Track 3: Talk Louder — Methyl Ethel (Future Classic)
This is a new artist that I kind of fell in love with straight away. Australian label Future Classic shared this project over and it just stuck with me. It feels familiar and yet totally new and fun and raw. Its a good one, excited to see what lies ahead for this project.
Track 4: Cadê Yayá — Reginaldo Bessa (Familiar Music Group)
This track is off a soulful samba 1978 private press Passageiro Do Vento that was reissued by Day End Records and they are here via the venerable Familiar Music Group. Honestly, what’s not to love about this song — I could listen to this all day. Perfect for warm weather which we’ll have at some point in LA, I know it.
Track 5: Bra — Cymande (Partisan Records)
Staying in the 1970s with these legends! One of my fave Cymande songs and it’s in here! Who knew? Easy choice to throw on. I discovered them the old school way, flipping thru records and the album cover caught my eye. I didn’t know anything about the music — but took it home, tossed it on and fell in love. One day I’ll add a first pressing on this one. Also, they’re touring again which is incredible. Hopeful I’ll get to see them live.
Track 6: Blue Variations — Bruce and Vlady (Munster Records)
I’ve been a fan of Munster Records and the reissues that they do for years now. Some great latin, psych stuff, really fantastic odd, interesting stuff. I wanted to stick with something latin to close out Side A — and discovered this gem. Another incredibly hard album to find out in the world. Blue Variations (1970) is a grail record for collectors. Top to bottom this album is a great listen. Strong close to Side A.
Side B
Track 7: UR — Trace of Smoke (Athens of the North)
When I found Athens of the North, I was so happy. A treasure trove of disco and more out of Scotland. Because of course it is. I’ve told a few friends about this label over the years and while this song “UR” didn’t exist on Disco Catalogs when I was digging — the label is on there so it felt like a fair play to include this track, which is lovely. Go listen to music from Athens of the North, its really truly great. Oh and a killer open to Side B! Hope you agree.
Track 8: Poquito Spanish, Poquito Funk — George Benson (Hipgnosis)
Continuing the dig, I ventured into the Hipgnosis catalog (shoutout Julie) and stumbled into the ever so sweet guitar of George Benson. After some deliberation, I settled here as the song to add to our mix. Funky latin George Benson is never a bad thing.
Track 9: Poo Too — Oneness of Juju (Now-Again Records)
I found my first Oneness of Juju album “African Rhythms” record shopping in Toronto years ago and instantly became obsessed and have been collecting their music ever since. Egon & the amazing folks at Now Again are doing incredible things. I wish I could build a mix of just their stuff — but this is a great place to start.
Track 10: Saana — Ebo Taylor (Now-Again Records)
I’ve been collecting afrobeat, highlife, soukous music for many years. Ebo Taylor outside of Fela Kuti was one of my earliest discoveries and someone I come back to often. His music always brings a smile to my face. Mr Bongo is another label that you need to know and that has such a lovely catalog including “Saana”.
Track 11: From a Lover — Yazmin Lacey (Believe)
Recently spent time listening to the new album, Voice Notes, from Yazmin Lacey and fell in love with in. It notched right into a Sunday morning vibe at my house making coffee. Listen to the album, it’s great. Believe is another fave label of mine, amazing people, amazing music! In fact, just recently got to bring The Blaze on board to a new campaign and it was really special. Believe FTW.
Track 12: Untitled #4 — Sigur Ros (ADA)
Bookending out the mix here with some instrumental vibes. This () record from Sigur Ros just celebrated 20 years on this planet and that blows my mind. This whole record is so special it was a record I adored when it came out and still love to this day. If you haven’t spent time with this band, this album is a great starting point. Hope you enjoyed the mix tape. ❤
Music supervisors can access monthly curated playlists (including this one!) inside their DISCO, along with hundreds of Catalogs from the world’s best rights holders.
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