- Jul 15, 2021

Make Me a Mixtape: Carpet Burn's Involuntary Drug Trip

Make Me a Mixtape is a segment where we interview artists and have them make a mixtape of seven songs based around a particular scenario, explaining why they chose each song. This week, we chat with the Melbourne-based garage pop outfit Carpet Burn, who provide us with seven tracks they'd listen to if they discovered that the government placed mood enhancing drugs in the water supply.

Photo by Michael Ridley

Out of the lively Melbourne music scene, comes the witty and kooky guitar pop group Carpet Burn, who released their debut EP I Can’t Believe It’s Not Carpet Burn via Spoilsport Records last month. With the band's quirky humor at the forefront of their music, their new four-track EP takes you on a sweet ride through a myriad of structural twists venturing between classic C86-inspired melodies to warped, Syd Barret-esque psychedelia. The swirling "Ghost" exhibits the band's knack for giving their restless rhythms an unnerving edge, while "Butterfinger Hands" takes it a few steps further, bursting into a noisy freak-out towards the end.

Forming in late-2019, the quartet is double-headed by Kayley Langdon (Blonde Revolver) and Tam Richards-Matlakowski (Tam Vantage, Girlatones, Permits), while rhythmically backed by Amada Monteiro (Gutter Girls) and Louis McDonald (Plastic). Mastered by Max Dowling. Their jangly guitars combined with their bizarre flairs inspired for this mixtape. In some wild circumstance that perhaps isn't that hard to conceptualize, imagine that you wake up on a Sunday morning, pour a cup of tea, and read in the newspaper that the government has started pumping a mild mood-elevating drug into the nation's water supply. You can already feel the effects from your tea and decide to go on a nice stroll while listening to music since you feel so content. Take a deep breath of that fresh air and let all your worries slip away to the soundtrack of Carpet Burn's trippy Sunday stroll.