In a Wonderland exclusive, Barry Can’t Swim dives into his Late Night Tales mix, picking out his standout tracks from the compilation. 

A wizard behind the decks and a feeler in his bones, Barry Can’t Swim has risen to be a spokesperson for dance floors all across Britain. The Scottish producer and DJ has had a major 12 months – from a standout All Points East headline show last August, to dropping his critically-revered Ninja Tune-released album Loner and garnering a nomination nod at the BRITs for Breakthrough Artist. Ahead of another busy summer, Barry has taken some time out for an extra special side quest – a compilation mix for Late Night Tales. 

Late Night Tales is ingrained in electronic music culture like no other incentive. It has, over the past two decades, offered an inside look into the musical heart and sonic soul of everyone’s favourite producers – from Floating Points to MGMT, Metronomy to Bonobo. A compilation created by the people at the very core of progression, it’s a unique, inside look at the lineage of dance electronic music. Barry’s contribution is the first Late Night Tales mix in over five years, kickstarting a series of incentives around LNT’s 25th anniversary, and showcases the breadth of the 33-year-old’s influences.

In a Wonderland exclusive, Barry tells us about his standout cuts from the mix, delving into his contributions and decisions in putting together his compilation for the distinguished series.

Listen to Barry Can’t Swim’s Late Night Tales mix…

Dive into Barry’s favourite picks below…

Jesse Bru – “The Coast”

The Jesse Bru tune is from a wee while ago. I found it just by listening to the label Happiness Therapy. When I first started putting tunes out, I kind of came from the same sort of scene as this label, so I’ve just been following what they get up to for a while. And I always loved this tune: it really stuck with me. When I got asked to do Late Night Tales, I felt like it would fit perfectly.

Superpitcher – “Yves (Exclusive LNT Edit)”

The original of this track is 19 minutes long, we only cut an edit, but I would encourage everyone to listen in full. Sensational track, from Superpitcher, who is part of the Kompakt family in Germany.

Barry Can’t Swim – “Sometimes I Feel So Alone (Exclusive Track)”

This is a track that I had originally written for my first album and I was toying with it as the album opener. But there was this other song on there that had a similar ambient-ish feel, which I eventually went for. But this song always stuck with me, so I’m glad I got an opportunity to use it.

Marigold Sun – “Here Lies Love”

Honestly, I stumbled upon this one by accident. I just thought it was so beautiful. There’s another track by Marigold Sun, called ‘Hidden Voices’, which I also love. It was almost a toss of the coin for which one was included.

Freddy Da Stupid – “Back To Pangea Part II (Jazzapella Version)”

I absolutely love this. This is one of my favourite tracks on the compilation, actually. I found this when I was in Chile on tour. I can’t remember where I first heard it, could have been a cafe or in my hotel, but it’s quality.

O’Flynn – “Kola (Exclusive Track)”

O’Flynn is a good friend of mine, and we did a collab on my last album. He’s always sending me ideas and asking me for thoughts and feedback. And this was something that he sent over and he wasn’t actually too sure about it. And I convinced him it was great. It’s a magical piece of music.

Pépe – “Goma (A-Mix)”

I love this combination of organic instrumentation and electronic production. There’s almost energy in the space between sounds; it’s beautiful.

His Mortal Coil – “The Lacemaker”

I’d been watching a lot of Adam Curtis docs, and he featured a lot of music from This Mortal Coil in there, and it sent me on a bit of a journey through their catalogue. I love the dystopian angle of his work, and this really fits my mix sonically.