Monday Mixtape, Vol. 111

Greetings! I spoke a lot about Mac Miller on Vol. 110 as I put a recently released track on the mixtape. Well, he released his new album, Swimming, and I've really been digging it. It's got some funky vibes, none better than the Thundercat-led "What's the Use?" I can understand if you can't get over Miller's singing voice, but I applaud him for veering outside of rap only and getting a little jiggy wit it. 

The Brummies. What the hell kind of a name is that? I...don't know. But this album is a great hodgepodge of sounds and influences. My fave track is the Kacey Musgraves-assisted "Drive Away."

I mean, I had to put a new song from John Mayer on this. Apparently, now that he's 40, he's a new guy! You can date me now, girls! You'll see me in a new light, I swear. Uhhh ok. 

Big Red Machine is one of Justin Vernon's thirty bands he's in outside of Bon Iver. This one is with The National's Aaron Dessner. Looking forward to the album which is coming out shortly. 

This new Travis Scott album is awesome. I've never listened to him before, and "COFFEE BEAN" is not a good representative track from his new album since no other song sounds like this. He's more on the auto-tune stuff with his other tracks, but I love it. I was surprised how good it was, and from what I've read on the interwebs, it's his best release to date. Listen!

Have a good week all! 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 110

This opening track from Rayland Baxter should uplift you from the dreary feeling of another Monday with the understanding that beauty can constantly be created and sound is one perfect avenue to see that. Gorgeous song, and a pretty darn good album too!

The Dead Tongues are somewhat of an acquired taste, and I'd recommend to give them a little time. Open up a bit and be more willing to like other stuff. This has twang and bluegrass and country, all things that I typically avoid, but not here. I love it. This song sounds like it could be played during a Braveheart montage as William Wallace trains his troops and grows as a man beside the babbling brook. What a cool song.

If you haven't noticed yet, this week's mixtape is pretty chill. It's this week's theme! Shallou, who I'd have to say is an Odesza wannabe, makes good Odesza wannabe songs. So just nod your head to the rhythm. 

Everyone has their own preconceived notions of Mac Miller, and I think they're usually either wrong or dated opinions that may have applied to him years and years ago. He gets flak because he's a white rapper who was somewhat goofy in his come up days, but that was actually just who he was.

He since then got famous, dated a pop star, and got (maybe still?) addicted to drugs which can CLEARLY be heard in the change in sound from his debut album Blue Slide Park to his groggy and spaced out (while still enjoyable and more artistic - ALTHOUGH his biggest issue as a rapper has always been his lyrics. They're usually either silly, stupid, both, or just plain. He's just not a good lyricist. Maybe he'll grow into it, but I doubt it. The only thing he can do is be honest and write from that perspective, which is what he's doing on his new stuff) Watching Movies with the Sound Off. 

All that being said, I've always followed him since his days of "Nikes on My Feet," a 90s throwback that I'm ALWAYS a sucker for (the Nas hook might help):

Song starts at 1:40. Yeah the rapping isn't the best, but it was my beginning to think he's got some places to go. Cut to his fifth album which was just released, Swimming, and he's come a long way and more serious, and sadly, more sad. "Buttons" was included as a single before the album release, and surprisingly, not on the album. I love the beat, and like most other rappers, he's singing now. Which sounds like a guy who can't sing sing, but if it's coming from some place sincere, it's a way of expression. I oddly like it, so we'll see if you agree. 

Ahh Drake. I've listened to his new album a ton. It's two sides, a rap side and his R&B/rap-ish side. I love the R&B side, and this song was a creeper. I listened to it many times, not paying it much attention, then all of a sudden I realized who catchy it was. I just can't hate on Drake, I love him. 

FINALLY, Diamond Thug - AND ACTUALLY I should first give a big shout out to my buddy Dave who put me on to a number of the artists on this mixtape since they were on his Best Albums of 2018 list. We are about as close as you can get to music dopplegangers, so shout out to Dave! - who really reminds me of Little Dragon with a bit more of the Odesza-like sounds. Really digging this album.

Ok, that's it. Enjoy!  

Monday Mixtape Vol. 109

TONS of new music in the mix! I've been listening to some new bands that are really tickling my fancy. Sometimes you'll hear a new band where the sound immediately moves you, while other new bands are more mysterious and take some time and effort to fully appreciate. Harem is the former and Wet the latter. 

Harem sounds like a jammy, reggae-like indie band who has a bit of influence from the likes of Sublime. Meanwhile, Wet just has their own bedside sound, pillow talk as you drift asleep. I highly recommend both!

As for the other bands on this week's mixtape, they're repeat offenders. The 1975, the artist that won #1 Top Song of 2017 for my songs of the year, drops another fantastically catchy track. Despite the ridiculous opening line, The 1975 have patented their sound, and it hasn't gotten old.

As for The Kooks, a band whose debut album over a decade ago still moves me in the right way, they've been very hit or miss for many years, but I love this song. Who knows what it means for the future.

St. Lucia is the type of band that really doesn't make bad songs, but when they make a great song, it is catchy as hell! This one takes the cake.

Death Cab is back, and their new track actually sounds more like their old stuff, so it'll be interesting to hear their new album. I was pretty disappointed in their last album, so fingers crossed! 

That's all I got, have a great week!   

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 108

You can't really "discover" bands anymore. Because of Spotify and the like, music is ubiquitous. This is obviously a great thing for music lovers, but it does remove the cool and selfish pride I could have in saying that I "discovered" a band or artist before they became mainstream. Right when I started this blog, that ability to discover bands quickly began to erode, and now the "Discover" playlist introduces you to completely random bands that you can hear, but you know millions of others are exposed to the same thing. 

The idea of discovering music is now moot. I've watched the Pitchfork's and Stereogum's of the world suffer much bigger defeats to this end, and they've now become the same click-baitey websites (look at each website and note how many of the same hot topics on whoever is the hot artist of the month (paging Childish Gambino) with much less of the stuff music fans come for like original content (and I understand it's not their fault entirely since this is the way to make money, but why not make a little less money and keep content at a high level?). I’m sure most the writers would agree, but with paltry wages there’s not much they can do. I digress.

THIS IS ALL TO SAY THAT WHILE I DID NOT DISCOVER ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER, I still feel like a bit of an OG of theirs on the State-side (they're Aussies) listening to them back in May 2017, one year and some change before their debut album (though their first single was in 2015, so clearly I was still late to the game to the real OGs). 

This whole soliloquy is accomplishing nothing of note, but it brings me to tell all of you who have not listened to this band yet that you have to get on board and see them when they come near your city. This is one of the best rock bands I've heard in years, a band whose debut album has only gotten better with each listen. Not one bad track and many standouts which I've included on this week's mixtape. I've also included my other favorite tracks of theirs for you to enjoy. (Though I did not include the best song they’ve made, “French Press”, because you should have heard it on my Top 100 Songs of 2017 as it was #3!!

Sometimes a specific sound comes naturally to a band. Can you imagine the Rolling Stones if they had tried to sound more like The Beatles or vice versa? No! Because they sounded so right within whatever they played while crossing some genres but staying within themselves. These guys have a lot of talent and potential. I can't wait to follow their careers and see whether they end in the limelight of success, playing arenas, or gain a loyal following and playing bigger venues as the years progress. Time will tell.

Enjoy!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 107

There has been some GREAT music I've been blasting the past couple weeks from some highly anticipated albums like Drake's Scorpion and Jim James' Uniform Distortion as well as some newer (at least to me) artists, Teyana Taylor, Mt. Joy, The Academic, and The Undercover Dream Lovers, AND a surprise couple songs from Childish Gambino. 

So let's first talk about Drake. He made a ridiculously long album. Again. Sigh. This time it's a "double album" where side A is rap and Side B is his R&B/Pop thang. There's nothing I hate more than double albums. The results are ALWAYS the same. If you took the best 12 songs from the total fattened and bloated 24 songs, you usually would get one hell of an album. Calling Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium. How good would that album have been!??

SO ANYWAYS, Drake. He's a very easy target these days on social media and all the music blogospheres because it's pretty easy to make fun of him (he's a walking meme and the majority of his lyrics, particularly on this album), and he gets a ton of clicks for all the sites. Most people have been mainly hating on the album, which is somewhat fair, but I do think that Drake's albums  for one, are an acquired taste, and two, typically take me many listens to appreciate. This one is no different. I really enjoy Side B, and particularly the two tracks on this week's mixtape. "Peak" has a little sound on it that really reminded me of ***NERD GAMER ALERT*** a very specific sound effect from one of - IF NOT THE - greatest video games ever, Final Fantasy VII. Now maybe you'll just say, please stop, you're making too much of this, but GUESS WHAT? There is another song on the album called "FINAL FANTASY." Honestly, I have no idea if that's a coincidence, but I don't really believe in coincidences so it is not and they knew exactly what they were doing. Love it. Also, the hook on "Finesse" is just catchy and suave Drake at his best. So that ends, Drake.

I read a review recently that likened Jim James' new solo album to a My Morning Jacket album made 15 years ago. Pretty on point except certainly not the quality of MMJ at their peak. I know MMJ has an amazing following and is renowned as a phenomenal live band (I've seen them twice and also Jim James once), but I do believe they're underrated. These guys are one of the best five rock bands of the past 20 years. Who else is one there is up to you and yours, but THEY'RE THERE.

Listen to this Mt. Joy album more than once, it will grow on you. I thought they were a little too what's that band that chants and shouts all the time and is a bit folksy? Right, Of Monsters and Men, who I just never could get into. These guys reminded me of them a bit, but additional listens brought some nuance to their lyrics and musical talents. It's good stuff!

Teyana Taylor was the vixen from Kanye's very much watched by all men video, "Fade"

 Her album is pretty good, and I love this song. Hope you do too!

The Academic released an album that will be utterly forgettable in some years, but I utterly enjoy it now. They're like a mix of Two Door Cinema Club and New Found Glory. It's enjoyable and makes me feel good.

Finally, Childish Gambino continues his crazy run of brilliance with the summer jam, "Summertime Magic." Play this on repeat and you'll have a good week. 

Adios! 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 106

This is a particularly good Monday as the middle of the week's bloated hump gets disregarded due to July 4th, and we can all celebrate while taking a short week! There are many things to rant and rave about with this country right now, and it's almost impossible to click on Google News or Twitter or The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal or (you get the point) without becoming thoroughly depressed, but I do try to remember how and why this whole experiment of a country started, and exhibit some sense of pride in our ideals and optimism and what we've accomplished as a country, and more importantly, as people. 

That all being said, I also just finished reading "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann, a true story about many, many Native Americans who were systematically murdered by white people and covered up by more powerful white people because AFTER the United States banished them from their profitable and farmable land, the United States jammed this tribe, the Osages, to what was believed to be a worthless area of Oklahoma, but it turned out the land was worth untold millions due to oil underneath the ground, turning the Osage nation into the richest people per capita in the world! Once the wealth of the Osage became apparent as the color of their skin, the racist belief that these individuals were worth less than the "regular" and God-fearin' folk, was really all anyone needed in that part of the country to kill them off for their inheritance.

Luckily, the FBI eventually came in to try to solve some of the problem, and some individuals with integrity and overall decency picked apart and found some of the murderers, yet so many remain unsolved to this day.

I went on that tangent because my first paragraph, and any other soliloquies we all will make this week about our country being the best country in the world (which I still believe to be true while being VERY sorely tested right now) should always come with a caveat to remember the many terrible things we have done as a nation and allowed to happen. This caveat should not solely be a means to shame or embarrass us, but a lesson to learn. To remember where all of our family lines (even the Osage and Native Americans!) came from at some point: different countries hoping for something better.

God knows I got it. I am one of the many "luckiest people living in the world" right now. I had truly amazing parents and role models. My family is one of a kind, and I know so many of them who would do anything to help me. My friends have always been there for me, many of them since I was a child. My wife, my one of a kind, my everything that I look at and love more every day, makes me sure of my luck. I've worked my ass out for a lot of things, but I've had a lot of opportunity to do it thanks to my parents that worked their ass off before me and their parents and their parents who boarded a boat...for something better. 

Enjoy the 4th, proclaim why you will always love this country despite our failures, and remind yourself how lucky you are to be an American. And as always, enjoy the music :)  

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 105

It's about that time for a Monday Mixtape focused on rap! If you hadn't heard, Beyonce and Jay-Z made an album as The Carters, a decent album that incessantly talks about their wealth, their reborn love, and how much better their life is that you while yammering on about their kids ("WHAT UP BLU!" "She can't hear you, Jay, she's at daycare at the MOMA"). So it's basically everyones Facebook post in one way or another. Few good songs though!

Jay Rock gets my vote for best rap album of the year (so far, at least). Others may say Pusha-T - ***TANGENT ALERT***Pusha's album is a 6/10 from me and he probably got more point by releasing the best rap song of the year and possibly greatest diss track of all time, The Story of Adidon -

which KILLED Drake (we'll see about commercially) not only with the cover of the single of Drake wearing blackface (which in CONTEXT Drake explained later:

but the damage was already done since the track circulated like a virus in hours as everyone had been awaiting Pusha's response) and Pusha exposed Drake had a boy from a pornstar (how had this not been uncovered?) that he was keeping hidden from the world until he could use (or maybe, in Drake's lame/terrible/child labor idea, "introduce") the kid to introduce an Adidas apparel line named Adidon!!!??? WHATT!??) ***TANGENT OVER***

- or J. Cole (No, sorry, I like J. Cole, but he's overrated). 

Which brings us back to Jay Rock - another member of TDE, the all powerful label with Kendrick, SZA, Schoolboy Q, and others - finally put it together as a rapper, combining his raw sound and street experiences into a powerful flow. There are some rappers that go on about the usual sex, drugs, and gangs, where it's hard to believe if their character is fiction or non-fiction. With Jay Rock, there's no guessing. This guy's rap alone makes me believe everything he's rapping. Please listen to "ES Tales" on blast because that bass ripples.

Freddie Gibbs is another one of those guys. From Gary, Indiana, he's one of the most underrated rappers alive some great previous albums like Shadow of a Doubt and the amazing Madlib produced Pinata. What a flow and vocals.

Anderson .Paak is still showing he can do no wrong. If you still haven't heard his album Malibu, do yourself a favor and get on it!

That's all I got. Happy listening. 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 104

Apologies! I have been on hiatus for quite some time. I went on vacation, took an impromptu visit to DC to attend the Caps parade (!!) and am planning on moving shortly. ANYWAYS, I still have been listening to a ton of new music so I'd like to share some :)

I've listened to Lykke Li for years now, more as a bystander than an active listener. I have never loved her but always appreciate her music. I think she's an artist who veers into the pop world but has always been genuine and creative. The first track on her new album, "hard rain," has such a beautiful start to an album in pain from heartbreak:  

"If you like the feeling of a hard falling / I have a secret / I can give you an ocean"

 My favorite Natalie Prass has released her sophomore album, unfortunately one that just can't stand up to her phenomenal debut. My favorite song is likely the first track "Oh My" which gives me tinges of Rhythm Nation-era Janet Jackson with a little extra funk.

Arctic Monkeys took a HUGE departure in their sound from any other albums for their sixth. I absolutely love these guys (their first album and then their fifth AM are so so good) and respect anything they do because it's so damn different. If anything can explain their sound for this album, listen to this track on the mixtape. 

As always, any track with Frank Ocean will inevitably make it to the mixtape somehow! This, sadly, is the best track on A$AP Rocky's new album. I say sadly because it's pretty much all Frank Ocean. Wish the album was better.

Snail Mail has been getting a ton of love from the music critics for her new album Lush. If you like this track, I'd check it out. 

Speaking of albums getting love from critics, it may come as no surprise that Beach House is getting a ton of love for their new album, including being named the best album (so far!) of 2018 by Stereogum. So check it out! 

Alright, I'm out and will try to be better at posting. Adios!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 103

The message of this band's first track on their first album of a decades long career of classic albums, legacies, inhibitors and other drugs, is as clear as moonshine: we're gonna rock and fucking roll. Ladies and gentlemen, allow them to introduce themselves: The Allman Brothers Band. 

Now that both Allmans have passed, I've dug more into their albums, and I had forgotten how IN YOUR FACE this first track is. There's so much swagger there while also teasing the listener that THIS IS JUST THE FIRST TRACK. These guys are legends. And if you think it's all swashbuckling rock, please see Exhibit B, the beautiful acoustic ballad, "Little Martha."

I thought we'd just continue to rock this whole mixtape. I went for a run other day and had Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever's "Write Back" blasting through the headphones, and the pounding guitar solos deliver some serious punch. What a song.

Jank is my newest discovery, a band that harkens a bit to the grungy, distorted sound of the 90s. I get hints of The Used, a bit of The Deftones, and some great melodies. Their new album has been spinning on repeat all week. 

Lord Huron's new album is pretty darn good and listenable, though I can't say it's great. Something about the rock songs sounds just a smidgen of forced, but I still put my favorite songs from the album with a rock hint on here for you to judge on your own. Again, I think it's pretty good, I'm just not in love with it. 

Anyways, have a good week!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 102

Happy Monday all! And apologies to all, I haven't posted for at least three weeks, so I'm sorry for my absence because there has been a TON OF MUSIC released in the past month or so. There's been so much music to camp to that I have musical ammo for many weeks :)

Let's start with Shakey Graves. I can't get his new album out of my head, one I keep coming back to. It's atmospheric, it's raw, it's rock, it's its own animal. But it's not for everyone. I'll post a few of my other favorite tracks in the next couple weeks. 

Childish Gambino's "This Is America" is the topic du jour, a piece that's generated a ton of publicity and analysis and misinterpreted by god knows how many people already. The video is one of the best music videos I can remember (cue the Grammy music for Single of the Year and Video of the Year), an intentionally uncomfortable and symbolic video of the representation of Gambino's  America.    

Speaking of lyrically poignant rappers, Wale released his second EP this year, both of which I've thoroughly enjoyed. This recent one's got a more political lean, particularly "Salary Kaep," but Wale's flow has improved dramatically over his (now) long career as evidenced best by "Negotiations."

LOVE the new Leon Bridges album. It's a bit more pop and dancey than his debut album which was too much exactly like the Sam Cooke / Marvin Gaye sound. "Shy" is easily my favorite song on the album.

A few other notes: Janelle Monae has made her best album, Young Fathers continue to get the award for weirdest yet interesting band, and DJ Koze with the feature from one of the dudes from Arrested Development (the band - not the show)!

Enjoy the week.