Monday Mixtape, Vol. 82

Ladies and Gentelmen, 

It's been a hectic weekend with my attendance at Outside Lands so I won't be writing much. It's been pretty disappointing given that A Tribe Called Quest cancelled their performance TWICE and crushed my dreams of seeing them (although with 2/3 the group in tow, RIP Phife). They were far and away the band I wanted to see most. You win some, you lose some. 

In retrospect, this was the most disappointing festival I've been to. The lineup was not all that impressive, and the acts just failed to really perform at a high level consistently. Surprisingly, one of the best acts of the weekend was Goldroom who came out with a full band and just crushed the small Panhandle stage. The crowd loved them. The other two great performances of the weekend go to Royal Blood and Metallica. 

But in honor of Tribe, this week's mixtape is focused on rap. Haven't done one of these in a while, so I hope the hip-hop heads out there keep nodding that head. 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 81

Palace was on last week's mixtape. They're on this week's mixtape twice. I can't stop listening to them, slowly rocking my head to their beachy blues and rhythms that just distinguish them from many others. I feel like they'd get along with the jazzy trio Badbadnotgood swimmingly, and I hear so many other influences from a ton of genres. You have to listen to their recent album from 2016. It's been on repeat for me.

Foster the People released their third album, and it's really good. There is not one song that I skip on this album. I think it's definitely better than their last album which was hit or miss. They have sultry "Sit Next To Me," upbeat and hilarious "I Love My Friends," distorted barr chord rocker "Lotus Eater," and spaced out beauties "III" (which I did not include - go listen to it yourself!)

St. Vincent has a large piece of my heart. She's a phenomenal performer, one of the few very who completely command a stage just with her presence, she's a kick ass guitarist, she loves David Byrne, she's a beauty, AND who knew, but she writes quite the ballad! "New York" is a simple and beautiful love song. Can't wait for her next album. 

I saw NE-HI on a Youtube festival and then found this track on Spotify. They're a bunch of young guys just banging away on their instruments. It's raw. 

Have a wonderful week!    

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco performs "One Wing"

I don't think it's quite accurate to call Wilco underrated because they've had some serious critical acclaim, none more so than their album that many critics viewed as their masterpiece, 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

But they are definitely under appreciated. I really don't know many friends my age that love Wilco. In case you'd like a primer on them, check out my "Best Of"

For some reason, they seemed to only have really stuck with a previous generation. Yet they still make great music. Their leader, Jeff Tweedy, just released a phenomenal and subdued acoustic album of some of Wilco's great tracks. I liken his voice to Bob Dylan. It's not good but that's exactly why it's so great. His soul is represented in his vocals, it's a scarred beauty.  

"One Wing" was not included on this album (no idea why either because this is such a cool interpretation of it), but Tweedy performed it at music fest, Pickathon. A remarkable performance, even more so as it highlights his penchant for lyrics:

We once belonged to a bird
Who cast his shadow on this world
You were a blessing and I was a curse
I did my best not to make things worse for you
It isn't true, I always knew this would be our fate
This is what happens when we separate
This happens to all dead weight, eventually
We may as well be made of stone
We can't be flown

One wing will never fly
Neither yours nor mine
I fear we can only wave goodbye

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 80

A bunch of new bands to digest this week, including Cende, The Jungle Giants, Palace, and Japanese Breakfast. 

Conde's debut album is really enjoyable yet I can't place exactly who or what they sound like. It's a little upbeat, a little punk-y, but no song from 2017 album is better than "What I Want," which actually reminds me a bit of Deerhunter with their amazing transition at 2:50 from the sweet vocals into an ass kicking of rock. Cool song!

"Quiet Ferocity" is a contender for one of my favorite songs of the year. It's certainly got some LCD Soundsystem in it (and the rest of the album sounds a bit Glass Animals a bit Foster the People - who by the way, just released their third album which I need to give more time and listens and will report back!), a bit of The Maccabees, but I love the rhythms, electronics, and this dude's falsetto. 

Vince Staples continues to carry rap in cool and unique directions with his new, critically acclaimed album. "Big Fish" is certainly the catchiest song (or maybe "BagBak") so that had to be included, but this is an album to really dissect, which "745" is a testament to with its trance-like bass line and starstruck piano. 

Pretty damn disappointed in Cousin Stizz's new album, but "Doubted Me" caught me on my first listen. 

I definitely need to listen to Palace more - this is the only song I've heard by them - because they have a really cool chill rhythmic sound, and I LOVE the lead singer's voice.

I wasn't big on Japanese Breakfast's first album despite the love she got on the interwebs, but her second album is a great album front to back. If you like these tracks, give it a try!

Onwards and upwards. 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 79

I recently published a poem I wrote, it's called Fixture. It's a poem on life, and I'm proud of it. I don't often feel proud of my writing because the majority of it is terrible, but sometimes, it feels good to write. This was one of those times.

It didn't take quite as long to get another Monday Mixtape out as it took to write another poem, but there's been a ton of music! All sorts of great albums have been released in the past couple weeks which I'll get to on this mixtape and the next one, but it includes Vince Staples, Haim, SZA, Washed Out, Poolside, Miami Horror, Dan Auerbach, and even Jeff Tweedy released a solo acoustic album of Wilco songs. Wow. Breathe. Listen. And enjoy!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 78

Apologies for my absences, but I've been enjoying my time off between jobs by vacationing in Bass Lake in California and headed to Mexico on Wednesday with one of my best buddies. Been a blast so far!

This week's mixtape is focused primarily on a band that had not, until a couple weeks ago, released an album in six years. Their prior album was my #2 Album of 2011, the unforgettable Helplessness Blues.

I've been digesting their new album, Crack-Up, for weeks now, and man, this music is dense. There are songs within songs, sometimes three in one, pitch changes, rhythm changes, and musical facelifts in the middle of songs. These are not songs that immediately take. These songs really do age like a fine wine.

I remember listening to Helplessness Blues over and over and over again. I knew I liked it, but I didn't love it. For some reason, I just kept listening, and eventually, my like turned to love. I have a feeling something similar is happening with this new album.

No track immediately stood out for me on first listen, but now, I have a handful of tracks that I gravitate towards. I've placed these on this week's mixtape as well as some of my older favorites from them.

If you haven't given these guys a chance, just know that it takes some time, and listen in.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 77

For a very short period of time, my only job will be blogging for Layers & Sounds! Not sure if that will result in more output (most likely not) as I just resigned from my job and am taking a month off before starting my own business :) 

Enough about me, let's talk music:

I know that in many years, when I'm an old man listening to vinyls of yesteryear, Mac Demarco's classic album Salad Days (read my writeup on the album - my #1 album of 2014!) will be on rotation. It's almost impossible to follow an album like that, so it's not a huge surprise that the jokester Demarco was not up to the task. Nonetheless, his new album is an enjoyable, laid-back album to put on in the background during the late night of a party. There are a couple standout tracks, including this one, "This Old Dog" (and yes, he's mainly up to the same tricks).

Kembe X is one of the newer members on the TDE label (the infamous label with Kendrick, Isaiah Rashad, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock), and TDE continues to find gold. I really dig this guy and am interested to hear his major label debut. "Intro" is all you need to hear to know whether you're into him as well. There's nothing particularly unique about him, but it's just good music man!

It's killing me that the last thee songs Local Natives have released as singles - The Only Heirs, Tusk, and I Saw You Close Your Eyes - are so much better than half the songs on their recently released third album. These songs would have made that third album SO much more consistent and deep. Oh well.

I was very disappointed in Feist's recent album, only a song or two stuck out, and nothing really stayed with me for a prolonged time. This track is one of my favorites, a stripped down acoustic ballad that showcases one of the best and most original voices around. I think I was so disappointed in her album because her last, Metals, was also somewhat disappointing (though def better than this one) which was after her classic - another album I will absolutely be listening to when I'm wrinkly and gray! - 1, 2, 3, 4. That album alone is enough for me, but I always hoped for another great one from her. 

Ok, let's be honest here, no one really wants to hear an entire song of rappers rap about a high fashion label, in this case Raf (Simmons I believe). If I had my druthers, no one would EVER talk about Mason Margiela (if that's how you spell it - and no, I will not Google that to double check) or any of these other really expensive "it" designers who are helping us all blow money that we probably should be saving or spending on something a bit more worthwhile. (Rant over). But you know what we do want to listen to? A song with ASAP Rocky, Quavo, and Frank Ocean! So despite the terrible lyrics, this is still a pretty great song that's wrapped up by my fave, Frank Ocean, who lets us know that he charges $2.5 million per show. Not bad, Frank. Also kind of amazing that he never performs which is probably which that price tag can be so damn high.  

Finally, I'm excited for Foster the People's third album. That's all I gotta say on that. 

Have a good week, peoples!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 76

My task for you this week is to just press play on the mixtape and not look at who the artists are. Just press play and listen.

Listened?

So this week's mixtape features two artists whom I never really thought would be on the mixtape. Why? Because one - Harry Styles - was from One Direction, and the other was a band that I never particularly liked, a little too much of The Used clones when no one could do their sound like them.

BUT they both released albums this year, and lo and behold, I stumbled on to them and really, really like both albums! I liken Paramore's new album to Carly Rae Jepsen's pop masterpiece "Emotion" from 2015, an album of epic upbeat party jams with an 80s disco flair.

Paramore's "After Laughter" comes in the wake of a lawsuit from the former original member and bassist of Paramore who claims that he got screwed out of ownership of the band by the lead singer, Hayley Williams, thereby missing out on millions of dollars. The suit settled for an undisclosed sum.

Who knows whose story to believe, but Hayley Williams clearly has the bigger microphone, and this album is covered in innuendo or straight up lyrics the lawsuit and Williams' romantic relationship with him as well.

The last track on the album, a beautiful piano ballad (I LOVE piano ballads - which may explain why I use to love Coldplay so much. I mean, come on, "Trouble" is still one of my favorite piano based songs I've ever heard: 

*end parentheses) called "Tell Me How," which pretty much sums the whole album up.

I saw Hayley Williams perform on Kimmel and she's a bad ass, she's got a little Gwen Stefani in her (who, I know at this point and time is a bit more of a tabloid fixture and reality TV show person, is one of the most badass performers I've EVER seen live. No joke, her stage presence was incomparable. She just radiated confidence, beauty, and talent. I saw her on a No Doubt reunion tour (which was AWESOME) for $5, and she just crushed it.).

Now to Harry Styles. Let's just say that I'm awestruck by his debut solo album. I think it is very good with shades and influences of all the British rockers (and John Mayer) I can think of: Pink Floyd (Meet Me in the Hallway), Bowie (Sign of the Times), Elton John (Woman), Mick Jagger (Carolina), and a bunch of 80s hairband rockers on Kiwi and Only Angel. The John Mayer track should be heard the moment it's played: Sweet Creature, which sounds more like Born and Raised-era Mayer. In fact, listen to "The Age of Worry"

and then Sweet Creatures... 

Whoa. So yeah, I'd say Mayer was an influence. 

But all these influences make a pretty compelling debut album from the dude from One Direction.  And it's happened before people! Remember Marky Mark? His acoustic debut solo album was SO GOOD.

I AM JOKING - Marky Mark did not do such a thing (Say hello to your mutha fa me), but Justin Timberlake did! Sometimes the true talent of a group shines when he/she got solo (Beyonce, anyone?) and everyone else is left in the dust (Joey Fatone...). So if anyone's going to do it, it's Harry with the voice of an angel and a heartthrob for all the ladies. He came across pretty likable in Rolling Stone's cover article on him. 

ALAS, enjoy the show! 

Listen to This - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

Starting back in 2012, I kept a playlist called "Holy Shit, Listen to This!" which encompassed bands that I had just discovered and was completely obsessed with:

I invite you to listen to some of this even though it's many years old and most of these bands never quite exceeded my lofty expectations. But that Peace EP was SO GOOD, "Calling All Gamma Rays" is still a song I love to listen to, the Angus Stone album holds up, and my man Mac Demarco's album "Salad Days" was my #1 Album of 2014.

ALAS, this all brings me to Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. The first song I heard from them is the first song of theirs on this little playlist, 2017's "French Press." Immediately, I thought, "Holy Shit! Everyone needs to hear this!!"

If this song doesn't get you going, just shut down Spotify and go on your merry way. But if the upbeat drums get you nodding your head, then the first phasey guitar reverbs away, then the other guitar comes blasting in, and you're just waiting for the vocals which come in a nonchalant gruff and accent-y (they're Aussies) speak-songy way, a rawness reminding me of the Strokes and Libertines type of style.

After hearing "French Press," I immediately ingested everything they've written (at least on Spotify) which lead me to create my favorites from what I've heard of their two EPs from 2017 and 2016. These guys fucking rock. Hope you enjoy too!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 75

Apologies for my absence, I've been traveling seeing friends and family, certainly a good excuse to abandon my musical duties. But I'm back, and my goodness, there's been some great music released in the past few weeks. 

Phoenix dropped their first single off their new album, and like their other unforgettable songs, most specifically:

This week's track from him, "Rollin," features Future, a man who continues to churn out great music at a prolific pace.

I really loved Childhood's first album, and their newest single shows some promise for what's ahead. "California Light" sounds retro with horns and Gibbs-brothers like falsettos. This song's played in the twilight of a roller disco. 

Finally, Foster the People released three tracks from their upcoming third album. Their second album was super out there, something I really respected from a band that took over the world with "Pumped Up Kicks," and decided to go in an alternate direction instead of taking over the pop world further. Mad respect! 

Have a good week all!