Monday Mixtape, Vol. 90 - It's Christmas Time

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As I am diligently working on my Top 100 Songs of 2017 and Top 25 Albums of 2017, I wanted to give the listeners a Christmas mixtape in the meantime! Who doesn't want to listen to A Charlie Brown Christmas and the Home Alone soundtrack?  

It's always been a little weird to get into the Christmas spirit here in California, particularly as my sister sends me clips of her and my nephew playing in the snow! Now THAT'S Christmas. Nonetheless, this music gets me in the spirit regardless of the coast, so I'm hoping it does the same for you!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 89

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All sorts of random tracks on this week's playlist. The Preatures are back in the mix with my favorite track from a pretty lackluster sophomore album. Tame Impala released three B-sides from the Currents album, one of which is the instrumental "Powerlines." If you want to see how the brilliant Kevin Parker makes a track, check out the video on his website: https://www.tameimpala.com

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BANDS WITH NAMES IN ALL CAPS NOW???

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the remainder of tunes which give you a bit of a jumpstart to your week! Cheers.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 87

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I tend to write in hyperbole, not by intention but usually by excitement. There's so much great music being made that the in the moment greatness feels more everlasting that it ultimately is. Call me a sucker for the moment, I suppose. 

So I've been thinking about this song I just heard, "Solar Pilgrim," by Twain. It is certainly one of my favorite songs this year, and the song that moved my heartstrings more than any other this year. But I think it's more than that. 

I call it this decade's "Hallelujah," probably the most revered and famous cover by the late great legend, Jeff Buckley (who was covering Leonard Cohen).

Twain's masterpiece is a song about the times, the corruption of money over the soul, and the few (if any) who will come and live with Twain (or whoever he sings as, possibly Jesus) in a life without the trappings of riches. "Soul or Pilgrim" seems to ask what our sacred place is? Is it money? Fame? Power? Or is it to grow our soul into something beautiful?

We all wander through life, many of us searching for terrible things that provide nothing to our souls (just read the papers, any day). But there are still those, like the person in this song, that try to keep their souls as the focus of the pilgrimage. He hopes there are others, but as he closes the song, he can't find any, and pleads for God to come take him away: 

Walk right by me
I’ll be glad to have you in my life a while
There’s always room for one more

Eat and Drink!
Lay down with the beauties of this earthly world
I think that they want to lay down with you

In the morning
Getting stronger, getting richer by the day
That’s the way that it was meant to be

They won’t tell you
But there was once a time when we all lived that way
That was before the money came raining down on us

Now: my soul is a pilgrim
And my body is barely keeping up
And one day, it won’t keep up any more

And on that day
I’ll go sailing through the clouds (crowds)
Through the stars
On a Solar Highway to my God

But till then
I’m still healthy
Sitting in the morning sun
And no one around to sit down next to me

They all know I’ve got that kind of soul  
They know and run away
'Cuz they all know that kind of soul don’t stay long

Oh my god, come take me
I just cannot wait another day
Oh my God! Come take me away!

Everything about this song is gorgeous. The twangy electric guitar that starts, then the lullaby-like trebled guitar that gives way to Twain's angelic voice. The crescendo that comes together as Twain asks God to take him away. This is one of my favorite songs I've heard in years. I'm truly blown away by it, and I hope it makes your week or even year! Even cooler the guy is from Franklin County, VA, only a stones throw from Virginia Tech.

In a few years, will I look back on this post, and think, "I really overdid it on this one. Me and my hyperbole." Or will this song forever float in my mind of all-timers, a track I'll remember decades later when I find another track to anoint? Hallelujah.

Time will tell.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 86

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I was looking back at my playlist of Top Albums of 2017:

THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY GREAT ALBUMS THIS YEAR! 

This has been a fantastic year in music. I can't say there was a life changing album, BUT it's still been so consistent across the board and much better than last year. 

That tangent has nothing to do with this week's music, it's more of an observation that we're very lucky mohave Kendrick Lamar, Ryan Adams, Hippo Campus, Future, John Mayer, Chris Stapleton, Fleet Foxes, Vince Staples, SZA, Washed Out, Haim, Foster the People, Electric Gues, LCD Soundsystem, and so many more, creating such great music. 

#blessed. 

ANYWAY, this week's mixtape is weighted by Alvvays, a band whose 2014 debut was really impressive yet their sophomore album even more so! You know me and sophomore albums: they're usually regurgitations of the previous album at half the quality and originality. This album is an exception, and the two tracks from them on this mixtape are my faves from their new album about a certain love lost. "What's left for you and me? I ask that question rhetorically...There's no turning back / after what's been said," Molly Rankin sadly states on "In Undertow."

Alvvays gets a bit more upbeat with the catchy "Saved By A Waif" that all comes to a crescendo with that amazing chorus.

Bully relased one of the more raw rock releases this year. A kick ass album with no sheen, just distortion and a bit of yelling. I really dig, "Spiral."

Slackers Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile made their own record and it's about what you'd expect: a bit unfocused and rambled, a bit by the seat of their pants, but it's got some good tracks, highlighted by "Over Everything."

ODESZA is one of those huge bands adored by the EDM crowd that I'll get on board with. They relax me, they bring me up, they just do it for me. You too?

This mixtape is ended with King Krule, a young kid (I think he's now 22 or 23) and critical darling, who just released a new album. Some may immediately turn away at his voice, but his music and production is always on point and original, and I just love the beat of this track. ]

Have a great week all!  

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 85

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SO MUCH new music got released last week - St. Vincent's fourth album, Beck's latest, The Killers, King Krule, and Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile's Lotta Sea Lice - and all sorts of singles came out that I can't even include them all this week. 

Alas, what I was able to do was make this week's playlist a feel good, uppity, "LET'S DO THIS" type of mix. 

First off, Beck is superhuman. If I haven't said it before, he's our generation's David Bowie, a chameleon with so many colors of sounds that I'm left in awe of his range. Nobody else has the discography he does - it's insane.

Listen to "Devil's Haircut" on Odelay, a phenomenal first track to an album, what an opener!

Then downshift to soft and mightily mellow  "Morning" on Morning Sound:

Then to the wild 70s soul-funk of "Mixed Business" on Midnite Vultures:

To one of my favorite's, the kick ass "E-Pro" form Guero:

I mean COME ON. This is ridiculous. Which left me in huge anticipation of his recent release, Colors. It was being billed as a "pop" album by Beck, something he'd been working on even before Morning Sound. As usual, Beck morphs into a catchy pop star with pristine production and catchy choruses.

I've included the first two tracks from his new album on this week's mixtape. How can you not like these tracks? He's a savant, a true musical genius. 

I just remembered that I wrote a huge rant against Kanye West for messing with Beck when he won the the Album of the Year Grammy, so take a read of that if you have a few. (SIDEBAR: And how crazy that I wrote that two and a half years ago??)

Both Starslinger and The Knocks are party bands who make party music. Nuff said.

St. Vincent released MASSEDUCATION on Friday, and I'm still cycling through the album, so I can't say I have a total take yet. She gave an interesting interview to Pitchfork where apparently she spoke about every track on this album. Unfortunately, she basically answered nothing about the heart of the songs, but she's always an interesting read and just a badass performer.   

"Pills" is one of her more catchy tracks on the album, one where the hook was meant to sound like a commercial-like jingle. An epic comedown off those pills to end the song. 

Have a good week! And listen to more Beck! 

Monday Mixtape, Wedding Edition Part 2

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I am back from my honeymoon so I will continue to relive our wedding with more music from the special day!

This playlist was played during our cocktail hour. It's got the Frank Sinatra vibe with some sprinkles of other sounds. While creating this playlist, I found a number of artists who I had not fully appreciated, like Chet Baker, Mel Torme, and Doris Day. 

This is a great playlist for the background of any party. It gets you in the mood to socialize, have a few drinks, and enjoy the evening. Raise up your glass. 

Monday Mixtape, Wedding Edition Part 1

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I got married this weekend! I cannot describe the love that enveloped my wife and I by our family and friends. What an indescribable feeling. 

In light of our happy weekend, I wanted to share a couple playlists over the next couple weeks. The first one was our first playlist as people arrived to our ceremony site. The theme was obviously love with in a "modern" genre: 

Next week is the cocktail hour in the key of Sinatra and company!

 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 84

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I am getting married in 12 days. It's a surreal feeling to finally be headed somewhere I also dreamed. She's a very special person, and all I know is I feel warm when she is near. I've been working a lot on the music for our wedding, and I will share some of the playlists to our wedding in a few weeks.

All I know is throughout my time with her, music has played an integral role in our relationship, in our life. She has an unending passion to explore what she doesn't know, which makes me so happy when she falls in love with Tame Impala, Kendrick Lamar, and loves seeing Radiohead live. And I've learned a lot of country diddy's that I never knew.

As usual, I have curated a list of songs to play for this week, many drastically different than the next.

LCD Soundsystem came out of retirement (let's be honest, no one actually expected them to retire. No one believes music retirements anymore, and I've become more skeptical of them as money grabs to go on farewell tours. I'm sure some are sincere and others aren't) and released a great album which I still need to digest, but I was running recently when this song came on, and I had the "DAMN, who is this??" moment. Great track. 

The War On Drugs released another incredible album that seamlessly plays from front to back. The modern day Springsteen, or that's what some say. 

I'll put basically every single Frank Ocean song on Monday Mixtape, so this is another example of his brilliance. 

Bryson Tiller's sophomore album was a bit disappointing given how much I loved his first album. Nonetheless, there are some jams on his new one, particularly "High Stakes," his Jay-Z-like "December 4th" coming of age track. 

XXXTENTACION gets the annual award for worst name. I can't pronounce it nor understand it and I just feel old reading it. But I do like this track. 

Happy Monday all, love somebody! 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 83

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What with my new business starting and my wedding coming up, I've been a tad bit busy, so my writing will not be up to snuff for the next month or so. Apologies, but I'll still keep the music coming! 

And please, if you haven't checked out SZA's album, it's a must. This is the best female R&B (if that's the genre it falls into) album I've heard in a long time. Just can't stop listening to it.