Monday Mixtape, Vol. 131

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So…everyone’s dead on Game of Thrones. Well, not everyone, but mostly. I suppose that’s what was to be expected. Just let Sansa rule with Arya as hand to the Queen, and we’ll all be happy.

This week’s mixtape starts off reeeeall chill, I can’t get enough of Billie Marten’s voice. One of a kind. It’z crazy to think she’s only 19, that’s a lot of talent!

I’m been constantly listening to the Vampire Weekend album, and it’s one of those albums that’s just too long. 18 tracks?? Really?? If they had cut the 6 weak-ish tracks out of the album, it would be a really, really, good album. It’s still good, and when it’s great (Unbearably White, Bambina, This Life, How Long?, 2021), it’s really great. It just can’t keep the momentum up.

Holy Ghost! continues to kick ass, and “Escape from Los Angeles” is a seven minute opus!

If you haven’t listened to TOKiMONSTA, she’s a pretty great producer of, usually, laid back jams. Good to just throw her stuff on when you’re looking to relax a bit yet be productive.

Have a good week all!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 130

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Salutations to all you Monday Mixtapers! This mixtape is surrounded by Big Wild, a newly discovered electro-pop band that I’ve been digging. Their instrumental, “Pale Blue Dot,” might be my favorite track of them all.

If you didn’t catch the Band of Skulls track on last week’s Mixtape, here’s another gem. Despite the misfortunate terrible band name, these guys (and girls) rock. Been enjoying this album.

Have a great week all!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 129

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Happy belated Easter and Passover and any other holiday (…420) you may have celebrated over the weekend!

There’s so much great new music to digest this week, including new stuff from Vampire Weekend, Idlewild, Bibio, and Band of Skulls.

Many years ago, 19 to be exact, Idlewild released 100 Broken Windows, a phenomenal indie rock album that drew me into the Scottish band. A couple years after that, they released the somewhat more mature but still amazingly raucous, The Remote Part. I’m listening to it right now, and it stands the test of time. I actually have to listen to these albums all week. Please dig into these guys if you’ve never explored.

I've actually never listened to The Brian Jonestown Massacre before, but I’ve constantly read their name. Their new album kicks ass. Speaking of kicking ass, Band of Skulls is keeping rock alive, and “Love Is All You Love” is a testament to that.

If you liked Bibio’s old stuff, a la Ambivalence Avenue, this album goes back to his roots. Super chill, great background music. “Before” is one of my faves on the new album.


Monday Mixtape, Vol. 128

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Oh mercy! I’ve been gone for at least three weeks, I sincerely apologize. You’ve had such a glut of music in your stomach and soul missing! I blame my “real” job, which has been getting a lot busier and very interesting. There have been a few points where I’ve felt the business is about to really turn a corner and some real momentum is gaining. The first two times were a bit of false starts, and I have no idea where the biz may go from here, but it’s another good feeling. You have to feel this every once in a while to keep everything loose and fun, and keep hope alive, so that’s a good thing. 

ANYWAYS. This week’s mixtape is going to mimic my mood, so it shall be an upbeat slew of jams.

Friendly Fires released a single, one of my favorite songs I’ve heard from them in years  it seems just yesterday that their amazing 2008 debut album was playing on repeat on my speakers.

The Japanese House released what is easily one of my favorite albums this year so far. This is certainly my fave jam on the album.

Foals continue to make really good music. I’d say I’m a tad disappointed overall in their new album since their quality control album to album has been so damn consistent, and this year’s album sounds to be one of their weaker entries, but this track and “Sunday” are still great tracks, standouts on the album. 

I’m excited to hear Foster the People’s new album. If this single is any indication, it should be a good one. Speaking of quality control, these guys only have three albums, the last two of which I thought were wildly underrated (their second album was so weird and different, akin to MGMT’s wild left turn with their awesome, crazy, and orbital second album, Congratulations) thereby making the band seem underrated and under appreciated. Yet they were headlining the festival circuit on their last album. They’re a bit of a conundrum to me, I never feel like I meet too many huge fans of theirs or hear too much about them from critics, but they’re still making great music.

Enjoy the rest of the jams and the whole of the week! I’ll see you next one.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 127

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This week’s mixtape is for all the lovers of singer/songwriters, the rambling poets exhaling smoke, folk, and lullabies in the wind.

Every one of these artists I’ve only recently discovered (and Townes Van Zandt has been making music since the 70s! Guess I got some work to do for him), and it’s like they all hit me in a slow motion hurricane. These are all beautiful songs in their own right, but the songs all move at a soft, steady pace. This is music to burn a fire to. Let the embers and colors float amongst the darkness and close your eyes. Escape to the sounds of the crackling fire, like a record player, play the night away.

And let yourself fall asleep…

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 125

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Apologies for my absence the last couple weeks, but we’re back with a vengeance of sounds to rock your ears!

We’ll start with a band that you may say right off the bat is a Tame Impala wannabe, which I will say is a reasonable charge (actually a SPOT ON charge, I mean, listen to the solo at 0:50 of “Sky So Blue,” that is a blatant ripoff of their live album and all of Currents basically, and then I wonder what Kevin Parker would think if he heard something like this, like, this is EXACTLY my sound, what are you guys doing??), BUT Tame Impala, or should I say Kevin Parker’s vocals, are also a John Lennon wannabe, AND Hot Flash Heat Wave’s earlier stuff sounds nothing like the psych-synth Tame Impala that these two tracks (WHICH I LOVE BTW), so I’m giving them a SMALL PASS here. I just love “Trust” and have been humming it all weekend.

ANYWAY, Cherry Glazer’s album is pretty badass and rock n roll, Andrew Bird released a single reminiscent of his Noble Beast-era sound, aka WHISTLING, and I had to include a beautiful diddy from the brand new band no one has ever heard of: Crosby, Stills, & Nash.

Enjoy!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 124

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Where does Post Malone rank in terms of singing hooks right now? Does anyone do it better? Yeah, it’s easy to make fun of the face tattoos and dreads (which he’s now changed to a small 80s era small fro), but “all my friends” is pretty catchy, right? Can’t hate on catchy.

This is an all rap playlist, highlighted by both Future and 21 Savage’s new albums. I was impressed with 21’s album, it has a ton of features (J. Cole, Childish Gambino, Post Malone, Offset, and Schoolboy Q) which complement his monotone flow, and the production fits perfectly with so many tracks.

Future released another album that is just like most other Future albums. He has some alter ego (this time, “The WIZRD,” it all more or less sounds the same, and a few tracks really stand out. A couple of those are on this mixtape.

I also included some older JID, the rapper that blew me away with his mixtape, DiCaprio 2. This guy has something special, we will be hearing a lot more from him.

That’s it people! Hope you enjoyed the (4th Quarter) of the Super Bowl. My commercial MVP was either Stella Artois or the NFL one with all the players.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 123

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It’s a Monday, but this one will be filled with upbeat jams to keep your spirits high. None exemplify an optimistic take than this first track, a remix of ODESZA’s “Falls” by The Knocks, one where the remix destroys the original.

Toro y Moi released a new album (his 7th!) a couple weeks ago, and this is his best album since 2013’s phenomenal Anything In Return. In keeping with this week’s mixtape, this album is a club banger, I highly recommend it.

Maggie Rogers, the musician who achieved overnight success because of Pharrell’s face, finally released her debut (didn’t that Pharrell thing happen 3 years ago?? NO GOOGLE, I will not ask you to verify.) Anyways, the album is good, I might have to listen through again, but these two tracks jumped out to me.

SOAK is an Irishsongwriter who I’ve posted a number of times and has some incredible talent and originality. She could be someone special, or just a continued indie ingenue.

Have a good week all!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 122

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I follow a number of random playlists by music doppelgängers that I’ve found during my searches through time, and many of them will post their favorite current albums by bands I’ve never heard of and wonder what rock these guys found them under, but alas, I will listen to the first two tracks of every album by these randomly named bands which will give me a feeling of whether they’re worth digging into more.

This is an easy technique to listen to a TON of new stuff to quickly cull through the garbage and find that which rings my ears. I bring you into this weird world of mine because I’ve started today’s mixtape with the first two tracks from James Blake’s (I know, I know, not exactly a “random” artist - WE’RE STARTING SLOW) new album, the fourth of his career, called Assume Form.

If you don’t know James Blake, words don’t exactly do him justice, his voice says it mostly and his production/orchestration say the rest. He’s not everyones’ cup of tea, but these two tracks (the second is expertly assisted by Travis Scott) give you a great approximation of whether you should dig in further to this album.

The remainder of the mixtape includes two tracks from Deerhunter’s EIGHTH ALBUM (I write this in CAPS because it’s wild that I’ve been listening to these guys since the beginning of their career back in 2007 - Yes, this is a sign that I’m (we’re) getting old), Post Malone’s new track, a great track from the perennially underrated Bear Hands, and my favorite song from Sharon Van Etten’s new album.

Happy New Year to all. Let’s have a hell of a 2019 in music and life.