Monday Mixtape, Vol. 176

Happy 2021 all! And what a 2021 it’s been so far.

There has been very little new music released this year, but thankfully, we have an incredible live version of Bombay Bicycle Club’s phenomenal 2009 release, I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose. This live album is even better than the recorded album, a rare feat! It showcases the range of LOUD, symbol crashes, and excellent drum fills with the subtleties of intricate rhythm guitar playing and angelic off-kilter vocals. This is a piece of art, and I’ve already bought the vinyl to treasure for years to come. Enjoy a few of my favorites.

As for the rest of the mixtape, we have a great new track from Ab-Soul, one of my favorite rappers from many years ago who has fallen off the face of the earth since his last awful album (which got a brutal review in Pitchfork). So maybe there’s still some hope for him.

As for a more recent great rapper (and occupier of one of my Top 25 Albums of 2020) who I hope can continue to make great stuff, Kota the Friend released a 15 minute mixtape, and “Luke Cage” might be my fave of the many very short tracks.

Finally, this Myd track featuring Mac Demarco remixed by Metronomy is such a strange song, but I love it. Myd seems as weird as Mac Demarco, and that’s saying something!

Enjoy the week.

Top 25 Albums of 2020

1. Taylor Swift - folklore

2. BENEE - Hey u x

3. Mac Miller - Circles

4. Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

5. Beach Bunny - Honeymoon

6. Run the Jewels - RTJ4

7. Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension

8. Fleet Foxes - Shore

9. SAULT - Untitled (Rise)

10. HAIM - Women In Music Pt. III

11. Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

12. Georgia - Seeking Thrills

13. Glass Animals - Dreamland

14. Delta Spirit - What Is There

15. Caribou - Suddenly

16. Amine - Limbo

17. Marlowe - Marlowe 2

18. Samia - The Baby

19. The Neighbourhood - Chip Chrome & The Mono-Tones

20. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters

21. Statik Selektah - The Balancing Act

22. Kota the Friend - EVERYTHING

23. Dogleg - Melee

24. 21 Savage & Metro Boomin - SAVAGE MODE II

25. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Sideways to New Italy

Top 100 Songs of 2020

1. Video Game – Sufjan Stevens

2. WHATS POPPIN – Jack Harlow

3. Supalonely (feat. Gus Dapperton) – BENEE

4. august – Taylor Swift

5. Blue World – Mac Miller

6. Your Love (Déjà Vu) – Glass Animals

7. Is It True – Tame Impala

8. The Wheel – SOHN, Metropole Orkest

9. Pretty Please – Dua Lipa

10. Cherry Flavoured – The Neighbourhood

11. Promises – Beach Bunny

12. Gamesofluck - Parcels

13. ooh la la (feat. Greg Nice & DJ Premier) – Run The Jewels

14. Kool – BENEE

15. Everybody – Mac Miller

16. Light One Write One – Elzhi

17. Can I Believe You – Fleet Foxes

18. Joy Of My Life – Chris Stapleton

19. Borderline – Tame Impala

20. the last great american dynasty – Taylor Swift

21. SMELLS LIKE INCENSE – Jack Harlow

22. Woodlawn – Aminé

23. The Good Ones – Widowspeak

24. People, I've been sad – Christine and the Queens

25. Edge of Town – Middle Kids

26. Tangerine – Glass Animals

27. Santos Party House – Smoke DZA, Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T., Girl Talk

28. Eugene – Arlo Parks

29. Starting Over – Chris Stapleton

30. Kawasaki Backflip – Dogleg

31. Hammond Song – Whitney

32. Sunblind – Fleet Foxes

33. The Things We Do – Foster The People

34. Better Distractions – Faye Webster

35. If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know) – The 1975

36. April – Beach Bunny

37. Don't Wanna – HAIM

38. Déjá Vu – The Dead Tongues

39. I Don't Belong – Fontaines D.C.

40. 17 – Pink Sweat$

41. Laugh Now Cry Later (feat. Lil Durk) – Drake

42. Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat – Del Water Gap

43. I Feel High – Poolside, Ben Browning

44. Rich Nigga Shit (feat. Young Thug) – 21 Savage, Metro Boomin, Young Thug

45. Nebraska Dreams – Joshua Lee Turner

46. Making Sense – Delta Spirit

47. Landslide – Sufjan Stevens

48. Small Business – Marlowe, L'Orange, Solemn Brigham

49. Keep It Moving (feat. Nas, Joey Bada$$, & Gary Clark Jr.) – Statik Selektah

50. Minnesota – Samia

51. Afterthought – Joji, BENEE

52. Started Out – Georgia

53. I Know The End – Phoebe Bridgers

54. The Climb Back – J. Cole

55. Rare Air – Mildlife

56. Shiva (with JID & EARTHGANG feat. Benji. & Jurdan Bryant) – Spillage Village

57. Yesterday – Dan Croll

58. FEDS – Nick Grant, Tae Beast

59. Hit Different – SZA, The Neptunes, Pharrell Williams, Ty Dolla $ign

60. Mr. Man & K.i.D – KYLE

61. Give It To Me – Pink Sweat$

62. Swimming Pool – Eliza & The Delusionals

63. Real Love Song – Nothing But Thieves

64. Savage Remix (feat. Beyoncé) – Megan Thee Stallion

65. out of sight (feat. 2 Chainz) – Run The Jewels

66. Drifter – Tree Theater

67. Feel You – My Morning Jacket

68. Introduction – Joshua Lee Turner

69. Preach Honest – Marlowe, L'Orange, Solemn Brigham

70. Graceless Kids – Best Coast

71. anywhere – Jonah Yano

72. Windows Cry – REASON

73. VERY ALONE – Zaia

74. Dionne (feat. Justin Vernon) – The Japanese House

75. Extinct – REASON, Isaiah Rashad, JID

76. Underneath – Public Practice

77. Lo Mein – Lil Uzi Vert

78. Moments / Tides – Goth Babe

79. RIP Luv – 21 Savage, Metro Boomin

80. Falling Thunder – Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

81. Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You) – Bombay Bicycle Club

82. She Knows This – Kid Cudi

83. OK – Wallows

84. And It's Still Alright – Nathaniel Rateliff

85. Cuba – Theophilus London

86. Sign – Roosevelt

87. Black Habits I (feat. Jackie Gouché) – D Smoke

88. Canyonheart – Israel Nash

89. Thank God I Made It (feat. Queen Naija) – Benny The Butcher

90. Every Tradition – Bully

91. Opaline – Jeff Tweedy

92. Mustang – Bartees Strange

93. B.Q.E – Kota the Friend, Joey Bada$$, Bas

94. honey – boy pablo

95. Bluebird – Gus Dapperton

96. Fits – Do Nothing

97. Life – Dom Kennedy, 24hrs, Casey Veggies

98. anything – Adrianne Lenker

99. Lifetime – Romy

100. King – Ark Patrol

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 175

Another indie star is in blossom! I recently listened to Samia’s debut album, The Baby, and I’m smitten. It’s pop music, but it also could be inserted into any hipsters playlist where people would be “Hey, who’s this?”

Kid Cudi released a new album, and I still need to spend some time digesting. But “Tequila Shots” and “She Knows This” are standouts for me so far.

A famous rap producer, Statik Selektah, is clearly influenced by DJ Premier, Q-Tip. It’s a nice homage to those jazz-sampled beats. He released a great album with all sorts of great rappers, and the more I heard Jack Harlow’s track, the more I came to like it.

Bartees Strange is every critic’s favorite new artist. His debut album is all over the place, but he does it well. I like him, but I need to spend a lot more time with the album.

Next week or two I’ll be posting my favorite 100 songs and 25 albums of 2020! Get pumped!!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 174

In my writeup last week on BENEE, her sound had influences of the xx. Sure enough, one member of the xx, Romy, starts this week’s mixtape! “Lifetime” is a hell of an upbeat electro track. You’ll be nodding your head in no time.

Last week, you may have also noticed the name Gus Dapperton featured on the infectious “Supalonely” by BENEE (so much BENEE!!), and it just so happens Ol’ Gus released a new album in November as well. The bass line to “Bluebird” gets me every time.

PUP had my #1 album of 2019, and they’ve followed that amazeballsness with a lackluster EP (insert Price Is Right horn…), but “Nothing Changes” is certainly worth a listen. You know what? No. I’m not putting it on the mixtape. It didn’t make the cut. Sorry pooch!

I've listened to Chris Stapleton’s album a number of times, and I’m disappointed. It’s inconsistent. There are no bad songs per se, but for a guy with SO much talent, and one of the greatest voices of his generation (don’t you dare say no), I keep waiting for an oh my god this is a classic album. Some may argue his debut, Traveller, is a classic, but I think it’s a notch or two below that.

We still gifted beautiful songs (like “Joy Of My Life”) and kick-ass ones (like “Arkansas”).

I hadn’t heard of Marlowe until I asked a guy on Twitter what his fave albums this year were. Marlowe’s recent album - he also listed RTJ4, Aesop Rock’s new one, Alfredo (Freddie Gibbs and Alchemist), unlocked (Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats) Jay Electronica, Clams Casino’s instrumental, and Westside Gunn’s Pray for Paris - Marlowe 2, is very unique, in your face in a punkish way, and a blast to listen to. So far, my fave track is “Small Business,” so listen up!

Jonah Yano is this weird dude I stumbled upon, one of those Andrew Bird or Patrick Watson “out there” types whose music just sounds smart and ephemeral. “Anywhere” is a beautiful track, and you might get Jeff Buckley vibes.

Threw in a little more REASON for the rap heads out there.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 173 - Introducing the World's Next Pop Star - BENEE

All I can say is BENEE enraptured my attention from the the first note of the first track I heard, the first track of this week’s Monday Mixtape, “Happen to Me.”

Every once in a while, a song really catches my attention, but when it’s a new artist I’ve never heard, I’m usually skeptical. It’s probably a one-off, I think to myself. But I have to look into the album where the song came from when I hear a track like this. And so begins my love of BENEE.

BENEE is of the Lorde / Billie Eilish / Grimes / SZA mold, I guess, simply because she’s a young (20 years old!) female with a sound that resonates with the times. Like Lorde, she’s from Auckland, New Zealand. Like SZA, she’s got more soul, R&B, and funk in her songs than any of the others could even try.

More importantly, the others got massively popular with the release of one album, and I think the same is going to happen to BENEE. She’s got six or seven big hits on her just-released album, Hey u x.

She’s got a great voice, a sweet wispy, almost husky serenade. Her vocals really shine when she’s performing on bare tracks like “C U,” “Want Me Back,” or when she shows up as a feature like Joji’s “Afterthought.” (which isn’t on this playlist!)

She’s got a better voice than Lorde, Grimes, and Eilish, but her lyrics are pretty usual, at least in Lorde standards. She’s not the creative solo genius that Grimes brings to the table, but almost every one of her songs is catchy, and there aren’t bad tracks. They all have great drum beats, lay on the synths and spacey effects when needed, and her vocals and intonations always make the song stronger. Her album sounds like a team that’s been playing together for years, seamlessly in sync at every bridge, chorus, intro, and outro.

I also hear influence from other bands I love, like the xx (if you don’t hear the xx on “Happen To Me” than you crazy!) and Beach House. Her songs, like theirs, can be very subtle: a guitar lick (the one on “Monsta” is so sick), a drum beat, her vocals, and occasionally bits of keyboards and synths too add some memorable spice. She makes subtle sweet and powerful.

On Spotify, she’s currently 343rd in the world. Not bad (seriously)! I’m going to go on a limb and guarantee she’ll be in the Top 50 by the end of 2021.

This is your year, BENEE!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 172 - A Declaration of Celebration and Relief

This is a special Monday Mixtape, and I hope you can rejoice with me in the news that we have a new leader, president-elect.

So it’s only appropriate that we start the mixtape with Queen’s anthem, the same song that blared through all of DC when the Washington Capitals hoisted their first Stanley Cup as they paraded around the city in ecstasy. As much of a Caps fan as I am, our recent election results is probably a bigger deal.

While these mixtapes usually feature new music, exceptions must be made. Queen is one of them. Bill Withers another, Hall & Oates for sure, Radiohead a must.

Foo Fighters is another. They were the musical guest on SNL this past weekend, and appropriately they closed the show with “Times Like These,” an acknowledgement of times like these when we can learn to live again, to give and give again, and it’s times like these you learn to love again. Somehow I hope there’s a middle ground that can be found. But it’s times like these where’s there’s at least hope.

And what a performance by the Foos.

Many of the other tracks are a feeling, a message, a declaration of celebration and relief.

Hallelujah.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 171

Lots of great music blasting - or should I say serenading? This is an especially mellow mixtape - through the headphones this week. So many artists I love are releasing singles in anticipation of albums or fill albums in the past couple weeks: The Staves, Chris Stapleton, Mac Demarco, Jeff Tweedy, Local Natives, and more.

We’ll start with Omar Apollo, a crooner oozing sensuality and sultriness. You may get some Frank Ocean vibes from this guy who just released a new album that’s worth checking out if you like this jam that starts the mixtape.

Joji is a pop act but an original talent as he produced and arranged all the songs on his album Nectar. “Daylight” reminds me of Borns, one of my favorite pop artists in the past few years, and “Afterthought” has some James Blake influence. His album is all over the place in a good way.

Jeff Tweedy released a new solo album. God I love this guy. I still think Wilco is one of the most under appreciated bands alive right now (Spoon is probably up there too. You know who’s NOT up there? THE NATIONAL. The most OVERRATED band alive. Though I will admit I like High Violet but I’m so very tired of listening to their lead singer fumble through his songs like he’s on his 17th glass of red wine).

ANYWAYS, any music released by Jeff Tweedy is a must listen for me. I’ve included a couple of my current faves from his recent album, Love Is the King.

Another underrated band: The Staves. Their new single “Good Woman” is released in anticipation of their third album (of the same title) to be released in February 2021. Can’t wait!

My man Mac Demarco releasd a bunch of b-sides from his last album, and I have yet to listen to them all, but “Out Of My Head” got my head bobbing. He’s so awesome.

Finally, some nostalgic love for Local Natives. I may have mentioned I recently purchased their 10th Anniversary vinyl of their debut classic, Gorilla Manor, an album that has so much emotional heft for me, memories of a specific time in my life that Gorilla Manor WAS the soundtrack.

I’ve added one of my favorite tracks (though who am I kidding, I think I love every single song) which is a bit less known as it’s buried in the back of the album.

Enjoy the tunes.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 170

This week’s mixtape is a mix of rock, rap, folk, and whatever you want to call Kurt Vile’s laidback tunes.

I’ll start with the last, first: REASON. He’s the newest member of the infamous music label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), which includes SZA, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, and oh yeah, that other rapper, Kendrick Lamar. Reason is the only one of all of them to drop an album in 2020, so the pressure is on!

Word on TDE is Kendrick might leave TDE for Dave Free’s label (one of Kendrick’s this high-school friends). I would assume he got screwed or massively underpaid for providing the biggest platform for TDE while the TDE owners soaked in all the money. Just a guess.

Anyways, I enjoyed REASON’s album a lot because he’s a good lyricist (see Verse 2 below) and is passionate. A lot of artists either don’t give a shit what they’re saying or sound like they don’t, and it’s refreshing to hear someone that sounds like their soul is on fire and they need to extinguish something. Or as REASON says, “I gotta say it wit’ my chest.”

What’s wild for a debut album on a major label is that REASON is already showing doubts of his relationship with TDE. More abnormal, he’s being open and honest about it on this mixtape’s last track, “Windows Cry.” Verse 2 is phenomenal:

Prayed to be gifted and got it from rappin', ain't that ironic?
Discussin' deals with white women and vodka tonics, uh
Like who are you, nigga? Oh, you different, different
Oh, you gifted, gifted, then let's go back to your contract
Nigga, listen, listen, paranoia lifted
Look, you so fuckin' clueless, let's break it down?
You signed a paper to get rid of your niggas, now you got strangers
At the worst fuckin' moment you could 'cause your life is changin'
You heard the stories of labels puttin' artists in danger
Use 'em up for hits, never pay 'em and then replace 'em
And now you're steppin' into unfamilar situations
Of a label that's like family but adopted you for paper
While you tryna be the greatest and pursue your vison
You call and get the voicemail, nigga, who gon' listen?
They only care about the money, nigga, screw your vision
This shit's so fuckin' screwed up, now you screwed up in it
They got you sittin' on the bench, you gon' lose your listens
You gon' hurt your fans, you gon' lose your mentions
You tryna grow as big as Dot, tryna move your image
Now you got Dave pushin' buttons and he grew up with him
What's his motive, nigga? Can't never trust him
They make Ali mix your vocals, nigga, without discussion
This shit crazy, you so hopeless, nigga
You got Top's son as one of your managers
And you barely even know this nigga
If you and Top get in some shit, who he ridin' for?
Who he slidin' for? Wait, wait, they comin', shh, shh
Let's keep it quiet, low, can't let 'em know you doubtin'
They'll take offense and say you're spoiled, "REASON always poutin'"
You gotta trust the process, days slowly countin'
Where your music at? Where you been, nigga?
I'm just hopin' all these thoughts don't turn reality
Hope September 12th don't turn into my casualty
Windows cry

Speaking of rappers, I think the best rapper right now is JID. He’s everywhere right now doing features with all sorts of rappers, and he’s always got the best verse. Need proof? Check his verse against one of my fave rappers, Isaiah Rashad, and Reason in “Extinct” or his verse on “Shiva” with EARTHGANG. He’s just on another level right now, and his name is getting a ton of love. He just needs to release a classic album. We’re all waiting. If anyone can take the crown from Kendrick, it’s JID. But I ain’t betting against K Dot!

Speaking of great rappers, I stumbled upon Che Noir, a female rapper whose album As God Intended is awesome. The whole album flows and she’s a hell of a rapper.

On a totally different spectrum, we got some Fleet Foxes, Kurt Vile & John Prine, and Doves, all three of which are completely different from each other! Still thinking this new Fleet Foxes album is very good but ranks #3 of 4 on their discography.

Kurt Vile continues to make music in his own meandering ways, and this time he brought along old timer John Prine to make a beautiful duet.

Finally, Doves. A band I loved almost two decades ago. They’ve come back with an impressively great rock album, their first in 11 years! Definitely, definitely worth a listen if you like these guys. And if you’ve never heard of them, please listen to 2011’s The Last Broadcast.

Have a good week all!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 169

If this first track isn’t the party rap anthem off the year, I don’t know what is. This song is amazing, and it’s got some rappers I love like Big K.R.I.T and Curren$y and a new one I’ve gotten into recently, Smoke DZA (who appears again on this mixtape with Joey Bada$$ in “The Mood”).

Really digging this new The Neighbourhood album. I will continue to put tracks from their album on upcoming mixtapes. Their sound shifts a bunch, so it’s hard to even tell it’s the same artist. See if you can spot it next week!

Shout out to Sean C. for letting me know Roosevelt released some new stuff. Hopefully, that means an album is around the corner!

If you haven’t heard of or heard IDLES before, be prepared. They are raucous. Their live shows are raucous. It’s a rowdy bunch, and their lead singer REALLY gives it his all in live shows, you should just check them out on YouTube if you’re digging what they’re spinning.

Fleet Foxes released their fourth album a week ago!! I have been digesting it constantly. On first blush, it is a really, really good album. It’s not as good as Helplessness Blues, my favorite of theirs, and it probably can’t overtake their debut album, but it’s still a really solid album. Robin Pecknold’s vocals are in the stratosphere, I think he’s such a talent, a dark soul trying to come to some light through his music. Couldn’t imagine any other voice of Fleet Foxes (though spoiler, he lets someone he met from his time at school in Oxford sing the beginning of the first track).

I’ll be putting much more from this album on future mixtapes.

Happy Monday. Go make something of yourself.