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.