Monday Mixtape, Vol. 139

Whole lotta great stuff starting with the sisters of rock (and you may say pop, but if you haven’t seen them live, they rock), Haim! The beat and the “doo-doo-do-do-doos” have to be a direct homage to this classic:

Anyways, great song. On to Clairo, the next pop sensation. Speaking of beats, I love the drums that groove this song to her sweet siren. Love it.

I heard Bleached on Sirius XMU, and I thought this song was a catchy, 80s-ish track with a beach vibe. Different meld of sounds. The chorus crushes.

Surfer Blood must be doing a covers album because I’ve heard a few, and I thought this cover of “I Melt With You” by Modern English. I actually always thought this song was by The Cure! Whoops.

And a little rap for those who need an inkling. I have to say Anderson Paak has blown up. He’s on every rap track now, and you can see why because he' kills this one. I will take credit for talking about that guy way early. My first mention of him was back on February 1, 2016! It was only 103 Monday Mixtapes ago, Volume 36! Pretty wild. (I’m patting myself on the shoulder btw).

So Morabeza Tobacco are really out there, but it’s chill synth and I think I dig it. Wonder what you think? Too weird, maybe.

Happy Monday all!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 121

I don’t have a lot to say because I don’t have a lot of time!

The 1975 released their new album which I’m still digesting, Palace made an ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL SONG, Anderson .Paak dropped a disappointing album but it’s still got this jam, some new artists to check out for ya, and a lil’ Hippo Campus unplugged.

Enjoy. More to come next week, and my Top 100 Songs and Top 25 Albums of the Year SOON!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 117

Shame on you! As in: Listen to Shame. These guys fucking rock. The youngsters from England scream and punish their instruments with no apologies. Raw bands have such a refreshing sound. I love this album. It took a little time to come around to the screaming, but this is punk at its best. While “One Rizla” and “Angie” are certainly there two most melodic tracks on the album with the least screaming, it shows their range and talents. I constantly picture Dave Grohl hearing this and just being like, “These guys fuckin’ ROCK!” as he headbangs away.

Speaking of Dave Grohl, if you don’t hear Nirvana’s sound in The Pollies track “You Want It” with Grohl’s thundering snare drum and lightning quick drum rolls, you aren’t hearing the right song.

Is it fair to compare Anderson .Paak to this generation’s Nate Dogg? He’s more talented than Nate Dogg because his albums are better, but it seems like every song with .Paak on it bumps. Anderson .Paak continues to release some good ass vibes, and I can’t wait for his new album which will will feature the head-bopping’ “Tints” with Kendrick.

Speaking of bands that have some awesome vibes, Holy Ghost! is back! Such an underrated band these dudes continually churn out great electro-pop while all sorts of worse wannabes win popularity contests.

SOAK is a young songwriter from Ireland who I’ve written about for a couple years, and this is one of her more accessible yet sad songs. Check her out!

BTW I’m seeing Lord Huron and Tame Impala tonight (it’s Sunday afternoon now not Monday, silly!) at Treasure Island Music Festival (Shame is actually playing here, but my wife is feeling under the weather, but she’s still a trooper and wants to see Tame Impala so we’re going late :) SO PUMPED!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 92

Cozz for all the hip-hop heads out there. 

Kintaro and Anderson Paak for the hip-hop heads + soul lovers.   

Borns with a pop jolt. Check out his album!

Mild High Cub for the psych stoners out there. 

Ark Patrol for some EDM.

Luke Temple for the delicate songwriters in all of us. 

Jaws of Love to hear one of the Local Natives solo album, a beautiful track. 

Happy Monday! 

Anderson Paak - NPR's Tiny Desk Concert

The best newcomer of this year has been Anderson Paak. His album Malibu is a treat from start to finish. I've missed seeing him a couple different times, but I am always weary seeing newer artists because they tend to be very raw live and still finding themselves. WELP...Anderson Paak is one of those exceptions, a guy's whose talent shines even more so in his live performances. 

If you haven't gone down the rabbit hole of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert, please do so immediately. There's a treasure trove of live gems. And this one from Anderson Paak is certainly one of them:

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 54

The real star on this mixtape is Amber Arcades. This is the female Deerhunter. If you don't know Deerhunter, do yourself a favor and go listen to Halcyon Digest, one of the strangest, catchiest rock albums this decade. I included "Nothing Ever Happened" to follow Amber Arcades because a) I thought it sounded the most like "Fading Lines" although Deerhunter's "Desire Lines" was a very close second and b) it's my favorite Deerhunter song and it's actually not on Halcyon Digest! 

Just started listening to this track by Future Haunts - whoever the hell they are (all two tracks of them on Spotify) - and it immediately caught me. 

These Spotify Sessions curated by Jim Eno (the drummer of Spoon and producer extraordinaire) are recorded really well and worth checking out. I heard this one with FJM and have been digging into them since. 

A while back I wrote about Ghostface Killah making a really great jazzy album with a group called Badbadnotgood. This is a track off their new album with the wild and super cool live:

lead singer from Future Islands. (Letterman loved it!)

Have a great week all. 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 37

A short writeup as I’m about to run to catch a flight on Super Bowl Sunday (boo!). 

I’ve been listening to the new DIIV album on repeat since it was released. The two tracks on here are my favorites, especially “Bent (Roi’s Song)” which has been echoing in my ears for days. 

Lanu is the side project of an Australian musician whose main band is The Bamboos (who I have never heard of, but I’ll check them out). I loved Lanu’s last album, and this album is on par. It’s great background music. 

That’s all I got, have a great week!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 36

Anderson Paak’s Malibu was the first album I listened to in 2016. It immediately became a Top 25 Album of the year for me. There’s no way this album will fall off the list. The real question is how high can it go? Paak’s influences are varied and his nasal rapping and sweet singing may bring comparison’s to other double-threat rappers, but his sound is his own. What a cool album. If “Celebrate” doesn’t get you feeling great, I don’t know what song will.

Lola Marsh is a new band I know very little about save for their four song EP. “You’re Mine” is my favorite of the four songs. 

If you like either of the Allan Kingdom tracks I’ve put on the last two mixtapes, check out his album.

I just started listening to Bryson Tiller, the musical man-child of Drake and Future with Miguel as an older brother. “Rambo” is one of my favorite songs from his debut album, but I love his plodding beats and auto-tuned but still human vocals. 

Abi Reimold is for all my rock fans. She kicks some ass. 

I read about the young Sunflower Bean in the recent Rolling Stone. Their debut album is coming out soon, and I thought “Human Ceremony” was a trippy track.

My (work) life has been crazy busy for the past three months, and I have not been able to provide a ton of content on here outside of the mixtape, so I apologize for what has become the new normal, but thank you for reading and listening!