Monday Mixtape, Vol. 85

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, Vol. 47

Sorry that I have disappeared for two weeks, but I was just on a two-week long binge trip of work. 13 straight days to be exact. I would love to tell you about how wild it was and how many different qualities come out of human beings that are stressed and sleep deprived beyond reason, but I will only do that in person!

Anyhoo, a TON has been going on in the wide world of music, including Radiohead putting their new album and "In Rainbows" on Spotify!! Years back, I was trying to make a Best of Radiohead playlist on Spotify but just couldn't because I thought "Nude" and most certainly "All I Need" needed to be included. But good news, now that all of their albums are on Spotify, I can do it. See you in a year. 

Radiohead’s new album, A Moon Shaped Pool, is the calmest album they’ve made, a slow pace around the orchestra pit. I’m not sure how many instruments were involved in the making of this album, but the simplicity of the piano and strings in “Glass Eyes” was the most effective of all and delicately gorgeous. Radiohead also gave their loyal fans who know every B-side they’ve ever made a true treat at the end of the album, a studio version of “True Love Waits.”  

Nobody liked Band of Horses last album. Because it was really bad. Fortunately, their new album is pretty good, none better than the opener that starts with their patented chill-reverb guitar and Ben Bridewell’s vocals. Speaking of these guys, if you haven't listened to my Best of Band of Horses, here's the mix!  

After the first 30 seconds, if you had to guess whose song “Wow” was, what are the odds you would have said Beck? One percent? Five? The point is the man adapts and creates like no other artist I can think of. 

If you actually listen to Whitney (a spin off of two dudes from bigger bands, one from Unknown Mortal Orchestra and the other Smith Westerns) instead of just the instrumental from them that I included, you may think the lead singer sounds like the greased-up deaf guy from Family Guy:

and you will probably be right. Nonetheless, I still like the album as it’s the sound of summer. And we all need more summer. 

If you haven’t listened to the Car Seat Headrest album, get on it. 

Wild Beasts have been a band I’ve followed for many albums, and they’ve never really caught on, mainly because their lead singer refuses to sing any way other than a man reading an erotic novel like an opera singer. He tones it down a but with “Get My Bang,” the catchiest song they’ve ever written. It’s still no “The Fun Powder Plot,” my favorite song they’ve done from back in 2009.

Have a great week, I am flying to Croatia as we speak and will be navigating down the coast over a two week span in a rental car with a manual transmission (that I somewhat forget how to use). Pictures will be posted upon my return. You can't go to Lake Plitvices and not return without pictures. 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 10

There are very, very few artists who are able to jump around genres and sounds, whirling different tunes that sound nothing like its predecessors. This is why we love Beck and why musicians respect the hell out of him (well, except for Kanye). This is why he can make an album as chill as Morning Phase (my sixth favorite album of 2014), and then follow that up with a song that sounds NOTHING like that album, a total change of direction into an instantly likable song like "Dreams." I just respect the hell out of this guy.  

Meg Mac's "Roll Up Your Sleeves" is your classic piano ballad. A few slow chords sustain throughout as the claps and faint bass drum keep the beat alive. The song hits its climax at 1:28 as the snare and another piano come rolling in as Ms. Mac shows some range. It's definitely got a bit of an Adele feel that I'm digging.

"Indian Summer" reminds me of most tracks from Odesza with the high pitched sample vocal repeating over all sorts of synths and other electronic elements. 

I love weird songs. There's an originality to them because they're so strange and don't particularly sound like anything else. With that said, Kero Kero Bonito is a British pop artist specializing in the J-pop (Japanese Pop) sound who slices in both English and Japanese words as a ridiculous production (or, a sick beat some may say) upgrades the song. The first time I heard this song, it felt like the Super Mario 3 soundtrack just visited Albuquerque for a quick fix. This song is out there!

To pour one out for the artist formerly known as Rick Ross (as he has lost something like 100 pounds!), I wanted to include this slow jam with Drake. Not sure he can call himself "the Don" anymore since he's under 250, but glad to see the man's taking his health seriously! 

I spoke about Seoul in my last mixtape, and this track has been playing on repeat for me. Laid back groove, laid back voice. Just sit back and relax.

Have a good week!