Monday Mixtape, Vol. 227

This week’s mixtape is a banger. Let’s start with my favorite new band of the year: The Belair Lip Bombs.

They hail from Australia and that’s about as far as I’ve gotten on biographical information. All I need is the rock.

“Look the Part” is their best song, and their whole debut album is mesmerizing, easily in my top albums of the year.

They have the tenacity and intensity of Bloc Party, spastic sounds like Talking Heads while also giving some David Byrne-esque vocal deliveries, and nods to Bombay Bicycle Club (who also released a new album, the lead track which is on this mixtape!).

The band also shared this playlist, a MUCH more official way to understand the band’s influences than my biased ear:

Next, we have Claire Rosinkranz, one of my favorite pop artists since BENEE and Olivia Rodrigo. Her debut album is so catchy, and nothing exemplifies this better than “Wes Anderson,” arguably the catchiest chorus I’ve heard all year.

Speaking of catchy choruses, Biig Piig (not arguably, but truly, the worst artist name of the year), who I heard on a track by Kojacque, rules the airwaves with “This Is What I Meant.”

Another great indie rock band I’ve recently discovered is Karen Took The Kids. “Witch Hazel” is their best song, looking forward for more.

If you like Bon Iver, you’re gonna like Ilsey.

That is all for this week’s mixtape, have a good week and godspeed.

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.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 158

Put your headphones on, put the volume on high, and let Run the Jewels wake you up.

RTJ, this generation’s Rage Against the Machine, released their new album, RTJ4, two days early and released this message:

Killer Mike has been in the news recently due to his impassioned plea to the people of Atlanta amidst the looting amidst the protests in the wake of George Floyd:

If you haven’t listened to this, please do.

So Run the Jewels released their newest album amidst a lot going on in our world and country. It’s an amazing album full of deep reflections (“I used to wanna get the chance to show the world I'm smart. Isn't that dumb? I should've focused mostly on the heart.”), humor (“I’m chubby, husky, thighs rubbin’, fuckin’ up my Levi’s”), bravado (“Stack addict, a mack with blackest fabric, I’m back”), and sense amongst chaotic and raucous beats that fill the entire air with energy.

The album is the energizer bunny, stomping and banging its cymbals. Killer Mike, as usual, holds court, and El-P plays Robin (don’t forget he also produces RTJ’s beats along with the help of others) better than anyone.

“I’m ready to mob on these fucking charlatans,” raps El-P at the end of “yankee and the brave (ep. 4).”

“Every child, woman and man / Opinion don't matter, stick to your plan / If they judge, still don't budge / Don't give a inch, don't give a nudge / Life a bitch, leave you battered and bent / Lose or win, gotta hold up your chin / And I put it on Jaime and me / We just gave you inspiration for free / The money never meant much.” - Killer Mike

You have to listen to the album yourself to feel the vibe, the urgency, and Run the Jewels holding homily. It’s epic. It’s what we need.

And on that note, I’ll leave you with RTJ’s lyrics from their last track, “a few word for the firing squad (radiation):”

El-P:
I woke up early once again, that's four days straight
I didn't wake you, baby, I just watched you lay
In the radiation of the city sun
I am in love with you, it is my only grace (Woo)
You know how everything can seem a little out of place?
All of my life, that seemed to be the only normal state
So feelin' normal never really meant me feelin' sane
And bein' clear about the truth and bein' sane have never really been the same
I used to wanna get the chance to show the world I'm smart (Ha)
Isn't that dumb? I should've focused mostly on the heart
'Cause I seen smarter people trample life like it's an art
So bein' smart ain't what it used to be, that's fuckin' dark
You ever notice that the worst of us have all the chips?
It really kinda takes the sheen off people gettin' rich
Like maybe rich is not the holy, ever-lovin'
King of nothin' fuckers, know we know you're bluffin'
You are dealing with the motherfuckin' money-money runners

Killer Mike:
It'd be a lie if I told you that I ever disdained the fortune and fame
But the presence of the pleasure never abstained me from any of the pain
When my mother transitioned to another plane, I was sitting on a plane
Tellin' her to hold on, and she tried hard, but she just couldn't hang
Been two years, truth is I'll probably never be the same
Dead serious, it's a chore not to let myself go insane
It's crippling, make you wanna lean on a cup of promethazine
But my queen say she need a king, not another junkie, flunky rapper fiend
Friends tell her, "He could be another Malcolm, he could be another Martin"
She told her partner, "I need a husband more than the world need another martyr"
Made in Atlanta, Georgia, where I use to ride the MARTA
With a empty .22 in the front pocket of my Braves Starter
Tryin' to make it out the mud as a baby father is much harder
The same children that you love and adore, the court'll use to break and rob ya
Circumstance woulda broke a weaker man, but I put it on my mama
I'm a man of honor and the hardship made me a better money runner

El-P:
This is for the never heard, never even got a motherfuckin' word
This is for my sister, Sarah, honey, I'm so sorry you were hurt (Ayy)
This is for the dawn, mama took a knock, had to change the locks
Dusted up, but brushed off and I watched, talk about a boss
For the holders of a shred of heart even when you wanna fall apart
When you're surrounded by the fog, treadin' water in the ice cold dark
When they got you feelin' like a fox runnin' from another pack of dogs
Put the pistol and the fist up in the air, we are there, swear to God

Killer Mike:
Black child in America, the fact that I made it's magic
Black and beautiful, the world broke my mama heart, and she died an addict
God blessed me to redeem her in my thoughts, words, and my actions
Satisfaction for the devil, goddammit, he'll never, ever have it
This is for the do-gooders that the no-gooders used and then abused
For the truth tellers tied to the whippin' post, left beaten, battered, bruised
For the ones whose body hung from a tree like a piece of strange fruit
Go hard, last words to the firing squad was, "Fuck you too"

Amen.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 153

My loyal readers and listeners, I’m back! It’s been a couple months, and I apologize for the very long absence, but the silver lining is I have a TON new music to share, so I will try my best not to abandon you again.

Let’s start with Tame Impala. As you know, I love Tame Impala. In the past twenty years, I’d say my favorite bands are Radiohead, Tame Impala, Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend, Wilco, and Kings of Leon, probably in that order.

Tame Impala’s (I’m sure you know this, but Tame Impala is really just Kevin Parker - He writes, records, mixes, and does engineering on EVERYTHING and has with all his albums) fourth album, The Slow Rush, is a companion album to Currents, in the same way that Lonerism is a companion to their debut, InnerSpeaker. Each duo has similar sounds yet show tracks and themes going in other ways.

The Slow Rush seems like a look back to the scale of fame and “rock star status” Kevin Parker attained after Currents. Crazily, Parker took five years in between these albums, and A LOT has changed.

I’ve seen Tame Impala live five times, and after their second album, they were still slotted in the 3pm-4pm festival circuit. Once Currents came out amidst full blown adulation and critical acclaim, Tame Impala started headlining every festival and selling out arenas.

Five years later, here we are with The Slow Rush. Meaning this in the best way possible, it’s the hangover album to Currents. The shades feel drawn on this album, like Parker doesn’t want a lot of sunlight in. Not depressing but reserved.

Compare the first tracks on both albums, “Let It Happen,” Parker’s masterpiece, with “One More Year,” a softer and safer version and vision. The difference in these two tracks is the difference in the album.

You don’t really get to a real upbeat rhythm until the ninth track! This track, “Is It True” is my favorite track on the album, and where I think Parker excels, finding different sounds (those drums and keys make the song) to pair with his reverb-laden vocals.

I don’t think there are any songs on this album that come close to the majority of songs on Currents, but I still enjoy every single song (except maybe “Tomorrow’s Dust”). I think I’d rank this album third, in front of InnerSpeaker then behind Lonerism and of course, Currents.

As for the rest of the this week’s mixtape, I gotta give love to Glass Animals, they are so unique. No one sounds like these guys, and they just find weird ass and cool hooks. I have no idea who Do Nothing is, but they give me a lot of vibes of Parquet Courts mixed with some garage rock like Interpol. Great track.

Caribou released one of my favorite albums of 2020, and this track is awesome.

Arlo Parks is a new artist I stumbled upon, and everything I’ve listened to has been good. She’s one to watch out for.

For some reason, “Good Day” by BBC really resonated with me. It’s a song that doesn’t sound like them and stuck on our their average new album.

Finally, Dan Croll keeps improving as an artist. “Yesterday” is a really great song.

Have a great week all. Stay safe.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 151

Good Morning this Monday all! Hopefully, you all have a day off and can blast this music while enjoying yourself in the outdoors and reminding yourself this day who real agents of positive change in our history were.

So we have to start with Georgia. Seeking Thrills was the first album of 2020 that I hear, and I can guarantee this album is already cemented in the Top 10 albums of the year, if not Top 5.

Georgia has made an album that’s an amalgamation of my favorite female pop albums of the past decade. The comparisons to Robyn will be endless as “24 Hours” makes abundantly clear. There’s also Carly Rae Jepsen sounds (“About Work the Dancefloor” and “Till I Own It), Tegan and Sara (“Never Let You Go”), Purity Ring (“I Can’t Wait”), Grimes (“Feel It” and “Mellow” and “The Thrill”), MIA (“Ray Guns”).

You even get an homage to one of the greatest movies of the 1980s, the classic “The Goonies,” with the eerie and reverbed “Ultimate Sailor.” Just listen to the first 5 seconds, you’ll know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. Then she sounds exactly like Robyn the rest of the song.

Now, a critic of Georgia would say she’s just cribbing the best pop artists of the decade and making songs that sound a little too much like them, which I think is a fair critique. I don’t think this album is some NEW thing, but I’m impressed that it takes some of the best stuff from these artists and packages it all into one very cohesive album. I’ve been listening to it non-stop, and it will definitely be the life of the party. So, like the reference to “The Goonies,” the album seems like a homage the artists that came before her who were all cribbing sounds from the 80s.

It’s a great album regardless. So let’s just love it.

I also just started listening to Compton CA’s, Roddy Ricch, a guy you would swear was from Atlanta or the South by hearing his Future inspired sound. But he’s taking a lot of stuff and making his own little sound with it. “The Box” is his best track and then “Peta” with Meek Mill is another one that bumps.

So I haven’t even listened to the new Kanye album. That’s where this guy is an artist to me now. The SAME guy I defended back in 2015 but could care less for at this point. SAD! Anyways, I heard “Follow God'“ on Spotify’s Rap Caviar, and I loved it. I thought his new album was all gospel-like, and I’m pretty tired of all that thanks to Chance and Kanye’s last album, but this is just Kanye rapping (well) on a great beat. Good stuff.

Bombay Bicycle Club just released their fourth album (I don’t count Flaws), the oddly titled, Everything Else Has Gone Wrong. They’re a band I put up there with Young the Giant and Two Door Cinema Club, a band that I’ve listened to an INSANE amount over the past ten years. All of their albums have been really enjoyable, each with some phenomenal tracks. They’re upbeat and fun and totally have their own sound.

Anyways, I’ve been enjoying their new album, though I need to listen to it a lot more to give it a full thought. BUT I keep listening to “Good Day,” and I’m not sure exactly why. It seems so slow and simple, but maybe it’s Jack’s deep vocals, what I think is the lowest register I think he’s done on record. Whatever it is, I love it.

Finally, I never listened to Juice WRLD while he was living. He died a couple months ago, but I just started listening to him a bit. He reminds me a lot of Post Malone. “Bandit” is one track that stuck out to me. RIP.

Happy MLK Day.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 141

Ton of great fresh tracks for you thirsty listeners this week! From some recently found wunderkinds like Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster (uhh…maybe just J.P.K. bro?), the rockin’ Gender Roles, and the 90s-era hideous music child of Weezer and Dashboard Confessional, Oso Oso, to some more established bands like Bombay Bicycle Club and Circa Waves, this is a Monday for the indieheads.

Enjoy!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 9

The Weeknd has always had an original voice and a unique sound, so I was thrown for a bit of a loop that his vocals sound so much like Michael Jackson on "I Can't Feel My Face." It's apparent with each note that he's in a range or tone he hasn't hit before, but I imagine this one could be a big hit. Definitely deserves the first track on the mixtape!

I couldn't really get into Unknown Mortal Orchestra's new album, but this song has all these different elements, from the weird Wild West-sounding start, to the funky rhythm, to Ruban Nielson's delicate vocals.  

Hopefully you remember "Polish Girl," and if not, please listen to this immediately:

(Side note: If you really like this track, check out my Stop, Drop, Electro-Pop, Vol. 1 playlist, which is a totally kick ass set of electro-pop jams which I made back in 2012 (so yeah, the tracks may be a bit old but they're still awesome). Does anything beat the start to "Shuffle???":

A playlist within a playlist?? So meta.)

Back to the story at hand, Neon Indian has been out of the spotlight for a bit (his last album was in 2011), but he's dropped his first single, "Annie," which many are hoping will lead to a new album!

Cheerleader, a band from Philly who just released their debut album, is in the pop rock genre similar to a band like Walk the Moon. These loud pop songs with distortion always seem to get me!

I stumbled upon Seoul somehow, and I placed the first and second track back to back because the first track slowly sets up a perfect transition into the second song, the catchy but sedate "The Line." Just listen to how well it flows! So cool. I have a thing for first tracks that intentionally bleed into the second, as I've spoken about with The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club.

Florence Welch has a voice that commands respect. There aren't many making music with vocals like hers. She sounds like she's screaming from the top of a mountain for the world to hear while hitting notes mere mortals could barely even play on a piano. "What Kind of Man," is a Florence lashing out against a lover who she can't seem to leave, and she sounds pretty pissed about it. Can't wait to see her live at OSL!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 7

The most universal subject in music: love. Musicians have found millions of ways to sing about it, be it through heartbreak, infatuation, dating, lust, longing, marriage, the list goes on. I get it though, it's easier to talk straight from the heart. When done wholeheartedly, it rings true and leads the mind to make decisions both right and wrong, but ultimately ending (in what most of us hope) in something forever. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This is a mixtape of all sorts of these emotions, and the lyrical powers that communication provides us to get love off our chest.

Lord Huron "Love Like Ghosts:"
Yes I know that love is like ghosts
A few have seen it but everybody talks
Spirits follow where I go
They sing all day and they haunt me in the night...
What ain't living can never really die
You don't want me baby please don't lie
but if you're leaving I gotta know why

Brett Dennen's "I Ain't Gonna Lose You:"
You can put a stick in my spokes
I can be the butt of your jokes
I can be the laughing stock
I can be the hoax
But I ain't gonna lose you...
They can come and tear my house down
They can run me out of town
They can tie me up call me a clown
But I ain't gonna lose you
I can't stand the thought of another man
No, I ain't gonna lose you

Angus Stone's "Wooden Chair:"
In another place
In another time
In another face
In another line
In another heart
In another world
In another girl
We were feeling fine
We were in love

Gemma Hayes' "Joy:"
I can take on anything
I can take it all
I can take on anything
as long as I can see you

Bombay Bicycle Club's "Eyes Off You:"
And I bathed in the light you gave
But it's dark in another way
Yes, you gave me the light today
But it's dark in another way...
I can't take my eyes off you.

John Mayer's "In Your Atmosphere:"
Wherever I go
Whatever I do
I wonder where I am in my relationship to you
Wherever you go
Wherever you are
I watch your life play out in pictures from afar
Wherever I go
Whatever I do
I wonder where I am in my relationship to you
Wherever you go
Wherever you are
I watch that pretty life play out in pictures from afar

Father John Misty's "I Went To The Store One Day:"
For love to find us of all people
I never thought it'd be so simple