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. 116

A great Monday for music all! I stumbled upon Brent Cobb from Rolling Stone, and I’m sold. He will give you some Chris Stapleton vibes probably just because this is the way country should sound, some twang and rock and not the recycled bland pop stuff that you hear on the radio. His second album released this year is awesome, check it out!

I spoke about Hippo Campus last week. I love this album. More songs this week.

A couple newbies in Roosevelt and Yumi Zouma to get your BPMs up. Whether you like the song or not, you gotta give it to the intro for “Take Me Back”, it’s a little LCD Soundsystem-like with a bit of Disclosure and some 80s feels maybe INXS with the keys. Cool jam!

Not sure if you ever listened to Empress Of’s debut album, but it was really out there, using samples and electronics cycling around her vocals to create this loud atmospheric chaos. It was a really unique album, one of those you hear and just say, “No one else could have thought of that.” ANYWAYS, her new track, teasing for her new album, is VERY different and leans way more towards pop. It’s kind of a love ballad. Will be interesting to see what the album is like.

Happy Monday all!