Monday Mixtape, Vol. 208

Happy to be back a second week in a row, making this mixtape. Routine is important. It’s a security blanket. It’s a reminder. It’s easy.

My life has not been easy the past year. Now I crave routine. I crave normalcy. To feel that again will be divine. This is one of those starts, so stick with me :)

ANYWAYS, the crypto market is crashing, but it’s ok. It’ll wash out the massive detritus that usurped its way to the top. I guess maybe 10% of crypto is well meaning? No, it’s gotta be higher than that. It has to be. I’ll give it 25% at this point. But this washout will bring that number up higher. And everyone rebuilds better with better tools and things incrementally get better. So then in 10 years I guess crypto/web#/blockchain/NFTs take over the world.

ANOTHER ANYWAYS SINCE WHEN DO I EVER TALK ABOUT CRYPTO, I came for the music:

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 184

I feel very good about this week’s mixtape. Every single track gives me the feels in one way or another. We got some rock tracks by Angel Du$t and COIN, or at the least, songs featuring guitars with distortion! Yeah mid 90s!

Speaking of mid 90s, we got an old-school like beat from the Nintendo days, my favorite beat of the year, going on during “ON CHAIN” (which - speaking of mid 90s - ends with a sample from “C.R.E.A.M.” by the one and only Wu-Tang Clan) on Brockhampton’s new album, a rap album definitely worth a listen.

On the pop front, we have a crazy new talent, Remi Wolf with the ridiculously infectious “Disco Man.” All you need to hear is her melody and rhythm on her first line to know this girl has got some talent. Then you hear the chorus…damn!

Another budding pop artist, Claud, released her new album very recently. It reminds me very much of my favorite, BENEE, but doesn’t have nearly the “it” factor, but she’s still some good tracks like “Overnight” on this week’s mixtape.

I thought this track from Fred again, “Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)” is a track of the culmination of COVID. It’s an inhale of the claustrophobia we’ve had for an exhausting year. We lost our space. We lost hugs and people we loved. We lost dancing! But more importantly, this song is also an exhale and a celebration. The light at the end of the tunnel is there. And I can see the silhouette of a crowd in unison, packed shoulder to shoulder, looking up to a stage, heads bobbing, dancing.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 178

Welcome to this week’s mixtape! I shouldn’t even be using an exclamation point because this mixtape is so chill and subdued.

Ichiko Aoba reminds me of Seu Jorge (who got famous by performing David Bowie tracks with his beautiful voice and classical guitar for Wes Anderson’s movie, The Life Aqautic). Her voice is so delicate, pure, and relaxing. The fact that she’s singing in another language makes it that much better to get lost in. The same can be said for the following track by the incomparable, Jose Gonzalez.

Hayley Williams of Paramore released a solo album a few weeks ago on the heels of her great 2020 solo album. This album, Flowers for Vases / descansos, sounds like a nod to Taylor Swift’s stripped-down phenomenal album, folklore. I love the album because Williams has a beautiful voice, and she’s a hell of songwriter. Mainly just her and her guitar, the album has so much room to breathe and relax in, and it sounds like Williams is in a place comfortable enough to air out all her troubles.

I accidentally came upon Juniper because I was looking for Junip, Jose Gonzalez’s band of yore, who have a instrumental featured on this mixtape. Fortunately, Juniper sound great and remind me a ton of a favorite newer band of mine and frequent contributor to this blog, Hippo Campus.

Ending the mixtape with my favorite type of instrumental, one layered in sustain from a piano. Keep calm and carry on.