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. 128

Oh mercy! I’ve been gone for at least three weeks, I sincerely apologize. You’ve had such a glut of music in your stomach and soul missing! I blame my “real” job, which has been getting a lot busier and very interesting. There have been a few points where I’ve felt the business is about to really turn a corner and some real momentum is gaining. The first two times were a bit of false starts, and I have no idea where the biz may go from here, but it’s another good feeling. You have to feel this every once in a while to keep everything loose and fun, and keep hope alive, so that’s a good thing. 

ANYWAYS. This week’s mixtape is going to mimic my mood, so it shall be an upbeat slew of jams.

Friendly Fires released a single, one of my favorite songs I’ve heard from them in years  it seems just yesterday that their amazing 2008 debut album was playing on repeat on my speakers.

The Japanese House released what is easily one of my favorite albums this year so far. This is certainly my fave jam on the album.

Foals continue to make really good music. I’d say I’m a tad disappointed overall in their new album since their quality control album to album has been so damn consistent, and this year’s album sounds to be one of their weaker entries, but this track and “Sunday” are still great tracks, standouts on the album. 

I’m excited to hear Foster the People’s new album. If this single is any indication, it should be a good one. Speaking of quality control, these guys only have three albums, the last two of which I thought were wildly underrated (their second album was so weird and different, akin to MGMT’s wild left turn with their awesome, crazy, and orbital second album, Congratulations) thereby making the band seem underrated and under appreciated. Yet they were headlining the festival circuit on their last album. They’re a bit of a conundrum to me, I never feel like I meet too many huge fans of theirs or hear too much about them from critics, but they’re still making great music.

Enjoy the rest of the jams and the whole of the week! I’ll see you next one.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 33

Welcome to the year 2016. I hope for it to be another fantastic year of music, and one that I will happliy curate for the few of you willing to listen. 

As for the year 2015, hopefully you've been jamming to my Top 100 Songs of 2015, a list that took a while to whittle down but has a ton of great jams. One thing I really enjoy is listening to all other publications' Year End lists. I've recently been listening to Pitchfork's 100 Best Songs, and I've included some of these in today's mixtape. 

I also had a good friend here in SF, a crazy music nut who goes to 2-3 shows a week (though shame on him, he hates hip-hop), who created his own Top 100 Songs and Top 25 Albums. His #1 album was Carly Rae Jepsen's Emotion! At first, I was blown away since she's just the pop singer from "Call Me Maybe," but upon listening to her album, I understand why he loved it so much (though for the record,  it being #1 is still crazy). 

I’ve had Raury on the mixtape before because he has his own blend of hip-hop and alternative vibes, but “Friends” is just a feel good song to make you smile. 

Logic is a rapper from Rockville, MD, who I’ve heard about since his Young Sinatra mixtape. The guy has serious talent and is coming into his own. His latest album has some great tracks, “Fade Away,” being one of them

I have no idea how I stumbled upon Good Morning, but these guys are super duper chill.

Ricky Rozay!

This track by Ought is masterful. If you can get over the “spoken word” vocals (and then maybe start appreciating the oddness of it all which is a little bit like Parquet Courts these days and a little bit like David Byrne in his days) and focus on the arrangement of the music and the lyrics, you’re in for a treat. Wish I had this one on my Top 100!

Closing it out with a ballad by Carly. 

Happy New Year!