Monday Mixtape, Vol. 229

I’m not sure where Washed Out (aka Ernest Greene) ranks in the pantheon of artists since 2000, but I have him in the Top 50, not as good as MGMT but in the same ballpark.

Washed Out has consistently released good albums for 15 years now, which is REALLY HARD TO DO. I’d give a similar compliment to MGMT although they’ve had more highs and lows. The highest compliment I can pay Washed Out is there is no one else out there who sounds like him because no one can perfect the rhythm and vibe of his chill shoegazey music.

AND GUESS WHAT? Washed Out just released a new album. I’m still digesting it, but I like it a lot, and while his sound generally stays in the same lane, there are enjoyable departures, like “The Hardest Part.”

I had to include my favorite Washed Out song, one of my favorite songs written in the past 15 years (maaaaybe Top 10??).

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 124

Where does Post Malone rank in terms of singing hooks right now? Does anyone do it better? Yeah, it’s easy to make fun of the face tattoos and dreads (which he’s now changed to a small 80s era small fro), but “all my friends” is pretty catchy, right? Can’t hate on catchy.

This is an all rap playlist, highlighted by both Future and 21 Savage’s new albums. I was impressed with 21’s album, it has a ton of features (J. Cole, Childish Gambino, Post Malone, Offset, and Schoolboy Q) which complement his monotone flow, and the production fits perfectly with so many tracks.

Future released another album that is just like most other Future albums. He has some alter ego (this time, “The WIZRD,” it all more or less sounds the same, and a few tracks really stand out. A couple of those are on this mixtape.

I also included some older JID, the rapper that blew me away with his mixtape, DiCaprio 2. This guy has something special, we will be hearing a lot more from him.

That’s it people! Hope you enjoyed the (4th Quarter) of the Super Bowl. My commercial MVP was either Stella Artois or the NFL one with all the players.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 107

There has been some GREAT music I've been blasting the past couple weeks from some highly anticipated albums like Drake's Scorpion and Jim James' Uniform Distortion as well as some newer (at least to me) artists, Teyana Taylor, Mt. Joy, The Academic, and The Undercover Dream Lovers, AND a surprise couple songs from Childish Gambino. 

So let's first talk about Drake. He made a ridiculously long album. Again. Sigh. This time it's a "double album" where side A is rap and Side B is his R&B/Pop thang. There's nothing I hate more than double albums. The results are ALWAYS the same. If you took the best 12 songs from the total fattened and bloated 24 songs, you usually would get one hell of an album. Calling Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium. How good would that album have been!??

SO ANYWAYS, Drake. He's a very easy target these days on social media and all the music blogospheres because it's pretty easy to make fun of him (he's a walking meme and the majority of his lyrics, particularly on this album), and he gets a ton of clicks for all the sites. Most people have been mainly hating on the album, which is somewhat fair, but I do think that Drake's albums  for one, are an acquired taste, and two, typically take me many listens to appreciate. This one is no different. I really enjoy Side B, and particularly the two tracks on this week's mixtape. "Peak" has a little sound on it that really reminded me of ***NERD GAMER ALERT*** a very specific sound effect from one of - IF NOT THE - greatest video games ever, Final Fantasy VII. Now maybe you'll just say, please stop, you're making too much of this, but GUESS WHAT? There is another song on the album called "FINAL FANTASY." Honestly, I have no idea if that's a coincidence, but I don't really believe in coincidences so it is not and they knew exactly what they were doing. Love it. Also, the hook on "Finesse" is just catchy and suave Drake at his best. So that ends, Drake.

I read a review recently that likened Jim James' new solo album to a My Morning Jacket album made 15 years ago. Pretty on point except certainly not the quality of MMJ at their peak. I know MMJ has an amazing following and is renowned as a phenomenal live band (I've seen them twice and also Jim James once), but I do believe they're underrated. These guys are one of the best five rock bands of the past 20 years. Who else is one there is up to you and yours, but THEY'RE THERE.

Listen to this Mt. Joy album more than once, it will grow on you. I thought they were a little too what's that band that chants and shouts all the time and is a bit folksy? Right, Of Monsters and Men, who I just never could get into. These guys reminded me of them a bit, but additional listens brought some nuance to their lyrics and musical talents. It's good stuff!

Teyana Taylor was the vixen from Kanye's very much watched by all men video, "Fade"

 Her album is pretty good, and I love this song. Hope you do too!

The Academic released an album that will be utterly forgettable in some years, but I utterly enjoy it now. They're like a mix of Two Door Cinema Club and New Found Glory. It's enjoyable and makes me feel good.

Finally, Childish Gambino continues his crazy run of brilliance with the summer jam, "Summertime Magic." Play this on repeat and you'll have a good week. 

Adios! 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 102

Happy Monday all! And apologies to all, I haven't posted for at least three weeks, so I'm sorry for my absence because there has been a TON OF MUSIC released in the past month or so. There's been so much music to camp to that I have musical ammo for many weeks :)

Let's start with Shakey Graves. I can't get his new album out of my head, one I keep coming back to. It's atmospheric, it's raw, it's rock, it's its own animal. But it's not for everyone. I'll post a few of my other favorite tracks in the next couple weeks. 

Childish Gambino's "This Is America" is the topic du jour, a piece that's generated a ton of publicity and analysis and misinterpreted by god knows how many people already. The video is one of the best music videos I can remember (cue the Grammy music for Single of the Year and Video of the Year), an intentionally uncomfortable and symbolic video of the representation of Gambino's  America.    

Speaking of lyrically poignant rappers, Wale released his second EP this year, both of which I've thoroughly enjoyed. This recent one's got a more political lean, particularly "Salary Kaep," but Wale's flow has improved dramatically over his (now) long career as evidenced best by "Negotiations."

LOVE the new Leon Bridges album. It's a bit more pop and dancey than his debut album which was too much exactly like the Sam Cooke / Marvin Gaye sound. "Shy" is easily my favorite song on the album.

A few other notes: Janelle Monae has made her best album, Young Fathers continue to get the award for weirdest yet interesting band, and DJ Koze with the feature from one of the dudes from Arrested Development (the band - not the show)!

Enjoy the week. 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 63

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to 2017! I'm clearly a few weeks late, and I took a sabbatical from the blog. I was also trying to get over my anger at Spotify for not releasing how many minutes of music I listened to this year. I don't think I could have beaten last year's 100,000 minute mark, but it's always cool to know. Ridiculous how much info Spotify has on our listening habits and such but doesn't tell us shit. Very annoying. 

Not a whole lot usually gets released right before the new year, but Run the Jewels is nothing usual.

Their new album, Run The Jewels 3, is a phenomenal album, spitting fire at the establishment and the state of the union. Not only does it feel like a revolutionary album in an unordinary time, but it's lyrically fed up and a calling to arms to "kill your masters."

I'll let Killer Mike (maybe the second best lyricist around right now next to Kendrick) take it from here:

Choose the lesser of the evil people, and the devil still gon' win
It could all be over tomorrow, kill our masters and start again
But we know we all afraid, so we just simply cry and march again
At the Dem Conven my heart broke apart when I seen them march mommas in
As I rap this verse right now, got tears flowing down my chocolate chin
Told the truth and I've been punished for it, must be a masochist 'cause I done it again
"Ooh, Mike said 'uterus'"
They acting like Mike said, "You a bitch"
To every writer who wrote it, misquoted it
Mike says, "You a bitch, you a bitch, you a bitch"
Add a "nigga" for the black writer that started that sewer shit
I maneuver through manure like a slumdog millionaire
El-P told me, "Fuck them devils, Mike, we gon' be millionaires"
I respond with a heavy "Yeah"
Big bruh says "Fuck that, toughen up
Stay ready, write raw raps, shit rugged rough"
The devil don't sleep, us either
El spits fire, I spit ether
We the gladiators that oppose all Caesars
Coming soon on a new world tour
Probably play the score for the World War
At the apocalypse, play the encore
Turn around, see El, and I smile
Hell coming, and we got about a mile
Until it's over I remain hostile

Killer Mike really entered the political fray this year with his endorsement of Bernie Sanders, and he is a voice that speaks to a lot of people. From the front to back of this album, Killer Mike and El-P continue to rise on a platform with more people listening and more people acting. I saw them at Coachella a couple years ago, and the crowd was NUTS, feeding off every syllable and sweat of the two. They're becoming the modern day "Run DMC." 

The xx also released an album this year, and I like much more than their last album which just felt like a regurgitation of their first album. Definitely check it out. 

How can I not start this mixtape with “Redbone,” easily the biggest miss on my Top 100 Songs of 2016. I actually listened to Gambino’s album from start to finish a couple times, and for some crazy reason, this song didn’t sing out to me. But after Glover’s speeches at the Golden Globe (winning for his amazing new show “Atlanta” and best actor in a musical or comedy), I had to come back to his album and rediscovered “Redbone.” This song is like Prince and Outkast making love, it’s just beautiful. 

If you didn’t see Glover’s speech, he also gave a shout out to Migos, the Atlanta rap trio who had a guest appearance on one of the best episodes of the season, though he wasn’t shouting them out for being on “Atlanta,” but instead for writing the greatest rap song ever (his words), “Bad and Boujee.” I hadn’t heard of that song either, so I went to play it and was immediately hooked. 

I’ve always been one of the many to make fun of Big Sean because I’ve always thought his flows were awful and his lyrics were terrible. He has a new album coming out, and if “Moves” is any indication, it might be worth listening to. 

If you haven’t heard Milo on some of my previous mixtapes, Scallops Hotel is another one of his projects. It’s weird with strange beats and weirder cadences. “Lavender Chunk” is probably the most accessible track on the album, but if you’re into some weirder rap, check this album and Milo’s latest album out as well. 

Hope to see you next week!

Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino Mashup by Gibberish

I'm a big fanboy of Donald Glover in part to his role on what use to be the hilarious sitcom Community and in part to his rap alter ego, Childish Gambino. The guy's a talent and I wrote about a really great interview with him and Rembert Browne in the now defunct Grantland :(  WHICH * TANGENT ALERT *  was so much greater than Bill Simmons newer iteration, The Ringer, a poorer millennial's version with short (it identifies how long it will take to read for all the too-busy-to-do-one-thing-at-once-like-read-an-article-that's-longer-than-three-minutes-while-checking-your-Snaps-every-minute-while-reading people) reads, slightly click-baity titles, and a larger glut of talent now that the likes of Brown, Zach Lowe, Wesley Morris, etc., are gone.

I think I get it, in Grantland they tried to provide amazing content in a ridiculous array of matters in sports and entertainment with long form articles of substance which was subsequently shut down by the powers that be at ESPN for reasons maybe more political than money-driven. Articles around the interwebs alleged that Grantland was not making that much money for ESPN but many more articles detailed the fractious relationship with Simmons and ESPN.

Who knows why it all happened, but Grantland was the best website I'd ever seen and may ever see. I wrote my obit on them a while back in which I had described the site: 

There were too many amazing articles to list, too many talented writers to mention all of them, but the site warped around an orbit of - gasp - journalism. It was journalism, not click bait, not profits, not sex and skinniness, that provided substance in a universe of trolls and tirades...

The site was created to inspire the young. It was created to breed writers and provide a lens into what driven, brilliant, and hard working people can accomplish.

I don't know if I would have started this blog without Grantland's push. I don't know if I would have started writing like a layman without Simmons' journey from stoner to savant. But I know it helped. 

SO LIKE I WAS SAYING, I'm a big Donald Glover/Childish Gambino fan. Glover has a new series on FX Atlanta debuting September 8 which looks to be very interesting and will be even more so considering Glover had complete control and hails from Atlanta himself. 

Which leads me to this very cool mashup with the beats to Gambino's album Because the Internet with lyrics and flows from Kendrick Lamar. Very, very fun listen. 

Playlist - That's a Rap, Vol. 1

There's been an ever expanding list of rappers over the past few years that have brought rap back to the forefront of music for me. Sometimes I wax poetic and think of the good ol' days when A Tribe Called Quest and Biggie (amongst so many others) were making the best rap music imaginable. But now there are rappers influenced by them, their sounds, the culture, and everything in between, spitting out their own rhymes. This is the best rap has been since those golden days in the 90s - just listen to Kendrick, Drake, A$AP Rocky, and Kanye. 

I finished Volume 3 of this playlist series today, but I thought it might make more sense to start from the beginning!

I made this playlist back in 2012 as I was discovering a number of my favorite rappers today, such as Childish Gambino, Kendrick, A$AP, Schoolboy Q, and Joey Bada$$. These were primarily my favorite songs by these guys at the time, and I'm hoping for those not as well versed in rap (or those who might have given up on rap for a bit) that this playlist will be a primer for the next two volumes I'll put up in the next few weeks or so!