Monday Mixtape, Vol. 95

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Happy President's Day all! Hopefully two or three of you have the day off or are playing hooky. 

There's a ton of "new" music that I'm pretty excited to share with you. New is in quotation marks because this first song, "Grace," by Future Generations is from 2016, but goodness, I LOVE this song. What initially sounds like some futuristic EDM track abruptly shreds into a distorted guitar and a lonely wail "over something small like me." 

Future Generations formed at Fordham University and look to be releasing the follow-up to their 2016 debut (a good but not great album, one that screams with their potential but sometimes get lost in repetitiveness) this year. If "Grace" has anything to do with it, these guys got a lot of promise for their sophomore album!

My wife and I saw Lord Huron a handful of months back at The Independent, an intimate venue akin to The Black Cat (to all my DC peoples out there!) in San Francisco. They played two or three nights in a row, and they played a couple new tracks. One song instantly grabbed me, it's soul-filled, bluesy, and retro sound reverberating throughout the hushed audience. The slow, plodding bass line hooked me, and the lyrics were so simple and beautiful: "If we can't stay together / What's the point of life?" 

Ladies and gentlemen, "Wait By the River" by Lord Huron.

Enjoy the remaining stuff, a hodge podge of sounds, and check back next week for more!     

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 72

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It's midnight, so I should probably get to sleep shortly. But first, be entranced by Leif Vollebekk, a singer/songwriter I just discovered that most clearly sounds like Ryan Adams, but "Elegy" gives him raspier vocals that hint of Angus Stone. This is a great album that I thoroughly recommend. 

Speaking of albums I thoroughly recommend, if you haven't listened to Drake's new album then what have you been doing? "Passionfruit" is one of my front-runners for song of the year, and "Portland" sounds like Drake got into the new Zelda game because there's some serious ocarinas blowing in that song. 

It's somewhat confounding that Local Natives have released two tracks in the aftermath of their mildly disappointing (or just not astounding or the album most huge fans were hoping for) third album that are better than most of the songs on the third album! This track brings an orchestra into the fry and Taylor's vocals actually sounding good again (instead of ridiculously whiny)

So the Gorillaz have a new album coming out. Their song with Vince Staples is sick and this song with D.R.A.M. is even better. Can't wait for this album in its entirety. 

Finally, Laura Marling's album is a great jaunt through the leafy woods. She's got that folksy Wes Anderson movie-like sound. I dig it.  

That's it. Past midnight, I'm spent!