Monday Mixtape, Vol. 85

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SO MUCH new music got released last week - St. Vincent's fourth album, Beck's latest, The Killers, King Krule, and Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile's Lotta Sea Lice - and all sorts of singles came out that I can't even include them all this week. 

Alas, what I was able to do was make this week's playlist a feel good, uppity, "LET'S DO THIS" type of mix. 

First off, Beck is superhuman. If I haven't said it before, he's our generation's David Bowie, a chameleon with so many colors of sounds that I'm left in awe of his range. Nobody else has the discography he does - it's insane.

Listen to "Devil's Haircut" on Odelay, a phenomenal first track to an album, what an opener!

Then downshift to soft and mightily mellow  "Morning" on Morning Sound:

Then to the wild 70s soul-funk of "Mixed Business" on Midnite Vultures:

To one of my favorite's, the kick ass "E-Pro" form Guero:

I mean COME ON. This is ridiculous. Which left me in huge anticipation of his recent release, Colors. It was being billed as a "pop" album by Beck, something he'd been working on even before Morning Sound. As usual, Beck morphs into a catchy pop star with pristine production and catchy choruses.

I've included the first two tracks from his new album on this week's mixtape. How can you not like these tracks? He's a savant, a true musical genius. 

I just remembered that I wrote a huge rant against Kanye West for messing with Beck when he won the the Album of the Year Grammy, so take a read of that if you have a few. (SIDEBAR: And how crazy that I wrote that two and a half years ago??)

Both Starslinger and The Knocks are party bands who make party music. Nuff said.

St. Vincent released MASSEDUCATION on Friday, and I'm still cycling through the album, so I can't say I have a total take yet. She gave an interesting interview to Pitchfork where apparently she spoke about every track on this album. Unfortunately, she basically answered nothing about the heart of the songs, but she's always an interesting read and just a badass performer.   

"Pills" is one of her more catchy tracks on the album, one where the hook was meant to sound like a commercial-like jingle. An epic comedown off those pills to end the song. 

Have a good week! And listen to more Beck! 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 50

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This will be short and sweet. First off, it’s the 50th Mixtape! Second off, this mixtape is focused on a specific genre which I will call electro-wave - it’s chill and feels like floating in a boat in the ocean as the waves and rhythms rise and fall. This type of music really calms me down and helps me focus. 

I saw Giraffage in a small tent when I was at Outside Lands in SF, and he had a number of us really groovin’ out to his jams. He’s a local guy from the Bay Area (as is Ark Patrol) so hopefully you dig him!

That’s all I got! Have a great week.