Monday Mixtape, Vol. 202

Welcome to the world’s shitshow, 2022! On the most recent All-In pod, my favorite podcast, David Sacks made a comment I hadn’t heard yet: This global COVID crisis may be the biggest event of our lifetimes and may be the biggest event since World War II.

In essence, it’s been a war of many sorts, only one being the deadly virus that’s killed millions. But at some point, we’re going to get around the bend of this crap. I think 2022 is the year we turn.

So let’s get back to one of the biggest cures of all of our ills: MUSIC.

Lots of random stuff on this week’s mixtape, but the VIP is Bando, a new rapper from Texas that I discovered on one of this week’s tracks, “Payday”, with my favorite, Isaiah Rashad. This guy’s got bars, great beats, and he’s got a presence. He’s missing a unique voice like all the greats have, but he’s still got crazy talent. Keep an eye on this guy.

I heard Windser on a SiriusXM channel and loved the track. Gave me some Real Estate-y vibes.

Lucius and The Weeknd bring their catchiness, and lastly, Father John Misty released his first single to his new album. I like the track, and we’ll see what he’s got in store for the album. I’ve gone through waves with Misty, and right now, I’m not all that excited about him, but he’s got the talent to prove me wrong.

Have a great week all.

Top 100 Songs of 2021

After listening to 62,510 minutes of music, 1,377 Artists, and 149 genres, I’ve digested a lot of tunes in 2021! There are so many different sounds and styles to this year’s playlist, it may be the most eclectic mix yet! We have a West African artist (Falle Nioke), a Turkish band with all sorts of influences (Altin Gun), a rock band in Niger (Mdou Moctar), a rapper from Chattanooga, Tennessee (Isaiah Rashad), an indie band from Minneapolis (Hippo Campus), masters in electronic music from across the pond in England (Disclosure), one of the more consistent electro-pop bands out there from Scotland (Chvrches), the best rock band I’ve heard in years, hailing from Baltimore (Turnstile), and so many more!

There’s rap, rock, soul, ballads, electro-pop, electronic, spoken word, funk, and who knows what other “genres” Spotify might class these songs as.

Nonetheless, there’s something for everybody, and hopefully a ton of new music* to discover.

*If you really like a song, check to see if that artist’s album is on my Top 25 Albums of 2021, and that’s a good indicator it’s a great album :)

Top 25 Albums of 2021

In mid-December, I stumbled upon an album that blew me away. One of those mesmerizing albums to listen over and over. I won’t forget where I was listening to this, when, and it’s impact on me. The band is Turnstile. The album is their third, GLOW ON.

Turnstile isn’t a rock band, they’re not hardcore, they’re not 90s grunge, they’re not punk, they’re not screamo. They’re an amalgamation of the best of all of these genres being played at the perfect times during songs. It’s raw and unique, influenced by previous generations, yet no one has made music like this.

Each band member’s instrument stands out on so many tracks. And the sounds, lyrics, and emotion explain the rest.

This is an album for you to experience. It’s for the opener, “MYSTERY” to blast off your speaker doors. It’s for the cowbell to break down on “BLACKOUT” and the piano to explain on “DON’T PLAY.” It’s a relaxing state of calm on “ALIEN LOVE CALL” amidst the surrounding chaos, culminated in the massive mosh pit that is “T.L.C.”

And only after the album ends to you fully exhale…

As for the other 24 albums, Isaiah Rashad’s The House Is Burning, his third album, continues to astound me. His music is on his terms. There are songs that people unfamiliar with Rashad would scoff at because it doesn’t sound like it’s supposed to, but those are the true artists you have to pay attention to. The more time you spend with all of Isaiah Rashad’s three albums, the more you’ll fall in love.

Speaking of falling in love, Faye Webster is a gem. Her low-key, maximum chill albums are meant for sunsets with your feet up. Her music is epitome of “state of mind” music where it just relaxes me. She’s not catchy, no songs get stuck in my head, but I’m always coming back.

Vince Staples self-titled album comes in at #4. It’s my favorite album he’s released in a discography with great quality control. Like Rashad, Staples is underrated (though not nearly as ignored by critics as Rashad) because of his lack of “hits” and “star power,” yet that’s his exact strength. He is who he is. He makes the music to express himself, nothing more, nothing less.

Staples’ 2021 album is melancholy and trauma. On first rep, the album sounds chill, but digging deeper it’s haunting. Staples is lonely and in a dark place. He can’t escape (mentally or physically) his hometown of Longbeach, CA, where his traumatic past of murder, gangs, guns, and survival still ring inside his head today.

As always, the artist says it the best:

Fuck a friend, I don't want no friends with no open hands (Fuck 'em)
Count my bands, all alone at home, don't you call my phone (Fuck 'em)
Everyone that I've ever known asked me for a loan
- “Law of Averages”

When I see my fans, I'm too paranoid to shake they hands
Clutching on the blam, don't know if you foe or if you fam
I don't got a plan, I'm just out here thugging 'til the end…
I am tired, tired, over again.
- “Sundown Town”

Don’t get murdered, lil’ niggas out here with no purpose…
It's not what you think
I could be gone in a blink
I don't wanna leave
Yeah, it's not what you thought
We dying broke or live with broken hearts
- “The Shining”

Verse 1
I don't wanna die, but I will for the cause…
I don't wanna rebound, I just wanna sleep sound
Don't wanna dream 'bout the shit I done did
You know these trips come with baggage, been all 'cross this atlas
But keep coming back to this place 'cause they trapped us
I preach what I practice, these streets all I know
And there's no place like home

Verse 2 (The BEST verse on the whole album!)
Yeah, I'm on PCH, going south, blower on the seat
With the windows down, music loud, let 'em hear the beat
When it's quiet out, I hear the sound of those who rest in peace
Tryna drown the violence out, but let 'em say that they want beef
And we riding out, finding out where them niggas be
If they hanging out, lay 'em out, airing out the street
Then it's out the way, out-of-state, please don't tell on me
Don't need no more felonies, all these broken memories
I be solo dolo, never know who working with police
When I hit the set, it's loaded; I don't know who envy me
I'm the only one who made it out—you remember me?
Is you a frenemy? You plan on killing me? No?

Finally, my #5 Album of 2021 is a veteran, one that was my #16 (criminally underrate by me!) Album in 2017 and #2 Album in 2014, The War on Drugs. It’s a great album yet only their third best album. Check it out.

And some quick hits on the other 20:

• The Deafheaven album is a must-listen if you enjoyed “Great Mass of Color”

• The Floating Points album is the only instrumental album this year. Great study music.

• CHVRCHES continues to put good music out.

• Black Country, New Road is for a very specific crowd, but it was one of the most unique albums I heard this year.

• Arlo Parks has been hailed by every critic for this album, rightly so. It’s worth checking out.

• Lute is a rapper who tells it like it is and sounds like he means it. I loved this album, and there are so many great features (like JID, Little Brother, Saba, and Cozz) on it.

• Big Red Machine is a super duo (Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessener) who got a ridiculous amount of performers (Taylor Swift, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, and Sharon Van Etten), and the album is very mellow. A great weekend play.

• Benny the Butcher is one of my favorite new rappers out there. He’s “drug rap” which isn’t everyone’s thing, but the man played the game to get to this point and tells the tales.

• Parquet Courts keeps making their unique blend of rock sound compelling.

• Little Simz should probably be higher, she’s a phenomenal MC, lyricist, and storyteller. This album was on all the big publications’ year end lists.

• Speaking of artists on big publications lists, Tyler, the Creator’s album this year was rated as the best album or in the top five by a number of the most noteworthy publications. I did not feel their love of the album nearly as much, but the album is great from front to back, and no one sounds like Tyler.

• Last one I’ll mention is Doja Cat. I seem to have one album on the pop spectrum every year (last year, it was Dua Lipa), and this album is ridiculous entertaining, upbeat, and enjoyable. She’s a great performer and rapper. I listened to this album all the way through and was wowed.

That’s it for the year of 2021! Thank goodness. But at least we had music. Here’s to 2022!

My Spotify Year 2021 Wrapped

I always love when Spotify provides some details on my listening patterns, habits and overall time spent just jamming out to music. While I will never top my 101,000 minutes of music in one year, I still enjoy these and wanted to share what I had, including:

• 62,510 minutes listening to music!

• 1,377 Artists listened to

• 149 musical genres listened to

• I’m in the 0.5% of listeners to Mac Miller this year

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 192

Kacey Musgraves shocked me with a newly released album on Thursday! Her last album, Golden Hour, was my #1 Album of 2018, and received all types of awards. It’s a classic, an album any artist would kill to have just one of.

After any classic album like this - I think of Tame Impala’s Currents or Arctic Monkey’s debut album - There’s a lot of expectation for the next album but also a bit of leeway because it’s very, very hard to recreate perfect again, and a band has to go in a totally different direction - think Radiohead’s Kid A - to make another classic. Usually, the album after a classic sounds like a B-Side to the classic: similar sounds, still great tracks, but not the same magic. Musgraves’ star-crossed is the latter.

It’s a very good and listenable album, nowhere near Golden Hour, and is more of a mellow, stoner’s ride through Musgraves’ divorce peppered with some sass and pop.

It’s a wistful goodbye to her marriage and ex-husband. Given the stage she has, she was reasonably kind to her ex (and who knows what all really happened, of course, you never get both sides). Though she makes her point that he couldn’t handle her fame and attention.

It wasn’t a revenge “Dear John” Taylor Swift-style attack, it was more of a retrospective and thoughtful, “So I think this is how we got here…” with a few punches thrown in here and there.

Her vocals carry everything. She has such a delicate and gorgeous voice, and it sounds like no one else. That’s her biggest magic trick to me, and as she keeps experimenting with sounds (and drugs!), it will be interesting to hear where she goes.

On another note, Isaiah Rashad dropped a new version of “H2BU” which trims the fat from the track on his new album. “H2BU” on his album is seven minutes and two songs in one, and the first song is amazing and not so much food the second song. So he created a version where it was just the first song, one of my favorite tracks on one of my favorite albums of the year.

Drake’s new album is pretty disappointing, but I have to listen to it more. There are still great tracks. I love how he comes right in and attacks “No Friends in the Industry.” Great rap track.

Now this song by Jack Harlow and The Homies, “White Lies,” was more of what I was hoping for with his recent album. This is just a feature he’s on, but it’s pure Harlow.

Disclosure released some tracks, and no surprise, the songs are awesome. These guys have quality control down.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 190

Did I mention last week that Billie Eilish released an album? Well, the first track on this week’s mixtape is breathtaking, raw, vulnerable, sexy, and unlike any song I’ve ever heard. It’s so unique it’s haunting. She’s an original. And her brother, FINNEAS, producing all these tracks really does show his genius.

Isaiah Rashad is one of the most original voices in rap in a decade. No one sounds like him. You can definitely say he can sounds like Outkast and is influenced by certain sounds or genres, but his production, flows, and changes in vocals from silky smooth to smokey gnarl to in-between is rare. He’s rare, and while he’s on one of the hottest labels around (TDE, same as Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, SZA, and Jay Rock), he’s still underrated and under appreciated. Don’t just listen once to this guy and give up, listen A LOT.

Listen to his flow in RIP Young and how he transitions from a verse in a spitfire of syllables to instantly pumping the brakes in a cooled down chorus (starting 1t 0:35):

Verse
My dog out layin' down the law, ain't breakin' no laws or serving out the rock /
Southside still fuckin' in the car, still flippin' in the car, still shootin' out the car /
Lil' hotbox smokin' our jar, now I'm fuckin' on a star, hold up, I got a call /
My dog out layin' down the law, ain't breakin' no laws or serving out the rock /
Southside still fuckin' in the car, still flippin' in the car, still shootin' out the car /
Lil' hotbox smokin' our jar, now I'm fuckin' on a star, hold up, I got a call /

Chorus
Bitches say that I'm a cool cat, fuck that /
Tell them bitches I'm a Top Dawg, get shot /
Roll the window, let the propane outside /
Bunch of niggas doin' donuts /
Got the money in a headlock, big dog /
Every time we hit the red lights, just shine /
It ain't nothin' but a good day, don't die /
They ain't teach 'em how to pump fake, big shot

In other news, one of my favorite bands of the past five years, Hippo Campus, just released an LP, Good Dog, Bad Dream. Still haven’t decided on my favorite track, but I love how this bass line guides the song the whole way through.

M.A.G.S. continues to impress me with every single he releases. Who the hell is this guy??

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 170

This week’s mixtape is a mix of rock, rap, folk, and whatever you want to call Kurt Vile’s laidback tunes.

I’ll start with the last, first: REASON. He’s the newest member of the infamous music label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), which includes SZA, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, and oh yeah, that other rapper, Kendrick Lamar. Reason is the only one of all of them to drop an album in 2020, so the pressure is on!

Word on TDE is Kendrick might leave TDE for Dave Free’s label (one of Kendrick’s this high-school friends). I would assume he got screwed or massively underpaid for providing the biggest platform for TDE while the TDE owners soaked in all the money. Just a guess.

Anyways, I enjoyed REASON’s album a lot because he’s a good lyricist (see Verse 2 below) and is passionate. A lot of artists either don’t give a shit what they’re saying or sound like they don’t, and it’s refreshing to hear someone that sounds like their soul is on fire and they need to extinguish something. Or as REASON says, “I gotta say it wit’ my chest.”

What’s wild for a debut album on a major label is that REASON is already showing doubts of his relationship with TDE. More abnormal, he’s being open and honest about it on this mixtape’s last track, “Windows Cry.” Verse 2 is phenomenal:

Prayed to be gifted and got it from rappin', ain't that ironic?
Discussin' deals with white women and vodka tonics, uh
Like who are you, nigga? Oh, you different, different
Oh, you gifted, gifted, then let's go back to your contract
Nigga, listen, listen, paranoia lifted
Look, you so fuckin' clueless, let's break it down?
You signed a paper to get rid of your niggas, now you got strangers
At the worst fuckin' moment you could 'cause your life is changin'
You heard the stories of labels puttin' artists in danger
Use 'em up for hits, never pay 'em and then replace 'em
And now you're steppin' into unfamilar situations
Of a label that's like family but adopted you for paper
While you tryna be the greatest and pursue your vison
You call and get the voicemail, nigga, who gon' listen?
They only care about the money, nigga, screw your vision
This shit's so fuckin' screwed up, now you screwed up in it
They got you sittin' on the bench, you gon' lose your listens
You gon' hurt your fans, you gon' lose your mentions
You tryna grow as big as Dot, tryna move your image
Now you got Dave pushin' buttons and he grew up with him
What's his motive, nigga? Can't never trust him
They make Ali mix your vocals, nigga, without discussion
This shit crazy, you so hopeless, nigga
You got Top's son as one of your managers
And you barely even know this nigga
If you and Top get in some shit, who he ridin' for?
Who he slidin' for? Wait, wait, they comin', shh, shh
Let's keep it quiet, low, can't let 'em know you doubtin'
They'll take offense and say you're spoiled, "REASON always poutin'"
You gotta trust the process, days slowly countin'
Where your music at? Where you been, nigga?
I'm just hopin' all these thoughts don't turn reality
Hope September 12th don't turn into my casualty
Windows cry

Speaking of rappers, I think the best rapper right now is JID. He’s everywhere right now doing features with all sorts of rappers, and he’s always got the best verse. Need proof? Check his verse against one of my fave rappers, Isaiah Rashad, and Reason in “Extinct” or his verse on “Shiva” with EARTHGANG. He’s just on another level right now, and his name is getting a ton of love. He just needs to release a classic album. We’re all waiting. If anyone can take the crown from Kendrick, it’s JID. But I ain’t betting against K Dot!

Speaking of great rappers, I stumbled upon Che Noir, a female rapper whose album As God Intended is awesome. The whole album flows and she’s a hell of a rapper.

On a totally different spectrum, we got some Fleet Foxes, Kurt Vile & John Prine, and Doves, all three of which are completely different from each other! Still thinking this new Fleet Foxes album is very good but ranks #3 of 4 on their discography.

Kurt Vile continues to make music in his own meandering ways, and this time he brought along old timer John Prine to make a beautiful duet.

Finally, Doves. A band I loved almost two decades ago. They’ve come back with an impressively great rock album, their first in 11 years! Definitely, definitely worth a listen if you like these guys. And if you’ve never heard of them, please listen to 2011’s The Last Broadcast.

Have a good week all!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 157

It’s Monday, and it’s music time.

Beach Bunny’s debut album gets better and better. There’s something raw but refreshing with this rock band.

Speaking of raw rock, Car Seat Headrest just released their new album, and it’s a hard left their standard fare, a bit less rock, a bit more electronic-y.

Perfume Genius has gotten a lot of press for quite some time, and I’ve usually enjoyed a few tracks from each of his albums. His latest album, the subtle titled, “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately,” is getting good reviews, but I haven’t sunk my teeth in yet.

One of the more underrated rappers of our day, Isaiah Rashad, a man who has been on the mixtape many times, finally released a new single! Hopefully, this means he’s got a record coming out, but who knows with him. The throwback sound of “Why Worry" juxtaposes with his flow and creates a song that very few in the rap world could make.

If you haven’t heard Beyonce rap on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” remix, do yourself a solid and give it a close listen. What a track.

I loved Faye Webster’s debut album from last year, the mellow but terribly and nonsensically titled, “Atlanta Millionaires Club.” The track on this week’s mixtape is more the same mellowness.

You probably didn’t know, but The Strokes released another album. Their first one in six years though it really doesn’t feel that long. I guess they still need dem checks. The album is decent and there’s some tracks I enjoy, but the songwriting feels tired, like “Ugh, I gotta write ANOTHER Strokes song, fine…” and out comes a number of songs that make this album. That sounds terrible, but let‘s remember, The Strokes can write amazing songs, but now it’s more or less recycled great songs. Take it or leave it.

Happy Monday all. Stay safe.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 82

Ladies and Gentelmen, 

It's been a hectic weekend with my attendance at Outside Lands so I won't be writing much. It's been pretty disappointing given that A Tribe Called Quest cancelled their performance TWICE and crushed my dreams of seeing them (although with 2/3 the group in tow, RIP Phife). They were far and away the band I wanted to see most. You win some, you lose some. 

In retrospect, this was the most disappointing festival I've been to. The lineup was not all that impressive, and the acts just failed to really perform at a high level consistently. Surprisingly, one of the best acts of the weekend was Goldroom who came out with a full band and just crushed the small Panhandle stage. The crowd loved them. The other two great performances of the weekend go to Royal Blood and Metallica. 

But in honor of Tribe, this week's mixtape is focused on rap. Haven't done one of these in a while, so I hope the hip-hop heads out there keep nodding that head. 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 61

It's time for a mixtape dedicated to all the hip-hoppers out there! I'm not gonna blow your mind with too many new names (though Caleborate counts), but there are some great remixes (see: Black Hippy's rendition of "THat Part" and Ab-Soul jumping on a remix with the super underrated Bas to his great original "Housewives"), a new track from Danny Brown, and some oldies but goodies, namely Ab-Soul's haunting "Illuminate" and my favorite rapper of the moment, Isaiah Rashad, head-bobbing classic from his first album, "Heavenly Father." For goodness sakes, just inhale this guy's discography and don't stop until next week.

Word is Ab-Soul may be coming out with a new album. Needless to say I'm excited to hear what the extraterrestrial professor has to say.  

Not a whole lot from me other than the tracks. Enjoy!