Monday Mixtape, Vol. 171

Lots of great music blasting - or should I say serenading? This is an especially mellow mixtape - through the headphones this week. So many artists I love are releasing singles in anticipation of albums or fill albums in the past couple weeks: The Staves, Chris Stapleton, Mac Demarco, Jeff Tweedy, Local Natives, and more.

We’ll start with Omar Apollo, a crooner oozing sensuality and sultriness. You may get some Frank Ocean vibes from this guy who just released a new album that’s worth checking out if you like this jam that starts the mixtape.

Joji is a pop act but an original talent as he produced and arranged all the songs on his album Nectar. “Daylight” reminds me of Borns, one of my favorite pop artists in the past few years, and “Afterthought” has some James Blake influence. His album is all over the place in a good way.

Jeff Tweedy released a new solo album. God I love this guy. I still think Wilco is one of the most under appreciated bands alive right now (Spoon is probably up there too. You know who’s NOT up there? THE NATIONAL. The most OVERRATED band alive. Though I will admit I like High Violet but I’m so very tired of listening to their lead singer fumble through his songs like he’s on his 17th glass of red wine).

ANYWAYS, any music released by Jeff Tweedy is a must listen for me. I’ve included a couple of my current faves from his recent album, Love Is the King.

Another underrated band: The Staves. Their new single “Good Woman” is released in anticipation of their third album (of the same title) to be released in February 2021. Can’t wait!

My man Mac Demarco releasd a bunch of b-sides from his last album, and I have yet to listen to them all, but “Out Of My Head” got my head bobbing. He’s so awesome.

Finally, some nostalgic love for Local Natives. I may have mentioned I recently purchased their 10th Anniversary vinyl of their debut classic, Gorilla Manor, an album that has so much emotional heft for me, memories of a specific time in my life that Gorilla Manor WAS the soundtrack.

I’ve added one of my favorite tracks (though who am I kidding, I think I love every single song) which is a bit less known as it’s buried in the back of the album.

Enjoy the tunes.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 167

Don’t have a lot to say on this Monday, but this is a great playlist to smoothly transition into the start of the week. Let’s work on stopping the fear mongering that the media and politics and WHAT FEELS LIKE EVERYTHING AROUND US is spewing. People can’t take away your positivity or hopefulness.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 77

For a very short period of time, my only job will be blogging for Layers & Sounds! Not sure if that will result in more output (most likely not) as I just resigned from my job and am taking a month off before starting my own business :) 

Enough about me, let's talk music:

I know that in many years, when I'm an old man listening to vinyls of yesteryear, Mac Demarco's classic album Salad Days (read my writeup on the album - my #1 album of 2014!) will be on rotation. It's almost impossible to follow an album like that, so it's not a huge surprise that the jokester Demarco was not up to the task. Nonetheless, his new album is an enjoyable, laid-back album to put on in the background during the late night of a party. There are a couple standout tracks, including this one, "This Old Dog" (and yes, he's mainly up to the same tricks).

Kembe X is one of the newer members on the TDE label (the infamous label with Kendrick, Isaiah Rashad, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock), and TDE continues to find gold. I really dig this guy and am interested to hear his major label debut. "Intro" is all you need to hear to know whether you're into him as well. There's nothing particularly unique about him, but it's just good music man!

It's killing me that the last thee songs Local Natives have released as singles - The Only Heirs, Tusk, and I Saw You Close Your Eyes - are so much better than half the songs on their recently released third album. These songs would have made that third album SO much more consistent and deep. Oh well.

I was very disappointed in Feist's recent album, only a song or two stuck out, and nothing really stayed with me for a prolonged time. This track is one of my favorites, a stripped down acoustic ballad that showcases one of the best and most original voices around. I think I was so disappointed in her album because her last, Metals, was also somewhat disappointing (though def better than this one) which was after her classic - another album I will absolutely be listening to when I'm wrinkly and gray! - 1, 2, 3, 4. That album alone is enough for me, but I always hoped for another great one from her. 

Ok, let's be honest here, no one really wants to hear an entire song of rappers rap about a high fashion label, in this case Raf (Simmons I believe). If I had my druthers, no one would EVER talk about Mason Margiela (if that's how you spell it - and no, I will not Google that to double check) or any of these other really expensive "it" designers who are helping us all blow money that we probably should be saving or spending on something a bit more worthwhile. (Rant over). But you know what we do want to listen to? A song with ASAP Rocky, Quavo, and Frank Ocean! So despite the terrible lyrics, this is still a pretty great song that's wrapped up by my fave, Frank Ocean, who lets us know that he charges $2.5 million per show. Not bad, Frank. Also kind of amazing that he never performs which is probably which that price tag can be so damn high.  

Finally, I'm excited for Foster the People's third album. That's all I gotta say on that. 

Have a good week, peoples!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 72

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!

Monday Mixtape Vol. 60

Sadly, another short post from me - I just got back from Cabo and have to get back on a flight to Dallas in 10 hours, so time is limited tonight!

Anyways, in the near future I'd like to post something about Bon Iver's new album since I saw him at The Fox in Oakland recently. It was just one of THOSE concerts. One I will remember for a very long time because it really showcased his brilliance beyond even my lofty expectations. His reinterpretations of songs from albums are crazily complicated and stunning to hear live because some are such huge deviations from the originals. Others have slight changes that are memorable. He even reinterpreted his new songs!

I started watching a ton of live Bon Iver videos thereafter to see any more of Justin Vernon's patented falsetto. I'll get to those in another post. 

In the meantime, please enjoy my favorite hilarious song of the year, "Shoes Off," a song about taking shoes off at various airports. Heems - from Das Racist - is one part of this wacky duo along with another British rapper, Riz MC, propel the floozy beat and flow in style. Just love blasting this song. I also included my favorite Das Racist song as well because it's another ridiculous beat and song.

Pond is an offshoot of some members from Tame Impala - mainly their drummer, Jay Watson. I loved their last album and this song gives me some serious hope for their upcoming one.

G Perico is an up and coming West Coast rapper bringing back that 90s G-Funk type of sound, reminiscent of Dre's debut he Chronic. 

Amber Coffman was in the Dirty Projectors and made this dreamy solo track which provides some anticipation for what she has in store for her solo album. Should be good!

I'll get back to the new Bon Iver album soon and some really really cool live performances by him. If he is ANYWHERE near you, GO SEE HIM! 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 57 (and Local Natives album review)

My most anticipated album of the year was released on Friday: Local Natives' Sunlit Youth. 

There are albums where the first track completely takes hold of you - as LN's opener "Villainy" did for me - and the next track does the same - again as LN's "Past Lives" did - and again and again until I begin to say to myself, "Oh man, this could be a REALLY great album."

If I get through an entire album like that, it's a joyful experience for me hard to replicate in any other form. A couple albums this year have come close to that. I think of Anderson Paak's Malibu and Sturgill Simpson's release. 

SO DID THIS HAPPEN WITH LOCAL NATIVES, you ask, pleadingly. It did and then it didn't. 

As I got through the first four tracks, I was starting to get very excited. "Dark Days," their best song on this album, is track three. "Fountain of Youth," one of their most anthemic songs to date ("WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WAAAAAAAANNNNNTTT!"), a sing-along to experience live I'm sure, is track four. 

But then the albums starts to drift. The album is buoyed a bit by the mysterious and delicate "Jellyfish" - track six - the remainder wades without much direction. "Coins," an almost John Mayer-ish intro, is a weird direction and sounds misplaced on this album.

I'm not really sure what the majority of the lyrics mean either. There are all sorts of first names of different women of which no thread or theme I could deduce. There are vague references which may be specific to them but are lost on me. A few, like "Fountain of Youth," are a bit more straightforward, but overall I've never really understood their lyrics throughout their discography.

"Mother Emanuel" the other highlight on the back half of the album, soars on its catchy hook (which made me realize their singers don't really rely on catchy vocals but instead thrive on multiple vocal harmonies and lots of long "ooooohhhs" and "ahhhhhhs"), but I just haven't been able to find the rest of the album memorable.

Granted, I've only listened to the album all the way through a handful of times. I hope my feelings change on the end of the album, but I wish I got a warmer feeling from start to finish. 

It's a world apart compared (and this just isn't fair, really) to the quality and ingenuity of Tame Impala's third album. But Kevin Parker is the rock genius of this decade, the Thom Yorke of today, what Kanye has been to rap.

So those comparisons just aren't fair. Though I think I make it because I've always placed my love of both Tame Impala and Local Natives at the same heights. Now those heights are changing because Tame Impala is in the stratosphere, cementing what is probably my second favorite band ever behind Radiohead.

I STILL can't get over how amazing Currents is as well as Tame Impala's preceding two albums. It helps that I just saw them live at the beautiful Greek Theatre in Berkeley where they were the best I've ever seen in the four times that I've had the pleasure seeing them. They were light years ahead of their performance a year ago at Outside Lands right when Currents was released. And they were even better, tighter with the perfect mixing/level of sounds, than my previous favorite set of theirs at Austin City Limits back in 2013.

ANYWAYS, there's a ton of other music on this mixtape. If you haven't listened to Isaiah Rashad, whose debut, Cilvia Demo, was a favorite of mine, please see if he's your type. I love him and think his new album is pretty damn great. Though as is par the course, Kendrick absolutely steals the scene in "Wat's Wrong," as he spews,

I told them, the best rappers is 25
Been like that for a while now, I'm 29.
Any n**** that disagrees is a fuckin' liar.
Pardon me see my alter ego was gemini.

Finally, I'll leave you with the great "Leave Your Light On," from the enjoyable new album from Night Moves. Now THAT'S a hook! 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 46

Thanks to Memorial Day, there is quite a backlog of great music for you. Overall, I’ve been pretty disappointed in the music that’s been released this year, it just seems to me like a down year. But, there are a ton of bands I love (Local Natives, Blind Pilot, Young the Giant) still to release theirs.

I’m particularly excited for Local Natives’ new album. I’ve had three favorite bands in the past decade - Local Natives, US Royalty, and Tame Impala (while Radiohead being the all-decades favorite) - and they’re all on their third album with only Tame Impala to release the masterpiece Currents. Third albums are huge for bands that garnered a lot of recognition for their first album because the sophomore release is always allowed to be a regurgitation of the first since the first was so good. (And for the record, Local Natives second album was not like their first, but it just wasn’t as good.) Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys are great examples of that. Their second albums were pretty darn good, it sounded like the first, so no one complained. 

But the third is a different story. It shows whether a band has “it” however one may define it. My definition: a sound and structure that is unique and original and a dedication and labor of love that is apparent that it all makes for an unforgettable album, something to be remembered because it sounds like nothing else. Currents did exactly that for me. So did Vampire Weekend’s third masterpiece of an album while Arctic Monkey’s third album went a little too far off field and gave too much sound control to Josh Homme (producer of the album and lead singer/songwriter of Queens of the Stone Age). Though “Cornerstone” is still one of my faves by them.

SO WHAT I WAS TRYING TO GET AT: there’s a lot riding on this album for Local Natives. And that being said, their new single provides hope. I still think Taylor Rice’s vocals sound a bit whiney, but I just LOVE the sounds they get out of their drums and guitars. How awesome is the drum-off starting at 2:17 which leads into some serious kick-ass electric guitar lick? That is Local Natives' specialty, a messy conglomeration of harmonies and other sounds that bleed like waterfalls. It’s beautiful. So maybe I’m getting more excited for their new album now! 

A few other notes:

I though Post Malone was a joke - BECAUSE I LOOKED AT A PICTURE OF HIM - although I loved “White Iverson,” but I obviously couldn’t take him seriously. And though on his track on this Monday Mixtape he’s talking about flexing with gold grills and all sorts of other shit about his squad and sending “Snaps” to his girl, “Go Flex” has a great hook and even a little acoustic guitar in it! 

“Something to Believe In” is Young the Giant’s sultriest song yet. Sameer Gadhia is the modern day Brandon Boyd (of Incubus) - he has one of the best voices in the business, but I think Young the Giant is mainly disrespected by critics. Have they listened to “Islands??” (Yes, I know Incubus is still making music).

The beat that starts the song by Allan Rayman sounds like it should have been on a Montell Jordan tracks. Love it. I don’t know too much about this Allan Rayman guy nor an I sure how to describe him, but this is one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard all year.  

“Feel No Ways” is one of my two favorite tracks from Drake’s new, somewhat disappointing album. I think there are some good songs, but a lot of not so good songs which is not usual for Drizzy.

I am heading to LA on Saturday for two weeks, but I will try to post something for next week’s mixtape because there are a lot more songs I want to share.

New Local Natives Song - Past Lives

And OF COURSE they came to play a teeny club in SF yesterday when I was out of town. OF COURSE. Fate has seriously gotten in our ways on a number of different instances (including one where I met a girl working at a burger shop who knew the band and was going to the show the following week and said I should come hang out with them - but I was going out of town!), but I will always love these guys. They have been one of my three favorite bands since 2010 (Tame Impala and US Royalty would be the other two) and while I really enjoyed their second album, I didn't obsessively love it like their debut. 

They've been working on new music for years (or at least haven't released an album since early 2013) and here's the first track they've released from their new album to be released this year!

Canadian Tuxedo - Part 2 of 4

In Part 1 last week, I said that I thought the Canadian tuxedo is making its way back into style, and I showed how a blue monochromatic look with boots could work without looking too loud. In this post (and Part 4), I'm wearing a pair of lighter, more faded jeans with a white tee (as I think the faded denim and white pair better with the jean jacket), white shoes, and a salt & pepper-colored hoodie.

Old Navy jean jacket, American Apparel hoodie, Local Natives White Tee, H&M jeans, Converse All Stars 

Old Navy jean jacket, American Apparel hoodie, Local Natives White Tee, H&M jeans, Converse All Stars

Old Navy jean jacket, American Apparel hoodie, Local Natives White Tee, H&M jeans, Converse All Stars

Photos by Kramer Sharp