Monday Mixtape, Vol. 218

Hey hey, reporting live from somewhere for some music! While I have not been good at posting new music, I have been good at listening to a bunch of new stuff. I’ll try to get it on these mixtapes! Enjoy, some great new artists here.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 214

Remi Wolf bursts out into this week’s mixtape with panache, rhythm, and some choice words for the ladies,

All these little bitches telling me what to do
They really gettin’ me hot
I got a bone to pick
Ain’t got a bone to lick

Her flow is phenomenal. She rides the rhythm in every direction and controls the whole song vocally. This was recorded live and is a testament to her talent. I wrote about her many months ago on her track “Disco Man,” another track to check out.

My recent obsession goes by the name of The Backseat Lovers. The vocals remind me of a mix between Bombay Bicycle Club and The Kooks. Other sonic influences I hear include Bloc Party, lots of Kings of Leon (mainly the guitars, that little riff that starts “Kilby Girl” as well as the reverb in the background), Two Door Cinema Club (the quick transition made to clean guitars at 3:03 and the soaring riff that follows is exactly like TDCC’s “What You Know”) .

Speaking of TDCC, they released a new album! I’ll note again that the last live show I saw of them a year ago was really, really good, like knocked-my-socks-off good. The kids are professionals now. I gotta listen to the album more, it kinda feels like it’ll grow on me over time like their last album.

I love their smidges of silence, and the use of quiet to contrast their loudness, and they do this well on their more introspective tracks (check their 2019 major label debut for more).

Julia Jacklin just released her highly anticipated new album, and I think this is the best track.

Extra points if you recognize the voice on the Amtrac song :)

Beabadoobee is awesome. Really awesome. Her album this year is so damn good. Gotta be Top 10 this year.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 59

I'm going to try to write this in five minutes. I'm exhausted. Here goes. 

I'm seeing Bon Iver on Tuesday at the Fox. I've never seen him. It's going to be an epic show, in part because he tends not to play a ton of shows, so I'll really savor this one. Hearing his falsetto live, playing his beat up guitar while singing "re:Stacks" (my favorite Bon Iver song right above "Beach Baby") will be a memory I hope I can have. Coming in third place of my favorite songs by Justin Vernon might be "33 God," it's just that good. 

Three minutes.

Ark Patrol is some weird DJ who lives in Berkeley and has made some very chill and spacey songs. This one is a bit more catchy. Check out "Tokyo" for another!

Alex Frankel is from the very talented duo, Holy Ghost! To date, I still think their debut is one of my favorite Electro-Pop albums I've heard, and I really don't think they get the respect they deserve. They're better than Chvrches yet get one tenth the love. 

One minute!

Night Moves FOR GOODNESS SAKE LISTEN TO THEIR ALBUM.

Temples! Tame Impala lite. Maybe Tame Impala wanna bes, okay Tame Impala wanna bes. Particularly on this track the lead singer's voice is even more Kevin Parker-ish. BUT their debut album was really really good. So there's that.

I did it! Seeya!

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!