That's a Rap, Vol. 2

I apologize. I was supposed to post my follow up Rap playlists months ago! A while back, I posted That's a Rap, Vol. 1, which is an amazing array of tracks I highly recommend. The tracks in Volume 1 are primarily from 2013. But if you still haven't heard "F*ck Your Ethnicity" by Kendrick, "John Stockton" by Nemo Achida, or "There He Go" by Schoolboy Q, get your ass in gear! 

Volume 2 is another great playlist, but these tracks are primarily from 2014. If you haven't heard Isaiah Rashad, please listen to that entire album multiple times. If you haven't heard The Underachievers, please see my 5 Faves. 

I will post Volume 3 in the next few days as well. I wanted to make a Volume 4 but realized I hadn't even published these ones. 

5 Faves - Deerhunter

There are bands that come along that defy convention. They don't get swept under the rug of "rock" or "rap" or any other genre but are viewed as unique without any distinct peer. Deerhunter is a perfect example.

Listening back to their discography, the band is all over the place. Their most recent album, Monomania, is a lo-fi Marhshall amp blasting decibels of fuzz and distortion. Before Monomania was their amazing (and my favorite) Halcyon Digest from 2010, a roller coaster of an album wrapped in a warped beauty. The opening track, "Earthquake," is unforgettable and the rest of the album outshines the opener in depth and originality. "Helicopter" sounds like a spaceage Ambien lullaby and "Desire Lines" is basically Part 2 to "Nothing Ever Happened."

As we go further back in time, the band is finding itself, rummaging around for a sense of identity while wearing masks of sounds to experiment with. My favorite track Deerhunter has ever made, "Nothing Ever Happened," is from 2008's Microcastle. It's six minutes of fucking rock, solos, and a bridge that never really ends. This track will determine whether these guys are for you - and admittedly, they're not for everyone!

I'm doing my 5 Faves for Deerhunter because they have just released their first single off of their new album, Fading Frontier, set to release in October of this year. As appears to be status quo for these guys, "Snakeskin" is just a bit different than their other stuff - a bit funkier, a bit more upbeat, a bit of all the other bits in their discography. Super pumped for the album! 

Playlist - The NeverEnding Story: Favorite Current Tracks

I stopped updating this playlist once I started this blog, but I stumbled upon it today and started listening to it again. There were so many great tracks I had forgotten about (like "Quiescent" by The Underachivers, so good!), and it was a great trip down memory lane. I need to keep this playlist going.

The idea of the playlist is pretty simple: I update it every few weeks with my favorite tracks, the cream of the crop! "But wait," you are undoubtedly asking, "don't you do that on Mondays?" No silly, the tracks on Mondays aren't my FAVORITES, they're tracks that I'm digging and think are unique, but many of them won't even make it onto my Top 100 Songs of the Year playlist (coming year end!). 

The tracks on NeverEnding will certainly make the Top Songs list assuming it's a song from this year. (Truth alert: every once in a while, I'll sneak in a song I just discovered that may have been released...a year or two ago!).

So all this jabber is to let you know that I'm continuing this playlist! It's a great barometer for me to look back and see what I was loving at that time and date. And these are damn good songs! My most recent additions are at the end of the playlist and works backwards to when I started it in August 2013.

So kick back and enjoy some tunes! 

Playlist - Wait...Rock? Vol. 2

In my first playlist of this series, I worried that rock had died the day of Kurt Cobain's suicide. Fortunately, there's been a wave of new bands bringing rock back to the forefront. These bands continue to pop up and rock out.

Almost every band on this playlist has only released one album (and the Wavves/Cloud Nothings collaboration technically counts as their first album!), so it's primarily brand new stuff! 

Playlist - Throw Party, Press Play, Vol. 3

With the 4th of July so close by, I imagine a few of us will be throwing some parties. These parties usually need music. And if you're not playing music, or it's some background muzak, shame on you! 

A party mix has a few things, which should include:

• Numerous flavors and genres of music to keep it interesting while never sounding the same (as going from Ladyhawke to Naughty by Nature to Nas to Band of Horses would suggest on this playlist);
• The ability for a passive listener to tune in and acknowledge that he or she loves this song (this ALWAYS happens with Phantogram's "Don't Move" and Alabama Shakes' "Hold On," two tracks which are on other volumes of this playlist :()
• Songs upbeat enough to keep chatter alive amongst numerous awkward and/or silent pauses.
• Most importantly, a flow and rhythm between tracks and blocks of songs to give the playlist an overall vibe and well-roundedness (if that's a word?).

This playlist was made back in 2013, but I still think it stands the test of (a short) time. If you don't have a playlist to throw on for the background of your party, I highly recommend this one!

Party on Wayne.

Playlist - Stop, Drop, Electro Pop, Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4

I have gotten some great feedback from people regarding my two most recent Electro-Pop mixes. This genre of music just puts a smile on my face. It's upbeat and very energetic which almost always lines up with something fun, whether you're hosting a party, getting ready to go out for the night, or working out. It works in so many different situations.

I wanted to just put all of my Electro-Pop Spotify playlists right here to access. Obviously, each Volume goes in chronological order of when I made it, but that being said, I think Volume 1 is my favorite. It has some serious JAMS that need no introduction. Perfect for a party.

Stop, Drop, Electro-Pop, Vol. 1

Volume 2 is a little bit more experimental and adventurous, not as straight up catchy as my other volumes, but I think one gripe about Electro-Pop is that it all sounds the same, but I think this mix shows the abilities of really talented musicians (like Toro y Moi, Gardens & Villa, and Bear In Heaven) to make these types of songs sound original. The first track by Jakwob really sets the tempo. I love when the drums come in at 0:50 and then later at 2:32 when she just goes off. Beautiful song. Hopefully, many of the tracks on here you may have not heard before, like Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs or Lanu, their tracks kill!

Stop, Drop, Electro-Pop, Vol. 2

Both Volume 3 and Volume 4 I've written about, but I just wanted to include them here as well! 

Stop, Drop, Electro-Pop, Vol. 3

Stop, Drop, Electro-Pop, Vol. 4

Playlist - Outside Lands Festival, August 7 - 9, 2015

Outside Lands, San Francisco's three day music festival in Golden Gate Park, is only two months away! This will be my third year in attendance, and I'm really looking forward to this year's lineup. The last two years had a number of memorable performances. 2013 boasted a ton of great acts, including Gary Clark Jr. (a man who will never disappoint a festival crowd), Band of Horses (who get credit for the best setlist of the festival), Jurassic 5 (playing their first show in years and killing it), the Chili Peppers, and Paul McCartney (who put on such a memorable show). 2014 had Cut Copy (my highlight of the festival - there's nothing like thousands and thousands of people losing their minds, dancing their pants off), The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Tom Petty, Run the Jewels, Atmosphere (easily one of the best shows of the festival), and a disappointing Kanye (wah wahhh - but for the record, I still somewhat begrudgingly love Kanye). 

So on to 2015, a lineup that I would argue may be better than Coachella's lineup this year. There are very few DJs (yay!) and a ton of varying genres of music to keep it interesting and different. There are way too many bands that I'm excited to see that I would love to talk about at length, but in the interest of time, I'll keep it a bit shorter.

With apologies to Local Natives, Tame Impala is unquestioningly my favorite band at the moment.  I crave every show I can attend, and I believe this will be my fourth show of theirs. By August their new album will have been released which will set up the show to be downright epic. I CAN'T WAIT.

St. Vincent, a super talented and original artist, one who shreds the guitar and looks damn sexy doing it (side note - I read she was dating Cara Delevinge = power couple! Side note to the side note - Cara Delevinge had a profile in the Wall Street Journal Magazine which I thought was interesting and painted her in a bit of a different picture, not as celebrity and attention craved as you would imagine, maybe worth a read?) is always an act to see. Can't wait.

D'Angelo (assuming he doesn't cancel his show like he did two years ago at OSL) will be a total treat to see live. I wonder, because his music and voice is so fragile and intimate, if a festival setting will work for him. I think his backing band, The Vanguards, will bring the funk and be loud enough to absorb the place and crowd, but we'll see.

I love love love Wilco. I saw them for the first time at Austin City Limits, and I was disappointed in the set list, and I thought the performance was just dull. I don't expect that to happen twice for a band who has one of my favorite live albums ever, Kicking Television - Live in Chicago.

Hot Chip will be this year's replacement for Cut Copy. Though I like Cut Copy a lot more, Hot Chip has a ton of great and identifiable songs that the crowd will lose their minds to. It'll be a dance party. In the same vein, Classixx should put on a similarly great show. 

I will see St. Paul and the Broken Bones this time. I promise! 

Elton John is going to be awesome. I don't even know too much Elton John, I just know that he's a hell of a performer, one who will tear up his piano and belt out the hits. I think the crowd is going to really be into this one.

I've heard that Kendrick Lamar isn't performing much stuff from his new album, To Pimp A Butterfly, which makes me wonder whether A) it's too complicated or expensive to play live (as the instrumentation in that album sounds pretty expansive with a ton of different instruments)  or B) this is some "artistic" statement that he won't play it for the masses because this is his album and he won't be pimped to play it. Whatever man. Don't make an album and then not play it. What is that about? (Update: Lamar just started playing some tracks from the new album at his appearance at Summer Jam this past weekend, so hopefully that means we'll get to see new stuff at OSL -though bummer for all the people who saw him prior to this). I saw Lamar at Austin City Limits a couple years ago, during the madness of his last album, Good Kid M.a.a.D. City, and I thought it was somewhat disappointing. But he's had a ton of time to get better so we'll see!

Two headliners that I'm 50/50 on - shows that I will certainly plan to see (assuming there aren't any other bands I have to see playing at the same time) that could be great but might also lose my interest - Mumford and Sons and The Black Keys. I saw The Black Keys at ACL, and I just feel like those guys need to be in a dingy, small venue to get the real experience of that sound and energy. A festival is too wide open and pristine of a setting. Mumford and Sons have festival ready songs which I think will be great, but I'm not sold on the new album, so that show will be a TBD.

Ok, so that was a bit longer than expected, sorry, and I'm sure I'll be writing more about OSL as the schedule is released, and I plan my days, but as for the playlist, these are my favorite tracks of each artist that I would like to see at OSL. Those with multiple tracks I am probably more interested in seeing, but each band has a gem or two worth hearing live. Probably best to just put the playlist on shuffle, buy your plane ticket to SF, crash on my couch, and come to a great festival!

Playlist - Sunday Morning

I've written before that I really love listening to chill mixes. There are all sorts of different types of "chill" to me, some can be a bit more trippy or electronic, some where there's a ton of space in the songs that bare echoes and reflections to make the song so sparse that it's relaxing, others that have orchestras, strings, and horns that lull you sleep, and so many more. Whatever way we get there, the WHOLE point is to relax and feel calm. 

My Sunday Morning playlist is exactly what you'd imagine: It's a playlist I always listen to on Sunday Mornings as I'm brewing my cup of coffee, reading the NYTimes, and slowly starting a day off from the grind of work and all that stressful stuff. This mix is a bit more upbeat than my other chill mixes (to be published soon!) because it's not supposed to lull you to sleep or veg out, it's supposed to ease you into your day. There are SO many amazing tracks on here. I honestly LOVE every song on this mix, no joke. But Gary Clark Jr.'s live acoustic rendition of "Things Are Changin'" that starts things off should give you a good idea of the vibes I'm going for.

I'm hoping there are some tracks you've never heard, maybe U.S. Royalty's gorgeous ending track from their first album, or a little Andrew Bird for those uninitiated to his brilliance, or for the love of God PATRICK WATSON. If you don't like "Words in the Fire," we will have to part ways here. How about Rhye's voice in "The Fall," a perfect song to me. Ryan Adams undoubtedly made his way on here and Feist (one of my most beloved female singer/songwriters) will always be loved by me for her sultry voice and original tracks. And of course, I have to end with Wilco's classic and appropriately named, "One Sunday Morning." So much good stuff!

Happy Sundays from here on out!

Playlist - Stop, Drop, Electro-Pop, Vol. 3

I first posted my Stop, Drop, Electro-Pop, Vol. 4 mix which I think a few people enjoyed, so I'm back with another one! I made this playlist prior to volume four, so it won't have any newer stuff per se, but I loooove this playlist because it's so upbeat and can be played in many different settings, be it a party, a workout, or when you need some energy at work. It's got the regulars like Chvrches, Holy Ghost!, Cut Copy, St. Lucia, and Phantogram, but also a few lesser known bands, such as Lanu, Panama, Jagwar Ma, and Wild Ones.

Hopefully there are a few groups that you haven't heard. Poolside's "Do You Believe" is a song that the second you put it on, people immediately notice. It's a party starter. So start partying!