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. 184

I feel very good about this week’s mixtape. Every single track gives me the feels in one way or another. We got some rock tracks by Angel Du$t and COIN, or at the least, songs featuring guitars with distortion! Yeah mid 90s!

Speaking of mid 90s, we got an old-school like beat from the Nintendo days, my favorite beat of the year, going on during “ON CHAIN” (which - speaking of mid 90s - ends with a sample from “C.R.E.A.M.” by the one and only Wu-Tang Clan) on Brockhampton’s new album, a rap album definitely worth a listen.

On the pop front, we have a crazy new talent, Remi Wolf with the ridiculously infectious “Disco Man.” All you need to hear is her melody and rhythm on her first line to know this girl has got some talent. Then you hear the chorus…damn!

Another budding pop artist, Claud, released her new album very recently. It reminds me very much of my favorite, BENEE, but doesn’t have nearly the “it” factor, but she’s still some good tracks like “Overnight” on this week’s mixtape.

I thought this track from Fred again, “Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)” is a track of the culmination of COVID. It’s an inhale of the claustrophobia we’ve had for an exhausting year. We lost our space. We lost hugs and people we loved. We lost dancing! But more importantly, this song is also an exhale and a celebration. The light at the end of the tunnel is there. And I can see the silhouette of a crowd in unison, packed shoulder to shoulder, looking up to a stage, heads bobbing, dancing.