Monday Mixtape, Vol. 106

This is a particularly good Monday as the middle of the week's bloated hump gets disregarded due to July 4th, and we can all celebrate while taking a short week! There are many things to rant and rave about with this country right now, and it's almost impossible to click on Google News or Twitter or The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal or (you get the point) without becoming thoroughly depressed, but I do try to remember how and why this whole experiment of a country started, and exhibit some sense of pride in our ideals and optimism and what we've accomplished as a country, and more importantly, as people. 

That all being said, I also just finished reading "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann, a true story about many, many Native Americans who were systematically murdered by white people and covered up by more powerful white people because AFTER the United States banished them from their profitable and farmable land, the United States jammed this tribe, the Osages, to what was believed to be a worthless area of Oklahoma, but it turned out the land was worth untold millions due to oil underneath the ground, turning the Osage nation into the richest people per capita in the world! Once the wealth of the Osage became apparent as the color of their skin, the racist belief that these individuals were worth less than the "regular" and God-fearin' folk, was really all anyone needed in that part of the country to kill them off for their inheritance.

Luckily, the FBI eventually came in to try to solve some of the problem, and some individuals with integrity and overall decency picked apart and found some of the murderers, yet so many remain unsolved to this day.

I went on that tangent because my first paragraph, and any other soliloquies we all will make this week about our country being the best country in the world (which I still believe to be true while being VERY sorely tested right now) should always come with a caveat to remember the many terrible things we have done as a nation and allowed to happen. This caveat should not solely be a means to shame or embarrass us, but a lesson to learn. To remember where all of our family lines (even the Osage and Native Americans!) came from at some point: different countries hoping for something better.

God knows I got it. I am one of the many "luckiest people living in the world" right now. I had truly amazing parents and role models. My family is one of a kind, and I know so many of them who would do anything to help me. My friends have always been there for me, many of them since I was a child. My wife, my one of a kind, my everything that I look at and love more every day, makes me sure of my luck. I've worked my ass out for a lot of things, but I've had a lot of opportunity to do it thanks to my parents that worked their ass off before me and their parents and their parents who boarded a boat...for something better. 

Enjoy the 4th, proclaim why you will always love this country despite our failures, and remind yourself how lucky you are to be an American. And as always, enjoy the music :)  

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 103

The message of this band's first track on their first album of a decades long career of classic albums, legacies, inhibitors and other drugs, is as clear as moonshine: we're gonna rock and fucking roll. Ladies and gentlemen, allow them to introduce themselves: The Allman Brothers Band. 

Now that both Allmans have passed, I've dug more into their albums, and I had forgotten how IN YOUR FACE this first track is. There's so much swagger there while also teasing the listener that THIS IS JUST THE FIRST TRACK. These guys are legends. And if you think it's all swashbuckling rock, please see Exhibit B, the beautiful acoustic ballad, "Little Martha."

I thought we'd just continue to rock this whole mixtape. I went for a run other day and had Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever's "Write Back" blasting through the headphones, and the pounding guitar solos deliver some serious punch. What a song.

Jank is my newest discovery, a band that harkens a bit to the grungy, distorted sound of the 90s. I get hints of The Used, a bit of The Deftones, and some great melodies. Their new album has been spinning on repeat all week. 

Lord Huron's new album is pretty darn good and listenable, though I can't say it's great. Something about the rock songs sounds just a smidgen of forced, but I still put my favorite songs from the album with a rock hint on here for you to judge on your own. Again, I think it's pretty good, I'm just not in love with it. 

Anyways, have a good week!

Listen to This - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

Starting back in 2012, I kept a playlist called "Holy Shit, Listen to This!" which encompassed bands that I had just discovered and was completely obsessed with:

I invite you to listen to some of this even though it's many years old and most of these bands never quite exceeded my lofty expectations. But that Peace EP was SO GOOD, "Calling All Gamma Rays" is still a song I love to listen to, the Angus Stone album holds up, and my man Mac Demarco's album "Salad Days" was my #1 Album of 2014.

ALAS, this all brings me to Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. The first song I heard from them is the first song of theirs on this little playlist, 2017's "French Press." Immediately, I thought, "Holy Shit! Everyone needs to hear this!!"

If this song doesn't get you going, just shut down Spotify and go on your merry way. But if the upbeat drums get you nodding your head, then the first phasey guitar reverbs away, then the other guitar comes blasting in, and you're just waiting for the vocals which come in a nonchalant gruff and accent-y (they're Aussies) speak-songy way, a rawness reminding me of the Strokes and Libertines type of style.

After hearing "French Press," I immediately ingested everything they've written (at least on Spotify) which lead me to create my favorites from what I've heard of their two EPs from 2017 and 2016. These guys fucking rock. Hope you enjoy too!