Monday Mixtape, Vol. 189

Hello, all! There’s been much great music released in the past few weeks, I can’t fit nearly everything into one mixtape! Two of my favorite rappers, Vince Staples and Isaiah Rashad, released my two favorite rap albums of the year.

John Mayer released a new album. Brittany Howard, lead singer of the great Alabama Shakes, released an album of remixes to her solo album, including remixes by Childish Gambino, Bon Iver, Little Dragon, 9th Wonder, Jungle, to just name a few!

Power duo, Big Red Machine (Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner) released an EP with some other superstars collborators like Fleet Foxes and Taylor Swift. Then Billie Eilish, Clairo, Leon Bridges, and Logic released an album. And don’t forget about Inhaler, a young Irish band who are writing some catchy rock songs.

So this is bordering on a ridiculous amount of music I have to listen to, and all I’ve had on repeat the past few weeks is Vince Staples (on this week’s mitxtape) and Isaiah' Rashad’s new album released on Friday (which will be featured on next week’s mixtape). Rashad hasn’t released an album in five years, and I’ve been loving him since his phenomenal 2014 debut, Cilvia Demo.

But today’s mixtape is more about Vince, a rapper I’ve been writing about for years. He’s one of few introverted rappers, a guy who, album after album, seems unhappy and consumed with rawness of the world before his eyes in his hometown, Long Beach, California.

Each of his six albums, starting with his debut in 2014 (like Rashad), are unusually short (4 of his albums are 21-23 minutes!), which I love, and unusually different, which I love even more!

I’ve been blown away by his latest album, Vince Staples, because he shifted his cadences, his beats, his sound, his whole palate. Many times the mark of a great song is when you say to yourself, “No other artist could have made this song what it is.” Staples does this numerous times, specifically in “ARE YOU WITH THAT” (maybe the most familiar sounding track to his older stuff) “TAKING TRIPS,” “LIL FADE,” “TAKE ME HOME.”

I still have a lot more to study on this album, but he and Rashad are at the top of my albums of the year list so far.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 170

This week’s mixtape is a mix of rock, rap, folk, and whatever you want to call Kurt Vile’s laidback tunes.

I’ll start with the last, first: REASON. He’s the newest member of the infamous music label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), which includes SZA, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, and oh yeah, that other rapper, Kendrick Lamar. Reason is the only one of all of them to drop an album in 2020, so the pressure is on!

Word on TDE is Kendrick might leave TDE for Dave Free’s label (one of Kendrick’s this high-school friends). I would assume he got screwed or massively underpaid for providing the biggest platform for TDE while the TDE owners soaked in all the money. Just a guess.

Anyways, I enjoyed REASON’s album a lot because he’s a good lyricist (see Verse 2 below) and is passionate. A lot of artists either don’t give a shit what they’re saying or sound like they don’t, and it’s refreshing to hear someone that sounds like their soul is on fire and they need to extinguish something. Or as REASON says, “I gotta say it wit’ my chest.”

What’s wild for a debut album on a major label is that REASON is already showing doubts of his relationship with TDE. More abnormal, he’s being open and honest about it on this mixtape’s last track, “Windows Cry.” Verse 2 is phenomenal:

Prayed to be gifted and got it from rappin', ain't that ironic?
Discussin' deals with white women and vodka tonics, uh
Like who are you, nigga? Oh, you different, different
Oh, you gifted, gifted, then let's go back to your contract
Nigga, listen, listen, paranoia lifted
Look, you so fuckin' clueless, let's break it down?
You signed a paper to get rid of your niggas, now you got strangers
At the worst fuckin' moment you could 'cause your life is changin'
You heard the stories of labels puttin' artists in danger
Use 'em up for hits, never pay 'em and then replace 'em
And now you're steppin' into unfamilar situations
Of a label that's like family but adopted you for paper
While you tryna be the greatest and pursue your vison
You call and get the voicemail, nigga, who gon' listen?
They only care about the money, nigga, screw your vision
This shit's so fuckin' screwed up, now you screwed up in it
They got you sittin' on the bench, you gon' lose your listens
You gon' hurt your fans, you gon' lose your mentions
You tryna grow as big as Dot, tryna move your image
Now you got Dave pushin' buttons and he grew up with him
What's his motive, nigga? Can't never trust him
They make Ali mix your vocals, nigga, without discussion
This shit crazy, you so hopeless, nigga
You got Top's son as one of your managers
And you barely even know this nigga
If you and Top get in some shit, who he ridin' for?
Who he slidin' for? Wait, wait, they comin', shh, shh
Let's keep it quiet, low, can't let 'em know you doubtin'
They'll take offense and say you're spoiled, "REASON always poutin'"
You gotta trust the process, days slowly countin'
Where your music at? Where you been, nigga?
I'm just hopin' all these thoughts don't turn reality
Hope September 12th don't turn into my casualty
Windows cry

Speaking of rappers, I think the best rapper right now is JID. He’s everywhere right now doing features with all sorts of rappers, and he’s always got the best verse. Need proof? Check his verse against one of my fave rappers, Isaiah Rashad, and Reason in “Extinct” or his verse on “Shiva” with EARTHGANG. He’s just on another level right now, and his name is getting a ton of love. He just needs to release a classic album. We’re all waiting. If anyone can take the crown from Kendrick, it’s JID. But I ain’t betting against K Dot!

Speaking of great rappers, I stumbled upon Che Noir, a female rapper whose album As God Intended is awesome. The whole album flows and she’s a hell of a rapper.

On a totally different spectrum, we got some Fleet Foxes, Kurt Vile & John Prine, and Doves, all three of which are completely different from each other! Still thinking this new Fleet Foxes album is very good but ranks #3 of 4 on their discography.

Kurt Vile continues to make music in his own meandering ways, and this time he brought along old timer John Prine to make a beautiful duet.

Finally, Doves. A band I loved almost two decades ago. They’ve come back with an impressively great rock album, their first in 11 years! Definitely, definitely worth a listen if you like these guys. And if you’ve never heard of them, please listen to 2011’s The Last Broadcast.

Have a good week all!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 169

If this first track isn’t the party rap anthem off the year, I don’t know what is. This song is amazing, and it’s got some rappers I love like Big K.R.I.T and Curren$y and a new one I’ve gotten into recently, Smoke DZA (who appears again on this mixtape with Joey Bada$$ in “The Mood”).

Really digging this new The Neighbourhood album. I will continue to put tracks from their album on upcoming mixtapes. Their sound shifts a bunch, so it’s hard to even tell it’s the same artist. See if you can spot it next week!

Shout out to Sean C. for letting me know Roosevelt released some new stuff. Hopefully, that means an album is around the corner!

If you haven’t heard of or heard IDLES before, be prepared. They are raucous. Their live shows are raucous. It’s a rowdy bunch, and their lead singer REALLY gives it his all in live shows, you should just check them out on YouTube if you’re digging what they’re spinning.

Fleet Foxes released their fourth album a week ago!! I have been digesting it constantly. On first blush, it is a really, really good album. It’s not as good as Helplessness Blues, my favorite of theirs, and it probably can’t overtake their debut album, but it’s still a really solid album. Robin Pecknold’s vocals are in the stratosphere, I think he’s such a talent, a dark soul trying to come to some light through his music. Couldn’t imagine any other voice of Fleet Foxes (though spoiler, he lets someone he met from his time at school in Oxford sing the beginning of the first track).

I’ll be putting much more from this album on future mixtapes.

Happy Monday. Go make something of yourself.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 118

Apologies for my absence, it’s been a hectic few weeks, including a trip to NYC and a new puppy! Her name is June. Anyhoo, I got some great music for you, starting with the one, and truly only, Colter Wall, a young man of just 23 years with a voice of syrupy bourbon and bass. WOW when you hear this guy. Definitely check his new album out.

There’s an indie supergroup named boygenius comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridges, and Lucy Dacus, and their album has little tinges of all of their sounds while being led by Baker’s (her looooooooooooNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!! words that she’s known to sing can stretch for over 10 seconds and the scream just gathers steam as it goes (listen to “Stay Down” at 3:11 where “down” is clocked in at about 11 seconds), it’s an equivalent “wow factor” to rappers who can do a verse on one breath because they’ve mastered how to breathe into through their nose while rapping) vocals and craftsmanship. The two tracks I put on this week’s mixtape were my two faves.

I’m so happy with Young the Giant, they just released their fourth album, and it’s got to be their second best album (it’s going to be VERY hard to ever top their first album which was close to flawless and had JAM after JAM and my fave YTG song, “Islands"). There isn’t any letdown on this album, it’s paced well and has a distinct sound and numerous great songs. My favorite might be their last track on the album, “Mirror Master,” what a catchy tune.

Fleet Foxes technically just released “Icicle Tusk." As you might be able to hear, this sounds like early Fleet Foxes, and sure enough, it was made back in 2006, two years before they even released their debut album. Beauty of a song. Robin Pecknold’s voice is in my Top 5 right now.

Empress of’s sophomore album is MUCH more poppy than her debut, a somewhat disappointing surprise. That’s not to say these aren’t good songs, but I’m disappointed because her last album was so weird and unique, whereas this album (and the song on this week’s mixtape “When I’m With Him”) could have be sung by so many different pop vocalists.

Finally, The Belle Game is a band I discovered years ago because their debut album, "Ritual Tradition Habit, was this somewhat dreary, reverb-soaked, distorted sound with beautiful vocals. I’m listening to “Wait up for You” right now, and what a song!

Have a great week all!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 78

Apologies for my absences, but I've been enjoying my time off between jobs by vacationing in Bass Lake in California and headed to Mexico on Wednesday with one of my best buddies. Been a blast so far!

This week's mixtape is focused primarily on a band that had not, until a couple weeks ago, released an album in six years. Their prior album was my #2 Album of 2011, the unforgettable Helplessness Blues.

I've been digesting their new album, Crack-Up, for weeks now, and man, this music is dense. There are songs within songs, sometimes three in one, pitch changes, rhythm changes, and musical facelifts in the middle of songs. These are not songs that immediately take. These songs really do age like a fine wine.

I remember listening to Helplessness Blues over and over and over again. I knew I liked it, but I didn't love it. For some reason, I just kept listening, and eventually, my like turned to love. I have a feeling something similar is happening with this new album.

No track immediately stood out for me on first listen, but now, I have a handful of tracks that I gravitate towards. I've placed these on this week's mixtape as well as some of my older favorites from them.

If you haven't given these guys a chance, just know that it takes some time, and listen in.