Monday Mixtape, Vol. 34

Music is like so many other things in life - it’s cyclical. Sometimes we have a decade or more of great music, and other times it’s a stagnant regurgitation of better music.

Rap right now is on the upswing. Everyone will always be nostalgic of 90s rap, and I can thank A Tribe Called Quest, Biggie, Nas, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Tupac, Wu-Tang Clan, Mos Def and Taleb Kweli, Big L, Naughty by Nature, Big Pun, OutKast, Eminem, DMX, Little Brother, The Pharcyde, Jurassic 5, Gang Starr, and many, many more I’ve failed to mention.

But in the past five years we have had Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, Drake’s Nothing Was The Same, Kanye’s Yeezus, Run the Jewels Run The Jewels 2, and then in 2015 alone: Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, Lupe Fiasco’s Tetsuo & Youth, Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, and Future’s DS2.

The last time I was listening to this much rap was back in college when I completely immersed myself in the world of 90s rap (since I spent most of my life in the 90s as a chubby kid rocking out to grunge music wearing No Fear t-shirts with a bowl cut).

I’m immersed now and as a byproduct, I’m immersing you.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 30

When I was at Outside Lands this year, there was a teeny tent where artists would play a handful of songs prior to their sets on the big stages. One of these artists was Natalie Prass, who I have written about a number of times on this blog. 

It was Prass, her guitarist, and no more than twenty of us watching. I was an arm’s length away from her, and her delicate voice and stripped down renditions of her tracks was subtly beautiful. 

Prass’ debut album is easily one of my favorite albums this year, and she just released an EP (recorded live at her record label’s studio in Richmond, VA) which includes one of her best songs from her debut, “My Baby Don’t Understand Me,” and a few covers from the likes of Anita Baker, Simon & Garfunkel, and Grimes.

Which segueways perfectly to the incomparable Grimes. I haven’t written a lot about her new album Artangles. It’s an album NO ONE else could have made. She is an original melding genres in a kaleidoscope of sounds. If you’d like to get into the mind of one of the most brilliant and innovative artists out there right now, listen to this album.

She’s also respected and beloved by fellow artists as the cover by Natalie Prass would indicate. I included both the original Grimes song as well as Prass’ cover. 

I stumbled upon Mutemath accidentally, and I'm really digging their electro-pop sound. Check this album out if you like this mainly instrumental track (the other songs have singing!).

Last but not least is Freddie Gibbs, the rapper from Gary, Indiana. His new album, Shadow of a Doubt, is one of the better rap albums this year. Gibbs initially made a name for himself with a ton of mixtape but started to get a little more critical attention with his collaboration with Madlib on the crazy spacey, Pinata. I think he’s furthering his case as one of the best rappers out there. 

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Albums to look forward to in 2015!

I've scoured the interwebs for a bunch of info on 2015 album releases (thank you Consequence of Sound, Stereogum, Pitchfork, Metacritic, Ranker) and here's an incredibly quick listing of albums that I promise to listen to MANY MANY times which are ranked from somewhat excited to RIDICULOUSLY excited):

Brandon Flowers - TBA
Savages - TBA
The Dodos - Individ (1/27)
Wild Nothing - TBA
Panda Bear (Noah Lennox from Animal Collective) - Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
Heems (from the now extinct Das Racist) - Eat Pray Thug (3/10)
Jose Gonzalez - Vestiges & Claws (2/17)
Fleetwood Mac - TBA
Chromatics - Dear Tommy
Pusha T - King Push
Freddie Gibbs - Lifestyles of the Insane
James Blake - TBA
DIIV - TBA
Purity Ring
Belle & Sebastian - Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (1/20)
The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World (1/20)
Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (2/10)
Death Cab for Cutie - TBA
Chance the Rapper - Surf
Blood Orange - TBA
Joey Bada$$ (finally!) - B4.DA.$$ (1/20)
Band of Horses - TBA
Drake - Views From the 6
Adele - TBA
Modest Mouse - Strangers to Ourselves (3/3)
Beach House - TBA
A$AP Rocky
Grimes - TBA
Run the Jewels - RTJ3
My Morning Jacket - TBA
Kanye West - TBA
Kendrick Lamar - TBA
Radiohead - TBA
Frank Ocean - TBA