Monday Mixtape, Vol. 80

in

A bunch of new bands to digest this week, including Cende, The Jungle Giants, Palace, and Japanese Breakfast. 

Conde's debut album is really enjoyable yet I can't place exactly who or what they sound like. It's a little upbeat, a little punk-y, but no song from 2017 album is better than "What I Want," which actually reminds me a bit of Deerhunter with their amazing transition at 2:50 from the sweet vocals into an ass kicking of rock. Cool song!

"Quiet Ferocity" is a contender for one of my favorite songs of the year. It's certainly got some LCD Soundsystem in it (and the rest of the album sounds a bit Glass Animals a bit Foster the People - who by the way, just released their third album which I need to give more time and listens and will report back!), a bit of The Maccabees, but I love the rhythms, electronics, and this dude's falsetto. 

Vince Staples continues to carry rap in cool and unique directions with his new, critically acclaimed album. "Big Fish" is certainly the catchiest song (or maybe "BagBak") so that had to be included, but this is an album to really dissect, which "745" is a testament to with its trance-like bass line and starstruck piano. 

Pretty damn disappointed in Cousin Stizz's new album, but "Doubted Me" caught me on my first listen. 

I definitely need to listen to Palace more - this is the only song I've heard by them - because they have a really cool chill rhythmic sound, and I LOVE the lead singer's voice.

I wasn't big on Japanese Breakfast's first album despite the love she got on the interwebs, but her second album is a great album front to back. If you like these tracks, give it a try!

Onwards and upwards. 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 51

in

I’ve never really thought to count this before, but in the last six days, I’ve added 30 tracks from approximately 23 artists to my “Songs” list in Spotify! It’s amazing to think of how much new music we can be exposed to in such a short amount of time.

This is one huge reason to love Spotify. There are others to dislike (over saturation of genres, too much garbage to wade through, copycats (I mean listen to Desiigner - a jackass who paid $200 from some other jackass to buy the beat to “Panda” and then just made himself sound like Future and released it to the world. At which point people thought “this is a sweet new song by Future!” And now this 19 year-old is huge and getting co-opted by Kanye on HIS new album (which btw is also weird and something I’m not digging about Kanye - is it just me or is he jacking 2 Chainz flow on “That Part”) Wow, that was a rant. Sorry.

WHAT I WAS TRYING TO SAY was there’s a ton of great music this week. There’s no rap on this one since I think next week I’m going to have a rap-centered mixtape because Schoolboy Q’s new album is so sick. 

All these artists on this mixtape are random as hell and mainly people I’ve never heard of. The only exception is Carl Broemel, and if you know who this dude is, pat yourself on the back! If you don’t know him, he’s the seriously brilliant guitarist (and many other instruments as well - killer on the pedal steel guitar!) for My Morning Jacket. 

I’ve been lucky enough to see MMJ a couple times. The first time was at an amphitheater in South Florida that can hold thousands. I’ll never forget this show because MMJ sauntered out onto the stage, and Jim James was wearing his cape and had whatever instrument it is that looks like a Nintendo controller that he plays for songs from their Circuital album (as that was the album they were touring to support - which btw was an unreal time in their discography to see them live). 

They all finally made it out to the stage, and Jim James looked out to the crowd and looked a bit perplexed. There was maybe 500 people there. This was a band that was selling out Madison Square Garden and a huge draw. James looked over at Broemel, who shrugged his shoulders at James who in turned shrugged his shoulders, and off they went to play a TOTALLY kick ass show. (P.S. Everyone has shrugged their shoulders at one point in time at South Florida).

WHAT I WAS TRYING TO SAY was that I was able to see Carl Broemel up close, and the dude’s a magician. He effortlessly played memorable hooks and destroyed all sorts of solos when prompted. I think at the most recent show he was playing the saxophone! It’s cool to hear him do his own thing, and “Snowflake” is a layered and delicate track that shows his finer sides. 

And the one other band I know - Nice as Fuck  - is Jenny Lewis' new band (and I think there's  someone from Au Revoir Simone as well) which is pretty kick ass. "Angel" and another track not on here called "Runaway" really remind me of Lucious Jackson. Remember Naked Eye???

But I haven’t seen any of these other bands let alone heard of them - Hoops? Really? (Though I'm digging their Real Estate vibe). Though I guess I've heard of Japanese Breakfast since she’s getting a lot of love on the blogosphere. But I digress.

If you’re still here, thanks. Have a good week!