Monday Mixtape, Vol. 180
It was a long week, so I will not be writing a lot here, but enjoy some tunes and your week!
It was a long week, so I will not be writing a lot here, but enjoy some tunes and your week!
Lots of great music blasting - or should I say serenading? This is an especially mellow mixtape - through the headphones this week. So many artists I love are releasing singles in anticipation of albums or fill albums in the past couple weeks: The Staves, Chris Stapleton, Mac Demarco, Jeff Tweedy, Local Natives, and more.
We’ll start with Omar Apollo, a crooner oozing sensuality and sultriness. You may get some Frank Ocean vibes from this guy who just released a new album that’s worth checking out if you like this jam that starts the mixtape.
Joji is a pop act but an original talent as he produced and arranged all the songs on his album Nectar. “Daylight” reminds me of Borns, one of my favorite pop artists in the past few years, and “Afterthought” has some James Blake influence. His album is all over the place in a good way.
Jeff Tweedy released a new solo album. God I love this guy. I still think Wilco is one of the most under appreciated bands alive right now (Spoon is probably up there too. You know who’s NOT up there? THE NATIONAL. The most OVERRATED band alive. Though I will admit I like High Violet but I’m so very tired of listening to their lead singer fumble through his songs like he’s on his 17th glass of red wine).
ANYWAYS, any music released by Jeff Tweedy is a must listen for me. I’ve included a couple of my current faves from his recent album, Love Is the King.
Another underrated band: The Staves. Their new single “Good Woman” is released in anticipation of their third album (of the same title) to be released in February 2021. Can’t wait!
My man Mac Demarco releasd a bunch of b-sides from his last album, and I have yet to listen to them all, but “Out Of My Head” got my head bobbing. He’s so awesome.
Finally, some nostalgic love for Local Natives. I may have mentioned I recently purchased their 10th Anniversary vinyl of their debut classic, Gorilla Manor, an album that has so much emotional heft for me, memories of a specific time in my life that Gorilla Manor WAS the soundtrack.
I’ve added one of my favorite tracks (though who am I kidding, I think I love every single song) which is a bit less known as it’s buried in the back of the album.
Enjoy the tunes.
A few very quick blurbs about this week’s music:
If you haven’t gotten into The Staves - and this track wets your whistle - please listen to their gorgeous album from 2014, If I Was
I’ve been following Dizzy Wright for a bit, and he seems to be making some serious traction as he’s showing up on tracks with a bunch of bigger rappers. This track, from his new EP, is instantaneously likable.
Nap Eyes is a little bit Belle & Sebastian (ok, a lot), and I just dug this track (and not as much the album)
I had Sunflower Bean on a previous mixtape, but this track rocks. I’m enjoying their debut album.
Static Selektah is basically DJ Premier 2.0. Premier is one of my favorite producers ever. Selektah’s beats are very 90s and all pretty great. This one has a very ATCQ-like rhythm. And one of my faves, Ab-Soul, is on it.
Bibio has always interested me. He has music to play in the morning or to wake up to after a nap. Chill.
Have a good week! I’m off to Denver and LA this week.
Albums make music permanent. Albums are the story to the chapters, the theme of so many thoughts. Albums are what make songs something more.
This year has provided so many albums - to the tune of 1,457 artists, 6,426 songs, and 100 thousand minutes of music that I’ve listened. And I listened to and loved nothing more than Tame Impala’s Currents.
As I wrote in my album review, Currents is a wonderfully freeing musical expression and acknowledgement of adaptation for the sake of Parker and no others. One of the coolest things I noted was that Currents is so different than its two top notch predecessors, yet it eclipses both.
"Yes, I'm changing," Kevin Parker sweetly serenades the critics, haters, and trolls, "Yes, I'm gone / Yes, I'm older / Yes, I'm moving on / And if you don't think it's a crime / you can come along with me / Life is moving / can't you see?"
My love for Natalie Prass is evident if you read this blog. It all started because of her debut album. I did not write a review, I just enjoyed the many, many instruments and Prass' vocals delicately absorbing the wind and strings to harmonize above it all.
It’s been the best year in rap in many many years. Six rappers made it onto my list, and three of them - Drake, Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar - in the top six! Each album was completely different.
Read MoreThe Staves, three sisters from England, recently released their second album, If I Was, a lush and folky rush of harmonies that (similar to their album cover) make me picture frosted cabins in the countryside. They're a mix between Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes (the two best bands in this type of genre), and it's no coincidence that Justin Vernon (the mastermind of Bon Iver) produced this gorgeous album.
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