Monday Mixtape, Vol. 159

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s a good day for music.

Let’s start with the young lads from Dublin, Ireland, Fontaines D.C. I found about them through a random video I watched of their performance on Seattle’s famous radio station, KEXP.

They give off some DIIV vibes (certainly on the first track on the KEXP video for “The Lotts“), but there’s more to them than DIIV. They’re raw, and their debut album from last year spans all sorts sounds from ballad (“Roy’s Tune”) to party starter (“Boys in the Better Land”) to Irish diddy (“Dublin City Sky”).

Part of the performance was an interview, and it was interesting to hear them talk about their origins, which started with beers at pub discussing poetry. Fast forward to now, a band to watch, a sound I love.

Haim just released their third album. I enjoy it so far though there doesn’t seem to be a better song than the previously released (and bonus track) “Hallelujah.” I love the opener “Los Angeles,“ and I’ll be listening much more to see whether I get into it.

Twin Peaks is a band that started out years ago as a bunch of knuckleheads who sounded like they had just picked up their instruments as tools to drink more and get louder (that’s a compliment!), but they’ve really turned into a band that’s keeps improving and making better music. “What’s the Matter” is the most recent example.

I still don’t know what I think of Grimes’ new album. It’s good, and I don’t think I’ve given it the proper time, because if I did, I think I’d like it a lot more. I rediscovered “Delete Forever” as I listened to the album again recently, and there may be a few more to add in the coming weeks as I cycle through some more listens.

Finally, I have no idea who Israel Nash is, but he’s got some soul a la St. Paul and the Broken Bones and sound country feel a la Chris Stapleton while giving some Neil Young (who ALSO released a new album, which I hope to feature next week) vibes. That’s a pretty, pretty, good combo.

And that’s it people, enjoy your week!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 149

OMG This is two times in a row - I just deleted my post again. So frustrating.

The long and skinny is go see the Netflix documentary, Echo in the Canyon, a homage to the great artists who lived in Laurel Canyon during the mid-60s, including The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, the Mamas and Papas, and so many more.

I learned so much in this doc. I never knew David Crosby was in The Byrds, I didn’t know Neil Young and Stephen Stills were in Buffalo Springfield (and by the way, I’ve been listening to more Buffalo Springfield, they’re freaking awesome), and although I know Brian Wilson, the singer and songwriter of pretty much all Beach Boys songs, was always revered as a songwriter, I never appreciated the love and awe other musicians have of him. His genius was thought to be on a level no one could even come close to. They were comparing him to Mozart and Beethoven.

Jakob Dylan brings a bunch of current artists together to recreate and honor all these musicians and their favorite songs via both an album and a concert. Check the film out, it’s great!

As for the other songs on this week’s mixtape, it’s pretty much a mix of artists you’ve heard many times before. Twin Peaks did a cool cover of Wilco, DJ Shadow released a record of some great tracks with rappers, and after seeing Spider Man - Into the Spider-Verse, I had to include the catchy track from Swae Lee and Post Malone.

Enjoy!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 144

I got to see John Mayer last Monday at the Chase Center, the third concert ever there (Metallica was the first obviously), and despite the terrible seats - they were second to last row in the whole building and in the complete corner of the arena, we could barely see anything - the sound was phenomenal, and John Mayer straight shredded the guitar, AND his voice sounded the best I’ve ever heard it live

I’ve seen Mayer three times since he released one of my favorite live albums ever, Where the Light Is, and this performance was far away the best of the three and had some very cool similarities to his live album. (It didn’t hurt that he played for three hours either! There was no opener, Mayer played form 7:45 - 10:45, pretty awesome.)

If you notice on Where the Light Is, Mayer changes his vocal cadences (he sings in different rhythms than his cadences on the songs on his studio albums) on a number of lines in different songs, and he did that with a lot of his new material from his latest album, The Search for Everything. It’s those subtle changes I find interesting, ways to tweak things here and there VERY FEW artists do to their vocals when performing.

He also had these awesome segways into songs. For example, take “I Don’t Trust Myself” on the live album:

This intro up until 1:57 is a segway into what then becomes the album version of “I Don’t Trust Myself.” He did this with a ton of his new songs, and as a listener (or as a guitar player myself), you’re trying to find the key or the chord that this “intro” is in so you can identify the song he’s going to go into - sometimes Mayer (and his amazing band) completely surprised me as I had no idea where they were going, and then they smoothly segued into “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” or a handful of other songs. I would just sit back and go, “Wow.” Mind blown.

I was trying to provide some context to friends at this show with how amazing his guitar playing was, and one way I tried to explain his ability and the level of difficulty was in explaining all the ways he bends his strings to hit a perfect sound EVERY TIME. When you bend a guitar string, it makes the note either higher (bend string up) or lower (bend string down), and I said that imagine each string can be bent 1 inch, and there are 10 different notes you can hit as you bend (one each 0.1 of an inch bent up or down), he’s able to hit the same note, at say 0.6 inch of a bend up, OVER and OVER again, always knowing PRECISELY how much to bend the string. And in his solos in one show, he’s bending the strings hundred and hundreds of times, hitting the right notes every single time. No joke, I’ve listened to Where the Light Is hundreds of times, and I CANNOT hear him hit one wrong note on his guitar or his vocals.

It’s truly amazing, I think he’s the best guitarist alive (not including all the 1960s dudes still alive but not exactly in their prime, like Eric Clapton), I just don’t know who compares to him right now.

ANYWAYS, I put John Mayer’s newest song to start this week’s playlist, a song that has no room for solos, and is just a very mellow track that really grew on me. Can’t get enough of it now.

As for other great artists on the mix, check out Jay Som’s new album, it’s very good and definitely making my Top 25. I still need to give the solo album of Alabama Shakes’ lead singer, Brittany Howard, more time to marinate, but I like this track. And some more Ghostface Killah for you cuz the dude knows jazz.

Have a great week!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 64

Welcome to Monday Mixtape, Vol. 64! This week’s mixtape is mainly good ol’ fashioned rock and/or roll. 

Dave, a buddy of mine, provided me a playlist entitled, “What (LayersandSounds) Missed/Best of 2016” which was a compilation of really great tracks that I did not include on my Top 100 Songs of 2016. Now I will say that my Top 100 originally had something like 220 songs on it before I whittled it down, so it did include a some of his tracks - like tracks from Charles Bradley, Domo Genesis, Father John Misty, M83, and Michael Kiwanuka - but there were a TON of new ones to listen to. 

Needless to say, a number of these tracks on this week’s mixtape are from his list, so we should thank Dave for this one.

I also recently discovered Pinegrove because they were on a bunch of year end list for best album. They're one of those rock bands you feel like you could have been in - it's an accessible sound that I can wrap my head around.

I also hoping for a new Twin Peaks album. Their first album was super raw and messy, a blur of young kids just rippin’ through songs. Their second album had a little less charm, but these recent tracks have been great, so I’m hoping for something good to come from them. 

That’s all I got, have a great week all.

Playlist - Wait...Rock? Vol. 2

In my first playlist of this series, I worried that rock had died the day of Kurt Cobain's suicide. Fortunately, there's been a wave of new bands bringing rock back to the forefront. These bands continue to pop up and rock out.

Almost every band on this playlist has only released one album (and the Wavves/Cloud Nothings collaboration technically counts as their first album!), so it's primarily brand new stuff! 

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 13

I apologize for being MIA since Tuesday, but my Macbook died. I was traveling to DC as well, so I wasn't able to work on the blog! I'm sure you survived.

I heard a version of "Bros" by Wolf Alice - (**TANGENT ALERT ** which is a more raw-sounding version of the song than the one on their debut album. The track on their album sounds much more produced and less emotive. I can't stand when producers or record labels (or maybe the band thought they could record a better version) put their influence on a song and mess it up.

This is the original song:

This is the song on their album:

You be the judge. ** TANGENT OVER **) - a couple years ago which reminded me of The Zombies (remember "Linger," ahhhhhh such a beauty!) and Chvrches, but their subsequent releases have sounded edgier and even more distorted, a welcome evolution for me. The first track of this mixtape showcases this sound, and the buildup on "Giant Peach" would be a great opening track for their live shows while Ellie Roswell purrs and screams like Joan Jett (who, by the way, gave a kick ass speech at her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction).

The comparisons to Twin Peaks span decades and sounds. There's dirt in their amps, feedback in their mics, Mick Jagger in their vocals, and sixties and seventies in their sound. They also remind me of bands these days like Parquet Courts and Broncho, but these guys have a better roadmap for melody and songwriting. The whole album is worth a listen.

I compared Alpine to Trails and Ways a couple weeks ago in my mixtape because both have beautiful female vocals. Alpine is ahead of Trails and Ways in my book because of their upbeat and unique album from 2014 (my #15 Album of 2013!), A is for Alpine. If you like the two tracks on here from their new album, Yuck, definitely check out their last album before the new one!

That's it, have a good week!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 11

Good morning, Monday! Today is a short week for most, and hopefully all are planning on barbecuing and celebrating the 4th with a few beers with friends. So happy soon to be 4th of July.

The first track of this week's mixtape, "Alright," was performed by Kendrick Lamar as the opening act of last night's BET Music Awards. Lamar stood atop a graffiti-laced cop car and spit out a ferociously technical song on live TV. Listen to this song and the wordplay, speed, and execution of his delivery: "Now tell my momma I love her / but this what I like, Lord knows / 20 of 'em in my Chevy / tell 'em all to come and get me / Reapin' everything I sow / so my karma come / And heaven no preliminary hearing, so my record / I'm a motherfuckin' gangster in silence for the record." The whole track is the epitome of Lamar's ability to spit. Another interesting tidbit is the hook is sung by Pharrell. I thought the song was an interesting choice for Lamar to play to the primarily black audience as he sung along with Pharrell's backing vocals, "Do you hear me? Do you feel me? We gon' be alright."

Trails and Ways hails right over the bridge from me in Berkeley, California. If you like this song, I highly recommend their album. The female singer and some of the songs remind me a bit of another band, Alpine, who released a great album in 2014 and a new one this year as well (which I have yet to listen to!).

Gengahr - NO IDEA how to pronounce that - released their album recently, and "She's a Witch," stood out to me from all the other tracks. The only comparable I can think of is Of Montreal's "Bassem Sabry:"

Both weird songs, both oddly catchy. 

I wrote about Will Joseph Cook's EP already, but I am really digging this song and have been listening to it more than any other song over the past week, so it's gotta make the mixtape!

Twin Peaks sounds like they're recording their music in a garage while their friends jump around, drinking beers, and the band has to just keep getting louder because their friends progressively get drunker. It's raw, unpolished rock.

De Lux is is like the hideous menage trois music-child of LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, and Talking Heads. "Irish people hate me / Hippies don't love me." This is not all true, I'm cool with you guys!