Monday Mixtape, Vol. 93

Hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl last night. Quite a game. And I give commercial MVP to Tide, those were pretty great.

Got all sorts of genres for you this week. Drake released a track that broke Spotify's single day streaming record, Chvrches released their first single off their new album (which I like a lot!), Chromeo can do no wrong, Rapsody - who I first heard about because she was nominated Best Rap Album at the Grammys - with an old school-sounding hip-hop gem, Rhye with a release from his new album, and a couple other newer artists I've been digging. 

Anyways, happy Monday all, enjoy the week!  

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 92

Cozz for all the hip-hop heads out there. 

Kintaro and Anderson Paak for the hip-hop heads + soul lovers.   

Borns with a pop jolt. Check out his album!

Mild High Cub for the psych stoners out there. 

Ark Patrol for some EDM.

Luke Temple for the delicate songwriters in all of us. 

Jaws of Love to hear one of the Local Natives solo album, a beautiful track. 

Happy Monday! 

 

Top 25 Albums of 2017

I wish I could spend hours on this writeup as I use to, so I apologize for providing little substance to such substantial albums. I think my top 5 albums are the ones you really need to hear.

I've been raving about SZA's album all year, it's a must listen. Ctrl has so many rhythms and productions and flows that have no peer. This album sounds like no other.

Kendrick's DAMN is an exclamation point to a run of albums that already puts him up at the top of best rappers ever. His quality control and varied sounds has been such a joy to listen to, he's clearly the best rapper of his generation, and we'll see about ever once his career ends.

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Monday Mixtape, Vol. 91

Happy New Year to all! Given the crunch of time I was under, I haven't even gotten to post my Top 100 Songs and 25 Albums of 2017, so I will do that this week to supplement the mixtape. 

I got put on the The Palms by my buddy Dave and been listening to them for a week now. Digging the album! The lead singer reminds me a bit of Foster the People back when they made "Pumped Up Kicks." 

MGMT is back! And while I've had a love-hate relationship with their music, I'm really digging this song and hoping their album in 2018 is a winner. They have it in them. 

Yes, that is THE Michael Cera you're thinking of, George Michael Bluth and Superbad and all that other good stuff. And yes, he got Sharon Van Etten to get on a track with him. Love the song. 

 Enjoy the rest!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 90 - It's Christmas Time

As I am diligently working on my Top 100 Songs of 2017 and Top 25 Albums of 2017, I wanted to give the listeners a Christmas mixtape in the meantime! Who doesn't want to listen to A Charlie Brown Christmas and the Home Alone soundtrack?  

It's always been a little weird to get into the Christmas spirit here in California, particularly as my sister sends me clips of her and my nephew playing in the snow! Now THAT'S Christmas. Nonetheless, this music gets me in the spirit regardless of the coast, so I'm hoping it does the same for you!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 89

All sorts of random tracks on this week's playlist. The Preatures are back in the mix with my favorite track from a pretty lackluster sophomore album. Tame Impala released three B-sides from the Currents album, one of which is the instrumental "Powerlines." If you want to see how the brilliant Kevin Parker makes a track, check out the video on his website: https://www.tameimpala.com

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BANDS WITH NAMES IN ALL CAPS NOW???

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the remainder of tunes which give you a bit of a jumpstart to your week! Cheers.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 87

I tend to write in hyperbole, not by intention but usually by excitement. There's so much great music being made that the in the moment greatness feels more everlasting that it ultimately is. Call me a sucker for the moment, I suppose. 

So I've been thinking about this song I just heard, "Solar Pilgrim," by Twain. It is certainly one of my favorite songs this year, and the song that moved my heartstrings more than any other this year. But I think it's more than that. 

I call it this decade's "Hallelujah," probably the most revered and famous cover by the late great legend, Jeff Buckley (who was covering Leonard Cohen).

Twain's masterpiece is a song about the times, the corruption of money over the soul, and the few (if any) who will come and live with Twain (or whoever he sings as, possibly Jesus) in a life without the trappings of riches. "Soul or Pilgrim" seems to ask what our sacred place is? Is it money? Fame? Power? Or is it to grow our soul into something beautiful?

We all wander through life, many of us searching for terrible things that provide nothing to our souls (just read the papers, any day). But there are still those, like the person in this song, that try to keep their souls as the focus of the pilgrimage. He hopes there are others, but as he closes the song, he can't find any, and pleads for God to come take him away: 

Walk right by me
I’ll be glad to have you in my life a while
There’s always room for one more

Eat and Drink!
Lay down with the beauties of this earthly world
I think that they want to lay down with you

In the morning
Getting stronger, getting richer by the day
That’s the way that it was meant to be

They won’t tell you
But there was once a time when we all lived that way
That was before the money came raining down on us

Now: my soul is a pilgrim
And my body is barely keeping up
And one day, it won’t keep up any more

And on that day
I’ll go sailing through the clouds (crowds)
Through the stars
On a Solar Highway to my God

But till then
I’m still healthy
Sitting in the morning sun
And no one around to sit down next to me

They all know I’ve got that kind of soul  

They know and run away
'Cuz they all know that kind of soul don’t stay long

Oh my god, come take me
I just cannot wait another day
Oh my God! Come take me away!

Everything about this song is gorgeous. The twangy electric guitar that starts, then the lullaby-like trebled guitar that gives way to Twain's angelic voice. The crescendo that comes together as Twain asks God to take him away. This is one of my favorite songs I've heard in years. I'm truly blown away by it, and I hope it makes your week or even year! Even cooler the guy is from Franklin County, VA, only a stones throw from Virginia Tech.

In a few years, will I look back on this post, and think, "I really overdid it on this one. Me and my hyperbole." Or will this song forever float in my mind of all-timers, a track I'll remember decades later when I find another track to anoint? Hallelujah.

Time will tell.