friends,
i've missed you all so much... i mean when was the last time we could all listen to music together? of course, since we're doing this mix exchange as a form of communication, i figured it would be a good time to bring back the blog from our radio show where we all used to hang out. some of the best times of my life were spent with all of you at 4am in a nondescript office on the fourth floor of that office building on campus.
not much has changed in my life the last few years, other than the fact that i now know how old i am... i officially can listen to house music and i don't instinctively turn it off immediately. in fact, there's some stuff i actually enjoy, which means i'm definitely expired on the shelf, culturally speaking.
i hope this finds you all well, in whatever office style setting you're in. we'll talk soon, i suppose.
what a wonderful moment for christian metalcore. i saw a live video of this band playing a song like this and i think the singer was screamo preaching during this part.
2. third eye blind - "10".
i am convinced that matt berry is one of the great songwriters of our generation. also, according to this article, stephan jenkins of third eye blind is a huge deafheaven fan. so there's that.
3. for tracy hyde - "繋ぐ日の青".
i read somewhere that this band makes albums that soundtrack imaginary films... this song definitely sounds like the song played during the opening credits of a really fucking wistful anime series.
4. seventeen years - "dolphin".
i don't know anything about this band (besides the fact that spirit goth puts out their records) but it definitely makes me want to listen to that second whirr album. there are way too many bedroom dream pop bands now but some of them are pretty good. are the guys in whirr q anon dudes?
5. ai aso - "date".
my current boss said this is "ketamine music"... whatever that means. this appears to be a live record, which makes me want to see this music being played live so badly. frequent collaborators that also play live with ai aso include the non-straight edge dude from sunn o))) and boris.
6. bill callahan & bonnie "prince" billy - "wish you were gay (feat. sean o'hagan)".
the singles series that these songs are from, spanning the quarantine, are all over the place and are so much more fun than anything in either artist's discographies. who doesn't love billie eilish?
7. young guv - "cold in the summer".
something tells me this dude will never top GUV I&II but i can't wait for the next single after this one.
8. madlib - "road of the lonely ones".
one of my most anticipated albums of 2021 is this one... four tet arranging hundreds of hours of madlib samples into a really cosmically sad hip hop album is like some sort of dream.
9. autolux - "plantlife".
the first autolux full length will always be their best, mostly because it sounds like someone put a late-era sonic youth album in the dryer and shrank it. also, remind me to tell you the one about the only time i ever felt starstruck and how involves a second degree starstruck moment with autolux. totally fucked up situation.
10. kero kero bonito - "rock n roll star".
kkb is legitimately one of my favorite bands of the last few years... this cover is proof that the original song is unstoppable. a tiny british japanese girl and two weirdoes with terrible synths and drum machines can't even ruin the glory of "rock n roll star". if you don't know anything about this band, just watch this fan's interpretation of their first single and tell me that this isn't one of the greatest bands out right now.
11. YACHT - "shangri-la".
this song came out in 2011 and i think it might have been the moment that los angeles peaked. the video for this song prominently features a bunch of stuff on sunset blvd in echo park that isn't there anymore, the scoops ice cream shop on melrose and heliotrope, surfing with bobby birdman and green juice. ever since then, increasing levels of carpetbaggery have made this a sadder place. i used to be cynical about restaurant servers being more worried about getting a ucb showcase than pouring a proper 5oz glass of wine without measuring against the example glass in the back. the desperation of it all seems so charming when measured against the endless sea of tech professionals who have since moved here and moved back again to wherever they came from. maybe after this is all over, los angeles will be a better place.
12. aretha franklin - "i say a little prayer".
the next time you don't know what to watch on tv, watch my best friend's wedding. julia roberts is such a great villain and you can watch legendary chef (and asshole) charlie trotter pretending to give a shit about what a food critic thinks. isn't burt bacharach just the best?? trotter said, "i will kill your whole family if you don't get this right." ha.
13. westside boogie - "outside (feat. joey bada$$)".
marshall mathers might be to blame for a lot of things and compton boogie not being, like, a big huge fucking deal is maybe one of them. if you put boogie's 2019 album everything's for sale out on TDE, boog would at least leapfrog the shit out of isaiah rashad.
14. the fucking champs - "don the atmosphere".
i mean, it's the fucking champs, man. what else is there to say? great band?
15. caroline polachek - "so hot you're hurting my feelings (a.g. cook remix)".
i don't really know anything about the band chairlift other than the fact that they made music that seemed like it was "indie rock" for attractive people or music that was written for a sync agent to sell to someone. on the other hand, this song rips the face off of any selena gomez song.
16. chris bell - "you and your sister (original version)".
another thing for you to watch (if you haven't already) is the big star documentary. it's on kanopy, which means you can probably watch it if you have a library card. library card holders are just the kind of responsible adults that will have their hearts broken by the realization that alex chilton sings backup on a love song that was probably about him and then the guy that wrote that love song died less than a year later in a car crash because he was trying to love jesus and narcotics more than dudes.
17. justus profitt - "painted in the sound".
at one point, i thought this dude was our generation's elliott smith. i am wrong, however what wouldn't you give to hear jon brion just get one stab at doing six songs with him?
18. the brian jonestown massacre - "tombes oubliées".
i know, you're probably like come on, but wait until the snare right before that dumb huge bass kicks in.Ariel pink is a pocket pussy - #fact
— anton newcombe (@antonnewcombe) January 7, 2021
19. westside gunn - "327 (feat. joey bada$$, tyler the creator, billie essco)".
2020 was definitely the year of griselda. i felt bad when the bodega boys said that they made escapist records for young white college kids and i didn't want to listen to them anymore, but boy do they put out compelling records. this song contains the best tyler verse i've heard in a long time.
20. freddie gibbs - "4 thangs (feat. big sean and hit-boy)".
the only person that had a better year than griselda was probably freddie gibbs. this came out as the little cherry on top of two years that included bandana and alfredo.
