Mix – Month 2 (or 3)

So I haven’t done this in awhile. The good news is I’ll be able to do it a little more often once we’re given laptops at work. I don’t have a computer at the apartment, so I have to do this at the parent’s house. Yea, it’s weird.

No time for big explanations, but here’s the tracklist for the mix:

1. Panic! At The Disco “Mercenary”- After a few false starts, an odd second album and an overlooked third album, Panic’s time in the spotlight is probably done. So it seems like they’re reverting back to their original sound. This one, the first track off of the “Batman: Arkham City” soundtrack (game I can’t wait for), sounds like it could easily be on the second half of “Fever.” Very circus-y. Like it.

2. blink-182 “After Midnight”-I really like the new blink song, save for a couple of closing tracks. But I really love this song. I see it’s gaining popularity on the radio. So enjoy it while you still can.

3. Macklemore /f/ Ray Dalton “Can’t Hold Us”- Really cool hip-hop track. Dude on the hook kinda sounds like John Legend. Just listen, enjoy it and pass it around. Sounds like something that should be huge. Also, buy it if you really like it. It’s 99 cents on Amazon MP3.

4. N.O.R.E. /f/ Pharrell and Lil’ Wayne “Finito”- I heard this song on our local hip-hop station, better known as Drake and Lil’ Wayne radio, and thought “Man, how did I miss this song in the early 00s?” It sounds straight out of the era when N.O.R.E. was still a thing. But no, this was recently released. So I don’t know if there’s a huge demand for the old school Neptunes sound, but this is a cool song nonetheless. Also, it sounds like Lil’ Wayne recorded this in his closet.

5. Mark Ronson /f/ Pharrell, MDNR, and several other rappers I can’t be bothered to look up “Record Collection”- I didn’t really like “Record Collection,” despite liking Ronson’s other albums. I don’t know where this came from, but it bests almost everything on that. And two Pharrell features? Is this 2001?

6. J.Cole /f/ Jay-Z “Mr. Nice Watch”- It’s funny that despite having the #1 album in the country, a ton of people have no clue who J.Cole is. This isn’t his best song, but the beat is pretty sweet and, as usual lately, Jay-Z kinda phones in his verse. Still, J.Cole is a talented dude.

7. Joy Formidable “Whirring”- This song has been out for awhile, but I just caught on to it a month ago. I’m not a huge fan of songs that stretch over five minutes, especially when it’s meaningless jamming, but this is a scorcher. Good stuff.

DOWNLOAD THE MIX —–> HERE <—–

MIX – Week 2

Sorry to my fives of people that care to check this all two installments out. I moved to a new apartment, don’t have a computer, have been going on a few dates with a really nice girl and have been dealing with some neck issues. All that doesn’t leave me with much time to make a new mix, despite it taking me not more than 15 minutes to put together. Anyways, week two – “Crazy Stupid Summer Mix.” It bums me out that we’re already reaching mid-August. Summer’s always gone too fast, but I’ll save that depressing non-sense for the diary I keep under my pillow.

Track list:

1. Neon Trees “Sins of My Youth”- I’ve been digging Neon Trees for more than a year and really think they’re something special. A group with a good knack for a catchy tune as well as teetering on the whole 80s vibe without going full-Killers. Like any living human, no one needs to hear “Animal” again for the next five years and I hope it won’t be their only hit. This opening track on both the mix and their (excellent) album “Habits,” it’s thankfully a different sound from them and a good end of summer jam.

2. Chiddy Bang “Mind Your Manners”- The hip-hop duo Chiddy Bang is always great at taking an indie tune, messing around with it, chopping it up and turning into their own (I’m sure I’ll thrown on their take of MGMT’s “Kids” in a future mix). Credit producer Xaphoon Jones for having an ear for that while rapper Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege is serviceable and not annoying. They took the next track and made it their own.

3. Icona Pop “Manners”- I don’t know who Icona Pop is, haven’t looked them up or checked out any of their other work. I know that this song is a nice female pop tune that doesn’t skew towards aping either Adele or Lady Gaga and that’s refreshing.

4. The Wombats “Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)”- I have a soft spot for bands whose sound doesn’t drastically change, but have alot of fun and don’t really need to branch out. I place The Wombats in the same category as The Kooks and Travis in that they’re doing what they love, in this case making 80s-sounding rock music that’s not too far removed from that of Hot Hot Heat in their prime (if you don’t remember the latter band, well that’s okay.).

5. The Knux /f/ Kid Cudi “Run”- Kid Cudi has wanted to go the rock star route for some time (See: his first single off of “Man on the Moon 2″ – “Erase Me”). Besides that song, his alternative stuff sounds like garbage. Though he’s in this song a whole 20 seconds, it’s a good idea of where his rock music could go – catchy, upbeat, etc. Never checked out The Knux, but this seems like a good start.

6. Vonnegut /f/ Hoodie Allen, OnCue, SnL “Dammit”- I couldn’t really imagine blink-182′s “Dammit” turning into a decent hip-hop song, but then again, I also didn’t think of the piano neck tie. Good tune, save for the female singer who must have confused her feature for an “American Idol” audition (seriously, she makes me almost not want to put this on here).

7. Kanye/Jay-Z “Niggas in Paris”- “Watch the Throne” is everything to everybody with reasonable expectations – boisterous, loud, uneven and satisfying. Neither Kanye or Jay-Z can be said to be on top of their game on the album, but it’s a summer action-comedy to, say, West’s Oscar-caliber drama with “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” This is just fun, especially the breakdown that closes the song. And I don’t know why anyone would sample “Blades of Glory,” but then again, I didn’t invent the blade-less fan.

8. N.E.R.D. “Stay Together”- At this time almost 10 years ago, my friend Shawn and got to see N.E.R.D. at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I think it cost $10, which sucked at the time because other shows like Staind sold out super quick (I now realize that was a blessing in disguise), but you got to be put on TV for the 1,000 people that watched it to mock and you got to see how this whole thing went down.

Long story short, this song as well as the whole album of their debut “In Search Of” got played, save for “Am I High?” Still being one of my favorite albums, it was one of those rare times where you get to hear the whole thing live. Also, we got to meet the whole band and hang out with Pharrell, which was a big deal at the time (and still is, to a lesser extent) since he was hot off of a few hit singles and about to reach the apex of his and The Neptunes’ careers.

If you look throughout this video, especially at the end – Shawn and I throw up “The Shocker” at the end credits. Yes, we really were as bad ass as we thought. Fun fact: Sound issues cause the band to perform this song three full times. Pharrell was kind of agitated, but the crowd loved it.

So I close this mix with the Beatles-esque tune “Stay Together.” It’s super dirty, fun and just another solid end of summer entry. I’ll try and get something up next week, albeit smaller. Till next time…

Download the whole mix – HERE!

Note: If this link goes down, I’ll post a new one as soon as I can.

OK, so here we are….

There’s nothing that reminds me it’s summer more than sweltering, skin-peeling heat. That, and the Simpson’s “Summer of 4 Ft. 2.”

Anyways, I haven’t touched this blog since the last time I tried to update and apparently I need to re-register the name (assuming someone didn’t nab it, though I don’t know why they would.) and I’d like to update the look, but we’ll see if that happens.

Point being – I talk to my friend Shawn about music every time I come home. I always have mixes that I have skip around a lot on so he can hear how great my taste in music is. He suggested last year that start a mailing list (working on it) or something where I throw some tracks I’m listening to together so I can feel like I’ve made some contribution to society.

Almost a year-and-a-half later, here we are. Every Monday, I’ll put up six tracks of goodness, five of which are current stuff and one that is old. I know we have Spotify, Turntable.fm, Grooveshark, etc., but I like just throwing the files out there and seeing who likes it. They can take it around, enjoy it or delete it and tell me they’ll never listen to my suggestions ever again.

All of these tracks are purchased legally (unless given away) and I suggest if you like anything you hear, support the artist. Yes, they get a smidge of the dollar you spend on Amazon MP3 (which I prefer to iTunes), but any support is good, no matter how you slice it.

So this week’s mix is “Too Damn Hot Mix,” chronicling the heat wave most likely invading your life this week.

Track List:

1. Blink 182 “Up All Night” - I grew up listening and loving Blink. I like this song. It’s nothing great, but it’s good to hear.

2. Aquabats “Pool Party” - Travis Barker’s old band’s old song from 2000 about the one thing I wish I could have – a pool and/or party to celebrate it. Instead, I just dunk my face in ice water.

3. Cool Kids /f/ Mayer Hawthorne “Swimsuits” - Continuing the theme is the latest from the Illinois rap duo. Good song, cool jam.

4. Machinedrum “Let It (Edit Remix) - This song is featured on the Nike video for the extreme sports group “Lost In Ohio.” Nice, snappy hip-hop jam mixed with a little industrial sound. By the way, these guys seem like solid dudes and could use the recognition, be sure to click on this link and be sure to “Like” this video. It would mean alot to these hometown fellas.

5. Fabolous “You Be Killin’ Em (Overture Tempo Murderer Remix)” - I’ve never been a huge fan of F-A B-O L-O-U-S, but this song has two things going for it: A) Solid tune B) A really sweet long intro that segues well into the jam. Good stuff.

6. Tech N9ne /f/ A Bunch of Really Fast Rappers “Worldwide Choppers” – I don’t know what galvanized rappers like Busta Rhymes and Twista to hone their motormouth rap skills again. My guess is they’re trying to stand out in a young man’s game and this is clearly what they’re good at doing. Either way, this is 5 minutes of blisteringly-fast raps. Also, much like “Lost in Ohio” are hometown boys, this comes from my current state’s biggest rap – Tech N9ne. Good ol’ Kansas City.

DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE MIX HERE!