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.
