In all the hustle and bustle of last weeks midterms I didn’t get around to it but never fear, Heeerees your new Mixtape Monday!
This week features some stone cold and semi forgotten classics from the likes of; The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, and The Beatles. Served up with a side dish of relative unknowns; Jason Collett, Powderfinger, Ha Ha Tonka, Sara Jaffe, and Cults with some solid indie acts to top it off; Spoon, Dr. Dog, and Elliot Smith. Dig In. As always you can listen to the full track free below the description, and if you like it, just right click on the link above and download it. If you like what you hear, support the bands
This week’s Mixtape Monday mixes some great up and coming bands (Cotton Jones, Field Music, The Dutchess and the Duke, and Robert Francis to name a few) established new acts (The Morning Benders, Josh Rouse, Fleet Foxes) with some old (Elliot Smith) and even older classics (The Beatles, E.L.O., The Four Tops, The Impressions). As always downloads are encouraged to promote the artists and raise awareness of all the great music out there.
The great thing about these two remixes is that they don’t do too much, rather they add to the song ever so subtly, tinkering with the rhythm here, adding bits to the song there, it does what a remix should, which is highlight the original work, and avoids taking anything away from it. These two should be listened to in succession.
This band out of the Berkeley California area showed alot of promise on their debut with strong hooks and a dynamic singer, however, their latest LP Big Echopromises to be even better, and I promise you’ll be hooked from the start. Wouldn’t be out of place on a Vampire Weekend or Grizzly Bear album, lovely changes and fantastic dynamic energy.
Raw and uncompromising in its hooks, in a way the lyrics don’t make sense, like Jim Morrison on a drunken poem binge, but in a way thats the point. Love the 50’s styled sax solo at the end.
Not as cheeky as the previous but delivered in a cutesy tongue in cheek way, and catchy all the way through. Like a Paul McCartney demo sung by The Monkees.
With a lively hammer-tack piano backing and strong roots in the gospel soul that was Motown’s trademark this song is perfectly done and in their book, old is the new new.
Great piano hook and melody, as well as a nice voice, the track in terms of arrangement is daring, going from piano romp to Queen-ish bridges, just a song that wants to be repeated over and over.
Catchy from the start and featuring a piano hook that takes a page out of Miles Davis, This soul-styled band might have the energy of a young band, but they are refined beyond their years.
Starting with a simple guitar hook before building into a catchy song supported by a sublime boy-girl harmony. This is a band out of England I haven’t heard much of, and one I definitely want to hear of more.
I had never intended to find Robert Francis, but thats the beauty of music, there is so much to find out there, his voice comes across like a Johnny Cash/ Neil Young/ Bruce Springsteen love child with strong songwriting to match, and though it be a live recording, it sure don’t sound like one. Don’t miss out on this one.
More than just sharing the first word of their band name with the Beach Boys, Beach House has taken a page out of their book of melodic songcraft and the organ work on here is pure Brian Wilson, and while they don’t have the full five person harmonies, its hard not to think of the Beach Boys when the singer here reaches up into the higher register. Just a great song.
When those drums start, you almost can hear Billie Jean begin, but not to knock Fyfe, a drum beat is a drum beat and he makes it his own with an equally talented voice. And in any other hands the strings would seem a little 70’s/bombastic but the fact that he arranged the whole thing gives it a more heartfelt presence and the song is so gosh darn catchy and warm its hard not to listen to. A great use of melody.
An eccentric title for sure, but this band is firmly rooted in good old fashioned power pop and this comes off like a wiser cousin of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark.
The fact that a song this good was left off Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On just goes to show how strong the album was; the band is on full swing on this one and Marvin is holding it together with a strong vocal performance at the top.
One of the bands strongest suits is the atmosphere they create and the pitter patter guitar at the beginning sure sounds like rain if it were only more musical, with a cloudy organ backdrop and when the singer comes in, its a blissful moment, transported back to the 60’s you can swear you see San Francisco,and you swear you’re hearing Sonny (from Sonny and Cher) or Bob Dylan, and you’re happy.
Classic old style funk at a breakneck pace, with Curtis Mayfield influenced singing and harmonies, but the highlight here is just the great energy put forth by the band and its a real fun song.
Sporting simplistic arrangements and beautiful two-part harmonies, The Dutchess and the Duke ironically (and thankfully) don’t boast arrangements that live up to their name in terms of grandeur, but I’d be hard pressed to find a band that does the simple better.
This song isn’t what it seems when it starts with its electronic beat, it soon fades into a much more organic arrangement, and the vocal delivery and intensity matches the lyrics, he just can’t be tied down, he has to rise up and beat the odds, to say unbridled enthusiasm is one thing, though this is inspiring in a whole new way.
While the previous post Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga has more of a city at night atmosphere to it, G. Love’s The Hustle and Lemonade are pure and sweet summer efforts. The vibe going in and out,bright rock to organic, and funky to campfire acoustic like waves dancing to and fro with the shore. While his pal Jack Johnson is better known for his appreciation of the laid back style, G. Love is no slouch and while his varying styles have kept his albums interesting over the years he lacked cohesion until he joined forces with Brushfire Records, Johnson’s label. G. Love (or Garrett Dutton) has since expressed that he wasn’t a fan of the mainstream record labels, saying there was too much push for lead singles rather than time to focus on albums, at Brushfire he would have ample time to produce what he wanted with complete creative leeway. The Hustle would be his first effort for the label, dropping in 2004 with radio friendly Booty Call and Back of the Bus, the former an entertaining narrative, the latter a nonsensical song with a chorus that just wouldn’t keep out of your head. Lemonade would follow two years later, filled with guest appearances that only augment the album, rather than harm its integrity, both are perfect for summer, and a little warm weather music is just what we need right now.
Astronaut is one hell of a ride, an updated blue romp, you’d be hard pressed to find any song by Led Zeppelin or the Who that matches the sheer intensity of the drumming on this one. G. Love and his boys had something to prove and their energy on this one is fantastic.
This acoustic based, 70’s styled tune is a nice change of pace to the album, the chord changes are perfect, the arrangement is lively and upbeat and the guitar is fantastic.
G. Love may not be the best rapper, but he’s quite a natural songwriter, so when he strips back his rapping persona it’s quite a pleasure, and he’s a beautiful acoustic guitar player.
G. Love is back to his upbeat funky romp style on this one, and let me give you a hint, he’s not talking about sitting on a boat with a fishing rod. Nice guitar and organ work on this one as well as a very catchy hook (no pun intended).
In terms of atmosphere this is probably the most laid back track on the album, reverbed hand drumming and some great acoustic guitar work along with a double-tracked vocal.
G. Love has a habit of ending all of his albums with just him alone with his acoustic guitar, and often its the most endearing on the album, its just a perfect late afternoon song, when the sun’s going down and the sky is beginning to get dark.
A nice easy groove of a song that again features great instrumentation and production, the addition of a viola is a nice touch along with the guitars organ bass and drums. Love the Ray Charles styled organ solo 3/4 the way through.
One of my favorite songs on the album with some great Clavinet and piano flourishes along with a nice chorus (pretty much the same as Jack and Diane), and a nice funky arrangement.
This song features Blackalicious as guest rappers and it’s a great match of musical styles, almost Gorillaz-esque in how it plays out with a more organic focus, with organ, clavinet, and harmonica helping with the arrangement.
This song features G. Love with his longtime friend Jasper, a rapper who judging by this record should be well known. The organic sample is absolutely on fire, with a bouncing bass line and circular guitar licks and a nice back beat.
You can almost feel the heat of a long hot summers day listening to this song. Great production and guest appearances by Ben Harper and Marc Broussard. A nice slow burner that wouldn’t be out of place in Beck’s catalogue. Great harmonies throughout too.
Featuring pretty much the same words as The Hustle on the album previous, whats great is the instrumental arrangement and overall production. The circular guitar line, the solid drumming funky back beat, the swelling buildup of the music and the nicely placed backing harmonies.
My favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs ever, starting with a mellow upright bass intro, the song opens up into an acoustic duet between Tristan Prettyman and G. Love whose voices match perfectly as well as their different vocal styles. A great production mix of hand drumming and standard drumming with nice string additions and warmly recorded acoustic and electric guitars. Just a song you can put on repeat for days.
One of those, I just want to spend my whole day at the beach kind of songs, great harmony between Jack Johnson and G. Love too and a nice bluesy warm organic production.
The Art of the Mixtape 