Mixtape 41

I miss making you playlists for your disc drive, so I made you this. I know it’s not the same… but it’s the closest I can get. New mixtape monthly up on my spotify. Find me there at @jawnmo, and if you’re not on spotify, track list included here for you to burn to a cd and put in your 1996 jeep wrangler and turn up the volume. Have a nice weekend out there

about

This playlist features highlights from some of my favorite albums of the past year. The new Fontaines D.C. album, Romance, was nominated for Best Rock Album at this year’s Grammy awards, and I would have loved to see it win. To me, what is so unusual is that it sounds like a punk rock album but all the instruments are played with surprising restraint. The album features synth strings that sound so plastic and bad that they are awesome again. This ranks high in my best albums of the past year list.

Other great albums from this playlist that are worth looking into are The Vandalist by Noga Erez; Blu DeTiger’s All I Ever Want Is Everything; Lola Young’s This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway; Dominic Fikes’ 14 minutes; Charlie xcx’ brat; and, absolutely necessary to mention in spite of the fact that it did not come out last year, Rosalía’s Motomami. I also loved Magdalena Bay’s Imaginal Disk—a strange, addictive indie-pop album that deserves a full listen.

hidden gems

I <3 U SO - Cassius

This is a song I missed when it came out, but Jay-Z and Kanye didn’t - they sampled it on “Why I Love You,” off Watch The Throne. Cassius is a French duo helmed by two producers, Philippe Zdar and Hubert Boombass. Zdar produced Franz Ferdinand, Phoenix, and many others, and his Mix With the Masters was highly influential in my approach to music. The duo also produced albums for MC Solaar, collaborated with Ryan Tedder and Pharrell, and many others.

DAAAAAALÍ - Thomas Bangalter

Another song from an icon of the French Touch movement: this track comes from a film score by Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, and it’s as cinematic and hypnotic as you’d expect.

Sophia James’ “Circadian Rhythm”

This one’s got a fantastic melody and lyric, and some very 80s production. It’s a genre my sister would call “city bop pop” - good music to walk around the city to and feel like you’re the main character. I’m a big fan of the chord changes in the chorus here—unexpected in the best way.

Prisencolinensinaiciusol - Adriano Celentano

My favorite hidden gem here, though, is “Prisencolinensinaiciusol” by Italian Adriano Celentano, who, seeing the popularity of American rock & roll in Italy, decided to write a song in gibberish English to prove that Italians would like anything that sounded remotely American. The song is meant to sound like American English, but has no intelligible lyrics. The result? He had a hit. Andrew Khan, writing in The Guardian, later described the sound as reminiscent of Bob Dylan's output from the 1980s.

Tracklist

1. Death & Romance - Magdalena Bay

2. hi grace - Dominic Fike

3. Starbuster - Fontaines D.C.

4. Cut Me Down (feat. Mallrat) - Blu DeTiger

5. Circadian Rhythm - Sophia James

6. Dedicated To The One I Love - The Mamas & The Papas

7. Wish You Were Dead - Lola Young

8. LA COMBI VERSACE - Rosalía, Tokischa

9. I <3 U SO - Cassius

10. VIEWS - Noga Erez

11. DAAAAAALI - Thomas Bangalter

12. Sympathy is a knife - Charlie xcx

13. Movies - Alfie Templeman

14. Doing It To Death - The Kills

15. Prisencolinensinaiciusol - Adriano Celentano

16. Try- Dizzy Fae

17. CREEPIN - JEMS!, Elujay, J. Robb

18. Mistakes - Sharon Van Etten

19. Rainy - Paw Paw Rod

20. Sleeping With You - MOSSS