Been a while since I sent something out here, other than my year-end list with admittedly took a lot out of me in terms of effort and needing a li’l break afterwards.
I whipped up a new mixtape for you, vaguely themed but starting off with some positivity from Knock Over City, whose 2020 horn-adorned EP “It’s Rad, Dude.” didn’t hit me until 2021. Circling back on their similarly titled 2018 LP “It’s Bad, Dude” gave me lots to dig into though.
Also featured are some tracks that I’ve hit upon after taking a real dive into Rate Your Music charts themed around lesser-known and lesser-celebrated 80s artists and albums. If you’re interested in that playlist, called “The 80s Best Kept Secrets” you can check it out here. Yesterday I spent the day back-to-backing The Darling Buds albums and I can’t recommend that enough.
Otherwise, I hope this finds you well. What have you been listening to? I have some thoughts for new features to debut here in 2021, but one goal is to try and foster further discussion and community. Please reach out and let me know if you find anything to your liking, have recommendations for me, etc. You can do that on Twitter, or comment here on Substack.
Enjoy.
Track listing:
Ghost Meat by Knock Over City off It's Bad, Dude
Part of Me by Squitch off Learn to Be Alone
Ghosts by Milk Crimes off Ghosts
Gone to Hell by Phillip Jon Taylor off Essential Maintenance for Human Happiness
Sad Sack by Kodakrome off Kodakrome
Okay Decay by Canshaker Pi off Okay Decay
WORLDS APART by Cactus World News off Urban Beaches
Joyrider by Petite League off Joyrider
Claudia Kishi by The Linda Lindas off Claudia Kishi
It Makes No Difference by The Darling Buds off Crawdaddy
It's On (Until It's Not) by Brat Curse off Brat Curse
Hopefulness To Hopelessness by Marine Research off Sounds From the Gulf Stream
Grounded, I Guess by Thingy off Morbid Curiosity
Goners by Made Violent off Wannabe
Lying to You by Radon off 28
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.