3M - Dragonflies – MixTape Studios

In case you’re wondering, the future of the cover styles will be all the ladies from the movies that I had crushes on when I was in junior high. Phoebe wins this round. This tape also marks the start of summer –unofficially, as it were. The temperatures are only going to get warmer from here on out.

I’m turning 34 in a few days. At this point, it’s just another year gone by, but in 4 more years, the panic is going to start setting in. I can see it already…

I have to talk about this for a second: Daft Punk. The new song. It’s good. But not THAT good. I’m convinced they didn’t produce it. It doesn’t sound like anything they’ve done before, and I mean that in a bad way. It’s dense, unbalanced, and completely without dynamic range. If you’ve spent any significant time listening to Daft Punk’s production work, the bass never sounds this muddy, the guitar never sounds this prominent, the kit always sounds far crispier, and at the very least, they have some sense of how a song should start and finish; this one fails that test spectacularly. It’s a little bland. There, I’ve said it. It’s bland. Take it for what it’s worth; I’m sure it’s not going to stop anyone from enjoying it. But if you’re curious about what I mean, put on their album “Discovery”, track to “Voyager”, and pay close attention. If you’re hoping to see it on a mixtape as some kind of validation that it is in fact a worthy track, you’re going to come up short.

Blurred Lines (feat. T.I. & Pharrell) – Robin Thicke | Some modern artists have figured out how to get away with making material that manages to be both highly derivative (like for instance, this track’s obvious nod to Marvin Gaye’s Got To Give It Up) AND worth listening to. For those that have found success in this approach, I hate myself for digging your shit.
A tout a l’heure – Bibio | This track feels so much like late-teen summertime freedom, it hurts. Hurts.
On & On (feat. George Maple) – Snakehips | Every time I make a new mixtape, I run across an artist that I have a hard time deciding which single track I should include on the mixtape from the two or three that I’m listening to at the time. Occasionally, I lose that battle, and they all end up on one mixtape, if not spread out over the next two or more. This is just such an occasion.
Show Me – Touch Sensitive | I hope I’ve got this right. Title first, then artist name. I’ll be embarrassed if in this case, I’ve got it the other way around.
Over and Over – Hot Chip | This one is from 2006, but I can’t stop listening to it –loudly– in my car.
Every Little Thing (feat. Irfane & Teki Latex) (Plastic Plates Remix) – Para One | You know ’em, you love ’em. That’s right, it’s another Plastic Plates remix. Don’t fight it, you’ll only end up embarrassing yourself.
Together – The xx | As you might know, the soundtrack to The Great Gatsby has been slowly leaking out onto the internets like a pinhole in a water balloon. This is one of those that got away.
I Don’t Care – Margaret Glaspy | I ripped this from the YouTube video because I was impressed with the performance. It’s impromptu, lo-fi, and fragile in ways that only a 500-year old paper crane can relate to.
A Dancing Shell – Wild Nothing | If memory serves… actually it doesn’t. This came from, I know not where, but it’s fantastic.
Days With U (Le Nonsense Remix) – Snakehips | Snakehips #2. Shut up, you know you like it.
Jezebel (Finnebassen og Hansebassen Edit) – Sade | Older track with a proper Swedish edit. It fit so nice, miracle max said I could have it.