Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me once again as guest curator is my
good friend DT Carroll, host of the YouTube program
Space Castle. DT, welcome back, man. Thanks,
man. You make me sound so professional. It's
awesome. Well, it's blast off time, so why wouldn't
it be? It's blast off time. So if you don't get
that throwback reference, go check out episode
32, the Ultimate 2000's Garage Rock playlist.
Tonight, we are not talking about Garage Rock.
We are creating a time capsule of the year 2023.
We're going to wrap it up with a nice little
musical bow, if you will. If you had to describe
2023 in one word, musically, what would you choose?
Can it be two words hyphenated? I guess I'll
allow it. I'm going to say comeback because we
had so many classic bands drop brand new music
that just blew everybody's minds. And we're going
to talk about some of those bands tonight, obviously.
But this is just a really interesting, like perfect
storm year where so many bands came back and
dropped a brand new album almost out of nowhere
or a brand new track almost out of nowhere. And
everybody was just freaking out. And it's just
been super cool to see all those bands that I've
loved growing up drop. new music for the first
time in decades, some of them, and just rock
out like they haven't missed a beat. Just super
cool. So you use comeback. I am going to use
the word cyclical. Ooh. And as we go through
the night, at least with the songs I have in
my bank, I feel like the word cyclical works
because music comes and goes in trends. And there's
always little nods and throwbacks to the past
while continuing to move forward in that circle.
And I think a lot of the songs I'm talking about
tonight kind of follow that path. I think so,
too. I think a lot of my songs are the same way.
And I love that as like an end of the year wrap
up, too. Like it's got a really good like. Let's
close things out and start the next year off
on the right foot type of thing. I like that,
Brian. This is why they pay you the big bucks.
So, yeah, if you just give me a second to move
my piles of money off to the side, we can get
started with this episode. Tonight, as I mentioned
at the top of the show, DT and I are curating
a Songs of 2023 playlist, and we're going to
use the old cassette deck approach. DT is my
special guest. We'll begin side A with his first
song choice, and then I'll add a song that I
feel best follows up that choice. We'll then
flip -flop choosing songs until we've mapped
out 10 songs for side A. We'll then give our
mixtape a proverbial flip and we'll map outside.
Be only this time. I'll kick things off with
DT choosing second. Our overall goal for the
episode is to craft the best songs of 2023 playlist
possible through only 20 songs. And at the end
of the show, you can take our conversation to
the next level by visiting the episode page at
myweeklymixtape .com to give our final mixtape
a listen via the embedded playlist. And if you
like what you're hearing on the show, you can
help me out by either telling a friend. leaving
the show a five -star review wherever you're
tuning in, or by becoming a Patreon mixtaper
at patreon .com forward slash myweeklymixtape.
And since this episode is a time capsule for
the year, I asked the Patreon mixtapers to chime
in with both their song and album of the year,
and they did not disappoint. Cactus Pete's songs
of the year included Old Dominion's Memory Lane,
Blink -182's One More Time, Extreme's Other Side
of the Rainbow, and Mammoth WVH's Take a Bow,
which also gets his guitar solo nod of the year,
Me Too, as, spoiler alert, that one is in my
bank for tonight. Cactus Pete's albums of the
year are Old Dominion's Memory Lane and Extreme's
Six, which was a close second. Jason Donchess
said two ladies stole the show this year. The
first, another one I have in my bank, is the
incredible Grace Potter, with Jason saying that
her Mother Road record is amazing and Good Time
as a single should be song of the year. The concept
of the record and wild variation of styles is
amazing. But with that, he said his record of
the year is Jax Hallows' Only the Wild Ones,
saying that she's the new Grace Potter and the
up -and -coming star that people need to hear.
She could rip on guitar, rip in all capitals,
and her song crafting and vocals are amazing.
She could play full band or as a looper and still
bring amazing energy. Amazing artist and amazing
record. So that's one to check out. And if it
gets Jason Donchus' stamp of approval, it's something
I am most certainly going to be checking out
as well. Sean Faust chimed in with three songs.
The Beatles' Now and Then. The Rolling Stones
with Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder, Sweet Sounds
of Heaven. And something I recently talked about
on episode 44 with singer -songwriter Kay Hanley
from Letters to Cleo. And that is Keep Us Connected,
Subspace Rhapsody from Star Trek's Strange New
Worlds. I love Sean Faust. That guy rules. Yeah,
Sean's been a great friend of mine for decades.
And then obviously talking about Kay Hanley before,
she is such a lovely human being. Even if you
think you're not familiar with Letters to Cleo,
go back and give that episode a listen because
I am sure you will be very surprised by some
of the things they have been included with, including
10 Things I Hate About You, The Craft, Josie
and the Pussycats, as we mentioned, Star Trek,
Strange New Worlds, Doc McStuffins, yes, from
Disney, so much more. So please go check that
one out. Dude, I am jealous you got to talk to
Kay and like Frank Hannon from Tesla. I feel
like... Every time I blink, like your show is
getting bigger with bigger and bigger guests.
And then I come on and it's like, oh, what the
hell am I doing here? I feel like one of these
days, it's going to be like James Hetfield from
Metallica one week. And then you're going to
be like, oh, and the next week, here's my buddy
DT, who's got 400 subs on YouTube. Hey, that's
400 more subs than I have on YouTube, man, as
far as I'm concerned. That's why we're an audio
-only show here at My Weekly Mixtape. I would
get negative subs if I started doing videos,
but I digress. Oh, I disagree. That goatee is
glorious, sir. Philip Bergman chimed in with
two Song of the Year choices, both being from
the Paranoid Styles' new album, Print the Legend
and I Love the Sound of Structured Class. Seeker
chimed in from Australia with Ghost's Jesus He
Knows Me. And last but not least, Mally Hart
chimed in with Bully's All I Do or Blanchelle's
Salad for Song of the Year and Bully's Lucky
for You or Superchunk's Mistakes for Album of
the Year. So there's a lot to digest there. Yeah,
that's an eclectic collection. And that's what's
awesome about the mixtapers, man. They all have
such great taste in music. And it's also varied.
Oh, I'm not going to lie. There are several of
the songs I just rattled off that are sitting
in my bank. Yeah. Waiting to see if they'll work
in this mix tonight. Nice. Well, with all of
that musical food for thought out in the atmosphere,
I'm officially pressing the record button on
our mixtape and opening this 2023 time capsule,
if you will. So, DT, it truly is blast off time
now. I can't even get through it. What song are
you diving into to kick off side A? There is
only one track that can kick off the best songs
of 2023, in my opinion, and it is Bogus Hoperande.
by The Hives from The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons.
Holy shit. I waited over a decade for this album.
They are my favorite band. It did not disappoint.
It is probably the best hard rock song of the
decade, if not this year. I love everything about
it. I think the song is just phenomenal. Hearing
Nicholas Arsene just shred on guitar again and
Howlin' Paley Almquist just screaming out vocals
and... The whole album just feels like, and this
song in particular, just feels like a culmination
of all of their young, dumb punk stuff, all the
way up to all the stuff they did with Pharrell
and whatnot as their producer. And everything
just culminates into this awesome, tight, matured
package of The Hive's sound. And right from the
get -go, that opening open E string is just,
oh my God. And then the song kicks into gear.
And I'm not going to lie. This is a goofy garage
rock song. And I teared up the first time I heard
it because it was just like... It's been over
a decade and you guys did not disappoint me.
You came back and you haven't missed a beat.
It's wonderful. The whole album is fantastic.
I can't stress enough how much you need to listen
to this album and then go back and listen to
their entire catalog. They're just wonderful.
I love the Hives. And they are known as one of
the best live bands ever. And I keep missing
them every time they come on tour and I keep
kicking myself. So I'm playing this song over
and over again with my eyes closed, like pretending
I'm like front row in a Hives concert. So yeah,
Boga Saperande from the Hives from their first
album in a decade. That's my track one. I have
to give you a hat tip, man. One, that was definitely
in my bank of songs. So scooped right from the
jump here. I also think it's kind of poetic because
your first episode was 2000s Garage Rock. Yeah.
So now you could butt both playlists up and musically
they're going to flow from 2000s Garage Rock
into the songs of 2023 seamlessly. So bravo for
that. And I think we can all agree. that the
world is a better place when it includes new
music from the hives. Absolutely. And I feel
like this is one of those songs that kind of
came out of nowhere. There wasn't this massive
buildup all year. Like the hives are coming back.
It just kind of came out and everybody kind of
exploded with, Oh my God, they're back. Obviously
people that are. massive hives fans probably
knew that things were in the works leading up
to it but i feel like the splash that they made
was kind of out of nowhere for this one so i've
been a huge fan for like 20 years now and no
actually like they were like hey we're gonna
do an album and i was like what everybody was
like what are you talking about and they're like
here here's the single and everybody's like holy
shit okay like when are you guys gonna tour like
right now like okay great here we go like all
right cool thanks hives Yeah, no, it was almost
like without warning. And I was texting everybody
I know. I was on the internet talking about it.
It came out of nowhere because it's been over
a decade. There was talk about them deciding
to hang it up and just be like a touring band
or just break up altogether. And then they dropped
this track and they dropped this album and it's
just reignited everything. It's like 2001 all
over again. And what I love about it is this
song sits on my personal top tunes playlist.
And it's always followed up by another song.
So I'm just going to do that and follow it up
here with that song. Another song that's sitting
in my bank for songs of the year, because to
follow up the energy that bogus operandi has,
it's a tough energy to match because let's face
it. 2023 is not the year of garage bands. That
was back in the two thousands. There are some
elements of it in music, but it's not as prevalent
as it was in its heyday. Of course. However,
an album came out early in the year where one
of the singles incorporates a little bit of that
garage rock sound, only they're mixing it with
a touch of 70s arena rock. Think Cheap Trick,
Thin Lizzy, those type of bands here. And I'm
going to go with White Reaper from their Asking
for a Ride album. And I'm going to go with Fog
Machine. The drive, the energy, the guitar work
in the beginning, you almost feel like I said,
it's that cheap trick. You got the double guitars.
It feels really 70s. But as you move through
the song, you hear that garage rock bounce. And
it's a very slick garage rock. And it's mixed
with a little bit of... Elements of glam and
punk and then they mix throughout the album some
pop elements and everything else Just an all
-around unique band that I think more people
need to know about so following up the hives
I'm going with White Reaper fog machine I love
the pick. I love the band. This is Why We're
Friends. Fantastic track. And I love the fact
that you made the correlation between garage
rock and also like 70s and 80s guitar rock, like
anthemic rock. Because I remember listening to
the album and then going online and having a
discussion about it. I remember seeing somebody
online early in the year. And one of the comments
was, this is the most The Boys Are Back In Town
-ass song I've ever heard in a good way. And
I was like, after I stopped laughing, I was like...
Yeah, like it is absolutely like in the same
vein of like Thin Lizzy meets like modern garage
rock. And like the bass riff throughout the song
is like totally within the same vein of Fell
Line It. Like it's a perfect marriage of anthemic
old garage rock and like Chicago style rock and
roll from that era with the stuff that's come
out today. I love the pick. I love the band.
Excellent track. Everybody should be listening
to White Reaper. They're fantastic. They absolutely
are. And I it's funny because they've been around
for a long time. Yeah. So I'm talking about them
like they're new. Make no mistake. I know that
I have their earlier albums. And this is one
of those albums that. Some longtime fans feel
like it's deviating a little bit from what they're
used to. But White Reaper kind of takes liberties
and takes chances because I have a couple of
their songs on some of my pop playlists that
work extremely well from their earlier albums.
It just has that feel to it. I'm not saying it's
pop like you would say something from the Barbie
soundtrack, but it's definitely got a little
bit of a pop sensibility to it. Yeah, I mean,
I wouldn't necessarily call it pop rock, but
it's definitely like you said, it's got those
those pop elements. But so does Cheap Trick.
so does Thin Lizzy. Of course. So yeah, I mean,
they're very much in that same family of music,
and they do it very, very well. They're awesome.
Well, let's follow it up now with track three.
Okay, so I'm going to kind of go in sort of the
same vein. My next track is very poppy. It's
reminiscent of bands like Sparks. If you're familiar
with Sparks, if you're not, you should be. Go
and watch that documentary by Edgar Wright. It's
phenomenal. Then go listen to their entire discography.
But this band is from Britain, and they just
broke out pretty much this year. And they dropped
a couple of singles. They haven't even released
an LP or an EP yet. And they're already topping
the charts and blowing up. It's insane. It's
a quintet of really, really talented women. The
band is called The Last Dinner Party. The single
is called Sinner. And it is just an absolute
banger. And it starts out with this keyboard
sequence that sounds like Sparks. And then it
launches into a rock track that's, to me, reminiscent
of Foo Fighters and OK Go and bands like that,
where it's very poppy. But there's a lot of...
nuance and stuff going on in the background too.
There's multiple vocal tracks, multiple guitar
players. You don't know who's singing at what
time because they blend their vocals so well.
The song is just really, really cool. And they've
blown up. And they have to be on one of the best
of 2023 song lists because they've blown up so
quickly and so massively that there was backlash
when they became really popular all of a sudden.
People are like, this band is like a studio plant.
They're manufactured. They're like the Spice
Girls. And they're not. The music is just that
freaking good. That they blew up and everybody,
myself included, latched onto it. And yeah, I
mean, for somebody to have that sort of like
meteoric rise and just take over the airwaves
with only two songs out there, like you got to
give them some credit for that. It's insane.
And also like all the people who are calling
them plants, I hate to say it, but like all the
most popular bands in the world are like studio
plants in some level. There's marketing and there's
like people behind those bands, like making them
popular, trying to sell their music to you. So
like don't knock musicians for making money,
getting popular. That's what the goal is. Yeah.
The Last Dinner Party. It's a quirky track. It's
weird. It's awesome. It's cool. Sinner. It's
a great track. Check it out right now. Just stop
listening to Brian's show. It's all downhill
from here. I'm kidding. But yeah, go check out
those two singles from The Last Dinner Party.
And then go watch their YouTube videos because
their live performances are insane. Yeah, I liken
this track to a vibe. When I listen to this song,
it is a vibe that is very unique in and of itself.
And I love the way the song gets your head kind
of bobbing, but it's not a rocker where your
head is bobbing like headbanging. It's like you're
kind of grooving to this song because there's
this groove throughout. But I love the fact that
you found a way because there's a classic sound
to the lead guitar that runs throughout this
track. So coming out of the dual guitars of White
Reaper, I still feel like there's this classic
rock guitar sound that's woven throughout Sinner.
And I'll say right now, we are recording this
in 2023. Prelude to Ecstasy, the band's first
album, drops in 2024. I'll be very curious to
see if Sinner. is one of those songs that ends
up on 2023's list and 2024's list because of
the loophole that the album dropped in that year.
Could be. Because this is one of those bands
that looks like 2024 is set to be their year.
Yeah, they've already exploded in 2023. And once
that EP drops, I think they're going to be one
of the biggest bands in the world. Well, following
that up, man. Sorry to make it hard on you. No,
I mean, look, that's what this is all about.
I'm sure you got something in the chamber, though.
I'm ready. Yeah. The vibe of this song is tough
to come out of without a massive pivot in some
way. But I think I have. All right. Well, there's
certain artists I have to talk about tonight.
But if I were to put one of these two artists
in alone in and of itself, the pivot would be
so strong. That it would blow us off the rails
right by track four. So what I'm going to do
is use this artist who I'm a huge fan of. And
that artist is Chris Stapleton. But I'm going
to use him in a guest spot. I'm going to kill
two birds with one stone. Oh. And I'm going to
go with Alana Springsteen from her 20 -something
album. Love it. Featuring Chris Stapleton, Ghost
in My Guitar. Sinner has two elements that really
stand out to me from The Last Dinner Party, and
that's Abigail Morris's voice, obviously combined
with all the others in the harmonies they're
doing, and that Emily Roberts Lee guitar riff.
So sliding out of that, the haunting guitar that
Chris Stapleton puts out in Ghost of My Guitar,
I think flows very seamlessly. And again, I'm
sticking with this female voice, but. When you
hear Alana Springsteen, which I also want to
point out, little sidebar, not related to Bruce.
Just want to put that there. Yeah. Oh, and also
there's going to be a Bruce Springsteen episode
of My Weekly Mixtape coming your way in just
a few short weeks. At this point, I wouldn't
be shocked if Bruce isn't on that episode with
you. You're blowing up, sir. You are my dinner
party of podcasts. Well, the thing I love about
Alana Springsteen is her voice is very smooth.
And I think it shares the same qualities as Abigail
from The Last Dinner Party. Now, it is a country
song, but it's more of that country pop. So it
blurs the lines and Chris's guitar, which is
just freaking haunting. Yeah. And her vocals
are just so sultry over this kind of. dark and
reverb heavy riff. It works so, so well. I mean,
look, Chris Stapleton's higher album is one of
my top albums of the year. I really wanted to
include a song from him, but when I heard the
last dinner party, I said, you know what? I get
to talk about how much I love that album because
higher is an amazing album. but kill two birds
with one stone and continue the vibe we've got
going here by including Alana Springsteen. So
Alana Springsteen featuring Chris Stapleton,
Ghost in My Guitar. I love the fact that you
used the word haunting to describe the song because
that's exactly the word I would choose too. Like
there's obviously it's a song about anger and
resentment and that carries through without being
like overbearing and kitschy. Like it's just
a... dirge it's haunting and angry and it sticks
with you and it's lovely that whole album is
great like alana springsteen is just knocking
it out of the park i am not the hugest fan of
pop country but she is doing all the right things
and there's another track on that album called
tennessee is mine that i absolutely love and
she's just killing it so more of that more alana
springsteen more of that type of pop country
because she's just she's nailing it she's nailing
that vibe if we're going with that whole that
whole vibe motif through the through the playlist
she's Yeah. I mean, look a year ago before my
weekly mixtape launched, I was singing the praises
for Lainey Wilson and she just won entertainer
of the year at the CMAs. I think next year is
the year of Alana Springsteen. If she continues
down the road, she did with this one. I agree
completely. Yeah. All right. Well, we're back
to you now for track five. You want to keep the
vibe going? Let's, let's keep the vibe going.
Here's one of the most vibey bands ever. And
one of the bands we actually talked about on
the Ultimate Playlist for 2000s Garage Bands,
it is The Kills. And the track is 103 off of
God Games. And it's Alison Moss Hart and Jamie
Hintz. And if you're not familiar, they've been
around since the 2000s. They're a very, very
minimalist garage rock band where it's oftentimes
just Alison Moss Hart just screaming over Jamie
Hintz's very, very minimalist guitar riffs with
oftentimes just a drum machine behind the two
of them. And this album, God Games, is probably
the most complex album they've ever put out.
It's got a lot more going on in terms of just
levels and depth and things going on as opposed
to just guitar, drums, and Alison Mosshart's
vocals. And this song, again, is haunting, even
though it's kind of got almost like an upbeat
feel to it. 103, and it's... just got this chord
progression that just runs through the whole
thing that just it's all minor chords but it
feels like like major chords in the way it's
played and it's just delightful it's just got
that edge that kills are known for it's just
really great to see them continuously evolving
as musicians but also sticking to their roots
like you watch their live shows when they're
performing for this album and it's it's like
it's still 2001 like i said before with the hives
where they're putting out evolved and more mature
and more nuanced and more layered music, but
it's still very much in the same vein and same
heart of what they've been doing for 20 years.
And the entire album is fantastic. It is a vibe.
It's not going to be for everybody because it's
a little bit slow and it's just like a kickback
and maybe do some graphic design or something
work while you're listening to it. But 103, I
think, is the pinnacle of the album. Yeah, it's
the kills. 103 off the album God Games. Go check
it out right now. It's fantastic. I'll just say
this. 103... And I never thought I would use
this word when describing the kills is a euphoric
track. Yeah. The music is almost hypnotic in
the way it's played. If you listen to that with
a set of headphones, it almost puts you in a
trance during the verses. But then that chorus
kicks in and you've got that stanky lead guitar
that she's singing over and it just brings it
to this extra level. It's like if you took My
Bloody Valentine and you just stripped it to
a bass level without all the synth and the reverb
and all that stuff. Or like I said, it's just
dirty fucking guitars. Alison Mosshart just crooning
with some levels of sound and design behind them.
And like I said, it's their most layered and
complex and less minimalist album I think they've
ever done. But it still feels minimalist because
it all just ties together seamlessly. It's gorgeous.
Well, this is another example of that word cyclical
I used at the beginning because the song was
put out in 2023, but there's almost in this song,
a throwback to some of the seventies sounds,
maybe some of the early eighties too, but not
really so much in the new wave vein. I'm thinking
more of the weird kind of psychedelic classic
rock sounds that I do hear woven underneath this
really. indie i don't want to use the word grunge
because when i say grunge people automatically
think 90s grunge but there's a grungy sound to
the kills it's not overproduced it's very minimalistic
and that was something that a lot of the psychedelic
rock bands in the 70s used and coming out of
that i want to bounce off of it with a throwback
feel and I know because I posted this album cover
and all of a sudden I got equal amounts of praise
and equal amounts of venom. So look, I'm all
here for it, but I'm team praise when it comes
to Greta Van Fleet. Okay. Yeah. And I'm going
to go off their Starcatcher album with the track
The Falling Sky. I get it. People say, oh, Greta
Van Fleet is just a Led Zeppelin ripoff. I'm
not 100 % on board with that because for me,
I feel like Josh Kiska's voice is more in tune
with Geddy Lee from Rush than Robert Plant. I
hear more of the Geddy Lee movements in his voice.
Now, musically, I'm not saying that Greta Van
Fleet sounds like Rush. If they did, it would
be Rush's first album, which was that blues rock
that was very much in tune with Led Zeppelin
sound. Do they rip Led Zeppelin off? Yes and
no. But I mean, in the world of rock, in the
world of music in general, who isn't ripping
somebody else off? in some shape or form one
thing about this track and one thing about this
album is that they have i think evolved away
from being what could almost be considered a
carbon copy or a direct lift of led zeppelin
i think the vocals i think the guitars i think
the rhythm i think the harmonies i think just
the writing of the songs in general have evolved
from the point of being of just dismissing them
as a led zeppelin ripoff band anymore i think
the falling sky is a great track i think like
you said the lead singer's vocals They're moving
away from the Robert Plant style, and it's becoming
more of his own. And I think he's going to have
to do that as he gets older, because you can't
sustain that type of singing all the time. You're
going to blow out your vocal cords. But I think
they've evolved past that. In the past, I've
not always been a fan, but I do really like this
album. I think it's the best thing they've put
out. And if they continue on this trend, I can
see myself being a fan at some point. But are
they a ripoff? I don't think they're a rip off.
I think they're very heavily influenced. It got
their foot in the door. It got them noticed.
Let's be fucking honest. Like Led Zeppelin ripped
people off to left and right. Like they've had
lawsuits. They've had court cases where people
have sued them and won for stealing their music.
So who's the bad guy? I mean, I don't know. It's
a slippery slope. Yeah. My take on this, to be
honest, is who cares? Really? Because at the
end of the day, there are people that are out
there saying, my God, I wish we had. New music
from Led Zeppelin. My God, I wish they would
have gotten back together in 2007 after the O2
Arena show and gone on tour so I could have seen
them maybe done one last album. If a band wants
to carry that torch for that style of music,
I'm all for it. Sure. Because I can't get new
Led Zeppelin music. But I enjoy hearing kids
that are much younger than me. embracing bands
that were way before their generation and using
it to move forward. Did they lean a little too
heavy handed on it at the beginning? Maybe, but
Daniel Wagner's drums in this song, the falling
sky, he's got a drum groove in it where I is
the first time I actually said to myself, wow,
they're pulling away from the John Bonham stomp.
Exactly. Yeah. And they're starting to come into
their own now. And I think. It's always going
to be over their heads that they're a clone of
Led Zeppelin. But this groove, I think, is the
starting point to bring the band out of the,
Star Wars pun alert, Clone Wars, if you will.
But Greta Van Fleet, The Falling Sky. I dig it.
I like it a lot. Good pick. Following up Greta
Van Fleet, how are you going to come out of that?
I'm going to go right back to the vibe. So this
next pick is by Jenny Lewis. It's off her new
album, Joy All. And the song is called Psychos,
which is the first track on the album. And it
just sets the tone for this. I've been a huge
Jenny Lewis fan for a long time. I was a big
fan of Rilo Kylie. I just love their indie vibe.
It was her. It was the dude from Salute Your
Shorts on guitar. It was just tailor -made for
me as a kid who grew up loving indie music and
grew up in the 90s. You know, I have had a crush
on Jenny Lewis since I saw her in The Wizard
with Fred Savage when I was like eight years
old. But this new album is it's actually I should
have followed up The Ghost in My Guitar by Lana
Springsteen with this track because Jenny goes
in much more of like a folky country sort of
vein in this album. And it's really lovely. And
she's able to, as such a versatile artist, be
able to jump from genre to genre. And here she
just goes like full on like twangy slag guitar,
like banjo, like country ballads. And it's super
fun. But she also does it with like, she's always
had this like this delightful sense of pretentiousness,
which I mean, all rock musicians have that sort
of pretentiousness to them. But she wears it
on her sleeve and it becomes an accessory for
like her persona and her music. And I don't mean
that in a bad way at all, because it's delightful.
It's snarky. It's satirical almost. There's a
song on the album that's called A Truck and a
Puppy. This is where she's going with this album.
And you could say that she's almost making fun
of country music, but she's not because she's
just embracing it, but embracing it in that pretentious
way that she always does. And if you see the
album art, it looks like something from an ABBA
poster, like a concert poster or something. She's
just all over the place with the aesthetics,
but it all ties together beautifully and wonderfully.
And this song, Psychos, it's biting. And there's
some lines in there that just make you go like,
oh, damn. What's going on, Jenny? But that's
the way she's always been. She's been somebody
who's not afraid to just bear it all and just
tell you to go fuck yourself if you don't like
what she's doing. But yeah, no, this album is
a blast. Again, it's a vibe. There's not a whole
lot besides just some twangy, fun country and
her just having a blast with that aesthetic.
But it's really dope. It's cool. It's awesome.
Jenny Lewis, Psychos, off the album Joy All.
Well, I'm going to challenge you on the country
thing in just a moment. But before I do that,
I do want to say bravo on the wizard bringing
that up. Oh, dude, love that movie, man. I mean,
to me, that was the greatest 90 -minute commercial
for a video game I'd ever seen in my entire life.
My buddy and I left the theater going, we need
Super Mario Brothers 3 right now. Like, oh, my
God, our minds were blown. yeah that's all the
movie basically was was a 90 minute setup for
oh it's fantastic yeah when like the little brother
gets to the competition like the game playing
competition in california and like he wins and
the thing that always kills me is like fred savage
is in the crowd he's like use the warp whistle
the warp whistle it's like dude nobody's ever
fucking heard of this game before how do you
know about the warp whistle already man like
nintendo ease up well the thing i'm gonna challenge
you on though You hear country in this, and yes,
that is woven throughout the whole album. But
I heard something a little different when I listened
to Psychos for the first time. Okay. And again,
cyclical. I hear a song that's rooted in early
Fleetwood Mac rumors era vibes. 100%, yeah. She's
got that Stevie Nicks vibe for sure going on,
yeah. Yeah, and I mean that with the utmost respect,
and I'm complimenting when I say that. It has
that rumors vibe, and that's not easy to accomplish.
You need separation between the instruments.
You need room to breathe musically for the vocals.
And to me... You can take Dreams from Fleetwood
Mac, Ravenous from Nicky Bloom and the Gramblers,
and Psychos from Jenny Lewis, play them back
to back to back, and there's a vibe going. Totally.
Again, 1977, 2023. It's cyclical, and this song
fits under that as well. Yeah. Dude, awesome
call. Awesome pull on that one. You're absolutely
right. It's definitely got that Fleetwood Mac
vibe to it for sure. Well, coming out of that,
I'm going to... continue right down that road
of kind of a throwback sound a throwback vibe
and this is another one of my favorite albums
of the year it came out very very recently as
for when we're recording this in the end of november
and that is the struts pretty vicious album love
this album and i love the struts awesome struts
i fell in love with them the first time i heard
could have been me absolutely As soon as I heard
the song once, I'm like, who is this band? This
is unique. This is amazing. I need to get everything
they've ever done. By that point, they only had
an EP in the US. And I've been a fan ever since.
Thankfully, the Foo Fighters have brought them
out to really help them get a name for themselves.
They're getting picked up a lot right now. And
I feel like Pretty Fish, this is the album that's
going to make them explode, at least in the US.
They're already very popular in the UK. But the
song I'm going to go with. As much as I love
the opening track, Too Good at Raising Hell,
that is just a Rolling Stones -esque bravado
stomper that has just such a dirty groove to
it. It's so catchy. It's got horns in it. It
really feels like a modern Rolling Stones. But
I'm actually going to go with track two on the
album, which is the album's title track, Pretty
Vicious. Oh, okay. The only critique I have of
the song is that it is track two on the album.
I feel like if this was a vinyl record, this
should be the song that closes outside A because
it just builds and builds and builds. And Luke
Spiller shows off his vocal range throughout
the whole track because you've got this verse
chugging along and he's just singing in this
really deep, low register. And the musical backdrop
that they're playing behind it almost feels like
it'd be something that you would see on the early
days of MTV. Yeah. It just has that, I don't
want to say 80s feel because it's not very new
wavy, but there's definitely elements in it.
And the guitar with a lot of the reverb on it
again, just like Chris Stapleton did on Ghost
of My Guitar. It's that same kind of sound. I
would almost liken it to something you would
hear on the Miami Vice soundtrack almost. But
anyway. As the song continuously builds, Luke's
voice goes into the stratosphere, and then this
jam kicks in at the end, and you've got a killer
guitar solo and an amazing piano solo, and the
song is over five minutes long. And every time
it ends... It took me probably a good hour to
get past that track because I just kept going
back. I was like, I'm literally spellbound by
this song. And I had to listen to it at least
five or six times in a row before I can continue
on with the rest of the album. And that speaks
volumes to me. So the struts pretty vicious.
Yeah. So, I mean, it's a track that if it wasn't
the struts and it being five minutes along, other
bands probably couldn't get away with the same
thing just for what the song is. But it's such
a vibe and it's such a jam and they pull it off
so beautifully because they're one of those bands
that's theatrical. I think they're very much
in the same vein, or at least they were when
they first kind of hit it big. Very much the
same vein of like Queen, where you've got, you
know, the lead singer strutting around with this
incredible vocal range, just the powerful guitars
in the same vein of like Brian May and whatnot.
And okay, let me throw this at you. And the whole
cyclical thing in terms of like music coming
full circle and whatnot. This track reminds me
a lot of Chris Isaac from the late 80s, early
90s. Oh, yeah. Do you get that? I get to feel
that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. I mean, they're
a band that's kind of riffed on the whole Queen
thing. And now with this track, they're riffing
on that really sexy kind of vibey sort of love
ballad song. We're not talking about being in
love. We're talking about the other thing. You
know what I mean? But yeah, I get a total Chris
Isaac vibe from this song. And I just love the
struts. I love the fact that they're able to
just kind of cherry pick. Really cool things
about rock and roll music, but also give it their
own twist and make it their own. That's another
band I'm dying to see live because I've seen
live footage and whatnot, and they just look
like they're having so much fun. They look like
they just love music. They love their fans. And
that's a band that, like you said, I hope they
make it big this year. I hope this is the year
that they just explode in the scene in the States
because people are not going to know what hits
them when that band makes it big. They're wonderful.
Yeah, we better see them soon because I feel
like that's a definite. I just don't see any
universe where a band that's this talented and
has this much charisma and this much uniqueness
is going to go unnoticed. Yeah. And I would rather
see them in a smaller venue now while I still
have the chance. So that way I could say, Hey,
I saw them back when, because I really feel like
this album is going to be what launches them.
Just like I've said several times tonight. Yeah.
All right. We each have one track left for side
a, so we're back to you now for track nine. All
right. I'm going to keep the vibe going once
again. Vibe, vibe, cyclical vibes. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. The whole thing is cyclical in the fact
that it's cyclical. This is a different vibe
though. It's more upbeat, a little more poppy,
a little bit more kind of makes you want to put
on some running shoes and go for a jog or just
go outside and enjoy like the autumn air and
just be outside. Just take a look at the world
around you. It's a track by an artist named Bakar
from the UK. He hit it big in 2019 with a hit
single called Hell and Back. And you've no doubt
heard it on the radio, even if you don't recognize
the name. If you wouldn't listen to it on Spotify
right now, you'd know the track. He's still kind
of underground. Hasn't really struck it big,
even though he's on the charts and getting regular
rotation on the pop radio stations. The track
is To Open My Heart, and it's the track that
closes out his latest release this year called
Halo. He's been a mainstay in pop music very
quietly since 2019 when he first released that
track, Hell and Back. His music just feels good.
It's a vibe. It's a combination of pop and hip
hop with some sort of like ballady sort of elements.
And he's just got a very sort of casual way of
singing and writing his lyrics. And it's something
that you would like to simplify it probably in
terms that it doesn't deserve to be simplified
into. It's like something you'd hear on the Spider
-Verse soundtrack. Something like Miles Morales
would jam to when he's doing some art and whatnot.
It's just got that sort of chill hop vibe to
it where it's just cool and hip and sweet and
melancholy and sad and happy at the same time.
And he's just got this incredible way of conveying
the emotion of the song with... simple lyrics
and simple beats and melodies, but it just envelops
you. And it just, it feels like a warm hug every
time you listen to this album. It's just wonderful.
So Bakar track is to open my heart off of his
album. Halo. Amazing song. I like that. You said
pop with a hip hop feel. I kind of add in. r
&b to that even though it's not necessarily a
don't please don't get me wrong it's not an r
&b track but there's definitely hints of r &b
in some of the vocal delivery oh yeah and in
some of the elements that are sprinkled throughout
this track this is a very unique and original
sound yeah and i love it for that yeah it's hard
to just say this sounds like blank like when
we say greta van fleet you could just tell somebody
oh they kind of sound like led zeppelin and when
you play it somebody listening can go can hear
that but with bakar you can't just say well he
sounds like and when you're drawing a blank that
means you have an original artist yeah if you
have to paint a picture of what this person's
music's like by naming more than three or four
different sounds you're getting uniqueness and
you get that here but what i'm gonna do now to
close out the side because this song is a little
slower it's a little bit more it's bringing the
tempo down a little bit I'm going to bring the
tempo down, but the energy up. God, if you told
me in January that I'd be closing out side A
of my 2023 songs of the year mix with the Rolling
Stones, I would not have believed you. But holy
shit. And I don't curse often on this show. The
first time I heard the Rolling Stones with Lady
Gaga and Stevie Wonder's Sweet Sounds of Heaven,
I played it six times in a row. And then I went
online and said, It's 2023 and the Rolling Stones
just released their best song they've recorded
since the 1970s. And I will stand by that. Yeah.
And it is so powerful. I am not the most massive
Lady Gaga fan. I respect her. I think she's very
talented. This song made me a fan of hers now.
Like I'm in. She sings rock. The way her and
Mick Jagger, their voices were bouncing off each
other. There's so much power. Then you add in
Stevie Wonder on the keys. And oh my God, it's
just amazing. And the song ends around the five
minute mark for the radio cut. I'm not including
the radio cut. Screw the radio cut. Absolutely.
We're putting in the full seven plus minutes
because at the end, it's just a two minute jam.
Yeah. Mick Jagger is 80 years old, 80 years old,
and he sounds frigging amazing. Keith Richards,
who's going to outlive all of us, is playing.
I mean, I'm not going to go out and say it's
the best guitar solo he's ever done, but oh,
my God, this song is just incredible. And look.
I give a little bit of flack to Andrew Watt as
a producer. I was not the biggest fan of what
he did with Ozzy's albums. I felt they were a
little too slick, a little too much auto -tune,
a little too overproduced. He let the Rolling
Stones be the Rolling Stones. When I first heard
that he was producing this album, I was really
expecting a Ozzy Osbourne treatment to the Rolling
Stones. Lots of auto -tune, lots of slick production.
He didn't. And to me, this is Andrew Watt's best
album in terms of production. And easily, it's
the Rolling Stones' best album since I'd go as
far back as Tattoo You, maybe before that. So
closing out Side A, Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga,
and Stevie Wonder, Sweet Sounds of Heaven. I
love the pick. And like you said, I love the
production of this album because the Rolling
Stones are such a unique sound that trying to
auto -tune and clean them up just wouldn't work
because it would just... It would rob the music
of its essential essence, basically. Like you'd
be taken away what makes them unique and interesting
and just fucking awesome. You'd be sanitizing
down and dirty rock and roll and you don't do
that. Yeah. It would be like quantizing John
Bonham's drums or something. You'd be taking
away the heart and soul of it. John Bonham didn't
play perfectly on time and it makes Led Zeppelin
as a result. It's wonderful. Mick Jagger being
80 years old and still hitting those notes, but
singing in this... He's got that signature raspiness,
that sassiness, that edginess, that rawness to
his voice. And trying to clean that up would
be awful. He would rob it of what's made him
an enduring and... beloved musician for all these
decades. I love the track. And I know you said
you're not a huge Lady Gaga fan, but even if
you're not a huge Lady Gaga fan, you have to
listen to this track and not only respect the
talent and the range on display, but the fact
that she never oversteps the boundaries of the
duet. Yes. Lady Gaga in Sweet Sounds of Heaven
is what Mary Clayton was in Gimme Shelter. Yeah.
And she did some music with Tony Bennett too.
And she... Whatever you think of her, whatever
you want to say about her, she has a reverence
for the big artists that came before her. And
you can understand it from her. And she could
have easily overpowered Mick Jagger if she wanted
to, and everybody would have still thought it
was fine. Mick probably wouldn't because he's
got an ego the size of the sun. It's Mick Jagger
and Lady Gaga singing this duet, and they're
equals throughout the entire track. Nobody is
singing over the other. No one's overpowering.
Nobody's trying to steal the spotlight. It's
just this perfect fusion of these two vocal styles
that just come together, almost polar opposites
in terms of what they're known for doing, but
they come together so beautifully. And Gaga is
just masterful in knowing when to extend herself
and put her talent on display and when to reel
back because... It's Mick Jagger's song. Like
you don't, you don't F with that. So it's a great
track and it's Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga on
the Rolling Stones. Like that's like magical.
That's insane. Like that shouldn't be happening
in 2023, but it is. It's fantastic. And I agree.
It's a fun album. This is by far the best track
on the album, I think. And that's not to sort
of discount any other tracks on the album. And
the fact that we got a brand new Rolling Stones
album, that's really, really good. And the fact
that it's better than some of the music they
were putting out back then is just. It's cyclical,
I guess. I don't know. Everything comes full
circle. It's like I said before, earlier in the
episode that so many of these bands in 2023 have
chosen this year to make a comeback of sorts
and just blow everybody's mind to be like, oh
yeah, these guys are still really, really fucking
good at what they're doing and what they've done
for decades. And they're not slowing down at
any point. They're still going to keep tearing
it up for as long as they're on this earth. Yeah,
I think that's when the Rolling Stones would...
Say they're not a band anymore is when they're
just not here anymore. Exactly. No, they're going
to drop dead on stage. I hope not. I hope not
too. But I feel like those guys are going to
be on stage performing until they take their
last breath. It's just who they are. It's in
their blood. And yeah, it's just incredible to
me that Mick Jagger still sounds as incredible
as he did 20, 30 years ago. Keith Richards could
take the easy route and be like, oh, I'm 125
years old. I'm just going to play some simple
guitars. He's still shredding. Like, it's just
it's insane. I love the pick. I love the album.
Perfect song to wrap this this first side up.
It's just fantastic. Well, that mixtapers conclude
side A of our songs of 2023 mixtape, which consists
of the Hives bogus operandi. White Reaper's Fog
Machine, The Last Dinner Party's Sinner, Alana
Springsteen with Chris Stapleton's Ghost in My
Guitar, The Kills 103, Greta Van Fleet's The
Falling Sky, Jenny Lewis's Psychos, The Struts'
Pretty Vicious, Picard's To Open My Heart, and
The Rolling Stones with Lady Gaga and Stevie
Wonder, Sweet Sounds of Heaven. Head over to
MyWeeklyMixTape .com to hear all the songs we've
discussed in this mix through the playlist embedded
on the episode. page. Now, before we flip our
proverbial mixtape over to Side B, I don't know
about you, DT, but there were certain songs that
came out in 2022 that I most certainly rocked
all throughout 2023, the holdovers in quote marks,
if you will. So if you had to choose a pair of
songs, a cassette single, if you will, of 2022
songs that you rocked throughout the year, which
two would they be? I've got one obvious pick
and one pick that probably nobody else has ever
heard of that's going to throw everybody for
a loop. So the first of which I desperately wanted
to include this on my list. But I mean, if we
were having this episode recorded in 2022, it'd
be top of it for me. It was SZA. The album was
SOS, just an incredible hip hop album. The track
I would have chosen would have been Kill Bill.
Just a gorgeous track and just a melancholy,
just sort of... Again, I want to go back to the
notion of listening to the song and be like,
damn, Cesar, are you okay? Whatever you're going
through has transferred itself onto this amazing
track. But can I buy you a beer and let you cry
on my shoulder for a little while? What's going
on? The song is just, it's a knife to the heart.
It's gorgeous. It's haunting. It's beautiful.
It's angry and sad at the same time. Obviously,
it's got some maybe trigger warning content.
But if you're the one person on the planet who
hasn't heard Kill Bill by SZA on the SOS album,
check it out immediately. It's just, it's fantastic.
I keep saying fantastic. It's cyclical. We're
turning this episode into a drinking game. Jeez.
And your other one. The second track is when
you and I talked about garage rock bands in that
sort of episode, there was one band that I kind
of talked about. Just briefly, because obviously
they weren't from the 2000s. But there's a band
in Japan called Sakura and Zenshin that I really,
really love. And it's five kids from, I think,
the Tokyo area. And they're just tearing it up.
I think they may have broken up since they released
this album, which is really sad. But very much
just in the vein of loud punk rock, garage rock
sounds. They put an album in 2022 called Odd
Royo. And the track is Good Morning. And it just
shreds. Like if you go back and listen to their
entire discography, it's just these five kids
just making noise in like the most beautiful,
harmonious and like logical way, but like contained
chaos. And if you watch videos of their live
performances on YouTube, the lead singer is climbing
up onto like the subwoofers, the speakers and
jumping off them or like climbing on the guitar
shoulders while he's playing a solo, all kinds
of ridiculous stuff. But the track is a banger.
The whole album is great. The band is super high
energy. I wish they would make it big so they
can tour in the United States so I could be the
one person who would go and see them. But yeah,
again, like those two picks for me are SZA's
Kill Bill off of SOS and Zachary Stenson's Good
Morning off of Odd Royal. All right. Well, for
my 2022 holdovers, I have one extremely upbeat
song and one that's a little more introspective.
Okay. Side A of that, the upbeat song I am going
with from his self -titled album, Youngblood
and the Funeral. Nice. This song to me, when
I first heard it, I did not know that Youngblood
had gone kind of into the pop realm because I
knew him for hip hop and other stuff he had done
in the past. And when I listened to the song,
I'm saying, what is this Billy Idol 80s sounding
tune? This is incredible. Yeah. And when I looked
it up and saw it was Youngblood. I was all in
on it. And I swear to you, I've probably listened
to this song just as much as any other 2023 song
throughout this whole year. And it's still just
as fresh. Again, I apologize. Cyclical. It sounds
like that 80s rock. It has that bravado about
it. But it's so damn catchy. You are literally
singing the chorus along with him by the second
time you hear the chorus, even if it's the first
time you've heard the song. Yeah. Just unbelievable.
And the second one's a little bit more serious,
but I'm going to go off their Planet Zero album
and I'm going to go with Shinedown and A Symptom
of Being Human. I had the chance to take my wife
and kids to see Shinedown, Papa Roach and Spirit
Box at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
And when Shinedown played this song, I swear
to you. I don't know why, but the person in front
of me just started cutting onions and holding
them right under my eyes because a symptom of
being human is a song that kind of normalizes
mental health. Yeah. You're not alone in this.
Nobody is. And it's just such a powerful moment.
They had all these white lights up around. the
stage and they asked everybody to turn their
phones on. So it was just this glowing sea of
white lights and my hair on my arms and goosebumps
are starting as I'm telling the story. And I
just sat there listening to the lyrics and taking
it in. And I was overwhelmed by it. And I liked
planet zero and that song meant something to
me. But once I saw it live, I've listened to
that song more times. In the last half of 2023
than I did all of 2022, the song has to be recognized.
I love the fact that they're normalizing the
anxiety and depression that people deal with
because there's so many things going on. People
don't ever take a moment to see what maybe somebody
else is going through when they're just struggling.
And a song like this really tries to, again,
normalize it. And to me, that's a powerful thing.
There's so many. songs out there with negative
messages and bad messages. I'm happy to see that
people are embracing songs like this that embrace
the fact that this is a struggle that a lot of
us deal with. So it's a very powerful tune, obviously
a lot slower in comparison to Youngblood, but
I think a nice yin and yang for the 2022 holdovers
for me. Yeah, absolutely. I love both picks.
Yeah. Shinedown rules. They kick ass, man. And
I remember seeing you post the videos and stuff,
that concert on your social media and me like
banging along to it. Like it was awesome. Yeah.
They were so great. And then Papa Roach opening
up Papa Roach's 2022 album. Ego trip is my holdover
album for 2023. Nice. I've listened to that album
probably a dozen times this year. It's not old
from start to finish. I can't wait to see what
they come up with next, but moving on to side
B because we're going long already. We're going
to jump right into it. Here's a band that if
you told me in 2023, they would release a song
with the same energy as 1983's kill them all.
Oh, I would have laughed in your face. And Metallica
did that on 72 seasons with the track Lux Eterna.
It has the manic hit the lights energy. And to
be honest, the reason I'm putting it here. Given
what the first side looked like, if I don't start
with this, there's no way I'm going to find a
place for this song. But honestly, this is Metallica
at their thrash best. Metallica is in their 60s.
James Hetfield is 60. If you told me that the
Metallica I grew up with, Master of Puppets,
Ride the Lightning, Black Album, would still
be putting out quality music in 2023, it's kind
of hard to believe because those guys were going
110 miles an hour through the 80s. happy they're
still doing it yeah and yes metallica doesn't
put out albums often their last album was 2016's
hardwired to self -destruct going by that i can't
talk about metallica in a song of the year compilation
until 2030 so i want to do it now so metallica
luxie turner from 72 seasons God bless James
Hetfield's vocal coach because the guy still
sounds like he's 21 years old and screaming.
Right? You listen to this track and you hear
him scream out, Luxie, turn up! And it's like,
how old are you? What? How are you still doing
this? It's insane. I saw them at Giant Stadium
this summer and they did it live and he absolutely
crushed it. I'm sure he did. Yeah. I've seen
hundreds and maybe thousands of live videos of
Metallica on the internet. And the man always
sounds flawless. Like, it's just incredible.
But Lux Eterna is just an awesome track. I love
the pick to kick off this side of the mixtape.
I'm hard pressed to match that now. Thanks, man.
I was going to say that's a tough energy to unless
you've got some metal picks in your bucket. I
know I'm kind of throwing a curveball here for
you. So I'm going to match the energy in a weird
way. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. So it's not
like a hard rock, like crazy speed metal, like
Lexi Turner type track, but it is a little manic,
a little crazy, a little wild. And my pick is
Perfect by JPEG Mafia and Danny Brown. Wow. It's
a rap track. It's a hip hop track. And obviously
it's a weird thing to pivot from like a classic,
you know, Metallica, you know, speed metal type
of thing. But if we're keeping with that vibe
and that energy and that manicness. That's what
I'm going with. So if you're not familiar, JPEG
Mafia, he was a kid who started out way back
in the day as basically a homegrown producer.
He was making his own mixes and beats and whatnot.
And he was trying to get out there and get noticed.
And he would play his stuff for people and people
just didn't get it. So he's like, okay, well,
F it. I'll be a rapper. And it turns out he's
a really fucking good rapper too. So he's been
quietly a part of the experimental hip hop scene
for a long time, like two decades now. He's been
a producer and all kinds of stuff. And he's been
somebody that I've looked up to and really respected
and listened to for a lot of years. And he's
really kind of come into his own and really sort
of hit sort of kind of sort of mainstream fame
within the last few years. And he became friends
with Danny Brown, who I think is one of the most
electric rappers of the last like 10, 15 years.
I've seen live a couple of times. He puts on
an amazing show. He's just got this manic, crazy.
He sounds like he's trying to be immature, but
he's just all over the place, just throwing you
for a loop with both of his vocal styling and
his lyrics. And he's just insane to watch live
and listen to on album. He's just all over the
place in a beautiful, awesome, kick -ass, crazy,
just dope way. And when the two of them became
friends and they started throwing around the
idea of doing an album together, I was like,
oh my God, this is going to be nuts. This is
just going to be the most unique and crazy hip
hop album ever. And sure enough, they did it.
They got together and they produced this album
called, excuse my language, this is the title
of the album, Scaring the Hoes. And what it is,
is just this smorgasbord of samples and beats
and really clever, rapid fire lyrics. And these
two just crazy rappers and lyricists just spitting
back and forth to who I think is one of the best
producers in the last 20 years, JPEG Mafia. And
some people have almost called the album like
too dense, like there's too much going on. But
I think it's just a perfect distillation of Danny
Brown's energy and his craziness and JPEG Mafia's
ability to sample and layer and craft a really,
really dense and interesting and challenging
hip hop song. This is not for the mainstream
hip hop fans. This is straight up experimental
stuff. This entire album samples everything from
Famicom commercials from the 80s, like Nintendo
commercials from Japan to like Michael Jackson.
one of the track samples in sync and the track
i've picked from this album perfect actually
samples a classical composition by richard smallwood
called procession of the levites and it's these
two crazy guys just going off and rapping to
like this really really sort of dramatic and
epic classical composition and it just works
and the entire album is just weird and strange
and high energy and crazy and challenging and
Fantastic. If you haven't heard of JPEG Mafia
or Danny Brown, I don't know if you should listen
to this first because it's just a distillation
of their two styles of producing music together.
And it may not make a whole lot of sense, but
go listen to JPEG Mafia's LP. That's the name
of the album. It's LP. And then go listen to
everything Danny Brown has done and then come
back and listen to this so you'll be ready for
it. But it is one of the most layered and nuanced
and fun and interesting and experimental and
weird. ultimately genius hip hop albums i've
heard in a really long time and perfect is almost
interchangeable with every track on the album
because they're all really really great but i
had to pick one so it's perfect absolutely manic
yeah track yeah like this is a song that I don't
know how, but you've managed to capture the manic
energy of a Metallica thrash song in hip hop
form. Right. So I am very impressed listening
to this song. This is not the hip hop that you
hear on current top 40 radio, the hip hop songs
that are popular. This is a lot different. This
to me almost sounds like a modern day version
of Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys, only
maybe with an extra layer of. insanity so i think
if you take your most manic ad rock moment and
multiply it by 10 yeah you've got jpeg mafia
and danny brown so it's sometimes it's not an
easy album to digest if you don't know where
they're coming from yeah so i like the warning
you gave with that because if people go into
this album thinking they're going to get a hip
-hop album the way 2023 hip -hop has been They're
going to be thrown for a loop. Yeah, in a good
way. Whether they like it or not is different.
Yeah, I think in a good way as well. Yeah, I
think music should be just as much challenging
as it is enjoyable. And I think me being honestly
a self -professed music snob, I like stuff that
I may not like the first time I listen to it.
I like going back and challenging myself to listen
to something and being like, wait, what? What
the hell is this? There's a lot of that with
JPEG Mafia. He is very much in the realm of experimental
hip hop. He is trying all kinds of weird stuff
and just seeing what sticks. And Danny Brown
has had such a weird very career where he's done
straight up hip hop albums. He was part of a
group back in the day that was very much in a
line of NWA and your traditional hip hop groups
and whatnot. He's done collaborations with churches,
stuff all over the spectrum. These are two musicians
who love to challenge themselves and love to
challenge their audience. And if you're there
for it, if you're there ready to see what they've
got to show you, you're going to really love
it. Absolutely. Now, coming out of that from
Metallica. Oh, Lord. I mean, there's nothing
that I have left in my list that's going to match
the energy. So I need to bring this down a little
bit. However, Metallica is metal rock, if you
want to call it that. JPEG Mafia and Danny Brown
is hip hop. So I think I have a really weird
way to connect the dots. This is like going from
A to Q to go to B, but I think it'll make sense.
Because this artist started out as a hip hop
artist. Then he started incorporating rock elements
into his sound. And then he toured with Shinedown.
But now. Oh, okay. All right. You know where
I'm going with this. He just won the CMA New
Artist of the Year Award. Yeah, yeah. For country.
So I'm finding a way to squeeze in a country
song after a metal song and a hip hop song. So
the ship is veering right now, but I think this
makes sense. Because Jelly Roll was a hip hop
artist that has evolved his sound to include
more rock and country vibes. And Whitsitt Chapel
is an amazing album. And being somebody who went
to a Catholic high school growing up, Need a
Favor spoke to me in a very big way. So when
you think about the lyrics to this song, I only
talk to God when I need a favor and I pray when
I ain't got a prayer. So who the hell am I to
expect the savior? I only talk to God when I
need a favor, but God, I need a favor. And the
video for it is so gut wrenching. Yeah. This
man has been through a lot. He has been to hell
and back in his life. He has been on the wrong
side of the tracks and he has righted his personal
ship. And when he won the CMA awards, he actually
put out a statement that to me, I thought was
very prolific. And it's one that I'm going to
probably take with me moving forward because
he said, I want to tell you, it's going to be
okay. I want to tell you that the windshield
is bigger than the rear view mirror for a reason,
because what's in front of you is so much more
important than what's behind you. Love that.
That is some preacher level stuff that just resonated
with me so much. And this song, it is so memorable.
And I think it's more for the lyrics. As much
as I love his voice and I love the music and
I love the song, I think the message of this
song is what really resonated with me at the
end of the day. So Jelly Rolls need a favor.
Great pick. I love the track. He's a blast. He's
just fun. I dug him as a rapper beforehand, and
I like it when artists challenge their audiences
by switching genres like that, just for the hell
of it. And the fact that he did it so effortlessly
and it's like kicking ass and like winning awards
as a country musician now. It's like when Taylor
Swift went from being a country musician to like
a straight up pop musician and everybody just
kind of followed her over and it all just kind
of worked. The dude is like versatile. He's got
a lot going on. Like you said, he's had some
life experiences and he translate all that experiences
into his music and you see it in a genuine way.
This song could very easily in someone else's
hands come off as disingenuous and cheap and
kind of lame, but it's heartfelt and honest.
And that's what gets me about this track the
most. Yeah. You know, he means this when he sings
it. Yeah. There's nothing disingenuous about
it. And to me, that's what it speaks volumes.
Yeah. So now this ship is going metal, hip hop,
country. You could go anywhere with this, honestly.
I know where I'm going to go with it, but I don't
know how to define it. How do you define Sparks?
What genre is Sparks? New age? Pop? I don't know.
But again, this is another band that has been
around forever and they put out a new album in
2023 and it rocks. And it's just as awesome and
kick -ass as everything they've done beforehand.
Like I said earlier in the episode, if you haven't
listened to Sparks before, go and check out the
documentary by Edgar Wright, who did Shaun of
the Dead and Hot Fuzz and whatnot. He did a really,
really beautiful and honest and heartfelt and
just killer documentary on these two brothers
who have been musicians for about as long as
I've been alive. And they've put together album
after album after album without ever having like...
really crazy mainstream success. But they're
also like a direct influence on everybody in
a weird way. You listen to this documentary and
you've got people like flee from the Red Hot
Chili Peppers saying like, yeah, you talk to
any musician in like a bar or a party and the
conversation inevitably goes to Sparks. And most
people are like, who the hell is Sparks? But
anybody who knows and loves music is like, fuck
yeah, Sparks. And it's these two brothers and
their music is very eccentric and very strange
and very weird. And on the surface level, it
seems really kind of simplistic and goofy and
silly and dishonest. But there's a nuance to
it and like an irony to it that I've just loved
forever. And the track I picked is off their
new album. And that album is The Girl Is Crying
In Her Latte. And the track is not that well
defined. So Sparks is interesting. And again,
I... Don't think I'm following the vibe anymore.
I think I've gone fully off the rails with this
one. Actually, I'm going to challenge that. I
think you're riding the ship a little bit because
Sparks does fit in with Side A a little bit.
So I feel like you're kind of like, let's bring
back Side A's vibe into this. And instead of
swinging like a pendulum, we're kind of now just
kind of teetering back to where Side A was. We've
kind of righted it back to where that sound.
worked really well okay yeah because we did we
we had uh the last dinner party early on inside
one and now we're like circling right back to
one of their obvious main influences so okay
okay all right cool thanks i feel better about
this well it's funny because you had said when
you mentioned them you're like i don't know how
to define this next band it says it right in
the damn title not that well defined but they
are that well defined but i mean yeah i mean
it's it's hard to say what sparks is but if you
know sparks you get it you get it but again even
if someone who gets it how do you define it yeah
it's like to me it speaks to the name a little
bit fair yeah uh not that well defined by sparks
it's three minutes and 30 seconds of This really
grandiose and theatrical and silly and irreverent,
but also like a band that carries a lot of gravitas
at the same time in a weird way. They're most
grandiose. Like they've got a full orchestra
behind them in this track. And the lyrics are
just amazing. It's like, you're not that well
-defined. You're like a contract that's left
unsigned. And the lyrics just, they seem like
surface level, like really shallow and whatnot.
But if you listen to the context of the song,
it's biting and jabbing and catty. And it's been
Sparks their entire career where you think like
they're just writing like a fun, silly song,
but it's got this twinge of irony and depth to
it. And that's just Sparks where it's like, if
you take them at their surface level, you're
going to bop to it. It's fun. But if you really
pay attention, like these guys are geniuses and
they're like. throwing everybody for a loop just
because they can and they've been doing it for
like 40 years go listen to the track go listen
to the whole album the album is phenomenal and
if you're good with that go and listen to their
entire discography because it's wild and crazy
and you will pick up influences on modern bands
from sparks that are there despite the fact that
nobody knows who sparks is it's so weird it is
the weirdest thing in the world that everybody's
influenced by sparks but nobody knows who they
are it's just crazy to me but The track is super
fun. They're super fun. They're very theatrical
and silly and goofy, but they know exactly what
they're doing. It's very, very strategically
engineered, like their sound and their persona
and their performances. It's really neat to watch,
actually. It's fascinating. Well... I think you've
said everything that could be said about Sparks.
And coming out of that, I mean, you've really
thrown me a middle finger here because I don't
even know where to go from here. But I think
because we said that it kind of fit with the
Side A vibe, I'm going to lean into that a little
bit. Okay. And I'm going to go with a song that
I know would fit perfectly on Side A. But I think
because of the vibe, this actually works. This
is a band whose last album was released in 2000.
And the album was called Ready, Sex, Go. Oh,
all right. Yeah. And they are back this year
with their first album in 23 years. It's another
one of those bands. Yeah. Yes. The Marvelous
Three. And the album is called Four. Butch Walker,
you and I talked about on episode 32 in Garage
Rock. He had a great solo career from 2000 until
still does. He still does. And he's an amazing
producer. But he got the band back together and
they put out a new album. And it is unbelievably
amazing. If you liked Marvelous 3 from Freak
of the Week and Sugar Buzz and all the different
songs they put out up until 2000, they picked
up right where they left off. And the song I'm
going to go with, I think, to get as close to
the not that well -defined vibe is a tune called
Growing All My Hair Out. It's just got this drive
to it. It is anthemic. Yes. And big. And it's
one of those songs where it's a very creative
song structure. And it's Butch kind of taking
a little bit of his elements from his solo career
and kind of merging it with the Marvelous Three
sounds. So this one, I feel like if Butch was
doing a solo show would fit in perfectly. But
by giving the guitars a little bit more of that
edge. It works perfectly for Marvelous 3. So
following up Sparks, Marvelous 3, growing all
my hair out. I love the track. I love the band.
And I love the album. This is another band that's
like a blast from the past. They came out of
nowhere with a new album. I just haven't missed
a beat. I remember the song Freak of the Week.
And what album was that? Was it Hey Album? Yeah.
Great album. And I remember listening to that.
And shit, it must have been like 97, 98. It was
a great, great album. I really dug it. That song
in particular, the one that you listed off growing
all my hair out is almost like a continuation
of the vibe of that era, but also like a love
letter to it. And one of the things I picked
up on the song and one of the things I really
like about it is the fact that it's anthemic,
like you said, but also maybe it's just me reading
into it and my own sense of nostalgia. It's got
a little bit of like a melancholy to it where
like, this was a great era to grow up and like
be a musician and be a kid and like hang out
and do all the things. And you kind of... Don't
want to leave that. So you're still hanging out
at the bar, doing all the things, kind of, sort
of. Great track, though. I love the track. Love
the band. I love seeing that band come out of
nowhere with a new album and just kick ass. And
yeah, one of the bands that was heavy in my rotation
in the 90s. And this album has been heavy in
my rotation this year, too. It's wonderful. From
out of nowhere, man. That's like, just like you
had said earlier with the hives. It's just kind
of like, wait, what? They're back. Right. Exactly.
Yeah. And I'm all here for it. Stick around.
Do both Butch Walker and Marvelous three. Keep
them both going. So now we've got the second
half of side B and we're back to you for track
six. Okay. So modern artists, but also kind of
a throwback sound. My next pick is off the Barbie
album from the movie that took this year by absolute
storm. This is an artist who's taken this year
by storm, too, who took last year in 2021 by
storm as well. It is Dua Lipa. The track is Dance
the Night. We're kind of weaving and bobbing
a little bit. We're going from rock to pop. Holy
crap, dude. Like just the fact that the movie
was such a huge smash hit and just kind of took
over the cinemas this year. How could you not
have at least one track off that album on the
best of 2023? Especially when it was one of those
banging and awesome pop songs of the year. I
am an unabashed lover of pop music. I think Dua
Lipa is just top of the heap right now. I think
she's setting the world on fire. As of right
now, she just put out another single called Houdini,
which is fantastic. I adore her. I love her music.
I love the vibe. I'm not a dancer. I can't help
but dance every time that lady comes on the radio.
I am making an ass of myself in rush hour traffic
listening to this track. It's just great. It's
just so much fun. It's just a no -nonsense dance
track. She's talking about her house might be
burning, but you'll never see it on her face
because there's never a hair out of place. She's
just dancing the night away. And it's just awesome.
It's a great vibe. It's one of the best dance
anthems I've heard in a long time. And I think
it's probably the best one of 2023. the barbie
album huh you're the right yeah like i i'm look
i'm shocked you like when you said i'm gonna
go with barbie the album i was just waiting for
you to say ryan gosling's i'm just ken Because
I'll tell you right now, my kids, that's their
favorite song of the year. Really? Every time
it comes on, they were singing it so loud in
the car the other day. I honestly thought I was
having an aneurysm. I didn't know what was happening.
They love it so, so much. And I've seen the movie
with them and they sang it just as loud. And
obviously the music throughout that entire soundtrack,
because, you know, I've got two girls. Obviously
we own the soundtrack. It's ridiculous between
Tame Impala. Lizzo's song is really catchy. Haim's
song is good. Ice Spice's Barbie World is good.
Charlie XCX's Speed Drive is good. I mean, it
is just a fantastic album. Yeah. And heck, we
have the extended expanded edition that has Ryan
Gosling's cover of Push by Max Fox 20. That's
awesome. I honestly, when you were saying the
Barbie soundtrack, I thought you were going to
go to I'm Just Ken. Man, Dance the Night. I'm
almost tempted to continue down the pop road.
Uh -oh. But I only have two picks left. And there's
two albums I need to get in. So I'm going to
stretch here a little bit. Okay. And I'm going
to go with the theme of dance. Okay. Only it's
not the genre of dance. Although you could dance
to it. So maybe it is. But this would be pop
punk dance. And here's another band that... dropped
an album and i don't want to say from out of
nowhere because they toured this whole year back
together once again but i'm gonna bring blink
182 into the conversation okay and we're gonna
dance the night right into dance with me from
their 2023 album one more time no i'm sorry i
don't mean to laugh because it's a great pick
i'm just remembering how that that song starts
yes and following dance the night with the intro
to Wow, that's awesome. Yeah, the way Dance With
Me starts, I would just say if you are with kids
in the car, you probably shouldn't have been
listening to this episode at this point considering
the F -bombs that have been throughout. But regardless,
if you're still listening, when you play the
playlist over at myweeklymixtape .com, I would
just lower the volume for about the first six
seconds of the song and then kick it up. Just
like Youngblood's The Funeral. This song has
a very Billy Idol -esque punk sound to it. Absolutely,
yeah. I'm not the biggest fan of Travis Barker's
production on the album. I feel like it's a little
overly compressed and very loud. But at the end
of the day, the songs on this album are amazing.
I talked about Cactus Pete earlier in the night,
mentioned one more time. I could have easily
included that if we were kind of dipping down
to a slower moment. But coming out of Dance of
the Night, I couldn't go into that. So Dance
With Me is one of those songs that you are up
dancing and singing along. It is one of the most
infectious Blink -182 choruses maybe ever. And
I'll say this, Tom's voice has gotten better.
Yeah. Now that he's back, he's older and it's
a little more raspy, a little more gravelly and
a little less nasally kind of nasally where it
actually fits the music even better than it was
on the neighborhoods album. And I, I'm happy
to see them back together. I feel bad for Matt
Skiba. I think they should have made it maybe
a four piece, but it is what it is. Blink 182
is back. And I couldn't not talk about dance
with me because. I have rocked that song since
the first time I heard it. I'm like, now that's
what I'm talking about. Edging is another good
one that they put out last year that I've played
throughout the whole year, but Dance With Me,
the first time I heard it, I'm like, oh yeah,
that's on my list. Yeah, no, that ole, ole, ole,
ole, like that's so catchy. Like it is a dance
tune. Like it's a pop punk tune, but you can
dance to it for sure. I can see people just bopping
to it in the shows for sure out in the pit for,
yeah, absolutely. It's a great album. It's a
great pick. I agree that Tom DeLonge's vocals
have matured. And I think he's a better match
for Mark Hoppus' vocals now. I was always out
of mind. And I grew up, obviously, in high school
when Blink -182 hit it big. Loved them back in
the day. But there was always sort of a weird
dichotomy between the two vocalists. And now
that they've gotten older, they've kind of settled
into a level. And I think you're right. I think
it's a maturity and an evolution of the music
that I really appreciate. And it's not a betrayal
of what made them famous in the first place.
It's still really fun pop punk. You can get up
and skank to it and jump around to it and drive
a shopping cart through a drive -thru at McDonald's
too or something. All the stupid shit we were
doing in the 90s when we were kids and whatnot.
But yeah, it's a great pick. I do agree that
it's a little overproduced. But I mean, Blink
-182 was one of those weird bands where... I
don't think it's a betrayal of their sound to
kind of a little bit overproduce their albums.
I have never seen them as sort of like rancid
or like any of those type of like punk bands
where the rawness of it and sort of the edginess
and the shitty recording of it was part of the
package. The only one that comes even close is
Cheshire Cat, and that went out on Cargo, which
was an indie label. So anything from their major
label on it, I completely get what you're saying.
Yeah. They are a mainstream pop punk band, and
I think it's okay for them to be a little bit
more polished than other bands that sort of skirt
the same genre. They're not in the same vein.
I do consider them more like pop punk than like
punk rock, and I think they've always been that
way. So the overproduction, a little grating
at times, a little much at times maybe, but...
I don't think it's a betrayal of what Blink -182
has always been. And what they are is not a bad
thing. I'm not one of those people who are like,
oh, they're a bunch of effing sellouts. I mean,
you become a musician to get with girls, to make
a lot of money, and to tour the country and have
fun. And that's what they've done their entire
careers. And I don't begrudge them for that at
all. And it is a absolute Travis Barker drumming
masterclass. Oh, absolutely. Some of the songs
on this new album, I sat there and turned to
my wife and said, If any other drummer was playing
on this song, this would be a throwaway track.
But I said, just listen to the nuances that Travis
is throwing into this song to make it complex
and make it interesting and keep your attention.
Little fills and little hi -hat nuances that
he's just kind of... And it's so effortless.
And he makes the most simplistic Blink -182 songs
amazing. Yeah. And I truly feel that if Travis
Barker... did not join Blink -182, they would
not be at the level they are. Well, that's kind
of the fun irony of Blink -182 is that the drummer
is by far the best musician in the band. That's
kind of Blink -182 in a nutshell. The drummer
is the best musician in the band. They're a bunch
of guys who just had a blast and had fun just
messing around their entire careers. And that's
great. That's awesome. So what are you going
to come out of Dance With Me and Dance the Night
With? I'm going to make everybody cry. I'm going
to bring it down way low. We're going to just
move away from the dance vibe. We're going to
get right down to the box of Kleenex and a box
of chocolates and maybe a nice bubble bath with
some bath bombs and some candles and whatnot.
So it is I'm Just Ken. Exactly. No. Oddly enough,
it is actually from the Barbie album once again.
And I didn't plan this. But I mean, holy crap.
billy eilish like anytime billy eilish releases
anything it's automatically going to be one of
the best songs of the year she's had a quiet
year aside from being a part of this massive
soundtrack which was tied to this massive movie
the track is what was i made for and it's beautiful
and haunting and gorgeous and amazing and here's
the thing is greta gerwig makes an existential
comedy about the plastic doll. Everybody wants
to work with her. She's got this amazing talent,
both in front of and behind the camera. And the
musicians who jumped on board to be a part of
the soundtrack was no exception. Billie Eilish
is one of the best musicians and best singers
on the planet right now. She's one of the most
nuanced and talented and layered and mature beyond
her years. And this song is all of that. For
a song that was made for a comedy, this song
does not need to be this good. Billie Eilish
always knows the assignment. And she doesn't
shoot for the A+. She shoots for beyond that.
She's going for extra credit. She's going for
the 4 .2 GPA. You ask her to write a Bond song,
and she's going to be the best part of that Bond
movie. It's just incredible. This track is sad
and tragic and beautiful and haunting and wonderful
and just displays maturity beyond her years.
I think she's probably half my age, and she's
probably... Twice as world traveled and more
mature and intelligent than I am. And this song
is wonderful. And it's sad. And it's about thinking
you knew your place in this world and having
that carpet ripped out from underneath your feet
and free falling and not knowing what to do next.
And there's a line in the song that sticks with
me. And it's, I'm sad again. Don't tell my boyfriend.
It's not what he's made for. And up to that point,
the entire song is about what is she made for?
Like, why is she here? And the fact that everything
she's... Obviously, the character that she's
writing about in the song, it's not necessarily
her herself and her life experiences. But the
fact that in that one line, the song shifts from,
what was I made for? What am I doing? I used
to be happy. I don't remember how to be happy.
That one line is like a realization that everything
that is... built up around her in this life,
whoever's speaking in terms of being the character
in the song, is realizing that there's no stability
anywhere. The boyfriend doesn't know how to handle
somebody who isn't happy all the time because
this person has pretended to be happy their entire
life and can't do it anymore. And it's just struggling
to figure out what their place is in the world,
what they're supposed to be doing. And do they
want to try and recapture that happiness and
go along with what they've been doing their entire
lives? Or do they want to embrace this sadness
and follow it through and figure out who they
really are? And holy shit, this is a song written
for a Barbie movie. And I know the movie is about
existentialism and self -discovery and whatnot.
But holy crap, Billie Eilish, please don't ever
stop doing 210 % at all times. You're incredible.
amazing track i obviously i mean you broke the
rule of pulling two from the same album however
it's different artists they were released separately
as singles so i allowed myself that loophole
i will give you the bravo on the loophole i love
it um i honestly was a little disappointed you
didn't go with i'm just ken because but honestly
Coming out of Billie Eilish's What Was I Made
For, because I think you basically said everything
that needs to be said about that song so perfectly
that I don't know what I would add to it. You
hit the nail on the head. There's two songs left.
We each have one. And I have two songs that I
want to put in this spot. And I'm going to gamble
and go with one that I didn't plan on closing
with. in hopes that you'll close with the other
song that I'm holding in my pocket. Okay. No
pressure. You have no idea what that song is,
but... Probably not. I mean, I've had my final
song ready for... This is the one song I'm not
just riffing on. This is the one song... When
you approached me about doing the best of 2023,
I was like, okay, I got to end with this one.
I have to. Okay, so it's I'm Just Ken. So let
me think of how I'm going to... No, but coming
out of the serious vibe that you were talking
about in what was I made for very melancholy.
I want to think I'm going to hone in on that
and I want to bring us to a bigger place to close
out. And I think the only way we could do that
is by going with a song. That's a touch over
10 minutes of just heartbreak and power and emotion
all rolled up in one. One of the hardest albums
for me to listen to for the year. I mean, the
lyrics on this album moved me to tears several
times during the listen. And I love this band
so much. And I don't know if I'll be able to
go back and listen to this album over and over
again because it just hits too hard. And obviously
the loss of Taylor Hawkins. David Grohl's mother
shine through on this track, but I am bringing
in the Foo Fighters from their album. But here
we are. I'm going with the teacher. The ending
of that song where he just yells out goodbye
and there's all this massive moment. I mean,
it's just so powerful and so gut wrenching in
the film that they have on YouTube is just so
emotional. I know this is kind of bringing things
a little bit down coming from Billie Eilish,
but it's also a. big song and it's a song that
i could foresee the foo fighters playing 10 years
from now yeah because it's an epic love letter
to two people that were loved very dearly yeah
and i can't think of a bigger well i can think
of one other way and i'm really hoping you're
you and i are espn or whatever it is on the same
wavelength here but i am going to follow up billy
eilish's what was i made for with foo fighters
the teacher from but here we are That is an awesome
pick. It's tragic and epic and encompassing and
so much going on with this track and this album
in general. Yeah, obviously the passing of Taylor
Hawkins was a shock and a blow to everybody.
And that resonates with this entire album. And
I think this album was needed as catharsis for
everybody who obviously was involved with the
band and needed to sort of not move on from,
but understand and heal from the passing of their
brother. And you feel that throughout this track.
What's interesting to me about this track is
the fact that it almost feels like a full circle
encompassing of the Foo Fighters discography,
if that makes sense. It's up to a certain point.
The very beginning of the track reminds me of
the title track from In Your Honor. Just so that
very, very resonating, heavy guitar riff in the
very beginning. And then it kind of speeds up
and slows down and speeds up and slows down.
And it becomes complex and simplistic. And it's
just this epic sort of rollercoaster ride of
emotions. And I don't know if Dave Grohl and
the boys wrote it to be the way I perceived it,
but it does feel like almost like a fast forwarding
through several Foo Fighters albums. And maybe
they did write it that way because it's sort
of a culmination of all their memories with Taylor
Hawkins and all the memories they have with him
and all the music they wrote together up until
the point where they've got to continue on as
both people and a family and musicians and try
and find a way to move on without him being there
every day. But it's a beautiful track. It's a
track that is 10 minutes long, but it feels like
it's three minutes long because there's just
so much going on. It's so succinct and well -written
and beautiful that, I mean, I've listened to
it. That's the one track I go back to over and
over again from that album, and it's a beautiful
album. It's a hard album to listen to, but the
epicness of that song just brings me back over
and over again because there's just so much going
on there. And the heart of it is heartbreak and
sadness and loss and that sort of thing going
on. But there's also a little bit of hope and
desire to move on and heal and become better
and find some sort of understanding and acceptance.
And I don't think the Foo Fighters get enough
credit for being able to convey those types of
emotions in their song. They get a lot of flack
from people who aren't diehard fans for being
like dad rock. You know what I mean? But Dave
Grohl puts himself into every song he writes.
He doesn't write superfluous surface level rock
songs. The one thing you can say about Foo Fighters,
whatever song it is, whether you like them or
not, is that it's honest and genuine. And it
comes from a place of life experience. They're
not just writing lyrics that sound cool or whatever.
It's shit that Dave Grohl is actually processing
as he's writing each album. And this track is
a culmination of that. And it's... tough listen,
but it's a beautiful listen and it's an honest
listen. And yeah, I think it follows up from
Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For brilliantly
because I'm sure those guys were asking themselves
the same question. Any one of us at any time
could depart this mortal coil and leave this
earth. And what are we here for? What are we
leaving behind? What are we teaching the people
that we've been involved in the lives of? And
what sort of legacy are we leaving? Not all of
us have the luxury of being a multi -platinum
musician who has like 20 years of music to leave
behind as a sort of immortality. But every one
of us, especially I'm going to turn 40 in a month.
And I'm all over the place in terms of nostalgia
and thoughts of like friends and family, both
current and past and who I'm going to be in the
future and who I'm growing into because we're
always growing. But yeah, I mean, life is a process.
The Foo Fighters have this beautiful knack of
writing songs that convey the idea that life
is a process and you're always growing and you
have to be thinking about the past while also
thinking about the future. And you can't let
the one way the other one down. And I think that's
what this album was. It was looking to the future
and continuing to write music and continuing
to do what they love and will enjoy doing for
the rest of their lives, but also honoring the
people that came before them, the people that
they've lost. And it's not just Taylor Hawkins.
You still see... twinges of nirvana and whatnot
in foo fighter albums and dave girl doesn't get
enough credit for and the band in general doesn't
get enough credit for writing songs that are
honest and just like a journal basically so yeah
and i look i'll right now i'm fixated on the
fact that you're only turning 40 because i just
i just went into the second half of my 40s so
I said that I said that my wife, I'm like, well,
I haven't hit 47 and a half yet, so I won't tell
people I'm in my late 40s. I could still say
mid 40s. So I'm kind of jealous. I'm not going
to lie. But yeah, I'm just going to say I'm in
my really, really late 30s, really late 30s.
What I will say about this song is this song
to me for 2023 fits in more of the time capsule.
esque nature of this mixtape yeah then it does
the let's rock out to the songs of 2023 this
is a song that 20 years from now i want people
that listen back to this episode to remember
this song because it's such an important powerful
statement but it's not the song to jam out with
your buddies too it's very introspective and
powerful and emotional so it's kind of a weird
twist that we're going towards the end of the
side and i'm Very curious how you're going to
wrap up all of 2023 in a bow, because if you
follow up with I'm just Ken, I am deleting the
rest. So my next pick. No offense, Ryan. Yeah.
So my next pick is it's off the Barbie album.
It's Ryan Gosling. No, actually, I mean, this
for me is an obvious pick. I don't think you
can close out 2023 without talking about this
song. It's very much in the same vein of the
time capsule and reflection and thinking about
the past and the present and the future and people
you've lost and just thinking about how you've
become the person you've become based on the
people who have sort of populated your life along
the way. It's the Beatles now and then. Thank
God. Okay. That was my pick. I was afraid if
I threw it out at nine. Where would you go from
there? Right, right. Because really, where? But
go ahead. I think this is perfect, though, because
you picking that Foo Fighters song and the meaning
behind that song and the fact that this is essentially
being called the last Beatles song ever. For
now. Yeah, we'll see what happens, Paul McCartney
and Enrico Starr. Yeah, they're always tooling
around. But it was originally recorded in 1977.
It was a demo that they just kind of messed around
with for a while. And it's kind of sad. And it's
been approached over the decades as being a project
that they might come back to. At one point, they
were actually going to restore it if they could
and include it as part of the Beatles Anthology
Project 20 years ago or whatever. 1985, I think.
But it was a song that they'd recorded in 1977.
And the demo, it was just garbage. There was
no way to really do anything with it at the time
or decades afterwards. But in a weird twist of
fate... Peter Jackson, the guy who directed the
Lord of the Rings movies, was working on a Beatles
documentary, and his company developed technology
to use machine learning to use, I don't want
to say AI, because it's not really AI, but use
systematically a way of extracting Lennon's vocals
and cleaning them up. So all of a sudden, this
song that's been threatened to be dug up, but
has never really come to fruition for 40 years,
50 years. has now been released in 2023. And
it's Ledin's original vocals cleaned up. It's
guitar tracks that George Harrison actually recorded
in 1995 that have been restored. And it's Paul
McCartney singing today and Ringo Starr playing
drums today in a weird sort of time travel reunion
where the four of them actually got to release
one final song together. It's haunting because
of that context. But also the fact that it's
a really beautiful Beatles song. I know it's
funny to say like, oh, it's a really beautiful
Beatles song because all their songs are fucking
beautiful. But it's a haunting song about recognition
of people in your life that have helped you along
the way. It's like, if I make it through, it's
because of you, you know, like that type of thing.
And it's an amazing track and it's historic.
weird at the same time because like you're listening
to vocals that are like from 1977 that have been
fixed and repaired and sound really good thanks
to peter jackson and his engineers for doing
that and it's a track that has just such a weird
bizarre history of 40 plus years at one point
jeff lynn from electric light orchestra was going
to be a producer on the track and that never
came through and then they Found a new producer
to do it who has actually worked with other Beatles
tracks and restorations and whatnot before then.
So it's a song that could not have existed until
today. And it could not have been a culmination
of the talents of those four musicians who are
so influential and so iconic to come together
one more time without the technology we have
today. And it's the one brilliance and amazing
and wonderful use of AI that I will allow. I
was just going to say. People talk about AI all
the time, and it's been a huge conversation in
2023. And when I first heard this song, I said,
okay, I'll allow it. They used it as a tool.
Yes. They did not say into a computer, AI, create
us a new Beatles song. Right. Exactly. This was
written by the Beatles. And yes, it was considered
a quote unquote throwaway back in 1977. They
never completed it. Right. The humor I find in
that is that what was. to John Lennon in 1977,
a possible throwaway is one of the best songs
in 2023. Yeah. And not just because of the history
and the context, like it's a really beautiful
song. It really is. The fact that they thought
it wasn't good enough to me is a whole nother
rabbit hole. I can go down, but this is the type
of song that it's a moment. The ending of that
music video just gutted me, but in a peaceful.
happy way it was like when i was born this cassette
was just recorded 1977 here we are 46 years later
and they found a way to finish the job and it's
done with such love and care yeah and the video
showing them playing together even though it's
old footage was so masterfully done by peter
jackson and again the ending where it just fades
on the instruments and it's just the instruments
on stage, was just so poetic. Such a perfect
exclamation point on the Beatles' legacy. Yeah.
If you told me January 1st, 2023, that you and
I would end a Songs of 2023 mixtape with the
Rolling Stones on side A and the Beatles on side
B, I would have laughed you out of the room.
Right? But, like the Foo Fighters album is titled,
But here we are. Yeah. And I'm all here for it.
Yeah. Well, that, folks, concludes side B of
our songs of 2023 mixtape, which consists of
Metallica's Lux Eterna, JPEG Mafia with Danny
Brown's Perfect, Jelly Roll's Need a Favor, Sparks'
Not That Well Defined, Marvelous 3's Growing
All My Hair Out, Dua Lipa's Dance the Night,
Blink -182's Dance With Me, Billie Eilish, What
Was I Made For, Foo Fighters, Hot For Teacher,
and The Beatles, Now and Then. Head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix through the playlist embedded on the
episode page. Now, normally this would be the
part of the show where we start winding things
down, but it's the end of the year episode and
they always go big or go home, and we're going
to do the same here. We've talked about all our
favorite songs of the year. We talked about our
2022 holdovers. Everyone mentioned there, so
it's time to mention ours. What is your album
of the year 2023? Oh, it's the death of Randy
Fitzsimmons by the hives. It is. It was such
a surprise. It's such a delight. And they're
my favorite band. And for them to just drop an
album randomly with a kick -ass opening single
and a great video. Oh my God, the video is great.
It's such a great throwback to Sam Raimi, Evil
Dead horror movies. And I just felt like I was
20 years younger listening to this album, discovering
The Hives for the first time and just completely
taken back. Like I said, it's a crazy garage
rock, hard rock song. And I started tearing up
because... It was like going back in time. It
was like a time capsule, like a time machine
for me. It was just amazing. The whole album
is a banger. It feels like a full culmination
of their entire discography and them growing
as musicians, but not moving away from that sound
at the same time. There are tracks that feel
like they're from Tyrannosaurus Hives or Vinny
Vinny Vicious, but updated and more mature and
more layered because they've grown as musicians
and they're better musicians now. But yeah, man,
that album shook me in a great way. And it moves
me like literally like I can't listen to the
album without air drumming and air guitaring.
And I picked up my bass guitar. I learned half
the songs on the album already. And it's just
God, it was just it was just such a great surprise
for this year. Absolutely love the album. Unfortunately,
it's not my pick. That's fair. But I get it.
It's up there. It's definitely in my top. I obviously
had the song picked for my list in my bucket,
but you kicked us off with it. For me, I have
to give a quick shout out to three albums because
my musical tastes are so all over the map. Before
I pick my album of the year, for country, Chris
Stapleton's Higher. Nice. Hands down. For rock
and metal, Metallica's 72 Seasons. And for pop
and dance, it's Ava Max's Diamonds and Dance
Floors. But my album of the year, I can't believe
I'm saying this. The Rolling Stones, Hackney
Diamonds. Yeah. At the end of the day, here's
an album that stands up to some of their 70s
best stuff in 2023. This album features Bite
Your Head Off, which is the first collaboration
between the Rolling Stones and a member of the
Beatles. To me, that. is so amazing because for
decades it's always been who's better the beatles
or the rolling stones the beatle or the rolling
stones the beatles or the rolling stones here
we are in 2023 we ended our sides with the rolling
stones and the beatles and this album in no way
shape or form had any reason to be as good as
it is i saw andrew watt was producing it i was
expecting an overproduced pop version of the
rolling stones and he blew my mind with this
one And if this is the final Rolling Stones album,
they went out with pardon the pun on their old
album, the biggest bang they could possibly go
out with, because this is up there with some
of their best ever. So the Rolling Stones Hackney
Diamonds album of the year would not have thought
I would be saying that on January 1st for sure.
Yeah, I agree with it. I love it. It's crazy
that. They're so legendary and they could so
easily rest on their laurels and put out a new
album and just be like, here's a new album. You're
going to love it regardless. But for it to be
as goddamn good as it is, like they didn't have
to put the effort they did into it, but it is
a really, really good Rolling Stones album. It's
one of their best albums ever. And the fact that
they put it out in 2023 at their age when they
didn't have to, they weren't beholden to put
forth this effort and did it anyway, just is...
Honestly, it's a credit to them and their passion
for what they do. And it's also the last album
that will feature the core members of the Rolling
Stones because Charlie Watts is on some of the
tracks. There's just so many amazing things about
this album. I can go on and on and on. But instead
of going on and on and on about that, why don't
you go on and on and on about Space Castle and
where the mixtapers can find your amazing YouTube
channel full of amazing nerd content? Well, thank
you for calling it amazing. You can find me on
youtube .com slash at space casual show. Thanks
again to YouTube for making those new URLs really
confusing and hard to articulate. It's me in
front of a green screen out in deep space doing
all kinds of weird things where I try and host
a discussion about some pop culture topic that
I've pulled out of thin air and also tell like
a zany crazy story at the same time. I have a
blast doing it. I put out a new episode every
other week because they take a long time to produce.
And I hope everybody who's listening takes a
gander at it and enjoys it and find something
they like. And we'll come back and check it out
often because I'm having a blast doing it. And
one of the most fun things about it has been
the response to it and the community that's built
up around it. It's been super, super fun, super
cool. And thank you, Brian, for letting me plug
it shamelessly. Of course, it's blast off time,
man. It's blast. Let's blast off into 2024. That's
the slogan. It's blast off time. DT, thank you
so much for joining me on my weekly mixtape.
Look forward to doing it with you again soon,
man. Dude, it's always a pleasure to hang out
with you on your show. I'm so proud of the work
you're putting into it and the success you're
having with it. I joked before about you talking
to some really famous people that I really love
and respect. Dude, I'm blown away that you are
continuously growing and exploding. Just I'm
super proud to know you, super proud to be your
friend. And I feel like you're slumming it by
having me on your show. Not at all, man. But
yeah, it's my absolute pleasure. I will come
back as many times as you'll have me. Well, thanks
again. And remember, Mixtapers, you can find
My Weekly Mixtape on all the social media haunts
at My Weekly Mixtape. You can also head to MyWeeklyMixtape
.com to check out the full catalog of My Weekly
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in, or becoming a Patreon Mixtaper at Patreon
.com forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. That's
all for this week. Thanks again for listening.
Until next time, enjoy the tunes.