One advantage of having the mix after the "Best of the Year" is it comes on the heels of listening to lots of new tracks over the past few months - in preparation for both. Thus, this could be considered my "best songs of 2018" mix - with a few exceptions - Radiohead (2016) and Eivor (2017). This mix hurdles around in terms of genres, but hopefully maintains a fresh bounce while introducing a few artists that hadn't been on my radar screen until recently.
Enjoy......
Regarding the cover. While there are better days to have a birthday than the day after Christmas, one postive thing is my family is usually around. This year 12 of us were clustered around a long table at Jake's for breakfast. My grand-daughter, Anna, had brought one of her Xmas gifts - a Magic Rainbow Scratch Pad (4"x4"). She started one, and passed it right. It went arond the table and all 12 of us contributed something to the piece. It sits by my desk at work and I look at it every day. KRA intern extraordinarire, Allyson Fairweather, helped me turn it into the cover for 105.
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Death Cab for Cutie / Gold Rush
Finding the first tune for a new mix is always the ultimate challenge. I try different songs out for size and shape and see what sticks over the months. This tune did. Cradled by an F chord throughout and a shimmering wall of sound, it only breaks to the V chord for a few seconds at 2:46. The first time the high chorus comes in each time makes me think of The Beatles. Welcome to 105.
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Death Cab for Cutie is an American indie rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nicholas Harmer (bass), Jason McGerr (drums), Dave Depper (guitar) and Zac Rae (keyboards). Death Cab began as a solo project of Ben Gibbard, now the band's vocalist and guitarist. Gibbard took the band name from the satirical song Death Cab for Cutie, performed by The Bonzo Dog Band in The Beatles' 1967 experimental film Magical Mystery Tour. Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Revivalists / Next to You
Seemed right to follow DCC with a rootsy tune. Love the bass on this song - so simple, but solid - it anchors the funk. Can you not tap your foot to this tune?
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The Revivalists is an American rock band formed in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2007. The 7-piece band consists of Ed Williams (pedal steel guitar, guitar), David Shaw (lead vocals), Zack Feinberg (guitar), Rob Ingraham (saxophone), George Gekas (bass guitar), Andrew Campanelli (drums, percussion), and Michael Girardot (keyboards, trumpet). The group's sound has been described as "a Crescent City-rhythm spin on jam-band jubilee." Since forming in 2007 Read more on Last.fm more...
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The War and Treaty / Jeep Cherokee Laredo
Must admit, I heard this song and thought .... Bryn. This song just swings and jumps with joy. And what a duo! A husband and wife from DC, this performance blows me away - the interaction, the give and take, the highs and lows. "Ain't none a your business."
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The War and Treaty is American husband-and-wife duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Blount Trotter based in Maryland. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Christine and the Queens / 5 Dollars
Heloise Letissier - better known as Christine - is a French singer and was featured by Joe (#77) and Lindsay (#82) a few mixes back. Great groove with a steady staccato piano hook. The kinky video for this song makes it a bit clearer what it's really about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8eulIH7tU0
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Christine and the Queens is the musical project of French singer-songwriter Héloïse Letissier. Letissier released her debut full-length album as Christine and the Queens, "Chaleur humaine", in 2014. An English language version of the album, titled "Christine and the Queens", was released in 2016. Her sophomore album "Chris" was released in september 2018 and received universal acclaim. She has also released eight EPs and several singles. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Fatoumata Diawara / Nterini
Fatoumata is a Malian singer and guitarist. Nterini means "My Love//Confidant" in Bambara - the national language of Mali. It's from her upcoming - due in May - called Fenfo. I am sometimes drawn to songs in a language I don't understand - as the lyrics become irrelevant and the focus turns to the voice - the expressed emotion - the phrasing - voice as instrument. From what I can gather the song is about the heartache felt by two lovers separated by distance.
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Fatoumata Diawara (born 1982) is a Malian musician currently living in France. Born in the Ivory Coast to Malian parents, Diawara moved to France to pursue acting, appearing in Cheikh Oumar Cissoko's 1999 feature film La Genèse, Dani Kouyaté's popular 2001 film Sia, le rêve du python, in the internationally renowned street theatre troupe Royal Deluxe, and played a leading role in the musical Kirikou et Karaba. She later took up the guitar and began composing her own material Read more on Last.fm more...
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Leon Bridges / Bad Bad News
To quote Leon Bridges in an interview about this song, he said it is "an anthem about breaking past negativity and achieving greatness." It's got a retro soul groove that swings with a tapping cymbal and a simple electric piano lick. The chorus line, is classic: "But I made a good good thing out of bad bad news." Indeed.
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Leon Bridges (born Todd Michael Bridges on July 13, 1989) is an American gospel and soul singer, songwriter and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Bridges began performing in and around Fort Worth, Texas and stirred up music industry interest with analog recordings, produced by Justin Block and Austin Jenkins of White Denim, which were uploaded to his SoundCloud page. Signed to major-label Columbia, his first singles -- including a rich ballad Read more on Last.fm more...
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Radiohead / Ill Wind
Ethereal. Dark. Moody. Lyrics using only 43 words. Radiohead.
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Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK which formed in 1985. The band is composed of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, beats), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboard, other instruments), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass guitar) and Phil Selway (drums, percussion). The early years (1992 – 1995) Radiohead released their first single, "Creep" in 1992. The song was initially unsuccessful Read more on Last.fm more...
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Aya Nakamura / Djadja
Born in Mali, but raised in France. Another voice as instrument. The chorus sounds so sweet in French. But the interpretation........ Oh Djadja There’s no way Djadja I’m not your whore Djadja, As if you ever had sex with me Oh Djadja There’s no way Djadja I’m not your whore Djadja, As if you ever had sex with me. And then there are the verses.....
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Aya Nakamura, de son vrai nom Aya Danioko, née le 10 mai 1995 à Bamako au Mali, est une chanteuse, autrice-interprète française de pop urbaine et de R&B. Après des débuts remarqués sur les réseaux sociaux et de nombreuses collaborations, sa percée se fait dès la sortie de son premier album intitulé Journal intime, publié le 25 août 2017, et certifié disque d'or. En novembre 2018, elle publie son deuxième album Nakamura, où elle se fait connaître du grand public, propulsée par le single Djadja. Read more on Last.fm more...
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47Soul / Mo Light
Just your run of the mill Jordanian Palestinian band and a prime force behind the so-called Shamstep electronic dance movement. Not too many songs are sung half in Arabic and half in English. Their latest album - Balfron Promise - is named after the East London tower - Balfron Tower - where the band lived and recorded the album over a two year period. There is something so dark, masculine and menacing about this song - you can't look away. It just sounds......dangerous. Bet they are wild live. Playing Brooklyn and Austin only (in the US) on their upcoming tour.
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47SOUL is an electro-mijwez, shamstep, choubi band formed in Amman Jordan in 2013. The members are rooted in Bilad Al-Sham, spanning the divides from Amman to the Galilee, the Golan Heights to Ramallah (Palestin). This new sound of 47SOUL has rapidly amassed fans in the Middle East and Europe by blasting the electric Arabic debka sound through underground music scenes. On top of the beats that have been bumping in the Middle East for centuries, 47SOUL hypes it up with analog synthesizers Read more on Last.fm more...
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Eivor / In My Shoes
A female artist from the Faroe Islands. Somewhere in the deep dark past, Grogan noted that a lighter song following something dissonant (surprise surprise) on one of his mixes was a "palate cleanser" - like sorbet. I think this song serves that purpose after the grind of 47Soul. It sounds like the shoes clicking at the beginning are sampled and used rhythmically later in the tune.
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Please see Eivør Pálsdóttir for the real artist. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Elle King / Shame
Has a kind of 60s/70s vibe to me - with a somewhat distorted sound and a great hook. Her real name is Tanner Elle Schneider and she is the daughter of Rob Schneider of SNL fame.
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Elle King is an anti-folk artist. Born in Ohio and raised in Brooklyn by her mother (after separating from her father, comedian Rob Schneider), she retains her roots in a style that blends those two worlds of both grit and mid-western charm. She often draws comparisons to Billie Holiday, Duffy, Regina Spektor and Adele. Miss King cites old blues, rock n' roll, and greats like Johnny Cash as her biggest influences. Featured in an issue of Love magazine and February's V Magazine as well as creating buzz amongst music bloggers everywhere. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Khalid / Vertigo
Love the synthy guitar and the dreaminess of the deep reverb. Another tune with a great hook when the chorus kicks in at 1:22. "Eyes closed....."
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Khalid is American singer/songwriter from El Paso, Texas. He burst onto the music scene with his first single "Location", which received great critical acclaim and praised for his soulful, gentle and mellifluous voice perfectly suitable for a retro soul. Started when he was only 18, fresh from the halls of high school, his music is full of youthful innocence and poetic passion. Khalid released his debut album American Teen on March 3, 2017 via Right Hand Music Group/RCA Records, including previously released singles. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Shawn Mendes / Nervous
Don't know much about this guy, but had to have at least one poppy song. Almost sounds a little like Michael Jackson when the chorus kicks in.
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Shawn Mendes (born Shawn Peter Raul Mendes; August 8, 1998 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. After posting a series of his cover versions to various video-sharing sites, Mendes earned a dedicated following of viewers. His mix of Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber's styles also appealed to Island Records, who signed Mendes in 2014. That same year they released the then-15-year-old's debut single, "Life of the Party." American radio initially ignored it Read more on Last.fm more...
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Oneohtrix Point Never / The Station
The music of Brooklyn-based Daniel Lopatin. I wasn't going to include this tune.....but I couldn't not. There is something so bizarrely beautiful and sonically disorienting. Sounds amazing on headphones. I read someone who described this as "depressed electro-squiggle churn" That about captures it. I know some of you may be scratching your head about this one - not usually my thing. But......it made the cut.
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Daniel Lopatin (born 25 July 1982), best known by the recording alias Oneohtrix Point Never, is an American experimental musician, composer, and producer based in Brooklyn. He began releasing electronic recordings under the OPN moniker in 2007, and received early acclaim in 2009 for the compilation Rifts. In subsequent years, he released albums such as Replica (2011) and R Plus Seven (2013) to critical praise and signed to British label Warp, while also taking part in a number of side-projects, collaborations, and film scores. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Eric Church / Drowning Man
Perhaps another palette cleanser after OPN....and gotta have one country tune in a mix. What can I say - i love the harmonies.
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Eric Church is an American country music singer and songwriter. Church has released five studio albums and two live albums for Capitol Records Nashville with his 6th studio album, Desperate Man, due to be released on October 5, 2018. Church has released 28 singles and been featured on four other songs, of which 10 have charted within the Top 5 of Hot Country Songs and/or Country Airplay with eight singles going to #1. Read more on Last.fm more...
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