TheEndlessMix

A blog centered around mixes, curation and all things human about music.

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Iggy Pop’s new album, Post Pop Depression is out today! Backed by Josh Homme, Matt Helders and Dean Fertita, it’s a dark, gloomy album, grinding along to Josh’s guitar. The lead single for the album, Gardenia, is, in true Iggy fashion, about dom/sub sex with his wife, and his supergroup backing band get appropriately sleazy to go with it. Josh Homme is a master of the slow burning, sexy guitar lick (see Make It Wit Chu) so it’s no surprise that he compliments Iggy the way he does. Considering it might be the punk legend’s final album, he’s certainly seems to be determined to go out with a bang.

As an aside, the title of the album came about because Homme, Helders and Fertita all found themselves missing Iggy after the recording sessions had finished.

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Kendrick Lamar’s incendiary, vital To Pimp A Butterfly practically left people’s eardrums in tatters last year, lauded the world over as not just one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made, but one of the most culturally significant pieces of music ever crafted. And they’re not wrong.

For all its importance in the Black Lives Matter movement and as a statement of what it is to be a 21st century African-American, it still has some unmatchable grooves on it. Lamar’s bass player, Thundercat, locks into one of those inimitable grooves here on this ode to the Roots protagonist, Kunta Kinte, full of braggadocio and swagger from an imperious Lamar, the Greatest Rapper Alive Right Now(TM).

By the time you hear the next pop, The Funk shall be within you. 

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The Smashing Pumpkin’s heartfelt ode to an almost-broken relationship is taken straight out of the “whooshing guitar pop” drawer, right next to 1979 and Tonight, Tonight. Whilst it may not have been given top billing on this album it’s just as wistfully beautiful as those two slices of nostalgia. Corgan’s delivery on the final verse is certainly that of a man about to lose everything he never wanted to lose.

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In the age of Tinder, liberated youth and one night stands, love is more temporary than it’s ever been; just look at the big recent hits - Blank Space knows the relationship in question will burn out; Coldplay might be having the Adventure of a Lifetime, but that won’t last forever. In this world, Carly Rae Jepsen is the ultimate throwback, the sole believer in hedonistic, forever love. And whilst this approach may not be what the buying public want (E•MO•TION only sold 16,153 copies in its first week in the US), it certainly makes for some superb ‘80s nostalgia. 

All That is a perfect love ballad, classily handled by Ariel Rechtshaid - whose drum and synth work throughout the album is pulled right out of the top drawer, especially the bombastic breakdown in Making the Most of the Night - and beautifully crooned by Jepsen. The crowning moment is the lead into that final chorus; Carly Rae’s voice descends from a heavenly falsetto as the strings fall into place and the song whooshes back into focus. Lovely stuff.

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If there’s one thing Beach Slang prove - and they prove quite a few things, actually - it’s that being cool isn’t cool. A debut album from a band fronted by a man in his mid-forties, singing about teenage lust and love with loud guitars and louder emotions sounds like a recipe for complete critical derision. In reality, however, it’s a recipe for feeling like you’re 17 again (ignore the Zac Efron memories, please). Beach Slang hit the sweetspot between big-hearted emotion and raucous guitars so well that it’s a wonder it’s taken James Alex this long to taste success. Long may it continue.

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Mancunian swagger and loud, crashing guitars might be the first things you associate with mid-90s Oasis but the elder Gallagher was also capable of writing some lovelorn and wistful pop songs. This is what it sounds like when they stop posturing and start thinking.

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Brighton due Royal Blood are set to return with a new album this year; they’ve already previewed a new track, Hook, Line & Sinker, at Reading festival last summer. This track, from their eponymous debut, has a beautiful, slow-burning industrial riff to it that builds up to their usual thrashing riffs by the end. Lots of pressure on this next album.

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Marmozets are a brilliant, brutal band of two sets of siblings from Yorkshire and vocalist Becca Macintyre has enough post-punk energy for every single one of you. Track 2 from their debut LP The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets is their hookiest tune, finding Macintyre screaming bloody murder at the man who tore her life apart, desperately asking why he did it. If you’ve ever wondered what would have happened if Avril Lavigne and Royal Blood jumped in the studio together, here’s your answer.

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Monday Mixtape (Wk 4) | Bowie

RIP Starman.

1. Five Years 2. Lazarus 3. Changes 4. Rebel Rebel 5. Life On Mars? 6. Drive-In Saturday 7. Heroes

If you have any suggestions for the theme of next week’s Monday Mixtape then send them in!

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Justin Vernon shacked up in a cabin in the woods to record this album, and that's perhaps why this record sounds so much better if listened to alone. Isolation sounds best in isolation.

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Raucous indie-boys Palma Violets may not have released their greatest album last year (Danger in the Club), but the lead single from their debut album is a whirlwind of hedonistic pub-rock. Chili Jesson wails out the chorus whilst the rest of the Palmas thrash around and just sound like they’re having fun. 

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David Bowie releases his new album, Blackstar today(!!) and this is where it all kicked off for the Thin White Duke. This song propelled him to success after the BBC used it as the theme music to the Apollo 11 moon landing. 47 years later and he’s still obsessed with the stars.

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Music Tag

It’s Friday and I feel like I’m watching paint dry at work so please indulge me, this seems like fun.

Pick ten artists that you love before reading the questions.

Frank Turner

Bruce Springsteen

David Bowie

Oasis

Courtney Barnett

The Beatles

Jack White

Arctic Monkeys

Nirvana

The War On Drugs

What was the first song you heard by 6?

Jesus, the first Beatles song I heard? The first one I remember hearing and thinking “wow, who the fuck are The Beatles?” was Come Together. It speaks absolute volumes that a song that’s been around since 1969 can sound nothing like anything my younger self had ever heard before.

What’s your favorite song by 8?

Has to be From the Ritz to the Rubble from their first album. It may not be their most accomplished or best written song but the joy of practically rapping the opening lyrics and nailing them is basically unrivaled.

What impact as 1 had on your life?

Immeasurable. I first listened to him when I was about 12 (introduced by a friend) and it was at that moment, listening to I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous, that I first got music. Some artists just resonate with people and Frank’s mine. 

What are your favorite lyrics by 5?

Courtney Barnett is the greatest lyricist of her generation. Fact. There are too many to pick a proper proper favourite but I’ll pick the lyric from the song that propelled her to fame, Avant Gardener: “the paramedic thinks I’m clever ‘cause I play guitar/I think she’s clever ‘cause she stops people dying.” Also anything from the song Depreston. Or Pedestrian At Best.

How many times have you seen 4 live?

Unfortunately never, but mark my words: when the brothers Gallagher run out of cash and need a reunion, I’ll be the first in line.

What is your favorite song by 7?

I’m not gonna cheat and pick a White Stripes song here. Would You Fight For My Love?

Is there any song by 5 that you find sad?

Quite a few. Anonymous Club always sounds sad but actually has pretty heartwarming lyrics; I’ve always wanted to be part of an Anonymous Club. Small Poppies is sad on a ‘what have we done to the world?’ level but Depreston knocks me for six every time. 

What’s your favorite song by 3?

Oh God. Favourite Bowie song? Uhhh, Five Years? Drive-In Saturday? The Jean Genie? Rock ‘n Roll Suicide? Just all of them really.

When did you first get into 3?

When I was about 16 a friend recommended I listened to Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I was a little skeptical at first - “what? David Bowie? Didn’t he release those really awful albums in the ‘90s?” - but Oh. My. God. It’s simply the greatest album of all time. Blew my little mind out the back of my head.

How did you get into 9?

God, I don’t know. Nirvana are just everywhere aren’t they? What with them being The Only Grunge Band Ever(TM). I guess I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit and went from there.

What’s your favorite song by 2?

I’m On Fire. That song means my girlfriend to me. It’s also the greatest love song ever written.

How many times have you seen 8 live?

Again, not-a-once. Gutted I didn’t go to the Finsbury Park shows too.

What’s a good memory concerning 9?

Perfecting the bassline to Lounge Act. I can’t tell you how long I spent learning that song but when I did I finally felt like I was actually good at playing bass guitar.

Is there a song by 10 that makes you sad?

I can’t say I’ve ever been overtly aware of Adam Granduciel’s lyrics because of the sheer amount of effects and reverb he uses on his voice. Suffering is a sad song, as is Lost In The Dream, but I mainly associate The War On Drugs with happier songs.

What’s your favorite song by 1?

I could probably make an entire album of my favourite Frank Turner songs but I’ll plump for sheer emotional relatability and say Song For Josh, which is about his great friend Josh Burdette committing suicide. One of my best friends, also called Josh, attempted to take his own life about 3 years prior to the release of this song. Even still, my first listen to this track hit me like a train. Tears on the back of the bus, contemplating life without one of my oldest friends. The works. I’m sad now.

Why are you doing this?

As mentioned above, to alleviate the boredom that comes with the first Friday back at work after the New Year. Only 7 hours to go now.

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Before they were the biggest stadium-rock band in the world, before Dave Grohl was the Nicest Man In Rock(TM) and before every song they wrote followed the exact same radio-rock formula the Foo Fighters released this absolute gem of a track from their second album. The guitars sigh as Grohl laments and waits, before exploding in exaltation come the chorus. 

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Arguably the most technically accomplished, innovative bands to have ever graced us (and now you can finally stream them! Welcome to the 21st Century guys!) but sometimes the simple things are most pleasurable. A straight-up rock ‘n roller written by Paul. 

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Blink-182 with the ultimate sad teen song. Whiny American accents, slow paced and ham-fisted lyrics. So why do I love this song so much?

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Springsteen’s husky, understated vocal here is far different from the full-lunged bellow that made him famous on Born To Run and this song is brilliant for that. Angsty, needy and jaded, these sorts of songs are why The Boss isn’t even in the same league as other ‘70s rock singers.