Green Mixtape 9: March

March is an intense month in the Eury clan. The GHS yearbook final deadline is March 26, and I'm trying to finish writing my thesis for NCF by April 1st. Not only that, but I got sick for a while, so life  has been a bit wild. Every once in a while I get to a place where I don't have the energy to find new music and the music I've been listening to has been the same 300 songs for the past few months and so I get into a musical rut of wanting new music but not being able to find something I truly like. So I got stuck there for a week or two, but I always manage to get out! But also, my dad and sister went off to visit LA to be there for the filming of the series finale of The Big Bang Theory, so it's just been a busy month all around, and that's why are writing is a bit sparse about the music.

Wayne:

American Guilt by Unknown Mortal Orchestra

American Guilt by Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I've had this on a favorites playlist for a long time, but didn't usually think about it for green mixtape, but since you like a bit of crunchy distorted rock (probably more than my usual chill choices) I think it's a safe addition. I'm not sure exactly why I like this song. The driving force of the beat and guitar riff has a led zeppelin vibe. I also like the pseudo-quiet outtro...nice contrast. I like the voice, even though its heavily processed. Maybe that's why I like it. Just an all around good rocker.


Sofia: Hahaha crunchy distorted rock. Yeah I guess I do like that. And that totally is what this song is! Yeah, definitely a safe addition. I do like this. Not necessarily something I'm gonna listen to on repeat, but it's a solid choice. Good rocky vibe.

I’d Love To Change The World by Jetta & Matsubs

You’re always the one who comes up with the interesting covers of songs, so when I re-discovered this song in one of my playlists, I thought it would be a fun one to add. I actually had to look up the original because I couldn’t remember who wrote it and how it sounded, whereas I’ve listened to this one a number of time. I really like Jetta’s voice. I’d originally gotten her songs Start a Riot and Feels Like Coming Home back in 2014 free off of iTunes or Google play. I really liked Feels Like, but I’d forgotten about her for a long while, so just recently started listening to the rest of her stuff. Then I heard this song in 2017 and was really into it. Apparently she’s come out with some songs in the past year, my favorite of her new songs is Losing Control. I almost decided to make it my choice for our playlist. It’s always great when covers sound completely different than their originals, and this song definitely fulfills that. Plus, the lyrics are great, so I’m glad they could become appreciated by more people through this cover. It has a very traditional build and drop like in a lot of electronic music, indicative of it coming out a few years ago when every electronic song was about the drop. I think it just has a great funk to the beat. I haven’t listened to Matsubs outside of the two songs they’ve done with Jetta, but I like both songs that they’ve done together (the other song is Take It Easy).

Wayne: I totally agree that covers should be new interpretations, not faithful reproductions. Jetta was good. The one on outtakes was more meh, but the one on green is groovy.

Sofia: Interesting. I wasn't sure which one you would like more.

Wayne:

Nemesis by The Motet 

I suppose it's a little bit of a cheat to include this one since we both heard it at the same time, in my classroom. But in the interest of moving things along, I'll submit it. Nice little funky instrumental that makes you move. Funny, soon after this one played, another little funky instrumental played, and when I went to mark it as liked, I saw "Wings." Huh? Really? Wings? Like, Paul Mccartney Wings? Yep. It wasn't good enough to make it my green submission, but I'll throw it in outtakes.

Sofia: Nah cheat whatever, I'm glad you put it on. It's definitly a fun song! It was a good recommendation for us lol. Wow, I totally don't recognize this wings song lol great funky vibe.

Wayne: I didn't recognize it either. Off of London Town, one of the Wings albums I never got around to owning.

Sofia:

Sunflower by Vampire Weekend ft. Steve Lacy

Vampire Weekend is back! After like 6 years of being on hiatus when one of the members left? I always enjoyed VW but I didn’t like them enough to be super broken up about them being on hiatus. They popped up on my spotify because of their new singles, and I quite like this one. The bass line totally reminds me of Vulfpeck, I love it. It’s such a sweet and simple song, I really enjoy all the chromatics. Plus the dubadubaduh is just so fun and catchy. Great harmonies. All-around good song- if a 6 year break is what they needed to be able to come up with some good stuff again, I’m totally fine with that. I don’t remember anything from the last album they came out with before their hiatus, whereas Vampire Weekend and Contra were both really great. Not all bands are suppose to only be their band for the rest of their life, and that’s totally okay. I’d rather wait for a band and get some really good songs than just get a bunch of mediocre stuff that I don’t care about after a while. With this song they also came out with “Big Blue” and I really like that too. Sounds like a classic VW song. It’s great, no complaints. They have a kind of upbeat chill sound that just sounds like them. Harmony Hill is good too. I never went into March expecting Vampire Weekend, but I’m here for it.

Wayne: That's a great song. Very 60's British Invasion vibe. The dubadubadub is definitely very Vulfpeck! The slowdown is a nice touch.

Sofia: I knew you'd like it lol.

Wayne:

Come Together by Scary Pockets

We listened to scary pockets while you were here, but I hadn't put one on our mixtape, so here we go. Keeping with the funk theme.

Sofia:

Yeah, Scary Pockets is pretty fun, I'm glad you put them on our list. The way they cover songs keeps along with ensuring that covers are original representations rather than copies. And this song has a great chill funk vibe.