It's October Already
Hard to believe there's only two more months this year and thus two more mixtapes. By year's end I will have, all said and done, made 23 mixtapes in the past two years. It's been a really fulfilling project for me, and I'll absolutely be continuing it through next year (already have some fun contributors lined up and others very much in mind!). Who knows, maybe I can make it to 50, bundle em all in a book, and spend all my earnings on new records.
We can dream, can't we? Thanks for subscribing, as always. And thanks for listening. Very honestly means a lot.
And hey, if you like it, why not share the mix or this newsletter with a friend?
The Harvest Moon.
Created in collaboration with Bill Heidrich for solitude without loneliness, softness without sadness.
A few words from Bill:
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Hey everyone. How cool is this newsletter? Brady is the best and I’m honored to collaborate with him on this month’s playlist. I hope you enjoy it, because it’s been something of a personal project for me.
This month’s idea came from my own journey into self-reflection, self-awareness, and self-love, and I latched on to this idea based on a memory of mine - so late at night that it’s a coin flip as to whether it’s early morning or not. The party has come and gone, and everyone else went to bed hours ago. Buzzing no longer from the booze but with that midnight energy, sitting on a bench in front of a small lake, looking at the reflection of the moon on the water.
This moment of stillness and quiet contentment is what inspired this playlist. And I had a handful of songs in mind, but for the rest I had to go searching.
I thought it would be easier. I listen to a lot of chill beats, a lot of low volume indie and folk...you know, subdued stuff. And maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that it was all terribly sad? I mean, how many songs are about yearning and heartbreak? About the pain and not the peace of solitude? How few lyrics are focused on positive internal experience? I realized that someone who is experiencing the level of calm I’m looking for is probably content to not make a song about it.
But even the instrumentals had their challenges. How many relaxing chillhop beats to study to have a bit too much of the boom-bap? How many perfectly peaceful songs bring to mind a Sunday afternoon stroll, and not basking in a liminal twilight? There is a gleeful jauntiness to so many otherwise ideal songs that I wanted to avoid.
This space - self-love without the boisterous, fist-pumping joy; tenderness without that exquisite melancholy; an absence of movement without feeling weighed down; drifting wistfulness that allows me to find shapes in the clouds while keeping my feet on the ground; serenity without the transcendent annihilation of the self - this is the space I was looking for.
I'm really happy with what Brady and I found. We took some care to sculpt this into two 45-min sides, and it's my hope that when you reach the final track, you can feel the second wind that comes at the end of a long night just before the sun comes up.
I’m still looking for that space beyond the scope of this mix. If you have a song that fits this Bill, let me know. Or if you want to talk about this mix. Or other music. Or anything really.
This was fun.
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Love you all. Hope you enjoy!
Join Me: Watch Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
October 15th is Indigenous Peoples' Day, and I've wanted to watch this documentary for a long time, so I think I'll do that. It takes its name from the signature song of Link Wray, a legendary Indigenous artist.
I feel like people often talk about celebrating the cultural roots of certain types of folk music because it's easy to trace, simply because people often talk about it. Rock wouldn't be rock without the blues, of course. But there's so many other influences that go into making modern music what it is today.
I remember reading about the influence of Hawaiian guitar on country music. The direct path from there to weepy pedal steel blew me away.
My favorite kind of music to listen to is any genre of music produced through the lens of a strong folk tradition. I'm so excited to dive into the Native influence on rock music. Maybe you could watch it too, and we can talk about it.
RIYL: rock & roll, sweet licks, singing the praises of revolutionaries who don't get their proper due
Listen to Link Wray & the Wraymen's "Rumble".
Some Other Things Bill Loves
(that you might love too!)
Hollywood Handbook - I listen to two podcasts: this one, and their Pro Version. Ok, I listen to a bit more than that, but these are the shows I look forward to every week. I’ve often described this as a podcast about people who really don’t want to do a podcast. Many weeks you’ll hear a variation of the phrase “Have we hit 30min yet? Can we call it?” The show is infamously inaccessible, so there really isn’t a great “introduction” to it. But the flip side is you can start listening anywhere. That being said, the 2018 episode “Triumph at Comic-Con” is particularly memorable.
Peter Bence - "September" - This guy plays piano like no one I’ve ever seen. Like it’s a percussion instrument. Which, I suppose it is. He currently holds the Guinness World Record for being the “Fastest Piano Player”, and does a lot of amazing covers. And September is not far in the rearview, so enjoy.
Rett Madison & Brad Goodall - I’m going to cheat and recommend two artists here that deserve a much wider audience. Both are really talented songwriters, and both write particularly affecting lyrics. And I never pay attention to the lyrics. Rett Madison just released her first full-length album “Pin-Up Daddy” which I highly recommend. Brad Goodall is a member of the band Ona and doesn’t have any albums but the single of his I’d recommend is “Casa de Mel”.
Marlon Craft - The confidence. The depth of knowledge. The skill. The prolific output. Marlon Craft is kind of scary. I’m pushing 40 so naturally I think things were better back in the day, but this is especially true for me regarding hip hop. What a breath of fresh air Marlon Craft is. As I said, he is prolific - he is constantly releasing singles - but his freestyles are so good, they have their own Rap Genius pages. Here’s one from less than two weeks ago.