December 20, 2024

It’s the end of the year, things are winding down. Some of you may be planning to travel in a bit, see family, celebrate the holidays in style! If you have a long commute or flight ahead of you, then let me provide you with some musical entertainment! It’s that time of year again for “The Master Playlist” mixtape, 2024 addition! It’s a combination of all 7 volumes of my mixes from this year, PLUS bonus tracks, listed below, which pretty much make up a volume 8.

When I look back on all the great music from this year, I was so humbled and in awe of my friends that are out there, writing and sharing great songs. My buddy Harris with his bands Name Brand Safe and Hepburn. Sam Hoyos with Playing Dead. Clint Carney with System Syn.

My favorite new band discoveries were Beach Weather, fellow Long Islanders gursday, Royel Otis. There were long overdue welcome returns from Poe, Sky Ferreira, Chantal Claret, Body Count, and The Cure! Blown away by new female artists like Nilufer Yanya, Alisa Xayalith (formerly of The Naked and Famous), and Lauren Mayberry (whose solo debut I like even more than her work with CHVRCHES). I kicked off the year with a deep dive into the music of Mark Lanegan! Listening to him is like drinking whiskey on a cold night! So if you start at the beginning and listen to the entire thing, you’ve got 12 hours of music to enjoy. 195 songs total! Hope you discover at least one new thing here.

2024, Vol 1: Bent Not Broken – First Mixtape of the Year! (Posted 2/3/2024)

“Maybe you’ve got to break me to see what I’m made of…”

That lyric from the Middle Kids single “Bend” is what started out as the main inspiration behind my first mix of the new year. I usually build these playlists off of one song of “new discoveries.” But then, during the Christmas break, I read drummer Barrett Martin’s latest book, followed by Mark Lanegan’s “Sing Backwards and Weep” and “Devil In A Coma,” and that set me off on a deep dive back into the Screaming Trees music. So, that ended up becoming the foundation for these set of songs. Brand new tunes, sprinkled with the heart, soul, and voice of Mark Lanegan.

The first new single from Billy Joel in 17 years. A pair of tunes from Michael C. Hall’s band (fully channeling Bowie), Princess Goes. The surprising returns of KMFDM and James! A new, long lost song from Sunny Day Real Estate. A metal song about how much the STAR WARS sequels sucked. AL1CE covering A Perfect Circle! New music from The Smile, Chealsea Wolfe, Dean Lewis, Explosions In The Sky, NewDad, HELIUM’s Mary Timony. A beautiful little romantic ditty by Durry. And so much more.

I couldn’t help but follow a Screaming Trees song with Liam Gallagher, especially after reading about their beef in Lanagen’s memoir.

This collection, like all the previous mixes, is intended to take you on a journey. For those listening, for those still paying attention, and those that are still here, I hope you enjoy the ride.

1. Turn The Lights Back On by Billy Joel
2. Nearly Lost You by Screaming Trees
3. Bend by Middle Kids
4. Let It Go by Princess Goes
5. Perfect by Mannequin Pussy
6. Childhood Died by Lost Souls
7. Kool-Aid by Bring Me The Horizon
8. The Hollow by AL1CE
9. Let Go by KMFDM
10. I Don’t Know Anything by Mad Season
11. Goodbye To Beauty by Mark Lanegan Band
12. Loved Ones by Explosions In The Sky
13. Dying Days by Screaming Trees
14. Just Another Rainbow by Liam Gallagher & John Squire
15. Dominoes by Mary Timony
16. Nightmares by NewDad
17. Terrible News by Middle Kids
18. Bubble of My Gum by Durry
19. Hit The City by Mark Lanegan featuring PJ Harvey
20. Fire! by Alan Walker, JVKE & YUQI
21. Is This Love by James
22. St Louis Elegy by Mark Lanegan Band
23. Friend Of A Friend by The Smile
24. Novum Vetus by Sunny Day Real Estate
25. Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Mark Lanegan
26. Every Unpleasant Emotion by Lifesick
27. Tunnel Lights by Chelsea Wolfe
28. Jetpack by Princess Goes
29. Traveler by Screaming Trees

2024, Vol 2: All We Have Is Here and Now (Posted 3/7/2024)

It’s early March, and there’s already been enough great music to warrant the 2nd mixtape of the year!

Welcome returns from: Pearl Jam, James, Norah Jones, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Ministry, Bayside.

New music from: St. Vincent, Dean Lewis, Kings Of Leon, Vampire Weekend.

Covers galore! Paramore tackling Talking Heads, Pierce The Veil doing a killer Radiohead cover, PAW covering Nirvana, Front Line Assembly with Jimmy Urine covering Falco!

I don’t think anyone writes love ballads as beautifully as Susie Suh. The songs by Principe Valentine and Allie X, both new discoveries for me, feel straight out of a John Hughes movie or an 80’s goth club. It’s great to hear an unearthed Linkin Park tune.

And the title of this mix comes from the new Beth Gibbons (of Portishead) single, “Floating On A Moment,” which ends with the lyric “all we have is here and now, all going nowhere.” Crank it, enjoy, discover something new!

30. Dark Matter by Pearl Jam
31. Burning Down The House by Paramore
32. Castaway by Bayside
33. School by PAW
34. Friendly Fire by Linkin Park
35. Karma Police by Pierce The Veil
36. Under Our Pillows by The Smile
37. Broken Man by St. Vincent
38. Our World by James
39. I Do by Susie Suh
40. Running by Norah Jones
41. Floating on a Moment by Beth Gibbons
42. Memories by Dean Lewis
43. Who I Am by Alan Walker, Putri Ariani & Peder Elias
44. Coffee by Hinds
45. Something New by Principe Valentine
46. jamcod by The Jesus and Mary Chain
47. Weird World by Allie X
48. Mustang by Kings of Leon
49. Capricorn by Vampire Weekend
50. Danzig With Myself by The Dandy Warhols featuring Black Francis
51. Rock Me Amadeus by Front Line Assembly featuring Jimmy Urine
52. B.D.E. by Ministry
53. Idle Hands by Kerry King

2024, Vol. 3: The Truth Is Out There (Posted 5/14/2024)

I don’t know if anyone out there cares about the mixes I make, but it doesn’t really matter. For me, they are perfect time capsules; digital soundtracks, to very specific moments in time. I was just re-listening to the master playlist that collected all my mixes from 2021 and it brought back a lot of sensory memories, good and bad, from a time that wasn’t that long ago, yet feels like it was a decade back.

That said, I always test the mixes out before I publish them, and I can say with confidence this one features some pretty great tunes. AND an unintentional theme. I think most of us are sick of the “complainers.” The perpetually, supposedly infallible finger-pointers (aka frauds and imposters) out there. So this mix started with Infinity Song’s “Hater’s Anthem,” (which perfectly captures what these people are really like) and grew from there. With song titles like: Life Is A F-ing Miracle, Philosophy, Gaslight, I Came To See The Wreck, Keep Going, and so forth… This one definitely tells more of a story than my previous mixes and it all formed organically. And you know what? The Truth Is Out There.

It also doesn’t get much better than that last home stretch with Vertigo (the new single from LUSH frontwoman Miki Berenyi), going into new Pearl Jam, a rare Mark Lanegan collaboration with Warpaint and Martina Topley Bird I just discovered, Trent & Atticus for Challengers and finally Thom Yorke.

54. Blackbird by Beyonce
55. In Circles (Diary – At London Bridge Studios) by Sunny Day Real Estate
56. Running by Pearl Jam
57. Life Is A F*****g Miracle by James
58. Hater’s Anthem by Infinity Song
59. Philosophy by Middle Kids
60. Gaslight by Travis
61. I Came To See The Wreck by Ride
62. Keep Going by Guster
63. Teenagers Forever by Durry
64. Ok? Ok!? Ok? Ok! by Mannequin Pussy
65. Pheurton Skeurto (Diary – At London Bridge Studios) by Sunny Day Real Estate
66. Application For Release From The Dream by Thursday
67. But You Said by Plutocracy Planet featuring onelinedrawing
68. QWERTY by LINKIN PARK
69. Fallout by Sleep Theory
70. Hidden Agenda by Manuela
71. Change Shapes by Lauren Mayberry
72. This Is Nowhere by The Black Keys
73. Wild God by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
74. I Know Why by Daniel Davies
75. Shuttle Astronaut by Firewoodisland
76. Baby I’m the Wolf by Ha Vay
77. Guy I Used To Be by Lawrence
78. Team Side by Alan Walker & Sofiloud
79. Vertigo by Miki Berenyi Trio
80. Metamorphosis by Infinity Song
81. Won’t Tell by Pearl Jam
82. Crystalised by Martina Topley Bird featuring Mark Lanegan
83. Compress / Repress (MIXED) by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
84. Knife Edge by Thom Yorke

2024, Vol. 4: You Just Want Attention (Posted 7/30/2024)

New mix! And I named it after a song that my friend Erika Smith introduced me to called “Attention” by Charlie Puth, because… well, it seems a lot of people these last few years really want attention!

New discoveries include Nilufer Yanya, The Beaches, Justice, Grimson. New singles from my friends in Playing Dead & AL1CE. Welcome returns from Bright Eyes, The Jesus Lizard, Phantom Planet.

I had to include a track from BudDihKuh (aka my Pike Project band mate Kyle Arneson) and former fellow Amoebite Rona Rapadas.

Oh, and I already had the Ruth B and Dean Lewis duet 28 on my previous mix, but I feel like it got lost in the shuffle, and so I’m opening this mix with that! ENJOY!

85. 28 by Ruth B & Dean Lewis
86. The Algorithm by Puscifer
87. Attention by Charlie Puth
88. Like I Say (I runaway) by Nilufer Yanya
89. Welcome To The Show by BuhDihKuh featuring Galen Aamot
90. You Cant Say No by Playing Dead
91. Bells and Whistles by Bright Eyes
92. Drive On by Phantom Planet
93. All I Ever Wanted by Dean Lewis
94. Spent The Day in Bed by Morrissey
95. Everything Is Boring by The Beaches
96. Generator by Justice
97. Into You by Daniel Davies
98. Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies
99. Me and You by AL1CE
100. Our Blood by Rona Rapadas
101. Broken Thread (Love Theme from TOUCH) by Hogni
102. Starburster by Fontaines D.C.
103. Field of Vision by Laika Songs featuring onelinedrawing
104. Ephemeral by Sons Of Alpha Centauri
105. Hide & Seek by The Jesus Lizard
106. Chimney Sweeper by Grimson
107. Like A Stone by Atreyu

2024, Vol. 5: Every Night I Burn (Posted 9/16/2024)

108. X-Men ’97 Theme by The Newton Brothers
109. Raise The Red Flag by Marilyn Manson
110. F**k What You Heard by Body Count
111. Say My Name by Cassyette
112. Fix by BONES UK
113. War Dreams Of Itself by The Smashing Pumpkins
114. Imminent Redemption by Jane’s Addiction
115. On The Block by Pye Corner Audio
116. Roses by Alisa Xayalith
117. Rest by Dean Lewis and Sasha Alex Sloan
118. Rainbow Overpass by Bright Eyes and Alex Orange Drink
119. Falling Apart by Playing Dead
120. Drown (Waves Mix) by AL1CE
121. Zero Sum by The Smile
122. Tears by Julia Wu
123. Heart-Shaped Box by Marcin
124. Crystal Breath by Kim Deal
125. Heard A Train by Mark Lanegan
126. Cherry Pie by Fazerdaze
127. As The Waters Cover The Sea by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
128. Chronos by Pye Corner Audio
129. The Emptiness Machine by LINKIN PARK
130. The Crow (In Memory Of B.L.) by Life Of Agony
131. Burn by Corvyx
132. Burn by The Cure

2024, Vol. 6: With Friends Like These… (Posted 10/22/2024)

There’s always one song or artist that usually lights the spark of inspiration for every mix I make, and becomes the foundation for what I’m about to share. In this case, it was two. The first; while on my recent visit back to New York, I was driving around with a friend that still listens to terrestrial radio. A cover version of The Cranberries “Linger” came on performed by Royel Otis, whom up until that point I’d never heard of. It immediately gave me a new-found sense of appreciation for this beautiful, beautiful song that I’d always liked, but never fully loved until hearing this reinterpretation. I knew it would have to be the opener for my next mix.

The second inspiration came in mid-September when I reconnected with my high school buddy Harrison Schoenfarber here in LA for dinner. It dawned on me we probably hadn’t seen each other for over 20 years at this point, but we grew up in the same circle of musician friends in our most formative years. I was familiar with his post-high school band Hepburn, who were pretty awesome. But I had no idea that back in 2012, he had made an album under the moniker of Name Brand Safe, with a friend he was helping go through a difficult divorce. Much in the same way that Christian James Hand had helped me make the Pike Project album as a way to cope with grief. The next day when I listened to this album, “Celebrate Your Wounds,” I was blown away beyond words. I couldn’t believe this guy I went to high school with had written such a beautiful album, which is now, literally, among one of my all time favorite albums. Especially the two tracks “Don’t Look Back” and “Let Go,” which are more relevant to me now than ever! So, thank you, Harris. Ever since our meet up, he’s been cranking on a new album’s worth of stuff and posting it online, and it’s GREAT. And it’s inspired me to finally start hashing out the next Pike Project album, whatever that might be.

So, that’s the foundation for “With Friends Like These…” which is a title that also came to me out of the ether, and felt perfect. This features new tunes by my friends in Playing Dead and Skyhill, as well as The Cure, Jane’s Addiction, Mogwai, Dean Lewis, Anthony Raneri of Bayside. Covers galore with Willie Nelson playing Flaming Lips, Sponge playing Oasis! The All-American Rejects playing Harvey Danger. New discoveries like gursday, a Long Island band recommended to me by Sam Hoyas. And a Bob Moses song “Broken Belief,” which I heard on an episode of THE PENGUIN of all places!

A few older songs round this out because of their personal significance with me while putting this together; Taking Back Sunday’s “Faith (When I Let You Down)” and the mighty John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion),” which could be the one break-down from Christian James Hand that I’ve listened to the most. I know I say this every time, but it’s because I truly believe it… this is my best mix yet!

RE: the cover image, I just googled the phrase “With Friends Like These,” and it brought me to this artwork created by Michael Whelan for the Alan Dean Foster book of the same name. Synchronicity!

Without further ado, I give you… With Friends Like These

133. Linger by Royel Otis
134. High Road by Anthony Raneri
135. We Dont Want The Same by Playing Dead
136. Let Go by Name Brand Safe
137. Supersonic by Sponge
138. Flagpole Sitta by The All-American Rejects
139. Broken Belief by Bob Moses
140. God Gets You Back by Mogwai
141. Alone by The Cure
142. Ghost Light by Skyhill (featuring Maiah Wynne)
143. Black Hole Heart by 1000 Years (featuring System Syn)
144. Empire by Dean Lewis
145. don’t stop by gursday
146. Do You Realize?? by Willie Nelson
147. Boys & Girls by Alisa Xayalith
148. True Love by Janes Addiction
149. Don’t Look Back by Name Brand Safe
150. Faith (When I Let You Down) by Taking Back Sunday
151. St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion) by John Parr

2024, Vol.7: A Work In Progress (Posted 11/20/2024)

152. Safety in Numbers by Hepburn
153. Over Each Other by Linkin Park
154. Disease by Lady Gaga
155. Drone:Nodrone by The Cure
156. High In Low Places by Beach Weather
157. Interstate Love Song by Sponge
158. Something In The Air by Lauren Mayberry
159. (Isn’t It) Obvious by Alessia Cara
160. People Watching by Sam Fender
161. APT. by ROSE & Bruno Mars
162. Fix You by Dean Lewis & Daniel Seavey
163. Lion Rumpus by Mogwai
164. stupid by gursday
165. Ordinary Love by Alisa Xayalith
166. Merry Mary Marry Me by Royel Otis
167. Paperface by Weezer
168. me, without you by Evan Honer
169. Your F***n’ Head Split (Instrumental) by Necro
170. How Do You Feel? by Chantal Claret
171. Champagne Supernova by Middle Kids
172. Love Will Tear Us Apart by PJ Harvey & Tim Phillips
173. Let the Flowers Grow by Peter Murphy & Boy George
174. And Nothing Is Forever by The Cure

BONUS TRACKS

175. December 25th by Charlie Puth
176. Coffee by a!ka
177. Crocodile Tears by Lauren Mayberry
178. Fake Nice by Beach Weather
179. pleased to be here by gursday
180. Girl From North Country by Timothee Chalamet & Monica Barbaro
181. Middle of Love by Picture This (with Dean Lewis)
182. Let It Burn by FIG
183. Different Light by Alisa Xayalith
184. This Road (The Mirror Is A Trap) by Poe
185. Leash by Sky Ferreira
186. Dusk Till Dawn by ZAYN (featuring Sia)
187. Avalon by Alan Walker & Anne Gudrun
188. Lower Forms by System Syn
189. Burn The Tyrants by Fake Figures
190. The People’s Microphone by Shellac
191. Crooked Heart by Teardrops
192. Whiplash by Architects
193. Tomorrow by The Fluid
194. White Bikes by Thursday
195. A Genesis Christmas by Wolfie’s Just Fine