January 2023 Mixtape: Kiss Me While The Music Plays, Kiss Me While The World Decays
when you rock & roll with me, no one else I'd rather be
Kicking off a year of music mixes with a playlist full of covers, classics and new tunes. Thanks as always to those who first played the music I heard and had to Shazam or look up, mostly those KCRW DJs Raul Campos and Travis Holcombe. Here’s the playlist, follow, share & subscribe, and if you’re curious, enjoy the liner notes below (with bonus non-Spotify track at the end!)
Jan 2023 Mix: Kiss Me While The Music Plays, Kiss Me While The World Decays
1) Luna Luna, “Talk Too Much” - playlist opening songs are always hard. You have to grab the listener immediately, and you also have to keep them listening to the rest. Luna Luna’s insanely catchy, insanely lush “Talk Too Much” does both things while also, hopefully, getting you up and moving. “Keep it going, I’ll fall in love.” Well, that’s the hope, right?
2) Belle & Sebastian, “I Don’t Know What You See In Me” - If you weren’t up and dancing around for Luna Luna, you absolutely will be for Belle & Sebastian’s latest single, “I Don’t Know What You See In Me”. I defy you to listen to this track and not explode in glee. The infectiously happy track hides some of my favorite sad lyrics yet for a B&S song: “I don't know which way to be, I don't know what you see in me.”
3) Braxe & Falcon feat. Panda Bear, “Step By Step” - I believe it was KCRW DJ Travis Holcombe who said this was his favorite track of 2022, and the first time he played it I was obliged to agree. A great song for getting out of 2022 and into 2023, even if it’s one step at a time. “I found a reason to stay and then it faded away. And I'm already on my way out.”
4) De Lux, “New Summers (Jason Bentley Remix)” - Jason Bentley, formerly of MBE and host of METROPOLIS on KCRW delivers a fantastic remix of De Lux’s “New Summers” that I could listen to on repeat for hours. “Sun's down 'til the end of time, Now I'm always gonna feel like I'm in a bad dream” if all dreams were this bad, I’d never want to wake up.
5) Double Exposure, “Everyman (Dan Swindle Remix)” - another great remix of a song to get you up and moving (the first half of this playlist could double as a running/gym mix easily) especially when the lyrics themselves challenge you to remember that this is the only life we have, and its up to you what you do with it: “After all you're only sellin' nobody but yourself. In the end you have to answer to yourself and no one else.”
6) Art d’Ecco, “Nobody’s Home” - picking up where Double Exposure left off, “Nobody’s Home” kicks off with “If you stay at home then you won't go far, driving in circles you just get lost.” Dance like nobody’s home, indeed.
7) Cannons, “Fire For You” - Raul Campos played this during one of his sets on KCRW and I fell so hard for Cannons (as evidence by the fact they make THREE appearances on this playlist, aha.) Besides quasi-echoing Springsteen’s brilliant “I’m On Fire” (“I was on fire for you,”) it also has some of my favorite poignant lyrics, capturing that struggle between love and loss:
I know I'm being lied to
I just need some time to
Stop thinking about youMy heart just dropped
Thinking about you
My heart just stops
When I'm without you
8) Everything But The Girl, “Nothing Left To Lose” - Where the title for the playlist comes from, the new track from Everything But The Girl1 exploded across the airwaves when it debuted last month, and I know I’m not the only one excited for their return. “Kiss me while the world decays…”
9) Christine McVie, “Got A Hold On Me” - I don’t know why Christine McVie’s death last year hit me as hard as it did. Besides all of her incredible contributions to Fleetwood Mac’s catalog (“Little Lies”, “Everywhere”, “You Make Loving Fun”) she also has great solo tracks like this one, guaranteed to make you smile. “Ooh, I got a love, I got somebody, this love got a hold on me.”
10) Wham!, “Heartbeat” - Speaking of deaths I took incredibly hard, George Michael’s loss still feels incredibly tragic so many years later. What a talent, what a loss. I found a copy of MAKE IT BIG on vinyl at the end of last year at a record store, and it’s been in heavy rotation since. My favorite track on the album is “Everything She Wants” but I found myself drawn, lately, to “Heartbeat”: “It will end in tears.”
11) Nation of Language, “From The Hill” - This is one of those songs I heard over and over and Shazam’d every time I heard it. And then when I finally listened to it, found myself listening on repeat. “We're a long way from the easy days.”
12) Bruce Springsteen, “Nightshift” - “Marvin, he was a friend of mine…” Taken from the Boss’s latest solo endeavor, a collection of soul covers, this cover of The Commodore’s tribute to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson is probably the best song on the album, and definitely a great example of what Springsteen says the album is about, that is, a testament to legacy of the songs as well as a showcase for his voice and vocal talents. “Say you will sing your songs forevermore.”
13) Lake Street Dive, “Automatic” - The Pointer Sisters “Automatic” is such a great song, and this cover by Lake Street Dive manages to somehow stand apart and shine in it’s own way, as Lake Street Dive is known to do. “All of my systems are down, down down down…”
14) Pom Pom Squad, “Crimson + Clover” - In my opinion, Tommy James & The Shondell’s “Crimson & Clover2” is one of the greatest songs of all time. This cover was used so fucking perfectly in "Wildwood," episode 5 of Disney+’s “WILLOW," in one of the most romantic scenes I’ve seen on TV in a long, long time3. “Ah, now I don't hardly know her… But I think I could love her.” sighhhhhhhh
15) Cannons, “Golden” - Second Cannons track on this playlist, and this cover of Harry Styles “Golden” is insanely good. “I'm out of my head, and I know that you're scared because hearts get broken.”
16) Rogue Wave, “Modern Love” - Probably one of my favorite Bowie songs, Rogue Wave does what they are so good at when covering songs4, drawing Bowie’s song out while making it incredibly haunting. "Don't believe in modern love..."
17) David Bowie, “Rock & Roll With Me - Live” - taken from MOONAGE DAYDREAM, the acid trip of a Bowie documentary that was released last year. It’s not a secret I’m a fan of David Bowie (my cat is named after him) so I was really excited to get stoned and watch Brett Morgan’s “documentary/concert film” which I’m putting in quotes because I don’t known what you call it, except… it’s a trip. I never saw Bowie in concert, and I don’t know if that movie is the same as seeing him live, but, it was close enough. “I'm in tears, when you rock and roll with me.”
18) The Cranberries, “Go Your Own Way” - I heard this cover of Fleetwood Mac’s hit while in my local comic book store a while ago and it stuck. “If I could, baby I'd give you my world. How can I, when you won't take it from me?”
19) Cannons, “Dancing In The Dark” - Third and final Cannons song on this playlist, this cover of Springsteen’s hit is as dark and dreamy as it needs to be. “You can't start a fire, sittin' 'round cryin' over a broken heart.”
20) Allison Ponthier, “Hollywood Forever Cemetery” - I saw Allison perform this at Hollywood Forever Cemetery when she opened for Lord Huron in 2021, a dream show if ever there was one, and one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. “Long ago, you sold your soul to get played on the radio.”
21) Jade Jackson, “Multiple Choice” - I saw Jade Jackson last fall at Pappy & Harriets in Pioneertown5 (another perfect artist/show combo) and have been listening to her ever since. This one, about the choices we make and don’t, continues to stay in my head. “Should I follow my dreams or follow my heart? …How you've torn them both apart.”
22) Kelly Clarkson, “Happier Than Ever” - this may be the single best vocal performance of 2022, hands down. Kelly Clarkson’s cover of Billie Eilish’s hit goes above and beyond, as only Kelly Clarkson can do. It fucking rocks. Have I gone hoarse singing along in my car trying to hit and carry her note on "just fuckin' leave me alone"? Oh yeah. Multiple times. She changes a bit of the lyrics6 and takes some liberties, but still manages to make this one of the best breakup songs:
I don't relate to you
'Cause I'd never treat me this shitty
I get it, you hate this cityAnd I don't talk shit about you on the internet
Never told anyone anything bad
'Cause that shit's embarrassing, you were my everything
And all that you did was make me fuckin' sadSo don't waste the time I don't have
And don't try to make me feel bad
And, a bonus song not on Spotify, which you should throw in somewhere in the first half of this playlist: Late Nite Tuff Guy’s remix of Talking Heads classic “Burning Down The House" which is appropriately titled “Burning Down The Acid House” and available on Soundcloud here. It’s perfect.
See you back here next month for another mix.
Tracy Thorne’s 2018 song “Queen” is a song I listen to at least twice a week, and I am here for whatever EBTG unleashes on us.
The best cover I ever heard of “Crimson & Clover” was by Prince, during one of his shows at The Forum in Inglewood when he did his residency in 2011. I believe his version was something like 12 minutes long, but honestly, who knows; it was blistering and insane and gorgeous and it was Prince.
Seriously. The scene is so good, in a show that’s so good. “Cause I don’t want to have any adventures unless they’re with you.”
No stranger to great covers, Rogue Wave’s album of covers from 2017, “COVER ME,” is all gold, with a standout being their perfect cover of ZZ Tops “Sharp Dressed Man.”
Jade Jackson also has a fucking perfect cover of Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark”
The original lyrics of “I don't relate to you, no. 'Cause I'd never treat me this shitty. You made me hate this city” really hit me, as “you made me hate this city” is a feeling I go through every breakup, until I realize that Los Angeles will always be my home, no matter how much a breakup makes me want to leave it forever.