Boris – Live at Pyramid Scheme 8/13/16

August 17, 2016August 19, 2016 / David James / 3 Comments

Boris playing Just Abandoned Myself.

After years of waiting, I finally saw Boris live. It was incredible. It was exactly what I was hoping for. It changed my perception of a band that’s been a favorite for almost a decade. I now see Boris is completely new light.

Standing in the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, MI, I felt a blast-furnace heat that burned away any trace of skepticism I had about the power of live rock music. It’s been a long, long time since a band gave me such a revelatory experience.

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Luminous Path [mixtape]

August 11, 2016May 17, 2020 / David James / 7 Comments

This mixtape is about that warm glowing feeling you get when you dream about the right path in life. You see it materializing before you, and although it isn’t real yet, you’re filled with the light of understanding.

After this kind of dream, you wake with a newfound sense of purpose and optimism.

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Sade – Promise

August 8, 2016August 8, 2016 / David James / 1 Comment

I’m writing about the most soulful, beautiful album I’ve heard this year. It just happens to have been recorded over thirty years ago.

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Frank Ocean – Super Rich Kids

August 3, 2016August 3, 2016 / David James / Leave a comment

Frank Ocean is about to return with a followup to his landmark debut channel ORANGE, and I felt like I needed a reminder of why we’re all so excited. After all, it’s been four years. That’s an eternity in pop years, and even longer on the internet.

So I turned to the my favorite old song and looped it. There’s nothing like this type of tune.

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Blood Orange – Freetown Sound

August 2, 2016August 2, 2016 / David James / 1 Comment

Freetown Sound is one of the biggest surprises of 2016, and I’ve felt tongue-tied every time I listen. This album is a violent rush of pop mastery, the kind of cultural explosion that’s rarely matched with such slick and catchy production. It’s difficult to talk about.

What I do know is that Blood Orange has somehow conjured the urgency of Kendrick Lamar’s American dystopia and the defiant fantasia of Beyoncé’s Lemonade while sounding like no one but himself.

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Always You Wrestle Inside Me. Always You Will.

July 30, 2016July 30, 2016 / David James / Leave a comment

As I was mixing tracks tonight, I felt like writing down a bit of what was happening in my head. It’s a brief glimpse but it’s real. What follows is written chronologically.

This is what I said about the mix in question: “I’m trying to contextualize some of the jazz that leads me into modern stuff like techno, balearic, and vaporwave.”

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