Better in Headphones

Here we are at the end if another year, and I only made 3 mixes of new songs this year (plus 2 Bands editions). My output has fallen off of a cliff, sadly. I have to accept that I am not finding the time nor motivation to produce these as frequently as I'd like. In fact what has been happening more and more is I am not completing mixes before I already have enough new music for another mix, so by the time I go back to finish the first one, it has already gotten a little stale. So I am going to change the way I do this.Here is the deal from now on: instead of struggling to find time to produce mixes I am going to share an Apple Music playlist (I'll try to get Spotify running as well), and keep that updated throughout the year. Apple Music is the main reason for my drop in productivity, because I am really discovering all my new music through that nowadays. I highly recommend it. Here is a playlist for 2016, organized in a sort of decent-sounding order:Apple Music: BiH Songs 2016Spotify: BiH Songs 2016 (Coming soon, hopefully)I will come back here and provide new links for a 2017 playlist once I get a few tracks there worth hearing.So my general plan is for BiH to become a playlist each year, and I will still make mixes of bands to serve as a sort of 'best-of' for my favorite artists (I have a bunch of these in progress already) . And I will also do an annual mix of some of my favorite songs from that year. Here is this year's, which only includes a few favorites not heard on BiH mixes previously:BiH Favoritest Songs of the Year: 2016 feat. Communist Daughter, Animal Collective, pronoun, Seahawks, Morgan Delt, Tallest Man on Earth, David Bowie, Wye Oak, SHELLS, JapandroidsThis already feels so confusing, so let's summarize: BiH will now be annual playlists that I add to over time (and maybe subtract from if I get sick of a song or change my mind about it), an annual favorites mix, occasional bands mixes, and perhaps other mixes in between, but I am no longer making any promises on those.Thanks for listening. I really do love that BetterInHeadphones is a thing. Personally I have been really enjoying the 2016 playlist, and I hope you do as well.Until next year, all my best to everyone. xoxo

It seems these mixes are highlighting more and more well-known tracks. That's not necessarily  bad thing, but I used to mostly include obscure amazing tracks. I also used to have a lot more free time to listen to music. Alas, this one is still pretty damn great. The new Frank Ocean dropped this last weekend and you'll hear a few of my favorite tracks here. I saw the Church open for the Psychedelic Furs a month ago and their closing song, Miami, was the highlight of the night. Animal Collective remixed Bob Dylan (beautifully) for his birthday. Preoccupations, formerly Viet Cong, have a new album that is seriously soooooo good and the longest track on that also happens to be my favorite. I just heard this Animal Feeling track for the first time today (I try  to do this on every new mix: include a last-minute, great-sounding jam that I hope will stand the test of time, though sometimes I miss on these). Cardiknox has produced one of the best pop songs of 2016 IMO. I've had this Amber Quintero on a playlist for a while. And of course, The Avalanches. Duh. Great headphone songs, all. And great commute music.BiH 54 feat Frank Ocean, Amber Quintero, Bob Dylan (remixed by Animal Collective), Preoccupations, The Church, Cardiknox, Animal Feelings ft. Nomi Ruiz, The Avalanches

This one is a mix of slower electronic tracks that build to a wallop and slowly sort of fades ultimately into a 7 minute, mostly-acoustic little beauty to close it out. But if you listen, you'll hear that for yourself.Mostly new music, though I somehow missed this Kiln album a few years back and I've been listening to that a bit lately. But the new Holy Fuck, Deakin, the 1975, Rogue Wave and much more is represented here.I have been looking forward to this one. :-) I hope you enjoy it.BiH 53 feat. The 1975, Deakin, Kiln, Plastic Flowers, Holy Fuck, Dual Point, Cool Ghouls, Midday Veil, Bear Hands, Rogue Wave, Dustin Tebbutt

I guess this sort plays like more of a greatest hits for these guys really. But it is remarkable that they have so many hits. I never got into their albums overall, and even my favorite albums had lots of tracks I'd skip. But these guys produced more than just a lot of drama in the media. They made some incredible music. At least as hated as they are loved, Oasis made it difficult to ignore them. Here they are at what I consider their best.BiH Bands : Oasis

It's not that I don't want to publish more of these, it's just that I don't have enough time. But whatever. I complain about it every time, so I should just accept the new cadence and roll with it. I have made a few goes at BiH 52 over the last few months and it just never got off the ground. I think starting with this one, I am just going to be a bit less discriminating. We get what we get when we get it, and some will be better than others. Despite my efforts, BiH has always been this way. 5.5 years now.My other recent issue is Painting With, the new Animal Collective album. I haven't really needed to listen to anything else and it has been in steady rotation, daily. Oh and I need 4 of these tickets so hit me up if you have extras. Any at all... NM and I did catch them at the Fox in Oakland and it was pretty incredible. A mix of new and old material, mostly new. But I had never seen them perform Feels-era material before myself. This is a long tour so check them out if you can. Certainly one of the best bands out there right now by a long shot.Onto this mix, which does not include any Painting With songs because you should just listen to that album, and uncharacteristically only includes one song that I heard for the first time today. This is a healthy mix of a lot of different types of music. You'll dance, you'll cry, you'll trip out, you'll get down with your lady or your man (or both). I hope you enjoy it, and hope it was worth the wait.BiH 52 feat. Animal Collective, DIIV, LE, The Foxies, 16 Bit Lolitas, Brett, colourwaves, Memoryhouse, Abelard (remixed by Dream Fiend), Bows, The Album Leaf, AmritThanks yet again to Nic C. for the cover. Check out the rest of his work at instagram.com/ncour 

Hello everyone. My apologies for not having any new mixes in so long. But here is a nice mix from one of the best bands ever.The Smiths were not around for all that long, and I am confident that we will never see a reunion from these guys. Nowadays Coachella and other festivals pay millions of dollars to get bands back together and The Smiths are probably at the top of many most-wanted lists. It isn't ever going to happen. But we can still listen to their records, which are still amazing 30+ years later. For me it was The Queen is Dead. I was familiar with other songs before that but when I got that cassette, it didn't leave my player for weeks (and  I used to deliver pizza so I drove a lot). My friend PM and I spent over a week in NH listening to nothing but that album; I had just picked it up before our trip. We listened in the car, took the out tape and listened in the house, took it on the boat and listened there too. I made this a few weeks ago and I have listened to it many times. It has been awesome getting back into a band I loved so much when I was younger. I think I may make a few more nostalgic mixes soon. And maybe I'll even finish a mix of new music at some point too. But for now, I am going to let these gents speak for themselves.BiH Bands: The Smiths

2015 was personally a very busy year and I thus made the fewest BiH mixes in my 5+ year tenure as your humble music presenter. I hope to do better in 2016. But as a result there are a handful of songs on this mix that were among my favorites for the year but which never actually made it onto a BiH mix (granted, they are on some unreleased, unfinished mixes). I am not sure at this point if it makes sense to include them in future mixes or not. TBD.2015 was a pretty great year for music. Sadly I still have a boatload of unheard tracks in my iTunes for the year, but that's okay. I'll get to it eventually. I heard plenty of great new stuff this year. I also had the pleasure of seeing some of my favorite new artists at the Treasure Island Music Festival this year (The National, CHVRCHES, Panda Bear, Run the Jewels, many many more). I'll probably make the TIMF an annual thing. The lineup this year was pretty epic, and they have been in year's past as well. I suspect the future will be no different.I know this mix doesn't include as many unknown artists as last year's Favoritest Songs edition; I guess that has to do with me not hearing as much unknown music this year. I really should try to commit to hearing it all in 2016.We recently lost our dog for a few days, but we found her. That explains why I used the same cover for this edition as I did for 2014. I love this picture. We love our dog and it is great to have her back home, to say the least.BiH Favoritest Songs of the Year: 2015 feat. Deerhunter, Wild Nothing, Tame Impala, Panda Bear, Animal Collective,  Beach House, Gordi, Skylar Spence, Animal House, Transviolet, Tamaryn, Beach Baby, AKIINE (remixed by Niva), Adele

In 1998, Boards of Canada released Music Has the Right to Children, and it was the most original thing I had heard since I couldn't even tell you. And that is really ironic because there was nothing all that original about it. There wasn't anything there that Aphex Twin and many others hadn't touched on before. But somehow with their deeply nostalgic tones, analog synths, field recording samples, and modern beats, they evoked something personal and beautiful deep down within me (for seemingly everyone else who heard it as well). It was a brand new feeling, yet reminiscent of something almost forgotten: childhood. The album is peppered with samples of giggling children at play, and  song titles like Happy Cycling (not to mention the album's title), and even the album's images just brought me back to my childhood in the 1970's. It was like looking at an old photograph. Honestly, what does that? I suppose some books, and hearing songs that we loved when we were young. But this was new! The EP that followed much later, A Beautiful Place Out in the Country, furthered this. But they were never able to capture that greatness with subsequent albums, though who could possibly expect them to, or why would they have to? MHTRTC is not only the best BoC album, it is still one of the greatest albums ever made. That being said, there are only a few tracks from that album included here. That is one of those albums that really stands on its own and should be listened to start to finish to really understand it (it reminds me a bit of another of my all-time favorite albums, Unknown Pleasures; I love both of these albums but trying to pick out the 'best' songs is futile because it is the way they all fit together and form something greater than the sum the of their parts that makes them both so incredible).But all of the BoC stuff is at least good, and at best is absolutely sublime. Here is a sampler that spans much of their lengthy career. If you even remotely enjoy this, find the time to give Music Has the Right to Children a proper listen (no distractions, just you and that music) from start to finish.BiH Bands: Boards of Canada

It's been a while. My last new mix was published 3 months ago. My apologies. Life is a little hectic and I am not finding the time I used to to make these. I still get tons of new music, I just don't get to hear it. In fact, I still have a ton to sort through. But I am off work this whole week, and my wife is working most days so I hope to tackle the pile (though I just heard the new Adele and that may take up a lot of time...it's so good!).I feel like I have been working on this one forever. I have been listening to unfinished, rough versions of this for too long. I have another one close to completion which I expect to get to this week. I promise it will not be another 3 months.In other news, happy 5 year anniversary to BiH! I cannot believe it has been 5 years since I started this. It all started in an Apple Store Genius Room where I once worked and needed a soundtrack. Thanks PM and JB for the encouragement early on. Thanks to all the artists I have featured for the retweets over the years. Thanks to all the artists just for doing what you do, actually.Finally, a huge thanks to NC for letting me pillage his Instagram feed at instagram.com/ncour for BiH covers. This one also features his amazing work.BiH 51 feat. Grimes, Perils, Yung, Aaron, Conner Youngblood, Deerhunter, Andrei Eremin, Chad Valley, BARO, The Besnard Lakes, Dr. Quandary, Crescendo

I made a whole series of BiH Love mixes when I met my wife, before she was my wife, and I dismantled all but 1 and 5 for our Wedding Mix. And I published both along with BiH Wedding Day.  Tonight my wife is out at a concert that was supposed to be whatever but now I'm jealous because Spoon and St Vincent and Sheryl Crow and Neil Young are all playing (found that out today). I had an awesome night home alone with the kids so I wouldn't trade that for being at the show and seeing Spoon play 4 songs, but I listened to Love 4 and damn, it's really good. So here it is. I love my wife and love my family and this mix is the 4th in a series chronicling my love for them all. I made this a few years ago but since I am a) slow to finish BiH 51 (I'm working on it, along with 6 other mixes, a few of which will likely never be published) and b) it's really really good and has Billy Squier and New Order and the Psychedelic Furs and Til Tuesday and quite possibly my favorite mix ever (PM Dawn into George Michael), and more awesomeness... this needs to be heard. So here you go.BiH Love 4 feat songs that Shazam will find for you.p.s.: I just went back and looked at the Wedding Day mix and oops, I published BiH Love 4 with that (not 5 as I mention here from memory). My apologies for the redundancy.Worth it.

Here is a cool story. A long time ago I encouraged everyone to go and check out this amazing remix of Call Me Maybe by Saint Pepsi. That was maybe the first Saint Pepsi track I had heard (but maybe not; I don't remember).  But I became a fan, for sure. Then I heard this guy Skylar Spence a few weeks ago, and played the song included here (called Affairs) over and over and over and I was totally in love. Because I never read blogs anymore I don't really keep up with music news. But I had to check them out, and it turns out Skylar Spence is the new name for Saint Pepsi, only now the guy sings as well (and it's great).  Given how much new music I hear all the time it fascinates me that even though it's the same guy, it is very different music, and that I just loved the new stuff as soon as I heard it, that is cool. And he has incredible pop sensibilities. And to top it off, NM and I are going to see him play at the Treasure Island music festival this year (we got tickets before I knew the music, to boot). That festival reads like a laundry list of BiH favorites: The National, CHURCHES, Jose Gonzales, Run the Jewels, Panda Bear... plus a bunch of new favorites like Skylar Spence and Viet Cong. Cool story.Still can't get enough of the new Tame Impala and just had to include my favorite song here.  Tough to beat this BiH opening here as well; this Transviolet track is amazing. Kids these days, they can write some great tunes (but hey, so can the Chills still, so...old guys still got it too. And NM and I just saw Echo & The Bunnymen a few weeks ago and they sounded as fresh as ever, even while playing 3 Doors covers. I also recently saw another band included here: Doomsquad. They opened for (and played on stage with) Fucked Up, who just played in Santa Cruz to a small audience and they killed it. Doomsday is a tremendous live band (and are comprised of all siblings. That would not work in my family.)But speaking earlier of great pop sensibilities, the Tamaryn track on here also approaches the sublime. Come to think of it, this mix was hard to make because there is so much great material included on it. Once you raise the bar, you can't just lower it. It only goes in one direction.To raising the bar. Speaking of, props to my friend Nic Courdy for the rad cover image.BiH 50 feat. Tame Impala, Bec Sandridge, Joan Shelly, Doomsquad, Tamaryn, Transviolet, Beat Connection, Skylar Spence, Bob Moses, The Chills, Best Coast

Apple Music just launched. I was hoping to host BiH there but it won't work. Too bad. Would anyone be interested in me sharing playlists, albeit unmixed? Personally I like BiH because of the transitions between tracks, and not only for the tracks themselves. I've always sought to enhance the material via their placement in a larger mix. And I still strive for that and still think it is worthwhile. But if you think playlists of raw tracks would also be good (because BiH will never die! 6 years old this September), then comment below. The thing is there are plenty of great songs out there and they don't all make it onto a BiH mix because they don't fit. They are still no less great. So I could do that. If you want. Or even if you don't, I suppose. There are some caveats of course, namely that any song would need to be available on Apple Music. Most of what I include here is either prerelease or self-released, so not available. But sometimes I intentionally avoid big songs even though I love them, so they'd get coverage in a playlist. I'm thrilled to include my friend Nick on this one, who also handles lead vocals for a band I am in called Wild Stallions (absolutely no relation to Bill & Ted). Nick is awesome, in both music and in life,  and I listened to his cover of Miss Ohio about 30 times. You should, too. And if you are an Apple Music subscriber, check out his stuff over there.I am blown away by almost every track on this one (the new Mercury Rev, Viet Cong, LIDS, Beach House, Gordi... Just, wow). As always, enjoy loudly through the best speakers or headphones you can possibly afford. Pawn some stuff and upgrade for this one. BiH 49 feat Nick Gallant, Mercury Rev, Diarrhea Planet, Moon King, Viet Cong, Beach House, Aces, LIDS, Gordi, HAERTS, Flor

Hello world. Sorry it has been more than 2 months since my last post; I hope this one is worth the wait. I have been crazy busy with work, and not had a lot of time to sift through the piles of new music (most is terrible). This one came together slowly, but finally I was inspired enough last night to finish it. Now that I am putting the tracklist together, it seems I didn't really do a bang up job of finding mostly-unknown music. But how can I not include these amazing new Tame Impala tracks? Seriously, sooooo good! I have a Summer edition in the works, so that will probably be the next one (post-hc and rock), though I already have a couple of tracks for 49 as well. I've also started another Throwbacks edition, and have 3 different Bands editions started as well. So I doubt it will be so long before I post another. In the meantime, enjoy this one loudly and often.BiH 48 feat. Run The Jewels, The Tallest Man on Earth, James Murphy, Postiljonen (because saxophone!), The Japanese House, Aimee Dear, Real Lies, Sade, Black Coast, Tame Impala, Gallant, Mimicking Birds

We moved to our new house and it has been beyond great. I am loving life in the mountains, as well as having so much space inside and out. It lends itself to a serenity I've not felt in a long time. We are still pinching ourselves, wondering if it is all real.I stole this picture my friend Scott took in Big Sur. There will certainly be images of our new life gracing many BiH covers in the years to come (5 years of BiH this September!). But for now this image is appropriate because I keep comparing our new home to Big Sur, which is my favorite place. So that's a good sign. A really good sign.This mix is more on the relaxing side, aside from this awesome reimagining of The Vaccines. I have to say I am really looking forward to the new Tallest Man On Earth album. He is on the verge of blowing up even more. His voice is a bit more accessible on the track included here (Sagres). Mark my words...BiH 47 feat. Buoy, Aero Flynn, The Vaccines (reimagined by Dave Fridmann), Twin Shadow, Bo Rocha, The Tallest Man On Earth, Cuushe, Champagne, Beach Baby, Yumi Zouma, Pepa Knight, The Japanese House

Most often, these involve more than one take. I compile a mix, listen to it, decide what to change, and do it again. I repeat that process until I am happy with the whole thing, or at least until I can't find a way to improve it with recent material at my disposal. But this one came together in 1 take and I haven't been able to find anything that needs changing. It has some variety, even some alt country (not normally my thing).This will probably be the last mix I make for the next few weeks, because we just got a beautiful new house up in the mountains and we move in a week. So I will be busy. But the next one will be inspired by my new huge open living space and beautiful decks overlooking the mountains.And my wine fridge.BiH 46 feat. Blackbear, Jaymes Young (remixed by Thero), Field Report, Emily Yacina, itndylAn feat. Willow Smith, The Chromatics, Broken Water High, Cathedrals (remixed by BRNS & Tommy English), Yumi Zouma, Bueno and the Goods, Miss Roisin Murphy, GDNA feat. Jo Def

This one has been fun to make, because it has a lot of variety. I really do love many different types of music and this mix has everything from progressive instrumental to punk rock to indie to electronic to drone and more. It is almost 11 minutes before a single lyric is sung, and even then it is barely audible. What fun! At the same time, it is hard to contend with the greatness of songs like this Say Hi track, and others. So there are most certainly some great songs included. And a new Swervedriver track. Wow. That's a band I would not have expected to not only reunite, but reunite and produce great material. They were sort of on the fringes of the shoegaze movement in the 90's and had one minor hit, but I honestly couldn't get any of my friends turned on to them (I loved Raise when it came out). And for them to come back and produce something great when so many reunited bands produce second or third rate material is a real achievement. I am looking forward to that album, if indeed there is one impending. I still avoid music blogs and sites and rely on a script I wrote to accumulate new music, so I honestly don't know if there is an album in the works or not. Anyway, if you're wondering about the bro'd-out cover, it's lifted from the great comic Hawkeye, which is really pretty awesome. You know, Hawkeye, from the Avengers, but he never had a central story before. And it's way fun. The mobsters say Bro a lot. BiH 45 feat. Pampers, Swervedriver, Plastic Handgun, flor, Dan Mangan & Blacksmith, Natalie McCool, The Amazing, JeRum, Say Hi, Them Are Us Too, Daughter (remixed by Izzard), Benoit Pioulard

Happy Belated New Year. I have been really busy lately so haven't had much time for this, but have been slowly amassing songs for this mix. It was a little slow-going, but this works for me. This edition includes a bunch of new tracks from 2015 and also a few I missed last year that I found on the Pitchfork 100 best tracks. Most of those were really not that great, and none of the tracks from my end-of-year mix are in their list. I am happy about that. I like blazing my own trail here. Admittedly I haven't even listened to all 100 tracks they recommended, but I did grab a few I fell in love with. Like Taylor Swift. I hadn't actually given her a real listen. My family is making fun of me like crazy now because Out of the Woods is on repeat. Even my 9 year old is poking fun. But there have already been lots of great new tracks this year, so I hope you enjoy this little sample of the ones I have been able to check out so far. I have a lot more to sort through, and when I get some spare time I may be able to put together some more of these. BiH 44 feat. A-Cat, Tove Styrke, The New Pornographers, Day Wave, Yuko Yuko, Tobias Jesso Jr., Taylor Swift, AKIINE (remixed by Niva), The Amazing, Lightning Bug, Hollow Coves (remixed by Ghosts), Circ

I've been making these mixes for over 4 years  now and pretty much every year I make some sort of statement about how end-of-year lists are stupid. I just can't stand the precision of a numbered, ordered list of music. But recently a friend asked me what my favorite songs of this year were (after I said I wouldn't give a year-end list of albums), so I went through all the BiH mixes from this year and picked my favorite songs. Here they are, in absolutely no particular order.This was an interesting year from music. It was not dominated by 'the great album', though there were some great EPs (Doss, Ana Caprix, Diarrhea Planet)). Mostly, this was a great year for songs. I had a few albums I got into this year (Real Estate, Haerts, Fucked Up, Temples...I am not counting the new Panda Bear because officially it hasn't come out yet, and until I have the vinyl it doesn't count), but really I am so wrapped up in making these mixes that I paid more attention to the great songs everyone was putting out rather than the handful of great albums that hit the shelves. But really, if you are only going to listen to 1 BiH mix per year, then this is the one for 2014. I have never produced a year-end mix before but I think this is something I'll start doing from now on. All of these songs have appeared on BiH mixes previously, so for the few avid listeners out there, you'll recognize all of this. That's okay. This should be a fun mix for all. I definitely noticed that I have  given greater weight to music that came out later in the year, and that's possibly because of how I went about accumulating music in the 2nd half of the year (and ended up with a better selection), or maybe it's just because I already overplayed my favorites from earlier in the year. At any rate, here they are in honestly no particular order (or even any particular number of songs; I only decided to pick 1 hours' worth of my favorites from the last 12 months...we ended up with a 'top 15' mix). I only wanted to make a mix that included my favorites and actually had some decent flow. Enjoy! And Happy New Year... See you in 2015.BiH Favoritest of the Year: 2014 feat. (in order for once): John Southworth, Moodoid, Desert Stars, Breakfast in Fur, Shocking Pinks, Temples, Sucre, Suburban Living, Doss (remixed by Ana Caprix), Rubblebucket (remixed by Body Language), Pepa Knight, Milo Greene, Morning Harvey, Betty Who, Ana Caprix

Officially, yes I know, Brian Eno is not a band. He is many things: an artist, a musician, a producer, an innovator, a pioneer, a composer, a futurist, an evangelical atheist, a fiercely intelligent human being, a writer, a collaborator, a speaker, a developer, and much more. Most people know him as the producer of U2 in their glory days (he and Daniel Lanois produced The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby) or the inventor of an entire genre of music: ambient (which in his own words is music that is 'as ignorable as it is interesting'). I am not going to say much more about him here. His Wikipedia page is fairly detailed. I will say however, that he has had a profound impact on me and my musical tastes, as well as helped shape my intellectual thirst for the interesting. And I listen to his music every single day. Literally, that is the truth. I sleep to BiH Sleep, more than half of which is all him. And most of that is a single piece called Thursday Afternoon, which to this day is my most listened-to piece of music. I seriously could make 10 mixes dedicated to him and still not include all of his best work. There are just shy of 400 songs in my iTunes which he is a part of. And that does not even include him as a producer. And honestly, it's all good, and some is sublime.  I selected a few of my favorites here, trying to include a little variety with respect to instrumentals/vocals. I can't stop listening to this one. Put it on repeat. BiH Bands: Brian Eno feat Brian Eno with John Cale, Michael, Brook, David Byrne, & Harold Budd

It's starting to rain here in Santa Cruz. And the dark nights come much earlier than just 2 short months ago, when we could still grasp the last light around 7:30 or so. It's a great time to cuddle up with a loved one, some great music, some wine and just relax. There has also been a lot of great new music this past month, making the days seem just a bit longer than they actually are. This mix is really flexible. You can play it loud or quiet and be equally rewarded. Play it in headphones or speakers, with bass turned up or down low. Play it once or on repeat a few times. At only 43 minutes long, it is among the shorter BiH mixes, but that's okay by me. Listen lovingly, and give hugs.BiH 43 feat. Suburban Living, Breakfast in Fur, Highs, Editors (remixed by Dinner Date), The Notorious B.I.G. (remixed by Sterling Flow), Dan Bodan, Osca, Pepa Knight, Clanch, Panda Bear, Bon Iver (remixed by Satchmode)

I'll be 42 later this month, which of course is the nerdiest of all numbers (possibly second to 3.1415926535). I've been making these mixes for over 4 years now, and have published almost 100 different mixes, which is crazy to think about. I have no plans to slow down, and in fact I have every reason to think that I'll be at this for at least another 4 years. Though maybe I should stop when I hit 50.So much great new music on this one. The HAERTS album finally dropped, and with few surprises. Most of the tracks have been floating around in some form or another for years. It was the same when CHVRCHES finally released their album. Not a lot of new stuff. Hopefully both bands can avoid the sophomore slump. But the hits on this one are Panda Bear, Moodroid, TVOTR, and Desert Stars. I have listened to the new Panda Bear EP more than 30 times. Really cannot wait for that album in January. And this Desert Stars track is so good! I can't wait to hear more. I'll be checking out more on their SoundCloud page today.I really love this mix and took my time with it, which was easy because I am still listening to BiH 41 pretty regularly. I think this one is at least as good. And I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.BiH 42 feat. TV On The Radio, Yellerkin, Moodroid, Panda Bear, Son Lux, JOY., Desert Stars, HAERTS, Run The Jewels, Milo Greene

41: my age. And I am happy to say also nerdily commemorated with one of the best mixes I've produced in a while. There is some really amazing music on this one. And dare I say, it has mad flow. It makes me feel how much I love music, and not just love some of it and like the rest (because really I do like almost all of it). That's saying a lot. It's one thing to love the sculpture in the out-of-place park on Manhattan's Upper East Side somewhere around Central Park & 115th, but another thing entirely to just love art.This is yet another relatively short one; it is only 42.5 minutes long. But I guess, I figure, why bother making them any particular length? I never have the opportunity to listen to one from start to finish without bookends ever.  I doubt anyone does. So now I have a new standard: make these mixes great without regard for duration. Which neither raises nor lowers the bar, but only changes its position.BiH 41 feat. CC33, Fink, Hebinomichi, John Southworth (one of the best songs this year), X priest X, Paperwhite, Jamie N. Commons, Caribou, Ballet School, Jaako Eino Kalevi, and this one absolutely amazing track that is a crazy mash up of Biggie Smalls, Louis Armstrong, Kwami Liv, and more by I have no idea who (Baby Duka). 

So. For someone having a somewhat difficult time mentally getting past the hurdle of 40, here is the very definition of letting it go: a first take mix of songs I hadn't listened to in their entirety before queueing them for possible release on a mix. I gave them each a very quick skim, threw them in a playlist, and tried to mix them together. And quite by accident, I absolutely assure you, it is 40 minutes, 40 seconds long. It stands among the shortest mixes I have made. Sure, it is not the best mix I have ever done. But it is not the worst. I listened to it 5 times at work. Plus once on the drive there and once again coming home. :-) I don't even love every song, to say the very least. In fact there are a few that would have been cut save for the fact that I was happy with the thought of the whole thing. Spontaneous, short, without judgement. So here it is, barely a few days after I let go of 39.75. It's worth a listen or 2. Please share and enjoy!BiH 40 feat. Vogue Dots, Jose Gonzales (remixed by Filous Mount), Yumi Zouma, Dream Beach, Sound Remedy, Sirena, Kizmet, p-i-x, Grace Mitchell, Pearl Lion, Seoul

I still can't bring myself to name one BiH 40 I guess, though I think it's time to just let it go and not make any more fractional releases and just give in. I may just do a regular one after this because the last few have been coming out pretty good, and this one is no exception. This one starts out a little slow but has some  mid-to-late-game personality. I got a bunch of these songs stuck in my head over the last few days so they landed here. It's been way fun to make these again as a result. And obviously my output has ramped up a bit, largely due to the overwhelming amount of new music I am checking out.That being said, I am starting to feel old. There is still a lot of great new music out there but there is some I really just can't connect with at all. And by that I mean, most of it. Although maybe this is just how it has always been, now that I think of it. I don't know. In the 1990's I absolutely hated the manufactured-boy-band-who-sings-in-unison thing despite it's undue popularity. Maybe the new fraternity-bro-makes-dance-music trend is that too me nowadays. Either way, it mostly sucks. BiH 39.75 feat. Sia (remixed by Four Tet), BANKS. (remixed by Bag Raiders), Fractures, Tiny Deaths, The Barr Brothers, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, JOY. (remixed by Scholars), Mansions on the Moon, Mating Ritual, Betty Who, JUDE., Big Data (remixed by Oliver)