Super Awesome Mix

Mixtape Rewind: New Music Mix January 2022

• Super Awesome Mix • Season 5 • Episode 42

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This week's Mixtape Rewind takes you back to January 2022 when Matt and Sam gave you 12 new tracks from the latter part of 2021.  Sam is almost certain one song is Norwegian but later realizes it was actually French - you'll have to listen to find out what that's all about. (The perils of recording early in the morning).

Nearly four years ago, we went from a posthumous Juice WRLD cut with Justin Bieber to a high-voltage rocker from Goodbye June, before swerving into Nas’s compact masterclass and The Smile’s angular warning shot from Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood.

The middle of the journey softens without losing purpose. Save Face disguises a dark story in glittering pop-punk; Stromae returns with a beautiful, aching meditation on isolation; Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats bring blues rock warmth with a simple promise: I’m on your side. We keep that thread alive with Aurora’s poetic electro-pop and a cinematic surprise—U2’s Your Song Saved My Life from Sing 2—proof that film can spark songs meant to be felt by every age in the room.

We land the plane with intimacy and legacy. JJ Wilde and Billy Raffoul trade lines like late-night confessions, Brian Wilson reminds us what a signature sound really means, and Broken Social Scene closes with a winter-walk tempo and a lyric about moving slowly through uncertainty. It’s a mix built for replay and for sharing—equal parts adrenaline and reflection, discovery and comfort.

 Here's the mix available on our Super Awesome Mix app (requires Apple Music):
 https://app.superawesomemix.com/qdjkzrCDUd7y4sx68

Here's the mix on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Qc8jOICb2quuMWO8XnrJy?si=d510dc3ff85e4430

  • Wandered to LA by Juice WRLD & Justin Bieber
  • Step Aside by Goodbye June
  • 40-16 Building by Nas
  • You Will Never Work In Television Again by The Smile
  • GLITTER by Save Face
  • L’enfer by Stromae
  • I’m On Your Side by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
  • Everything Matters by AURORA
  • Your Song Saved My Life by U2
  • Let Me Go by JJ Wilde & Billy Raffoul
  • Right Where I Belong by Brian Wilson & Jim James
  • Curse Your Fail by Broken Social Scene

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Visit us at https://www.superawesomemix.com to learn more about our app, our merchandise, our cards, and more!

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome back to another Super Awesome Mix. My name is Matt Sidholm, alongside my co-host and co-founder of Super Awesome Mix, Sammer. Samar, how are we doing this week?

SPEAKER_01:

So good, Matt. I uh I am legitimately still listening to the motivational mix from last week and legitimately so motivated every single time I do.

SPEAKER_03:

It's so good, right?

SPEAKER_01:

It's really good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's so good, yeah. Yeah. No, that was.

SPEAKER_01:

It seems that it's actually like a bit of a crowd favorite too so far, because uh we're collecting a lot of likes uh on our playlist and Spotify. Um if you didn't know, you can always visit the show notes and and we have at least Spotify link there since that's the most popular kind of music service with our listeners. Um and you can listen to the mix. So if you haven't been doing that, you can certainly go there and either follow our account there or at least add it to your library. And and this one seems to be doing pretty well. So I'm excited. I feel like that was that was really fun to put together. I I enjoyed that mix a lot.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you know, it's January, people are still on those resolutions. I mean, that was part of the part of our motivation for creating that mix was to get everybody motivated. So great to see the positive response.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, absolutely. It's um it is kind of funny on in that note. I I'm sure we all have examples of this, but um I'm very fortunate to live right by Central Park, and so I go for a run there, uh, you know, at least a couple times a week. And what's funny is in January, it's like, who are all these new people? Because you do you kind of start to see like the same, you know, at least like same number of people, you know, certainly not necessarily the same people, but all of a sudden you're like, whoa, this got really crowded. Um, but you know, that's great. Like it it's it's cool to start new things, and I'm sure some percentage of them will keep up with it, and that's awesome. That's what it's all about.

SPEAKER_03:

I I think some NYU grad students should do a study on that and just go observe the park on a daily basis and try to try to pinpoint the date when things just fall off a cliff, right? Like is that like February 3rd, where it's like the number just drops by 30%. Like, what is that exact date?

SPEAKER_01:

Right, or I wonder if it's even because that's pretty close to Super Bowl Sunday, right? And I just feel like that's also a moment when everyone's just like screw dieting, I'm going hard.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, and it's the Sunday night, so then knocks you out of your Monday routine that you've created, and then exactly it's just that much easier to quit. So wow, okay. I mean, maybe we're looking grad student who I just theoretically put up for this job. I mean, we're doing the work for you here. Just start writing. This thing writes itself.

SPEAKER_01:

You really are. Yeah, it really does, yeah. And and if you don't do it, you know, we are ready to go to spin up a research team at Super Optimics. We're no doubt. We we've already launched a movie studio, and uh, we were talking about making microphones before recording this, so yeah, there's no slowing this this train down.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, there's a lot of tentacles to this octopus, okay. Just keeps growing. Just keeps growing.

SPEAKER_01:

A lot of jokes to this plane. Let's just keep keep the metaphors going. But hey, let's let's talk about today's mix. What do we got going on today?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so speaking of things that keep growing, I mean, there's just more and more new music all the time. And a few months ago, we did a new music mix that kind of covered the previous couple of months. And uh it was we get some really good response from it. And I know you and I both really enjoyed doing it. So we thought, you know, that's gonna be kind of a regular show. Maybe once a quarter we'll visit we'll visit some uh new music. So today it's gonna be new music, music that's come out from about November 1st until just about last week. I think we have a song that just came out really recently. But yeah, just visiting some uh some new mix, new new music from artists hopefully you've heard of, and then some probably you haven't.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it is it's a really fun exercise. Um, and it it feels like work, but not work that I dislike, right? Like it's um, but it is kind of tough to go out and discover new music. Like it's kind of taxing in a weird way. I don't know if you have that experience.

SPEAKER_03:

I I enjoy the experience, but you're right, it is kind of like okay, like when when did this come out? Like we do try to set parameters for this, so it's not something where it's like, oh, that came out three years ago, but I just found it, right? So so we're not doing that. So you got to kind of find the new music, but then it's uh I mean, I don't know how you do it, but I will just kind of pick an artist, whoever it is, whether I've heard of them or not, and just start listening to that album that they just released, just beginning to end, and see if anything stands out. And admittedly, sometimes, you know, by track two or three, I'm like, well, that's probably a reason I've never listened to this artist before. But in a lot of other cases, it's it's actually really cool, and and you kind of find uh some great new uh artists to get into and certainly some great new music.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, that seems like a great segue to talk about our first artists on this list, um, who you probably you probably have heard of, but nonetheless, an amazing new track. Um, this is called Wandered to LA by Juice World, that's W-R-L-D, and Justin Bieber. Tell me about this one.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so um there's a Juice World documentary that just came out on HBO that I I really want to see. So it kind of had him top of mind. And he died in 2019, but this album was just released in December, probably right around the time the documentary came out. I didn't I didn't exactly coordinate uh the dates on this. But um, yeah, I mean, you know, had some demons. In fact, I think this album uh is called like Wrestling with Demons or something like that. And uh, you know, uh I think it's gonna be a really interesting documentary. I've heard a lot of good things about it, but I, you know, this song I decided to listen to the album because it's all this interesting. Yeah, I remember when I was growing up and Tupac died, and there were like three or four albums after he died. Um and the stuff was really good. It was just stuff that was never released. So this kind of falls into that category, although I think Justin Bieber kind of recorded his part um after the fact. But um, but yeah, I I just really I I like the whole album, and uh this track really stood out to me because it's a little funkier, a little jazzier, and uh kind of fun. But um, yeah, just just a good song that um stood out to me. But I I think this whole art this whole album is is worth uh worth a listen.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I agree. I I'm like obsessed with his voice. Um I I've heard a couple of other his other songs, and I mean it's always a loss to to lose anyone really, but to lose someone with that talent and that voice is is really sad, but um it is it's a great track. I I hadn't heard this particular song yet, um, and now I will definitely go and listen to the rest of the the album. Um but I uh yeah, great pick. I mean, just really good. It's like I I wrote here, it's a catchy beat, but it's completely unsurprising that it would be because I just feel like that's like the music that he produced. Um so nice pick, yeah, really good strong opening.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, really good, yeah, really good beat. And then, you know, alright, Justin Bieber. Admittedly, I mean, he he's doing some pretty good things these days, right? Like I think you know, it went from really like uh I I'm kind of out on this guy altogether when he was super young, to where like more recently there there's a number of tracks that I'm like this isn't bad, and sure enough, like Justin Bieber's a part of it in some way. So yeah, guys evolved.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh he has, he really has. And I and honestly, it's like it's kind of really difficult to be a pop star that stays relevant through the decades, right? Like, pop is kind of known, I I would say argue more than other genres is like uh just a firework, you know, it bursts and then they disappear. So the pop stars that stay around and keep producing music and keep reinventing themselves and and like putting out stuff that people listen to and get playtime on the radio. That's a skill. I mean, you may hate the music, but yeah, I feel like you have to appreciate that is definitely a skill, uh, and he has it for sure.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, yeah, speaking of uh like HBO documentaries, kind of in that same vein, there's one about Kenny G that I started watching recently, and they're that and Juice World, they're they're both part of the Bill Simmons produced music box documentary series on there. And uh I don't like any of Kenny G's music, and after watching this documentary, I'm still not a fan, but it is remarkable how he has perfected his instrument, like he practices like three hours a day, and uh he still sells millions of records to a lot of people and just has continued to and everyone's heard of him, right? Like it's not like he he's not a uh known entity. Um, so yeah, I mean, very different from Justin Bieber, but to your point about just developing a skill and maintaining that at a high level, I mean, it definitely stood out to me watching that doc.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Um, so now your first pick, and I'm just gonna say before I even introduce it, I love this song. Love this song. Yes, and I'd never heard it before. It is Step Aside by Goodbye June.

SPEAKER_00:

Hi, I'm Larry Hackenberg. How would you like to feel young again? At least once every week. Well, if you subscribe to the Music Time Machine podcast, you can hear the stories behind the songs of your life. I promise to make it the best part of your week. Join myself and Jennifer Tassan as we journey back in time to get a whole new appreciation of the music we grew up listening to. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. And don't forget to give us a five-star rating after you've listened.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome, yeah. I'm I'm really happy to hear you say that. I discovered them randomly. Um they just made one of these, like I I follow a lot of like new music mix across a lot of genres as one way to kind of keep track of all this stuff. And these guys um have a new album coming out. This was the first single off that new album. I had never heard of them, and I hit play and I was like, this is just the greatest gift of of the last month. Because I have not stopped playing to it. I mean, it's like a daily play for me. Um and every time I listen to it, I enjoy it just as much as I did the first time, if not more. It will sound exactly like ACDC to you. If if you're not if you're familiar with them, you will like do a double take that you're not just listening to ACDC. Um which is cool. Like I love that there's like a rock revival. And you know, we mentioned uh on on a recent mix uh another group that sounds like Led Zeppelin in a way and and like Rush. And so it's just like it's really cool that um and uh Greta Van Fleet, that the name escaped me for a second. So it's cool to kind of see this rock revival and these like old sounds, but you know, like a new take on them in a way. So um discovered this. Uh every single time a single is released off the album, I go and listen to it and and it does not disappoint. So I'm I'm happy to hear you liked it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, no, it your experience was just like mine. Like, I I just started listening to this and just immediately looked down on my phone and I was like, who is this? Like, this is incredible. You're right, totally sounds like AC DC, but also then just shifts gears a little bit throughout the song and goes in some different directions, but has a lot of those classic rock feels to it. Um, but yeah, I'm definitely gonna do more research into these guys. Uh they're out of Nashville. I did discover that. And so I was kind of impressed because I was like, maybe they're kind of country, and we're turning Samura around, but it's definitely more rock than country. But they're uh man, I mean it's it was awesome. I mean, really, uh like you you find new music and and very rarely have I had such a like positive response to a song like I did this one. So I'm I'm definitely in on this. That's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Well, that is perfect because I had that that experience with your next pick, um, which was 40-16 building, 4016 building by Nas. And I had I I've always been familiar with Nas. I'd I'd listened to some of his his work through the years, but um I didn't know that he had new music out, and really happy to have learned that because this song is fantastic off of his 14th album. Like, wow.

SPEAKER_03:

I saw that too. I was like, oh my gosh, he's got 14 studio albums. That's that's remarkable. Um, but you're right, yeah, Nas is just one of the all-time greats. He's been doing it for so long. This album dropped on Christmas Eve, which you gotta be at a certain level to just release an album on Christmas Eve and still have it, you know, be listened to, I think, and not just sort of passed over amidst uh all the Christmas hoopla. But um, no, really it's a really good album, too, and and kind of stands out. And even, you know, doing a little bit of uh reading up on some of the critical reviews, it's actually getting a lot of high praise from critics versus you know the last couple of albums he's put out. Um, and I will say, uh, you know, short raps for the win, as our man Mega Ran also, you know, yes advocates for like all the songs on this album are like three minutes long, which I also kind of appreciate. Like the sometimes the six and a half minute hip-hop track with like seven people on it. I'm like, ah, all right, I'm good after a few minutes. So I like uh I I like the uh length of these tracks as well. I think that works.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, um, I agree. I I feel like we're all getting a little ADD with music. Um so sometimes it's nice when when the track isn't like, oh, okay, I'm committed. I'm here for seven minutes, let's do this. Um but no, yeah, he's so talented. Uh his rapping is amazing. Uh this is I have been I have like a long running playlist that I call like my confidence mix, and it's just basically like music that makes me just want to walk tall and like I don't know, feel a little bit bigger than myself, I guess. And and I felt like immediately this would go on that mix. Uh, it would be find a perfect home there because that's like the mood that I got listening to it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, Nas has a lot of uh a lot of confidence. Yeah, I mean that comes through. Yeah, um, he's definitely not one of those humble rappers that you hear so much about. No, you don't you don't hear a lot about the home?

SPEAKER_01:

All right, look, let's a big group that we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_03:

It is a big group, yeah. Um, let's move on. Your next pick, you will never work in television again by the smile.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, great title. Um, in fact, when I first wrote it out um in my notes, I I forgot the again, and I went back and added the again, and it felt even more like uh mean to say, you know, you'll never work in television again. Um so yes, I um again just kind of like fell onto this band. I I don't know how I discovered this one. I think it was again one of the new music playlists, and discovered it's actually uh Tom York of Radiohead is is kind of like fronting this one. And you have once I read that and listened to it again, I was like, oh, of course it is, because there's a lot of elements in here that give you that that kind of radiohead vibe. Um, but just a great, great new rock song. Um, really happy we've discovered that you know there's new work coming out from him and and the um the other members of this group who have also had really long musical careers. So it was fun. Yeah, I I enjoyed this one. I'm gonna go dive into more of their work for sure.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I'm with you. I love the title when I just saw this on the list, and I love the band name too, the smile. But was surprised to see that it was uh Tom York and Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead is also on here. But yeah, it sounded like they were all just on lockdown during the pandemic and we're just like, let's record some music. So they sort of put this thing together and put this out. But yeah, I I like this song, it's a it's a pretty cool rock song. Um, and it almost sounds like a warning, even though it sounds ominous, like you will never work in television again. The song almost sounds like, hey, don't bother going to work in television. Like if you read the lyrics, it's more like this isn't worth it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, exactly. Um, and I'm gonna go ahead and add this to the running list if you're keeping track, listeners, of bands or or individuals that have created really great things during times of like stress and trauma. Right, yeah, we keep running into that. Basically, yeah, we keep running into that. Whereas I I just kind of gained 15 pounds by accident that I'm trying to work off now. That's what I did during the last two years. And created a podcast. Okay, how about that? We did create a podcast. That's true. Thank you. Thanks for keeping it positive. Thank you. There you go. Come on, Samuel. All right, let's move on. Track five. Um, this one if if I had to pick one that you introduced me to, that I was like, oh my gosh, yes, it would be this song. So it is Glitter by Save Face. And yeah, just tell me about it and I'll tell you my thoughts. But I love this one.

SPEAKER_03:

So again, we talked about how we research for this new music mix, and I will just kind of find, okay, this album came out on this date, I'm gonna listen to it, and I'll just start listening. And that's how I came upon these guys. So I had no prior history with them at all, and just started listening to this album. And this is like the eighth track on this new album. Um, so it's not like I listened to track one and then was just good. I was kind of listening to all of it, and I liked a lot of it. They kind of sound like All American Rejects or Good Charlotte, they kind of have that feel to them. But I also felt like with their cadence and their lyrics, they had kind of a almost a musical theater quality to it. I I think the lyrics were very clever. And this song in particular, where you have a title like Glitter, and it sounds like a fun song, when you really listen to the lyrics and pay attention, it's it's pretty dark. And uh it's very dark. And I thought that was just really well done when you can pull that off to kind of create this poppy happy song that is uh kind of dark. I I just thought it was impressive. So I I picked this one, but I I think you will enjoy the whole album by these guys.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I can't wait to go listen. And I I almost interrupted you, and I wish there was a way for me to share this screenshot because my notes were like I I went back, I felt like I went back in time and started listening to an all-American reject song or Good Charlotte. Because it's amazing. It yeah, it sounds just like them. I mean, and that's not a bad thing. I loved those guys, um, you know, in in like high school and college years for me. But yes, the it's a great rock song. Um the lyrics are really dark, so I prefer to just kind of ignore those and just rock out to it instead.

SPEAKER_03:

But I think that's what they do well. Yeah, no, it's a it's a good it's a fun band to listen to. Okay, so speaking of something a little different, this made me do a double take because it's not in English. Okay. Uh, I'm gonna try to, I'm gonna butcher this name, but Le and Fur by Stromet. Did I get that right? Did I get close?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think it's I think you would be like Len Feu. Le Feu. Le Fleu.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. L apostrophe, E-N-F-E-R. We just lost all of our international listeners just from that experience.

SPEAKER_01:

Everyone, everyone in France and Belgium is just like, okay, F these guys. I'm out.

SPEAKER_03:

And we just hit the top ten in France and Belgium recently. So this is this is a blow.

SPEAKER_01:

This will this is gonna hurt, yeah. Um, yes, so not an English song, as you pointed out. It's sung in French. Um, it's a however a beautiful song, and then the lyrics translated to English are are also really kind of heart-wrenching and sad. It's um he didn't produce any music for I think it was like 10 years, and and this, and he this is like his first kind of go at music again. So he writes a lot about solitude and and you know not having that that avenue for himself, um, because he didn't really like create anything. He was on a hiatus. And the lyrics are really kind of tragic, but like the song is just I find it to be just really beautiful and powerful. It it reminds me actually of the um the theme song to Euphoria. Um, at least season one, I haven't started season two yet, but the song All of Us, All For Us, excuse me, by Labyrinth and Zendaya, it has kind of electronic elements like that song, but then just like really gorgeous lyrics and like yeah, uh the piano mixed in behind behind his voice. Um, I was just immediately drawn to this to this song, so I really liked it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, when I I mean, obviously I didn't understand the lyrics at first. I'm just kind of listening to the music, so I'm with you. Yeah, it's got a really cool sound, it sounded really uh, like you said, beautiful. But then I was like, all right, well, let me see what he's talking about. And I was like, oh my gosh. It's like this is a very sad song.

SPEAKER_01:

It's very sad. Yeah, just it's a feeling of being alone and it uh yeah, like even being, you know, he kind of writes like even the thoughts of realizing you're you're not alone and feeling alone, that that still doesn't help you, you know. Um, so I think it's just yeah, very powerful lyrics. Uh you're kind of struggling to to overcome loneliness, and I think that's really relevant, especially in the last couple years. Like it's been it's been hard on a lot of people, uh, and that's an understatement. You know, I don't want to gloss over of just yeah, kind of the loneliness of the pandemic. So um maybe don't listen to this song if if you're struggling with that.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, here's the thing listen to this song, then go back and listen to the motivation mix from last week.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, yeah, and you're right back.

SPEAKER_03:

You're right back, but it's worth the listen. It is a good song. It is, it's a beautiful song. Yes, it is sad.

SPEAKER_01:

It is. Yeah. All right, track seven. Um you've got a band I didn't hear um like know of, but I like this song a lot, and it is I'm on your side by Nathaniel Ratliff. Ratliff, yeah, and the night sweats.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was Ratliff or Ratliff, just based on how it's spelled. But in any case, uh yeah, they're a blues rock band. I had no history with them either, but what did stand out to me is that they record on the Stax record labels. So Stax, the uh legendary soul music label that we featured on a podcast last year. Um so I thought it was cool that they're still producing records and that these guys were on it. Um love the name of the band. You know, the fact that the backing band is called the Night Sweats. I thought was pretty funny. But yeah, I I think this whole album, it's it's really kind of cool. And if you like kind of that blues rock genre, I think you're gonna really gonna like this. And this one in particular stood out to me just because of the uh quality of his voice, really stands out here, um, and it has that that right, you know, sort of uh bluesy feel to it um here, and uh and a great message as well. Um but yeah, it just kind of a new cool little band, and and the whole album is really pretty neat. Um, a lot of a lot of good musicianship on it. Uh the band is really strong, so um, yeah, worth checking out.

SPEAKER_01:

For sure. I I had two notes on this one. Um one was that it it felt like a really cool pick-me-up song that you could send to someone, you know, because he just keeps repeating like I'm on your side, and I kind of liked I really liked the the mood of that and the feel of that. And then two, in my research, I saw that he was um on SNL in February of 2021. And my brain did two ridiculous things. One, I was like, oh, he was just on SNL. And then realizing that the ridiculous thing, number one, that we're not even in the month of February yet. So like that doesn't check out. And number two, like, we're in 2022, so like wrong, wrong year entirely. Um, and I just realized, like, wow, what is time? And I started to spiral off of that. So that was really fun. It's a great experience.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, it's you know, you're you're gonna laugh because I um when you said February 2021, I was like, oh wait, you mean he's coming to Saturday Night Live in February 2021?

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_03:

I was like, wait, no, it's it's 2022. Yeah, so that just happened to me, Samura. So don't feel bad.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, fantastic. Apologies if that happened to any of our listeners, too. So sorry.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, so your next pick, um, again, a foreign language pick, uh, Everything Matters by Aurora.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I had her on our international mix from many, many months ago. Um, she's a Norwegian singer. Her voice is just absolutely beautiful. So whenever I saw that she has new music out, um, had to throw it on here again. This track in particular, I just think is is just absolutely gorgeous. I mean, it's like poetry being sung. Um, I'm gonna highlight some of these lyrics in the chorus here because I like them so much. So she sings, You are a part of the dawn where the light comes from the dark, you're a part of the morning and everything matters. Here we are, an atom and a star. You're part of the movement and everything matters. I just think it's just really beautiful writing. Um, and it's really fun whenever, yeah, like you you can kind of match this, you know, poetry, right? Like songs can can be all kinds of things, but I love songs that basically are like poetry sung by just amazing voice, um, with really cool, you know, music to to back it. So, anyway, that's why this song stuck out to me and why I want to throw it on the mix.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you you just said, you know, poetry being read, and and when you said that it kind of clicked in my head, like, yeah, that's because when I was listening to this, it didn't quite feel like I was listening to a musical performance so much as like an artistic performance. And you know, again, musicians are artists and all that. I'm not trying to say they're not, but it did just have a different feel to it while you're listening to it, a different experience. Um but yeah, you're right. That that is uh I think that's a good description. Uh very much uh like someone were just reading a poem in a sense, and and yes, beautiful voice on this one, but yeah, actually, and I did say it's foreign language, it's not entirely, it's partly in English and partly in, I assume, Norwegian.

SPEAKER_01:

I yeah, I don't know for sure. I'm not gonna say anything here. So that so that you're the one that gets canceled in a couple of years. How am I getting canceled?

SPEAKER_02:

I just I just what I don't make those rules.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh oh I'm never gonna speculate on anything again. Yeah, we're not allowed to. Yeah. Now I'm gonna be canceled for talking about cancel culture. This is terrible. Oh, that's right. You shouldn't have condemned it. God should not have. We're in trouble here. Let's move on to track nine. What do you say? Um but no, yeah, beautiful song. I'm sure it's a Norwegian. So, track nine, your song saved my life by you two, still producing music. Yeah, you can't. Tell me about this one.

SPEAKER_03:

Producing new music. Okay, so I have two small kids, five and eight. I've mentioned that in the show before. Um, and one of the fun things about having young kids is you get to go see all these fantastic animated movies. This song is from the uh new movie Sing Two, which just came out uh right around Christmas. Um all-star cast of voices, and uh, you know, the the original had like Matthew McConaughey and uh Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, and uh they all and Reese Witherspoon and Scarlett Johansson all have prominent singing roles in this movie too, so it's actually kind of cool uh to hear them sing, and so the the original one is so good, but then in this one they add uh Halsey, who is doing uh a voice, and she sings an original song, but then also Bono plays one of the characters in this movie and he contributed a song. So this song plays uh at the end of the movie, but um yeah, I mean I think it's a really good song. I I kind of heard it on, you know, they released it ahead of the movie, but then when you see it in the context of the movie, it's really that much cooler. But uh there's no album release associated with this, it's just for the movie, so it's just a single that came out by U2, but yeah, I mean just a really cool classic U2 sound and uh just just great, especially when you put it in context with the movie.

SPEAKER_01:

That's awesome. Yeah, I had seen the original sing and really liked it. I remember really liking it. Uh it's been ages now since I've watched it, but haven't seen the the new one, but um I imagine I would like it as well. It if it if it's got that same kind of feel-good vibe, you know, from the first one, I I bet it it would be fun to watch. Uh, number two.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, no, it's great. It definitely has the same kind of rhythms to it, um, but it's definitely a very different story. Um, and uh yeah, it's good. No, it's definitely worth checking out. Um, all right, so bringing it home here. Your second to last pick. You've got Let Me Go by JJ Wilde and Billy Ratfowl. If I'm reading it just phonetically, it's Ratfowl, but might be Ratfu. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

Rat Fool? Yeah, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03:

We should do more research into pronunciations. I'm really pronunciation.

SPEAKER_01:

We really should. All right, yeah. That's gonna be a season three thing, though. Let's not let's not change course. I can't improve mid flight because that's a fair point. Okay. Um, all right, so JJ Wilde, Billy Rafool, Rafool, Rafal. Um, I had just recently discovered JG Wilde and really, really loved her. Like she rocks. Um, a lot of her her work is is just a you know, solo musician is really good. Good, so check her out. And then saw that she had new music out, and this is kind of like an EP with um with this other singer, and had to just throw it on to at least introduce you to both of them, really. Um, this is just like a really cool, beautiful song. I love the the voice of Billy's. It's you know very kind of like um folks-y in a way. It's a really gorgeous voice as well. Uh definitely kind of a lower energy song, lots of feels to it, um, more introspective. So, like for me, my energy chart went from like pretty high to pretty low on this mix. Um, and yeah, like the lyrics are also a little down, but you know, sometimes you you need that that kind of a song. So um I really like this song and and really excited to have discovered a a new artist that I'm obsessed with now.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I think her voice almost has a uh Brandy Carlisle feel to it, a little bit. I could see that. And um yeah, I mean I I had not I was not familiar with her or um or Billy at this point. I'm not even gonna pr pronounce his last name, but um, I'll just call him Billy. I feel like we're close enough.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, just Billy.

SPEAKER_03:

But this was like a little three-song collaboration they put together, and uh I I thought this was pretty good. I mean, uh again, not familiar with them previously, but just a a good uh good little rock duo here, and uh, I guess you can call it rock, right? What uh what category would you put this in? Yeah, I would put this in rock, yeah. So um, but yeah, I mean, really good, and uh I just like the uh the lyric that stood out to me the city is shit, and I'm only here for a year or so.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_03:

So that was really funny, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That is that's a great line, yeah. And I feel like everyone can kind of relate to that at least you know, possibly at some point in their life. They they move to a city, maybe it's for work, maybe it's for a relationship, whatever it is, and you're just like, oh I need to get out of here. All right. Um, contrary to that feeling, let's let's talk about track 11, your last pick, right where I belong, by Brian Wilson and Jim James.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I didn't intend to put two songs from movies on here, but sure enough, that's what I ended up doing. There's a Brian Wilson documentary that just came out uh in December called Long Promised Road, and he writes this, he wrote this original song for it. And I I just think if you ever go back and listen to just an entire Beach Boys album, and obviously they have a ton of pop radio hits, but the albums, if you go from beginning to end, are very cool sonically, and just the way he uh the way he just weaves it together, all the different songs throughout the album. It's all it's all just really impressive. And of course, they all have that very distinct Brian Wilson Beach Boys feel to him. This song is in that same category, right? It's got that very distinct feel to it, and uh his voice sounds a little different, but I I still just I don't know. This song just really captured me when I listened to it, and I thought it was uh I just thought it was great, and so I wanted to get it out there because I had not heard one about the documentary up until I did the research for this, and then uh this song too. So yeah, there we go.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I I love that you mentioned, you know, kind of the distinct sound because whenever I first played it, I hadn't yet looked at it who you know was playing yet, which just had on my headphones, and I thought, like, wow, this sounds just like a Beach Boy song. And then sure enough, sure enough, right there, Brian Williams. Um so I thought that was great. And yeah, Jim James from uh My Morning Jacket, uh, another band you may be familiar with. But yeah, a really good song. I it it is again, I've mentioned this on the show before, and I I'll say it again, it's just amazing to me how like someone can own a sound, you know. I mean, it's like we we all have voices, you know, we pick up the same instruments and all that kind of stuff, but you just find a way to like make it your own, and you can no matter what you're singing or what you're doing, it just kind of carries through there. Uh, I just think that's so amazing. It's it's such a cool piece of the art of of music and and what makes it so fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, and in the case of Brian Wilson, carry that over into so many different songs, right? I mean, that's the impressive part, I think, to me is that there's so many singles out there that are distinct but uh very similar as well. So yeah, it's it's impressive for sure. Um, all right, so let's bring it home. Last song on the mix, Curse Your Fail by Broken Social Scene.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I had um Broken Social Scene on a bonus track uh from early from last year, whenever we were uh whenever we'd recorded some of those, and thought I'd bring them back. Um the you may be familiar with the song Anthems for a 17-year-old girl. That was the the track that I had picked, and was excited to see that they're releasing new music, and I just I you know again really liked this. The mood is lower. I just imagined this as kind of like a nighttime city walk, you know, out in the cold. It's like kind of a good winter song in that regard, uh, a little bit more introspective. But just liked, yeah, I loved the mood of this one and wanted to, you know, take it home with kind of that, you know, offer up the high energy stuff in the beginning and then maybe just you know be a little bit more introspective. And I feel like that's usually my go-to. Every mix kind of follows that that formula. Um so yeah, that's that's why I put this one up.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, no, these guys, this was a good song, and I I agree. I was kind of like, when was the last time they came out with some new music? And and it's been a it's been a little bit, I think a few years. Um, but yeah, I mean I I like the uh if you like their old stuff, you're gonna like this. I think they have a kind of a deathcap for cutie sound to them a little bit. Like that's probably a good parallel. Uh so if you like them, I think you're gonna enjoy this. But the lyric that stood out to me that I liked was you're the only one I know, not afraid to take it slow with all the things unknown. Which I thought was a really, you know, cool lyric, right? Like just the uh, you know, you're you're the one I know that's not afraid to just kind of move forward with things even amidst the unknown. I thought that was uh that was well done.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a beautiful sentiment. Yeah, I like that a lot.

SPEAKER_03:

Even though the the title is curse your fail, right? So it kind of like goes into it. I'm thinking, okay, maybe it's gonna be something kind of negative, and then to hear that kind of stood out for me. So yeah, nice pick. Thank you. So there we have it, some new music for you. Um, I know I discovered some new artists that I'm definitely gonna look into. Hopefully, you did as well. Hopefully, you do that every week, right? On Super Awesome Mix. I mean, you get you people probably run into some new artists they haven't heard of before.

SPEAKER_01:

I certainly do every single recording. Um, as always, you can find our post about this on Super Awesome Mix on Instagram. So be sure to follow us there if you haven't already. And let us know new music you you've discovered in the last couple months. Like, that's been such a joy for me on Instagram to kind of see people um write what they're listening to. And I literally go and I listen to every single band and every song that's suggested before I comment, so I'm not just like, you know, kind of randomly commenting.

SPEAKER_03:

Great pick. Thumbs up. 100.

SPEAKER_01:

I know it may seem that way, but I promise you, I literally go and listen to them before writing something.

SPEAKER_03:

Um keep those suggestions coming because we love discovering new music, and uh we'll we'll do another one of these new music mixes uh every couple months, so so we can all discover some new music. But um, in the meantime, we will uh be back next week with another super awesome mix for your collection. So for Samurai, this is Matt.

Contributor

Matt Sidhom

Host
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Sam Abousalbi

Host