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

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 play

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

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

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

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 boo

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

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

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 m

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 r

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 t