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Posted by TNLF Staff on Sunday, December 1st, 2019

December 2019 Mixtape

To compliment the winter season, the music for this month’s mixtape is more intimate. As the season winds down, the music seems to have done the same.

To start the mix we’ve included a couple of new songs from Toro y Moi’s new project: Soul Trash. The project was originally released as a free dropbox download / Instagram tape drop. What’s interesting about this project is that it’s the first time that we’ve heard music from Toro y Moi that sounded more like a demo than a finished product. And this is worthy of note because Toro y Moi usually has a very tight production style. So having the oppurtunity to hear him working out things in this style — seeing the ‘work in progress’ — gives you an interesting insight into how he creates music.

The mixtape continues with some soulful experimental jazz from the Ishmael Ensemble, Sam Wilkes and this dude called Ernie Hawkes and the Soul Investigators. The album cover art features Ernie hawks in Native American garb, posing on top of a massive civil war era canon. It’s friggin awesome, and the music is too.

The album is called “Scorpio Man,” and the track we’ve included is called “Journey to the Bottom.” It features a funky soul sound that could have been pulled straight out of a 70s crime movie. Or a 70s porn. Depends how you interpret it.

The soul and jazz blends into synths and beats with some new tracks from Floating Points, Bonobo, Overmono and this producer from Texas called Donovan Jones (aka Black Taffy).

Black Taffy’s mixing style has got some fantastic unexpected samples that blend eastern sounds with western hip hop influences. He grew up with the southern Pentecostal church which has also inspired his sound in some ways.

The mix finishes with an American composer who lives in London called Carly Paradis. She’s been part of the team behind the theme music for well known TV and movies like Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan and Line of Duty. This year she’s created a new album called Nothing Is Something. We’re including the first track off that album. The track is called “The Crushing Weight Of History,” and it’s epic.

Hope you enjoy this month’s mixtape. We’ll see you again next year!

The Monthly Mixtape is now available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and other podcast providers. Or check out The Infinite Mixtape on Spotify — a playlist that collects every song ever used in a Monthly Mixtape.