Great songs » The Alternative Mixtapes

July 3, 2020May 13, 2023

strawbey – play pretend

I had the pleasure of listening to the debut single of strawbey last week and was looking forward to its official release today so that I could share it with you here. Play pretend is the kind of indie/dream pop that hypnotizes you and leaves you wanting more. Amazingly, the song was written, produced, recorded and released entirely in lockdown; which you wouldn’t know because it sounds as if it had been recorded in a studio by a top-notch producer.

strawbey is the stage name of 19-year-old Norwich singer (and friend of The Alternative Mixtapes), Ruben Pope, who won first place in 2019’s Young Norfolk Writing Competition and has received the support of the likes of the BBC, who featured play pretend in their LGBTQ+ Records of the Year Pride Playlist 2020 for the Norfolk region. Ruben’s debut EP will be released in August but, in the meantime, we can enjoy this honest and raw song about the struggles of playing pretend just to fit in. There is no video yet but you can listen to play pretend in the mixtapes below.

Without a doubt, strawbey is the kind of talent we should all support.

“There are times where we all knowingly ‘play pretend’ and although we often fail to acknowledge this, we’d all rather ‘fake it ‘til we make it’.”
strawbey

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Pop

July 2, 2020April 4, 2023

Semisonic – DND

With the news this week that Semisonic is back together with their first song out in 19 years (which is okay but not great), I thought it would be appropriate to reminisce about Semisonic’s great 1998 album, Feeling Strangely Fine, as this week’s #ThrowbackThursday. The record, which was the band’s second album, was without a doubt one of the best ones of 1998. It had three singles, with one of them being a massive success. In fact, some people might think that the band led by Dan Wilson was a one-hit-wonder because of Closing Time, but that would be wrong. The other two singles were also really good and got decent airplay (I do have a soft spot for Secret Smile). However, the song I wanted to highlight here was never a single. It was the sixth track on FSF: DND.

If you have listened to DND before, you probably agree with me on that it is a great tune with that memorable acoustic intro. And if you haven’t, please do yourself a favour and do it here now. Welcome back, Semisonic!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Alternative

July 1, 2020May 13, 2023

flor feat. MisterWives – yellow

I love cover tracks that are not just karaoke versions of the original songs. In particular, when the artist manages to bring the song to his/her own style in a way that makes it sound as a brand new track (and even better when the styles are very different). This is exactly what flor accomplished with their cover of Coldplay’s iconic song: Yellow, for which they had a bit of help from Mandy Lee from MisterWives.

flor (they don’t use a capital F) is a pretty well-known band in the indie circuit, but in case you don’t know who they are, they started in 2014 in Oregon, US; and have released two studio albums so far. This cover of Yellow, however, is part of a EP, reimagined, that the band released in February this year, containing new versions of two of their most popular songs plus the song being featured here. All three songs come recommended and deserve a listen, but you can start with Yellow here:

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Indie
Pop

June 30, 2020May 13, 2023

Back On Earth – Save Me

If you listened to Back On Earth without knowing anything else about the band, you would be tempted to bet on that they are a band from South California whose members spend the time surfing when they are not playing gigs. I really doubt you would guess they are actually from Paris, France. I, for one, would have lost that bet.

The band plays perfectly good punk rock (or pop-punk, if you prefer to call it that way) and was formed in 2009. However, they were on a hiatus from 2014 until last year, and they have been pretty active since then. Save Me is a fun and extremely catchy (especially that chorus) tune that the band released earlier this year. If Back On Earth continues to release songs like this (and they have plans to put a new song out in July), their future looks very bright.

Please give them a try if you weren’t a fan already, I promise you that it will be fun.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Punk-rock

June 29, 2020April 3, 2023

Lights & Motion – I See You

In yesterday’s entry, I mentioned why I liked cinematic (post-rock) music. Well, I probably have to thank Lights & Motion for that. Reanimation, the debut album of this Swedish one-man band, founded in 2012 by the talented Christoffer Franzén, hooked me in. The “band” is one of the main references in the genre and its songs have been featured in multiple tv commercials, tv shows and movies. Funnily enough, the song I’m recommending here today, from the Lights & Motion‘s latest album: The Great Wide Open, is perhaps the band’s less cinematic songs.

It’s not that I See You lacks Lights & Motion‘s trademark atmospheric vibes and amazing soundscapes –it doesn’t–, but I think it has more elements of indie rock, especially with the hauntingly beautiful vocals of Swedish singer Frida Sundemo. I particularly love the guitars that start playing at 1:42. All in all, it is a mesmerizing track that closes perfectly another great album by Lights & Motion and Deep Elm Records.

Isn’t I See You an instant musical crush?

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Folk/Indie

June 28, 2020May 13, 2023

The 93 – 03

I love listening to cinematic rock –also known as post-rock, although I dislike that name– when I need to focus or relax. Something about the atmospheric sounds and the different acoustic textures that cinematic rock artists often use elicit joyful yet peaceful emotions in me. Unfortunately, it is not a massively popular genre yet, so the number of artists creating this kind of music is still somewhat small (and the best ones all seem to be signed by Deep Elm Records), but the good news is that this seems to be changing with a number of new “post-rock” bands that have been popping up lately.

The 93 is one such band. Based in Cardiff, the group is formed by two talented brothers from Poland and started in 2017. I discovered them on Instagram when they liked one of my posts and started following me (I love to discover new music that I like this way). They got some samples of their songs on their profile there that got me interested and then I listened to their EPs, which are available on most streaming platforms. They say in their official website that they were originally rooted in punk-rock and you can definitely sense some Angels & Airwaves influence in their songs, which can never be bad. 03 is their latest single, which was released earlier this year, and it encapsulates perfectly the gorgeous kind of music they make.

There is no video available yet but you can listen to this song in the playlists below. Give this band a chance. You won’t regret it.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Relax

June 27, 2020March 29, 2023

Paul van Dyk ft. Plumb – Music Rescues Me

I don’t think Paul van Dyk needs any kind of intro. Matthias Paul, his real name, is one of the most renowned DJs in the world. However, from the moment I decided to include trance tracks on this website, I knew I had to feature Music Rescues Me. This tune from 2018 was a collaboration with Plumb, who is an American Christian artist who has sold more than 500,000 albums and two million singles worldwide. The song was also co-written by Johnny McDaid, who you might know as Snow Patrol‘s guitarist and lead singer of the extinct band Vega4 (and also as Courteney Cox’s boyfriend).

Music Rescues Me is a gorgeous and uplifting trance anthem that is impossible to get out of your head. It’s the perfect earworm for a Saturday night. Don’t believe me? Try it now and let me know how it goes.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Electronic

June 26, 2020May 13, 2023

Cultures – Away From Us

Cultures is an alternative/indie rock band from Greater Manchester that started just four years ago but has managed to get some attention in that short period of time. In fact, I would not be surprised if they became the next big thing to come out of the Manchester area. The group certainly got the talent for that.

Away From Us is their latest single and it showcases perfectly how much the band has evolved since 2016. It is a guitar-driven song about what it feels like to live away from home for the first time, something many of us can relate to. If this is an indication of where Cultures is heading to, it is clear then that the band is going up. Watch the brand new video (released today!) or listen to the song in the playlists below, and then you’ll be able to brag about listening to Cultures before they became big.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Alternative

June 25, 2020May 3, 2023

Télépopmusik – Smile

This week’s #ThrowbackThursday song is a bit different than previous entries. To begin with, it is a “chill out” tune from Télépopmusik, a French electronic music duo that released its first album, Genetic World, back in 2001. The most popular song on that album was Breathe, which got featured in a Mitsubishi television commercial and got even a Grammy nomination. That being said, it is unlikely that people who don’t follow electronic music that closely knows who they are (they are still active).

I got nothing against Breathe, but my favorite track from that album, besides δp.δq ≥ h⁄4π “L’incertitude d’Heisenberg”, is Smile. I cannot explain why, both tracks are similar, they even feature the same guest vocalist: Angela McCluskey, but there is something about Smile that is hard to put into words. I think it was the blend of Angela’s raspy voice with the delicate unconventional sounds that composed the track. I guess the best thing I could say about this song, besides its being a musical crush of mine, is that if I told you it was released yesterday instead of 19 years ago, you could totally believe it.

Had you heard this tune before? Let me know what you think of it in the comments section below.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Chill Out

June 24, 2020May 13, 2023

Hunter & The Bear – Won’t You Ever Come Home

These British rockers deserve worldwide recognition. Started by Will Irvine (the Bear) and Jimmy Hunter, Hunter & The Bear is now a four-piece rock band that have supported artists like Eric Clapton and played in multiple festivals, but I don’t think the casual listener knows who they are. That needs to change soon.

Hunter & The Bear released a new single in March this year. It is very good and I will probably feature it here in the near future. However, the song I’d like to highlight here today is this gem from their debut album from 2017: Won’t you Ever Come Home. This beautiful song blends the best of Bruce Springsteen with Irvine’s stunning vocals to make it a memorable track that deserves to be played on repeat ad infinitum. It became my musical crush for a while. If you like good rock music, chances are high it was or will become yours too.

*Update: The band has been renamed Daytime TV after guitarist and co-founder Jamie Hunter left the band in 2021.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

Everything
Alternative