🎧 Downbeat.fm Vol. 2 Track 3

Mike Rastiello

Mike Rastiello

— 3 min read
🎧 Downbeat.fm Vol. 2 Track 3

While prepping for this month's newsletter I had the horrifying realization that the formative albums of my adolescence will start hitting 30 years old in rapid succession over the next few years.

Some of the first big albums for me that turn 30 in 2021 are:

  • Ten by Pearl Jam (August)
  • Metallica (The Black Album) by Metallica (August)
  • Nevermind by Nirvana (September)
  • Use Your Illusion I/II (September)

Nothing makes me feel old than hearing that an album I idolized as a pre-teen/teenager is hitting major milestones like these.

Use Your Illusion I was the first-ever CD I bought when I got a CD player and in less than six months it will be 30 years old.

New artists that I'm featuring in this very newsletter were born when I was in high school - some even AFTER I graduated which is incredibly rude of them.

I'm also turning 40 this summer, so time is everything and nothing, and it's coming for us all.

Now, on to the music. 👴🏻

March's Playlist


This month's playlist features Widowspeak, Slothrust, Home Is Where, Hop Along, Julien Baker, and much more.

Listen to this month's playlist on:

Apple Music
Spotify


Speak with the Dead by Foxing and WHY? - (Apple Music / Spotify)
Foxing's 2018 album Nearer My God was an amazing album - one of my favorites of that year, and I saw them live twice on that tour. 2021 will bring their follow-up album, and this is the first release off of it.

Horseshoe Crab by Slothrust - (Apple Music / Spotify)
I don’t know what it is about this song, but I absolutely love it.

Romeo and Juliet by Widowspeak - (Apple Music / Spotify)
This is a cover of a Dire Straits song and a long-time favorite of Ali and mine.

Assisted Harakiri by Home Is Where - (Apple Music / Spotify)
Home Is Where's "I Became Birds" EP came out earlier this month and I must have listened to it a dozen times the first day it was so good.

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One of my favorite new artists of the past few years Soccer Mommy played a set on Fender Sessions.

I was a huge Metallica fan in high school - they were about all I listened to and I saw them live three times between 1996 and 2000. They celebrated the 35th anniversary of Master of Puppets by playing "Battery" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

This month also marks the 30th Anniversary of R.E.M.'s Out of Time. UPRPOXX ranked their top 100 songs. Overall a strong top ten list, though there were some songs ranked very low that I love (Crush with Eyeliner, (Don't Go Back to) Rockville, Orange Crush, and a bunch of other songs).

I'm a huge Riley Kiley fan but didn't get into them until right around the time that they broke up. Earlier this month Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett reunited to play a song for charity. When this is all over and live music is a thing again I really hope they do a reunion tour.

This guy made a homemade drumset and plays along with Rush's Tom Sawyer. To take on a Neil Peart drum part on a drumset like this is crazy but he does a great job. He has a bunch of other songs from Nirvana, System of a Down, Guns 'n' Roses, Metallica, and more on his YouTube channel, too.

Remember when movie soundtracks were a big deal? And were good? Defector has some rules for soundtracks.

Some months emo and math rock songs rule these playlists. I'm a fan of both genres and seeing them cross over is very cool. Here's a video of a few people on Tik Tok creating a song together with a dog on vocals. That's right - a dog on vocals.

I am not a Lil Nas fan. Nothing against him, his music just isn't for me. But his latest song (and video) seem to really be pissing off some people that I like to see pissed off. And he's having fun with them on Twitter.

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