Mike Mix 2016

2016 has been a disappointing year for us here at MiKenzie Inc. simply for the fact that the "It only rhymes once every ten years" slogan we're fond of doesn't really apply this year.  Maybe if we called it "Mike Mix One Six," but who would ever say that?  So we'll skip this decades rhyming Mike Mix title and call the stupid thing Mike Mix Twenty Sixteen.  (Never Two Thousand Sixteen!)

So anyway, it's been a musically interesting year for me, so this particular mix of music might seem a little off-focus.  And here it is:

1) "In a World Possessed by the Human Mind" - The Tragically Hip



Besides not rhyming with "Mix," 2016 has been a bad year for many other things (*cough*Trump*cough), including a slew of celebrity deaths.  Although he has not died, Tragically Hip lead singer Gordon Downie announced that he has a form of brain cancer that has a very high mortality rate.  I have been a fan of the Hip since I was 18, so this news was quite upsetting.  The band also released a new album in 2016 (Man Machine Poem), so they decided that they would tour to promote the album and to say good-bye to their fans with one final Canadian tour.  My cousins and I were able to go to the show they played in Calgary.  It was my second time seeing them live, and I'm glad I was able to be there in person to say good-bye to a Canadian musical icon.

2) "Afraid of Heights (Reprise)" - Billy Talent



Another Canadian band, Billy Talent is no stranger to Mike Mix, having made their first contribution in 2003.  They still haven't been able to match that first album, but Afraid of Heights is pretty good, and the title track was their lead-off single.  I enjoy the "Afraid of Heights" reprise from the end of the album, so that's what I included.  I'm just a sucker for piano in rock songs.

3) "Heathens" - Twenty-One Pilots



My favourite musical act of 2015, Twenty-One Pilots returned in 2016 with a single for the Suicide Squad soundtrack.  While not as good as the songs from their first two albums, "Heathens" is still a very enjoyable song, even if the movie it's from was a huge disappointment.

4) "Don't Let This Feeling Fade" - Lindsey Stirling ft. Rivers Cuomo & Lecrae



When I was reading the track list on the back of Lindsey Stirling's latest album (Brave Enough), and I saw Rivers Cuomo's name I just about lost my mind.  I posted on Facebook that it was like finding out that Stephen King co-authored a chapter of my sister Jennifer Quist's latest novel.  For those who don't know, Rivers is the lead singer of Weezer, which has been my favourite band since I was 15 years old.  This really seems to hit home that Lindsey Stirling, the Mormon dancing violinist/electronic pop star has really made it.

5) "First Light" - Lindsey Stirling



I don't normally allow two songs from the same album on Mike Mix, but I'm making an exception here.  There was no way I wasn't including a song that features both Lindsey Stirling and Rivers Cuomo, but "First Light" is actually a much better song than "Don't Let This Feeling Fade," so I'm including it, too.  It's much more representative of the album, which is about Lindsey learning to deal with emotional pain.  In her own words: "I've learned that you can't selectively numb feelings.  If you numb the bad, you will numb the good and life is most meaningful when we allow ourselves to experience the full spectrum of emotions.  But before I learned that truth, I had already constructed many barriers to deaden the pain.  It didn't take long to discover that the walls I'd built around my heart went up much easier than they came down.  As I was attempting to dismantle them, I lost my best friend Gavi to cancer.  I never knew my heart could ache with such indescribable anguish and I wanted more than ever to rebuild and reinforce my protective walls to numb the new heartache.  I didn't care about feeling the good in life as long as I could numb the bad.  However, rather than crawl into a hole, I chose to feel the pain.  So I worked and wrote my way through it.  Each song represents a step - a step that has taken me from being a heartbroken lost girl, wishing for bravery, to a woman who is ready to answer the call of something wild."

"First Light" is one of the later tracks on the album, and despite having no lyrics, it brings to my mind imagery of spiritual and emotional awakening and arriving at a good place to be in life.

6) "Escape" - Kongos



I've known of the Kongos for a few years now but never really paid a lot of attention to them until Noah said he wanted to go to their concert in Calgary because The Joy Formidable was opening for them.  The concert was very enjoyable.  The highlight was a cover of New Order's "Blue Monday," but aside from that I really enjoyed the song "Escape" from their first album, which I bought soon after seeing them in concert.

7) "Fall Together" - The Temper Trap



It's been years since The Temper Trap appeared on a Mike Mix.  I think it was 2010, with the song "Soldier On" from their debut album.  I never really followed them after that first album, but I decided that I want them on this mix with this song from their latest album, Thick As Thieves.

8) "Glory" - Bastille



If I had to pick a favourite band for this decade so far, it would probably be Bastille.  Their first full-length album, All This Bad Blood, was a work of art.  Every track is good and I have never grown tired of listening to it.  They released another EP after it, and a track from it appeared on last year's Mike Mix, but it didn't live up to the greatness of All This Bad Blood.  This autumn, they released their second full-length album, Wild World.  While not as great as Bad Blood, it is still a great album from start to finish.  "Glory" is one of the softer songs from it, and it's quite beautiful.

9) "Still Breathing" - Green Day



I have an on again/off again relationship with Green Day.  Some of their albums I love (Dookie, American Idiot), but some I don't (Insomniac, 21st Century Breakdown).  Revolution Radio is a good one.  I included "Still Breathing" because I have a soft side for Green Day's soft side.

10) "Radio of Lips" - The Joy Formidable



The Joy Formidable are my favourite Welsh band.  Like I mentioned earlier, Noah and I went to Calgary to see them open for Kongos in October.  They're an awesome band live, and they had the most cheerful foul mouths.  I didn't know this until recently, but I could listen to Welsh people curse all day.

11) "Jacked Up" - Weezer



So we're getting Rivers Cuomo twice on this Mike Mix, but this one is completely within my self-imposed rules.  Two completely different albums.  Weezer released their latest self-titled album this year, which is being called The White Album, which might be considered sacrilegious, but most hardcore Beatles fans are too old to do anything about it these days anyway.  The White Album isn't as strong as their 2014 return-to-form Everything Will Be Alright In The End, but it's a solid album.

12) "Medieval Warfare" - Grimes

This song is much different than the Grimes song I included on Mike Mix 2015.  "Flesh Without Blood" was a catchy electronic pop song.  "Medieval Warfare" is a heavy, grungy song.  Still cool, though.  This is another song from the Suicide Squad soundtrack, a movie whose soundtrack is more successful.

13) "Bury It" - CHVRCHES ft. Hayley Williams



CHVRCHES has been on Mike Mix before, and Hayley Williams (Paramore) has, too.  Now they're on it together in the same song.  It's a fun, catchy indie electronic song with an equally fun video.  Enjoy it.

14) "LA Devotee" - Panic! At the Disco



After buying their first two albums, for some reasons I stopped paying attention to Panic! At the Disco years ago.  Apparently, they've still been out there this whole time making quality music.  I especially enjoyed this song.  The video features one of the kids from Stranger Things.  You know, the one who went missing in the first episode.  You guys like Stranger Things, right?

15) "Bored to Death" - Blink 182



Blink 182 hasn't been on a Mike Mix in a while.  Tom Delonge was too busy being crazy with his UFO conspiracy theories that the rest of the band decided to make an album without him.  Apparently, they didn't really need him.  Mark was always my preferred singer, anyway.  Enjoy watching how old he's gotten in this video.

16) "Dark Necessities" - Red Hot Chili Peppers



Speaking of aging rock stars who haven't been on Mike Mix in a while, here's a Red Hot Chili Peppers song.

17) "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Panic! At the Disco



Yeah, I put two Panic! songs on, too.  Again, two different albums.  It's also the third song from Suicide Squad.  As for the song itself, it's obviously a cover of the famous Queen song.  I was a teenager in the early '90s, so my first exposure to Bohemian Rhapsody was Wayne's World.  I bought the Classic Queen album and listened to it quite a bit before discovering Weezer, which forever changed my taste in music.

Mike Mix 2015

I wasn't going to blog about Mike Mix this year, but people on Facebook were clamoring for this year's entry by MiKenzie Inc.'s music department.  So, here we go.

First, a reminder of the rules.  Each song must be newly acquired by me since the making of the previous Mike Mix, and only one song per album.  This means that there could be (and there are) multiple songs by the same artist, but I acquired two or more of their albums since last year.

The songs:

1) "Holding On To You" by Twenty-One Pilots



I discovered this band through the radio station I listen to, 98.1 The Bridge.  The song "Tear In My Heart" was a big hit, and was on my sister Emily's list of her favourite songs from 2015.  I liked the song enough to buy the album (Blurry Face), but I didn't expect to like Twenty-One Pilots as much as I do.  A week or two after buying Blurry Face, I went out and bought their first album, Vessel, which I like better than Blurry Face.  This song, "Holding On To You," is my favourite song from that first album, and Twenty-One Pilots is my favourite musical act of 2015.

2) "The Shade" by Metric



Metric are no strangers to Mike Mixes and other Mike Mix productions.  When they released a new album in 2015, it was a foregone conclusion that they would be on Mike Mix 2015.  The only question was which song.  I decided on the first single, which is nicely upbeat and catchy.

3) "Make You Better" by The Decemberists



The Decemberists make their Mike Mix debut with this song, which is from the first Decemberists album that I've ever purchased.  I like the mood of this song, and hey, the video has Nick Offerman playing a snooty German '70s TV show host.

4) "Flesh Without Blood" by Grimes



Grimes only very recently made it on my radar in the last few weeks.  "Flesh Without Blood" has recently started to get radio play in Lethbridge, and then Emily included "Kill V. Maim" on her favourite songs of 2015 list.  I bought the album today.  It's a nice change from the music I normally listen to, and a breath of fresh air on Lethbridge radio.

5) "Tompkins Square Park" by Mumford & Sons



I've known about Mumford & Sons for a while now, and one of their songs has actually made it onto a Mike Mix before, but I never bought one of their albums until this year.  It's funny, because I'm usually a sucker for music with banjos in it, and that's what Mumford & Sons is known for, but their latest album - the one I bought - has no banjo on it.  Still good, though.

6) "All You Sons and Daughters" by Matthew Good



Ah, Matt Good.  My favourite solo artist.  He's getting old, and his music reflects that, but I'm getting old, too, so I like the direction his music has gone in since Matthew Good Band disbanded after Audio of Being.  His latest album gives me a little added nerd joy because it's called Chaotic Neutral, a reference to the alignment system in tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder.

7) "Bright" by Echosmith



How Echosmith came to be on Mike Mix is kind of interesting.  They had a hit in 2015 ("Cool Kids"), which was good but didn't catch my attention enough to find out who sang it.  But then Lindsey Stirling did a cover of this song with the lead singer of Echosmith doing vocals, and I really liked that.  I looked up the original version of the song, and was pleased with it as well.  Both versions of the song have different feels to them.  This one is faster and happier than the Lindsey Stirling version, which will show up later on this list.

8) "Flesh and Bone" by The Killers



I have an on again/off again thing going with The Killers.  For a few years, I wasn't crazy about them, and during that time, they released the album Battle Born, which features this song.  Then one day I was in HMV, and they were playing a Brandon Flowers song, and it made me smile, so I picked up Battle Born.  Flesh and Bone is my favourite song from that album.  (Fun fact: another song from this album, "Here With Me," was featured on an older Mike Mix, but I only bought the single back then, so I'm allowed to feature another song from the album now that I own the whole thing.)

9) "Lights" by Ellie Goulding



Another song I heard on 98.1 the Bridge.  I don't have a lot to say about this one.  Just a nice, catchy tune with a nice beat sung by a pretty voice.

10) "Ansel" by Modest Mouse



Modest Mouse released their first album since 2007, and I was sure to pick it up.  My wife hates Modest Mouse, but that doesn't stop me from listening to them.  It was a good album with some interesting vocals at times.  This is one of the songs that is song in a normal voice.  And it's apparently a true story, which, if you listen to the lyrics, is really sad.

11) "Infinitesimal" by Mother Mother



Mike Mix 2014 featured a song from Mother Mother's most recent album, so I had to work backwards and choose a song from one of their older albums.  Something about him singing about physics while saying "bro" makes me chuckle.

12) "Hometown" by Twenty-One Pilots



Look, I explained the rules, and I already explained that I bought two Twenty-One Pilots albums this year, so don't be so surprised that they're showing up again.  I took quite a while deciding which song to use from Blurry Face.  The obvious choice was "Tear In My Heart," but it has been played to death.  I almost went with "Judge," or "Stressed Out," but ultimately went with this because, in my opinion, it's more representative of the duo.

13) "Molecules" by Atlas Genius



The Bridge really came through for me this year.  Another good radio find.  (By the way, one of the main DJs from the Bridge comes to my gas bar, and I was once on air because I phoned the station after he left his lotto ticket.)  I really like this song, and the rest of the album is good, too.

14) "Damini" by USS



So Mike Mix 2009 had two USS songs from their first two albums.  Mike Mix 2014 had a song from their fourth album.  And now Mike Mix 2015 has a song from their third album.  We don't necessarily do things in order here at MiKenzie Inc.

15) "Firefly" by Hollerado



Another Bridge find.  I just really like that guitar riff.  This is another song based on a true story, this time about when the house the lead singer shared with his wife burned down.

16) "Safe and Sound" by Capital Cities



I don't know a lot about this band.  I just know that I like this song, I like the video, and I love that beard.

17) "Bright" by Lindsey Stirling and Sydney from Echosmith



I told you it was coming.  And I told you it had a different mood than the Echosmith version.  This one seems more melancholy.  And those legs are really distracting.

18) "Remains" by Bastille featuring Rag'N Bone Man and Skunk Anansie



I don't know who Rag'N Bone Man and Skunk Anansie are, but I sure as hell know Bastille.  They are my favourite band of the decade so far.  This song is from their recent EP, and it's actually a remake of one of their earlier songs, "Skulls."  This new version is better, I just wish that Dan Smith was singing the whole thing.

And that's Mike Mix 2015.  Hope it makes you happy, EMILY!