WARMER MIXTAPES #1649 | by Samuel Charles Regan [Sam Regan/HALLOLEAN TAPE] of Satan Wriders, Lotion Boys, Kanko Fetti and Baseball Gregg

1. Carly Rae Jepsen | Boy Problems
E.Mo.Tion was easily my favorite release of 2015. It is never out of my car’s CD player for too long. Both The Production and Songwriting aspects of this song are really original. The song manages to remain super Poppy without sounding anything like other contemporary Pop songs, which I unfortunately think is part of the reason that Carly isn’t widely considered to be the genius that she is. She is truly in her own lane.

2. SZA | The Weekend
Another album that stayed in my car’s stereo for months. Also another song that really creates it’s own Sound Production wise and melodically. The Story-Telling in the lyrics of this song is really vivid. SZA’s album came out before our album Sleep, but our whole album was written and recorded before this was out, and on our album there is also a song (Together In My Dreams) about being in Love with a taken man. I’ve never actually been in that situation, but I’ve definitely had crushes on married people, and this song has given me an interesting outlet to exploring those feelings.

3. Solange | Cranes In The Sky
I can’t say I’m sure what Solange is speaking about in this song, but to me this song is about trying to stave off Depression. The constant looming of the mellotron is the perfect sonic description of a what it feels like to have a dull sadness underlying everything. So many of the lyrics in this song hit me really close. I tried to run it away... Thought then my head be feeling clearer... I traveled 70 states... Thought moving around make me feel better. And the line about the cranes in the sky, Sometimes I don’t wanna feel those metal clouds. It’s beautiful, the cranes in the sky aren’t elegant birds soaring through the sky, they’re The Machines of Construction. There’s a lot of different I feel about this line. At first I thought the song was about birds, but then I realized it’s not. That’s like Life, it’s not what you think it’s going to be, the cranes aren’t graceful, soaring, and elegant. They are just metal claws dangling in the sky, constant and dull, and you can’t escape them.

4. Boy Romeo | Don’t Call Me Girl
John Steiner is my best friend and he wrote this song. But I didn’t pick this song because he’s my friend, I picked it because it’s fucking great. Melodically and structurally this song is really amazing, but the lyrics are really what make the song one of my favorites. It’s about a partner telling you to that they don’t want you to gender them as female. I first heard this song around a time when I was thinking a lot about how I personally related to Gender, and it felt super relevant to my life. (Also I’d highly suggest checking out all of Boy Romeo’s Music, they’re my favorite band and are criminally under appreciated.)

5. Kate Bush | Hounds Of Love
It’s only been the last 6 months or so that I’ve been listening to Kate Bush, and she’s been really incredibly important to me lately. She has such a powerful and unique sound, nothing else gives me the same feeling. It’s difficult for me to pick a specific Kate Bush song to put on this list (I’m still working through her discography), but it seems like every month or so there’s a new one that takes over my life for a week. I love the melody and the energy in this song, and the metaphor of Love as a pack of dogs to run away from is really poignant. It’s especially beautiful how she’s afraid of Love, and she is looking for someone to help her, and she then sings Don’t let me go!... Hold me down!... It’s coming for me through the trees! Help me, darling! Help me, please!. She is begging the person she loves to keep her from running away, it’s the person she loves who she trusts to help save her from herself, but it’s that same love and trust that she is afraid of.


6. Mount Eerie | Now Only
Phil Elverum has been one of my favorite artists since I was in High School. The last two albums he’s made since the death of his wife are unique and powerful. On this song It feels like Phil is attempting to put his life back together. The songs starts with Phil describing how he felt in the hospital waiting room while his wife was dying, surrounded by people in similar situations, and how even surrounded by people in Misery, he felt alone, his devastation is unique. Then the song shifts to the most Pop-oriented section of the two albums with the musically light-hearted chorus, while Phil sings the matter-of-fact lyrics, people get cancer and die, people get hit by trucks and die. He feels less alone in his sorrow, and seems to be finding comfort in realizing he’s not alone, it’s actually common for people to just die for no reason. But this stability quickly crumbles. Phil sings I wrote down all the details of how my house fell apart as the scaffolding of musical structure he has constructed in the chorus also crumbles, opening the song to the Stream-Of-Consciousness feelings that characterize the rest of the two albums. This song is a beautiful glimpse into a specific moment of dealing with Grief. Healing is slow, unsteady, and tumultuous.

7. The Beach Boys | God Only Knows
Pet Sounds has been so important to me for so long that I don’t really feel like I can say anything about it. If anybody asked me what my all time favorite song was, I would say God Only Knows. I don’t have any tattoos, but I’ve been thinking about getting a Brian Wilson tattoo for a while.

8. Kanye West | Runaway (feat. Pusha T)
This song is larger than Life. I’m not sure if this makes sense, but it feels like the Bohemian Rhapsody for my generation. This is the kind of song that, if played at the right moment at a party, people seem to come out of the woodwork to yell every word, and that’s a really powerful and unifying feeling. One of my favorite things about this song is how imperfect Kanye’s vocal takes are, it fits perfect in a song about imperfections, and is beautifully juxtaposed against such a meticulously composed album. I remember once I was driving on the I-5 free way in California from Sacramento to Stockton around sunset listening to this song. Everything was golden. During the vocoder solo at the end I drove past some cows standing in a small river and instantly started crying. It was such a beautiful moment.

9. Tatsuro Yamashita | Love Talkin’ (Honey It’s You)
This is maybe the most fun song I’ve ever heard. I’ve been speaking a lot about the lyrics of the songs on this list, but since this song is mostly in Japanese I can’t really say much. The arrangement on this song is so good, it fills me with Joy and makes me want to dance.

 10. Rich Gang | Lifestyle (feat. Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan)
I’ve loved Young Thug since I heard the mixtape 1017 Thug in 2013. I think he’s been one of the most exciting voices in Rap. I also really love Rich Homie, but unfortunately he hasn’t continued to make Music at the same level as Thug has. This song was HUGE when it came out. I couldn’t go anywhere in summer 2014 without hearing this song blasting out of cars, and it’s still fun as fuck to listen to.