Better in Headphones noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)

Here we are at the end if another year, and I only made 3 mixes of new songs this year (plus 2 Bands editions). My output has fallen off of a cliff, sadly. I have to accept that I am not finding the time nor motivation to produce these as frequently as I'd like. In fact what has been happening more and more is I am not completing mixes before I already have enough new music for another mix, so by the time I go back to finish the first one, it has already gotten a little stale. So I am going to change the way I do this. Here is the deal from now on: instead of struggling to find time to produce mixes I am going to share an Apple Music playlist (I'll try to get Spotify running as well), and keep that updated throughout the year. Apple Music is the main reason for my drop in productivity, because I am really discovering all my new music through that nowadays. I highly recommend it. Here is a playlist for 2016, organized in a sort of decent-sounding order: Apple Music: BiH Songs 2016 Spotify: BiH Songs 2016 (Coming soon, hopefully) I will come back here and provide new links for a 2017 playlist once I get a few tracks there worth hearing. So my general plan is for BiH to become a playlist each year, and I will still make mixes of bands to serve as a sort of 'best-of' for my favorite artists (I have a bunch of these in progress already) . And I will also do an annual mix of some of my favorite songs from that year. Here is this year's, which only includes a few favorites not heard on BiH mixes previously: BiH Favoritest Songs of the Year: 2016 feat. Communist Daughter, Animal Collective, pronoun, Seahawks, Morgan Delt, Tallest Man on Earth, David Bowie, Wye Oak, SHELLS, Japandroids This already feels so confusing, so let's summarize: BiH will now be annual playlists that I add to over time (and maybe subtract from if I get sick of a song or change my mind about it), an annual favorites mix, occasional bands mixes, and perhaps other mixes in between, but I am no longer making any promises on those. Thanks for listening. I really do love that BetterInHeadphones is a thing. Personally I have been really enjoying the 2016 playlist, and I hope you do as well. Until next year, all my best to everyone. xoxo

It seems these mixes are highlighting more and more well-known tracks. That's not necessarily  bad thing, but I used to mostly include obscure amazing tracks. I also used to have a lot more free time to listen to music. Alas, this one is still pretty damn great. The new Frank Ocean dropped this last weekend and you'll hear a few of my favorite tracks here. I saw the Church open for the Psychedelic Furs a month ago and their closing song, Miami, was the highlight of the night. Animal Collective remixed Bob Dylan (beautifully) for his birthday. Preoccupations, formerly Viet Cong, have a new album that is seriously soooooo good and the longest track on that also happens to be my favorite. I just heard this Animal Feeling track for the first time today (I try  to do this on every new mix: include a last-minute, great-sounding jam that I hope will stand the test of time, though sometimes I miss on these). Cardiknox has produced one of the best pop songs of 2016 IMO. I've had this Amber Quintero on a playlist for a while. And of course, The Avalanches. Duh.  Great headphone songs, all. And great commute music. BiH 54 feat Frank Ocean, Amber Quintero, Bob Dylan (remixed by Animal Collective), Preoccupations, The Church, Cardiknox, Animal Feelings ft. Nomi Ruiz, The Avalanches

This one is a mix of slower electronic tracks that build to a wallop and slowly sort of fades ultimately into a 7 minute, mostly-acoustic little beauty to close it out. But if you listen, you'll hear that for yourself. Mostly new music, though I somehow missed this Kiln album a few years back and I've been listening to that a bit lately. But the new Holy Fuck, Deakin, the 1975, Rogue Wave and much more is represented here. I have been looking forward to this one. :-) I hope you enjoy it. BiH 53 feat. The 1975, Deakin, Kiln, Plastic Flowers, Holy Fuck, Dual Point, Cool Ghouls, Midday Veil, Bear Hands, Rogue Wave, Dustin Tebbutt

I guess this sort plays like more of a greatest hits for these guys really. But it is remarkable that they have so many hits. I never got into their albums overall, and even my favorite albums had lots of tracks I'd skip. But these guys produced more than just a lot of drama in the media. They made some incredible music.  At least as hated as they are loved, Oasis made it difficult to ignore them. Here they are at what I consider their best. BiH Bands : Oasis

Hello everyone. My apologies for not having any new mixes in so long. But here is a nice mix from one of the best bands ever. The Smiths were not around for all that long, and I am confident that we will never see a reunion from these guys. Nowadays Coachella and other festivals pay millions of dollars to get bands back together and The Smiths are probably at the top of many most-wanted lists. It isn't ever going to happen. But we can still listen to their records, which are still amazing 30+ years later.  For me it was The Queen is Dead. I was familiar with other songs before that but when I got that cassette, it didn't leave my player for weeks (and  I used to deliver pizza so I drove a lot). My friend PM and I spent over a week in NH listening to nothing but that album; I had just picked it up before our trip. We listened in the car, took the out tape and listened in the house, took it on the boat and listened there too.  I made this a few weeks ago and I have listened to it many times. It has been awesome getting back into a band I loved so much when I was younger. I think I may make a few more nostalgic mixes soon. And maybe I'll even finish a mix of new music at some point too. But for now, I am going to let these gents speak for themselves. BiH Bands: The Smiths

It's been a while. My last new mix was published 3 months ago. My apologies. Life is a little hectic and I am not finding the time I used to to make these. I still get tons of new music, I just don't get to hear it. In fact, I still have a ton to sort through. But I am off work this whole week, and my wife is working most days so I hope to tackle the pile (though I just heard the new Adele and that may take up a lot of time...it's so good!). I feel like I have been working on this one forever. I have been listening to unfinished, rough versions of this for too long. I have another one close to completion which I expect to get to this week. I promise it will not be another 3 months. In other news, happy 5 year anniversary to BiH! I cannot believe it has been 5 years since I started this. It all started in an Apple Store Genius Room where I once worked and needed a soundtrack. Thanks PM and JB for the encouragement early on. Thanks to all the artists I have featured for the retweets over the years. Thanks to all the artists just for doing what you do, actually. Finally, a huge thanks to NC for letting me pillage his Instagram feed at instagram.com/ncour for BiH covers. This one also features his amazing work. BiH 51 feat. Grimes, Perils, Yung, Aaron, Conner Youngblood, Deerhunter, Andrei Eremin, Chad Valley, BARO, The Besnard Lakes, Dr. Quandary, Crescendo