Hot Chicken, Hop Hippin': Best of 2021 Playlist

In no particular order, I've selected the favorite tracks from 2021's playlists for my 20th annual Choice Cuts end-of-year mix. Let the entire playlist play via YouTube above, or listen and watch each one below!


1. A Bee Without Its Sting — The Go! Team


2. How Not To Drown (feat. Robert Smith) — CHVRCHES


3. Be Sweet — Japanese Breakfast


4. Silk Chiffon (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) — MUNA


5. Heat Waves — Glass Animals


6. 4Runner — Rostam


7. Breathe Deeper (Lil Yachty Remix) — Tame Impala, Lil Yachty


8. Beggin' — Måneskin


9. Feel the Sunshine (feat. HIRIE) — Kolohe Kai


10. Meet Me At Our Spot (Live) — THE ANXIETY, WILLOW & Tyler Cole


11. Stop This Flame — Celeste


12. The Mission — Bakar


13. Record Player — Daisy the Great, AJR


14. Immune — Jensen McRae


15. Witchoo (feat. Aaron Frazer) — Durand Jones & The Indications


16. Fire for You — Cannons


17. Where Is My Mind? — Tkay Maidza


18. Like I Used To — Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen


19. Green Eyes — Arlo Parks


20. Peach — Future Islands


21. that's what i want — Lil Nas X


22. simple times — Kacey Musgraves


23. Bagsy Not In Net — The 1975

Florence and the Machine, Chvrches, Death Cab for Cutie and More: Highlights From KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas

Thanks to KROQ — specifically Dave "The King of Mexico" Sanchez — for allowing me to partake in another fun Almost Acoustic Christmas concert. Night two of the annual event took place on Sunday night at the Forum, highlighted by headliners Florence and the Machine (above) and others. Besides her powerful voice and a set list with plenty of KROQ favorites, Florence also brought down the house by asking the crowd to put down their phones. And the Forum crowd obliged!

The real highlight for me was earlier in the evening, however, when Chvrches performed. From its synthpop sounds to Lauren Mayberry's voice, they're phenomenal live. And yes, I followed up their performance by embarrasing myself in front of them later in the Forum club. Turns out blurting "Hey Chvrches!" and then waiting for them to respond wasn't the best way to get them to talk, but it was a great way to get them to look at me weird.

Mike Posner, who ended his set... with beat poetry.

Young the Giant.

Bastille played the hits, ending with "Pompeii."

Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard.

More from Florence and the Machine.

The Kevin & Bean crew, minus Bean.

KROQ's Beer Mug, in character as "Mugos."

Choice Cuts: Franklin Avenue's Favorite Tracks of 2015, Part 4

In no particular order, I've selected the favorite tracks from 2015's playlists for our fourteenth annual Choice Cuts end-of-year mix. The next four:

13. Hard Time -- Seinabo Sey

Writes The Guardian: "Seinabo Sey, with her motley take on pop, surely puts up with a lot of hyphenated descriptors. The singer-songwriter is Swedish-Gambian for starters, daughter of late musician Maudo Sey and his partner Madeleine Sundqvist. Then, there’s the issue of categorising her sound. As is the case with so many musicians of her age, the 25-year-old rummages around in a grab-bag of influences to make this tightly performed, if not slightly over-polished, debut." I found "Hard Time" in a blog post of songs that "public radio can't get enough of."



14. Chains of Love -- The Arcs

Dan Auerbach, the singer-guitarist-songwriter of the modern-blues duo the Black Keys, finds a lower-key (pun intended) but still soul-infused sound with side project The Arcs. Rolling Stone writes: "the bleak R&B beauty "Chains of Love," Auerbach hands the chorus to the female singers Mariachi Flor de Toloache, who haunt the space behind the beat and spindly guitars like a ghostly Shangri-Las.



15. Never Ending Circles -- CHVRCHES

From the second release from Scottish synthpop band Chvrches -- sorry, CHVRCHES -- I fell in love with lead vocalist Lauren Mayberry's sound all over again.



16. Ocean To City -- High Highs

One of my favorite songs of all time is Ocean Blue's "Ballerina Out of Control." Perhaps it's just a weird coincidence, but High Highs' "Ocean to City" has a very similar beautiful-yet-melancholy sound to it.

The final tracks tomorrow!

Choice Cuts: Franklin Avenue's Favorite Tracks of 2013, Part 2

In no particular order, I've selected the favorite tracks from 2013's playlists for our twelfth annual Choice Cuts end-of-year mix. I'm revealing them throughout the week. The next four:



5. Kangaroo Court -- Capital Cities

Of course we still can't get enough of Capital Cities' "Safe and Sound," including the wonderful music video shot at downtown's Los Angeles Theatre. But the follow-up, "Kangaroo Court," is catchy in its own right, and Blogger Kid 2.0 is even more enthralled with this video (perhaps it's because of the disturbing end).




6. Trouble (Mr Bird Remix) -- Jose James

Jazz musician Jose James, known for infusing hip-hop into his sounds released his first CD this year on the famed Verve label. Says Billboard: "James grew up in Minneapolis, the son of a Panamanian saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist, and by his early teens was a fixture on the local jazz scene, performing with a variety of lineups and players. He attended the jazz program at the New School, studying with jazz elders Junior Mance and Chico Hamilton. But it was a chance encounter with Gilles Peterson, an influential U.K. radio personality and crate-digger with a knack for discovering raw talent, that helped move his career into high gear."



7. Recover -- CHVRCHES

It was a big year for Chvrches, which hit mainstream alternative big this year with "Recover." Funny enough, they were also known this year for covering Haim's "Falling," another one of our Choice Cuts 2013 selections.



8. Dance Apocalyptic -- Janelle Monáe

Go ahead, get up and dance. Janelle Monáe commands you to.

Tomorrow: The next four!

Also on Franklin Avenue:

Choice Cuts: Franklin Avenue's Favorite Tracks of 2013, Part 1

Choice Cuts: Franklin Avenue's Favorite Tracks of 2013, Part 3

Choice Cuts: Franklin Avenue's Favorite Tracks of 2013, Part 4

Choice Cuts: Franklin Avenue's Favorite Tracks of 2013, Part 5