As I've previously stated, every mix I put together is totally instinctual. And after batting around this collection of songs for a few months, I landed on the title because it's the name of my dear friend Harris' latest single with his project Name Brand Safe.
It asks simply, "What If It All Works Out?" As far as the cover image? I was hanging out with my friend Christie Gee a few days back, showing her a lot of the cool movie locations in South Pasadena, and she brought along her little mascot, Ghost Dee, and posed him in front of things like the Michael Myers house and Doc Brown's house from BACK TO THE FUTURE! That picture, in particular, just felt right for this.
2026, Vol. 3: What If It All Works Out?
1. Reward the Scars by Korn 2. Get To It by Quicksand 3. Devateen by The Afghan Whigs 4. Sweet Hallelujah by Royel Otis 5. Cryogen by Muse 6. drop dead by Olivia Rodrigo 7. Stone Over Water by Death Cab For Cutie 8. Sinner Systems by Dead Poet Society 9. It's For The Kids by Anthrax 10. Lord of the Underground by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, Daniel Davies 11. Seconds Before The Sunrise by Dean Lewis 12. Every Part Of Youth by Playing Dead 13. Chance Encounters by The Menzingers 14. Seven Degrees by Friko 15. Better Than Before by Pamela. 16. Coming On Strong by Bloc Party 17. Twizzler by Cigarettes After Sex 18. Starless by A Perfect Circle 19. Someday Soon by Failure 20. Window by Foo Fighters 21. Sleep It Off by Brockoff 22. Always Everything by Will Sheff & Okkervil River 23. Beat It (Demo) by Michael Jackson 24. Switch Up by Mike D 25. Prey by Ganger Baster 26. What If It All Works Out by Name Brand Safe 27. Life Is A Long Goodbye by Young the Giant 28. When I Die Will I Miss Living by Luke Spiller
Believe it or not, sometimes I spend weeks, even months, testing my mixes before publicly sharing them. The order of any mix is THAT important to me, so I have to get it just right. And that's how I've done it since I started these (mostly) quarterly playlists back in 2020. Volume 2 for 2026 was a stubborn one! But after listening repeatedly in the car on my daily drives, contemplating moving one song up, or one song later down the line, there's no better feeling than when you absolutely nail it and you start a mix from the beginning and it feels and sounds seamless.
Why put in all this work and effort? If maybe people don't even listen or just skip around? I don't know, it's just important to me! And if one person appreciates it, then it was worth it. I guess this is my way of saying that any time I have shared a playlist in the past 6 years, I promise you I didn't just throw a bunch of songs together and put them out. I put a lot of thought and heart into creating an experience, and even if it's just for me, so be it. Even if just one song stands out and sends someone down the rabbit hole of that artists back catalog, then it was totally worth it. It's happened to me before!
I know it's been a really, really tough time for everyone out there. So, I used this photo of Alisa on one of her epic hikes, and paired it with the title, "Just Beyond The Horizon." Because I truly believe if you've been going through it, hang in there. Your celebratory "arms in the air" pose is coming. This time, I'll let the songs speak for themselves. ENJOY!
2026, Vol. 2: Just Beyond The Horizon
1. Dammit by Alexandra Kay 2. Arrow (Ghost No. 2) by The Head and the Heart 3. Where the Trees Remember Me by Name Brand Safe 4. Twisting The Knife by Ice Nine Kills featuring McKenna Grace 5. Kerosene by The Warning 6. Circles by Christian Alexander 7. Enjoy It Will It Lasts by Dean Lewis 8. as i wave goodbye by Artemas 9. leaving is easy by almost monday 10. All In Now by Dogstar 11. Rewire by Corella 12. WIRED by Basement 13. Riptides by Death Cab For Cutie 14. The Biggest Dick by Amy Shark 15. Red Car by Ty Teg 16. SORRY! CRASH! by Ecca Vandal 17. Threshold by Sevendust 18. BREAK AWAY by Execution Day 19. You Get One by The Plot In You 20. House Of I by The Afghan Whigs 21. zombies in love by paris jackson 22. let it be loud! by 20:02 23. Lovelorn by DATE OF BIRTH 24. Island Of One by Miki Berenyi Trio 25. Superwayne (Jason Griff remix) featuring Alaska Atoms by Playing Dead 26. Shine Again by Weezer 27. Going Shopping by The Strokes 28. Deja Vu by Pixie McCann 29. Days We Left Behind by Paul McCartney
I love making mixes. I love sharing new music. But in the past 6 years, what I've loved about getting into this habit of sharing new bi-monthly "playlists" is that they truly become time capsules of specific moments in time; soundtracks to various ups and downs of my life. Back in December, I had no clear vision for what anything in 2026 would like like, at all. It made me nervous and anxious. With no job prospects in sight and the period between Thanksgiving break and February being a complete dead zone for the entertainment industry, I looked up flights to Paris, France, put it on my credit card and took off for a month to be with my beloved Alisa. It beat sitting around my apartment doing nothing for a month, especially considering one full year back, all of LA was literally on fire!
This mix started with Morrissey. He's had an album sitting on the shelves for years now. Without any announcement, the first single dropped just as I was getting settled into our Paris apartment. And it was titled "Make-Up Is A Lie," and it opens with the line, "I found myself in Paris..." Well, there's the opener, for sure! Later, the second single would be "Notre-Dame," which Alisa and I went to visit. Who knew Morrissey's long buried album was all about Paris!
During that time, Megadeth released their self-titled final album. And I've always been a huge Megadeth fan, so I picked an unlikely non-single for this mix which has its fair share of super heavy bangers, thanks to Sevendust, Atreyu, HEALTH, and Poppy's inclusion! Brand new discoveries include Young The Giant, Artemes, Wisp, and HIMALAYAS. We have new songs from artists I've already liked such as Alice Merton, Voxtrot, and Ruth B. I like that I have a "love" theme that starts with Holly Humberstone's "To Love Somebody" through The Warning's collaboration with Carín León "Love To Be Loved."
Cover songs? Can't beat the 3 track consecutive run with Madi Diaz's "All The Small Things" (Blink 182), my dear friend Harris' new single with Name Brand Safe "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" (The Proclaimers), and Wisp's version of "Yellow" (Coldplay). Speaking of Wisp, what a great new discovery! Having just recently finished Miki Berenyi's autobiography "Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me From Success" about her time in the band Lush, it's beyond wild to hear a new, young artist proudly carrying forward the "shoe-gaze" subgenre!
Last week, I'm sitting at a coffee shop I'd never been to before and as I'm sipping my cappuccino, this amazing song is playing over the shop's speaker system. One quick Shazam later, and I discovered it was the song "Miss" by Florence Road, an all-female Irish band! It's a song that plays acoustically for the first half, and honestly, had I sampled it on its own, might've turned it off, but there's such a drastic shift at the 2 minute mark that's so rockin', I was just so impressed with the songwriting of this one song! And I loved that I only discovered it by being open enough to walk into a new environment I didn't plan to! That is the magic of music. (And a little fate.)
I say it every time and I mean it every time, this could be my best mix yet! I'll leave it for you to decide, and hopefully something on here will turn you on.
2026, Vol. 1: Salutations de Paris!
1. Make-Up Is A Lie by Morrissey 2. TRASH DECADE by HEALTH 3. Visions by Alice Merton 4. Preaching The End Of The World by King Ultramega featuring Ian Thornley & Pete Thorn) 5. Bruised Sky by Poppy 6. Another Bad Day by Megadeth 7. Guide light by Wisp 8. Miss by Florence Road 9. Ego Death by Atreyu 10. Every Once In A Blue Moon by a!ka 11. My Peace by Voxtrot 12. To Love Somebody by Holly Humberstone 13. Different Kind Of Love by Young the Giant 14. Love To Be Loved by The Warning & Carín León 15. Storm by Ruth B. 16. BLEACH by Ecca Vandal 17. Is This The Real You by Sevendust 18. Twisted Reflections by HIMALAYAS 19. professional heartbreaker by Artemas 20. God's Lonely Man by Anna Calvi & Iggy Pop 21. All the Small Things by Madi Diaz 22. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by Name Brand Safe 23. Yellow by Wisp 24. No Damn Good by Le Matos 25. Votive by The New Pornographers 26. two thousand two by half-life souvenir 27. Notre-Dame by Morrissey
