2026, Vol. 2: Just Beyond The Horizon

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

2026, Vol. 1: Salutations de Paris!

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