dnak – DNAK https://www.dnak.com/blog Dave Nakayama's take on music & more Sat, 06 Apr 2024 00:58:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 21519674 Dnak 129 – Spring 2024 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2024/04/dnak-129-spring-2024/ Sat, 06 Apr 2024 00:58:12 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=14218 Plenty of new music, mostly from longtime indie favorites but also some new artists. New tracks from Maggie Rogers, Empire of the Sun, Local Natives, and St. Vincent are wonderful, and I’m getting into new albums from Vampire Weekend, Adrienne Lenker, and more. I’m also doing a deep dive into Jacob Collier’s crazy mind through his YouTube videos, and I’ve included his collab with Brandi Carlile on this list.

-Dnak

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]]> 14218 Dnak 2023 – Favorite Songs of 2023 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2023/12/dnak-2023-favorite-songs-of-2023/ Thu, 21 Dec 2023 06:18:00 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=13318 2023 was another wonderful year in live music for me getting to attend both SXSW in Austin and Outside Lands in San Francisco along with numerous shows at venues up and down the west coast. As for my top songs of 2023, I’m sneaking this list under the wire before the holidays. Here are 30 of my favorite tracks released over the past year. Over time, I’ve come to rely on these lists for me to look back on to remember what I was choosing to listen to and explore.

-Dnak

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]]> 13318 Dnak 128 – Fall 2023 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2023/11/dnak-128-fall-2023/ Tue, 21 Nov 2023 01:45:33 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=13141 Some more new indie tunes to checkout before the inescapable onslaught of holiday music takes over. This one is a mix of tracks definitely worth a listen from both brand new artists and indie standbys. Hope you’ve been having an incredible fall. 🥰

-Dnak

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]]> 13141 Dnak 127 – Summer 2023 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2023/08/dnak-127-summer-2023/ Thu, 31 Aug 2023 19:07:40 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=12996 Summer may be winding down, but that doesn’t mean that summery tunes aren’t still being dropped. Here’s my latest playlists of songs I’ve added to rotation, some of which I’ve picked up checking out artists performing at this year’s Outside Lands and others from new releases by long time favorites.

-Dnak

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]]> 12996 Dnak 126 – Spring 2023 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2023/04/dnak-126-spring-2023/ Wed, 12 Apr 2023 23:12:02 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=12767 After returning from another whirlwind SXSW in Austin, I am inspired to pull together a playlist heavily featuring some of my favorite artists from the festival, like Youth Sector, modernlove., Prima Queen, Quarters of Change, and Sea Lemon. Contrast that with brand new releases from the other end of the spectrum like Pete Gabriel and Depeche Mode along with new songs from favorites over the last few years. Hope you check it out and find something new for your rotation.

-Dnak

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]]> 12767 Dnak 2022 – Favorite Songs of 2022 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2022/12/dnak-2022-favorite-songs-of-2022/ Sun, 18 Dec 2022 23:06:10 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=12436 Exploring new music and getting out to see live performances in person continue to bring me joy. And while I haven’t been to quite as many shows as I’ve had in past years, I make it a priority to see both favorite and upcoming acts in San Francisco and Seattle when I can. What has changed is how music is being discovered and consumed, with short TikTok snippets from little known singers leading to big streaming hits. Recently seeing Girl Talk at The Fillmore, I was struck by how his style of mixing samples together almost felt perfect for the short-form age. As for 2022 in recorded music, I’ve put together a list of 30 of my favorite tracks (mostly Alt/Indie) from the past year. Amazingly, I think I’ve managed to see 27 out of the 30 artists live in person over the past few years. Take a look!

You can also jump directly to the Amazon Music and Spotify lists. – ❤ Dave

30. Beach House, “Superstar”

29. Angel Olsen, “All The Good Times”

28. Animal Collective, “Prester John”

27. Talk, “Run Away to Mars”

26. Stephen Sanches “Until I Found You”

25. Spoon, “Wild”

24. Dominic Fike, “Elliot’s Song”

23. Foals, “2am”

22. MUNA, “Kind of Girl”

21. Phoenix, “Tonight (featuring Ezra Koenig)”

Next [20-11] ]]> 12436 Dnak 125 – Summer 2022 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2022/08/dnak-125-summer-2022/ Wed, 31 Aug 2022 22:39:40 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=11871 Quite a few new artists in my latest playlist, and I’m including a handful of songs that I heard at this year’s Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. Some standouts at OSL on this list include The Beths, Sam Fender, Dominic Fike, and KennyHoopla. Loving the new releases from First Id Kit, Miya Folick, and Superorganism, and kudos to Marcus Mumford on a powerful solo effort. I’m also loving that some of my old favorites like The National, Arctic Monkeys, Editors, Hot Chip, and Silversun Pickups have some new tunes to check out. Enjoy.

-Dnak

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]]> 11871 Dnak 124 – Spring 2022 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2022/04/dnak-124-spring-2022/ Mon, 18 Apr 2022 23:09:19 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=11042 Artists keep bringing us great music, and it’s overdue for me to pull together one of these lists. Quite a few new albums from some of my favorite female-led artists including Mitski, Big Thief, Beach House, and Nilüfer Yanya as well as from acclaimed new artist Wet Leg. I’m super excited for the upcoming albums and early singles from Arcade Fire, Maggie Rogers, Future Islands, and Soccer Mommy, and we even got some new music from Pedro The Lion. Check it out if you want to hear some new tunes. I’m trying to bump up my live music experiences with recent shows by Alt-J, Portugal the Man, and Beach House, and am looking forward to seeing Big Thief at the Paramount in Seattle.

-Dave

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]]> 11042 Dnak 2021 – Favorite Songs of 2021 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2021/12/dnak-2021-favorite-songs-of-2021/ Tue, 21 Dec 2021 00:39:44 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=10623 Music in 2021 has been a story of fits and starts. On one hand, it was starting to feel like we were getting a return to normalcy with live music reappearing on the scene. I felt lucky to see shows at The Paramount and The Neptune in Seattle and at Chase Center in San Francisco. I even went to the delayed Outside Lands music festival in Golden Gate Park which was as incredible as always. On the other hand, we’re still seeing canceled events and even lost a few music venues. Live streamed performances have definitely become more of a thing. Fortunately artists are still creating some amazing music to carry us through these times. Here’s the list of my favorite indie songs of the year. There are a few brand new artists, but most of these are from artists I’ve come to love over the last several years.

You can also jump directly to the Amazon Music and Spotify lists. – ❤ Dave

40. Lorde, “Solar Power”

39. Geese, “Low Era

38. Sam Fender, “Seventeen Going Under”

37. Nation of Language, “Across That Fine Line”

36. Torres, “Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in My Head”

35. Dermot Kennedy, “Better Days”

34. Dayglow, “Close To You”

33. Caroline Polacheck, “Bunny Is A Rider”

32. Makthaverskan, “This Time”

31. Porter Robinson, “Look at the Sky”

[30-21] ]]> 10623 Dnak 123 – Fall/Winter 2021 https://www.dnak.com/blog/2021/11/dnak-123-fall-winter-2021/ Mon, 15 Nov 2021 22:09:01 +0000 https://www.dnak.com/blog/?p=10494 Maybe we’ve reached the new normal. It’s not ideal, but thank goodness live music is slowly returning to our lives. I’ve managed to see a few live shows (Tame Impala, Band of Horses) and even a full on packed music festival (Outside Lands), and seeing that every show has been sold out, I’m pretty certain we all have been missing the experience. It’s been several months since my last list, and I thoroughly enjoyed looking through recent releases to assemble this collection together. Check out the new full albums from The War on Drugs, Brandi Carlile, Nation of Language, and more. And we have some new singles out from Mitski, Big Thief, and Alt-J amongst others. I hope you find something to add to your listening rotation -Dave

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