This week's Mixtape Rewind takes us back to Season 3 when we first thought of the idea that would become our podcast, The Battle.

What happens when two totally different songs share the exact same title? We built a “battle mix” to find out—pairing heavyweights and outliers across genres and decades—then we argue, analyze, and crown winners. From Go to Get Back, each round reveals how a single word can split into protest anthems, breakup arias, dance‑floor bliss, or guitar‑driven chaos.

We kick off with Blink‑182 and The Black Keys on Go, weighing a bold tonal shift against a signature groove. Eurythmics steamroll Charles & Eddie on Would I Lie To You with brass, bite, and Annie Lennox’s powerhouse vocal. True Love sparks a values debate: Angels & Airwaves deliver a soaring, cinematic build while Coldplay’s “lie if you must” line clashes with the title. Roy Orbison’s You Got It proves timeless compared to a New Kids on the Block time capsule. Then it’s Growing Pains, as Alessia Cara’s present‑tense anxiety meets Ludacris’s reflective narrative—two coming‑of‑age angles, one title.

The center of the card gets fiery. Green Day’s Holiday channels mid‑2000s protest energy against Madonna’s disco‑pop celebration. Rihanna’s Take A Bow serves velvet‑gloved dismissal, while Muse opens an album with a synth‑rock chill that lingers. Tupac and The Beach Boys both claim I Get Around, one with effortless charisma and the other with historic chart significance. Foo Fighters’ Run slams with near‑metal intensity, outpacing Snow Patrol’s slow‑burn. Happy pits NF’s candid mental‑health lens against Pharrell’s pure joy machine—two roads to one feeling. And our main event, Get Back, throws Ludacris’s peak hit‑maker energy against The Beatles’ cultural gravity and complicated context.

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/same-name-different-songs-mix/pl.u-JPAZEoJTLd7Y15j

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1sCtai2Hujfbv9kZD0qnU9?si=779125752f4c4f3f

1. Go by The Black Keys
2. Go by blink-182
3. Would I Lie To You? By Charles & Eddie
4. Would I Lie To You? by Eurythmics, Annie Lennox,Dave Stewart
5. True Love by Angels & Airwaves
6. True Love by Coldplay
7. You Got It (The Right Stuff) by New Kids On The Block
8. You Got It by Roy Orbison
9. Growing Pains by Ludacris
10. Growing Pains by Alessia Cara
11. Holiday by Green Day
12. Holiday by Madonna
13. Take A Bow by Rihanna
14. Take a Bow by Muse
15. I Get Around by 2Pac
16. I Get Around by The Beach Boys
17. Run by Snow Patrol
18. Run by Foo Fighters
19. Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince
20. Summertime by Kenny Chesney
21. HAPPY by NF
22. Happy by Pharrell Williams
23. Get Back by Ludacris
24. Get Back by The Beatles

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What do you do with songs you adore but can’t file anywhere? That was the inspiration for Sam's 2026 birthday mix. He shares with Matt everything from TV themes that outshine their shows, soundtrack deep cuts that became life markers, long builds that earn their intensity, and genre-bending grooves that defy labels.

We start with Benjamin Clementine’s Nemesis and the power of a great intro to set tone and memory, then shift to Regina Spektor’s reminder not to confuse sugar with love. A Nike-era earworm from Crystal Fighters and Puscifer’s Grand Canyon showcase how movement and mood can make a song feel cinematic. Death Cab for Cutie’s I Will Possess Your Heart proves the four-minute intro isn’t excess—it’s obsession rendered in sound. Passion Pit reframes a Smashing Pumpkins classic into a floating, nerve-steadying cover, while Anderson .Paak’s Till It’s Over blooms from grayscale to neon like a perfect post-work reset.

Meg Washington’s How to Tame Lions hooks by tone and clever wordplay even when meaning stays elusive. Del Castillo lights up the room with blistering Spanish guitar, conjuring old west horizons without a single frame of film. Lorde’s A World Alone lands a painfully true line about growing up online. Mr. Scruff’s Get a Move On becomes the exact soundtrack to your morning routine. And Zero 7’s Likufanele closes with a hypnotic chant that turns focus into flow.

If you enjoyed the ride, share the episode with a friend, subscribe for more curated mixes, and leave a five-star review to help us climb to number one by episode 200.

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/sam-sam-birthday-2026-mix/pl.u-9DX3du7dDK4b

1. Nemesis - Benjamin Clementine
2. SugarMan - Regina Spektor
3. Follow - Crystal Fighters
4. Grand Canyon - Puscifer
5. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie
6. Tonight, Tonight - Passion Pit
7. ‘Til It’s Over - Anderson Paak
8. How To Tame Lions - Meg Washington
9. El Corrido De Don Lulai - Del Castillo
10. A World Alone - Lorde
11. Get A Move On! - Mr. Scruff
12. Likufanele - Zero 7

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This week's Mixtape Rewind takes us back to season 2 where we started off looking at second albums from artists. We pull from a wide spectrum—Bowie and Springsteen, Weezer and George Strait, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Kacey Musgraves, Childish Gambino and AJR, Vampire Weekend, All-American Rejects, Foo Fighters, and Kanye—to map the patterns behind sophomore success. The result is a guided, story-rich playlist that shows how voice, risk, and timing can turn “album two” into the real breakthrough.

We start with liftoff—David Bowie’s Space Oddity—then punch into the live-wire storytelling of Springsteen’s Rosalita. From there, the conversation pivots to reinvention: Weezer’s Pinkerton, once dismissed, now revered for its raw edge; George Strait’s grounded homesickness that proves classic country doesn’t need novelty to resonate; and Macklemore’s Thrift Shop, which became a phenomenon by celebrating thrift finds instead of luxury culture. You’ll hear how Kacey Musgraves’ Biscuits distills social wisdom into wry, singable lines, and how Childish Gambino’s 3005 pairs melodic pull with a search for purpose that gives the hook real weight.

We dig into narrative and craft, too. AJR’s Netflix Trip turns The Office into a memory map for growing up, while Vampire Weekend’s Horchata blends intricate arrangements with playful rhyme in a way that feels both brainy and breezy. Rock anchors the back half: All-American Rejects deliver a straight-shot hook with Dirty Little Secret, and Foo Fighters’ Everlong crystallizes the band’s identity as they evolve from a one-man debut to a full-force collective. We close on Kanye’s Gone, a late-album standout from Late Registration that proves the deepest cuts often hold the longest fuse.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/78UWWKd8DuntJfsrnJRWEn?si=Jw_1rDNCQkGJFe1PONg-6A

1. Space Oddity by David Bowie
2. Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen
3. The Good Life by Weezer
4. I Can’t See Texas From Here by George Strait
5. Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
6. Biscuits by Kacey Musgraves
7. 3005 by Childish Gambino
8. Netflix Trip by AJR
9. Horchata by Vampire Weekend
10. Dirty Little Secret by The All-American Rejects
11. Everlong by Foo Fighteres
12. Gone by Kanye West

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New year, clean slate, and a mixtape that refuses to play it safe. We kick things off with ASAP Rocky’s Helicopter, a three‑minute charge from Don’t Be Dumb that sets a confident tone for a tightly curated run through surprise genres, sharp writing, and risky ideas. From there, we veer into Band of Heathens shifting into country textures, then drop into Iron and Wine’s porch‑warm melancholy and Anna of the North’s neon‑lit take on love bombing—two songs that hold the tension between wanting connection and protecting your heart.

We swing the mood with Gorillaz and Sparks on The Happy Dictator, a sing‑along satire that skewers savior posturing across politics and boardrooms. Then Baz Luhrmann’s team reassembles Elvis “DNA” into Wearing That Nightlife Look, all horns, gospel lift, and prime‑era presence. For a different kind of high, Illenium teams with Ryan Tedder on With Your Love, an EDM‑pop crossover built on sturdy songwriting and cathartic drops. We keep it playful with Chinese American Bear’s No No Yeah Yeah, a bilingual indie pop hook that’s all sunshine and earworm, before turning the amps back up with Silversun Pickups and their familiar, satisfying alt‑rock grit on The Wreckage.

Juliana Hatfield offers a gentle anthem for choosing yourself with Harmonizing With Myself—finding rhythm in solitude and reframing pain—then we take a bold detour into French rap with Ninho and Freeze Corleone, where flow and cadence carry the emotion beyond language. Finally, Logic bends format with The Ballad of Rooster Jenkins, a long‑form narrative that spends seven minutes building a world before the beat lands, proving story can still command attention in a skip‑happy era.

Tap play, follow our Song of the Day for daily gems, and share this mix with a friend who needs a fresh soundtrack.

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/sam-2026-january-new-music/pl.u-e2kEmIWl941Y

1. Helicopter - A$AP Rocky

2. High on our Supply - The Band of Heathens

3. In Your Ocean - Iron & Wine

4. Waiting for Love - Anna of the North

5. The Happy Dictator - Gorillaz featuring Sparks

6. Wearin That Night Life Look - Elvis Presley & Jamieson Shaw

7. With Your Love - Illenium & Ryan Tedder

8. No No Yeah Yeah - Chinese American Bear

9. The Wreckage - Silversun Pickups

10. Harmonizing with Myself - Juliana Hatfield

11. Dictionnaires - Ninho & Freeze Corleone

12. The Ballad of Rooster Jenkins - Logic

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This week's Mixtape Rewind takes you back to where Matt and Sam reviewed memorable first tracks from albums. The first track can make you stay, skip, or fall in love. We dove into 12 album openers that don’t just start a record — they define it — and traced how a great intro sets the promise for everything that follows. From the sunlit optimism of the Beach Boys’ Wouldn’t It Be Nice to the neon stride of Taylor Swift’s Welcome to New York, we explore how artists use track one to signal a theme, a shift, or a dare.

We share the moments that hooked us: Alanis Morissette cutting straight to the bone on All I Really Want, Pearl Jam’s Once roaring to life as a debut mission statement, and Chance the Rapper turning gospel joy into a full-album thesis on All We Got. We also talk about pivots and reinvention — Springsteen’s The E Street Shuffle breaking from his Dylan-leaning debut, and Swift’s leap from Nashville to skyscraper synth-pop — and why that boldness belongs right up front. Along the way, we celebrate high-voltage openers like Sleigh Bells’ Tell ’Em, the literate punch of Titus Andronicus’ A More Perfect Union, the tender sting of Dashboard Confessional’s Hands Down, the bittersweet charm of The Shins’ Kissing the Lipless, and Andrew Bird’s Fiery Crash turning an airline safety demo into a meditation on mortality.

This is a love letter to sequencing, storytelling, and the lost art of letting an album guide your night.

Matt and Samer go through twelve songs that served as the opening tracks for some amazing albums.

You can find the mix here on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/04FSmhh5ejKJ5oDdPr1WED?si=060ea013ab8c4c76

1. A More Perfect Union - Titus Andronicus

2. Somebody's Baby - Jackson Browne

3. Tell 'Em - Sleigh Bells

4. Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys

5. All We Got - Chance the Rapper

6. All I Really Want - Alanis Morrissette

7. Kissing the Lipless - The Shins

8. The E Street Shuffle - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

9. Hands Down - Dashboard Confessional

10. Once - Pearl Jam

11. Fiery Crash - Andrew Bird

12. Welcome to New York - Taylor Swift

13. Let Go - Frou Frou

14. Back on the Block - Quincy Jones

15. Marching Bands of Manhattan - Death Cab for Cutie

16. Where the Streets Have No Name - U2

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What if the sixth album is where artists finally step into their truest selves? We kick off season six by chasing that idea across genres and decades, building a mix from Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Kendrick Lamar, Prince, Beyoncé, The Beatles, Jay-Z, John Mayer, The National, Michael Jackson, Foo Fighters, and A Tribe Called Quest. The pattern that emerges is hard to ignore: at album six, craft meets courage, and the results can be seismic.

We start with contrasts—Radiohead’s brooding There, There and the stark intimacy of Springsteen’s Nebraska—spotlighting how restraint can be as bold as maximalism. Kendrick’s TV Off punches at the attention economy while delivering meme-worthy flair; Prince’s Purple Rain towers as a career-defining epic that still feels alive. We trace personal and cultural stakes in Beyoncé’s Formation, then pivot to The Beatles’ Michelle to show how Rubber Soul reshaped their sound with subtle, melodic confidence.

The timeline gets playful when Jay-Z’s ’03 Bonnie & Clyde foreshadows what Lemonade would later complicate. We celebrate narrative craft in John Mayer’s Walt Grace, sit with The National’s vulnerable “45%er” admission, and marvel at Thriller’s near-greatest-hits density anchored by Billie Jean. Foo Fighters’ The Pretender turns sixth-album freedom into kinetic fuel, and A Tribe Called Quest’s We the People closes with legacy, politics, and gratitude—proof that a final statement can still move the culture forward.

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/sam-2026-6th-album-mix/pl.u-1LX0auZaGX7V

1. There, There - Radiohead

2. Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen

3. tv off - Kendrick Lamar featuring Lefty Gunplay

4. Purple Rain - Prince

5. Formation - Beyonce

6. Michelle - The Beatles

7. '03 Bonnie & Clyde - Jay-Z featuring Beyonce

8. Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967 - John Mayer

9. I Need My Girl - The National

10. Thriller - Michael Jackson

11. The Pretender - Foo Fighters

12. We The People.... - A Tribe Called Quest

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A voice can be an instrument, a mirror, and sometimes a battlefield. That’s the ground we cover with actor-singer Winter Andrews aka the “indie sorcerer”—as we trace how mimicry, rhythm, and empathy shaped both his acting and his music.

From being moved by Regina Spektor’s allegory in Samson to discovering the strange peace inside Hozier’s Shrike, Winter opens up about the songs that taught him to hold big feelings without apology. We talk Chester Bennington’s quiet ache amid the roar, Imogen Heap’s ghostly minimalism, Dermot Kennedy’s raw folk energy, and Phoebe Bridgers’ gentle delivery of devastating stories. Then Jeff Buckley brings the hopeful melancholy that still lights the way.

With that map in hand, we step into Winter’s upcoming EP, Till the Moon Fades Away, and the world he built across four originals. Wildfires starts small and blooms into a cinematic swell, setting the promise that intimacy and grandeur will meet. The Lovers is a three-act love story threaded by one telling word—if—moving from yearning to union to elegy, with strings by Rob Moose amplifying the sweep of time. Babel rises from shame and self-loathing into a towering confession, a song years in the making that demanded the right vocal arc and tempo to match its storm. Across the Snow closes like the aftermath of hard nights, born through a character to reach truths that were too raw to face head-on.

If you love singer-songwriter storytelling, indie folk drama, cinematic ballads, and vocal-forward production, this conversation will hit home.

Follow all things Winter Andrews on Instagram and TikTok (@ItsWinterAndrews)

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/winter-andrews-mix/pl.u-MJEGINqbr8

1. Samson - Regina Spektor

2. Shrike - Hozier

3. Numb - LINKIN PARK

4. Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap

5. After Rain - Dermot Kennedy

6. Zombie - YUNGBLUD

7. You Missed My Heart - Phoebe Bridgers

8. Morning Theft - Jeff Buckley

9. Wildfires - Winter Andrews

10. The Lovers - Winter Andrews

11. Babel - Winter Andrews

12. Across the Snow - Winter Andrews

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The first few minutes the audio might get choppy but it's fixed for the majority of the episode afterwards! Apologies for that.

The moment Tori Norman Castillo quit her Wall Street job from an LAX terminal after attending the Grammys, she knew her path forward would be different. As co-founder of Kelzana Artist Management, she's now revolutionizing how musicians build sustainable careers through strategic storytelling.

"Branding goes so deep," Tori explains, drawing from her film background to reimagine artist development. "I think about storytelling for musicians as a movie—what's the plot of their brand? Are they the tragic hero? The rebellious protagonist?" This cinematic approach transforms how artists connect with audiences in an overcrowded marketplace.

Tori's playlist is titled "Top of the Mountain" and it's a journey through life's seasons from the youthful energy of Baby Keem's "16" through reflective winter tracks like Jorja Smith's "I Am." Each selection reveals how music marks transformative moments and shapes our understanding of ourselves. Having grown up in the Blue Ridge Mountains before traveling the world, Tori now returns to Georgia with a renewed appreciation for her roots and the musical influences that defined her.

Kelzana's business model reflects this thoughtful approach, offering everything from foundational brand development to full management services. By meeting artists where they are and building authentic narratives, Tori helps musicians create sustainable careers beyond algorithmic trends.

Whether you're an emerging artist seeking direction or simply fascinated by the intersection of music, storytelling, and personal growth, this conversation offers fresh perspective on finding your authentic voice in a noisy world. Connect with Tori and explore Kelzana's artist-centered approach at https://www.kelzanamgmt.com/.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/40L2daCIrUTYMvhQAzKTB2?si=3vbR3XejS2OoHnlE-qTwbw

1. 16 - Baby Keem

2. Songbird - Eva Cassidy

3. Blue Ridge Mountains - Fleet Foxes

4. Speyside - Bon Iver

5. River - Leon Bridges

6. El Condor Pasa (If I Could) - Simon & Garfunkel

7. Gild the Lily - Billy Strings

8. These Days - The Jesse Williams Band

9. Rather Be Alone - Leon Thomas featuring Halle

10. Harvest Moon (Spotify Studios Version) - Lord Huron

11. 17 - Youth Lagoon

12. I Am - Jorja Smith

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