▶︎ Listen to Common Wealth

Liner Notes

Common Wealth is warm and worn, humble and human. It’s old-fashioned. Romantic realism. Out of time and out of reach.

It’s between dreams. Between seasons. Not still winter, but not yet spring. You’re awake, but your arm’s still asleep.

It’s grounded, but airy. Atmospheric, but concrete. Tenderness on the block.

It’s about the mundane logistics of love. The laundry, the coffee, the stairs. Your shoelaces. It’s about running on empty and running away together. Going the distance and having nowhere else to go.

It’s about luck and life. Fortune and fortunes. The strange forces that shape us. The powers that be and the powers that belong to us.

It’s about the castles and the keep. The things we keep close. And the things that keep us going. The things that are kept from us. And the things that can’t be taken.

It’s about taking care and taking chances.

It’s not not about New York.

▶︎ Listen to Common Wealth

Tracklist:

1. Coffee In The Morning — Wet

2. AUATC — Bon Iver

3. Love Takes Miles — Cameron Winter

4. Wings — Foxwarren

5. Plastic Soul — Mondo Cozmo

6. Manhattan — Cat Power

7. We’ve Been Had — The Walkmen

8. Strange Powers — The Magnetic Fields

9. I’ll Come Running — Brian Eno

10. Little Eyes — Yo La Tengo

11. Take Care — Beach House

12. Northern Sky — Nick Drake

13. The Lottery Song — Harry Nilsson

14. Me & Magdalena — The Monkees

15. Born Under A Bad Sign — Richard Hawley

16. Become Someone Else’s — Jens Lekman

▶︎ Listen to Common Wealth

For more cozy music, check out…

• ☊ Departures — Lost in transportation.

• ☊ Waxwings — Songs about people just passing through by people who were just passing through.

• ☊ In My Room — Dan Svizeny’s highlights of lo-fi.

• ☊ Den — A wintry mix from Lucas Ballasy.

You should also listen to…

• ☊ The Bend — Jangling fall-weather indie rock dipped in dreamy emotionally raw honey.

• ☊ Tonics — Bright and bitter post-punk pop and new wave to break your cabin fever.

More from me:

• I’ve been writing a series of diary-style blog posts documenting the process of making this mixtape. Read Volume 1.

• Great video essays examining The Beatles creative process

• Data: Everything I listened to in 2025

• Born to Run at 50 and the album Springsteen nearly released instead

• Some comedy for McSweeney’s called I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover.

And remember: We are the mixtape makers. And we are the streamers of streams.

Joe

We begin 2026 by looking back at 2025. It’s a storied tradition here at Green Bananas, like the Olympics—which is to say that it’s something we do once every four years.

The question is: What’s one song from 2025 that you think everybody should hear?

Our answers are below.

▶︎ Hear our Selections from 2025.

“Taxes” by Geese

If you don’t write about Geese and/or Cameron Winter as part of your 2025 year-end list you actually lose your blogging license. That said, this song is truly a piece of magic. An anti-gravity spell. An exhale you didn’t know you were holding. Ironic how an album called Getting Killed can make you feel so alive. (Joe Petro)

“Godlike” by Twen

I can’t believe this band is as under-the-radar as they are (for now). Criminally catchy stuff. (Kathleen Martinelli)

”Muck” by Annie DiRusso

All hook and the age-old question, is it worth it to make it complicated? This song is highly encouraging of having a crush, and you’ll find yourself singing it in the shower all week. After all, things may be garbage but maybe the muck is worth it for one more kiss. (Sarah Hansen)

“Can we talk about Isaac?” By Rachel Chinouriri

Everybody is going on and on about Olivia Dean and CMAT and all these other up-and-coming European pop stars, but can we talk about Rachel? (Joe Petro)

“blade bird” by Oklou

The loveliest song of the year, imo. Sad, sweet, perfect. (Kathleen Martinelli)

“Lost Time (extended)” by Lucy Dacus

the absolute opposite end of the yearning spectrum, instead asking why didn’t we leap earlier? The outro is the best part of this song that could be a one act play-- layers and layers of the tiny things we love and that break our heart about the person we are in love with. Mary Oliver said “attention is the beginning of devotion”, and giving in to devotion is risky but rewarding. (Sarah Hansen)

Previous year-end picks:

• Selections from 2021

Here are 2025’s mixtapes:

• ☊ The Bend - Jangling fall-weather indie rock dipped in dreamy emotionally raw honey.

• ☊ Tonics - Bright and bitter post-punk pop and new wave to break your cabin fever.

• ☊ Spangled - Blistering guitar-charged anthems for Independence Day.

It’s cold out there, here’s some music for the weather:

• ☊ Departures - Lost in transportation.

• ☊ In My Room — Dan Svizeny’s highlights of lo-fi.

• ☊ Den — A wintry mix from Lucas Ballasy.

And some more writing from us:

• 2025 in review by Kathleen Martinelli

• 2025 in Music by Sarah Hansen

• The Instagram account that got me through 2025 by Joe Petro

PLAY

Liner Notes

The Bend is about how it started and how it’s going.

It’s about moving forward and looking back. The distance you’ve traveled and the distance you’ve created. The arc of time and the arc of people. What moves on, what remains, and what we’re left with.

It’s about nature and nurture. Growing up and growing gardens. It’s about the fall and the ways we fall. The ways we tend and mend, and turn and tangle.

It’s about witches. It’s about whiches. It’s about changes and switches. The masks that we craft, the faces we’re given.

It’s about beginnings and endings. Birth and rebirth. Death and reflection. It’s about childhood and motherhood and the meandering bridges between.

The Bend is about the infinity of femininity.

→ Listen to The Bend

Tracklist:

1. 90 In November – Why Bonnie

2. Pressure To Party – Julia Jacklin

3. Babies Are a Lie – Pip Blom

4. Yards / Gardens – Kate Bollinger

5. Juniper – Katy Kirby

6. Joseph – Bad Bad Hats

7. Headrush – Georgia Harmer

8. Much Ado About Nothing – Waxahatchee

9. Strange Girl – Laura Marling

10. Vampire Empire – Adrianne Lenker

11. Colossus of Roads – Hurray for the Riff Raff

12. Survivor’s Guilt – Haley Blais

13. Witches – Alice Phoebe Lou

14. Spring – Angel Olsen

15. Orlando in Love – Japanese Breakfast

16. Lost – Soccer Mommy

17. Hot & Heavy – Lucy Dacus

18. Eulogy for You and Me – Tanya Davis

→ Listen to The Bend

For more fall weather music, check out:

• ☊ Hydes — A fall weather mixtape about keeping up appearances.

• ☊ Sways — Modern nineties sounds for the fall.

• ☊ Departures - Lost in transportation.

• ☊ Waxwings — Songs about people just passing through by people who were just passing through.

• ☊ In My Room — Dan Svizeny’s highlights of lo-fi.

• ☊ Den — A wintry mix from Lucas Ballasy.

More writing from me:

• Some comedy for McSweeney’s called I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover.

• I’m blogging more regularly at Clipping Silver.

• Dodger Stadium is TOO LOUD

• Edward Sharpe is not “stomp clap hey ho” music

• Born to Run at 50 and the album Springsteen nearly released instead

And remember: We are the mixtape makers. And we are the streamers of streams.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

Spangled is a collection of songs to play in that pocket around Independence Day when your summer is really starting to heat up.

It rips, rattles, and bursts. It’s hot, wet, and messy. It’s glistening with blood, sweat, and beers. It has volume, vigor, velocity. It’s fuzzy—like last night. Distorted, but sharply defined. And it demands no additional feedback.

You are the young and the restless. The wild and the willing. The free and the brave. You’re not just amped. You’re plugged into something bigger than yourself. You’re building something great. Cutting your losses. Turning up the gain. You’re positively charged—surging through the scorcher as the voltage surges through you.

▶︎ Listen to Spangled

Tracklist:

1. This Summer - Superchunk

2. Teenage Blood - Apex Manor

3. Constructive Summer - The Hold Steady

4. The House That Heaven Built - Japandroids

5. Adam Raised a Cain - Bruce Springsteen

6. It All Means Nothing - Screaming Females

7. Aluminum Park - My Morning Jacket

8. You Take Time - Bleached

9. Old Boy - Brick + Mortar

10. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop

11. I'm Shakin' - Jack White

12. Bottled In Cork - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

13. Be Brave - The Strange Boys

14. Lonesome - Dr. Dog

15. Wild In The Streets - Garland Jeffreys

16. Wild Mountain Nation - Blitzen Trapper

17. I'm the Man Who Loves You - Wilco

▶︎ Listen to Spangled

More energetic and propulsive mixes:

• ☊ Woodward: Organ-ized noise for the return of summer and society.

• ☊ Punch Ups: Crunchy drummed up summer punchers.

• ☊ Get Light: Shimmering springtime strummers.

More summer soundtracks:

• ☊ Luster: Sparkling synth-pop gems for love and summer.

• ☊ The Balm: Tropical tunes with digital dimensions.

• ☊ After Ours: Bittersweet sunsetters for the end of the summer.

• ☊ Hot Bops: First and foremost, it's a dance mix. (Kathleen Martinelli)

• ☊ when the road calls: groovy, floaty, synthy, dreamy soul for groovy, floaty, synthy, dreamy souls. (Dans Karagannis)

More writing from me:

• ⌾ Some comedy for McSweeney’s called I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover.

• ⌾ I write more comedy like this on Clipping Silver, my other even less-exclusive Substack.

Thanks for listening.

As always, the writing, artwork, graphics and music collected on this website were generated by organic human intelligence.

And remember: We are the mixtape makers. And we are the streamers of streams.

Joe

●

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

It’s a new year and it’s a new you. You’re not just under the weather, you’re buried in it. Ten inches of snow. Two inches of rain. Slush. Ice. Sheets of sleet.

It is cold. It is not chill.

You could be anywhere, but you’re here. Somewhere between Saturday and some day. Stranded. You are both an island and thousands of miles from one.

You need stimulation, invigoration, refreshment. You need a shot in the arm. You settle for a shot at the bar.

This is the tonic.

▶︎ Listen to Tonics

Tracklist:

1. Orange Juice - Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures

2. We Need a Bigger Dumpster - Cheekface

3. Davey Crockett - Hinds

4. Saturday - Remember Sports

5. Desert Island - The Magnetic Fields

6. Someday - The Strokes

7. Rudie Can't Fail - The Clash

8. Chaise Longue - Wet Leg

9. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - The Slits

10. Goodbye Girl - Squeeze

11. Still Want You - Brandon Flowers

12. Tenderness - General Public

13. Heart Of Glass (Special Mix) - Blondie

14. Time to Pretend - MGMT

15. Dancing Queen - ABBA

16. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths

17. This Is the Day - The The

▶︎ Listen to Tonics

If you’re feeling stuck and want to get your body moving, check out:

• ☊ Hot Bops - A dance mix from Kathleen Martinelli.

• ☊ Luster - Sparkling synth-pop gems for love and summer.

• ☊ Punch Ups - Crunchy drummed up summer punchers.

• ☊ The Balm - Tropical tunes with digital dimensions.

• ☊ Everything And The Kitchen Sink - Dance yourself clean with Little Fish

If you got really into the Bob Dylan movie, check out:

• ☊ Waxwings - Songs about people just passing through by people who were just passing through.

More writing from me:

• ⌾ I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover for McSweeney’s

• ⌾ I write more comedy like this on Clipping Silver, my other even less-exclusive Substack.

And remember: We are the mixtape makers. And we are the streamers of streams.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

The party is over. And so is the summer.

There is sand in your hair. There is sand in your shoe.

The sun is down. And so are you.

You threw parties, threw punches, threw fits, and threw darts.

Your summer break ended up breaking your heart.

You stirred your drinks. You stirred your souls.

You spilled your guts. You spilled your drinks.

The floor is sticky. And so is the sole of your shoe.

The seasons are turning. The kids are still yearning.

The new day is dawning. The kids are still longing for their aloe vera cream.

The hardest part is parting.

But wait until tomorrow. The summer was sweet, but so is the sorrow.

Your heartstrings sound somber.

Your hair, a shade blonder.

You leave and you wander.

You can’t move beyond her.

There was sand in the sofa. There is sand in your loafer. 

The bottles are empty. And you know you are, too.

Easy listening is not always an easy listen.

These are the soft sounds of hard times—our times.

And our times are through.

This is After Ours.

→ → → Listen to After Ours.

Tracklist:

1. The Party’s Over - Peggy Lee  

2. J’Aurais Voulu - Françoise Hardy  

3. Open Your Window - Harry Nilsson  

4. Sidonie - Brigitte Bardot  

5. Chove Chuva - Jorge Ben Jor  

6. When It’s Time to Go - Buddy Fo & His Group  

7. Tangerine - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass  

8. Can You Tell - Margo Guryan  

9. Let Me Pass By - Peggy Lipton  

10. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) - The Beach Boys  

11. I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do - Astrud Gilberto  

12. Cannock Chase - Labi Siffre  

13. Not The Lovin’ Kind - Lee Hazlewood  

14. Cherish - Nina Simone  

15. Didn’t Want To Have To Do It - The Lovin’ Spoonful  

16. Theme from "The Sand Pebbles" (And We Were Lovers) - Andy Williams  

17. If He’d Love Me - Nancy Sinatra

▶︎ Listen to After Ours

For more eclectic easy listening, check out:

• ☊ The Asterian Luna: A soundtrack for the Astro Age.

• ☊ The Asterian Antares: More smooth sounds for the Astro Age.

If you’re gearing up for the fall, check out:

• ☊ Departures - Lost in transportation.

• ☊ Sways - Modern nineties sounds for the fall.

• ☊ Hydes - A fall weather mixtape about keeping up appearances.

• ☊ Waxwings - Songs about people just passing through by people who were just passing through.

• ☊ In My Room - Dan Svizeny’s lo-fi highlights.

If you’re still holding onto summer, check out:

• ☊ The Balm - Tropical tunes with digital dimensions. 

• ☊ Punch Ups - Crunchy drummed up summer punchers.

• ☊ Woodward - Organ-ized noise for the return of summer and society.

• ☊ Get Light - Shimmering springtime strummers.

• ☊ Hot Bops - A dance mix from Kathleen Martinelli.

More writing from me:

• ⌾ Some comedy for McSweeney’s called I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover.

• ⌾ I write more comedy like this on Clipping Silver, my other even less-exclusive Substack.

And remember: We are the mixtape makers. And we are the streamers of streams.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

Luster is a mixtape for summer.  

It’s about reflections of light and reflections of self. 

It’s about the intimate and the infinite. 

It’s about flinging off commitments and committing to flings.

It’s scintillating. It’s radiating. It’s sound waves. It’s body heat.

It’s bright lights. It’s late nights. It’s attraction in action. 

This is Luster. 💎

▶︎ Listen to Luster

 Tracklist:

1. Humility - Gorillaz feat. George Benson

2. Feel The Way I Want - Caroline Rose

3. Eleanor - Hot Chip

4. SPORTS MEN - Haruomi Hosono

5. Want You In My Room - Carly Rae Jepsen

6. Baby Let Me Kiss You - Fern Kinney

7. When I'm With You - Sparks

8. Shadows - Future Islands feat. Debbie Harry

9. Hang With Me - Robyn

10. Boys - Sky Ferreira

11. Drunk Girls - LCD Soundsystem

12. 2am - Foals

13. Johnny And Mary - Robert Palmer

▶︎ Listen to Luster

More summer bops:

• ☊ The Balm: Tropical tunes with digital dimensions. 

• ☊ Punch Ups: Crunchy drummed up summer punchers.

• ☊ Woodward: Organ-ized noise for the return of summer and society.

• ☊ Get Light: Shimmering springtime strummers.

• ☊ Hot Bops: First and foremost, it's a dance mix. (Kathleen Martinelli)

• ☊ when the road calls: groovy, floaty, synthy, dreamy soul for groovy, floaty, synthy, dreamy souls. (Dans Karagannis)

More from me:

• ⌾ Some comedy for McSweeney’s called I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover.

• ⌾ I write more comedy like this on Clipping Silver, my other even less-exclusive Substack.

And remember:

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

Get Light is a mixtape for the springtime. 🌱

It’s a collection of shimmering strummers, loose and lively, bright and buoyant.

It’s stripped-down, but wound-up. It’s modern, but nostalgic. It’s nod to the blog buzz bands of the early 2000s as well as their spiritual precursors and successors. 

It’s grounded, but uplifting, designed to generate thrust, propulsion, and rapid forward momentum—not unlike the blog buzz bands of the early 2000s. ⚡️

It’s about rebirth, rejuvenation, refreshments. Cold ones. Sweaty glass. Bubbles. Ice. Electrolytes. Iced tea and lemonade. 🧊

So, go. Take off. Go forth and flourish. Lay down burden. Get light. 

▶︎ Listen to Get Light

Tracklist:

1. Thoughts Have Turned - Flo & Eddie

2. Everybody Come Outside - Pomegranates 

3. Hraka - Finn Riggins

4. Oh Mandy - The Spinto Band

5. Kissing the Lipless - The Shins

6. Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground

7. Nobody But Me - The Human Beinz

8. We Belong Together - Vampire Weekend, Danielle Haim

9. I Turned My Back on the Written Word - Generationals

10. The Steps - HAIM

11. All My Friends - The XYZ Affair

12. Magheeta - My Morning Jacket

13. Bottled In Cork - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

14. These Days - Dr. Dog

15. Sister Cities - Hop Along

16. Fade to Black - Born Ruffians

▶︎ Listen to Get Light

More music like this:

• ☊ The Balm: Tropical tunes with digital dimensions. 

• ☊ Onset: Looking back east from the west.

• ☊ Sways: Modern nineties sounds for the fall.

More from me:

• ⌾ Some comedy for McSweeney’s called I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover.

• ⌾ I write more comedy like this on Clipping Silver, my other even less-exclusive Substack.

And remember…

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

Finally, the future. 

We stand here in the embodiment of our finest Space Age aspirations, where futurism and modernism are one and the same.

Floating cars. Warp drives. Matter replicators.

Elegant, chic, and peerless, The Asterian Antares is settled at the base of Mars’s Utopia Planitia. This next-century modern resort and research outpost is the highlight of the planet’s Northern Lowlands.

Like the Luna, its sister site on the Moon, this Asterian property beckons as your cosmopolitan gateway to the cosmos.

The Asterian Antares.

They could have just named it “Mars,” but it seemed so accessible—and if resorts on Mars are one thing, they’re not “too accessible.” So, to keep an air of mystique about the place, the hotel was named after Ares, the Greek counterpart to Mars.

To keep an air about the place, the hotel was built inside of a googie-inspired geodesic ecodome. The building’s sweeping and uncluttered exteriors pop against the stark Martian landscapes and the atmosphere inside the space is akin to the atmosphere of space itself: ethereal, frictionless, beautiful.

Latin for ‘of the stars,’ Asterian Hotels also offer extraordinary access to famous celestial bodies—which is to say that this Martian mainstay boasts a lengthy list of impressively cultured celebrity clientele.

A vibrant hub for artists and intellectuals, The Antares has single-handedly transformed the red planet into the well read planet. The Asterian Antares invites you to step into the cosmic unknown with eclectic music, exclusive clientele, and sophistication.

The Asterian® — Where more is timeless.

▶︎ Listen to The Asterian Antares

Tracklist:

1. The Call - Bobby Christian

2. Homage - Mild High Club

3. Cosmic Bloom - Dumbo Gets Mad

4. Star Treatment - Arctic Monkeys

5. Aftershook - Frankie Cosmos

6. Bones - Alexandra Savior

7. Hand It Over - MGMT

8. Anywhere In Spacetime - Bruno Pernadas

9. Soul Brother - Dalton

10. Shimmy - Midnight Sister

11. Şinanay - Kit Sebastian

12. Le bracelet - Alain Goraguer

13. Canto De Ossanha - Dorothy Ashby

14. Foggy Town - Alessandro Alessandroni

15. Ride a White Horse - Sven Libaek

16. The End of Love - Dominic Frontiere

17. Steppin’ Out - Electric Light Orchestra

▶︎ Listen to The Asterian Antares

If this eclectic batch of space age easy listening music was your cup of tea, then you will surely enjoy its precursor: The Asterian Luna:

For more winter and holiday music, check out:

• ☊ Muddled Through: Sad accompaniment for your unaccompanied Christmas in quarantine by Joe Petro.

• ☊ Christmas Pervert Mix, Vol. 1: A naughty list by Matt Gunn.

• ☊ Den: A wintry mix by Lucas Ballasy.

• ☊ The Unsung: A spotlight on cult crooners, lost lounge acts, and forgotten voices by Anayat Fakhraie

More writing from me:

• ⌾ I wrote a little comedy piece for McSweeney’s called I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover.

• ⌾ I write more comedy like this on Clipping Silver, my other even less-exclusive Substack.

2023: Wrapped

That’s all for this year. Here are the four, quarterly, seasonal mixtapes from this year:

• The Beatles In Color: Part II

• The Balm

• Departures

• The Asterian Antares

Stay tuned for more dispatches from the future and other Asterian properties across the galaxy.

Are you an interesting person who would like to contribute to this mixtape club? If so, then get in touch in the comments.

Leave a comment

And remember…

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

Departures is a collection of buzzy, ambient songs for the fall that drift between the digital and the analog; the West and the East. 🏯

This mixtape is about distance. It’s about leaving and loneliness. It’s about locations. It’s about Asia and it’s about Japan. 🇯🇵

It’s about getting lost in translation. It’s about getting lost in transportation. 📡

It’s about parting and departing.

It’s about airports. 🛫

It’s about flight. It’s about flights.

It’s about terminals. It’s about the terminal.

▶︎ Listen to Departures

Tracklist:

1. Autumn Sweater - Yo La Tengo

2. Monk - jan and naomi

3. Unlikely Japan - Wilco

4. We Will Become Silhouettes - The Postal Service

5. Kyoto - Phoebe Bridgers

6. Planetary Ambience - Japanese Breakfast

7. Send For Me - The National

8. Go Home - Angel Olsen

9. The Fear - The Shins

10. Million Miles - TV On The Radio

11. Fēnliè (分裂) - Faye Wong

12. Return - Brian Eno

▶︎ Listen to Departures

If you vibed to this, you might also vibe to:

• ☊ Sways — Modern nineties sounds for the fall.

• ☊ Hydes — A fall weather mixtape about keeping up appearances.

• ☊ Waxwings — Songs about people just passing through by people who were just passing through.

• ☊ In My Room — Dan Svizeny’s highlights of lo-fi.

More writing from me:

• ⌾ I wrote a little comedy piece for McSweeney’s called I’m Your Three-Year-Old Interior Designer and This Is Your New Home Makeover.

• ⌾ I write more comedy like this on Clipping Silver, my other even less-exclusive Substack.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

The Balm is a collection of songs that are as digital as they are tropical—which is to say, not totally, but mostly. 🌴 1

This mix is balmy and palmy in every sense. Its tropical sounds are soothing and eccentric. It’s airy. It’s aromatic. It’s pleasantly warm. Cold beer. Hot nights. Loose shirts. Bermuda shorts. Casios on the beach.

The Balm is the sound of people, sounds, and worlds coming together—not with a collision, but with congeniality. It’s the music of different cultures being palmed back and forth. The Balm is not an explosion, but a handshake. 🤝

Ghana to France, Brooklyn to Barbados, the Netherlands to Nigeria, Massachusetts to the Mediterranean, California to the Caribbean. 

It’s new wave by the waves. 🌊

It’s British music inspired by Jamaica and Jamaican music inspired by the British.

There are songs in broken French about Brazilian women in London.

There is tropical Japanese music sharing space with an iconic dancehall riddim that was built entirely upon a keyboard preset programmed by a Japanese woman in 1981.

The Balm is your salve. Spread it on.

▶︎ Listen to The Balm

Tracklist:

1. Seaside Woman - Linda McCartney

2. No Golden Throat - Lizzy Mercier Descloux

3. (Si, Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star - Bill Wyman

4. Under Me Sleng Teng - Wayne Smith

5. Darkroom - Paul McCartney

6. You’ve Got A Woman - Lion

7. Shimendōka - Haruomi Hosono

8. meet me in brooklyn - Yaya Bey

9. Miraculous Weekend - Peter Ivers

10. Redondo Beach - Patti Smith

11. Don’t Let Me Down - Marcia Griffiths

12. Will You Promise - Ebo Taylor

13. Don’t Huzzle for Love - The Apostles

14. Ride on Baby - William Onyeabor

15. I Love Hot Nights - Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers

16. Gentle Persuasion - Doug Hream Blunt

▶︎ Listen to The Balm

More music like this:

The weather is warming up and we have mixtapes for that. ☀️ Here are some for spring and summer. 

In fact, handy seasonal icons have been added to the site’s menu bar for your browsing convenience. 🙄

Here are two more mixtape that might pair well with The Balm: 

• ☊ Woodward — Organ-ized noise for the return of summer and society.

• ☊ Punch-Ups — Crunchy drummed up summer punchers.

Even more to see:

• Our pal Dan Svizeny released a new Cough Cool record. It rocks.

• I wrote a little2 satirical piece on the blowback the Cleveland Guardians are receiving after their name change.

• I wrote about USA Baseball’s desperate need for a brand makeover. (Officially UniWatch endorsed.)

If you enjoyed these units of content, please consider telling a friend, acquaintance, or burgeoning artificial intelligence.

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There are more sounds coming soon. Always more sounds. And remember:

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

About a year ago, we published The Beatles In Color, which was a collection of Beatles songs covered by Black artists. This is The Beatles In Color: Part II, which is a collection of Beatles songs covered by Black women. 

Like last time, these songs are transcendent, compelling, and often superior to the originals. And like last time, this mix could have gone on for hours. 1

Unlike last time, there is no essay exploring the connection between The Beatles and the Black artists who inspired them—but you can read one of those here. 

And so, the revolver revolves and we once more gaze into the depths of the glass onion. 🪞💫

▶︎ Listen to The Beatles In Color: Part II

Tracklist:

1. Aretha Franklin - The Fool on the Hill

2. Diana Ross & The Supremes - Got To Get You Into My Life

3. Big Maybelle - Eleanor Rigby 

4. Barbara Lewis - Yesterday

5. Esther Phillips - And I Love Him

6. Roberta Flack - Here, There and Everywhere

7. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Let It Be

8. Doris Troy - Get Back

9. Ella Fitzgerald - Savoy Truffle

10. Ike & Tina Turner - Come Together

11. Shirley Bassey - Something

12. Nina Simone - Here Comes The Sun

13. Shirley Scott - Because

14. Sarah Vaughan - You Never Give Me Your Money

15. Carmen McRae - Carry That Weight

▶︎ Listen to The Beatles In Color: Part II

For more music like this, check out:

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And get in touch in the comments if you’re an interesting person who would like to contribute to the club.

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Until next time, carry the good word.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

The year is 3022. Or 3023. Or even 4023.

The point is that we’re in the future. The distant future. The future we were promised. The future of the past.

Elegant, fashionable, and singular, The Asterian Luna is your intragalactic and omnicultural doorstep to the cosmos. 

This next-century modern hotel-slash-moonbase sits effortlessly atop the Promontorium Archerusia, a lunar mountain ridge that offers breathtaking and exclusive panoramic views across the Seas of Serenity and Tranquility.

The building’s creamy interiors are a stark and modern complement to its dramatic yet minimal neo-googie architecture. And the atmosphere inside the space is as ethereal and frictionless as the atmosphere of space itself.

Residence at this lunar lodge provides unrivaled moonviews and earthrises. Latin for ‘of the stars,’ Asterian Hotels also offer extraordinary access to the stars—and not just those luminous spheres of plasma held together by their own gravity. This icon of the Astro Age boasts a lengthy list of impressively cultured celebrity clientele.

A cosmic hub for music, art, and fashion, the vibrant culture at The Asterian Luna is shaped by the people who stay there. Modern, but classic. Eclectic, but cohesive. Cool, but also hot.

The Asterian® — Where more is timeless.

▶︎ Listen to The Asterian Luna

Tracklist:

1. Aline - Jarvis Cocker

2. U.F.O. - Jim Sullivan

3. Tropic Breeze - Sam Fonteyn

4. Città vuota - Mina

5. Tahitian Sunset - Martin Denny

6. There’d Better Be A Mirrorball - Arctic Monkeys

7. White Sands - Alessandro Alessandroni

8. With a Sense of Grace - Kit Sebastian

9. Like an Obligation - Shintaro Sakamoto

10. La Puerta - Frankie Reyes

11. Are These My Jets - EL VY

12. San Salvador - Tamba 4

13. Si tu m’aimes demain - Iliona

14. Comment te dire adieu - Françoise Hardy

15. Center of Gravity - Yo La Tengo

16. Femme Fatale - The Velvet Underground & Nico

17. Natascha (Main Theme) - Peter Thomas Sound Orchester

18. Gostar do Mundo - Sessa

19. Calibre - Lô Borges

20. A New Career in a New Town - David Bowie

▶︎ Listen to The Asterian Luna

‘Tis the season! The season for our annual holiday mixtape. But instead, this year you were treated to the soundtrack to a fictional moon-based hotel. My gift to you. But of course, we have mixes for everything here at Green Bananas.

For more winter and holiday music, check out:

If you enjoyed these units of content, please consider telling a friend, acquaintance, or random stranger in line behind you at Walgreens.

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Did you know that there are other Asterian hotel properties all over the galaxy? Stay tuned for future dispatches from the future. 🚀 🚀 🚀

Happy holidays.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

Sways is a mixtape for the fall. 🍂

The dream of the nineties is alive in it.

It’s that crisp sound. The one that bounces or shimmers. The one that sways between something baggy and bright to something crunchy and grungy. 

Sways is a collection of modern songs that capture this sound counterbalanced with the songs from the nineties that invented it. 

To sway is to come and go, to lean or careen, to wave or waver. It is to influence or impress, to work on. It is to pulsate, fluctuate, or oscillate.

To sway is to rock. To sway is to roll. 

▶︎ Listen to Sways

Tracklist:

1. Write A List of Things To Look Forward To - Courtney Barnett

2. I’ve Been Waiting - Matthew Sweet

3. Glass Jar - Tristen

4. Hearts - Blair

5. Handle with Care - Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins feat. Ben Gibbard, Conor Oberst, and M. Ward

6. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville - R.E.M.

7. Until You Came Along - Golden Smog

8. Allison Road - Gin Blossoms

9. The Dirt - Waxahatchee

10. Trauma Jules - Jenny O.

11. Masterpiece - Big Thief

12. Wide Open Spaces - Soccer Mommy

13. Motion Sickness - Phoebe Bridgers 

14. Walkman - Bad Bad Hats

15. Gasoline - HAIM feat. Taylor Swift

16. Strong Enough - Sheryl Crow

17. Star Witness - Neko Case

18. Red Vines - Aimee Mann

▶︎ Listen to Sways

For more fall weather music, check out:

• ☊ Hydes — A fall weather mixtape about keeping up appearances.

• ☊ Waxwings — Songs about people just passing through by people who were just passing through.

• ☊ The Unsung — Anayat Fakhraie’s spotlight on the world’s cult crooners, lost lounge acts, and forgotten voices.

• ☊ In My Room — Dan Svizeny’s highlights of lo-fi.

This mix is ideally enjoyed while wearing a lightweight jacket. When it gets a little colder, we’ll be back with something new. ❄️

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Until next time, share if you care and subscribe so you don’t miss a sound. Big things coming. Big things.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

Here are some songs to help you seize the summer. These are punchy and crunchy tub-thumpers. They are percussive and propulsive. Punch Ups is an ascending and unrelenting sonic wallop of pounding drums for pounding the pavement. 🥊

▶︎ Listen to Punch Ups

Tracklist:

1. Hounds of Love - Kate Bush 1

2. Bike Dream - Rostam

3. Unconscious Melody - Viet Cong

4. A World Without Love - Peter And Gordon

5. When You Walk In the Room - The Searchers

6. Diane Young - Vampire Weekend

7. Falling In Love With Myself - Sparks

8. Water - Ra Ra Riot feat. Rostam 2

9. When I Needed You - Carly Rae Jepsen

10. Soul No. 5 - Caroline Rose

11. Floating Vibes - Surfer Blood

12. Nobody Dies - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

13. Song Against Sex - Neutral Milk Hotel

14. Bad Believer - St. Vincent

15. Look Sharp! - Joe Jackson

16. Daft Punk Is Playing at My House - LCD Soundsystem

17. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) - Talking Heads

▶︎ Listen to Punch Ups

If you’re looking for more summer music, check out:

• Woodward by Joe Petro

• Hot Bops by Kathleen Martinelli

• Everything And The Kitchen Sink by Little Fish

• Dan Svizeny just released Summer of Love 3 over on Weekend Guide 🌴

Housekeeping:

• 🗓 Green Bananas will be shifting to a more seasonal — 🌸 ☀️ 🍁 ❄️ — release schedule.

• 🤫 The secret’s out! All previously published mixes are now public and searchable on Spotify.

That’s all. Until next time, share if you care and subscribe below so you don’t miss a sound. Big things coming. Big things.

Share

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Stay safe. Stay sane.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

It’s officially Hot Kate Bush Summer or something and everybody is talking about it. ☀️🎵

The story: this season of Stranger Things prominently featured Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” 👟 and now it’s the only thing anybody wants to listen to.

Personally, we’re thrilled about it. 🎧

So, whether this is your introduction or just another time around the block, here is a collection of songs spotlighting Kate Bush and the sounds and singers she influenced.

While Bush League spans several decades of this woman’s work, it should not be considered anything more than an aperitif. 🥃 It could have easily been much longer and more expansive—I mean, it doesn’t even feature Big Boi!

▶︎ Listen to Bush League

Listen → Bush League 

Tracklist:

1. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) - Kate Bush

2. Warsaw - White Sea 1

3. Amanaemonesia - Chairlift

4. Hang On Me - St. Vincent

5. I'm Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill - Grouper 

6. The Dreaming - Kate Bush

7. Slip Away - Perfume Genius

8. Big God - Florence + The Machine 2

9. Bertie - Kate Bush 3

10. Gwan - Rostam

11. Indestructible (Acoustic) - Robyn

12. Cloudbusting - Kate Bush

What better way to celebrate Independence Day weekend than with more free mixtapes:

• Woodward by Joe Petro

• Signals by Kyle DeLash

• Hot Bops by Kathleen Martinelli

• Everything And The Kitchen Sink by Little Fish

Until next time:

Subscribe now

Stay safe and stay sane.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Liner Notes

Try as one may, it seems impossible to escape the notion that the songs collected here may have nothing more in common than one shared syllable. However, while your mileage may vary, there is no denying that the songs collected here may also be a perfect fit.

Be that as it may, critics may well question the devil-may-care manner with which this mixtape appears to have been compiled. Whatever the case may be, we may as well let the chips fall where they may and, come what may, Green Bananas may live to fight another day.

▶︎ Listen to May, As Well

Listen → May, As Well

Tracklist:

1. Maybellene - Chuck Berry

2. Come What May - Elvis Presley

3. Maybe Lately - Miracle Fortress

4. Maybe Baby - Buddy Holly & The Crickets

5. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

6. Maybe - N.E.R.D.

7. Mayor Of Simpleton - XTC

8. Maybe - Janis Joplin

9. Mae - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Band

10. Maybe I’m Amazed - Sandie Shaw

11. Maggie May - Rod Stewart

The slow slide into warmer weather is over. Memorial Day Weekend is here. If you’re looking for some unabashed cookout/poolside music, look no further than:

• Mixtape: Woodward by Joe Petro

And here are some other great choices for spring/summer:

• Selections for Springtime

• Signals by Kyle DeLash

• Hot Bops by Kathleen Martinelli

Until next time…

Stay safe. Stay sane.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

It’s springtime in Bananaland and as the clocks spring forward, we spring the tough questions on our contributors:

What is one song that you enjoy listening to at the start of springtime?

In other words, when the flowers bloom and the days get longer and the frost gives way to dew... what do you listen to? 🍃

▶︎ Hear our Selections for Springtime.

And here are our selections:

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" by Bob Dylan

While the weather can be an effective reminder that the season has changed, it rarely is. This song, however, never fails: When you're lost in the rain in Juarez and it's Eastertime, too. It's springtime and Tom is on the move—too busy for even a single chorus.

— Writer and ringleader Joe Petro

"You Ain't Goin Nowhere" by The Birds

The Byrds always feel light, fresh and new. For someone who is so physically and emotionally tied to the Northeast, spring really means something. You can see it, feel it, and smell it. If you were able to hear it, it would be a Byrds song. Probably this one. 

— Writer and musician Dan Svizeny of Weekend Guide

"Everybody Come Outside" by Pomegranates 

I feel like the song title makes this one fairly self-explanatory. Pomegranates rule and this song—and the album of the same name that it comes from—is a joyous ode to adventure, friendship, the forest, and the sea. If I ever have the opportunity to sprint through a meadow, this will be the soundtrack to my run.

— Writer Kathleen Martinelli of Attention Kmart Shoppers

"Good As New" by Vacationer

Every year when the weather starts to turn and the days become longer, the first band I turn to is Vacationer. Their music puts me right on the beach (mentally) looking out at the ocean and excited for the warm days ahead.

— Musician and television-maker Kyle DeLash

"The Bay" by Zion I

Every Spring it feels like Zion I helps to thaw the winter frost just a liiiiittle faster. The song's bass line, the harmonic claps, the woozy, hypnotic humming all make me want to get up and go exploring, or go for a jog, or catch a flight to SFO or Oakland International. If Shakespeare had written an epic tragedy set in the Bay area, this song would have been its overture.

— Writer and producer Zack Zimbler

If you liked this, check out:

• In My Room by Dan Svizeny

• Loops by Zack Zimbler

• Hot Bops by Kathleen Martinelli

• Signals by Kyle DeLash

• Waxwings by Joe Petro

And if you’re still not ready to relinquish winter, then don’t miss:

• Den, last month’s wintry mix from Lucas Ballasy.

Alumni Spotlight:

• Anayat Fakhraie’s new show GASLIT just premiered on Starz. It’s a retelling of the lesser-known stories of Watergate based off the podcast Slow Burn… and you should watch it 🏛 .

• Lucas Ballasy wrote about his time making Den ❄️ over on his newsletter: BL&T.

• Dan Svizeny examines erotic thrillers 👄 .

Hope you enjoyed this little snack 🍌 . More in store next month.

Until then: subscribe and share.

Stay safe. Stay sane.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

This month’s mix comes from my friend Lucas Ballasy. He is a thinker, creator, designer, and musician. Also, he has a new puppy.

Lucas is a curious and contemplative person. He always seems to be exploring some new hobby or idea. Motorcycles. 🏍 Powerlifting. 🏋🏻‍♀️ Adopting a dog. 🐶

Then, every week, he reflects upon these experiences in his newsletter that shares one borrowed idea, one thing learned, and one thought starter. Naturally, it is titled Borrowed, Learned, & Thought—or BL&T. It has nothing to do with the sandwich. 🥪

Den is his take on a “cabin in the woods” mixtape. In fact, it opens with perhaps the most quintessential “cabin in the woods” song from the most quintessential “cabin in the woods” artist.

But this is not a quintessential “cabin in the woods” mix. 

Instead of being a quiet, bleak, and joyless frozen-over acoustic self-indulgence, Den has a warm buoyancy. It sustains not only momentum throughout, but some honest-to-goodness pep, too. Its blood is decidedly flowing. And it’s a thoughtful reminder that just because you’re snowed in, doesn’t mean you have to be snowed in alone.

▶︎ Listen to Den and read Lucas’s liner notes below.

Listen → Den by Lucas Ballasy

Tracklist:

1. Blood Bank - Bon Iver

2. Go Out On My Own - Griffin House

3. Careful Where You Stand - Coldplay

4. Great Indoors - John Mayer

5. Invisible Pallette - Obie Hans

6. (No One Knows Me) Like the Piano - Sampha

7. Sleep On Needles - Sondre Lerche

8. Older Chests - Damien Rice

9. The Love Is Over - Ray Lamontagne with The Pariah Dogs

10. Coffee and Cigarettes - Augustana

11. Filatelie - Felbm

12. Homesick - Kings of Convenience

13. Show Me - John Legend

14. War of My Life - John Mayer

15. Call Me When You Land - Old Sea Brigade and Luke Sital-Singh

Liner Notes by Lucas

After nearly a decade, my wife Dana and I traded in the hustle and bustle of New York City for a home quietly nestled among the trees in Pennsylvania. This winter was the first in our new home.

Once the cold weather set in, we'd spend many nights gathering around our wood stove, gazing at the stillness of the frozen trees. Sometimes, we’d get lost in a book, or I’d write. But often, just sitting together with the view was enough.

While I would not necessarily call myself a fan of Winter, there’s something unique about the highs and lows of the season. There’s the joy in warming up with loved ones or the sudden surprise of a “hot” day contrasted by the gloom of the bitter cold and dwindling sunlight.

This playlist began as a soundtrack to our time by the fire. Looking back, it's a reflection of how last winter felt for me.

— Lucas

▶︎ Listen to Den on Spotify.

Thanks to Lucas for putting this mix together. Make sure to check out his newsletter and music, both of which are executed with as much thought and detail as this mixtape.

If you enjoyed this mix, check out:

• In My Room by Dan Svizeny

• when the road calls by Dans Karagannis

Until next time…

Subscribe now

Stay safe. Stay sane.

Joe

▶︎ PLAY

Listen → The Beatles (In Color)

Tracklist:

1. I Want To Hold Your Hand - Al Green

2. I Saw Her Standing There - Little Richard

3. You Can’t Do That - The Supremes

4. Ticket To Ride - Wee Willie Walker

5. Good Day Sunshine - Roy Redmond

6. The Long and Winding Road - Aretha Franklin

7. Get Back - The Dierdre Wilson Tabac

8. We Can Work It Out - Stevie Wonder

9. Lady Madonna - Junior Parker

10. Don’t Let Me Down - Randy Crawford

11. Let It Be - Bill Withers

12. Hey Jude - Wilson Pickett

Liner Notes

When The Beatles were coming up in the fifties, their home of Liverpool was transforming from a bleak and bombed-out port to a cultural and musical melting pot. 

By ship or by shop, Liverpool was importing R&B, blues, and rock and roll music from Black artists in America—which is a long way from a few hundred years earlier when they were, tragically, the busiest slave port in Britain.

The long story short is that The Beatles heard Black music, worshipped Black music, idolized Black musicians, and would not exist without them. 

In 1958, when John first heard “Long Tall Sally” and “Johnny Be Good,” he dropped out of school and bought a guitar. "Black music is my life,” he would later declare. 

“If the Beatles ever wanted ‘a sound’ it was R&B,” Paul once said. “That was what we used to listen to, what we used to like, what we wanted to be like. Black. That was basically it." 

John called Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley "the greatest influence on Earth." And said the same of Little Richard. Ringo said "Little Richard is my hero" Paul said he taught him "everything he knows." 

Little Richard. Chucky Berry. Arthur Alexander. The Ronettes. The Shirelles. Ray Charles. Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Billy Eckstine. Marvin Gaye.

This is the music The Beatles played on stage when their stuff wasn’t good enough yet. And this is the music that ultimately inspired and influenced their original songs.

"It wasn't a rip off," John explained, "It was a love in." 

“You know, I don’t want anything from them,” Little Richard once told Dick Cavett. “All I want them to do is to spread what they got from me. You know, god gave it to me and they got it from me. And so, just carry the good word over the world. That’s all. I don’t want nothin’. I just want them to do what’s right.”

And so the great musical melting pot just kept boiling. The Beatles got their start by covering songs by Black artists, and Black artists eventually started covering the Beatle originals that Black music had inspired.

You might call it a revolver. 

So here is a very small sampling of these covers. It's like an impression of an impression, or a reflection of a reflection. It’s like looking through an—I don’t know—glass onion?

Cover songs are often uninspired, uninteresting, and unworthy. In this case, they’re transcendent, compelling, and often superior.

▶︎ Listen to The Beatles (In Color)

That’s it for me, but hardly it for Black Beatles covers. This mix could have gone for hours without ever even coming close to a dud. Please, proceed with your own digital crate digging. And carry the good word.

Subscribe now

Stay safe. Stay sane.

Joe