Playlists
Always fresh. Tracks supplied by curators with taste. The Mix Jedi Profile on Spotify shows all playlists as well.
Album Stack
Here's the top of the Mix Jedi album stack. These are the albums recommended by our curators. Feel free to listen along with us.
Garden Ruin by Calexico (2006)
Garden Ruin is Calexico's most straightforward "rock" record. It blends jazz, country, American folk, and indie into concise, well-oiled pop songs. Garden Ruin is beautifully fleshed out and focused, retaining some of the duo's Southwestern elements but shifting the horn sound from Ciudad Juarez to Los Angeles.
rock | country | folk | singer-songwriter (BL) added May 18, 2025
Algiers by Calexico (2012)
The band traveled to New Orleans to record Algiers, named for a neighborhood on the southwest banks of the Mississippi River. Algiers carries very little of the city's baggage and has more to do with burying the past than reviving it. This is an album that never sounds settled or still, defined not by one or another place but by the tumultuous spaces in between.
rock | country | folk | singer-songwriter (BL) added May 18, 2025
The Thread That Keeps Us by Calexico (2018)
Much of the album was recorded in a studio in the California desert, which influenced its sound and atmosphere. Calexico's signature style lyrical depth and musicality is found here in their ability to blend various genres while maintaining a cohesive sound.
rock | country | folk | singer-songwriter (BL) added May 18, 2025
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110 - Rubio Quartet (2002)
The most loved of all Shostakovich's quartets and considered one of the greatest string quartets of the 20th century. Shostakovich dedicated the quartet to the victims of fascism and war, which adds a layer of poignancy to the music, evoking feelings of gloom and melancholy. The Rubio Quartet only did one recording project, which was the complete Shostakovich, and it was masterfully done.
classical (BL) added May 18, 2025
Carried To Dust by Calexico (2008)
Using cross-genre amalgams to make music of emotional power and beauty, this record has exceptional instances of both. This is the type of record this band is suited to making, and it richly rewards repeat listening - details and melodies that seem buried or understated eventually come to fore, slowly revealed in a mixture of organic warmth, welcome variety, and subtle complexity.
rock | country | folk | singer-songwriter (BL) added May 12, 2025
Dvořák: Cello Concerto - Rostropovich/Berlin (1995)
Of the half-dozen accounts of this concerto played by Rostropovich that are currently on CD, this one remains the best; indeed, it ranks with certainty among the greatest readings ever. It is a performance of heroic size and intensity, notable for Rostropovich's expressive range and awe-inspiring command of the cello.
classical (TL) added May 06, 2025
i by The Magnetic Fields (2004)
Sometimes creativity is fueled by constraints. For this release, all songs start with the letter "i". The result is a clever collection of listenable and unique pop tunes that showcase this songwriting creativity.
rock | pop | singer-songwriter (BL) added May 06, 2025
Jazz at the Pawnshop (1977)
This recording has developed something of a cult following among those in the know, and for good reason, as it is widely considered one of the best sounding jazz recordings of the 20th Century. It is recorded live, drawing from 2 sets in 1976 in Sweden, featuring a solid a quintet that included Arne Dominerus on clarinet/sax.
jazz (JJP) added May 02, 2025
Somethin' Else by Cannonball Adderley (1958)
There's not a wrong note on it. Not a tune on it that's a throwaway. It is a marvelous record. We catch Cannonball Adderley here at his best. This is mostly the band that made Kind of Blue, and is one of the few recordings Miles Davis made as a sideman after 1955.
jazz (BEA) added May 01, 2025
Ten by Pearl Jam (1991)
Everything on this rousing debut goes straight for the jugular. Vedder favors obtuse, encrypted lyrics; his stories don't always unfold in linear fashion or end with a tidy summary. This is one reason Ten remains so captivating: It's just cryptic enough to get you thinking and not so brainy that it forgets to rock.
rock (BEA,TM) added Apr 30, 2025
Song For My Father by Horace Silver (1964)
Silver never let his music lapse into the theoretical. Just about everything on this hard-bob classic has an inviting pulse and an ethos of low-key island cool. Silver outlines his tunes in a clean and spare manner, with a minimum of bluster.
jazz (BL,TM) added Apr 30, 2025
Connect with Mix Jedi
Connect with Mix Jedi on Instagram