Beats & Burn Vol. 13
The new year has arrived, and lucky mix #13 hits just the right note. Beats from Everyday Mixtapes will make you dance, and a bright fluorescent cover from designer and general badass, Aaron Draplin, is sure to chase away any winter blues.
This is the 13th volume of our monthly Beats & Burn series, a collaboration with Portland's local, independent radio station XRAY.fm.
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Playlist by Everyday Mixtapes / Follow on XRAY.fm / @xrayfm
Everyday Mixtapes are Jené Etheridge and Shira Dennis. Together they curate a mix of jazzy, beat-centric music, new and old, every Monday from 2-3 PM on XRAY.FM. If you tune in you’ll hear Hip Hop, Soul, R&B, world music, and more.
What inspired this January Music mix?
The January mix is meant to give a little sunshine to the dark year we’ve had and the general cloudiness and lack of sun Portland gets around this time. Since it’s Portland and it will be grey for quite a few more months, we wanted this playlist to simply be something fun to shop to. Every time we stumbled upon a potential song to add to the list we would imagine ourselves walking out of a dressing room and doing a spin, all with a dumb, goofy smile on our faces; these songs work for that. Prince is always playing when we feel our best, so now when you shop at Bridge & Burn, or are chilling at home, he’ll be playing through the speakers helping you do the same!
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Cover Art by Aaron Draplin / draplin.com / @draplin
We are lucky to have the outspoken, celebrated designer, and Field Notes creator, Aaron Draplin, as our January cover artist. Find out why he went fluorescent, why he has at least 16-17 tricks left in him, and what's the deal with his new book.
What inspired this January cover art?
I’m fascinated by how fluorescent inks can have an effect on you. From black light posters on uncle’s walls when I was a little kid, to my current 43-year-old self, those electric colors always perk me up. They vibrate. They grab you. And with all the bitter temperatures and ice storms this winter in Portland, I thought I’d inject some neon to warm things up!
How would you explain your artistic style?
Simple. Bold. Lighthearted. Unfuckwithable. It’s hard to describe. Some things are painfully minimal, while other things get drunk on nostalgia. And of course, I like things that work. That scale and are readable. The world’s a jittery, busy place…and I look for opportunities to tune it all out and make things that are refreshingly spare, yet evoke a positive response. I kind of don’t know how to answer this one. One kid called me a “one trick pony” based on my logo designs. I’d wager I’m a 16-17 trick pony, when you look at my output. And, may that kid have a horrible life, starting now and for 999 more years!
What are you working on now?
Everything’s top secret for now, but here are a few clues: A book cover for a Daily Show correspondent and then a logo for the son of an Alt-Country pioneer. Stuff I can talk about: T-shirts for Red Fang, the new Old 97’s record cover and tons of new DDC merch.
What are you the most excited about?
Booking my Pretty Much Everything spring book tour ! I’m currently scheming up another tour for March and April. We just did the fall tour, and it was a RAGING success. 34 shows in 7 weeks! Did 12,000 miles in an orange van. So awesome. Still can’t believe we pulled it off! We’re trying to do it again, starting in Detroit, through the Rust Belt, back to Iowa, over and up to New England, down the East Coast to Florida, back up through Nashville, to Detroit, to Toronto…and then back to Portland at some point. Want us to come to your town? Drop me a line. We’ll go ANYWHERE.
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