I just love this vinyl necklace from Hype Machine. It’s perfect for your better half who’s into the soft crackle of the needle on records and as an added bonus, you’re supporting a team of humans dedicated to sharing great new music with you. For an extra $3/month, you can get exclusive playlists and all the feels of supporting a small business.

Quick story: I’ve been developing my voiceover skills and since I don’t have many samples, I decided to record some of the types of things I’d like to read. I decided the Creative Mornings manifesto could be cool. It needed a little music though, so I reached out to our friends Shawn and Yoshimi (Lullatone) in Japan for permission to use one of their tracks. After I made the recording, I shared it with them. They liked the track, but what was even cooler was that they told me they were in the process of recording piano versions of their music and the track I chose reminded them of this old tune.

They ended up re-recording that track too.

It’s just a nice example of how every little thing you do or share can have an impact, or in this case as Shawn described it, “symbiotic creativity.” Whatever you do, don’t stop making. You can’t expect anything will come of it, but when it does, it’s a beautiful thing.

Albums get overlooked because the way we listen to music has changed, but Dave and I thought we’d share the ones we’ve listened to on repeat this year. We probably overlooked some great tunes, so definitely tweet us if we missed something dope.

Toro Y Moi – Boo Boo

Nite Jewel – Real High

Just Jack – What We Did Today

Kendrick Lamar – DAMN

Day Wave – The Days We Had

Portugal. The Man – Woodstock

Sheer Mag – Need to Feel Your Love

SZA – Ctrl

Syd – Fin

Charly Bliss – Guppy

Courtney Barnett + Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice

Sylvan Esso – What Now

As we swing deeper into the holidays, make time for yourself. You are incredibly important and if you think about it, you can’t help anyone when you don’t look out for yourself. We hope this month’s mix can play a part in that. As we’re reminded, “Life can turn out really good if you work with what ya got.”

Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music

Just in time for Labor Day, here’s our latest mixtape featuring new music from Beck, The Tambo Rays, Sarah Chernoff, and more. Whether you’re traveling, grilling, or skinny dipping, these tunes are here to help you set the soundtrack for your weekend.

Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music