Mixtape | March 2026

Kyle Mitchell

Kyle Mitchell

— 3 min read
Mixtape | March 2026

Every month I try to make something that moves. Not a mood board. Not background noise. Something with a shape to it — a beginning that means something, a middle that earns your patience, and an ending that feels like it was always where we were headed.

March came together around a feeling I kept returning to: the most satisfying way to get somewhere is to not go direct. The long way home. Through the noise, through some grief, through a little chaos, and back out the other side somewhere quieter and more certain than where you started.

It opens confident. Tom Misch sets the tone before you've decided whether you're paying attention. Vulfmon, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Joey Valence & Brae, White Denim — that first act moves with real purpose. The Black Keys close it with enough authority that you feel the turn coming before it arrives.

Then it dips. Joey Quiñones eases the wheel, Rainbow Kitten Surprise softens things further, and by the time Charlotte Cornfield and Death Cab arrive you're somewhere more inward than you expected. That's the point. The whole middle of this — Rateliff, Josh Ritter, Deer Tick, Daniel Romano, Charley Crockett, Kacey Musgraves — is deliberately patient. Roots-leaning, unhurried, timeless in a way that I find genuinely hard to manufacture. These songs just sit. Let them.

Ages and Ages is the hinge and "Feel Amazing" is doing exactly what it says it does. I know. I don't care. I tried to be more subtle about the re-entry and it was worse every time. Sometimes the right move is the obvious one and you just have to commit to it and not apologize. Friko brings real urgency behind it, and the rebuild through Brigitte Calls Me Baby, California Honeydrops, Tommy Newport and Connor Price gets the room moving again without breaking the spell.

Then Surfbort kicks the door in at track 25 and everything shifts. That's intentional. The texture act — Hiss Golden Messenger, Waxahatchee, Fantastic Cat, Donovan Woods, Nic Panken, Medium Build — has a different feel than everything before it. More worn-in. A little more weathered. It's the playlist going somewhere it needed to go before it could land clean.

The landing is long by design. Big Harp into Lee Lewis into Josiah and the Bonnevilles into Wavves into Melanie Baker into Bleachers — this closing run doesn't rush and it doesn't apologize for that either. And then Son Little closes it out, which was always the right call. There's something in that track that sits exactly between resolved and restless — like pulling into the driveway after a long drive, leaving the engine running, and just staying there for a few minutes with the windows down because you're not quite ready to be home yet. You'll know when to go inside.

Start at track one.

ACT I — Confident entry

  1. Slow Tonight — Tom Misch
  2. Rocco Darto Cato — Vulfmon, Louis Cato, Rocco DeLuca
  3. Science Friction — Aaron Lee Tasjan
  4. push the pipe — Joey Valence & Brae
  5. Hired Hand #2 — White Denim
  6. Where There's Smoke, There's Fire — The Black Keys

ACT II — First dip

  1. Driftin' — Joey Quiñones
  2. Sixteen — Rainbow Kitten Surprise
  3. The Club Is So Emotional — Sure Sure
  4. why am i like this — bbno$
  5. Hurts Like Hell — Charlotte Cornfield
  6. Riptides — Death Cab for Cutie

ACT III — Center of gravity

  1. Tommy's Song — Nathaniel Rateliff
  2. One More River To Cross — Josh Ritter
  3. Mary Singletary — Deer Tick
  4. Preservers of the Pearl — Daniel Romano, The Outfit
  5. Fastest Gun Alive — Charley Crockett
  6. Dry Spell — Kacey Musgraves

ACT IV — Rebuild

  1. Feel Amazing — Ages and Ages
  2. Choo Choo — Friko
  3. Slumber Party — Brigitte Calls Me Baby
  4. 365 Flavors — The California Honeydrops
  5. Phone Sick — Tommy Newport
  6. Ride — Connor Price, Nic D

ACT V — Texture shift

  1. Hot Dog — Surfbort
  2. Teacher's Desk — Luke Winslow-King
  3. Shaky Eyes — Hiss Golden Messenger
  4. Six O'Clock News — Brennan Wedl, Waxahatchee
  5. Elevator — Fantastic Cat, Brian Dunne, Anthony D'Amato
  6. Do It Right — Donovan Woods
  7. 2 Hearts — Nic Panken
  8. R3verse — Medium Build

ACT VI — Landing

  1. Runs to Blue — Big Harp
  2. Your Love (What I'm Dying From) — Lee Lewis
  3. Mountain Girl — Josiah and the Bonnevilles
  4. Into My Problems — Wavves
  5. HAHA! — Melanie Baker
  6. dirty wedding dress — Bleachers
  7. Whip The Wind — Son Little

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