1. "Adventure Time" - John Stamps
2. "Food" - Hinx Jones
3. "QQ" - Shadow Village
4. "Moonmaster" - Sidney Fenix
5. "Le Plume D'or" - Indiana Chief
6. "Gullible is Literally in the Dictionary" - Air Hockey
7. "Lionhearts" - Grxzz
8. "Crown Hope" - J. Brookinz
9. "Break Fast" - Beats & Breakfast
10. "Libra" - s.a.i.n.t. RECON

The first playlist of the new year is mostly hip-hop with a little bit of screamy punk thrown in there. That's fitting because it's more or less one to one with my own personal listening habits these days, where in addition to all you see above, I've been flitting between mostly OG Maco and Joyce Manor (give or take the entire body of work of Phil Elverum stuck in there somewhere too). In particular, Volumes One and Two of Beats & Breakfast have been sloshing around my brainspace these days--they're just deep as hell, with talent and inspiration for days, and I keep on coming back. I also still try to show people the Music Video in a Day for Air Hockey's "Gullible is Literally in the Dictionary" at parties because I'm the type of lame-o who shows people music videos at parties and this particular video rules and is less than a minute long. 

But the point in this playlist is not for me to rep my own listening habits. That's just a weird byproduct of the convergence between my own narcisscism and the thing I'm actually supposed to be repping, viz., tonight's 1/2 Fest at Westgate. You see, each track and artist selected on this playlist is in some capacity related with the event this evening. Several of them are performing of course, such as John Stamps, Grxzz, and Sidney Fenix. Others are supporting the event, such as J. Brookinz with his Druggie Clothing imprint sponsoring and Sean Stuart's Bringing Down the Band and Drums Bang operations (though of course Stuart will also perform as part of Hinx Jones). It's a lot all at once. 

1/2 Fest, which kicks off tonight, January 2, at 5:00pm is, in part, a benefit for Musical Family Tree. It's designed to help continuing to raise funds for everybody's favorite musical non-profit so we can keep parties like this going on into 2015 right up until 2022 when the world is scheduled to end. Beyond that, though, it's a long, crazy party that you--i.e. the specific human who is reading these words right now--are invited to. At $7 for literally 24 performers it's an insane bulk bargain that you won't find anywhere else (not even Costco when you go with your roommate's mom's membership card). And with folks from local labels, clothing companies, and more posting up at booths throughout the length of the event, there's a small part of me that wonders if maybe this event has gone too far, become too awesome. Of course that's absurd. It would be impossible for an event to become too awesome. What was I thinking? 

Anyway, if you're looking to get prepped for tonight, this playlist is a good place to start. It doesn't cover all of the artists that'll be performing, but it gives a quick glimpse, one that'll shake off once and for all your holiday-related mental cobwebs and make it impossible for you to do anything but chill on the west side with a few hundred of your closest musical compadres. I don't know, I'm no expert but maybe you should skip the gym and make it your new year's resolution to party forever? Sounds like a plan to me.