The Monthly Mixtape: June 2025
Hey there, music lovers! Welcome to another edition of Word of Mouth's Monthly Mixtape series, where we share the soundtrack that's been fueling our creative engines each month. You know how sometimes a song just perfectly captures your mood or helps you power through that challenging project? That's exactly what these playlists are all about.
These mixtapes are inspired by everything from the shows we've been binging to the coffee shops where we've been camping out with our laptops. You'll find a delightful mix of new discoveries, tracks that are new to us, and those beloved classics that never seem to lose their magic. Consider this our musical journal, a little window into what's been inspiring us lately.
Sometimes these monthly mixtapes emerge from deep reflection on lessons learned. Other times they're born from pure silliness — a single moment that burrows into your brain and refuses to leave.
This month falls squarely in the latter category, thanks to my complete obsession with The Lonely Island & Seth Meyers podcast. When I'm not listening to them dissect each digital short while working, I've been deep in post-production on my own upcoming podcast. There's something beautifully nostalgic about their conversations — it takes me back to when SNL hit hardest for me, when those shorts felt so revolutionary, like pure genius beamed directly into my brain. Truly “an Golden Era.”
Ras Trent has always been Criterion-level comedy for me. We all went to college with THAT dude who discovered Rastafarianism during freshman orientation and made it his entire personality by October. The podcast's breakdown of how they created it only deepened my appreciation for what might be their most perfectly observed character study.
I caught recent Tony winner Cole Escola in Oh Mary! during a trip to New York — a show so gloriously unhinged it defies description. One review captured it perfectly: "a work of sheer idiocy and urgent necessity" that transforms Mary Todd Lincoln into an alcoholic, foul-mouthed comedy queen desperate to escape the White House for her true calling on the stage. It's absolutely absurd and completely brilliant. A favorite Belle & Sebastian song made it onto this playlist thanks to its wild inclusion in the show (spoilers for the Aughts indie kid crowd.)
One standout discovery from that same New York trip came during a Chelsea Symphony concert where my brother had a solo performance. John Psathas' The All-Seeing Sky was inspired by Greek mythology, but it struck me as pure science fiction. Marimbas and vibraphones are some of my favorite tones — I feel them in my bones. They transport me to another planet, which probably explains why they sound so wonderfully sci-fi to my ears.
So here's to the supremely silly obsessions and the cosmic discoveries that shape our months. Embrace whatever weird rabbit hole is calling your name. #QuaidArmy
