12 Songs: Grady Strange of Oblivion LA

Grady Strange is a man of the people. He’s either off making you good tunes to listen to with his band or keeping up his rad vintage surf shop Oblivion in Highland Park with his wife Mackenzie, hosting events, live music shows and surf video and film premieres. It’s quite the community he’s built for the crew of creatives that live in his neighborhood. We hit him up this week to curate our 12 Songs and he delivered. This super eclectic and fun playlist will shed the May gray from your eyes and your life and maybe more.—Travis

Grady on the playlist: The theme I’m choosing for this playlist is “shedding”. Dreams, patterns, pain, whatever. Growing, grieving, accepting, unlearning, stripping the whole thing down, regrowing. Some of these songs are lyrically aligned with the theme and some are just songs that get me through my own phases.

Listen to 12 Songs by Grady Strange: “Shedding” here

Songlist:

“All you know” by acetone*

Acetone are 90’s east LA underground legends. This song has a feeling of full surrender and acceptance to whatever they’re going through. Like floating downstream. 

“Don’t forget your neighborhood” by Cola Boyy*

Cola Boyy was a super inspiring and prolific musician from Oxnard, CA who just passed away a month or so ago. This song is a certified pop hit and also hits deep lyrically. I take it as: he’s searching for answers and unsure of where to go but is rooting himself in where / what he came from to help guide him and secure himself moving forward. RIP to a legend. 

“Honey” by packs*

I got to open for PACKS when they played LA on their last tour and I was so psyched on their music. I love it because it’s similar to a lot of bands that influenced me but has a sort of spontaneous feeling to it, like you never know where she’s gonna go next with the chord progression or melody. It’s bendy and dissonant but always ends up in a satisfying place. It sounds like this song is about figuring it all out, dealing with expectations. Wanting to arrive somewhere and feeling lost in the process idk who knows that’s just what it made me feel. 

“We can work it out” by Stevie wonder*

Only Beatles cover that was better than the original? This is the best feeling song and when I get in the mood to listen to it I play it 19 times at least. I love the hopeful feeling of it. I lean on blind hope a lot when going through hard times. I’m learning that it’s safe to let fear in too but I still like hope more. And Mackenzie and I have had to navigate a lot this year, going through our own shit and sharpening each others stones in the meantime. This song encompasses a good feeling and makes me think of us. 

“God love his little things” (pt 1 demo remix) by sun organ*

If the feeling of this song were a little house I would live in it. Big questions, big love. 

“Freebird ||” by parquet courts*

I’ve loved this band since the day they dropped their first record I don’t care if they’re too hip now because urban outfitters probably plays their songs I could give a fuck Andrew Savage is a true writer to the core and that’s all I care about. Music has to say something or mean something or feel like something or stand for something to matter to me. So many bands now are just worried about capturing the right vibe or sounding cool and think its cringe to actually speak from the heart or emit emotion and that’s natural I guess cuz we all have lame egos that just want acceptance, but there’s no risk or expression if you don’t say anything honest. This band says honest shit whether it’s a view on culture or capitalism or love or whatever. So I ride with them. This song is about dealing with childhood pain and patterns and becoming aware of them in order to work through life. We often get called to to kill what doesn’t serve us in order to make room for things that can help us to feel free. I’m going through a lot of that now. “I FEEL FREE LIKE YOU PROMISED ID BE.”

“Damaged” by primal scream*

What a ballad. I wanna use this song as the final part for a surf edit for Oblivion. Picking up on where we left off with the last song, this songs about breaking through the other side of something. Post shed vibes. Amen. 

“I was right (the whole time)” by Lauren early*

Lauren Early is a one of a kind legend in the scene in LA and I’m a huge fan of her music and the way her personality shines through. I’m not gonna try to figure out exactly what it’s about but I’m happy she was right the whole time and trusted her gut. That’s what it’s about baby you know what’s right for you deep down xo. 

“All I really want” by alanis morissette*

I was on my bachelor trip with my friends camping and surfing in Big Sur in 2022 and I had brought a cassette boombox and a bunch of cassettes. Throughout the night people were throwing different cassettes on. Late in the night I was under the influence of mushrooms and felt drawn to this record and didn’t know why. I put it on and this song came on as I was walking back to the fire. I immediately turned back around and stared at the speaker and replayed it like five times losing my entire mind while reading the lyrics from the insert thing until someone had to tell me to let the next song play. Something just washed over me telling me she knew exactly who she was and was downloading some info from the universe while making this. Like she trusted the universe and the universe trusted her and they collabed. It made me go home and start making the record that I’m working on now. 

“Mary Rae says” by Clarke and the himselfs*

Clarke is another local LA legend who I’ve been lucky enough to play with. They play drums, guitar and sing at the same time and sound as good as the record goes. This song is comforting to me. The message. The nostalgic sound that reminds me of music I heard growing up. All of it. 

“Saddest” by the strange boys*

Don’t force it don’t fight it and it shall be provided! Nothing else needs to be said. Strange boys forever. The best. Go listen to Ryan Sambol, his current project as well. 

“I wanna get high to the music” by pardoner*

This song has nothing to do with shedding anything or evolving through anything it’s just a great song. U gotta go where the truth is baby. Musics tight.