Some records deserve another route in. This one gets a DJ.
The Life Cycle of Man and Cicada is a Royal Ruckus mixtape by DJ Sean P, released December 3, 2023. It revisits some of the best songs from The Summer of the Cicadas, our 2017 double LP, and puts them in a different sequence with “Punch up from the Bottom” at the front.
I don’t want this one buried under “bonuses and extras.” It belongs on the shelf beside the album. The double LP tells its story across two discs; this mix gives you another way to meet the music. A real DJ mix—not merely a suggestion to put the songs on shuffle.
Same world, another route
The opening is “Punch up from the Bottom.” Then “Never…” comes before “Still…,” reversing the order of those two Reflections pieces on the double LP. “Departures” follows, then “Burn It to the Ground” and “Lost Boys.”
That order matters. The double LP moves through a relationship going badly and into the aftermath, healing, and community. Here, DJ Sean P pulls a path through songs about mistakes, persistence, leaving, and loss. It doesn’t replace the double LP. It gives those songs another frame.
The double LP credits DJ Sean P for mixing and engineering at TWLVS in Fort Worth—and, further down the same line, “Everything but the Kitchen Sink.” Here he gets a simpler credit: “A mixtape by DJ Sean P.”
Put the mix on
Complete Bandcamp edition · Apple Music · YouTube album playlist
Start here with the opening song:
“Punch up from the Bottom”—official audio
The Bandcamp edition has eight entries. The seven-track streaming edition ends with the essay epilogue. Bandcamp adds one more: “Cicada Got a One Track Mind,” the whole album as a single 20:36 track. That one is a Bandcamp exclusive.
Bandcamp track list
Punch up from the Bottom—02:27 · Official YouTube audio
Never... (Reflections, Part 2 - Mixtape Version)—03:32 · Official YouTube audio
Still... (Reflections, Part 1 - Mixtape Version)—03:54 · Official YouTube audio
Departures (Mixtape Version)—03:33 · Official YouTube audio
Burn It to the Ground (Mixtape Version)—03:37 · Official YouTube audio
Lost Boys (Mixtape Version)—03:31 · Official YouTube audio
Bonus: The Life Cycle of Man and Cicadas—06:57 · Official YouTube audio
Bonus: Cicada Got a One Track Mind—20:36 · the whole album as one single track, a Bandcamp exclusive · Bandcamp
Official YouTube album playlist · Bandcamp · Apple Music
One YouTube wrinkle: the album playlist currently substitutes the original “Lost Boys” single video. Use the individual mixtape-version link above for that track, not the four-minute single.
The essay Joshua Gibbs and I wrote is part of this world too. Bandcamp calls it “Bonus: The Life Cycle of Man and Cicadas”; the streaming edition calls it “Epilogue: The Life Cycle of Man and Cicada,” with a Polina Bennett feature credit. You can also read the essay here.
Cover art from a painting by Monique Sarkessian, the fine artist behind the paintings for The Summer of the Cicadas. The Bandcamp and streaming editions each carry their own version. Meet Monique and the artwork here.
The full record is still here on Bandcamp, and the Cicadas hub gathers the songs, stories and artwork. Start with either record. Give the mix its own listen.