Last week a student in the library where I work explained to us why the library was always so cold. He said, at a volume that is only possible for those who are under 12, that sweater companies were keeping the temperatures low so that people would be forced to wear their products. He might be on to something.
Songs of the Week 10/12
Two new songs, and some older stuff that I’ve been enjoying.
“360 featuring robyn & yung lean” - Charli XCX
I could not figure out what song Yung Lean is interpolating in the pre-chorus. I just Googled it and its “1, 2 Step.” I have tried a bunch of times to listen to Yung Lean, it turns out he just needed Robyn and Charli to bounce his freaky voice off of.
I really enjoyed the remix album, but the mean girls remix is almost unforgivably bad.
“Fire of the Morning” - Joan Shelley
This sounds like it could have been sung for thousands of years. This is my kind of folk music. I’m excited to check out more of Shelley’s back catalog!
“Getting Sodas” - The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am Not Longer Afraid To Die
TWIABP is a band that I should’ve spent time with a long time ago. Just based on what I like, I knew I would enjoy their music. Sometimes I just get so caught up in the music that’s coming out right now that I’m not curious enough about music that isn’t current. Whenever, If Ever and Harmlessness were a dollar on Bandcamp, though and I took the plunge. I’ve listened to them a ton over the past week.
I’ve known about this video for a while, but now that I actually know what the words should sound like it just hits even better. The last two minutes of this video and the Juvenile Tiny Desk are the videos that I turn to when I need to know that everything will be okay.
“Celebrate” - Anderson .Paak
At one point in time, this was my favorite song. Anderson .Paak soundtracked a lot of college for me, and sometimes that makes me worried about revisiting it. I liked a lot of bad music in my day. This song might be a little cheesy, a little too sincere for this day and age, but it definitely holds up for me.
“Father Figure” - George Michael
I love CDs. If a store has a used CD section, I will be there, and I am more than willing to spend $3-6 on almost anything. I have never listened to a Joanna Newsom song, but that’ll change with the YS CD I picked up this morning. A year or two ago I bought George Michael’s Faith from a used book store. I threw it on while I was playing video games the other night and this song made me put down the controller.
Good Reads
I am not an algorithm person and so I was more than happy to read this piece that Josh Terry shouted out in his wonderful music newsletter, No Expectations. There is just no substitute for a living, breathing person putting you on to something.
By delivering what people seem to want, has Spotify killed the joy of music discovery?
I read this every week, but The Number Ones that Tom Breihan does on Stereogum is genius and if you haven’t checked it out already, I would recommend in the strongest terms. This week was a great breakdown of the fall of Justin Timberlake and “Can’t Stop The Feeling.”
For work and class, I read two middle grade graphic novels this week that are both wonderful. Mabuhay! is a charmer. You will fall in love with the Bulan clan and their food cart and their magical quest. When Stars are Scattered is about two brothers and their lives in a refugee camp. For a book that is told and illustrated so simply, the depth and range of emotion is stunning.
Currently Reading: Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life ; Lubeik Shubeik
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Let me know what you think!
Much love <3