I'm Back - New Playlist

I honestly can't believe how long it's been since I posted on this blog. Pretty soon I'll be doing my "Best of 2015" posts even though the last posts on here were "Best of 2014". Time flies. Unfortunately my real-life outside of my music-hobby-life has taken over and I haven't had a chance to do anything remotely fun. Just writing papers and working. So, now, of course when I have my massive thesis due shortly I am procrastinating and doing something completely unrelated. I have been stringing together a short playlist of songs I'm currently (within the past month) listening to and I thought I'd share. It's an hour and fifteen minutes of things I like and I hope you give it a listen.

Hopefully more posts to come.

My Playlist

After months of dealing with a hacked Google account cutting off access to this blog, and whatever other garbage has been thrown at me, I am finally able to write a new post. I honestly can't even think of how to begin this, or how to write, or how to do anything. My brain has been consumed by grad school and work and other bullshit that is going on and I need to remember to just stop, breathe, and do something cathartic. I find writing really cathartic, and even though I'm not good at it, at all, it still helps me feel better. Music also helps me feel better...hence this post. I have been working on a Spotify playlist on and off since early September and I'm really excited to finally share it.
I constantly (...not that constantly...occasionally is probably a better word) get asked what my favorite music is. "What do you listen to?" "What genre do you like?" "What's the cool jams?" Fuck if I know. It's pretty cliche to say that you listen to "everything" but I really do. With that being said, I think electronic-based-alternative-whatever is my favorite genre. Is that a genre? Anyway, genres don't exactly exist anymore so I thought I'd explain my favorite type of music through...music. Wow.
I spent WAY more time than I should have making this playlist flow, and sound smooth and consistent from beginning to end. So, if you need some new and not-so-new music to listen to, or a playlist for some sort of activity, this might be for you.

Here are some activities which I think would go well with this type of sound.

1) Star-gazing

2) Working out...but sort of low-energy work-outs...like stretching. Yeah. Stretching.

3) Sexy time. I mean...to be honest, it's all pretty sexual, hip-gyrating stuff. Go for it.

4) Looking at a city from the top of a skyscraper

5) Staring aimlessly at spreadsheets or computer programming. I can vouch for this.

6) Drinking a hot toddy, or mulled wine. I was going to say tea but this is too vibe-licious for that.

7) Being on an airplane. It's good cloud-watching music. Or drowing-out-screaming-children music.

8) Painting? Probably. I haven't tested this.

9) Drugs? Again, probably. No comment.

10) Meditating

So, overall this is a pretty dark, vibey, playlist. I think if anything this group of songs is a really easy stepping stone for a lot of people into the world of electronic. For a lot of people, myself included, "electronic" is a pretty intimidating genre with a lot of sub-styles, weird sounds and robotic notes. Even after listening to all types of electronic music for years, I really couldn't tell you how to categorize things. I guess this playlist would be like deep house for dummies? It's deep house mixed with bass mixed with god knows what. REGARDLESS, it's a really good mix of vocal electronic. I think you guys will like it. I know I do.

Summer Playlist

There's something about summer music that's different than all other music. I think it's a weird combination of sun, bonfires, mosquito bites and all that crap that defines the appropriate music. For example, I would never listen to Bon Iver in the summer. That is strictly autumn music and everyone knows that.
So for your summer enjoyment I constructed a summer playlist! How exciting! There is mix of brand spankin' new music with some of my old favorites. I even did the thing when the songs should seam well together and sort of flow, you know? I spent far too much time on this. I even made a list of things you could do while listening to this playlist:

1. Roast marshmallows

2. Grill all the foods (even peaches)

3. Go for a drive in a convertible (preferably next to a coastline)

4. Find the best sunglasses for your face shape

5. Inspect your moles for irregularity in shape and color

6. Skip through a field

7. Pick non-poisonous berries

8. Kill wasps

9. Attempt to climb a tree for the first time in years and get stuck halfway up

10. Have a pool party...or crash your neighbor's...or a stranger's

Enjoy!

Top Tracks (3)

Another "Top Tracks" post. Hurray. *throws confetti unenthusiastically*

1. Shuggie - Foxygen
I think I listened to this song a whopping two times so obviously it's my number one song of the week. Thanks, Spotify. It's an interesting song but I can't really tell how I feel about this band yet. Very psychedelic, very hippy-dippy, something I haven't heard in a long time so I give them props for that. We'll see how I feel about this in a month. I think I might already be over it.

2. Rock Me - One Direction
Shut up. I can't help it.

3. The A Team - Ed Sheeran
I may or may not have just flown across the whole damn country to see one of his concerts because I'm clinically insane so Spotify is just reaffirming that. Cool.

4. Clique - Kanye West, Jay Z, Big Sean, etc.
I love this song except I'm really confused as to why I listened to the edited version. Edited versions of songs make me hate everything so Spotify is definitely lying about this.

5. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) - Bob Dylan
My second favorite Bob Dylan song. Boots of Spanish Leather is my favorite...didn't you read that in one of my last posts? No? Yeah, figures.

6. Outro - Ed Sheeran, Yelawolf and 7. You Don't Know - for fuck's sake
The Slumdon Bridge EP isn't one of my favorites. I love the concept but something about it just doesn't work. As a massive Ed Sheeran fan and a massive rap/hip-hop fan it kills me to say this. I still listen to it though so maybe everything I just said is load of crap.

8. The Morning - Raekwon, Pusha T, Common, 2 Chainz...everyone else on earth
This is my favorite song on G.O.O.D. Music, Cruel Summer, which, side-note, is really good despite everyone hating it. I'm not the only one that felt it was good, right?

9. Redford (for Yia-Yia and Pappou) - Sufjan Stevens
Ohhhh Sufjan. How you hit my soul right where it counts. Maybe not so much with your newer stuff but that damn Michigan album gets me every time. This song is basically the perfect song to make you cry, or as background music for a nature-themed powerpoint presentation.

10. Pyramids - Frank Ocean
Everything about this song is perfection. It tells a really interesting story and I don't find myself getting bored despite it being approximately 47 minutes long.


Well, there you have it. Bing, bang, boom. Blah blah music things. End of entry. Comment or subscribe or whatever the hell. You decide.

Top Tracks (2)

Here we are again. Discussing my "top tracks" from Spotify. What a great tradition we've created here.

Here they are.
Can I just say, the amount of times in my life I've had to Google "how to take a screenshot on a mac" is astounding.

1. Be the Song - Foy Vance
This song is gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. Back in my days of religiously watching Grey's Anatomy I first discovered Foy Vance. But, because I'm an idiot, I haven't listened to anything by him in the past couple years. I'm going to be seeing him (opening for Ed Sheeran) in February so I thought I'd give his music another whirl and boy, that was a good idea. The Melrose EP is so calming and soulful.

2. X-French Tee Shirt - Shudder to Think
Holy shit I about lost my mind when I rediscovered this song. I probably first heard this when I was seven years old and it all came flooding back to me when it was played on the radio last week. There's something about the dissonance in this song that I'm completely obsessed with. There's literally no possible way you can hear this chorus 400 times in a row and not rock the fuck out to it. Brilliant.

3. One Day / Reckoning Song -Asaf Avidan & the Mojos
I know nothing about this song, group, remix, anything. It's completely addicting though. This is one of those songs where you end up listening to it about ten billion times without any recollection of having it happen.

4. Miss Cigarette - Rizzle Kicks
Rizzle Kicks are of those groups that I just sit there listening to, obsessed with figuring out what the samples are that they use. Whosampled.com is probably my favorite website in existence. Am I the only one that can sit on there for hours clicking through samples further and further back down a deep dark spiral? Anyway, my millions of subscribers, I can't figure out the sample in Miss Cigarette so let's try solving this mystery. *crickets*

5. New Born - Muse
Origin of Symmetry is my favorite Muse album. This is my favorite song on Origin of Symmetry. So, here we are.

6. You Make Me Sick - P!nk
Hello childhood me. Do you still remember this? Yes? You do? Every lyric? Perfect.
Moment of silence for this P!nk that we all remember and miss....

7. C'mon C'mon - The Von Bondies
Another favorite middle school song. Apparently I was feeling nostalgic this week...(see numbers 9 and 10 for proof).

8. Swimming Pools (Drank) - Kendrick Lamar
THIS IS THE BEST HIP HOP ALBUM/SONG/EVERYTHING THAT HAS COME OUT IN YEARS. Sorry about the excessive CAPS but I feel very passionate about this. Everyone always gives modern hip-hop such a bad rap (pun completely intended) but all I would have to do is give them a copy of good kid, M.A.A.D. city and they would instantly retract that opinion. I've listened to this song hundreds of times since October and I'm not even slightly sick of it. In fact, my alter rap ego knows every word and has gotten pretty boss at performing it.

9. No Scrubs (With Rap) - TLC
Best song ever written in the history of music. *drops mic*

10. Ready or Not - The Fugees
I'm pretty confident that the last time I heard this song was in 1996 so I'm not sure how it made this list but I'm not complaining. I love a good Lauryn Hill moment. We can all agree The Score was a flawless album, right?


Speaking of Lauryn Hill and nostalgia I'm going to go listen to Doo Wop (That Thing) and dust off my Umbro shorts (I still remember the conversation..."but moooommm, Mel C wears them). Peace out home skizzles.