March 7th

Christina's pick: "Avant Gardener" by Courtney Barnett 

Man, I love Courtney Barnett, she is such a chiller. I can't really remember when I first discovered her, but she has such irresistibly goofy lyrics, while also speaking truth about the feminine experience in some of her other songs. I don't know too many other people who are into her (she seems to be bigger in her native Australia than here) but this past weekend, hangin on the Toronto couch of an old friend who I used to share music with all the time, he popped this tune on. My heart melted - this song is so much better shared, sang aloud, and perfect for grooving along to. For those of us at work right now, go for the office chair rock out. 

 *Shout outs to the real homie Niko Block, for always being in my musical groove even if I don't see ya for months at a time. Will forgive the burnt bacon. 

 

Loren's pick: "Sun City Creeps", Woods

This song came to me via my brother. Jeremy Earl, one of his old friends, plays guitar and sings in Woods. I love the lead in to this track. Immediately taken on a journey and then when the vocals drop they are strong, melodic,  and unexpected. Woods describes themselves as 'psychedelic folk' and somehow this makes me so happy. I'm transported to a dark 60's lounge in the south west, I've become a man in a pale blue suit and I'm drinking something dark and cold. The band has a gold curtain behind them and the horn section is dressed in red suits. Yeah, I'm in aQuentin Tarantino film and I kinda want to stay in this scene for a while so I slip into the next song and am just as happy to have discovered it.

March 6th

Loren's pick: "The Lost Sky", Jesca Hoop

Subpop, the Seattle record label, directed me (and millions of others) towards the rising musicians of the 90s. I would eagerly wait for their compilation cassette to guide me to the best sounds. So why did I abandon them? Mea culpa! I didn't forget, I fear I just lost the path. While I couldn't pop the tape in to my Dodge Omni and drive around today, I was able to go through their line-up and found many sweet sounds. While many unique musicians are on the label, Jesca Hoop caught my ear. The former-Mormon and nanny to Tom Waits' kids has a crystal clear voice, uncommon guitar style and witty lyrics. Plus she's playing at Mercury Lounge Wednesday. Might find my way there.

Christina's pick: "The General" by Dispatch 

I'm probably 11 years-old, setting down forks and knives at the dozens of round tables at my sleep away camp in northwestsomewherenewjersey, and this comes on over the speakers. All the older, cooler, (probably very pimply and uncool, in retrospect) teenage counselors know each word. I've heard this song 1000000 times since, but still brings me back to summer time, livin easy, livin cheerful, amongst the trees, in the best state. 

*let's hope all of Trump's generals take heed the advice of these lyrics. 

Feb 28

Christina's pick: "That's Us/ Wild Combination" by Arthur Russell 

Arthur Russell is the Van Gogh of the AIDS era. He was a small town Iowa boy who came to New York to make music / play cello and do other weird shit in the village, back when the village was actually weird. He died of the disease at age 40, and was relatively forgotten until a recent resurgence of the one album he put out. I feel nostalgia for this era in New York, and for him, even if it was years before I was alive. Here is a great New Yorker article about him that came out a couple days ago. 

Loren's pick: "Open", Rhye

One of the main reason's I thought about starting this blog was because I am a podcast queen! But if you listen all day all things quickly run together and repeating (yes, the The Heart did a cameo on Note to Self today and I almost sent Anna Sale a gift for her new baby.)  It was clearly time to reintroduce some music to my ears. So, its ironic that I learned about today's artist from my favorite music podcast Song Exploder. but once I heard his voice I fell hard. And he has some mean musicians from great trumpets to beautiful violins. I actually could have chosen any song on his albums...like I might have a new fav artist. Each song is so atmospheric, takes you on a mini adventure, and his voice is like the sweetest driver.

February 23rd

Loren's Pick: "Hurt", Johnny Cash

Mortality. The lifelong question we spend much of our lives either battling, running from, or obsessing over. How does one of the most famous artists in the world deal with it at the end of his life. With a little NIN! Super producer Rick Rubin nailed it by approaching Trent Reznor to have ask permission for Cash to cover Hurt. (which always brings me back to '94 and Brian's dark bedroom lit with small neon strips). The first time I saw this video I was rendered useless. Little did I know realize then that the house it was filmed in was "The House of Cash" which had closed years earlier. This song, video and Cash's singing was such a genius execution and well produced narrative. I was listening to my album "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" (his 33rd album!) last Sunday morning and then ended up spending the week with him. Still so much to unravel and hear, even post-mortem. 

Christina's pick: "Granny Diner" by Grizzly Bear 

For the two years I did the advanced art program in high school, the best day of the year was when us art nerds got a special field trip to Chelsea to check out galleries / take notes / find inspiration. That's where, in 2008, I saw an Allison Schulnik show. Her claymation video piece "Hobo Clown" was set to this Grizzly Bear song. It left me awe-struck. I got separated from the group because I stood there just watching it twice.  From there, I fell madly in love with her work and Grizzly Bear, whom I've seen at least 3 times now. 

I love the slow intimacy of this track. In total, 13 words are sung. One person complains about doing the dishes to another, maybe a partner, or a friend, and then begrudgingly does them. It's such a banal scenario, but therein lies the beauty. 

Feb 21

Christina's Pick: "Superstar" by K-Os 

"Yo the year is 2002.

It's the end of the jiggy era

People on the planet Earth, 

are tired."

The video for this song begins with a small manifesto from K-Os on the dying art of hip hop. I wonder if K-Os feels the same way, or if for him, hip hop has evolved into something today that still makes it a worthwhile medium of expression for oppressed groups and minds (I think so). Also, doesn't 2002, post-9-11, mid-Bush, start of Iraq almost just feel quaint compared to 2017?

People on the planet earth,

are still, 

tired. 

February 20th

Loren's Pick: "Diamonds", Ben Howard

First lines in books...how gripping they can be to drag the reader in. The one I started this morning If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino, has been on my "to read list" for 3-years now. The first line made me realize I was entering a much different space than I had been in only moments before. Maybe I am just in a transitory time. I need a vacation and I am willing to get swept away quickly. But this song- this first line is so promising: "All I am is the bones you made for me so garishly clean". This came on WFUV while I was rising and set my tone. And I love the first line, and the second and the third...but the chorus lost me. It shifted my tone and I was forced into a different conversation with myself. Doesn't mean I'm unwilling to talk to myself about other things, but I really wanted to stay with those finger picking bones. Still growing on me though and I am happy to discovered Ben and all his other tracks.

 

Christina's pick: "The Partisan" by Leonard Cohen. 

For this week's "Travel Flavor" section, I summarized this New York Times article about Leonard Cohen's old haunts. It takes a certain type of masochism to enjoy mid-Feb in Montreal, but this article took me back to many of the places that I lived near to and loved. I love the haunting French background vocals here. The Arcade Fire (other Montreal hometown heroes) often switch between French and English in their songs too, which makes for a great listening experience. For those who only speak one, you get to imagine what the other language may be saying. For those who speak a touch of one or the other, it's a cool way of structuring your mind to think multiple ways at once (english, french, melody, etc). This song was used brilliantly in the movie "Hunt for the Wilderpeople," which I saw recently and really recommend if you get a chance.

Feb 11

Christina's pick: "Help Me" by Joni Mitchell 

Dating and sex at any age can always feels like push and pull. But they feel particularly intense during these ~millennial years~, when one can be so torn between desiring someone, even coveting them, but wanting your own freedom. Joni wrote this when at age 30, and it resonates today. If you listen closely she plays with the lyrics "you love your lovin" and "we love our lovin" - which I've always read as her mediating who is the one with power, and who's vulnerable in any romantic relationship, throughout the course of the song. Such a poetic way to capture this cat and mouse game we all know so well. God, I love Joni. I promise to stop disproportionately representing Canadians on this blog soon, I swear. 

February 14th

Loren's Pick: "Bees", Paul Curreri

This song has stuck with me for years. It is so perfectly executed. Paul, a friend of a friend, played this song at Pete's Candy Store and I was stung. The cadence of Paul's voice, the tone, the most perfect lyrics and the strumming of his guitar puts this song on my "desert island mix". (hmmmm what would I play my desert island mix with? Maybe a phonograph). Can listen here for a recorded version versus live.

Christina's pick: "Living Single" by Big Sean ft. Chance the Rapper, Jeremih 

IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY. Meaning, here's yet another song featuring Chance the Rapper about relationships. Today sucks for people in relationships who celebrate each other every day and know this holiday is crock of shit. This day sucks for the singles who resent the couples' for their happiness and misguidedly think their lives are incomplete. Ah well at least the chocolate is on sale this week. 

February 8th

Loren's Pick: "La Galinna", Ozomatli

Sometimes there is that moment that one realizes they are connected to another. I had this a year into a relationship that I had started in NYC. We went away to VT for the weekend and when we pulled into the house I knew I had been there before -years early and with him. We had met at a beer festival and he invited me back to party. That was a night. Later we met in a LES bar and he became my trumpet teacher for a few weeks and my partner for years. I sent Christina my song of the day and it unraveled shows we might have both been at. Ok its no eight-year relationship...but it was fun to imagine we were in the same place at the same day during different versions of ourselves. For both of us this song brought us back to some great horns, dancing and days when time didn't seem to matter.

Check it here!

Feb 4th? 5th?

Christina's pick: "Fern," Zoe Keating 

I promise I don't like Zoe Keating just because she is a Canadian with funky red hair. I was first introduced to her walking through the halls of my high school as the school dance troupe was rehearsing for an upcoming show. One of the senior girls choreographed a piece to Tetrishead, that I remember vividly to this day. The song I've picked is softer, and I guess more reflective of whatever mood I had that day. 

I don't know anything about choreography or contemporary dance, but I always imagine some sort of physical, human movement when I listen to her. Her layered cello is great for the imagination and soul

 

February 7th

Loren's Pick "Waiting Room", Fugazi

I'm in a cubicle. It's like a waiting room. Today dragggggs. Doctor's orders: A hard bass line. Come on and get up. Got to love the internet for archives to my own existence. I found the set list from the first time seeing Fugazi at Bennington College in '93. Who knew I would end up 20+ years later with the same shaved head and lots more waiting rooms. I wait, I wait, I wait.

Christina's pick: "Streets of Philadelphia" - Bruce Springsteen 

Despite my best efforts, winter is getting to me. All I want is Asbury Park in the summertime. So of course, I've got my hunny Bruce on my mind too. Everyone (at least everyone I associate with) has at least five "favorite" Bruce songs. Here's one of them, which I saw him perform live in Philadelphia on September 9th, my Mom's bday. The crowd was wild for the entirety of that 3-hour show, but this moment was particularly beautiful. 

Here are some photos from that night: My parents are three days apart (Sep 9th and 12th), so they used the Bruce show as the best possible excuse to throw a party. Here's Mum and Bruce performing "Streets" tk 

 

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Feb 2nd

Christina's pick: "Unstoppable" - Lianne La Havas 

Following NPR's Tiny Desk series has brought me to so many artists I would never have discovered otherwise. They close-quarters vibe allows you to get to know an artist so intimately that it feels like they're friends just jamming in your living room. That's how I found Lianne La Havas, my newest girl crush. I love this performance of her hit song "Unstoppable." Pop songs rarely make me feel all that empowered (Beyoncé an obvious exception to this rule), but I think she makes the listener feel invigorated so subtly here. It's wonderful.

February 1st

Loren's Pick: "Emmett Till", Bob Dylan

Yes, we all knew but how does one hold this lie for 60-years?

Silence. Hold. Hold. Hold Emmett in the light.

From the NYT.

“I was hoping that one day she would admit it, so it matters to me that she did, and it gives me some satisfaction,” said Wheeler Parker, 77, a cousin of Emmett’s who lives near Chicago. “It’s important to people understanding how the word of a white person against a black person was law, and a lot of black people lost their lives because of it. It really speaks to history, it shows what black people went through in those days.”

Dylan: "If you can't speak out against this kind of thing, a crime that's so unjust,
Your eyes are filled with dead men's dirt, your mind is filled with dust.
Your arms and legs they must be in shackles and chains, and your blood it must refuse to flow,
For you let this human race fall down so God-awful low!"

Christina's pick: "Dark end of the Street" by Percy Sledge. 

My pick feels frivolous next to Loren's, but at least they're bound by their Southern-ness. Percy here is singing about the joys and pains of infidelity, of keeping secrets. Today, we have TV shows and an abundance of songs and popular media about this phenomenon, but I still think this song is one of the most tragic, yet apt representations of wanting something you shouldn't have, and the guilt that ensues. Maybe you're a saint and you've always played by the rules. But for the rest of us, we've got Percy. 

January 30th

Loren's Pick: "Save Yourself", Kaleo.

I love Pret and I hate to admit it. They have the best tea, the crew that works there are lovely and having fun. They lift me in the morning. So today when I was in there and heard this amazing voice (Jökull Júlíusson) blaring from the speakers I shazamed and ran to work to hear more. I had heard "Way Down We Go" but soon moved on through their library. And then I had an epiphany they were a Christian band. Stop, pause, and then I reconciled all with in a matter of minutes. I love lots of music created for the Creator. Wade in the Water is in my top 10! I have been know to be found at the gospel competitions. I had a similar realization at a Cold War Kids show years ago. So it's official- my song today may have been made for Jesus but there are a lot of worse people these days to make songs for.

Christina's pick: "Sandy" by Caribou. Here is a pic I took when they played Webster Hall in Nov, 2014. Loren described them as "the Beatles in a K-hole" and I think their concert visuals create a similar effect. 

January 26th

Christina's pick: "Baby Blue" - Action Bronson, ft. Chance the Rapper.

This Trump nightmare has made me appreciate New York so much lately. It's diversity, noises, and unparalleled sense of humor. This one is by Action Bronson, who is a roughly 300 pound ginger-haired rapper from Flushing, who raps and reps Queen$ all the time. He is also a former chef, and has a show on Vice called "Fuck, That's Delicious" where he literally runs around the world smoking weed, rapping, and eating (he pops by Kebab King in Jackson Hts. whaaat whaat!) Anyway, I love him, and love Chance's freestyle in this one. 

Loren's Pick: "Walk Away", Ben Harper

Whenever my man is gone, my child wakes up early and crawls into bed to "listen to beautiful music". What this really means is he scrolls my music on my phone, randomly picking a musician and determines if he likes it or not. We also try to identify the instruments and the rhythms. Pre-dawn, with only the street shadows and my cellphone casting light he choose Ben Harper.  This was fitting as just yesterday I had listened to one of my fav podcasts by Anna Sale: Death Sex and Money. She was asking for people to send in their break-up song. Ben has gotten me through some rough times. I literally found myself one night alone with my djembe, this song and some epic tears. But that was years ago and my most recent memory linked to Harper was the amazing show with him and Charlie Musselwhite at Irving Plaza for a surprise bday present. (And got to give a shout to Christina here- my piece seems trite in comparison. Solid choice. Thanks for the intro!)  Here's a fun live version of Walk Away filmed at the World Festival of Sacred Music:

Janurary 25th

Loren's Pick: Melanie Safka, Look What They've Done To My Song Ma & Miley Cyrus covering it in Backyard Sessions. I admit, Miley Cyrus passed me by. My anti-Disney propensity wrote her off, but I found myself driving the other day singling along to Wrecking Ball and figured I needed to giver her a chance. Hello, Backyard Sessions! How could I have under estimated this woman? Fierce, powerful voice and and her song choice in Backyard Sessions shows a depth and knowledge of music that is witty and deep. Here's Melanie and then Miley singing a song that speaks to commercialism, fame and a struggle for authenticty.

Melanie singing: Click HERE

Christina's pick: "Rye Whiskey" 

Your pick has put me in a country/bluegrass-y mood! Here is Frank Fairfield doing his version, of the many-times-covered-classic "Rye Whiskey." I first learned about him a friend who would watch this video of him playing "Keep my skillet greasy" for inspiration. The video isn't great quality, but it's the hardest I think I've ever seen anyone play an instrument. Watch "Skillet" here.