Tag: Playlist

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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – June 2022

As I write (most of) this on July 4, I look at the world on fire with another senseless massacre of a young black man in Akron, multiple recent assaults on rights trying to drive us back to the stone age, and the recurring drumbeat of mass shootings – and the ever-present awareness that people of color, women, and people without a financial safety net always suffer first and worse. I’m donating to abortion funds, trying to donate to vulnerable senate races, and grappling for more direct action I can be of help with. 

So, I know putting together playlists and sending them out on the air is even less important than usual. But I also remind myself that staying in touch with art and people does matter and joy is important. The two best things listening with an ear for things that spark this and compiling/ordering it into a list give me are the feedback and spirited discussions from the handful who read this and the part it plays in my gratitude practice. Thank you to anyone who reads this. 

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/8d9f9df7-01c1-4a7a-9020-65568ad4f0f3

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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – April 2022

This month was hard – competing obligations, day job stuff and other writing gigs, also some difficult headspace that mirrored the shifts between chilly damp gray and sweltering humidity. So, this may be a little shorter and the writeups are probably a little shorter, by this homestretch getting it done was paramount. But fuck, there was a lot of music I was happy to have in my life. 

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/6c9b58f0-fd02-4a22-8eeb-85bf392c0c64

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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – March 2022

Slow getting going this month between Big Ears and a front-loaded slate of contracted writing for other outlets, but it was good revisiting and chipping away at this over a period of weeks. I’ve always loved Spring and there’s a bounty of music to celebrate it with. Hat tip to Andrew Patton for letting me know the embed in the preview that worked fine last time didn’t work on all browsers so this time I’m separately placing the embed and the link as a separate link. Fingers crossed. Thank you all for listening, reading, or both. 

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/a2864c4c-843c-4018-a61c-380ebb3beaad

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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – February 2022

Finally moved off Spotify to Tidal, I doubt this is the final stop but at least it has Joni Mitchell who I listen to just about weekly, and the interface didn’t suck – tried a couple that handled playlists really badly. And, of course, there are more important things to think about, and I make donations and try to stay informed, but nobody’s looking for my ill-informed take on the horrific invasion of Ukraine, so I try to stay in touch with beauty where I find it and tell people “Hey, this is great – it made my day or week or month better.” Thanks for reading and listening. 

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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – January 2022

Once again, this was a boon to me personally, it did my heart and brain good to be reminded of and repeatedly engaged by the sheer amount of music there to love even in the coldest, grayest time of the year. And while I’ve said repeatedly that Spotify is awful – and I’ve never used it for the podcasts I indulge in – the number of artists pulling their work from it, particularly Joni Mitchell who I listen to nigh-weekly, is finally nudging me to shift.  

This was already half-done and written but it’ll be the last playlist using Spotify unless something changes down the road. Long term plan is probably SoundCloud or Mixcloud, a transitional period of the next couple of months will be another streaming service (I know they’re all terrible).  Continue reading for my rambling descriptions.

Bandcamp links courtesy of Hype Machine’s Merch Table Feature: https://hypem.com/merch-table/6R5JWydA9I6Xiu2ARzlhZC

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Best Of Playlist record reviews

Best of 2021 Playlist – Parting Gifts

After the reactions to last year’s more formal (as opposed to background for a Pink Elephant) playlist honoring people who passed away that made an impression on me. I tried to keep better, more methodical track, and good lord. So many people who changed how I heard things or turned me around on a genre, who deepened my connection with a kind of music or got me interested in a genre, who connected me with people. The person the track stands for who passed away is in parentheses. 

On that same note, there are people who aren’t musicians or producers who have as great an impact on my understanding and love of music who should be acknowledged. Lane Campbell, who I probably knew less well than 50 people on my friends list, but who I met at Twangfest many years ago and still remembered me well enough to see me on my front lawn during the pandemic when he and his partner were visiting Columbus and stop to say hello. I thought about him a lot after that chance meeting, and more after he passed away, often revisiting music I loved that I hadn’t gone back to as often in recent years. 

George Wein, who created the contemporary music festival, and certainly helped create the versions of it I still love even as I grumble about the ubiquity and encroachment of the festival as a thing: it’s easy to draw a line that there’s no Big Ears without Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals, no Nelsonville without New Orleans’s jazz fest. I finally read the great autobiography co-written by Nate Chinen this year and it made an impression on me. 

Wrapping this up on January 3nd, with a second case of COVID, and grateful to meet another day. Thankful for anyone reading this, anyone who turned me onto any of these artists, and anyone I might talk about them with. I’m sure I’ve missed some, I always do. That impossibility is one of the things that keeps me going. Continue reading if you’re interested in my rambling.

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Best Of Playlist record reviews

Best of 2021 Playlist – Spaces

The other half of things I found and loved over the course of this year. These are the tunes that stabbed me in the heart or colored the world in a different way. The songs/spaces distinction is obviously porous and often ambiguous, but in general, I think of stuff that hits this list as landscapes or sculptures, atmospheres, not as much telling a linear story. Frequently instrumental. But there’s probably 20% if you asked me in a week, I’d put it on the other list.  Continue reading for my rambling notes.

Bandcamp links where available, courtesy of the Hype Machine’s Merch Table feature: https://hypem.com/merch-table/6z8411eDN5Dg7ALX8XtFou

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Best Of Playlist record reviews

Best of 2021 Playlist – Songs

For a year that vacillated wildly between jubilation at seeing people I hadn’t seen in contexts I hadn’t seen for over a year and utter despair that so much of the world is still a garbage fire, one of the consistent comforts came from the flood of music I loved.  

Like last year, I loosely grouped these into “Songs” and “Spaces.” There are a number of items that could have fit on either list, this is definitely based on feel. In general, songs have lyrics and deal with a more direct emotion. Spaces should be posted tomorrow, Parting Gifts, a tribute to the (many) musicians who died this year who meant something or everything to me, will hopefully go out by the end of the weekend. 

Bandcamp links where available, courtesy of the Hype Machine’s Merch Table feature: https://hypem.com/merch-table/6Gdyaq4t4uFLUNsDRRRRmf

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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – October 2021

It feels like Fall, my favorite season, in more than one sense. And this marks a full year since I’ve been doing these – they helped keep me tethered to some sense of loving music and art and wanting to share that with people even as other outlets dried up in the depths of last year, and I’m grateful for anyone who pressed play, who said something kind or told me they found a song or an artist they didn’t hear before, or who read any of these notes. Thanks, as always. 

Bandcamp links where available, courtesy of Hype Machine’s Merch Table function: https://hypem.com/merch-table/0BgevKbvPofQ0xMv6zweXs

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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – September 2021

Stumbled hard a few times this month but righted the ship. Still struggling with some levels of burnout but I see the light, and I’ve started some habits that are showing some positive signs. And had some remarkable feelings of normality, in all the best ways – the first weekend I had to review three shows. First writing for a new outlet run by good friends.

Seeing other friends for the first time in person since before the pandemic and good lord, it’s amazing how much energy I’ve missed from those people it never would have occurred to see every week or anything but who bring something ineffable to my life. First Pink Elephant in 18 months, coupled with returning from Gonerfest and a full week of theater reviews led to this being a little more delayed than I’d like; back to the first week of the month next month. 

And this, the year anniversary of these playlists which give me more joy than I expected when I started and I’ve gotten remarkably positive feedback about. Thanks for listening. Thanks for letting me know what you think. Thanks for being here. I love you. 

For bandcamp links, courtesy of Hype Machine’s essential Merch Table feature: https://hypem.com/merch-table/4lo8VPqshOImwYp23tpQBD

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