Blood Harmony Volume 6: Welcome to Playlist City!
Population you!
I picked up a side gig of late and it turns out that working two jobs, parenting and trying to prevent your existential dread from squashing your will to live during a pandemic really cuts into your writing time. Luckily, I’ve been listening to a ton of music so my playlist game (created on-the-fly by listening to KEXP between patients at work!) remains on point. Fun fact: if you are streaming music from your work computer onto a bluetooth speaker and then you start a video telehealth appointment, your patient will both a. hear what you are listening to and b. have their voice projected around your workspace until you disconnect.
My beloved KEXP (an independent radio station out of Seattle) completely reorganized their DJ schedule in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by the police and the rise of the antiracist movement. There are now more DJs of all backgrounds playing music of all genres in each show. It is a truly remarkable change and I’m proud to be one of their regular contributors. I never thought I would hear a Laura Branigan song followed by an Anderson .Paak track on KEXP but it turns out that’s exactly what I’ve always wanted from them. I HIGHLY recommend Gabriel Teodros’s “Early” show which is at a normal hour on the East Coast (8-9am or whenever you want on the archive). Marry me Gabriel!
I have both a Fall playlist and a playlist of tracks that I really like but couldn’t figure out how to include on a 10 song playlist. I’m calling the latter “The B-Sides (LINK)” and it will be ever-evolving.
Nada by Lido Pimienta and Li Saumet. Canadian/Colombian singer Pimienta and Bomba Estereo singer Saumet team up for this gorgeous song. As Rolling Stone put it: “Both commanding, trailblazing musicians in their own right, the two are also mothers of young children. They meld their minds, and in the new video, braids, to create a lush cumbia meditation on the personal toll of raising a family. “If tomorrow is the day I die/I’m not afraid of it,” they sing, “Because I’m a woman and carrying pain is what I do/I’m a woman of the rain, of pain, of moon blood/of the earth, salt and dunes/And love, without a doubt.”
Wonderful by Burna Boy. Nigerian artist Burna Boy makes a song that makes me happy. Thanks Burna Boy.
Lockdown by Anderson .Paak ft. JID, Noname & Jay Rock. Apparently the Jay Rock verses contain references to COVID conspiracy theories but I’m going to let that slide since the rest of the song is great. Also, Noname has an excellent antiracist book club!
Only You by Steve Monite. This is a track from the fantastic Doing It in Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Nigeria collection. Monite was a Nigerian Afro Boogie artist. This track rules.
Ooh La La by Jessie Ware. This whole Jessie Ware album is excellent! She’s a British singer songwriter whose music is normally much more downtempo. Ware wanted this album to be all about “escapism and groove”. All I hear is Prince in this track and I AM INTO IT.
Passionfruit by Yaeji. Korean-American artist reworks Drake’s lonesome tune into something dreamy.
Heart Attack by Bronson ft. lau.ra. Seattle duo Odesza teamed up with Australian producer Golden Features to make the Bronson album. It’s very groovy. This song features British singer lau.ra from the group Ultraista.
Ndeko Solo (Voilaaa Remix) by Afriquoi. Afrobeat supergroup from the U.K. made this great track off their recent EP. Their Spotify description makes me think that they are a really great live band too.
Father Bird, Mother Bird by Khruangbin. I love this band. I never thought they’d write a song with a haunting melody that made me cry but here we are.
Death, Have Mercy by Vera Hall. Recorded by John Avery Lomax in the 1930s, Alabama’s own Vera Hall had a voice like no other. Lomax’s son, Alan, would describe it later by saying “The sound comes from deep within her when she sings, from a source of gold and light, otherwise hidden, and falls directly upon your ear like sunlight.” Take us out Vera.
Other Things:
High Fidelity on Hulu. Like many a music nerd, the original film made quite an impression on me. I’m very much enjoying this reboot. The creators flipped the gender of the main character (she’s now a whiskey drinking, cigarette smoking, vinyl collecting, somewhat depressed bisexual woman of color), set it in Brooklyn and updated the references. As with the original, the financial side of this story makes absolutely no sense. But it has a great vibe and Zoe Kravitz is magnetic. Watching her skewer an older male music collector with her obscure Paul McCartney knowledge satisfied something deep in my soul.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (released 2019, available on Amazon). The story of a man obsessed with reclaiming his family’s home in San Francisco, this incredibly beautiful and haunting movie covers so much (gentrification, racism, addiction, friendship and masculinity) with such elegance. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Thank you for reading!