So I put together twelve songs (one for each month of the year) that were loved, mulled over, sung out loud at random, and put on replay for weeks at a time. They bring back memories in a way that no words could, in a year full of change.
These songs span a year of mercurial relationships, friendships, and alliances, and saw my transition from college life to graduate school. They were listened to obsessively in two cities across the United States I called my home, and culled while sitting in a tour bus in the middle of China. Push play below, or on this nifty website, and enjoy.
P.S. The cover art was nabbed from Flickr under the Creative Commons Licence, and was taken in 2009 by Martin Cathrae.
Playlist:
1) The National, “Runaway” (High Violet, 2010)
A warm companion to a long nighttime drive through snowy nothingness.
2) Deerhoof, “Behold a Marvel in the Darkness” (Deerhoof vs. Evil, 2011)
My favorite spaz-rock band calms down a little with some profound musings about love. I’m still pondering that very subject, as well as wondering why the chorus riff sounds so damn familiar.
3) Local Natives, “Cubism Dream” (Gorilla Manor, 2009)
A few shivers hit me as I contemplate the words of this song while staring out the airplane window on my second or third foray across the nation, on my way to visit new places where my future life might be led.
4) The Strokes, “Under Cover of Darkness” (Angles, 2011)
Part of me ached to leave everything behind for some worthy, far-off pursuit, exuberantly shaking off the dust of former friends and foes. But meanwhile I suppose I could be satisfied with just hitting play on the iPod and singing along like an idiot.
5) Sleigh Bells, “Rill Rill” (Treats, 2010)
The excitement of an unfamiliar and wondrously dark world, of love affairs entangled in mind-blowing and sinister drug plots, of driving through the Nevada desert in a Cadillac with the top down...obviously not exactly what I was doing, but this song calls these things into mind and sometimes it’s fun to live vicariously.
6) Fleet Foxes, “Helplessness Blues” (Helplessness Blues, 2011)
I often long to sit leisurely in the car alone with a friend, moonbeams palely illuminating our faces and the sound of crickets saturating our ears. i would just pour my soul out while those harmonious voices ring in my ears, delivering verse that reads like philosophical prose but sounds like pure poetry when sung.
7) Jhameel, “THC” (The Human Condition, 2011)
Not that I spent much time toking up last year, but it was at least more than I had before (which was basically zero). Jhameel also became an unexpected, unofficial summer favorite and that wicked beat conjures up the best of impulsive trips to the beach and basking in the precious Wisconsin summer.
8) Cee-Lo Green, “Fuck You!” (The Lady Killer, 2011)
It’s a wonder that I’m not as tired of this song as everyone else seems to be, considering how many instruments I’ve played it on, of course belting it out in that ridiculous yelp at the top of my lungs every time. A popular singalong at many a raucous summer party on top of my favorite slanted balcony, and I'm pretty sure we even got applause from the porch across the street, dammit.
9) R.E.M., “Ignoreland” (Automatic for the People, 1992)
Fun fact, I apparently got into R.E.M. approximately one day after their breakup. They were the soundtrack to a new home, a new school...and "new," cheap-ass furniture fresh from our local Goodwill! This probably didn’t actually save me from any road rage, pounding through the speakers of my rented pickup truck as I begrudgingly helped my new roommates haul a ton of semi-necessary secondhand shit across the interstate.
10) Sufjan Stevens, “Now that I’m Older” (The Age of Adz, 2010)
Woozy from a weekend of last-minute concert planning, strutting around in a toga and general Wisconsin-style Halloween debauchery with my favorite people, I was startled by the weird beauty of the stuff Sufjan has been doing recently while stumbling through Chinatown on the way back home.
11) Belle & Sebastian, “I Want the World to Stop” (Write About Love, 2010)
These guys make some fantastic rainy-day music, in my opinion, which was perfect for the rainiest month of the year in Seattle. I wondered quite often why I’d never gotten around to getting a decent pair of rain boots.
12) Deftones, “Minerva” (Deftones, 2003)
When there are lots of things in life to be bitter about, I find that listening to ridiculous heavy metal helps a little bit. These guys have the talent of fulfilling that urge, while still being able to make some earnestly beautiful music as well.
...so God bless you all, for the song you saved us...
And a happy 2012 to everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment