In between a Music Feature and a Playlist is the purgatory of music. It’s digital embodiment is my bloated, ignored, and more than slightly intimidating Current Favorites playlist on Spotify.
I have attachment issues that prevent me from deleting songs from playlists. Is that weird? Songs are like stuffed animals for me, and I like to keep them close, accessible, and occasionally we drink tea and eat cakes. Deleting a song from a playlist is like turning to one of your stuffed animals and just slapping the teacup right out of its imaginary hands. Sad, right?!
This is how my Current Favorites playlist went from a tidy and succinct list of amazing songs to a 174-song, 11-hour, cake-eating, mascara-running list of songs with memories attached to them. It needs to get sorted, and I am going to need whiskey to do it.
In the meantime, monthly favorites are my attempt at actually getting these songs out in a more digestible way, and keep them from sinking to the bottom of the Current Favorites fishbowl. I’ll neurotically end up adding to this for the rest of the month, but fortunately, I am ready right now with a set of songs that I’m crazy about!
#Tunesday: My Favorite Songs in March 2015
Hotel Eden – Nimble Girl
Stream: Spotify / Rdio
I heard this, don’t make fun of me, on Broad City. (Sorry not sorry for being obsessed with that show.) The scene where they have to take a New York City bus and it’s like the most terrifying, slimey hellhole… this song plays! But this song is the opposite of all those adjectives I just used. It’s actually really saucy, and I can’t stop listening to it.
Dark Dark Dark – Daydreaming
Stream: Spotify / Rdio
A super-good family friend introduced me to this band after he spent some time living in a van in Texas (?) and befriended them. After hearing “Daydreaming,” I was completely hooked.
Torre Florim – Firestarter
Stream: Spotify
Found through a video game trailer, actually, this song made my eyes bulge because it’s a cover of The Prodigy’s infamous “Firestarter” from 1996. As far as covers go, this one is excellent and includes some very well-synchronized tributes to the original. The cosmic cowboy sound is something I’m constantly craving now.
Zero 7 – Mr. McGee
Stream: Spotify / Rdio
Zero 7 was a major part of my high school experience, when my focus allocated 99% to trip hop and electronic music. This is one of their more recent albums and it’s still from 2009, but it has an unbelievably catchy beat layered with unique sounds and exquisite (as always) vocals.
Lilly Wood & The Prick – Prayer in C (Robin Schulz Remix)
Stream: Spotify
This song marks the official emergence of “driving in the sun with the windows down” music. This kind of hybrid club-pop remix is at just the right energy level to be listenable several times over, often consecutively. If you’ve only heard the remix of this song, check out the original – it’ll blow you away.
Cherry Glazerr – Had Ten Dollaz
Stream: Spotify / Rdio
Some good, old-fashioned aloof girl pop, another excellent addition to your sunny day driving mix. Cherry Glazerr excels in light grunge rock that drips with California coolness. This song, in particular, has an extra Nirvana-esque recall which is warm & comforting.
Lana Del Rey – Florida Kilos
Stream: Spotify / Rdio
Now that the temperature is starting to rise, and I have a reason to start wearing my oversized sunglasses again, it only feels right to amp up the amount of Lana Del Rey in my life. This was an extra track from her Ultraviolence Deluxe release, and is pretty clear in its subject matter, but – again with that damn California sound – I need it when the sun is out. It must be a West Coast thing, I can’t help it.
That’s it! If you look at my Spotify, you’ll likely see one of these songs playing.
What have you been listening to this month?
Photo credits, L-R: Hotel Eden by Lauren Crew, Dark Dark Dark by Cameron Wittig, Lilly Wood & The Prick by Mauro Melis, Torre Florim by Katarina Plevkova.