May Playlist
Hey all. Summer is being enjoyed, Criminal Minds is being binged, and smoothies are being blended. I'm living it up. Haven't listened to this playlist all that much, but they're all beautiful tunes. Enjoy, my friends.
1. "Bang Bang" - 3:04
ALBUM: Bang Bang
ARTIST: Lawrence Taylor
2. "Fools" - 3:24
ALBUM: Fools
ARTIST: Wild Child
3. "Whenever You Hold Me" - 2:53
ALBUM: EP3
ARTIST: JP Cooper
4. "Simple Twist of Fate" - 4:17
ALBUM: Blood On The Tracks
ARTIST: Bob Dylan
5. "Punks and Poets" - 4:04
ALBUM: 2
ARTIST: Elliot Root
6. "Home of Stone" - 3:47
ALBUM: Home of Stone
ARTIST: Max Pope
7. "So They Say" - 2:57
ALBUM: September Songs
ARTIST: Rukhsana Merrise
8. "Can't Stop the Feeling" - 3:56
ALBUM: Can't Stop the Feeling
ARTIST: Justin Timberlake
9. "California" - 3:05
ALBUM: Jakarta
ARTIST: Kina Grannis
A short playlist for a month too full for much reflective music listening. Next couple months, I plan to listen to more. This summer, I'm trying to take care of myself and prepare for what will surely be a grueling school year ahead. I always thought I knew exactly who I was. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. I think a lot of things are about to change for me. Or at least, I hope they do.
Talk soon. xo
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 16, 2016
An Open Letter to the USC Pop Kids, Class of 2020
(No, this won't be anything like the Odyssey).
To the next generation of pop kids:
First off, congratulations! It was a huge accomplishment just getting here.
You are in excellent company. This much, I can guarantee you. Your 20-30 classmates are all wildly skilled vocalists, instrumentalists, and/or songwriters. Over the course of your first year, you will become really close with them. It might not seem like that the first time you meet. It might be awkward or scary; after all, many of you have never been around this many hyper-talented, ambitious musicians at once. But don't be scared. They don't bite. ;)
You are going to be exhausted. A lot. I compared my class schedule with a neuroscience major on my floor last year. We spent the same amount of hours in class (and, in my case, rehearsal). Yep, that's right, you have as many hours of classes as the premed kids. The difference is that your 22+ hours of class will be spent making music, listening to music, or learning about how it works. Plus, you're suffering through it with a crazy cast of characters that will ultimately see right through to the most fragile parts of your soul. Ain't life grand?!
Probably the most important thing I can tell you is that you belong here. During your freshman year, you are going to doubt this. When Andy roasts you during performance class, or you bomb a theory exam, or you don't practice enough for individual instruction and you can't fake your way through your pieces, you're going to wonder if you made the right choice. You're going to think fondly of high school, middle school, any time prior to this when music was just a hobby instead of your job. But in those moments, I will urge you to reach inside of yourself for the hot, bright will to create that brought you here. I want you to think about how much music has hurt and healed you. I want you to reflect on the exploding days and empty nights where all you could think about was the soundtrack to what you were feeling. And I want you to remember that you are one of the people with the unique blessing/curse to make the music for someone else's soundtrack. You are good enough to do it. You owe it to yourself to try your best.
Here are some tips, pieces of advice, and pearls of wisdom that I gathered during my first year of college as a pop music major at USC:
1. Everyone is having a breakdown, just had one, or is about to have one. Don't trust anyone who doesn't have a breakdown their freshman year of college.
2. Your professors are only hard on you because you have the potential to get better. No teacher has ever bothered yelling at a lost cause.
3. There are dozens upon dozens of VoCal ragers, Gateway hangs, EP launches, and Egg Carton kickbacks. Feel free to stay in some nights and skip the predictable chaos of college parties.
4. Your classmates are going to get cool opportunities, and you are going to be jealous of them. This is okay. There is more space for you to succeed than you think.
5. Hook up with other pop kids at your own risk. But I say go for it, if it sounds fun to you. What am I, your mom? (Actually, don't answer that).
6. Do your theory and aural skills homework. Please just do it. Okay? You don't even have to go to office hours or study for tests. But just do it. Please. All right. Good talk.
7a. You are probably going to fall in love with someone in your pop class, or in one of the other pop classes. You are probably going to write songs about them. Play those songs at your shows, even if they're in the audience; I guarantee they will be some of your best.
7b. As an addendum to the above: they probably won't even know you wrote it about them, unless you say your name or something. So seriously, go for it.
8. You are going to be tempted to collaborate with literally every person in your program. Do it. They're definitely talented, and whether or not you get along, you will learn something from the experience.
9a. Ask your teachers a lot of questions, both in and out of the classroom. Pretty much all of them have had a foot in the door of the industry, and they're going to have great advice.
9b. As an addendum to the above: ask the same question to 10 people, and you will get 10 different answers. You get to pick which one you use.
10. Make friends with people outside the pop program. There's a great big world out there, and you'll lose sight of it if you spend all your time talking about Father John Misty and how underrated the minor five is as a chord.
11. If you've never heard of that album/artist/song, don't pretend that you have. Trust me, whoever you're talking to is gonna notice.
12. Don't be intimidated by the older pop kids. Believe it or not, they were not always the cigarette-smoking, smooth-talking musical geniuses that they are today. Once, they were timid freshmen, as uncertain about their taste in music as they were about their sexual preferences. Make friends with the older kids so you can get out of your dorm every once in a while.
13. Go to pop forum. I swear, the one class you miss will be the one where Linda Perry interviews your friends and makes them cry onstage (and yes, that happened first semester). So even though it's oh-so-easy to skip, you really should go.
14. The performance finals are exactly as much as fun as they look, if not a million times more so. So no matter what time slot you draw, no matter what song Andy gives for your solo, no matter how much you and your band mates fought during the quarter, don't forget to have fun up there--this is what you've been waiting for. And you only get four shots at it freshman year, so don't screw it up. ;)
15. Me and my classmates got Andy guitar picks with our class picture on them. You will not be able to top this gift, but don't forget to show your professors how much you care about them. Freshman year is all about laying foundations; they're putting you on a long road to success.
16. Learn your part for performance class. Your band mates will understand if it's a little rocky at the first rehearsal, but if you're messing up changes or rhythms on Tuesday, it's not gonna be pretty. You've got a week. Learn the part.
17. It's okay to cry onstage. Whether you're rehearsing in TMC Auditorium or doing a run-through at Carson during performance class or hitting the last chord of your last song during the midterm at Ground Zero, you can let tears the roll. You're not a robot, after all.
18. No one has any idea what they're doing for the first couple weeks, so for God's sake, TALK TO EACH OTHER. None of you are going to survive this if you all pretend like everything is fine. Make friends. Go get coffee. Hang out in each other's dorm rooms, eating Mega Stuf Oreos (you're welcome, people who didn't know those existed). Laugh and cry and bond. This business is crazy. You need as many friends as you can get.
19. Go to your friend's shows, even if they're in weird coffee shops off-campus. I get that you won't be able to go to everyone's gigs. But if you don't have anything else to do, get a group together and split an Uber four ways to Alhambra. You have no idea how much it means to the person performing. Plus, going off-campus guarantees non-dining hall food. And how can you turn THAT down?
20. It's okay to feel like you're not enough. But don't worry. You are.
Okay, you're ready now. Enjoy your freshman year. Remember all the things I've told you. Be good. Be safe. And as always, fight on.
To the next generation of pop kids:
First off, congratulations! It was a huge accomplishment just getting here.
You are in excellent company. This much, I can guarantee you. Your 20-30 classmates are all wildly skilled vocalists, instrumentalists, and/or songwriters. Over the course of your first year, you will become really close with them. It might not seem like that the first time you meet. It might be awkward or scary; after all, many of you have never been around this many hyper-talented, ambitious musicians at once. But don't be scared. They don't bite. ;)
You are going to be exhausted. A lot. I compared my class schedule with a neuroscience major on my floor last year. We spent the same amount of hours in class (and, in my case, rehearsal). Yep, that's right, you have as many hours of classes as the premed kids. The difference is that your 22+ hours of class will be spent making music, listening to music, or learning about how it works. Plus, you're suffering through it with a crazy cast of characters that will ultimately see right through to the most fragile parts of your soul. Ain't life grand?!
Probably the most important thing I can tell you is that you belong here. During your freshman year, you are going to doubt this. When Andy roasts you during performance class, or you bomb a theory exam, or you don't practice enough for individual instruction and you can't fake your way through your pieces, you're going to wonder if you made the right choice. You're going to think fondly of high school, middle school, any time prior to this when music was just a hobby instead of your job. But in those moments, I will urge you to reach inside of yourself for the hot, bright will to create that brought you here. I want you to think about how much music has hurt and healed you. I want you to reflect on the exploding days and empty nights where all you could think about was the soundtrack to what you were feeling. And I want you to remember that you are one of the people with the unique blessing/curse to make the music for someone else's soundtrack. You are good enough to do it. You owe it to yourself to try your best.
Here are some tips, pieces of advice, and pearls of wisdom that I gathered during my first year of college as a pop music major at USC:
1. Everyone is having a breakdown, just had one, or is about to have one. Don't trust anyone who doesn't have a breakdown their freshman year of college.
2. Your professors are only hard on you because you have the potential to get better. No teacher has ever bothered yelling at a lost cause.
3. There are dozens upon dozens of VoCal ragers, Gateway hangs, EP launches, and Egg Carton kickbacks. Feel free to stay in some nights and skip the predictable chaos of college parties.
4. Your classmates are going to get cool opportunities, and you are going to be jealous of them. This is okay. There is more space for you to succeed than you think.
5. Hook up with other pop kids at your own risk. But I say go for it, if it sounds fun to you. What am I, your mom? (Actually, don't answer that).
6. Do your theory and aural skills homework. Please just do it. Okay? You don't even have to go to office hours or study for tests. But just do it. Please. All right. Good talk.
7a. You are probably going to fall in love with someone in your pop class, or in one of the other pop classes. You are probably going to write songs about them. Play those songs at your shows, even if they're in the audience; I guarantee they will be some of your best.
7b. As an addendum to the above: they probably won't even know you wrote it about them, unless you say your name or something. So seriously, go for it.
8. You are going to be tempted to collaborate with literally every person in your program. Do it. They're definitely talented, and whether or not you get along, you will learn something from the experience.
9a. Ask your teachers a lot of questions, both in and out of the classroom. Pretty much all of them have had a foot in the door of the industry, and they're going to have great advice.
9b. As an addendum to the above: ask the same question to 10 people, and you will get 10 different answers. You get to pick which one you use.
10. Make friends with people outside the pop program. There's a great big world out there, and you'll lose sight of it if you spend all your time talking about Father John Misty and how underrated the minor five is as a chord.
11. If you've never heard of that album/artist/song, don't pretend that you have. Trust me, whoever you're talking to is gonna notice.
12. Don't be intimidated by the older pop kids. Believe it or not, they were not always the cigarette-smoking, smooth-talking musical geniuses that they are today. Once, they were timid freshmen, as uncertain about their taste in music as they were about their sexual preferences. Make friends with the older kids so you can get out of your dorm every once in a while.
13. Go to pop forum. I swear, the one class you miss will be the one where Linda Perry interviews your friends and makes them cry onstage (and yes, that happened first semester). So even though it's oh-so-easy to skip, you really should go.
14. The performance finals are exactly as much as fun as they look, if not a million times more so. So no matter what time slot you draw, no matter what song Andy gives for your solo, no matter how much you and your band mates fought during the quarter, don't forget to have fun up there--this is what you've been waiting for. And you only get four shots at it freshman year, so don't screw it up. ;)
15. Me and my classmates got Andy guitar picks with our class picture on them. You will not be able to top this gift, but don't forget to show your professors how much you care about them. Freshman year is all about laying foundations; they're putting you on a long road to success.
16. Learn your part for performance class. Your band mates will understand if it's a little rocky at the first rehearsal, but if you're messing up changes or rhythms on Tuesday, it's not gonna be pretty. You've got a week. Learn the part.
17. It's okay to cry onstage. Whether you're rehearsing in TMC Auditorium or doing a run-through at Carson during performance class or hitting the last chord of your last song during the midterm at Ground Zero, you can let tears the roll. You're not a robot, after all.
18. No one has any idea what they're doing for the first couple weeks, so for God's sake, TALK TO EACH OTHER. None of you are going to survive this if you all pretend like everything is fine. Make friends. Go get coffee. Hang out in each other's dorm rooms, eating Mega Stuf Oreos (you're welcome, people who didn't know those existed). Laugh and cry and bond. This business is crazy. You need as many friends as you can get.
19. Go to your friend's shows, even if they're in weird coffee shops off-campus. I get that you won't be able to go to everyone's gigs. But if you don't have anything else to do, get a group together and split an Uber four ways to Alhambra. You have no idea how much it means to the person performing. Plus, going off-campus guarantees non-dining hall food. And how can you turn THAT down?
20. It's okay to feel like you're not enough. But don't worry. You are.
Okay, you're ready now. Enjoy your freshman year. Remember all the things I've told you. Be good. Be safe. And as always, fight on.
Friday, April 29, 2016
April Playlist
April Playlist
As promised, here is my April playlist, live from the last day of classes for spring term!
So freshman year is basically done. I've got some finals the next two weeks, but only just barely. This is strange.
Here are my tunes for this month. Spotify link - https://open.spotify.com/user/12149039602/playlist/3W35KQQvJJUPUNlqiFdyma - and songs under the cut:
1. "Need Somebody to Love" - 6:00
ALBUM: This is My EP
ARTIST: Ady Suleiman
2. "Don't Tell Our Friends About Me" - 5:20
ALBUM: Heigh Ho
ARTIST: Blake Mills
3. "Bloodstyle" - 3:25
ALBUM: Half About Being a Woman
ARTIST: Caroline Smith
4. "Things Are Changin' - Live [Solo Acoustic] - 4:31
ALBUM: The Bright Lights - Australian Tour Edition
ARTIST: Gary Clark Jr.
5. "Better Man" - 4:43
ALBUM: Count Your Blessings
ARTIST: George Ogilvie
6. "Everything To Me" - 3:23
ALBUM: Hand Picked vol 2
ARTIST: Mark Wilkinson
7. "Open Arms" - 3:49
ALBUM: Open Arms
ARTIST: RKCB, Demo Taped
8. "Hometown Hero" - 3:44
ALBUM: The Bearer of Bad News
ARTIST: Andy Shauf
9. "To Be Alone With You" - 2:48
ALBUM: Seven Swans
ARTIST: Sufjan Stevens
10. "Kids These Days" - 3:33
ALBUM: Jillian Jacqueline
ARTIST: Jillian Jacqueline
11. "Angela" - 3:22
ALBUM: Angela
ARTIST: The Lumineers
12. "Love Is Beginning" - 3:43
ALBUM: Sunlight
ARTIST: Imaginary Future
13. "How Can I" - 3:22
ALBUM: Short Movie
ARTIST: Laura Marling
14. "Beach" - 2:56
ALBUM: Proof Enough EP
ARTIST: Will Joseph Cook
15. "Call It Heaven (feat. Esmé Patterson)" - 3:11
ALBUM: And The War Came
ARTIST: Shakey Graves
16. "You Go Down Smooth" - 3:29
ALBUM: Bad Self Portraits
ARTIST: Lake Street Dive
17. "Boys Like You" - 3:15
ALBUM: Boys Like You
ARTIST: Who Is Fancy, Meghan Trainor, Ariana Grande
18. "Someone New" - 4:41
ALBUM: Goddess
ARTIST: Banks
19. "I Had a Real Good Lover" - 6:32
ALBUM: Mouthoil
ARTIST: The Shouting Matches
20. "Mama, You Been On My Mind" - 2:55
ALBUM: The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare and Unreleased) 1961-1991
ARTIST: Bob Dylan
Those are the 20 songs I've been bumping this month, plus a good vibes playlist I created I may post here at some point. Freshman year was...I don't want to list adjectives, because they always feel cliche. But rest assured that freshman year was. And yours will be too.
As promised, here is my April playlist, live from the last day of classes for spring term!
So freshman year is basically done. I've got some finals the next two weeks, but only just barely. This is strange.
Here are my tunes for this month. Spotify link - https://open.spotify.com/user/12149039602/playlist/3W35KQQvJJUPUNlqiFdyma - and songs under the cut:
1. "Need Somebody to Love" - 6:00
ALBUM: This is My EP
ARTIST: Ady Suleiman
2. "Don't Tell Our Friends About Me" - 5:20
ALBUM: Heigh Ho
ARTIST: Blake Mills
3. "Bloodstyle" - 3:25
ALBUM: Half About Being a Woman
ARTIST: Caroline Smith
4. "Things Are Changin' - Live [Solo Acoustic] - 4:31
ALBUM: The Bright Lights - Australian Tour Edition
ARTIST: Gary Clark Jr.
5. "Better Man" - 4:43
ALBUM: Count Your Blessings
ARTIST: George Ogilvie
6. "Everything To Me" - 3:23
ALBUM: Hand Picked vol 2
ARTIST: Mark Wilkinson
7. "Open Arms" - 3:49
ALBUM: Open Arms
ARTIST: RKCB, Demo Taped
8. "Hometown Hero" - 3:44
ALBUM: The Bearer of Bad News
ARTIST: Andy Shauf
9. "To Be Alone With You" - 2:48
ALBUM: Seven Swans
ARTIST: Sufjan Stevens
10. "Kids These Days" - 3:33
ALBUM: Jillian Jacqueline
ARTIST: Jillian Jacqueline
11. "Angela" - 3:22
ALBUM: Angela
ARTIST: The Lumineers
12. "Love Is Beginning" - 3:43
ALBUM: Sunlight
ARTIST: Imaginary Future
13. "How Can I" - 3:22
ALBUM: Short Movie
ARTIST: Laura Marling
14. "Beach" - 2:56
ALBUM: Proof Enough EP
ARTIST: Will Joseph Cook
15. "Call It Heaven (feat. Esmé Patterson)" - 3:11
ALBUM: And The War Came
ARTIST: Shakey Graves
16. "You Go Down Smooth" - 3:29
ALBUM: Bad Self Portraits
ARTIST: Lake Street Dive
17. "Boys Like You" - 3:15
ALBUM: Boys Like You
ARTIST: Who Is Fancy, Meghan Trainor, Ariana Grande
18. "Someone New" - 4:41
ALBUM: Goddess
ARTIST: Banks
19. "I Had a Real Good Lover" - 6:32
ALBUM: Mouthoil
ARTIST: The Shouting Matches
20. "Mama, You Been On My Mind" - 2:55
ALBUM: The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare and Unreleased) 1961-1991
ARTIST: Bob Dylan
Those are the 20 songs I've been bumping this month, plus a good vibes playlist I created I may post here at some point. Freshman year was...I don't want to list adjectives, because they always feel cliche. But rest assured that freshman year was. And yours will be too.
Monday, March 28, 2016
March Playlist
March Playlist
Yo. It's time for this thing. I'm so ready for this semester to be over. Only five weeks to go till summer...
(HELP ME)
In all honesty, I've had a really great first year of college so far, but I'm totally wiped from all this music-learning and rehearsing and paper-writing and socializing with other humans. This whole college thing takes a lot out of you. But I've got my tunes, so that's a plus. Here we go. The Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/user/12149039602/playlist/3Cva3C17VU4tf1yrfA9tnU and the list of tracks:
1. "In My Life" - 2:26
ALBUM: Rubber Soul
ARTIST: The Beatles
2. "The Heaviest Stars" -3:59
ALBUM: Ford Turrell
ARTIST: Ford Turrell
3. "Pretty Words" - 4:58
ALBUM: Little Sway
ARTIST: Crissi Cochrane
4. "Lover Come Back" - 3:55
ALBUM: If I Should Go Before You
ARTIST: City and Colour
5. "Sleeping in My T-Shirt" - 3:37
ALBUM: Lip Service
ARTIST: Zak Waters
6. "For You" - 3:02
ALBUM: Bitter Pill
ARTIST: Gavin James
7. "Girls Like Me" - 3:15
ALBUM: Girls Like Me
ARTIST: Will Joseph Cook
8. "Hand Covers Bruise" - 4:19
ALBUM: The Social Network
ARTIST: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
9. "Lift Me Up (feat. Nick Hakim)" - 3:51
ALBUM: Red Balloon
ARTIST: Gizmo
10. "Again" - 2:56
ALBUM: Anything.
ARTIST: Def Sound
11. "Drive" - 3:16
ALBUM: Oh Wonder
ARTIST: Oh Wonder
12. "Museum of Flight" - 2:51
ALBUM: Maraqopa
ARTIST: Damien Jurado
13. "American Beauty" - 2:38
ALBUM: Medicine
ARTIST: Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors
14. "Campus" - 2:56
ALBUM: Vampire Weekend
ARTIST: Vampire Weekend
15. "Lost in My Mind" - 4:19
ALBUM: The Head and the Heart
ARTIST: The Head and the Heart
16. "If the Hudson Overflows" - 3:57
ALBUM: Aerogramme
ARTIST: Goldspot
17. "Good to Sea" - 3:12
ALBUM: Autumn of the Seraphs
ARTIST: Pinback
18. "Anchor" - 4:16
ALBUM: Anchor
ARTIST: Novo Amor
19. "The African Way - Live In New York" - 4:45
ALBUM: The Dusty Food On The Road
ARTIST: K'NAAN
20. "Love And Happiness" - 5:04
ALBUM: Greatest Hits
ARTIST: Al Green
21. "Colors" - 2:40
ALBUM: Amos Lee
ARTIST: Amos Lee
22. "Pain In My Heart" - 2:25
ALBUM: Pain In My Heart
ARTIST: Otis Redding
23. "In The Waiting Line" - 4:32
ALBUM: RECORD
ARTIST: Zero 7
That'll do it for this one. The next playlist I post will probably be my last day of classes, or around then, at least, which boggles the mind. I vividly remember move-in day, my first day of classes, my first pop midterm...all of it. Maybe I'll write a post about this ridiculously busy, seismically shifting year. But maybe when all this finally ends, I'll just lay face down and stop scribbling my thoughts everywhere. We'll see. Talk soon. xo
Yo. It's time for this thing. I'm so ready for this semester to be over. Only five weeks to go till summer...
(HELP ME)
In all honesty, I've had a really great first year of college so far, but I'm totally wiped from all this music-learning and rehearsing and paper-writing and socializing with other humans. This whole college thing takes a lot out of you. But I've got my tunes, so that's a plus. Here we go. The Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/user/12149039602/playlist/3Cva3C17VU4tf1yrfA9tnU and the list of tracks:
1. "In My Life" - 2:26
ALBUM: Rubber Soul
ARTIST: The Beatles
2. "The Heaviest Stars" -3:59
ALBUM: Ford Turrell
ARTIST: Ford Turrell
3. "Pretty Words" - 4:58
ALBUM: Little Sway
ARTIST: Crissi Cochrane
4. "Lover Come Back" - 3:55
ALBUM: If I Should Go Before You
ARTIST: City and Colour
5. "Sleeping in My T-Shirt" - 3:37
ALBUM: Lip Service
ARTIST: Zak Waters
6. "For You" - 3:02
ALBUM: Bitter Pill
ARTIST: Gavin James
7. "Girls Like Me" - 3:15
ALBUM: Girls Like Me
ARTIST: Will Joseph Cook
8. "Hand Covers Bruise" - 4:19
ALBUM: The Social Network
ARTIST: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
9. "Lift Me Up (feat. Nick Hakim)" - 3:51
ALBUM: Red Balloon
ARTIST: Gizmo
10. "Again" - 2:56
ALBUM: Anything.
ARTIST: Def Sound
11. "Drive" - 3:16
ALBUM: Oh Wonder
ARTIST: Oh Wonder
12. "Museum of Flight" - 2:51
ALBUM: Maraqopa
ARTIST: Damien Jurado
13. "American Beauty" - 2:38
ALBUM: Medicine
ARTIST: Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors
14. "Campus" - 2:56
ALBUM: Vampire Weekend
ARTIST: Vampire Weekend
15. "Lost in My Mind" - 4:19
ALBUM: The Head and the Heart
ARTIST: The Head and the Heart
16. "If the Hudson Overflows" - 3:57
ALBUM: Aerogramme
ARTIST: Goldspot
17. "Good to Sea" - 3:12
ALBUM: Autumn of the Seraphs
ARTIST: Pinback
18. "Anchor" - 4:16
ALBUM: Anchor
ARTIST: Novo Amor
19. "The African Way - Live In New York" - 4:45
ALBUM: The Dusty Food On The Road
ARTIST: K'NAAN
20. "Love And Happiness" - 5:04
ALBUM: Greatest Hits
ARTIST: Al Green
21. "Colors" - 2:40
ALBUM: Amos Lee
ARTIST: Amos Lee
22. "Pain In My Heart" - 2:25
ALBUM: Pain In My Heart
ARTIST: Otis Redding
23. "In The Waiting Line" - 4:32
ALBUM: RECORD
ARTIST: Zero 7
That'll do it for this one. The next playlist I post will probably be my last day of classes, or around then, at least, which boggles the mind. I vividly remember move-in day, my first day of classes, my first pop midterm...all of it. Maybe I'll write a post about this ridiculously busy, seismically shifting year. But maybe when all this finally ends, I'll just lay face down and stop scribbling my thoughts everywhere. We'll see. Talk soon. xo
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Very Dark and Very Quiet
I'm writing this because it's 10pm on a Thursday and a friend of mine just got some really awful, awful news. The world seems like a very quiet, very dark place right now.
I spent the last half hour or so just scrolling through my own Facebook profile. I stopped at spring 2014. I felt myself going through the familiar routine of longing for a time gone by. I mythologize my junior year as the pinnacle of my adolescent happiness--still somewhat isolated from my peers, but okay with it; content with my group of friends; happy with my body; doing well in school; succeeding in my extracurriculars. I also look back on it as the time B.G.C., or Before Grammy Camp, when my life was turned upside down in a way that I can't quite explain. To put it vaguely, my life was simpler before I met the people at that magic summer camp. My life is not better or worse now, just a great deal more complicated.
But the truth is, if I really force myself to remember my junior year, I know that it wasn't perfect. There were nights when I was incredibly stressed out by my demanding course load. There were weekends when I felt lonely because I wasn't out on dates or at parties with my classmates. And there were days where I was bored or insecure or mad at my family or unproductive with my writing because that is how the world works. No stretch of time is ever as perfect as we remember it to be.
More to the point, when I was a junior in high school, I looked back on years prior as simpler times, specifically middle school. And it's true, it was simpler. But the biggest truth is that the simplest time of my life was when I was an infant, and it's because I only knew like five people, all of whom were related to me. The more people there are in your life, the more complicated it becomes. This is the hardest lesson I've learned through growing up. The only way to keep things simple is to shut everyone out. But simple is lonely. Even for an introvert who would gladly spend all day holed up in a room with just a piano, a laptop, and a bag of snacks.
Even though I know my obsession with my junior year is dumb, I still find myself wishing I could go back to late 2013 and early 2014. I want to relive those days, when I still lived at home, when I was surrounded by people who I knew so well, albeit people who I didn't always click with. That's another thing about being a freshman in college: even the closest friendships feel so transient. The person I consider my closest friend is someone I met in September. We've only known each other for six months. The friendships I had when I graduated high school were founded on four to six years of meals and movies and sleepovers and study dates. Now what is it? Parties in which I took care of their drunken, stumbling bodies? A few chance deep conversations in their dorm rooms? Some especially productive jam sessions at the music school?
I guess what I'm saying now is that despite how truly incredible the people at my university are, I still feel very disconnected. I can count on one hand the number of times I've formed a real, long-lasting bond with someone on an immediate basis (it's probably only been once). For the most part, my friendships are a slow burn. I haven't completely opened up to anyone I've met at college. There are certain parts of myself that I don't trust with other people. I don't know how to change that. Maybe it's best that I don't.
This post doesn't have a thesis statement or even a point. But it's 10pm, and I am writing, because the world is very dark, and very quiet.
Talk soon. xo
I spent the last half hour or so just scrolling through my own Facebook profile. I stopped at spring 2014. I felt myself going through the familiar routine of longing for a time gone by. I mythologize my junior year as the pinnacle of my adolescent happiness--still somewhat isolated from my peers, but okay with it; content with my group of friends; happy with my body; doing well in school; succeeding in my extracurriculars. I also look back on it as the time B.G.C., or Before Grammy Camp, when my life was turned upside down in a way that I can't quite explain. To put it vaguely, my life was simpler before I met the people at that magic summer camp. My life is not better or worse now, just a great deal more complicated.
But the truth is, if I really force myself to remember my junior year, I know that it wasn't perfect. There were nights when I was incredibly stressed out by my demanding course load. There were weekends when I felt lonely because I wasn't out on dates or at parties with my classmates. And there were days where I was bored or insecure or mad at my family or unproductive with my writing because that is how the world works. No stretch of time is ever as perfect as we remember it to be.
More to the point, when I was a junior in high school, I looked back on years prior as simpler times, specifically middle school. And it's true, it was simpler. But the biggest truth is that the simplest time of my life was when I was an infant, and it's because I only knew like five people, all of whom were related to me. The more people there are in your life, the more complicated it becomes. This is the hardest lesson I've learned through growing up. The only way to keep things simple is to shut everyone out. But simple is lonely. Even for an introvert who would gladly spend all day holed up in a room with just a piano, a laptop, and a bag of snacks.
Even though I know my obsession with my junior year is dumb, I still find myself wishing I could go back to late 2013 and early 2014. I want to relive those days, when I still lived at home, when I was surrounded by people who I knew so well, albeit people who I didn't always click with. That's another thing about being a freshman in college: even the closest friendships feel so transient. The person I consider my closest friend is someone I met in September. We've only known each other for six months. The friendships I had when I graduated high school were founded on four to six years of meals and movies and sleepovers and study dates. Now what is it? Parties in which I took care of their drunken, stumbling bodies? A few chance deep conversations in their dorm rooms? Some especially productive jam sessions at the music school?
I guess what I'm saying now is that despite how truly incredible the people at my university are, I still feel very disconnected. I can count on one hand the number of times I've formed a real, long-lasting bond with someone on an immediate basis (it's probably only been once). For the most part, my friendships are a slow burn. I haven't completely opened up to anyone I've met at college. There are certain parts of myself that I don't trust with other people. I don't know how to change that. Maybe it's best that I don't.
This post doesn't have a thesis statement or even a point. But it's 10pm, and I am writing, because the world is very dark, and very quiet.
Talk soon. xo
Sunday, February 28, 2016
February Playlist
February Playlist
Hey there, fam! It's time for another monthly playlist, this one coming in just under the wire. Thank goodness for leap day, right?
This month has been great in a lot of ways. I shot the short film I wrote with a great group of friends, and just last week I got to perform for Lamont Dozier, one of the most influential songwriters in the history of American pop music. But this month also kept me pretty grounded and stable. I've kept up my healthy eating regimen and continued losing weight. I feel like a person, almost. But I'm very much ready for spring break, which is just two weeks away now...
Anyway, onto the tunes! You can check it out for yourself on Spotify here - https://open.spotify.com/user/12149039602/playlist/5JTrB7QGv33ShiXUeBLqwH - or view the tracks I've got listed just down below. Happy listening!
1. "The Animals" - 3:45
ALBUM: The Switch
ARTIST: Emily King
2. "Elijah" - 4:10
ALBUM: Elijah
ARTIST: Matthew and the Atlas
3. "Georgia" - 4:04
ALBUM: The Seven EP
ARTIST: Emily King
4. "Fidelity" - 3:46
ALBUM: Begin to Hope
ARTIST: Regina Spektor
5. "The Wait" - 2:15
ALBUM: Goon
ARTIST: Tobias Jesso Jr.
6. "Dark Side of the Moon" - 3:27
ALBUM: American Soft
ARTIST: Chris Staples
7. "Rusty Old American Dream" - 2:38
ALBUM: How Did You Find Me Here
ARTIST: David Wilcox
8. "We Don't Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez)" - 3:38
ALBUM: Nine Track Mind
ARTIST: Charlie Puth
9. "River" - 3:41
ALBUM: River
ARTIST: Bishop
10. "Blossom" - 3:44
ALBUM: Carry The Ghost
ARTIST: Noah Gundersen
11. "All the Ways" - 3:33
ALBUM: All the Ways
ARTIST: Wet
12. "Better" - 3:06
ALBUM: Better
ARTIST: Banks
13. "Love Yourself" - 3:54
ALBUM: Purpose
ARTIST: Justin Bieber
14. "To Know Him Is To Love Him - Live" - 2:24
ALBUM: Back to Black: B-Sides
ARTIST: Amy Winehouse
15. "Love Within" - 3:00
ALBUM: Shangri La EP
ARTIST: James Tillman
16. "Money Can't Buy (Single)" - 3:22
ALBUM: Money Can't Buy (Single)
ARTIST: Howard
17. "After The Storm" - 4:08
ALBUM: Sigh No More
ARTIST: Mumford & Sons
That'll do it for my February playlist. My spring semester is really flying by. It's hard to believe that soon I'll be done with my freshman year. It seems so recent that I was in high school, dreaming of this mythical better life on the other side of graduation, and yet also so very distant in the past. The thing I've realized about growing up is that I find myself looking back at who I was five or ten years ago and wondering what it is she would think of me now. I think she'd be proud. I hope so.
Talk soon, everybody. xo
Hey there, fam! It's time for another monthly playlist, this one coming in just under the wire. Thank goodness for leap day, right?
This month has been great in a lot of ways. I shot the short film I wrote with a great group of friends, and just last week I got to perform for Lamont Dozier, one of the most influential songwriters in the history of American pop music. But this month also kept me pretty grounded and stable. I've kept up my healthy eating regimen and continued losing weight. I feel like a person, almost. But I'm very much ready for spring break, which is just two weeks away now...
Anyway, onto the tunes! You can check it out for yourself on Spotify here - https://open.spotify.com/user/12149039602/playlist/5JTrB7QGv33ShiXUeBLqwH - or view the tracks I've got listed just down below. Happy listening!
1. "The Animals" - 3:45
ALBUM: The Switch
ARTIST: Emily King
2. "Elijah" - 4:10
ALBUM: Elijah
ARTIST: Matthew and the Atlas
3. "Georgia" - 4:04
ALBUM: The Seven EP
ARTIST: Emily King
4. "Fidelity" - 3:46
ALBUM: Begin to Hope
ARTIST: Regina Spektor
5. "The Wait" - 2:15
ALBUM: Goon
ARTIST: Tobias Jesso Jr.
6. "Dark Side of the Moon" - 3:27
ALBUM: American Soft
ARTIST: Chris Staples
7. "Rusty Old American Dream" - 2:38
ALBUM: How Did You Find Me Here
ARTIST: David Wilcox
8. "We Don't Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez)" - 3:38
ALBUM: Nine Track Mind
ARTIST: Charlie Puth
9. "River" - 3:41
ALBUM: River
ARTIST: Bishop
10. "Blossom" - 3:44
ALBUM: Carry The Ghost
ARTIST: Noah Gundersen
11. "All the Ways" - 3:33
ALBUM: All the Ways
ARTIST: Wet
12. "Better" - 3:06
ALBUM: Better
ARTIST: Banks
13. "Love Yourself" - 3:54
ALBUM: Purpose
ARTIST: Justin Bieber
14. "To Know Him Is To Love Him - Live" - 2:24
ALBUM: Back to Black: B-Sides
ARTIST: Amy Winehouse
15. "Love Within" - 3:00
ALBUM: Shangri La EP
ARTIST: James Tillman
16. "Money Can't Buy (Single)" - 3:22
ALBUM: Money Can't Buy (Single)
ARTIST: Howard
17. "After The Storm" - 4:08
ALBUM: Sigh No More
ARTIST: Mumford & Sons
That'll do it for my February playlist. My spring semester is really flying by. It's hard to believe that soon I'll be done with my freshman year. It seems so recent that I was in high school, dreaming of this mythical better life on the other side of graduation, and yet also so very distant in the past. The thing I've realized about growing up is that I find myself looking back at who I was five or ten years ago and wondering what it is she would think of me now. I think she'd be proud. I hope so.
Talk soon, everybody. xo
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Teenagers and Our Culture of Bingeing Culture
I'm a big fan of youth binge culture with regard to media consumption.
I'm sure sociologists and journalists have branded this phenomenon with their own pithy soundbites, but I'm going to call it like I see it. Teenagers have a tendency to binge--sometimes on destructive things, but that's another story--especially when it comes to media. We find a band we like; we listen to all their albums on Spotify, watch all their music videos, watch interviews with the lead singer. We find a good TV show; we barrel through all eight seasons in three weeks on Netflix (what? I didn't say that. I've never done that. I have a healthy relationship with television). We see a great stand-up special; we spend hours scouring YouTube for clips of that comedian doing other shows. It's a habit that I've fallen into. The Internet makes it easy. But I'm in a bit of a rut right now. I'm not in the process of bingeing anything at all.
I could start in with some new TV show or explore the discography of an artist I've never listened to. But instead, I've decided to examine what it is, exactly, that drives me to do this. Part of it is my obsessive personality; I'm very all or nothing, so if I like something, I'm gonna invest myself into it as much as possible. But I think it's a process that many people in my generation go through.
At the age of 18, I'm only just now entering the world of mass media. As a child and even somewhat as a teenager, my tastes were mandated by what I was allowed to watch and what was marketed towards me. Though I've always been very individualistic, it wasn't until the end of high school that I began discovering things that weren't recommended to me by my parents or commercials for shows I was already watching. This mainly took the form of stand-up comedy, a long-forbidden haven of jokes both dirty and way over my head, but also in new kinds of literature, interesting music, and bizarre movies (Being John Malkovich is my second favorite movie and also the weirdest thing I've ever seen).
The moment teenagers like me enter this realm of new entertainment possibilities, we go a little bit crazy. We are at such a fascinating point in history in which if I find something I like to consume, I can view it over and over again or use the endless archive of the Internet to find things similar to it. I don't have to go to the library or the record store or the Blockbuster. Almost everything I want to watch, read, or listen to is available on my laptop, in my bedroom, and a lot of it is free.
However, there is a point at which we run out of material on a particular subject. I'm going to use Louis C.K. as an example. I found one of his specials, "Oh My God," on Netflix, remembered hearing his name in some context, and decided to check it out. I laughed harder at that special than I have at anything in my entire life. I eagerly await the idea that someone or something makes me laugh that hard again. I was so enamored of his POV and style that I quickly digested his other specials and began combing the web for more clips of him in interviews and his TV show, Louie. I like Louie (from what I've seen, which is only about half a season), but to me it's not as rip-roaringly hilarious as his stand-up, so now I'm at a bit of an impasse. I can keep rewatching his specials on Netflix or through his website, but I'm going to have to wait a while for new material. Joining the Louis C.K. boat this late meant a tremendous backlog of content for me to watch, but also missed opportunities to see him on tour or get access to the new stuff just as it was coming out. I'm constantly searching for his name in the news to see if he's got a new tour or special planned, but he came out with something in May of 2015 (that I loved), so it's going to be a minute.
Same thing with me and John Mayer. My senior year of high school I became obsessed with him. He's one of my all-time favorite artists, and he wrote my all-time favorite song ("In Your Atmosphere," which is on his live album Where the Light Is). I spent most of 2015 listening to his albums, of which there are many. Now that I've heard every song of his (I believe), I've grown incredibly impatient for his next record, which is due out in the fall. Every time he posts on social media about it, I freak out for like ten minutes and start imagining it and how incredible it will be because he's going in the studio with the same people who made Continuum which I believe is inarguably his best album and maybe one of the best albums of all--
I need to relax with this whole John Mayer thing, I'm aware.
I think my point is that while there are drawbacks to the way that teenagers consume artistic content-- in the way that we essentially overdose on an artist or media personality and very quickly run out of our supply--it's a pretty great time to be alive. And while I am very eager for my favorite creators to put out new products, the old stuff is always just a click away. And it always stands up to another binge.
I'm sure sociologists and journalists have branded this phenomenon with their own pithy soundbites, but I'm going to call it like I see it. Teenagers have a tendency to binge--sometimes on destructive things, but that's another story--especially when it comes to media. We find a band we like; we listen to all their albums on Spotify, watch all their music videos, watch interviews with the lead singer. We find a good TV show; we barrel through all eight seasons in three weeks on Netflix (what? I didn't say that. I've never done that. I have a healthy relationship with television). We see a great stand-up special; we spend hours scouring YouTube for clips of that comedian doing other shows. It's a habit that I've fallen into. The Internet makes it easy. But I'm in a bit of a rut right now. I'm not in the process of bingeing anything at all.
I could start in with some new TV show or explore the discography of an artist I've never listened to. But instead, I've decided to examine what it is, exactly, that drives me to do this. Part of it is my obsessive personality; I'm very all or nothing, so if I like something, I'm gonna invest myself into it as much as possible. But I think it's a process that many people in my generation go through.
At the age of 18, I'm only just now entering the world of mass media. As a child and even somewhat as a teenager, my tastes were mandated by what I was allowed to watch and what was marketed towards me. Though I've always been very individualistic, it wasn't until the end of high school that I began discovering things that weren't recommended to me by my parents or commercials for shows I was already watching. This mainly took the form of stand-up comedy, a long-forbidden haven of jokes both dirty and way over my head, but also in new kinds of literature, interesting music, and bizarre movies (Being John Malkovich is my second favorite movie and also the weirdest thing I've ever seen).
The moment teenagers like me enter this realm of new entertainment possibilities, we go a little bit crazy. We are at such a fascinating point in history in which if I find something I like to consume, I can view it over and over again or use the endless archive of the Internet to find things similar to it. I don't have to go to the library or the record store or the Blockbuster. Almost everything I want to watch, read, or listen to is available on my laptop, in my bedroom, and a lot of it is free.
However, there is a point at which we run out of material on a particular subject. I'm going to use Louis C.K. as an example. I found one of his specials, "Oh My God," on Netflix, remembered hearing his name in some context, and decided to check it out. I laughed harder at that special than I have at anything in my entire life. I eagerly await the idea that someone or something makes me laugh that hard again. I was so enamored of his POV and style that I quickly digested his other specials and began combing the web for more clips of him in interviews and his TV show, Louie. I like Louie (from what I've seen, which is only about half a season), but to me it's not as rip-roaringly hilarious as his stand-up, so now I'm at a bit of an impasse. I can keep rewatching his specials on Netflix or through his website, but I'm going to have to wait a while for new material. Joining the Louis C.K. boat this late meant a tremendous backlog of content for me to watch, but also missed opportunities to see him on tour or get access to the new stuff just as it was coming out. I'm constantly searching for his name in the news to see if he's got a new tour or special planned, but he came out with something in May of 2015 (that I loved), so it's going to be a minute.
Same thing with me and John Mayer. My senior year of high school I became obsessed with him. He's one of my all-time favorite artists, and he wrote my all-time favorite song ("In Your Atmosphere," which is on his live album Where the Light Is). I spent most of 2015 listening to his albums, of which there are many. Now that I've heard every song of his (I believe), I've grown incredibly impatient for his next record, which is due out in the fall. Every time he posts on social media about it, I freak out for like ten minutes and start imagining it and how incredible it will be because he's going in the studio with the same people who made Continuum which I believe is inarguably his best album and maybe one of the best albums of all--
I need to relax with this whole John Mayer thing, I'm aware.
I think my point is that while there are drawbacks to the way that teenagers consume artistic content-- in the way that we essentially overdose on an artist or media personality and very quickly run out of our supply--it's a pretty great time to be alive. And while I am very eager for my favorite creators to put out new products, the old stuff is always just a click away. And it always stands up to another binge.
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