Chatting with Jodie Marie about “Carageen”
Jodie Marie’s September 2020 release, “Carageen,” will lull you into the currents of grief and affection. Touting a dream-like, oceanic sound, this is a track about letting yourself slip into the “waves” of life and feeling everything – even when the emotions scare you. The verses are framed in a simple ascending melody, carrying the […]
Star Moles’ “The Old Man’s House”: A Psychedelic Anthem
Music is very much a meaning-making process. We pull from music not only to form our identities but also to use it as an aid to supplement memories and alter our moods. Yet out of all the diffuse purposes and auras music can conjure, I find the most special to be the feel-good anthem. But […]
Ksenia Parkhatskaya on “Rose and Blue”, Russian Jazz, and the Cosmos
There’s something uncanny about certain kinds of jazz, something that suggests a dreamy state in between memory and the present, or this world and the next. On An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, The Caretaker (aka Leyland Kirby) famously looped and manipulated old jazz records from the 20s to evoke the failing memories of someone […]
“Hours” by Tomberlin: A Careful Exploration of Love and Longing
A lot of people don’t like love songs. Some people find them too sappy, others prefer the emotional turbulence of breakup songs. Some artists churn out love song after love song, while others avoid them like the plague (too soon?). Sarah Beth Tomberlin’s discography up to this point has given us little indication that she […]
Andy Bell’s “I Was Alone”: An Astounding, Atmospheric Slow Burn
How many of us set way-too-lofty goals at the beginning of quarantine? Like, was it just a thing that we all set out to achieve some longtime aspiration just because we were forced to stay home for a few months? I mean, for me it was learning to play guitar, and although I can proudly […]
“Birds” by Surf Tapes: Summery, Idiosyncratic Pop
When I first moved from my little hometown in Pennsylvania to start college in downtown Los Angeles, I don’t think I was as prepared as I made myself believe for the inevitable cultural shock I was in for. I’d long dreamed of living in California one day, but adjusting to life in a new city […]
Tyler Childers’ “Long Violent History”: An Important Call to Action
There seems to be a common consensus that these last few months of 2020 should be expedited—hurried through to get to a new, hopefully, more pleasant year. However, it’s not just the ever-tightening clutches of COVID-19 that have made this year, unfortunately, one for the history books. We are in the midst of a reality […]
“Ozone High” by Ginger Libations and anjali.rose: A Lesson on Genre Fusion
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read the words, “Alternative Jazz Funk Fusion?” If you’re drawing a blank, don’t feel bad, so was I. That being said, I’m always up to step outside of my musical comfort zone to explore something new and exciting. To me, part of what […]
Josh Shaw of Blvck Hippie on Music, Inspiration, and “Rhodes Ave.”
As we grow up, nostalgia tends to be a recurring emotion which can simultaneously lift us up as well as drag us down. No matter where we are in life, hearing a certain song can instantly teleport us back to a specific memory. This is why, when playing around on the piano one day, Josh […]
“A Man Behaves” by Sequentia Sequentia: Coming to Terms with a Crumbling Relationship
A fun game I like to play is “What would this song sound like if it was by this other artist?” Sometimes the ideas come to you fully fleshed out, while other times they quickly fizzle and are forgotten. A quick search on YouTube can find many of these types of videos, where creative musicians […]
