This playlist has an all-over feel to it but in a way captures the early feeling of summer to me perfectly- everything is finally green again, the evenings are perfectly warm, and life slows down to a blissful pace.
Popeye Had Spinach by Lime Cordiale
Even the cover art has a summer feel to it- Popeye Had Spinach is melodic with a catchy chorus and a rather relaxing vibe to it.
Fishing For Fishies by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
The song’s title is pretty comical and the entire song stays true to it. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard truly stray away from fishing, sympathizing for the fish itself. As funny as it is, it fits perfectly for summer with it’s simple but catchy guitar and even more snappy chorus.
Ain’t No Thang by Outkast
Outkast portrays the perfect balance between street cool societal standing with an intoxicating beat while still keeping a smooth, idle feel. The most notable lyric from the entire track: “Ain’t no thang but a chicken wing.”
Lucy (feat. Odie) by Still Woozy
A song I often revisit when the weather starts getting slightly warmer- something about Still Woozy’s smooth, silky voice that encapsulates the feeling of the mellow warmth of summer.
Personal Lies by Djo
Simple guitar chords layered with Djo’s melodic singing start this song off in a way that makes it hard not to love, along with a surprise guitar solo halfway through the song. Sorry. Maybe not so surprising anymore, but still exceptional.
Driving South by Goth Babe & Blood Cultures
One of my favorite artists collaborates with Blood Cultures for a song that is light and laid-back- even Goth Babe agrees in this song that summer seems to keep him sane. I couldn’t agree more.
If this playlist intrigues you, be sure to check it out on Spotify.
The romantic and gothic world of vampires and music fanatics are combined in this Jim Jarmusch film. What is not to love about a combination between music, love, and blood? Just think about the rituals that are cast with that combination.
The director, Jim Jarmusch, helped create the soundtrack for this movie with his band SQÜRL and Jozef van Wissem. He also recruited Tilda Swinton to play Eve, and he recruited Tom Hiddleston to play Adam. Jarmusch creates films that focus on people and the relationships they incur in the world, and “Only Lovers Left Alive” does not stray from his film focus.
Synopsis (If you are not into spoilers, then maybe don’t continue reading)
In “Only Lovers Left Alive” two extremely intelligent vampires, Adam and Eve, fall deeper and deeper in love as the film progresses. We get to watch two beautiful beings come to the realization all they need in their worlds is each other.
Adam lives in Detroit, and Eve lives in Tangier. Both are connected to their respective city’s natural life, culture, and especially musical culture. Adam is depressed. He pays a “zombie” (human) to make a wooden bullet and plays with a loaded gun.
Somehow Adam’s depression isn’t the main tension in the film. Jarmusch is able to propel off Adam’s oddly short suicidal character arc and latch Adam and Eve together again. Through a ridiculously complicated FaceTime, Eve decides to visit Adam in Detroit (which is gorgeous in this film).
The two lovers are together again. Nothing can go wrong, right? Well, Eve’s sister, Eva, eventually shows up on the doorstep and begins to destroy Adam’s image in Detroit. I personally love this part because we get to see the music scene in more detail, which of course is abstract and dark.
With Adam’s image ruined, he returns with Eve to Tangier where the two can start again and tap into the roots of music, culture, and nature together. That’s it. That is the film.
While that was a brief rundown, there is a lot more within the scenes, shots and sounds of the film I want to dig deeper into.
The Cinematography
First, the empty abandoned streets of Detroit (I don’t understand why these vampires are enamored with Jack White) are incredibly gorgeous. The film shots are filled with flickering lamp posts surrounded by vegetation that is left to run free and dark, decrepit mansions which are abandoned and forgotten. I do not understand how I fell in love with a city I have never seen before. I would love to roam the streets Jarmusch creates. They leave so many adventures untold.
Adam’s lair in Detroit is also a thing of beauty. The haphazard decorations and walls filled with amps, guitars, lutes, violins, and anything a musician would ever need occupy every inch of space. He might have a cluttered home, but every bit of it is loved.
Tangier’s beauty is different. The slow undulations of the streets let the characters roam about with a bit more luxury and light compared to the dark corners of Detroit. I feel more at home in Adam’s Detroit, but that is probably because the film spent more time there.
The Sounds of the Film
Another reason I fell for this film is the way Jarmusch blends music and film. He brings in his own band and a close friend to this movie to hand select the perfect musical accompaniment I have heard in a while.
SQÜRL’s rough sounding guitars and bass help create the atmosphere needed to appreciate the places and things Adam and Eve experience. Also, Jozef van Wissem is able to create songs which allow you to love the gaps of silence.
Final Thoughts
I could write another thousand words about this film, but it won’t be able to let anyone experience it the way they should. If you decide to watch this movie, then appreciate it in its entirety. I am not sure there is a more perfect vampire film that exists than “Only Lovers Left Alive”.
Kaytranada’s debut album 99.9% propelled him from his Soundcloud days into a genre-defying album that I constantly find myself returning to.
The album hardly sticks to a pattern, with “TRACK UNO” doubling back and bending over and over. It sets the stage perfectly for the rest of the album, which out of all 15 tracks only has 4 without a feature. This isn’t to say these tracks are lacking- “LITE SPOTS” samples Gal Costa’s ‘Pontos De Luz’, a 70’s Brazilian pop-hit, in a way that is catchy and groovy with the vocals perfectly highlighting the beat underneath it.
The texture this provides is captivating, making it one of my favorite tracks of the album. Kaytranada is famous for his ability to flawlessly cut and mix samples that form the most inviting sounds I’ve ever heard.
Starting with an almost eerie sound to it, “GLOWED UP” featuring Anderson .Paak packs a hypnotizing rhythmic flow that really brings out what both Kay and .Paak are capable of together. The first time I heard this song I couldn’t stop listening to it. It’s one of those songs you forget exists and when you do come back to it, you remember how amazing it was when you first found it and it plays on constant rotation again. At least, that’s what I’ve been doing the last few weeks.
“BULLETS” featuring Little Dragon ends the album on a somewhat abrupt stop but not underwhelming. Little Dragon’s vocals flow perfectly throughout the track as they carry us through to the end.
Not musically based but worthy of a shoutout as well is the cover art for 99.9%. Done by Ricardo Cavolo, his work perfectly captures the over-saturated, warm and vibrant feel of the entire album. The visuals Cavolo uses perfectly match how the album feels as a whole to me, giving it this psychedelic funky appearance parallel to the sounds of the album.
You might have heard the viral song “Double Take” that was all over TikTok last summer.
“Moonlight” is written by the same artist that wrote that viral song and evokes the same R&B melody, Dhruv. These songs are part of Dhruv’s first EP titled “Rapunzel” and although I could do an entire album review for that album and rave about how relatable and therapeutic all the tracks are, I’d like to talk about one of my favorite tracks of the album- Moonlight.
Many of us out there are hopeless romantics believing that being in love possesses qualities that come straight out of fairy tales. Dhruv is an artist that embraces this quality of his pours into the song.
The most poetic stanza of this song for me is “Moonlight | I’ll be smitten with you on these blue nights | You’ll be holding me until the sunrise| And the songbirds be waking up | Oh, true love | Kinda hoped it would feel like a rom-com | I’ve been planning this out in my notebook| Since I was a little boy|”
His lyrics paint a picture in your mind of sitting under the blue moonlight till dawn with someone you love. Straight out of a movie.
Growing up in Singapore and later in New York, he highlights that he hadn’t seen or experienced much of what navigating queer love was like and that is what inspired this song along with many other songs on his EP. This fantasy of what being in love could be like since he had never seen it play out in real life was something he thought was only something that could happen on the big screen.
This is seen in the lines “Poetry and handpicked flowers | Say you’ll meet me at the altar | Can we fall in love in the moonlight?|”
Even if you haven’t experienced unrequited love or are a hopeless romantic, Dhruv evokes his emotions and really lets the listener feel what he is going through.
Listening to Moonlight really feels like it’s 12am and you’re staring at the stars under the moonlight.
Invite someone this summer to sit with you at midnight to stargaze and play this song for them. Maybe you’ll get lost in the moonlight with them too.
In honor of AAPI, Asian American Pacific Islander, Heritage month I’ll be starting a little series where I’ll highlight a few different AAPI artists.
To start off this series, I’d like to introduce the Hojean or Justin Hojean Yi. He’s a 23- year old Korean-American R&B artist that got his start by wanting to perform a song for his crush at his school’s talent show. After playing up on that stage and seeing the reaction of the audience, he knew that being a musician was his passion. From that, he found his niche in writing love ballads and R&B tracks. He was initially an indie singer, but once he began experimenting with the R&B genre he felt that he preferred it a lot more.
The Georgian artist is a singer, producer, songwriter, and visual artist, who takes part in all creative aspects of his music production from lyrics writing to song cover art all from the comfort of his home.
What I admire about Hojean is his love of making music not only for his fans but as a way to support his parents as well. His entire life is writing music and his passion for spreading his musical diversity for his fans to experience the feelings he feels while writing his songs. Hojean has mentioned many times that he was always a creative person growing up and would doodle in his notebooks in school and sing at church, in a way he was always meant to make music and share his art.
A few of his most popular tracks are “Over 85”, “Pick Up Your Phone”, “You Feel Like” and of course his newest single “Bluffin,” which I wrote a review of.
His song “Memory” is a personal favorite of mine. It’s an upbeat song about moving on and letting go of the past. It was a track he had written after taking a nine-month hiatus from creating any new music– a product of his anxiety in a sense. A culmination of his feelings that had been developing while he was in a slump. But one day he walked into a thrift store and bought an electric guitar on a whim. That electric guitar lead to this song being written and now has become a significant part of his music production.
As a visual artist, I felt a connection to this song the most because I had been in an artist’s block myself. Painting was something I had a hard time doing during the school year during the pandemic because I constantly felt like my art didn’t compare to other artists, similar to how Hojean had felt about being a musician. Imposter syndrome– a common dilemma. Once listening to Hojean’s music one summer afternoon I started scribbling in my notebook and listening to Memory got me out of my slump as well.
If you want a change of pace or want to listen to music that makes you feel like you’re floating down a river on a sunny afternoon then Hojean’s music will make you feel just that.
Hojean will be releasing his first EP sometime this year so be sure to keep an eye out for it!
Check out Hojean’s Spotify page to view his entire discography.
Doug Martsch and Melanie Radford performing live at Cat's Cradle on 5/8/22 - Photo by Ben Price
If you, like me, are an indie rock fan, then seeing Built to Spill should be on your list of bands to see live. I went with a group of friends to Cat’s Cradle (one of the best venues to see anyone play) on May 8, and I saw a couple of electric performances by individuals and bands.
Built to Spill frequents Cat’s Cradle, as they usually make sure to have a stop every tour. This year they brought along two openers, Itchy Kitty and Prism Bitch. Itchy Kitty are from Spokane, Washington and they play wonderfully loud, jarring sounds in the vein of punk and “whiplash inducing riffage” as stated by their Bandcamp bio. Prism Bitch are from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their genre focus is in the pop indie rock niche, which unfortunately adds to my slight distaste for their performance.
Itchy Kitty
Itchy Kitty onstage at Cat’s Cradle – Photo by Ben Price
After milling about in the crowd waiting for the show to start, Itchy Kitty hopped on the stage. The members, Ami Elston (guitar and vocals), Naomi Eisenbrey (bass and vocals), Mike “Sug” Tschirgi (drums), and a fill-in guitarist, immediately started off trying to get the crowd moving.
Elston and Esenbrey’s vocals screamed through the Cradle and jolted most people awake. I don’t think many people were expecting a raging punk band like Itchy Kitty to open for the soft, mild-mannered Built to Spill.
At one point during their set, my group of friends got a shout out from Elston and Eisenbrey for being the only people trying to mosh and get moving to the music. I loved their stage presence. Especially Naomi Eisenbrey’s jerky movements when they covered “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads (which was fantastic and horrifying at the same time).
Itchy Kitty killed their set. I didn’t recognize all of their songs, but “Year of the Slut” and “Diffuse the Rat” were good ones to throw some elbows to. I am hoping this tour with Built to Spill will make their fanbase a bit more vast so we can see them headlining soon.
Prism Bitch
Moving onto the second opener, Prism Bitch did a fine job. They were more of who I expected to open for Built to Spill. Their pop centered indie rock did not blow me away like Itchy Kitty’s in-your-face screams and riffs. The members are Lauren Poole (bass and vocals), Lilah Rose (keyboard, guitar and vocals), Chris Walsh (guitar), and Teresa Esquerra (drums and vocals).
I thought Poole and Esquerra made the most impact on the band’s presence on stage. Both were fun to watch as they poured in all their energy into their instruments. Poole’s vocals were a great addition to Rose’s dreamy, classic, pop-rock style of singing. Prism Bitch did not get me moving like Itchy Kitty, but I have hope they’ll be able to fine tune their style to find a sound more intriguing.
Built to Spill
When Doug Martsch finally came to stage it was already 10:30 p.m. Both openers had exhausted me and friends, but nothing could stop me from enjoying seeing one of my favorite bands knock out some of the best guitar work in the world.
Doug Martsch was joined on stage by Prism Bitch’s drummer, Teresa Esquerra, and bassist Melanie Radford. Both Esquerra and Radford were amazing fill-ins. Radford’s bass playing was fun to watch. She looked like she was having as much fun as the crowd the way she swayed with Martsch’s rhythms.
From left to right: Melanie Radford (bass), Doug Martsch (guitar and vocals), and Teresa Esquerra (drums) – Photo by Ben Price
Built to Spill’s set ranged from classics to covers to long winded instrumentals. They started off with “The Plan” to get the crowd “moving” (everyone was doing the obligatory calm head bops to the beat). There were a few technical issues after the first couple songs, but after that quick pause Martsch played the opening instrumental to Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”, which led into “Gonna Lose”.
A cover of a Cate Le Bon song, “Are You with Me Now?”, marked the middle of the set. The plucky instrumentals and Martsch’s soft voice created a memorable sound. I really loved this cover (unfortunately I had never heard of Cate Le Bon before this concert). At this point the crowd began to sway their hips and move their feet more.
That cover was followed by “Goin’ Against Your Mind”. The never ending guitar riffs, bass solo by Melanie Radford, and always incredible drum work by Esquerra created the perfect atmosphere for the song. I think while they were playing “Goin’ Against Your Mind,” I saw Martsch smile for the first time and only time during their set.
“Carry the Zero” being one of the last songs they played was a treat too. That classic hit will never get old for me, and now I can say I have seen it live. I honestly believe that finally seeing Doug Martsch and Built to Spill perform live was a life goal achieved. While the merch table was mediocre (besides the bangin’ Itchy Kitty t-shirts), seeing Built to Spill live is an important experience for people to understand why they are so well loved.
