A Fall forest scene. Image by Marko Milivojevic, licensed CC0 1.0 PD Universal.
September: the official start of Fall. It’s that time again where I share my favorite songs for the month. I am quite proud of myself this month because I think I branched off of what I had been listening to the last couple of months.
Around the Fall time and transitioning into the Winter, I tend to move away from indie and low distortion/high reverb songs with the gentle or smooth vocals. I gravitate toward nu metal pretty religiously. Something about the colder, windier weather, the colors of the leaves changing, and the days getting shorter just calls for distortion and screaming for me.
That being said, I have curated another playlist for “DJ Dragonfly’s Favorites” and there is mostly nu metal. I have also included some grunge, of course, as well as some pop, rap, classic rock and so on. Some of these songs have explicit content, so fair warning to everyone.
Additionally, this time around I have a couple German songs. My regular readers would know that the middle of September until the first Sunday of October is Oktoberfest. Because of all the various playlists I have been making for personal use as well as sets on the radio, I have been listening to more German songs than usual.
I think the odd songs out in this playlist would probably be “The Largest” by BigXthaPlug, “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga and “Walking On A Dream” by Empire Of The Sun. My friends have been playing “The Largest” and “Bad Romance” quite often lately for various reasons and so as a result, I have been listening to them more than usual. I have a soft spot for a couple of Empire Of The Sun songs and I guess that has bled through this month.
Grandfather Mountain at sunset in Linville, NC. Image by Sophia Dutton-Rodkin
The leaves are turning, the air is chilling and people are wearing sweaters again. Out with the flip-flops and in with the fuzzy socks, it’s time for Fall.
I love Fall. I love Fall so much I wish it could be Fall all the time. Sadly, that’s not possible here in the great NC. That being said, I have decided to make a playlist full of Fall favorites (not a Halloween playlist) to make the season just right. **Warning: This playlist may contain adult material.**
A bee pollinating a zinnia flower. Image licensed CC0 1.0 Universal.
Summer is officially coming to a close. I can’t speak for everyone but thank goodness. As I have stated previously, Summer is by far not my favorite season. This Summer in particular wasn’t pleasant.
Nevertheless, August has come and gone. We are stepping into the colorful embrace of autumn and with that comes the monthly “DJ Dragonfly’s Favorites.”
I love a good cover song. There are so many different avenues an artist can take when they decide to cover a song. They can try to keep it as similar to the original song as possible or they can go a completely different direction. Some of my favorite covers have been changed so much that you can clearly see the artist’s personality.
Bee on wildflowers. Image licensed CC0 1.0 Universal.
Once again, we are at the tail end of a month. I can’t speak for anyone else but for me, July has been on the uphill in comparison to the rest of the summer. That being said, my music taste for the month has also been altered. While many of my favorites are still the same from last month, I have accumulated many others.
I think that my favorites from this month are a bit more well-known. I have some recent releases, classic oldies, and of course some songs from pop culture. My genres also cover a rather broad spectrum. Anything from classic rock with The Clash to indie with Flipturn and even some songs in other languages. Some of these songs have explicit content, so fair warning to everyone.
Reproduction of Claude Monet's The Poppy Field near Argenteuil (1873) painting. Image provided by rawpixel.com, licensed CC0 1.0 Universal.
In a world where taste changes all the time, even day to day, I think it’s pretty cool to document the current favorites every now and then. Looking back at these old favorites can make us see the growth we have had as people. Another upside to these records is we might rediscover some gems that we might have forgotten about.
I am someone who loves to share and exchange music. I love discovering new artists and seeing who my friends like to listen to. Everyone’s music taste is different, I would find it difficult to believe that there could be two people with the exact same taste.
I love to expose people to new music and to my favorites and so I have made a playlist of my current favorite songs. I have to say there is some variety and I like to think that my music is fairly well-rounded but that is up to my readers to decide. Some of these songs have explicit content, so fair warning to everyone.
Dolores O'Riordan. Image by Roger Woolman, licensed CC A 3.0 Unported.
When we think of the legends of Rock n’ Roll, some of the names listed might be Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, Axel Rose, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, Jon Bon Jovi or Kurt Cobain. A simple Google search would show mostly men popping up. I checked and found only two results with any women. Unfortunately, this isn’t surprising. Music, especially rock, has tended to be a male dominated field.
“I grew up in a world that told girls they couldn’t play rock and roll.” – Joan Jett
Since her statement, there have been many noteworthy and successful women in the rock music scene. Sadly, there is still a long way to go. As a woman in the rock music scene, I find it particularly important to have someone to look up to and to be inspired by.
I made a playlist with some bands of various popularity and time periods who have women in strong roles. Many of these bands have women in the front-person or singer’s position but not all. I’ve included women as drummers, bassists, guitarists, keyboardists and even fiddle/violin players.
Content Warning: Some of these songs have explicit content
Forget-me-not flower clusters. Image by Sophia Dutton-Rodkin
We all have our good and bad days. Some days, you feel like skipping down the street or singing in the shower while others make you feel like the whole world is against you.
Oftentimes when I’m feeling the former, I like to listen to happy and upbeat music. I like to be embraced and supported by similar energies. A good example of this would be “Walking On Sunshine” by Katrina & The Waves.
When it comes to feeling the latter, what should one listen to? If someone is sad and down in the dumps, should they listen to “Washing Machine Heart” by Mitski? Likewise if someone is upset or angry, should they listen to “Bleed the Freak” by Alice in Chains? Would it be better to listen to someone happy and upbeat to facilitate that emotion?
A picnic with Lunchables and fruit. Picture by Sophia Dutton-Rodkin
Sunscreen, cicadas, tan lines, and watermelon slices.
Summer at a quick glance is supposed to be a wonderful time filled with laughter and fun. School is out for most and this is the time when we go home to our hometowns and spend time with our old friends and family. Some of us get jobs too and some of us keep pushing through classes.
I’m chai, and I might be the luckiest girl in the world.
A beautifully wise friend of mine told me the other day that while he was traveling this past summer, he’d introduce himself to everybody he met by saying: “I’m ____, and I’m a lover. I love you and I love me; I love loving you and I love loving me.”
I love him, and I love that, so I’m going to follow that river: for the month of love and candy hearts, I’ve started working on a playlist called “DO IT, WITH HEART.”
Now, I’ve never been a fan of Valentine’s Day, but I think I’ve come around to it this year. There is a lot of love around me. There are small joys as far as the eye can see, so at what point do those small joys become the fabric of experience itself?
At this point, would be my guess.
I started making the playlist last Friday after a particularly beautiful dance / ceremony I got to be a part of. It took place in this big hall in a church, lit by dimmed lanterns hung at different heights from the ceiling.
There were hearts and stars and sparkles projected on the walls; there were baskets of flower petals that would end up thrown in the air like confetti, and on the floor arranged into shapes; there were cups of cacao thickened by coconut oil and almond butter held in the hands of each friend there; there was a kind woman telling me to listen to the heart—asking me why I was still stuck in my head.
It was something out of a dream.
Making this playlist has been a curious little process because the inspiration is so diffuse, but I tend to want to keep things cohesive. I’ve been trying only to add songs that really make me feel that warm dreamscape joy, either ones that have made me feel that way before, or new ones that share the same tenderness.
It’s a tiny personal anthology of songs for moments; for people; for sights and other sounds, so I’ve had to suspend my urge to add filler or obscurity to smooth the whole thing out.
The first song I added to the playlist is one I heard last Friday, a live mixing of “Temptation” (a New Order cover) and “Star Guitar” by The Chemical Brothers.
The next songs added were “Witches” by Alice Phoebe Lou and “This Night Has Opened My Eyes” by The Smiths. Both smell like heavy hickory smoke and dusk air to me. Both are back-pocket flowers and cuddle puddles in eclectically-decorated houses.
“Mother Nature’s Bitch” by Okay Kaya falls in that camp as well. Very honest and lightly addicting, the lyrics to this one are quite dear to me (“Here I am / Easy to please / Here I am / Okay with it”). I remember being 16 and loving how sage green it sounded—and I remember a few nights ago, noticing that the Spotify banner for “Watch This Liquid Pour Itself” is the same green as my big sister’s eyes.
Truthfully, most of the songs in this playlist are teenage keepsakes I still tote around. “Empire Ants” by Gorillaz and Little Dragon, “Lies in the Eyes of Love” by Part Time, and “Air Supply” by Sweet Trip are all tokens of a real-life first love: they are big blue eyes, bandaged fingers, carefully collected trinkets; clay-stained aprons, wilting wildflowers, plumes of incense smoke slowly spilling out into the six p.m. sun.
“Lil Thing” by Knox Fortune, “Headshots (4r da locals)” by Isaiah Rashad, and “Landline” by binki are caffeine shivers, curls lobbed too short, and the air rollerskating its way from winter into spring.
This morning’s addition is “Butterflies” by TV Girl, George Clanton, and Jordana. This one is for the little love in between little loves, the complete and utter gift it is to reminisce.
I’m not sure how long this playlist will get, given that we’re only a week into February, but I’m excited to see where it goes. I hope you like this patchwork playlist if you take a listen; for those less involved, it’s at the very least songs you’ll probably know… easy listening.
