Category: Playlists

Great tunes to add to your own playlists

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Playlists

A Farmers Market Playlist

Tomatoes and squash at the North Carolina State Farmers Market. Photo by chucka_nc. Provided by Creative Commons License.

What’s better than listening to your favorite comforting tunes in the heat of the Summer? Listening to your favorites and eating fresh produce from the North Carolina State Farmers Market, of course. 

I have cultivated a few tracks that can take you through the stalls and smells of fresh veggies and fruits. If you want to listen along, you can check out the playlist on Spotify.

“Kibun” by Fishmans

This song brings the beat and happiness that is the farmers market straight to your ears. It is a bit more electronic and twang-y than the rest of the tracks, but it brings a smile to my face like I am sorting through a vendor’s prized blueberries. 

“Starman” by Seu Jorge

Another funky track, but this cover brings a homely sound to David Bowie’s “Starman”. Seu Jorge’s ability to capture the essence of Bowie with an acoustic guitar is beautiful, and I think it creates that comforting hum of people moving through the produce stalls. 

“Lazy River” by Chet Atkins and Les Paul

The simplicity of the movement in this song makes me feel like I am floating on a syrupy, summer breeze. I can lose myself in the smells the wind gives me at the farmers market, and “Lazy River” brings those emotions to my head immediately. 

“The Bug Collector” by Haley Henderickx

A bit slower of a track, but Henderickx creates a wonderful feeling of digging through the dirt with a hot sun baking the cold wet dirt into your skin. I love the way this song adds the trumpet with a slow build into the melody.

“Homegrown Tomatoes” by Blue Dogs

Okay, so this song is pretty ridiculous and very country, but I think this playlist would be missing out if I didn’t include it. There sure ain’t nothin’ better than ice cold, homegrown ‘maters.

“Pet Carrot” by Palehound

I just started listening to Palehound, and I love the way Kempner’s vocals descend while her instrument tempo increases in this track. The mix of slow and fast adds a nice dizzying effect, which I can kind of relate to trying to pick the perfect carrots for a stew.

“Lighthouse” by Adrianne Lenker

The uptempo guitar chords and always gorgeous vocals by Adrianne Lenker bring companionship to this playlist. The love sung about in this track adds a feeling of personal comfort for me. It’s almost as if I have someone with me wandering around the stalls gasping at all the delicious peppers to choose from. 

I hope y’all enjoy the tunes and can appreciate some delicious produce this summer.

Keep eatin’ 

-DJ chef

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Playlists

Early Summer Playlist

WKNC 88.1 blog

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.

Written by Audrey Nelson 

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Playlists

Ringing in Spring: April Edition

A black and white blurry background that resembles the thin lines of a fingerprint. Orange and yellow text that reads "ringing in spring" Yellow and orange moths strewn across the image.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve updated the “Ringing in Spring” playlist, but don’t fret, it’s finally April. Where February’s installment was indie-rock and March’s was folk-ish but still reliant on big horns and electric guitar, April’s is a more acoustic kind of folk. Think, time spent by a campfire with your friends, the first 75 degree days of the season and swimming in a lake. 

Without further ado, here are the final 15 songs of “Ringing in Spring”:

  • “鬼ヶ島” – Ichiko Aoba
  • “I’ll Come Running (To Tie Your Shoe)” – Brian Eno
  • “The Sun Surrounds Me” – Beachwood Sparks
  • “The Gold” – Manchester Orchestra, Phoebe Bridgers
  • “Otter Shadows” – Bibio
  • “Means Something” – Lizzy McAlpine
  • “A Love of Some Kind” – Adrianne Lenker
  • “Ships in the Night” – Kate Rhudy
  • “Phase” – Bloomsday
  • “Concession Stand Girl” – Naomi Alligator
  • “Lion’s Jaws” – Neko Case
  • “California Open Back” – Gregory Alan Isakov
  • “I Don’t Mind” – The Greeting Committee
  • “Humming” – Turnover
  • “The Big Country (Alternate Version)” – Talking Heads

I hope this playlist carries you through this spring and many springs to come. As always, you can find this playlist on Spotify.

– Caitlin

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Playlists

Songs to Frolic to: A Playlist

At this point in the semester, I fantasize a lot about what my life could be like in some alternate universe where I wasn’t in college. My escapist fantasies often involve me running through a meadow and befriending all of the creatures outside. To indulge myself in those fantasies, I decided to make a playlist to be the soundtrack to this feeling. As all of my favorite playlists do, this one has folky undertones and is perfect for sitting outside on a warm spring day, going on a walk with an old friend or, like the playlist title notates, frolicking.

Without further ado, here are 15 songs to frolic to:

  • “Serpientes” – Los Valentina
  • “Time Escaping” – Big Thief
  • “Blue Coupe” – Twin Peaks
  • “Amoeba” – The Doozers
  • “Bryter Layter” – Nick Drake
  • “Pára-Raio” – Djavan
  • “Conditions” – Rozi Plain
  • “Sometimes I Forget” – Tex Crick
  • “Cheers” – The Slaps
  • “书夕一” – Keiichi Sokabe
  • “Crazy” – Spiritualized
  • “I’m the Sky” – Norma Tanega
  • “Greycedes” – Jessica Pratt
  • “I’m Down, Whatever” – JW Francis
  • “If I Am Only My Thoughts” – Loving

As always, you can stream this playlist on Spotify.

Here’s to frolicking,

Caitlin

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Playlists

3.141592… A P(i)laylist

Purple background with grey text that features the first couple dozen digits of pi. Then, the symbol for pi in the center of the image in white.

March contains many of my close friends’ and family members’ birthdays, St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras, and spring break. One underrated March holiday is Pi Day, your local math-nerd’s favorite day. I love Pi Day because it’s existence poses the question: “What is the most insignificant thing we can make a holiday out of?” Pi (𝜋), if you’re unfamiliar, is an irrational number that is equivalent to the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s a cool math concept for a lot of reasons, one of which is that pi’s decimal form (3.142592…) never ends and it never falls into a repeating pattern. Thus, Pi Day falls on March 14 (3/14) to celebrate this phenomenon.

 As someone who is more English/ History/ Humanities and Social Sciences inclined, this concept is something I still have trouble wrapping my head around. But, I love that we celebrate this number, and in order to contribute to the festivities, I compiled a playlist of 15 songs that (Spotify says) are 3 minutes and 14 seconds in length.

Without further ado, here’s my p(i)laylist.

  • “Guttural Sounds” – Okay Kaya
  • “Radical” – It Looks Sad.
  • “The Perfect Girl” – Mareux
  • “Hot Dad Calendar” – Cayetana
  • “Elementary School Dropout” – Yucky Duster
  • “Sophisticated Space” – Sidney Gish
  • “Take My Head” – Turnover
  • “Someone Tell the Boys” – Samia
  • “Common Denominator” – Nisa
  • “Going Going Gone” – Lucy Dacus
  • “Call off the Dogs” – Marika Hackman
  • “L.A.” – Elliott Smith
  • “Subject To the Ladder” – Broadcast
  • “How to Socialise & Make Friends” – Camp Cope
  • “Dead Boy” – Acne

Like always, you can stream this playlist on Spotify.

𝜋,

Caitlin

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Playlists

Ringing in Spring: March Edition

A black and white blurry background that resembles the thin lines of a fingerprint. Orange and yellow text that reads "ringing in spring" Yellow and orange moths strewn across the image.

It’s March now, and with that comes the second installment of “Ringing in Spring”: a three part playlist composed of 45 songs, 15 released each month of Spring (except I started in February and am ending in April). This was largely inspired by my “It’s Fall Y’all” series I did in the fall of 2021.

I decided March’s vibes were loud, folky and bright, juxtaposing the indie-rock vibes that February’s installment had to offer.  Think of this as prancing through a meadow with no cares, surrounded by wildlife and sipping on your drink of choice.

Without further ado, here are March’s songs for “Ringing in Spring”:

  • “Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition, Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream” – Sufjan Stevens
  • “Time Escaping” – Big Thief
  • “I Love You, Honeybear” – Father John Misty
  • “SPORTS MEN” – Haruomi Hosono
  • “Tusk” – Fleetwood Mac
  • “LONELY WEEKEND” – NNAMDÏ
  • “Be Sweet” – Japanese Breakfast
  • “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” – Kate Bush
  • “hypnotized” – Tune-Yards
  • “Watching Strangers Smile” – Parquet Courts
  • “Those to Come” – The Shins
  • “Beautiful Mother” – Dirty Projectors, Björk
  • “Answer Me, My Love” – Swamp Dogg
  • “Topaz” – The B-52’s
  • “Spring” – Angel Olsen

As always you can stream this playlist on Spotify.

Happy March,

Caitlin

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Miscellaneous Playlists

Fight Scene Soundtracks of “The Umbrella Academy”

With a new Instagram post celebrating the 3-year anniversary of season 1’s release, “The Umbrella Academy” fans are getting excited for season 3. Unfortunately, there’s still very little information from the showrunners themselves, but that can’t stop fans—myself included—from speculating on the release date. Recently, I’ve been rewatching the show to ease my anticipation, and the rewatch has reminded me just how incredible the soundtrack is. One of my favorite parts of the soundtrack is the unexpected yet strangely fitting songs in the fight scenes. So, I’m here to share some of my favorite fight scene sounds of “The Umbrella Academy.”

“Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” by They Might Be Giants (S1 E1)

This being the first big fight scene of the show, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went into it. I knew that I was dealing with a 58-year-old-man in a child’s body who had powers of teleportation, and I knew that I was dealing with trained assassins attacking a donut shop. What I didn’t know was that “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” would be playing in the background, and that it would quickly become one of my favorite fight scenes in any piece of media.

“Sinnerman” by Nina Simone (S1 E3)

This is the first time you see the family of superheroes fight together, and it is quite an incredible display. This song adds just the right amount of weirdness, highlighting the dysfunction between the siblings.

“Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows” by Lesley Gore (S1 E9)

When I hear this song, the first thing I think of definitely isn’t two highly trained, time-traveling assassins fighting each other. But that’s exactly what I got. I love it.

“My Way” by Frank Sinatra (S2 E1)

With caution not to spoil anything, I can say that this scene is the most epic display of the siblings’ powers and ability to act as a team. Who other than Frank Sinatra could play in the background of such an important moment?

“Polk Salad Annie” by Tony Joe White (S2 E7)

This song plays in perhaps the most gruesome scene of the entire show; it definitely doesn’t fit the murder spree vibe. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the showrunners included it to ease some of the brutality of the scene, but no matter their reasons for including it, it works.

These songs make up only a few of the incredible song choices in “The Umbrella Academy,” both in fight scenes and in the rest of the show. If you’ve seen “The Umbrella Academy” before, I hope you enjoyed reminiscing over some of these iconic fight scenes, and if you haven’t, I hope this list has convinced you to give it a shot. Either way, happy viewing.

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Playlists

Ringing in Spring: February Edition

A black and white blurry background that resembles the thin lines of a fingerprint. Orange and yellow text that reads "ringing in spring" Yellow and orange moths strewn across the image.

In fall of 2021, I did a series of three blogs in which I made mini 15-song playlists to capture the feelings of fall that eventually compiled into one large playlist. I did one blog in September, one in October and finally finished out the series in November.  If you can’t already tell by the title and the context I just provided, I’m doing the same thing for the spring of 2022.

I know February isn’t technically spring’s genesis, but this playlist installment is more about breaking free of winter and looking forward to spring. With a quintessential indie rock sound, some songs are joyous and some existential.

Without further ado, let me share the February edition of “Ringing in Spring.”

  • “Pale Blue Eyes” — The Velvet Underground
  • “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down” — LCD Soundsystem
  • “All the Umbrellas in London” — The Magnetic Fields
  • “I’ll Believe in Anything” — Wolf Parade
  • “Paris 2004” — Peter Bjorn and John
  • “1,000,000” — R.E.M.
  • “虹” — Quruli
  • “More Yellow Birds” — Sparklehorse
  • “No Way” — Sonic Youth
  • “Lucky” — Supercar
  • “One PM Again”  — Yo La Tengo
  • “Do You Realize??” — The Flaming Lips
  • “The Softest Voice” — Animal Collective
  • “Lions (Linden)” — Pavement
  • “Here Comes Yet Another Day” — The Kinks

You can listen to this playlist on Spotify.

Happy February,

Caitlin

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Band/Artist Profile Blog Playlists

African American Cultural Center: “HERMonies: Black Sounds, Black Voices, Black Movements”

NIna Simone in a black and White Photo
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Our neighbors in Witherspoon at the African American Cultural Center have debuted a new musical exhibit “HERMonies” that features songs from 10 black woman who have used their music to advance social movements. The full playlist can be found at the above link, but here I’d like to take a more historical look at the two oldest songs on the playlist, “Strange Fruit” and “Mississippi Goddamn.”

Continue reading “African American Cultural Center: “HERMonies: Black Sounds, Black Voices, Black Movements””
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Playlists

Valentine’s Day with DJ Mozzie

Black and white hearts cover a gray background. In the foreground, there are four red and pink exclamation points.

Howdy y’all! I hope you’ve been doing well. This week, I wanted to put together the ultimate Valentine’s Day playlist for you and yours. I love Valentine’s Day – the pink and red color combination, the fun candy, and getting to express just how much you love the people in your life (although I don’t think you need a holiday to do that). Admittedly, I pulled quite a few of these songs from my Twilight playlist on Spotify, but nonetheless, they make me feel mushy and gushy and grossly in love. Here’s to hoping you get to live out your rom-com dreams this weekend!

Valentine’s Day History

For our history enthusiasts reading this week’s blog, here’s a bit about Valentine’s Day. The specifics about Saint Valentine are quite contested. One legend tells the tale of Saint Valentine marrying young lovers after Emperor Claudius II banned marriage for young men in the name of making them better soldiers. While some believe that Valentine’s Day is in the middle of February to commemorate the saint’s death, others believe it was the Christian church trying to rewrite the Pagan celebration Lupercalia. Valentine sentiments date back to the Middle Ages, while written valentines appeared around 1400. Americans started swapping valentines around the early 1700s, and they became more mass-produced around the 1840s. Now, about 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent annually.

  • Stubborn Love by The Lumineers
  • Home by Edith Whiskers
  • Lover Of The Light by Mumford & Sons
  • Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine
  • Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg
  • I’m With You by Vance Joy
  • The Night We Met by Lord Huron
  • Sea of Love by Cat Power
  • All I Want by Kodaline
  • Turning Page by Sleeping At Last
  • Even If It’s a Lie by Matt Maltese
  • I’m Happy You Exist by Angus Maude
  • Beach Baby by Bon Iver
  • I Love You Too by Peter McPoland
  • Sweet Creature by Harry Styles