Playlist No. 2: No Condition Is Permanent
This week’s playlist is focused on music to help moving forward. I think all too often we want to overly-encourage ourselves and others. In a rut? Wake up and clean the entire house! Go to the gym! Change careers! Find God and beat Him up!
I am interested in a different kind of movement. One that is centered in awareness of our own pain and uses that awareness to push forward with it always in our hand. I never want to believe that the feeling of stagnation is abnormal. Quite the contrary, I know it is unavoidable. Rather than pushing and fighting and rejecting it, let it fall into your lap.
1. No Condition is Permanent- Marijata
The first track on this playlist better encapsulates what I mean to say. No condition is permanent. The human condition is ever evolving and expanding, it does not stop or start. Marajata tells us through raw African funk music all the way from 1976. The Ghanian band was comprised of three members, Kofi 'Electric' Addison on drums, Bob Fischlan on organ and Nat Osmanu on guitar. I could not find much about their background, other than This is Marijata is thought to be a seminal work of African funk. Funk music holds a special capability to understand in the body what one cannot understand in the mind.
2. Concrete- Barrie
Barrie Lindsay is the woman behind the contemporary dream pop band Barrie. I utilize playlists to paint a picture across time and genre lines. Plus, a band can have a shitty album but a few good songs, right? “concrete” is one of the stronger songs from Barbara, the album that houses it. Personally, dream pop can become too gimmicky or bubblegum sweet. I’m all for bubblegum sweet, but it must have a particular roughness in it to balance it out, lyrically or sonically. For instance, the first track of the first playlist I posted.
3. Illegal & Free- Milk Music
Milk Music is a punk band from Olympia, WA. They harken back to bands such as Wipers or even Townes Van Zandt, two of my favorites of all time. It is lo-fi, fuzzy, grungy, while still having a sound that places it firmly in the modern age. I cannot STAND retro music. It’s one thing to draw from older sounds, it’s a totally different animal to copy a sound. I would rather listen to music from a particular decade than listen to a great value modern version. Milk Music avoids this by bringing a new interpretation to a sound that can easily be ridden into the ground. It’s hard to not feel it in your body when Alex Cohen yells “Don’t fuck with me man/I’m illegal and free.”
4. A Secret Life- Phantom Handshakes
This was a song my partner originally showed me, so I am not too familiar with their background. I originally thought they could be Icelandic, solely based on the vocalists pronunciation of the line “you kiss makes me alive” at the 1:15 mark. It has a distinct Bjork “twang” to it. After some digging, I found that they are American, based mostly in New York City.
5. I Ain’t- Dinosaur Jr
I have loved Dinosaur Jr. for the better part of a decade. I would have been into them sooner but I always assumed they were lame due to their name! I have since learned from that mistake. They are one of my favorite bands of all time. This song is from their most recent album, one I had not heard until I saw them live at the beginning of the month here in Houston, TX. J Mascis continues to make intelligent, original grunge songs. He’s been in this business over 30 years and has yet to release a flop. I saw an interview with him once (shown below) wherein he said that writing a song is like fishing. He relaxes in front of the tv and just strums and plays around. Not to mention he is one of the greatest living guitarists. Something about the way he sings the words “I ain’t” scratches a good spot in my brain. Its like taking a nice bite out of a crunchy snack.
6. Rosebud- U.S. Girls
What can I say other than U.S. Girls is in a league of her own? Fresh, original, impossible to pin to a certain genre.
7. I Want You to Love Me- Fiona Apple
Admittedly, it took me a few years to listen to Fiona Apple’s most recent album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters. I have an extensive history with her. My first experience with her music was in 7th grade. I grew up a few hours away from New Orleans. My family was in town for the day, and I purchased Tidal at the Tower Records downtown, which has since shut down. I remember hearing “sleep to dream” on my portable CD player as we drove out of the city and I felt some weird pang in my body, like it was the first glimmer of an older personality coming out. Until that point, I was mostly familiar with my dad’ music, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, etc. I’ll forever love them for that. But Fiona Apple was mine and mine alone. So when this album was released out of the blue I was floored and felt such powerful nostalgia wash over me that I could not listen. Of course, first track I put on I was hooked. I think it speaks to the painful understanding that we will one day be forgotten when she says, “I know none of this/will matter in the long run/But I know a sound/Is still a sound around no one.”
8. Walk On- Neil Young, not available on Spotify
Neil Young made headlines when he chose to remove his discography from Spotify earlier this year. It was in protest to the platform hosting Joe Rogan--a fearmongering, covid-19 denying, horse dewormer guzzling brain-rot troglodyte. Neil Young, on the other hand, seems to be a genuine man with a warm heart. This song helps me hold my head up high, no matter how disparaged or insecure I may be feeling in that moment.
9. Aint Got No/ I Got Life- Nina Simone
Similarly, this song by Nina Simone reminds us that, at every turn, we always have ourselves. Always.
10. Alright- Guided by Voices
I wanted to end this playlist with the screams of “alright” by Robert Pollard. I hope this playlist gives you some hope and drives you to continue.
All the love,
Emma.
PS- let me know how you like the playlist, my email is emmaarceneaux0@gmail.com 😊
