b-sides
vii. what I'm listening to
Thanks for sticking with me as I continue to share on this blog and figure out just what is that I’m doing here <3
On this post: for the past few months I’ve been sharing the music I listen to, the books I read, and the (occasional) content that I watch. BUT I have been realizing that I am quite content just sharing music, as that is my true passion (I do hope to do another roundup of the books I read this year at the end of the year). Moving forward, I’ll be switching this recurring post up to just be tracks, bops, deep cuts, crate pulls, grooves, b-sides. It’s been another month, so here’s another triple header: storm on the horizon / eye of the storm; cartas desde lejos; lavender daydreams 🧘🏽♀️🍇
As many of you know, I listen to a lot of music (I consistently hit over 100,000 listening minutes on Spotify every year). Music is one of the great loves of my life. When I was growing up I would listen to music for hours alone in the dark, oscillating between self-reflection and the ebb and flow of the track on my headphones. I do less listening in the dark these days, but am constantly on the hunt for the next bop, deep cut, or beat that will hit just the right serotonin receiver. You are hopefully the beneficiaries of this obsession of mine.
Check out July’s playlists:
I. storm on the horizon/ eye of the storm
I first heard Bedouine in the midst of the pandemic. Her folk, lyric driven songs captured my heart. I recently revisited her self-titled album, that has some of my favorites (One of These Days, Solitary Daughter stick out), and on this listen Nice and Quiet really resonated with me. You should give a listen if you’re missing your monthly dose of whistful wanderlust guitar strumming.
I love an artist who sings in Spanish and English. KAINA is one of those artists. It brings me deep joy and satisfaction to be amongst those bilingual enough to understand and enjoy and appreciate the nuance and difficulty of switching between the two languages so seamlessly. After having attempted to pen some lyrics that do just that, I am even more impressed with this track Could Be A Curse. Slow, yet steadily moving forward, this song feels like I’m either just falling asleep and entering a dream, or I’ve just woken up and can’t tell if I’m still in it or not.
We all know that I love Disco music. Donna Summer is one of the queens of Disco, undisputed. If you’ve never listened to the 16 minute version of Love to Love You Baby, then read no further and go and do that before proceeding. I was going through her discography and stumbled upon this album, Four Seasons of Love. It’s funny, I must have seen this album no less than half a dozen times in used record bins and at estate sales, but never picked it up. I guess I assumed it was overstock, the result of greedy record companies who wanted ever more disco singles to push onto an oversaturated late 1970s market. That might be true, but this album still slaps. A concept album, we follow a star-crossed lover through the seasons of the year.
I had listened to a few Julia Jacklin songs (The popular cuts: Pressure to Party, and Someday), but it was a partner of mine who sent this particular track my way - a single released in 2020. Fittingly the very beginning of the pandemic when we all found ourselves in a state of uncertainty and resultant depression (At least, that was my experience of much of 2020). Listen to when you’re feeling burnt out on your living situation or need a reminder that it’s ok to:
Cry, cry, cry, cry,
cry cry.
Sade is a blessing. I didn’t start listening to her until I was an adult, which is a shame (My musical taste was pretty shallow when I was ages 10-20, so she probably would have been lost on me then anyway). I found myself in one of the local pool halls here in Xela (The one with the nice pool tables) — We hardly ever make our way over there because it’s so far from downtown, but this particular day we did and wouldn’t know that familiar drum beat bongo comes in. And then those silky lyrics ugh. What’s a girl to do. Smooth Operator had us dancing to the radio like it did to our parents back in 1984.
II. cartas desde lejos
The first time I ever heard about Daddy Yankee (Not even any of his songs) was way back in high school Spanish class, circa 2010-11. I suppose this makes sense, this banger, Rompe, had come out in 2004 (Not to mention Lo Que Pasó, Pasó and Gasolina) and would have been all over the clubs in Latin America whilst the White women who would become my instructors 6 years later would have been in college, studying abroad, perreando and madrugando. I somehow found myself listening to old Reggaeton as I was heading towards the beach a few weeks ago. I knew soooo many of the melodies, the beats, some of the choruses, but I’d be lying if I told you I knew any of the names of those songs prior to this particular trip lol. Rompe caught my attention because right at minute 00:51 it has a crazy beat switchup that dumps my serotonin. Give it a listen.
Xavi is one of the young artists who has been bringing “regional Mexican” music to the forefront of the sonic landscape in Latin America (Think Ella Baila Sola). More specifically Xavi is often singing corridos tumbadoss - with elements of Mexican corridos and trap. As it were, this new single En Privado is his departure from those corridos, as he enters into the world of bachata. I could have sworn that the melody in this song (the one that opens up the song) is an interpolation from somewhere, if it is, I wasn’t able to place it, but maybe you can, if you do drop me a line!
I owe a shoutout to my friend Ian for showing me Mom Jeans. They are very obviously a direct influence on a new music project I’m involved in that may or may not be launching at my 30th birthday party this year… The best of midwest emo and whiny voices and depressing lyrics, the kind that my parent’s would screen for before they would let me or my sister listen to an album when we were kids (lmao).
Please, tell me how the fuck
I’m supposed to deal with loosing you?
selines makes music my ex would eat up. Yearning, but crank up to 11. selines is currently based in NYC (Where she was born and raised in the Bronx) but makes songs for all the little Spanish speaking bedroom singer songwriters both in Latin America and the Diaspora (Make Kevin Kaarl with female vocals).
Es tu sonrisa junto a la mía
Que me hace llorar de pura alegría
No sé lo que sentía
Pero todo se empezó a aclarar
Es algo en tus ojos que la luna ilumina
Y mi corazón se volvió loco al mirar
No sé mucho de lo que siento
Pero creo que mе empiezo a enamorar
Found DE SCHUURMAN from a TikTok that was talking about the orgins of Reggaeton and the various siblings that were born of that litter. These Netherlands based diasporic beats are an example of that proliferation. Reggaeton but make it waaaayyy more electronic. Unfortunately the video won’t link to here on Substack so you’ll have to follow the link to Youtube.
III. lavender daydreams
Dreamy 80s pop, maye [My-Ay] is bringing us EVEN MORE Spanish-English lyrics, vibes, singles. You might have heard her breakout single Tú (2019) or My Love (Also 2019). If you’re into her fuzzy audio and synthy melodies, you’ll want to give her full length album, Música Para Abrir el Cielo a listen to (It just dropped a little over a month ago!).
Sitting in the studio, in the midst of a jam session, a friend put on Kinky after having listened to us ramble on about our various emo-punk-rock influences (MCR, Mom Jeans., Juanita y Los Feos, etc.). Kinky fits right in, 2006 Mexican electronic-rock, funky bass line, lots of La-la-las, and a catchy chorus - “A donde Van!?”
This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting and marmaladando with one of the members of SMH (The H if you were wondering - check out their solo material here). Self-described electronic-pop, their recent single Camera should be a hit, time will tell - song of the summer???? I love the muted video game intro, and I’m a slut for a song with a good beat switch [1:32]. Pop this bad boy on and crank up your volume <3
IDK man, I just like that sweet sweet indie-pop in Spanish. rusowsky gets me my fix. Their album DAISY just dropped and has been in many of my friend’s rotations, but this little single popped up on a playlist recently and took me on a little journey through the hard truths of letting go - a lesson I’ve been learning for the past several years.
De tu amor yo no sé,
de tu amor yo no sé
Little Jesus is coming back to play a concert in Guatemala in about two weeks and I won’t be here for it T.T Hailing from CDMX, they are a Spanish indie-rock group that have been putting out hits since 2016. The track here is a single, with vocals by guest Jimena González. I love the spoken word over the instrumentation — just a kind of song that I don’t hear very often (an inspiration). I’m constantly reminded that a song can look many different ways but it helps to have a little hook, no more than a line or two, less than 10 words, to come back to:
No es tu culpa querer tanto
Amar nunca será malo
Hoping to have something more substantive to y’all in a week or two :) aiming for 2 content piece a month, but who knows. I’m also traveling back to the States for my cousin’s wedding! The real ones already know what’s up, but that will most certainly effect my posting at the end of this month and beginning of next.