PB #5: Medieval Timez
Dear friends,
Please enjoy the bounty I have gathered in my banger quest basket this week. Some of it is pretty weird! Let's do this.
If the Renaissance Faire were coole
I'm surely not the first person to say that Angel Deradoorian sings like a literal angel, but she does. Sorry. This glorious, mystical folk excursion emits extremely medieval vibes. Just when you turn the corner past the swirling of the piano scales and arpeggiations and think it's over, she hits you with some chanting that starts to border on ominous. And, then she just goes ahead and ends with: "THE PRISON MIND CONTINUES TO SWELL FROM ALL YOUR DESIRE TO ESCAPE FROM THIS HELL." Welp! 🙃 Watch the video and enter her magical wilderness lyre zone.
Deradoorian - "Monk's Robes"
Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud | Pre-Order the Record!
A Visual Brain
Dream Chimney is a treasure trove of interesting things to listen to - check out their site, subscribe to their newsletter or follow them on Soundcloud to get bursts of musical inspiration. This week, they introduced me to Toshioki Matsumura, a Japanese composer active in the '80s and '90s whose work often accompanied video visuals (here is one example - whoa). This is very new age, but relatively uptempo, so it gives the feeling of traveling through a rainbow aquarium while also feeling calm and productive. Or maybe that's the caffeine. Either way...
Toshioki Matsumura - "Par Un Tunnel (Photogram Work #2)"
YouTube | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Pre-Order the Record!
Gotta throw a sad one in here
I love a bittersweet, beautiful song and this one from Laura Marling is my new crush. Her voice is *chef's kiss*, but when she layers on the harmonies on the "gone"s, "down"s, "long"s and "etc"s - IT'S TRULY BREATHTAKING. We could all use a lovely cocoon to burrow in right now and Marling's new album "Song for Our Daughter" will do just fine.
Laura Marling - "Held Down"
Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp
One ice cold nutcracker, please. PLEASE.
If I get to go to the beach this year, I will be (as ever) listening to my Beach Goth playlist and this song will be one of the latest additions to that mix. If I don't get to go to the beach this year, I will still be listening to my Beach Goth playlist, but in my apartment with ice cold nutcrackers that I have to make myself :(((((((((. I might also put on this video for Peggy Sue's "In Dreams" because it captures that dark tropical feeling that I love so much.
Peggy Sue - "In Dreams"
Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp
A Safdie-adjacent bunny hole
So, I watched Frownland last night and..it felt like having a 107 minute anxiety attack by proxy. If you like Cassavetes, but want to ratchet up the discomfort factor - it's on the Criterion Channel. (Ooh, I just read that Film Comment compared it to Eraserhead and YES.) Anyway, aside from the visceral AF acting and directing, I found that the music covered my brain in a soft patina of slime that I still can't wash away. It very much blew my mind. It's kind of like a more nausea-inducing version of the AMAZING Daniel Lopatin score from Uncut Gems. The score (by Paul Grimstad) isn't really available to stream anywhere that I can find, but it IS available on vinyl and you can get a taste for both audio and visual in the Frownland trailer:
In trying to find the score online, I did find that Grimstad has a show on ELARA.FM, the Safdie bros' production company's online radio station, which they launched for THESE TIMES. Not surprisingly, ELARA.FM is stacked with weird and wonderful mixes and shows from a wide variety of contributors and I can't wait to listen to allllll of them. Grimstad's show is called "PRYME RIB" and yo, it's good and perfectly unsettling.
"PRYME RYB" with Paul Grimstad ep001 4/09/2020
"PRYME RYB" with Paul Grimstad ep002 4/16/2020
"PRYME RYB" with Paul Grimstad ep003 4/23/2020
Even more bonus mixes!
IT'S TAURUS SEASON.
Insecure is not only one of my favorite shows, but THE MUSIC IS UNFUCKWITHABLE. Always. The official playlist bangs.
J.Robb - cantbecancelled set. Big DJ Energy.
OK, I'm going back to nerding out to this Sondheim 90th Birthday Concert. Who has good quarantine cocktail recipes???
~OFFICIAL PERSONAL BANGERS PLAYLIST~
xo,
Nicole