#where's that post that says mitski DOES make very good songs but her fans that are just insufferable like hell

[pinchan]

do u ever get mad when a song u like get popular on tiktok or instagram reels or whatever

[whatiwillsay]

i honestly put taylor in the same category as phoebe bridgers, mitski, brie larson, the girl from “you”. where it’s like, yeah they’re bi (out or closeted) but they’re not as “gay” as you think they are, and i don’t mean that in an invalidating way. like take phoebe for example, her whole thing that the internet brands her as is “making music for bi girls/ gay girls” but she’s only had serious relationships with men. and when she was dating a woman, she was having threesomes with the girl’s bf before they got together.

some bi women prefer men, which is fine but the internet will make it seem like they’re 99-1 women-men. and then get upset when they’re posting their bf. recently i’ve been wondering if taylor is in that boat, and i’m not taking her music as “proof” of how much she likes women bc she’s just a rly rly good songwriter?? is this a way to make her queer fans feel included or are they her lived experiences/feelings? something i think about.

yeah this is the kind of discourse that bores me immensely because there’s never going to be any pure way to see what bi women prefer men because it’s a natural preference (and there are many women like that and they’re valid and i love them and support them fully as members of the lgbt community) and what bi women “prefer men” because society hates women AND hates gay people.

like for one we don’t know who prefers men and who doesn’t but let’s say taylor does. do you think being endlessly told (either explicitly or just picking up on context clues around the industry) at 15, 16, 17 that dating a woman would ruin her life and ruin her career and ruin her family’s reputation just MIGHT have had a little impact on who she chooses to date? do you think that making hundreds of millions of dollars off selling songs exclusively (in the public’s eye) about famous women just might have had a little impact on what she prefers?

like you’re basically saying “so and so only publicly dates men and of course society LOVES GAY WOMEN like the butcher and gayer the better! we are completely past misogyny and homophobia as a nation 😌 so yes all the women who publicly only date men, even though at times they’re not even allowed to choose what they wear, that is 100% their preference and choice, no one has ever hid a part of themselves from the public ever so these dating preferences must be legit and innate 😌” like no. society hates women and gay people there is absolutely no point in digging around and analyzing and trying to sus out who prefers what. did you say elton john preferred women when he married a woman? did you say kehlani preferred men before they were out as a lesbian?

furthermore some women like lady gaga and miley are on record as saying yes i openly dated a woman the press ignored it. so like… how do you even know who is dating women and prefers them?

taylor MAY prefer men and if she does that’s great im happy for her (because her life is much easier for it) but we don’t know that for sure and it’s very silly to think someone’s public image can tell you their preference in a society polluted with hatred.

but yes the internet is overrun with people who think that a bi woman must prefer men and that’s simply not true in all cases and the only reason people do that is misogyny and homophobic heteronormativity and i’m bored of it.

[merzbow]

Who are some of your fav non-white musicians? They are incredibly underrepresented and I really want to listen to and support more of them

oh my god, where to start? there’s so many and it’s all like, varying across a bunch of genres and some aren’t the most accessible but i’ll name the ones off the top of my head, some with description so you can decide who to listen to from what you think you might like.

The Mars Volta — progressive rock. one of my favorite bands of all time. almost everyone that played in TMV was/is non-white (and they had a lot). TMV was the Omar and Cedric show, but there would be no TMV without founding members Jon Theodore (one of my favorite drummers of all time) and the late Ikey Owens (who was their pianist). listen to De-loused in the Comatorium (2003) from beginning to end, and if you end up liking TMV, then work your way through their discography. it’s worth it.

At the Drive-In — post-hardcore, progressive. Omar and Cedric’s previous band. the most influential, and arguably the most important post-hardcore band of all time. every one except Jim Ward and his replacement is non-white. start with their third studio album Relationship of Command (2000), and if you have never heard their song One Armed Scissor, you absolutely have to.

Omar Rodríguez-López — progressive rock, indie pop, almost every genre under the sun. one of my favorite guitarists of all time. it’s impossible to condense his 49 album discography (and those are just solo albums) into a blurb so i’m not gonna try. afro Puerto-Rican. multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, to name a couple), producer, composer, songwriter, director. it’s easier to list the things Omar isn’t and hasn’t done.

Dance Gavin Dance — post-hardcore, progressive. DGD has a long, complicated history, but almost every album they have ever released is solid. their guitarist, founder, and honest-to-god visionary Will Swan is one of my favorite guitarists of all time. Will is black and latino (specifically half Mexican). i’ve been a fan since 2010. the best albums to start with are probably the last two latest releases which are Artificial Selection (2018) and Mothership (2016), but my personal favorite albums are Dance Gavin Dance (self-titled, 2008), Happiness (2009), and Acceptance Speech (2013)

the rest of the recommendations are under this read more bc this is long.

Hail the Sun — post-hardcore, progressive. Donovan Melero is one of my favorite drummers of all time, he’s also the front man/vocalist of HTS. He’s Latinx, specifically Mexican-American. Guitarist Aric Garcia is also Latinx. my favorite HTS album is Wake (2014), but their latest album Mental Knife (2018) is a good place to start. 

Sianvar — progressive rock/post-hardcore. super group consisting of the previously mentioned favorites Will Swan (Dance Gavin Dance), Donovan Melero (Hail the Sun), and Sergio Medina (Stolas). they recently went on a indefinite hiatus/disbanded this year. they have one self titled EP released in 2014, and a studio album called Stay Lost (2016).

Secret Band — post-hardcore, progressive, on the heavy side. side-project/side-group of Will and the other DGD members, basically DGD without the clean vocals/singing.

Royal Coda — post-hardcore, progressive. super-group consisting of the (again) previously mentioned favorites Will Swan (Dance Gavin Dance), Donovan Melero (Hail the Sun), Sergio Medina (Stolas, Sianvar) and ex-Dance Gavin Dance singer Kurt Travis. definitely listen to Compassion (2019).

Frank Ocean — indie pop. probably the most popular artist i’ve mentioned, besides Earl, or DG, or Denzel. also probably my favorite singer of all time, also probably my favorite bisexual of all time. listen to Blond (2016).

Mitski —indie pop. Mitski is bisexual, Japanese-American woman. her music honestly means a lot to me, all the topics are so personally relatable as another bi asian girl. Puberty 2 (2016) is my favorite Mitski album.

Japanese Breakfast —indie pop. Michelle is a bisexual, Korean-American woman. listen to Psychopomp (2016).

FKA twigs—indie pop.Twigs is incredibly talented, if you like musicians like Kate Bush then she’s perfect for you; she makes incredible music and I couldn’t recommend MAGDALENE (2019) enough.

JPEGMAFIA — experimental rap. Peggy’s latest album All My Heroes Are Cornballs (2019) was released just recently (september 13!), while that’s a good album to start with i recommend starting with his second studio album Veteran (2018). favorite songs from Veteran to name a few are: Baby I’m Bleeding, I Cannot Fucking Wait Until Morrissey Dies, 1539 N. Calvert, and Rock N Roll is Dead.

Denzel Curry — experimental rap. start with Ta13oo/Taboo (2018), or ZUU (2019)

Danny Brown — experimental rap. start with either Atrocity Exhibition (2016) or XXX (2012), either way, you can’t go wrong.

Earl Sweatshirt — experimental rap. honestly, pick any of his three studio albums to listen to and you’re set, but Doris (2013) is probably the most accessible/easiest album to start with.

Death Grips — experimental rap. y’all already probably know who DG are and who Ride is, so i don’t have to introduce them/him. recommended: Exmilitary (2011), No Love Deep Web (2012), and The Money Store (2012).

Kero Kero Bonito — indie pop. Sarah Midori Perry, also known as Sarah Bonito, is British-Japanese. listen to Bonito Generation (2015)

Covet — math rock, instrumental. their front woman/guitarist, Yvette Young, is Chinese-American.

Stolas — post-hardcore, progressive. disbanded in 2018, still worth listening to. this is Sergio Medina’s original band, again if you ended up liking ATDI, or TMV, or DGD, you will absolutely love Stolas. Sergio is latino (specifically Mexican and Argentine), i absolutely love his guitar playing, he’s honestly so underrated.

honorable mentions, not necessarily my favorites but i do like and listen to these bands/artists/musicians.

Animals As Leaders — progressive metal, instrumental. there’s nothing about Tosin Abasi’s guitar playing i can say that thousand of others haven’t said before, he’s beyond amazing. Tosin is Nigerian-American, and AAL’s second guitarist Javier Reyes is latino. If you like heavy virtuoso/technical music like maybe, Dream Theater, then AAL is perfect for you.

Nova Charisma — progressive rock. this is Donovan and Sergio’s current side project, Nova Charisma is officially just a duo but their drummer is ex-Stolas drummer Carlo Marquez (who is close friends with both Donovan and Sergio). Nova Charisma is boneless TMV, and i mean that in a very good way (both Donovan and Sergio are heavily influenced by TMV and ATDI). that might change with future releases though, since they only have a three song EP out as of right now.

Periphery — progressive metal. guitarist and founder Misha Mansoor is insanely fucking talented. Misha is Indian-Mauritian.

Chon — progressive rock, instrumental. Mario Camarena, Nathan Camarena, and Esiah Camarena are all Mexican-American.

Polyphia — progressive rock, instrumental. Tim Henson, their guitarist, is half Chinese.

Trivium — early stuff is metalcore, current stuff is metalcore and thrash metal influenced american heavy metal Matt Heafy is Japanese-American, and does a mean James Hetfield impression if you’re into that.

popular/mainstream bands that have members of color and/or musicians of color that i also enjoy/love that you probably already know of:

Metallica (Metal/Thrash Metal. this one’s pretty obvious, since this is a Metallica blog… anyway, Kirk is Filipino (like me), and Rob is Mexican-American/latino.)

The Smashing Pumpkins (Rock. their guitarist, James Iha, is Japanese-American. you have to listen to Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.)

Jimi Hendrix (Rock. Jimi is black, and the greatest guitarist of all time, duh, i don’t have to explain this one.)

John Coltrane (Jazz. the jazz GOAT. listen to A Love Supreme.)

Miles Davis (Jazz. Miles is the GOAT beside Coltrane, if you’ve never listened to Bitches Brew you absolutely have to.)

Rage Against The Machine (Rap metal. Tom Morello is black and Zach de la Rocha is latino.)

Deftones (Rock. Almost all of the band members are latino, with the exception of their first bassist who was Asian and a couple of others.)

Jane’s Addiction (Hard rock. Dave Navarro is latino.)

Soundgarden (Grunge. Kim Thayil is Indian.)

Alice In Chains (Grunge. William DuVall is black and Mike Inez is Filipino.)

My Chemical Romance (Pop-punk. Ray Toro is latino.)

Fall Out Boy (Pop-punk. Pete Wentz is black.)

Playboi Carti (Rap. Carti’s black. please listen to Die Lit.)

Megan Thee Stallion (Rap. Meg is absolutely lovable and supremely talented, and I absolutely adore her. steam her music!)

LAST UPDATED: August 7, 2020

[cowardsanctuary]

suitcase or balloon music headcannons?

let’s do BOTH!!! i’ve placed the headcanons under a read more because i don’t like posting anything that’s too long ^^;

Suitcase:

she’s too nervous to pick up an instrument, but as a kid she’s had dreams of becoming a famous singer, among other things.

suitcase’s voice is very mellow and actually quite pleasant, but she doesn’t like to sing for the exact opposite reason nickel does: of course being, she doesn’t think she sounds that good and she doesn’t want to annoy people with it. she’s not on nickel’s level, but she’s REALLY GOOD and suitcase DESERVES ENCOURAGEMENT!!!!

she expressed a desire to play a string instrument to balloon in the past and paintbrush overheard and? they’ve been trying to drop hints to her for the,,, longest time,,,,,, meanwhile, balloon’s been gently encouraging her!

balloon’s trying to convince paintbrush (and to a lesser extent cheesy) to be more upfront about helping her learn a string instrument. i say “to a lesser extent cheesy” because balloon can’t stand cheesy either so he kind of gives up asking half of the time

cheesy really wants to help :( i won’t stop mentioning him please share my cheesy headcanon

i change my mind about paintbrush listening to Mitski, because honestly suitcase would listen to Mitski a lot. or just,,, any artist that has a mellow, forlorn undertone to their music! she likes soft & sad songs as well as love songs and pop songs, and while she can appreciate a good banger every once in awhile, anything that’s too noisy (i.e. rock stuff) would make her agitated. however, she loves songs w/a steady beat most of all.

here’s some songs that i think would be right up her alley! also low-key projecting because i love Sara Bareilles and Mitski very very much:> Why Didn’t You Stop Me and First Love / Late Spring by Mitski> Beautiful Girl by Sara Bareilles> she’d also love halsey’s voice but she’d be very flustered listening to her (coughs suitcase is WLW)> balloon probably indirectly gets her into ariana grande tbh> anywho if it sounds like a lovesick lesbian listens to it then it’s on suitcase’s playlist

Balloon:

this isn’t canon but, canonically balloon can and has reached higher notes than marshmallow in the past. he is the ultimate soprano. his singing voice is way too screechy to be enjoyed by most, but he tries his best. in the past he kinda evaded singing because he knows his voice is shitty and he thought it was kinda stupid, but he’s… always had a lot of fun singing!

more recently, he’s been trying to get out of his shell and prompt suitcase to do so as well, so he’s been inviting her to karaoke nights. he belts out the dumbest songs and he looks stupid while doing so but the smile on his face is big and genuine

due to previous incidents (with an s), balloon is no longer allowed to sing with glass objects in the same room in Hotel OJ. he has also been banned from singing in 3 separate karaoke bars because of similar reasons.

nickel encourages this behavior, and whenever the two of them are out at a karaoke bar and piss drunk he bets balloon $20 bucks he can’t shatter x amount of glasses. balloon, of course, wins every time

he plays the triangle

BALLOON PLAYS THE TRIANGLE AND THIS IS C

his taste in music, for the most part, is extremely trashy. mainstream pop, rap, etc, are all present in his playlists and he loves each and every one. he’d do literally anything for nikki minaj and ariana grande and lady gaga. he also listens to taylor swift and miley cyrus and ke$ha and he literally cries whenever they write a power ballad. if anything is popular, balloon, like a foolish fly, gravitates towards it. but he genuinely likes the songs, and he won’t stop blasting Hot and Cold and TGIF and oj is lowkey considering hating him again

bomb and balloon have the exact same musical tastes. bomb gave balloon the silent treatment when he came to the hotel legit until balloon recited Bang Bang perfectly during a particularly drunk karaoke night and they slowly just. reconciled over pop songs. it’s beautiful

supplementary hc where pickle, cheesy, tissues, bomb, and balloon like to spend some friday nights at karaoke bars doing dumbshit. paper and nickel join occasionally (independent of each other, but some nights they both join). paper keeps asking OJ to join but he’s refused every time. balloon keeps promising OJ to go mute just so he can enjoy himself, but OJ assures him it’s not balloon. (OJ doesn’t join because he feels guilty about neglecting the hotel,,,)> sometimes cherries or soap join, but neither of them like alcohol so whenever they join everyone insists it’s family night. the boys insist not to cuss as an inside joke, but cherries always drops f-bombs at the most opportune times and everyone loses their SHIT. soap doesn’t like to cuss, but once she just yelled fuck in the middle of a song everyone went absolutely hogwild> yin-yang has been banned from the same exact bars balloon’s not allowed to sing in because yang thought it was socially acceptable to smash glasses there. but every once in awhile they join, but it’s always with cherries now (mostly because yin is anxious about smashing glasses again)> once, the Boys™ ran into paintbrush and fan at the same karaoke place. paintbrush walked onto the stage, looked at the Boys™ straight in the eye, and screamed a metal song. right after fan walked up and they both sang the theme song to evangelion (in the original japanese). everyone was losing it except balloon, who was kinda confused> trophy loves karaoke night because it means he can take nice pictures of the hotel more often without being disturbed. sure there are still people there, but Less

[tweetermixtapeclub]

“My “Best of 2016” Mix

Hey guys! ThingsFallAfart here (aka Kathleen).

For my first mixtape post, I’m cheating a little and sharing with you something I made back in February: my favorite songs of 2016. The notable exception here is anything from Lemonade, since that’s not available on Spotify. That might be a blessing, though, because I don’t think I could pick one song off that album anyway!

I also want to note that these are NOT in order of how much I like them, but rather I tried to make them flow into each other well.

1. “Identikit” by Radiohead. There’s a lot of baggage that comes along with being a Radiohead fan. I hate talking about them, because people tend to either think that they’re the new Beatles or that they’re overrated, both of which are boring opinions to me. I’m much more interested in how music makes me feel, physically, than in what Pitchfork thinks. And so, what I actually want to say: the layered voices in this song are so beautiful. And I love the echo-y effects. And I love how full and rich it sounds. I want to turn this up so loud and let it resonate in me. Do you know the feeling when a concert starts and you can feel the soundwaves in your chest? That’s the closest thing I have to religion, and this song does it for me.

2. “Jesus Alone” by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. I don’t know if this is common knowledge for this particular audience, but Nick Cave’s teenaged son fell off a cliff and died in 2015 when they were recording this album. It’s such an unimaginable tragedy, and a lot of fans thought he would just be done with everything after that. But then they released this album, and it’s so haunting and tragic and grief-stricken, and it affected me almost as much as Blackstar did (which was a lot). I’m extremely attached to Nick Cave, and the droning guitars incite an almost meditative state in me.

3. “Father’s Child” by Michael Kiwanuka. This guy deserves to be huge. When the backup vocals and strings fill in the background of this song, my chest fills up. I love the dancey-soul beat and the way that he sings and the guitar work and the piano and the strings and the gospel-y backup singers. Talking about music is so hard! I’m trying to be more specific than “it sounds good”, but that’s, like, what music is, man.

4. “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)” by David Bowie. Were you affected by Bowie’s death? I was. I saw the news as soon as I woke up that day and collapsed into a sobbing heap. I’m one of the millions (billions?) of people who consider David Bowie to be one of the key elements of my identity. He changed the world. I couldn’t listen to this album for the first couple days he was gone, and then I listened to it every spare second for months, crying every time. Then I stopped crying, and I still kept listening. This album would’ve been one of the best albums I’ve heard even without the tragic circumstances. But it’s still inextricably bound to his death, and it will always make me sad, and I’m glad that we have this to remember him by. Why did I pick this track? I don’t know. They’re all perfect. This one got stuck in my head a lot. I love the driving beat and the minor key and the intensity behind “I kissed your face / I touched your face / Sue, goodbye”. Let’s move on to something less depressing!

5. “On the Level” by Leonard Cohen. Oh my god, come on. I’m sorry. 2016 sucked, you guys. So, here’s my Leonard Cohen journey: I have almost exclusively listened to his releases as an elderly man. I’m not very familiar with his actual hits. I’m very attached to the style he settled on as an old man, where he gravels his poetry with women singing gospel-type vocals behind him. His younger performances have those aspects, but he really leans into it the older he gets. If you like this track, I highly recommend his Live in London album from 2009. I like this particular song a lot. When I listen to it, I feel like he’s conspiratorially confessing to me at the beginning, and, when it takes off with the backing vocals, he’s practically joyful about his triumph over temptation. Leonard Cohen was an enormously important figure to me. His philosophy and spirituality and poetry have been my compass for many years.

6. “666 ʇ” by Bon Iver. Okay! Bon Iver! My husband hates him! He hates his high-pitched voice and the droning instrumentation! My husband is WRONG. I have loved every single Bon Iver release. This album is so weird and unexpected. Bon Iver has always had such a cool and unique sound, and with this album it got even cooler. The thing that binds together my musical taste is creativity, or, to be more specific, I like artists that get bored easily. I like artists who need to constantly change their sound. That willingness to experiment is, to me, a prime indication of talent. And also, related, I also get bored easily, so when I hear an album that surprises me, I fall in love. And I fell in love with 22, A Million.

7. “Sweet As Sweet Comes” by Robbie Fulks. Americana is a genre that I have trouble talking about. I love the country sound, with the focus on vocals and guitar and straightforward songwriting. I love the sound of Robbie Fulks’ voice. I want to see him live in a very small venue. This song makes me calm and happy.

8. “About to Find Out” by Margo Price. Okay, as much as Bowie and Cohen are part of my identity, classic country women like Loretta, Dolly, and Tammy are also integral to my life. I grew up on a farm in an extremely conservative county, and so, wouldn’t you know it, I’ve always been totally enamored by charming women using catchy songs and humor and incredible singing talent to lead a feminist revolt from inside the rural conservative culture. I genuinely believe that “The Pill” by Loretta Lynn is one of the most influential feminist works in American history. So I was thrilled to hear this album by Margo Price, who brings the same humor and talent and attitude to her music in what is clearly a direct homage to these incredible women (especially “Fist City”, which is one of the greatest songs of all time).

9. “Sun Don’t Shine” by Drive-By Truckers. I just saw these guys in concert, which I’ve been dying to do since Decoration Day in 2003, and they did not disappoint. This band splits the songwriting and lead vocals between Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, and I love them both, but Patterson (who sings this song) is my personal favorite. He has such an evocative voice, and his songwriting tends to speak to me in a personal way. These lyrics are more obscure than a lot of their songs, and this song is a simple expression of an emotion. If you listen to the entire album, which I highly recommend, this song serves as an intermission for an album full of angry protest songs about Tr*mp, gun violence, and police brutality. Every song on this album is incredible, but I chose this one because it... feels good to me.

10. “Call to Arms” by Sturgill Simpson. Oh man. Sturgill. I said earlier how much I like classic country, right? Metamodern Sounds is one of my very favorite albums, and the reason is a combo of incredible songs and the fact that he sounds like the son of Waylon and Merle. And THIS album? He took those incredible songs and that classic country sound and added in HORNS and DANCE BEATS and it is SO FUN! When he released his cover of “In Bloom” (which you should go listen to), I didn’t think it could get better. I listened to it over and over and over. And then this album came out, and oh my god, I went nuts. This song is so frantic and is like the epitome of what I want in a rock n’ roll song.

11. “The Three of Me” by William Bell. This is a really wonderful classic soul-sounding song. I’m so glad that the music industry is back into this sound again. Soul has never really gone away, but in recent years there’s definitely been a resurgence, which allows old-timers like William Bell to put out new stuff. I love the horns, I love the lyrics, I love the beat.

12. “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia” by Car Seat Headrest. I’m sure you all know how great this album is. This song is mildly operatic and super long and super rewarding. I can’t believe they used the ridiculous cruise chip crash as a metaphor for life. I can’t believe it. It should be so dumb, but instead it’s so so good. I love that this song has acts, like The Decemberists wrote something important and modern (I love The Decemberists, but I also like making gentle fun of them). I love when the song gets confused and angry and loud in the second half before launching into a driving rock beat. There’s a lot to be written about this song, and I can’t do it justice. There’s so much. It’s overwhelmingly dense and rich and incredible.

13. “Never Be Mine” by Angel Olsen. Haha, jgleduc already used this song on his mix! I like everything he said about this song: “[it] reminds me of a contemporary take on the songs the Beatles started to do on their own but still heavily under the influence of girl group, the staccato guitar chords, guitar effects, and drum rolls especially.” I love the retro sound of this song, and the whole album is really really amazing.

14. “Once More to See You” by Mitski. Another sort of retro-sounding song, like if Phil Spector produced Lykke Li. Did you know that you wanted that combination? Well, here it is. It sounds like it belongs in the Twin Peaks reboot, which is a guaranteed way for me to love a song.

15. “Close to You” by Frank Ocean. Everyone loves Frank Ocean! I spent months exclusively listening to Channel Orange when it came out, and I was one of those people complaining about how long he was taking to release the follow-up. Thank goodness Blond is AMAZING. I had trouble choosing what song to pick, but this one always stuck out to me a lot. I like that he hides behind the synths, and I like that it doesn’t resolve. It’s just this little fragment of a song that feels like a shard of his personality.

16. “Gods” by Maxwell. Oh man, I love Maxwell. His voice is absolutely beautiful, and this song has a beat that really gets me. I’m really picky about R&B, and this whole album is perfect to me.

17. “Unfamiliar” by Common. Maybe I talk to the wrong people, but I don’t think this album got enough attention. Common has had a couple duds in his career, but I think this album is as good as his classics, like Be. Like the Drive-By Truckers track above, this song is a brief respite on an album of intense protest songs. Maybe I indulge too much in escapism? Whatever, this is a great song.

18. “Mad” by Solange. There were so many Important Albums released in 2016. I think Solange’s was the most surprising, though. She’s always been really good, but this album is a genuine masterpiece. It’s personal and intelligent and creative and insightful and fun and an integral part of the conversation. Also, thank you, Solange, for giving us a really great Lil Wayne verse. Those are hard to come by. (Side note: I’m seeing Solange in concert in two days and I’m so frickin’ hyped.)

19. “Solid Wall of Sound” by A Tribe Called Quest. Okay, A of all, Q-Tip is one of my all-time favorite producers. B of all, this song features Busta, who is one of my all-time favorite rappers. C of all, Elton John recorded a new verse for them, and it brings me unending happiness when hip-hop artists get dad rock guys to contribute to their songs. This album is required listening, and I honestly feel privileged that I get to experience it.

20. “Thieves! (Screamed the Ghost)” by Run the Jewels. Killer Mike & El-P are such important figures in the world right now. I don’t know your political beliefs, reader, but I think that these two consistently release work that is intelligent and striking and crucial.

(via https://open.spotify.com/user/thingsfallafart/playlist/2jDBx6YGpy0GQsFCHMfhHb)