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Video of the day:

Groove Armada - "At the River" 1997 Downtempo

Groove Armada's "At the River" is a song that fundamentally altered me the first time that I had ever heard it. I had been eating, living, and breathing a steady diet of hip hop for years, but this thing was just so jaw-droppingly chillout-beautiful that it proceeded to open up all the floodgates that eventually led me down a path to starting this blog, wherein my tastes have expanded exponentially into worlds I'd never thought possible. I left this thing on repeat for at least a week straight before I could tire of it, and when I wasn't able to listen to it, it was blasting in my head anyway. The string pads, the sampled strings that sound like they're emanating out of old-timey radio speakers, the slowly bouncy and warm acid squelches, the snail's-paced trip hop beat, the super lush and melty and graceful trombone, and the simple sampled soothing "if you're fond of sand dunes" lyric from Patti Page all combined to yield something that, at this current moment, is probably the most important song that I've ever heard in my life. If I'm ever stranded on a desert island, I need this tune with me, and if I should ever have a funeral, I want it played there too.

Now, this video here isn't the official video. It's actually part of a music video for a different song: "Viðrar vel til loftárása" by iconic Icelandic band Sigur Rós. But whoever decided to align these two things together did an extraordinary job of it, because it really feels like the video was shot for "At the River" specifically—a touching tale of young romance between two boys on the same soccer team in 1950s Iceland, who are surrounded by people who seem to neither understand nor approve of their affection for one another.

And if this is the first time you're ever hearing this song, then you're quite welcome.

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Somehow I went my entire life as a Sugar Ray fan without hearing this track. A nice callback to their funk metal days, even though it was released after their move to alt-rock. 🕺

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Replaying Phantom Liberty ... did not know that you could find Songbird's blastpod. 😲

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me when i find out a game has object physics

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It's like ... definitely more than a few soupcons of Menahan Street Band, but in a Russian dreampop soup. Big fan of this. 😌👍

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About to hop into this Soviet rock playlist, courtesy of @upst--rs. Don't know a single thing about Soviet rock besides an awful compilation that I once listened to called Glasnost, which I think was targeted towards a western audience as tensions between the US and USSR started to alleviate. I have a feeling that this playlist will be much better than that album though 🙏.

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Chuo - Tokyo, Japan

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House: You and I have found out that being normal sucks, 'cause we're freaks. The advantage of being a freak is it makes you stronger.

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Foreman: Noble. House: Moronic. It's an synonym.

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Burned Out really became a great driving at night song. It's like casually dramatic "loading" music ... but for real life. 😆

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Foreman: House. You're pathetic. You'll analyze anyone's faults, hypocrisies, weaknesses; but this kid's got some strength, and all of a sudden there's no time to talk about anything but the medicine. House: He's teaching prepubescent kids that truth matters, God doesn't and life sucks. I like him.

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Today I discovered a band called See Spot Run and I am just fascinated that their first release predates the Jonathan Lipnicki David Arquette movie of the same name by eight years.

OK, I totally forgot who starred in See Spot Run. It's been a long time. The kid in the movie was Angus T. Jones, but I mean ... I think Lipnicki was bigger at the time. 😆

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@randomvarious So this is the mix that I got. Just exported my favorites. 🤔

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Up to track 44 now of this 3 1/2 hour set. I am just supremely impressed with it. @randomvarious You might want to check this out sometime. Nobody is covering Russian jams. 😆

Seven tracks into this playlist of fifty, and so far it is just absolutely lit ... it's also got some, you'd think, uncharacteristic funk to it which is also amazing? 🤯

[upst--rs]

Seven tracks into this playlist of fifty, and so far it is just absolutely lit ... it's also got some, you'd think, uncharacteristic funk to it which is also amazing? 🤯