By the time most of you read this, I'll be at Newport Jazz Fest for the weekend—the Jazz Gloria. I was hoping this would be a jazzy week for record club, too, but alas. I've said it on other emo albums, and I'll say it here too. I used to listen to this genre so much in high school, but I just can't get into it when it's a new-to-me emo band I'm hearing in my mid-thirties. I've outgrown this genre. I still feel nostalgic about bands I once loved, but I can't seem to get into anything new. I don't know. I feel like this album has a sort of congested sound, like there is no space to breathe; it's just a wall of music. It doesn't feel very compelling or very interesting to me at this point in my life; maybe if I had heard it closer to when it came out, it would be a different story.
I've been having a hard time knowing what to write for this, as I think it's a near-perfect album and one of my favorites. But I don't want to write about how an album is good. But I guess it's better than writing about an album that I think is bad?
I'm sitting in a coffee shop and decided to put it on my headphones and write for the length of the album, whatever comes to mind that is not related to music directly.
The first thing I think about is how there is one person who knows how to drop the guillotine on me. One of the only people who I've loved who could deeply destroy me with a few words. And I wonder how much of that is because they've been diagnosed with narcissistic tendencies and how much of that is just because they are an Aquarius.
I read once that your soul works through the different Zodiac signs during its reincarnations. As in Aries are newer souls, so things feel harder for them. They still have so much to learn, and it's so hard to be a person stumbling through Earth for the first time. And as a Pisces, I'm almost done, ready for my soul to no longer be mine, but rather for it to dissolve and go back into the great cosmic soup. So, it makes sense, as an Aquarius has seen just about the same number of reincarnations as a Pisces would have, so that they would understand a heart's weak spots differently.
But I don't really know if I believe any of that. I also don't know if I'm ready for my soul to be done with its earth reincarnations. I think about that a lot and I think that there are still lives that I'd like to live. But maybe I'll feel differently when I'm older and live more in this lifetime.
I mostly want to believe in astrology when it tells me exactly what I want to hear. And it's right often enough that I can't help but have some belief in it. I'm always so mesmerized when I put my birth information into compatibility calculators with someone else's data; it's accurate, but you need the exact date, birth location, and time. I was born at 7:30 AM on the day the Gulf War ended, in case you want to see what an internet astrology app would say about our compatibility.
Because of the significance of that date and time, my mom almost named me Irene instead of Gloria, since it means peace. Irene is the daughter of Zeus and Themis. She is the goddess of peace and the personification of harmony and wealth. That's a good name. I would have liked having that name too.
Aphrodite is the motherless daughter of Uranus, born from sea foam after he was castrated by Cronus and his genitals were thrown into the sea. She emerged from the sea fully grown (think Botticelli's The Birth of Venus), and is the goddess of love, beauty, procreation, and desire. The Pisces origin story comes from her too. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite and her son Eros jumped into the Euphrates River and transformed into fish to escape the murderous giant Typhon.
But I feel like this is too much about astrology and not at all about Peach Pit lyrics. Not at all about being normal.
I wondered if Chagu is also a god that I never heard of, and did a quick search on Google. He's not. He's a musician and was the band's tour guide in Indonesia. Chagu kept saying, "we got to side turn sometime." But that ended up being slang for doing crystal meth. You definitely don't need to side turn sometimes.
And that's 37 minutes. It's less thoughts than I thought I'd have, but that's fine. I was constantly distracted by how good this album is.
So sometime in the next two weeks, Puke on Your Birthday is going to publish its 10,000th blog post. I don't have anything big planned. I am, however, considering it a Y2K-style event, in that I am afraid that Blogger is not going to be able to handle the extra digit, and the whole website is going to explode. I'm trying to back it up in as many ways as I can until then. If not... it was nice knowing ya, see you over on Wordpress I guess.
CATEGORY OF VOTING: "Gloria's Wall, Pt. II" — This is a sequel to last year's category, "Albums on Gloria's Wall." Sigur Rós won that one, and Gloria was perturbed at the negative reviews that resulted from that one. Mainly because she's not choosing the vinyl albums that adorn her wall based on musical quality! Only on how cool the cover art looks! The issue this year, with a fresh slate of eight albums on that living room wall the last time I checked, was that four of those albums were ineligible (mostly through the no repeat artists rule). So I asked Gloria to choose a fifth album for the poll. And wouldn't you know it, that album won. The good thing is that Peach Pit was chosen by Gloria for inclusion purposefully, and not via Gloria's Wall. Feels like Gloria would want it that way.
LOSING ALBUMS:Different Rooms by Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer; Gongjuung Doduk by Mid-Air Thief; How You Been by SML; Paris by Nils Frahm.
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ALBUM DETAILS
GENRE: Indie pop, indie rock, indie surf, bedroom pop, indie surf, jangle pop, slacker rock
PRONOUNS: I couldn't find any specific info on the band members' individual preferences
ABOUT: Peach Pit formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2016. Frontman Neil Smith plays rhythm guitar as well, while Christopher Vanderkooy is on lead guitar, Peter Wilton is on bass, and Mikey Pascuzzi is on drums. The members apparently formed the band for a high school project originally, but didn't make it official until they released an EP in 2016. Their 2017 debut was successful enough that everybody quit their day jobs (Amazon drivers, carpentry, brewer at a local brewery). They've been nominated for three Juno Awards, and have opened for a host of famous bands and artists. They describe their sound as "chewed bubblegum pop."
DISCOGRAPHY:Being So Normal is their first of four albums. Most recently, they released Magpie in 2024.
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ADDITIONAL INFO
READING SOME SHIT: this interview in Static doesn't have a date, but I'm assuming 2024
Already mentioned was Peach Pit's nomination for Group of the Year at this year's Juno Awards. The Beaches beat them in that category.
MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: It should come as no surprise that Gloria has chosen a couple Peach Pit songs for Monday Morning Mixtape (027 and 057). Though both songs are from Magpie, not Being So Normal, so we're starting fresh here.
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RECORD CLUB ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
This week's discography dive album: Gal by Gal Costa
This week's follow-up album:Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle by Willie Nelson
This week's keeping up album (probably):Foreign Tongues by the Rolling Stones
Listen with us! Keep your favorite Record Club artists in the rotation!
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COUNTDOWN:
69 Weeks Until Week 420
We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. During Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. The goal for Week 420 of Record Club is that it will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people.
The whole "Philly reputation" thing is totally played out. Once the national population got wind of "jawn," it was all over. I'm not grumpy about it. Have your fucking cheesesteaks in Seattle, I don't give that much of a shit. I don't care if people think they are going to get beat up at the Linc, or need to dress the Rocky statue in their own team's garb, or listen to some asshole Kelce's dumbass podcast, or try to use jawn in a parody of a Philadelphia accent. Everything is commoditized these days, why not the reputation of a city. Whatever, I give up. What you can do, if you're worn out like me, is just let it collapse into the personal. Let Philadelphia be to other people whatever they want it to be. For me, it's been good to me, and I'm glad I'm still here. —Joe
"L.E.S. Artistes" by Santigold
from Santogold, 2008
I don't know why I legitimately thought that Santigold was British until this week. I was shocked to learn that she grew up in Mount Airy and attended Germantown Friends School, which I walk past almost daily. Wild. I loved this album when it came out in 2008. I'm still floored that she's from Philly. Did everyone else know this but me? —Gloria
"Freedom of '76" by Ween
from Chocolate and Cheese, 1994
Damn, we already did "Streets of Philadelphia" on MMM, didn't we? Hmmm. It's funny that no one I've talked to has provided me any excitement about the 250th. Sports fans are happily retreating into soccer (despite JMK's very good point last week that everyone is pretending). My dyed-in-the-wool liberal friends are disgusted by the country. My dyed-in-the-wool neo-con friends are disgusted by the country. Locals don't have a lot of faith in CP and her merry bureaucrats. Supposedly there will be hundreds and hundreds of block parties around the city; surely not a recipe for bedlam. —Sunny
"4th of July, Philadelphia (Sandy)" by Cymbals Eat Guitars
from Pretty Years, 2016
I claimed at one point that this was the best song of the '10s, and even if I relitigate the list in three and a half years, it would still be a lock for the top five. Sometimes I forget about it, but then I listen and get choked up all over again. It's about escape, but it's about escape within, not without. So the story takes place entirely in Philadelphia, but when the protagonist finds something else, it's a different frame of mind, briefly. That all happens in Philly too, though. We're here forever. No one could possibly want to leave, right? Even when a scary uncle threatens you with a gun? —Joe
"Frankford Ave" by Post Play
from Post Moves EP, 2022
(not available on Spotify!)
This is such a fun song. It samples the SEPTA announcement "doors are closing" from the El. It's dreamy and atmospheric, which is probably not what words you typically use to describe anything related to SEPTA. Post Play is made up of John Raphaele and Sweater, who (I think) run both Subsurface and the record store Impressions. Very Philly, very cool. —Gloria
"Wedding Singer" by Modern Baseball
from Holy Ghost, 2016
I've always wanted to take a huge map of Philadelphia and put pins all over it and tell stories from each pin. I'll get around to it eventually, maybe not anytime soon. I need to time to let the idea marinate some more. It's been sitting in my brain for a decade now, and in that time, the thing that's evolved is that I've let go of the idea of it being comprehensive. I think now that I would choose maybe 100-200 pins, and stick to that, and tell stories, and not just make those stories the "important" ones either. Kind of like how MoBo sings about a random night when they didn't have subway fare and couldn't make it home from Tasker-Morris. Probably not the greatest night of their lives, but something small to remember, to put on a map with specific lyrics about a subway stop. —Joe
"Silver" by Waxahatchee
from Out in the Storm, 2017
I'm not a purist when it comes to the definition of "Philadelphians," not by any means. Totally cool with people moving here and falling in love and wanting to stay. It's that kind of city. I'm also cool with people staying here for a few years and then trying somewhere else and taking a part of Philly with them as they travel. Philadelphia is for everyone. That's what "brotherly love and sisterly affection" means. The depth and breadth of this town is infinite. Take a piece, like Katie Crutchfield did, after Alabama and before Kansas. I insist. If you were ever here, you are from here. —Joe
"Norf Side" by Jill Scott ft. Tierra Whack
from To Whom This May Concern, 2026
Pretty much lifting this right from my other column, haha. Jill Scott blends funk, soul, and poetry on To Whom This May Concern. The rhythms are infectious, and the whole thing flows so well. The standout song for me is "Norf Side." I listened to her ode to North Philly on repeat when I first heard this album. If you didn't listen to it yet, you should. —Gloria
"Christian Street" by Marah
from Kids in Philly, 2000
No deep cuts today, all hits ("hits" relative to this blog and the music it typically traffics in, you get it). This is one of the greatest songs of all time, and it's one of the most, if not the most, Philly song of all time. It basically acts as a panorama of South Philly at the turn of the century, and it features the fucking Mummers. You ever been down to Two Street to see the Mummers' after party on New Year's Day? It's mayhem. Bunch of drunk fucking losers causing mayhem and destruction. You know what you don't ever see on Two Street on New Year's Day? Any police presence. Unlike the Pride Parade, where the police are out there roughing people up for fun. Fuck the police, fuck the mummers. Don't worry—this blurb is very Philly too. "I hate cops" is something that any Philadelphian worth a damn would say. —Joe
"The Liberty Bell," written by John Philip Sousa
performed by the Band of the Grenadier Guards, 1967
I don't think of the Liberty Bell when I hear this. I think of watching Monty Python with my dad. My mom always went to bed early when I was a kid; she was asleep by like 9 PM. But even when I was like four or five, I remember being up later than her because my dad was in charge of bedtime and wasn't so concerned about being asleep on time. So we'd watch Monty Python's Flying Circus on tapes or a Flyers game if they were playing. He would always sit in a rocking chair, and I would be on our brown velour floral couch; maybe one of my sisters would join us. But when I was five, they were middle school and junior high, too old and too cool to hang out with a kindergartener and their dad. —Gloria
"Bury Me in Philly" by Dave Hause
from Bury Me in Philly, 2017
It's America's birthday this week. Philly started it, 250 years ago. I think this is why trump was afraid to make a big ICE staging in Philly—because he was afraid we were going to end the American experiment just like we started it. Don't worry, ICE was still here, and still threw a bunch of innocent people in the back of vans. You just didn't hear about it, because the Eagles were on. Fuck ICE, Stop the Killing of Palestinian Children, Go Birds. Happy birthday, America. I'll be here in Philadelphia until your deathday, or mine. We can celebrate then too. —Joe
NEXT WEEK: "Clap Your Hands! (but I feel so lonely)" — Songs involving handclaps (chosen by Joe)
This album is fine. Brandi Carlile has a very pretty voice and seems to be very sincere in her lyrics. It's clear that she is talented from this, but I think it is also clear that talent is not enough to make a good album. It's pretty boring overall. Almost the entire album sounded like filler to me. The only things that felt like "real" songs were "Looking Out" and "Before It Breaks."
I don't really know what else to add to this. When I first joined Record Club, I tried really hard to get something out of each album, or tie it into something else I was thinking about. But sometimes there isn't anything there.
So here's the thing. If this album came out in 2005 instead of 2025, I would have been so into it. I'd have played it on my silver iPod classic, given you an earbud to listen to it on the bus when we sat together, and you would have seen what cool taste in music I have. And I think that's maybe the ideal way of listening to an emo album for the first time. I listened to a lot of this genre in high school, and this sounds really similar to the emo/emo-pop from that era, in my opinion. I think this album is good, but I think that I have moved past that genre, and Easier Said Than Done doesn't have the nostalgia factor of relistening to emo bands from the 2000s.
Last year, I ended my Thursday review with the question, "How does hearing [this] for the first time with a fully developed frontal cortex feel?" and I feel like I might know now. I think I would have loved this had I heard it when I was a teenager, but I don't feel connected to it now.
Do we think that the rock 'n' roll high school is a high school that only teaches rock 'n' roll? Or that's its actual name, founded by Horace Rock and James Roll, two educational entrepreneurs? Or is this more like an emotion that people feel when they go to school, they feel cool, they feel so "rock 'n' roll"? Or is it a command, we need to rock 'n' roll this high school tonight at the dance? Or is it... no, I can't think of any other options. I don't feel like blogging today. —Joe
"Homecoming King" by Guster
from Keep It Together, 2003
A song about a guy who had his glory days in high school and who is now a mediocre person in adult life. I played this song to myself on the last day of high school, and I still associated it with the end of an era in my life. It happened in stages, but this was the beginning of the end, an end that somehow continues to not be over yet, to my great happiness (I'm still friends with many of my high school friends). —Zach
"Straight A's" by Sleigh Bells from Treats, 2010
My god, I love external validation. Tell me I'm good. Tell me I'm good. Tell me I'm good. Please. Getting grades back was one of the things I loved about school. I just graduated Summa Cum Laude last week. Straight A's. Please, just tell me that I'm good enough. —Gloria
"No More Mr. Nice Guy" by Alice Cooper
from Billion Dollar Babies, 1973
There's a saying that idle hands are the devil's playthings. I definitely knew a few kids in my middle school and high school days where you could argue this was the case. Well-behaved in front of authority figures, but once summer break starts, it's no more mister nice guy... especially for the kids who lost their scholarships to college after a senior prank gone wrong thanks to patrons at a Wendy's seeing shady activity. —Batts
"My Old School" by Steely Dan
from Countdown to Ecstasy, 1973
With each passing year, school feels more like something that happened to someone else, rather than me from a long time ago. The (good) irony is that I have kept close to a decent amount of old school friends, which I'm eternally grateful for. I've also drifted away from people I thought were lifelong connections, but that's how it goes. A reason, a season. My roommate in Point Breeze had this record which kicked ass to play, and I loved reading the liner notes. —Sunny
Life is just a game. I went through how many years of school? Two preschool, nine grade school, four high school, four college, four graduate school, 23 years? I took it pretty seriously. As seriously as I needed to. There was never a time when I didn't care about my final grades. And the grades were fine and I did what I needed to do and now I'm out of school and what was it all for? I mean, I know the answer to that. But it's hard to remember sometimes. —Joe
"(Joe Gets Kicked out of School for Using) Drugs with Friends (but Says This Isn't a Problem)" by Car Seat Headrest
from Teens of Denial, 2016
I was never kicked out of school. I think La Salle University made it seem like they wanted to, but I also think they were just trying to scare me. Unless you're doing something that is actively dangerous to someone else, they are going to take your money. I had a lot of small infractions and there were some administrators who puffed their chest and made a lot of noise and swung their dicks around, but in retrospect I don't actually think I was in any danger of being expelled from college. As I grow older, I wonder if it was maybe the faculty who were on thinner ice than the students. It's all about the direction the money is flowing. Note that all the students who got lapdances from strippers in that one business class in 2010ish were not expelled, but the professor was fired before the last stripper retied her g-string. Just as one example. —Joe
"Senior Year" by Drew Baldridge
a single, 2019
This song is nothing but not entertaining. A hearty apology for including it in the playlist. Drew Baldridge is probably an artist Orioles players would choose as a top member of a musical festival lineup, as a recent survey of their players indicated (answers to the question were Morgan Wallen, Drake, Barak, and many, many country artists). —Zach
"ballad of a homeschooled girl" by Olivia Rodrigo
from GUTS, 2023
My theory about school is that you need to go to school to be a normal human being, and if you don't go to school, or get homeschooled, then you are a fucking freak. You need to be around peers. You need to hang out with people your own age. If you don't, you're gonna be irrevocably fucked up. That's why there are laws to get your kids to go to school. That's why conservative families are pulling kids out of school and teaching them at home, because they are morons and freaks, all of them. —Joe
"Stolen Days" by Dear Rouge
from PHASES, 2018
This song describes being kids in the prime of life, and it makes me a little wistful thinking back on those finite summer vacations before you become an adult and realize how you actually have to plan vacations in advance and all that bullshit. But what happens if you get jury duty or the week you request off has shitty weather? Or even worse, what if the World Cup takes over your city and you can't just go have a night out with friends because your time off lines up with social congestion? "Grin and bear it, asshole." —Batts
"Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin
from Led Zeppelin II, 1969
Robert Plant promises to bring ya back to school(in'), so this counts. I don't care if it doesn't count. People can add whatever songs they want to these mixtapes, I don't really have any rules. I might roll my eyes if it doesn't fit the mixtape theme, but I'm not gonna say "no" to many songs. This is just something to do over the weekend, something to enjoy on a Monday morning. It's whatever. It's just blogging. It's whatever. —Joe
"In the End, It Meant Nothing" by Maniac
a single, 2023
This feels like a song that would have been played at a Battle of the Bands of some kind. But now we're listening to it in our 30s and 40s. I want to know if Nate likes this song, and I want him to sign his name to it, unanonymously. —Zach
"The Fire" by the Lemon Twigs
from Go to School, 2018
I've written about this song a few times in the past, but I'm not gonna pass up an opportunity to do it again. It's about a monkey who goes to school, and eventually burns down the school. That's what the whole album is about. It's a hit-or-miss album. I'm told that Lemon Twigs are relatively popular with the Gen Z crowd? They do like an ultra-retro sunshine folk pop thing now. It's pretty boring, but I get the appeal too. I don't bother, I really don't see how they can outdo the album about the homicidal monkey. —Joe
NEXT WEEK: "0-0, Tie Game" — A mixtape for soccer season (not football, SOCCER) (chosen by Joe)
Amanda Leigh started out way more folk than I was expecting. It did get more "pop"-ish as we went along, but I guess I think of "Candy" when I think of Mandy Moore singing, so I was a little surprised at the first song. Some of it really reminded me of showtunes, too, especially "Pocket Philosopher" and "Song About Home." This album probably came out around the time that she was transitioning more into acting than singing, too. However, I don't know if that is relevant.
I don't have much to say about this album. It's boring but pleasant. Her voice is really pretty.
I didn't follow Mandy Moore as a singer, so I wasn't aware of this album before this poll. It apparently came out right when I was graduating high school, which is interesting to think about, since I just graduated with my MBA today. I don't know, that feels kind of like a fun synchronicity.
What would I have imagined my life to be at this point at that age? Like, in 2009, what did I think my life would look like in 2026? My only real goal was not to live where I grew up. I can't imagine how depressing and limiting that would have been. So I'm glad that I accomplished that. I think that, at that point, I didn't really know what I wanted otherwise. A lot of my thinking about the future was ruled by what was expected and logical. I'm less tied by that now, but I don't know how much more clarity I have on what my life will be.
Welcome to Gloria's new blog column, posted at least once a month, in which she offers some recommendations and insights into the music she's been listening to. This is Through My Ears.
Iron & Wine
What the May has looked like for me musically.
Just Dropped
(my favorite new releases)
People of the Moon by Nu Genea
Absolutely blown away by Nu Genea's newest album. This album weaves together an expansive fusion of genres and languages into something so beautiful and cohesive. The central idea and title of the album, People of the Moon, are meant to represent the dormant dimension of self-expression that lies within all of us. Surrender to the beat of this album and let it inspire your self-expression.
Distracted by Thundercat
This is such a fun album that I find myself putting it on continually. It's a well-paced and polished blend of pop, funk, soul, and soft rock. There is an awful lot of collaboration on this album, too, including some Record Club alumni like WILLOW and Tame Impala, as well as a completed posthumous collaboration with Mac Miller. Even with all the collabs, it still feels very "Thundercat." His signature blend of vulnerability and humor is apparent in the lyrics, and the bass is outstanding.
Trying Times by James Blake
In undergrad, I took an illustration class. For one of our first assignments, the professor gave us two words and asked us to create two connected pieces that show them using only black dots on a white field. The words that I was assigned were "Effervescent" and "Elegant." This album feels effervescent and elegant to me in a way that my illustration did not accurately capture. It's a tight R&B album that explores a wide range of human emotions; it's an absolutely beautiful listen.
Still Spinning
(old(er) albums on constant rotation)
La Lom EP by LA LOM
A short little EP that will make you feel ready for summer. LA LOM stands for Los Angeles League of Musicians, and listening to this feels like what I'd imagine California in the 1960s felt like. The whole thing is just dripping in sunny, vintage vibes. Put this on, grab your sunglasses, and be transported.
Elios by Parbleu
This album is so good. It stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it playing in a record store. I actually Shazam-ed three songs from this before asking the guy at the desk where I could find it in the store. He said he was playing the only copy, but that if I wanted it, it was mine. Beautiful. Sold. The band describes themselves as a "multicultural fever dream," and I don't think I can give you a better description than that one.
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex Twin
Absolutely hypnotic. One thing that I like about this style of music is how the repetition really lets you appreciate the smaller changes and other sounds as they start to weave in. It helps to highlight every little change. Synthesizers help to create ethereal loops on this that build and build into something that feels organic and alive.
Live and In-Person
(quick concert reviews)
Iron & Wine
Date: May 11, 2026
Venue: Union Transfer
Openers: Improvement Movement
I hate even calling Improvement Movement openers. I was introduced to them last year when I saw them perform at Capital Groove in Hartford and was blown away by their intricate vocal harmonies. They did not disappoint this night either; they are stunning in a way that I am not totally sure translates to a recording. Their soft sound paired well with Iron & Wine, and the group even performed a few songs with them later that night. Iron & Wine were lovely as expected—just poetic Americana.
Improvement Movement
Iron & Wine
Brock Lanzetti Ogawa
Date: May 19, 2026
Venue: Black Squirrel Club
A lot of Snarky Puppy / ex-Snarky Puppy members seem to be making it into this column this year, haha. Zach Brock (violin), Bob Lanzetti (acoustic and electric guitars), and Keita Ogawa (percussion) are all former Snarky Puppy members who formed their trio during the COVID pandemic. It was pouring outside the night of this concert. The doors were open to the outside and you could feel some of the warm rain carried in on the wind while sitting on the old church pews inside this former steam plant turned venue. It was a perfect scenario for listening to this very uplifting music.
Brock Lanzetti Ogawa
Joe Farnsworth Quartet
Date: May 23, 2026
Venue: Jazz Showcase, Chicago
This was a very classic jazz concert at a classic Chicago venue. Everyone in this quartet was so tight; however, the saxophone player, Sarah Hanahan, was really just outstanding. Her technical skills are exemplary, but more than that, the joyful energy she exudes is palpable even from the audience.
Joe Farnsworth Quartet
The Roots Picnic
Date: May 30-31- 2026
Venue: Fairmount Park
Artists/DJs whose entire sets I saw:
Day 1: De La Soul, Brandy, Jay-Z and the Roots
Day 2: DJ Cash Money, Corinne Bailey Rae, Joe Kay (Soulection), Adam Blackstone, Kehlani, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Erykah Badu
The Roots Picnic was in a new location this year, the Belmont Plateau section of Fairmount Park. I used to walk through this area daily on my way to work, and it was one of the quietest parts of my day in 2017/2018, so seeing this part of the park filled with so many people (80,000 people attended) was overwhelming. The whole festival was a little overwhelming and disorganized, but the music made it worth it. The standout performance was Jay-Z's set with the Roots. He opened with a sharp freestyle, then went into pieces spanning his catalog. There were so many guest performances in his set, including Jazmine Sullivan, Meek Mill, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Freeway, and Bilal. Erykah Badu's set the next night was another standout performance. She has such a distinct presence and took the audience on a musical journey with songs from throughout her career in the set. Her energy was lower than the performance the previous night, but maybe that is a good way to end a Sunday night. Aside from the headliners, performances from De La Soul, Brandy, and Kehlani really stand out in my memory of the weekend. There is such a cultural aspect to this festival; the weekend really is a stunning snapshot of Black music today.
I came into this blind this week and wasn't expecting it to be a modern garage-rock/surf-rock band. Something about the band name Sunny Daze & the Weathermen made me think that we were in for something like Bill Withers (I was thinking "Lovely Day") or like Roy Ayers ("Everybody Loves the Sunshine"). Maybe I should have read the write-up last Sunday.
But I'm just not really in the mood to read anything or write anything this week. I have 28 unread text messages, and I wonder if I really need to get to them. I have 193 emails from today in my Gmail's Primary tab, but they all shouldn't be there. Somehow, things migrated over from Promotions and Social tabs. So a lot of those emails will get straight up deleted. My therapist gave me homework two weeks ago that I didn't start, but I also don't want to write that either. And I still didn't read most of the entries for the Monday Morning Mixtape. I started in the comments and read the only one that was called out at that time.
I did a quick Google search, and the internet now tells me that Sunny Daze and the Weatherman do not classify themselves as surf rock and that they are, in fact, from Pittsburgh. Cool. Pennsylvania boys. When I first put this on in the car yesterday, I was trying to figure out if I could tell a good story about surfing. But that's less relevant since they are not, in fact, a surf rock band. Still, I just kept thinking about how my favorite pictures of myself are about thirteen years old now and were taken with a GoPro while surfing in San Diego with some people I met on the CouchSurfing website.
Then I was thinking about why the ocean is salty—basically, because of mineral ions dissolved from the rocks. That's pretty cool. Then I was thinking about the primordial soup from which we all came, then "Ground Soup" came on. And I thought that was pretty good timing. And I can't stop thinking about the Primordial Soup now. I also can't catch any of the lyrics in this song, but there is no way it's about that, right?
Right?
But how stoked would Miller and Urey have been after realizing that they could recreate early Earth conditions in a lab and, with some electric sparks, spontaneously create amino acids? The building blocks of life. It would be a good song.
I don't feel strongly about this album in any way, which you can probably guess from the fact that I am not writing about it. The "Sun God" instrumental tracks are the best thing on this, in my opinion. They are the only thing that got me to stop thinking about the early Earth's atmosphere, four billion years ago—just molecules vibing. Maybe I should Google this, too. "Is the primordial soup still the best hypothesis for early life?"
Shit. There has been more development in this field of study, too. I'm curious how much of my undergrad knowledge is completely irrelevant at this point. Is the phrase "the half-life of knowledge is two years" accurate? If it is, almost everything I know is outdated. Is that even a real phrase, or is that something that my dad would say to keep us interested in continually learning?
I've said for a while now that one of my greatest anxieties is feeling misunderstood (a malady for which the only remedy is, it seems, writing too much), but lately I've noticed this same fear within others. How we're all disconnected for banal techno-fascist reasons and we're overcompensating by making everything so clear and verbose in writing and in conversation, everyone so goddamn afraid that we're going to have the wrong impressions of each other, miss some deeper important truth that's hiding in plain sight. What I'm proposing now, within the space of this blurb, is that we should all just let everyone else think what they want to think, and keep your truth close. —Joe
"Flippen (The Flip)" by the Punch Brothers
from Who's Feeling Young Now?, 2012
On Saturday night, I received a WhatsApp message from someone who I don't know, but who is in a writing WhatsApp group that I created. Maybe I met her once? I'm not sure. The message is nine photos of a handwritten document that is basically a testimony to this person being abused and raped within her marriage, and names authority figures that pushed her to stay in the marriage and enabled such behavior. I'm really not sure how to handle the situation. Do I respond by asking her if she meant to send it? Again, I don't know this person. But I also want to help her if I can. Maybe she sent it to lots of people? I have so many questions. I don't think I can ignore it. —Zach
"Railroad Cancellation" by Don Caballero
from World Class Listening Problem, 2006
Drums on this thing are really what sells it, which makes sense since Don Caballero was never so much a true collaborative band as it was a vehicle for the percussive acrobatics of mercurial drummer Damon Che. Che has released several videos of him playing drums along to his band's most well-known output, and if you have an interest in such things, I recommend checking them out, in part because I have never seen someone set up their drums quite the same way this cat does. It looks uncomfortable as hell to play drums, the way he plays them. —Nate
"loopy" by Duval Timothy & Carlos Niño
from rain music, 2026
"I'll never know and neither will you of the life you don't choose. We'll only know that whatever that... life was, it was important and beautiful and not ours. It was the ghost ship that didn't carry us." – Cheryl Strayed, Dear Sugar. You can check the stars, you can check your brass instruments and nautical charts, but how will you know what choices, what life decisions are meant for your ship? And which ones are for the ghost ship? —Gloria
"Svensk Sås" by Todd Terje
from It's Album Time, 2014
I think if Todd Terje found his zeitgeisty niche in 2026 instead of 2014, there would be people claiming that he it was a psy-op thing, because how else would some weird-ass nu-disco mostly-instrumentals album reach as many people as it did ("popular" being relatively, as always, in this space, like I don't think my mom knows how Todd Terje is, but anyone who gave a shit about music in the mid-'10s did). But see, this is what used to happen. The tastemakers would find something strange and unknown and decide to elevate it, and that decision was not drive by money, but art. It wasn't a perfect system, but it's better than what we have now. What we have now is soulless corporations making those decisions based on the maximum amount of money they can make off the decision. I'm talking about the algorithm. I'm always talking about the algorithm. If you're depending on Spotify to tell you what to listen to next, you're doing it all wrong. —Joe
"Ode to a Butterfly" by Nickel Creek
from Nickel Creek, 2000
My best ideas come on Shabbat, when I'm not using my phone or pen and paper. By the time Shabbat is over, the ideas are gone, like wisps in the wind. I'm trying to remember some of them now. My friend is having a birthday party on Monday and asked each person to perform some comedy. I'm thinking of repeating one sentence from Paul Auster's book "The Invention of Soltitude" about food he watched his father eat in Newark restaurants and doing some kind of performance art to it, maybe even stripping down to a wetsuit after starting the bit with a suit and tie. That's one idea. But there are so many more I've forgotten. By the time Shabbat ends, my phone comes back out and I want to spend 23 minutes watching the highlights from the Orioles five-run comeback against the Blue Jays in the 9th (hi, Nate). Maybe the trick is to not turn on my phone as quickly. Sometimes I don't. But it's the magic of knowing you can't turn on your phone that leads to ideas flowing so well. I imagine that Q-Tip, he of recent RC fame, knows this, too—he himself said he would keep some form of Shabbat, even though he isn't Jewish. This is what he said in 2010: "Friday at sunset I'm going to turn off my TV, my radio—I'm not going to do anything. And then when the sun sets on Saturday night, I'm going to raise hell!" —Zach
"La Femme d'argent" by Air
from Moon Safari, 1998
I saw Air perform Moon Safari live in Brooklyn, and it was phenomenal. It made up for the weird experience of getting there. I don't have the time to type it all up now. It's a long, meandering story that involves being asked by a stranger to do a mitzvah for Sukkot on the subway, being stuck underground and having every train we could use being delayed for what felt like hours, deciding to get above ground, and then being passed by a bus that we needed, before we finally figured out a way to get there. After the show, we hit even more random time-consuming adventures/struggles, but it's a good story in retrospect, better than I'm telling it here. And the show and night were a great time overall. —Gloria
"Like Herod" by Mogwai
from Mogwai Young Team, 1997
Perhaps the loudest concert I have ever attended: Mogwai at the Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia sometime back in 2006. It was so loud I got sick to my stomach and left early. This was likely not the song that sent me home, but spiritually, it absolutely was. —Nate
"Cissy Strut" by the Meters
from The Meters, 1969
First heard this one in Another Round, a movie that came out less than six years ago, a movie that I loved instantly and burned a scar in my soul so deep that I don't think I'll ever be able to watch it again. That's hyperbole, I will have to watch it at some point, face that demon. I just know that rewatching it is going to make me so miserable that I'll want to crawl into my bed and die. Which is not really what I'm shooting for, here in sobriety. Like, okay, the thing about Another Round, the thing it gets so goddamn right, is that drinking is both a blessing and a curse. It's both, at all times. If it was a movie that said "drinking is good!" or "drinking is bad!", I could handle it easily. But because it says both and makes the case for both simultaneously, I can't watch it. It mirrors exactly my experiences with alcohol, every facet of it, all at once. And once a upon a time, I had to give all that up, and I just don't think I can be faced with all that I gave up just yet. —Joe
"My Paradise" by Frank Virgilio
from My Paradise, 2026
I feel like I have too much to write this week. And too much random stuff that I committed to. I'm writing this while waiting at the bus stop on my way to the Roots Picnic today, lol. Still, I can't skip this mixtape, as this is one of my absolute favorite categories of music, followed closely by, I guess, what we discovered last week were basically "barista recommendations." There is a lot of overlap between these two categories, but I'm trying to pick things that are less barista-y. I don't know if I'm accomplishing that. Actually, I don't think that I am. —Gloria
"Tigers" by the End of Tonight
from A Tribute to Tigers, 2005
Sometimes you like a song because it's got a pleasing melody, sometimes it is doing something unique or interesting, sometimes it has lyrics or emotional conveyance that hums at the right frequency and at the time. Sometimes you remember a song because you were riding in a car, high as a kite, in the middle of the afternoon, with the windows down and a thick, impenetrable fog reducing the visibility to five feet. —Nate
"Uja" by Tanya Tagaq
from Animism, 2014
I learned about Tagaq in a masters-level course that was basically a book club. We read a book called Split Tooth, written by Tagaq, and the group who led the discussion played us some of her music. The writing was even more disorienting than her music, if you can believe it. I was really excited about the class at the beginning, but it ended up probably being one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've ever had throughout my years of academia. The room was made up of a bunch of try-hards and a professor who didn't seem capable of reining it in. Even though it was a 9:30 AM class, I ended up dealing with it like I often dealt with discomfort back then (getting drunk before class—Spread Bagelry opens their bar at 7 AM). I remembered the other day that I based this one-off blog post on that book club class. About 80% of what I wrote was non-fiction, including the central premise that the professor sneezed without a mask and someone ratted him out. I reread this blog post now and realize that I am very bad at writing about people who don't exist, but pretty decent at writing about people who do exist. Which means that if I ever write a book, a lot of people are gonna end up suing me. —Joe
"Where Did You Go?" by Sandman Project
from Where Did You Go?, 2024
I thread the embroidery floss through the needle and go to sew a new patch on my backpack. I have a pile of patches that need to be sewn on. All gathered from National Parks over the last few years. I used to be so good at sewing the patches on as soon as I got home. But at some point, it got ahead of me, and I stopped trying to catch up. So much of my life is in these forgotten projects. Half finished. Are they still waiting for me to come back? Or have they forgotten as well? —Gloria
"Niggun of the Birds" by Shlomo Katz
from Yismach Melech, 2016
A niggun is a melody without words that is repeated over and over. One idea is that if you repeat a niggun for 20 minutes, you start to get to another level of consciousness. I've done it a couple times, and when I have, time starts to move differently. This is one of my favorite nigguns.
I am realizing as I'm writing this how easy it is to get into health-speak that doesn't really mean much. I can imagine how someone reading the above paragraph might say "wow! I need to try that!" When it's really not much more than one nice thing you can do, as part of a menu of therapy and wellness options. The only thing someone can truly do to change their life is have children. —Zach
"The Great Gig in the Sky" by Pink Floyd
from The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973
I'm not the only one who pictures the tornado scene in The Wizard of Oz when they hear this song. Syncing that movie to The Dark Side of the Moon is a ritual of adolescence that all teens would benefit from trying out. I did, in my family's family room, Floyd on the five-piece stereo system, pushing play right when the MGM lion gives his second roar. It's one of the great mysteries of our time, one that shockingly no one seems too anxious to get to the bottom of: was this all coincidence, or by design? Does "The Great Gig in the Sky" perfectly align, both in timbre and in timing, with the tornado scene because someone made it that way, or did this just happen? It doesn't feel like the type of thing that just happens, it's just too much randomness in the world lining up perfectly. I don't think the universe actually works like that. But maybe. —Joe
"Raspberry Jam" by Allah-Las
from the soundtrack for Self Discovery for Social Survival, 2019
I lick the crack in my lips and actively make it worse. I need to put on ChapStick, but somehow never have it, even though I feel like I buy it all the time. It's something easily lost and easily bought. It's similar to how I feel about hair ties, too. Where do they go? Easily bought and easily lost. Certain things can be so important and so unimportant at the same time. —Gloria
"A Tender History in Rust" by Do Make Say Think
from You, You're a History in Rust, 2007
Fun game to play sometime: which geographic region is responsible for more great music? At a cookout last week, we tried to decide which had better musical output: the country of Canada, or New York City? We ended up on New York City, but it was more of a debate than you might think. Hard to overstate the importance of jazz, even if I don't care for it. A player who will not be named did resort to asking Claude, which I found pretty lame, until another person also consulted Claude and got a different answer, and we had fun talking about their two Claudes arguing with each other. —Nate
"Elul Nigun" by Eitan Katz
from Shuvu, 2013
אני יושב בבית כנסת של ההורים שלי, שומע לחזן (שהוא גם חבר טוב טוב של המשפחה) משתמש בניגון הזאת לתפילת הקדיש בסוף התפילה. אני רוצה לרקוד ולבכות באותו רגע. כל כך הרבה נוסטלגיה ושמחה ועצב בעולם שלנו. חיים קשים, חיים טובים. מה לעשות עם כל זה? תפילה גורם לאנשים לשנות, אפילו אם הם לא מאמינים באלוהים. לא משנה. רק לצאת ליער ולדבר עם עצמינו, אם משהו יותר גדול ממנו—זה משנה את החיים, ממש. —Zach
"The Grunt" by the J.B.s
a single, 1970
aaaaa wha!!! yowwww huH aeeeeaaaaaa etc. etc., thought briefly about just making the blurb all kinds of James Brown vocal tics in word form, but I decided that would be kind of lame, not that I have anything interesting to say about it, maybe it would be better if I wrote less sometimes and grunted more sometimes... I was excited about the prospect of this song, thought it was gonna be Brown's backing band doing a groove and Brown himself yipping and yapping in the background or something, but I didn't hear any vocalizations at all, which maybe disqualifies it from this mixtape, or maybe I just missed something, could be that, since I only listened once and I was kinda distracted. —Joe
"Bad Dog No Biscuits" by SEATBELTS
from Cowboy Bebop (soundtrack), 1998
Joe stuck my mixtape suggestion between Kill Bill and Akira weeks? What a fool. What an imbecile. Did he not expect me to go full wiiaboo? "Tank!" might be my personal "Desperado" / "Witchy Woman," insofar that I must stop whatever I'm doing and listen to to it. I saw Alton Brown in Concert (lol) in Wilmington earlier this year, and they played "Tank!" as pre-show music, and I really was in heaven. This song is not "Tank!"; I still really like it. —Sunny
"Paris" by M|O|O|N
from Moon EP, 2011
I don't know what I'm doing most of the time. I teach a weekly 60-minute movement class. This is often the reason I request others to suggest solid ~100bpm instrumental music to me. I believe music, generally, works better than having no music to receive a collection of strangers into a class. I've been told music with lyrics is distracting. I've been told familiar melodies are distracting. I've been told both of the previous opinions are stupid and shortsighted and I should ignore them. So I have no idea what to do, really. I look to see if anyone has any visible reaction to the music I've been playing, and the answer is usually no, so I only grow more bold. —Sunny
"Intro" by the xx
from xx, 2009
I've heard this song so many goddamn times, and I'm not even sure where. It's overplayed, overtalked, oversampled. Still a pretty great song. I even took a while to look "well what IS the xx song that I really like" and I was starting to find that hard too. So be it, sometimes you hit gold right at the intro and that's just fine and dandy. —Sunny
"Brokendate" by Com Truise from Galactic Melt, 2011
Sometime around the turn of the century, my parents flew me over to India. I've probably talked about this on the blog, but it was awful. An American going to a third world country unequipped is insane. That Seinfeld episode where Elaine is invited to the Indian wedding of her ex is on point. The '90s, early '00s in particular were awful; flights were fully open, but logistics weren't. In the meanwhile, the country has Westernized in such ways that you can find toilet paper by every toilet, which you can sit on rather than squat.
As awful as that trip was, my cousins still introduced me to media in the way only older relatives can. Me, Myself, Irene (cue Yaadein), cracking software, torrents and irc, scriptkiddy software that could open the CD drive (lol) of someone who didn't block their ports. My oldest cousin, who went through his own drama, loved '80s style synth, and the fervently told me to listen to Truise. —Sunny
NEXT WEEK: "Dog with a Blog" — Happy 22nd birthday to Francesca Capaldi, star of the hit Disney Channel original series Dog with a Blog, which is a show I'd somehow never heard of until picking this MMM theme for our blog. Let's pick songs for the show Dog with a Blog (chosen by Joe)
Midnight Marauders is such a great album. It's a classic for reason. I honestly don't think it can be overstated how good this is. A Tribe Called Quest beautifully blends hip-hop, rap, and jazz in such an intuitive way. It feels good to listen to it.
Just listening to this, I was thinking about how many samples from classic soul and jazz artists like James Brown and Roy Ayers were used in Midnight Marauders. And really, when you think about the history of hip-hop, the artists typically paid tribute to jazz and soul artists by sampling them in their work. That's a key component of hip-hop.
When ATCQ made this album, digital synthesizers and samplers were available. But the history of sampling is much earlier than that. One of the major pioneers was DJ Kool Herc, a Jamaican immigrant raised on dancehall music who helped pioneer hip-hop in New York in the '70s by using two turntables to isolate and extend drum breaks from funk and R&B records and to rap over them. This breakbeat style became the backbone of early hip-hop music. That DIY ethic of sampling vinyl records is really cool and innovative.
I think that, for so many of us, the idea of being able to find what we want online fairly easily ruins the magic of finding something in a record store—maybe finding something that you are looking for, or maybe finding something that you didn't know you needed by randomly choosing it and taking it to a listening station. There is absolutely a magic to that. I was in Chicago last weekend and spent a good chunk of my time in record shops there. I would just take a pile of things I didn't know to a listening station and seeing what I could find. For the most part, I could get those same albums online, but it's different finding them this way.
It's also different listening to them on vinyl, knowing that every time you play a record, it's a little bit altered. Vinyl is a purely physical medium, and every time that you drop the needle and that hard plastic stylus drags through the softer grooves of the record, it changes them a little bit, it degrades them a little bit. Records change with time; it's normal. They can even sound different from a little bit of dust in the grooves, or with temperature shifts, or with how fresh or worn down your stylus is. But that's cool. There is a little bit of magic in the analogue.
I think that magic exists with digital sampling too. Just the idea that something older, like all the '70s artist ATCQ sampled, can be transformed into something new is really cool. Maybe there is a keyboard line or a forgotten drum break just waiting for new life in some dusty record crate? This album feels alive and fresh even after 30 plus years, because it is a little bit alive, most music is. Every listen leaves its mark on you the same way a stylus leaves its mark on the grooves pressed into a record.
The music from the TV show Girls is always a great place to start when thinking of coffee shop music. It's not all cafe music, but it certainly has some gems. This is a song that always comes to mind when I think of songs I want to hear there. It has a certain grace to it which just works in the soft light of a cafe. —Zach
"Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones
from Come Away with Me, 2002
Norah Jones has that quintessential 2000s coffee shop energy. This was one of the first songs that I learned how to waltz to. I was thinking about that because I was waltzing in the kitchen of a South Philly row home last week. The woman I was dancing with was previously a ballroom dancing instructor and a much better dancer than I am, but she still asked if I could lead. And it felt nice to lead. Just like it felt nice that she put the peonies from my garden in a vase on her windowsill. —Gloria
"So Easy (to Fall in Love)" by Olivia Dean
from The Art of Loving, 2025
Her vocals are smooth, dreamy, and steamy. This song makes me want a latte, some pretentious journal, and a good pen to pretend my poetry is important. This song leaves me nostalgic for the loneliness of a coffee shop, and a girl with no responsibilities beyond being selfish. The hard wood of a pompous chair—a piece sourced by the wealthy owner. This song is a cold Sunday, a crumbly scone, and the reminiscence of a jazz band on the corner. ☕️☕️☕️ —Melissa
"August 10" by Khruangbin
from Con Todo el Mundo, 2018
I will confess to you here that I would've had no fucking idea what to choose for this mixtape without help from outside sources. There are a few reasons for that, but it all boils down to the unshakeable fact that I do not spend much time in coffee shops, and don't know what the modus operandi is in your typical coffee house re: music. I have assumptions, yes, but I'm not helping to build a mixtape on top of useless fucking assumptions, ya know? Like, if I'm assuming that coffee shops just play slow, boring music all the time, then how would I be able to contribute to such a mixtape in good faith? I googled around, and found a lot of help on various threads from a barista subreddit, including full-on playlists that some barista's posted as their go-to coffee shop playlist. So I used all these as guidance for what to pick. All six artists I used today for my weekly half-dozen are artists that I knew of already and also saw posted by a barista. I saw a bunch of Khruangbin on the one Spotify playlist, which... I guess confirms my original assumptions about coffee shop music. But what can ya do!!!!! —Joe
"Leaf Off / The Cave" by José González
from Vestiges & Claws, 2015
José González is always a cafe favorite for me. I blast it in the morning, when I'm opening up the coffee station and putting out the baked goods. Just me and a dark coffee shop and the morning, ah the morning. There is nothing like sipping coffee in the morning in a coffee shop—it really is such a treat, such a simple thing in life that is so fun. I can write at home, but when I write at a coffee shop, it just goes better. As do most things in life. —Zach
"Eres" by Café Tacuba
from Cuatro Caminos, 2003
This was the coolest band that I heard playing in a coffee shop this month. I had to ask the barista who it was, and he wrote it down on a Post-it for me. I took a picture of the post-it because I knew I'd lose it before checking them out. They are a Mexican band that has been around since 1992, so maybe I'm late to the game with Café Tacuba, but I'm glad they are on my listening rotation now. —Gloria
Probably the most significant coffee shop-related moment in MMM so far has been when Gloria and Sam realized in the comments that they were MMMing from the same coffee shop, right? That was pretty fun. I know Sam has had a long, arduous, debilitating addiction to coffee, but what about Gloria? Not being a coffee-drinker myself, I guess I'm realizing that I'm not really talking to people about their coffee intake too often. But based on the music that I see on these baristas' playlists, I'm going to go out on a long limb and state that Gloria probably hangs out in coffee shops a lot. There is a Venn diagram, hypothetically, where one side is "music that is played in coffee shops according to baristas on reddit" and another side is "music for which Gloria read my album review of said music and got pissed off because the review was, uh, less than glowing," and the fact that the overlapping section of that Venn diagram is really fucking thick makes me know for sure that Gloria is a coffee fiend. —Joe
"Same Mistakes" by the Echo Friendly
a single, 2011
Near the end of March, I wrote the following poem in my planner while sitting in a coffee shop after therapy. "My lip is bitten raw / My lip is bitten red / How will I get this color without your teeth?" I don't know whether these words should be part of something larger or if they're enough on their own. —Gloria
"Flake" by Jack Johnson
from Brushfire Fairytales, 2001
Go and sit by the beach and order a cold coffee. The surfers will walk by as you dig into your omelette with tahini and roasted red pepper on the side. Yes, this is Hawaii or some other tropical kind of location, and this is Jack Johnson's world. We're all just living in it. —Zach
"Nobody" by Mac Demarco
from Here Comes the Cowboy, 2019
The problem, I think, is that I just simply would play whatever I wanted on the speakers, if I owned a place of business. Like if I owned a coffee shop, I would just hit play on shuffle, and let the 35,000 songs on my iPod shuffle through the Hold Steady and Slayyyter and Tierra Whack and Mac Demarco and Thursday and Marva Whitney and Cannonball Adderley and the Brave Little Abacus. Even though that wouldn't make sense in your typical coffee shop. You know what also wouldn't make sense? Me owning a coffee shop. No, if anything, I might have found myself working in one at some point. And had I been working one in 2012 and found myself listening to the same eleven songs as chosen by Pandora, I would've probably learned to hate music. For so many reasons, it's good that I have stayed away from coffee in my life. —Joe
"Lebanese Blonde" by Thievery Corporation
from The Mirror Conspiracy, 2000
There is a coffee shop that I go to in recurring dreams. I definitely work there in my dreams, and I sometimes get the impression that I am in charge. I have never been to a coffee shop like this. I don't know if it is a real coffee shop. It is someplace that's always warm and dry, and the cafe opens onto a seating area on the sidewalk. These are big windows. It's shades of pale orange, yellow, mauve, and white. I don't know if the cafe is painted these colors or if it is just always sunrise / golden hour in the dreams. I think it is just the sun reflecting these colors. It's a little chaotic, but it's very comforting. I tried to draw it the other day in waking life, but it's so hard to draw interiors from a dream memory. It's been a year since I wrapped up my 80-day dream tracking project, and I am just starting to sort through all the data of my dreams. I don't really know what to do with it. Or if it's even worth it to write something about it. —Gloria
"Babylon" by David Gray
from White Ladder, 1998
This is a song not for the hipsters but for the average people. A Starbucks in Paoli, PA, where people come in during the morning to talk with fellow parents. Others grab seven coffees for the office. Everything comes out fast and smooth. David Gray plays on the loudspeakers, and the fantasy of the 2010s continues. —Zach
"Midnight Marauders" by Fat Freddy's Drop
a single, 2002
When I say that I've "heard of all six artists from my choices today," I am speaking the truth, but only barely. I am typing this blurb now, having only heard of Fat Freddy's Drop maybe 45 minutes ago, when I was typing the Midnight Marauders Sunday write-up and trying to google "midnight marauders live" and started wondering who the fuck Fat Freddy's Drop were and why the fuck every google search result was this random fucking band and not A Tribe Called Quest. But then I was scrolling through r/barista and saw one person say that their coffee shop plays all Fat Freddy's Drop every Friday. Too much of a coincidence not to note here, on this MMM. I haven't listened to "Midnight Marauders" by Fat Freddy's Drop as of this blurb-writing. Probably won't listen until I press play on the mixtape. My apologies in advance if that one barista was full of shit or being ironic. —Joe
"Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping" by Grouper
from Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill, 2008
This is a good song for a coffee shop on a day when you have to force yourself to get out of the house and see people. I recently ran into my high school biology teacher in a coffee shop in my neighborhood on a day like that, and she was so jazzed to see me. It totally turned around my day. I haven't seen her in maybe fifteen years, but we send each other cards around the holidays every year, so I knew her kids live close to me. She has my number now, so we can get coffee together next time she's in my neighborhood. —Gloria
"Money Trees" by Kendrick Lamar ft. Jay Rock
from good kid, m.A.A.d city, 2012
Oh, and you need a song for closing too. To blast even louder as you're washing the dishes and mopping the floor. This is one of many possibilities, but it's a damn good one. The coffee from the morning has worn off, but this song gives you that extra jolt of energy you need to complete the endless amount of tasks that go along with closing a coffee shop. And then you're done, and you forget everything from the day, because even though the angry manager felt important at the time, it never really mattered. —Zach
"Skin Is, My" by Andrew Bird
from Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs, 2005
Another barista on those reddit threads said that Andrew Bird is their go-to coffee shop artist, and that every time they play Bird, customers ask them "who is this?" I agree that that is actually a sincerely great barometer for how the common man thinks about artists you like. I also agree that Andrew Bird is the fucking man, and makes some excellent music. This album is really important to me, and is the rare sort of album I can look at the tracklist and hear each song playing in my head, which is helpful when you're trying to choose appropriate aesthetics for a hypothetical coffee shop. I didn't choose "Fake Palindromes," for instance, even though it's the best song on here and an important one to boot—when they pronounced us husband and wife, we walked back up the aisle to this song—because it's too up-tempo and celebratory. That's not coffee house shit, c'mon, I know that by now. —Joe
"Life Is" by Jessica Pratt
from Here in the Pitch, 2024
It's 4 AM, and I can't sleep, so I'm working on this mixtape submission. And it's a night when I haven't fallen asleep yet, not a night that I woke up early. I got in bed about 1 AM, but I'm so bad at sleeping sometimes. And tomorrow I have so much to do, I'm scheduled from 10 AM until 10:30 PM. Then I'll take the train home, so there's no way I'll be back until after 11 PM. And some of its fun stuff, but still, it's a long time to be active, as it's very back-to-back. And that's adding to the pressure of falling asleep, so it's also making it harder to fall asleep. Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I look at the "World Clock" locations I have saved on my iPhone and wonder if I can call anyone. But I end up deciding against it almost every time. I used to go to a 24-hour Dunkin' Donuts when I couldn't sleep and get a small coffee and read, which may have been counterintuitive to sleeping well. Hindsight is 20/20. I'm just going to do Duolingo lessons until I tire out my brain and sleep, or until it's a reasonable time to start the day. Bonne nuit ou bonjour? शुभ रात्रि या सुप्रभात? ? לילה טוב או בוקר טוב —Gloria
"Veinte años" by Buena Vista Social Club
from Buena Vista Social Club, 1997
I know a lot about Zach but only what he chooses to write about here. Which thankfully is still a lot. I know that he is quitting soon or has quit his coffee house job already, to move on to the next opportunity. Felt like a good time to do this MMM, in honor of his time spent in there, listening to whatever bullshit music the owners of the shop try to lure in your Quentin Tarantino types with. I appreciate how our lives can be chronicled in distinct eras, and how these eras are sometimes marked by job transitions. I have a feeling that Zach is the same way, and that he will remember, fondly or not, the "coffee shop era" of his life.
I also know a little bit about Zach from others. Only a little bit. But a little birdie whispered in my ear recently that there may or may not be a completed novel in draft form floating around out there in Zach's immediate orbit, and I'm counting the days till I get a chance to read it. I'm sure it will be more compelling than the blurbs I've written for this coffee house mixtape, in any case. —Joe
"Cherry Wine" by Hozier
from Hozier, 2014
(only available as live version on Spotify)
This is my last week working at the cafe. It kind of makes me sad. Maybe I should stay? Now I have to confront what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life. Or at least for now. Did I do enough this year? Did I accomplish enough, did I follow my dreams enough? I did a lot. I worked in the cafe, which was a goal. I wrote the draft of a novel. I did lots of hiking. I went to India and the U.S. I led a trip for adults on the spectrum. I started teaching Torah classes for a post-high school program And still I feel like I watched too much YouTube, didn't use my time wisely enough. I feel sad to be leaving the cafe, even though I know it's right, because working there just delays the inevitable. But I will definitely miss it. What's next? What will happen for the rest of my days? I can't just nap forever. I'm scared. Help. Push me to do things, the things I want to do. Don't let the anxiety take over. Please. Be happy. Be happy. —Zach
"Rajamanta" by Café del Mar
from the Volume 9 compilation, 2002
Café del Mar is almost a cliché to include on this playlist, but I don't know, I already put Norah Jones on here, so maybe it's okay to lean into the clichés. Sometimes a cliché earns its place by doing a good job, and they genuinely do a great job in bringing that calming energy. We would be remiss not to include a song with their signature Balearic, chill-out vibe for a true coffee shop feel. —Gloria
"Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" by Sufjan Stevens
from Illinois, 2005
I wasn't a great barista. I never really learned how to make a good cappuccino. I forget orders and I consistently ask people to repeat them. I'm not the fastest mover. Today I broke the glass cover to the cookie jar and we had to throw out all the cookies for fear of glass pieces being in them. My boss yells at me. I also didn't pick the right cafe to work at—I don't get to chat with customers as often as I might want to, because it's just too fast-paced and the managers put too much pressure on us. But I do like the other workers, for the most part, and it's fun to turn your mind off for a while and let your body do the talking. Another thing I learned: War makes people crazy for sugar, because when the bombs started falling, people started buying, big time. And now I can add "barista" to my list of life skills. In the end, I fulfilled a dream, and that's awesome. —Zach
NEXT WEEK: "Vow of Silence" — Lyric-less songs (mumbles and screams are okay, I guess) (chosen by Sunny)
