Four of our artists this month (Madison Cunningham, Prince, Fiona Apple, and Imaginary Future) have been in our playlist before. The other seven are new. We hope you enjoy them all. Which are your favorites?
Show notes from our May 2024 Spotify Podcast:
We started with Phoebe’s ten submissions and Al’s ten submissions, but our finished, 11-song playlist is put in an order that we think makes sense musically. Which is not same same order that we pick the songs during the picking ceremony heard during our podcast.
Song notes (Quotes are from song lyrics):
- “Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for the sporting event of the year?”
black midi brings solid musical chops and frenetic energy. And yes, “math rock”! We both love the wild-ass experimentation this one brings! - “Yet somehow dance to a different tune, I guess that once you go divide this precious land, this precious land will divide you”
Can you ever get enough Prince? He’s back for his third appearance in our playlist with 2004’s “United States Of Division”. - “Tied to my bed, I was younger then, I had nothing to spend but time on you”
Fiona Apple is that rare artist who makes every song she does sound like her own personal manifesto. Sharon Van Etten might have written “Love More”, but Fiona owns it. - “Oh, to think that you would be resting in my arms, how I wish I knew, Georgia where you are, I can’t be without you, Georgia, oh”
Emily King’s “Georgia” has Phoebe written all over it. She’s so smooth. And this is a lovely video. - “If he tells me all he knows ’bout the way his river flows, I don’t suppose it’s meant for me”
Famous Blue Cable and Feist bring us this dreamy and magical cover of Nick Drake’s “River Man”. Maybe Al’s favorite song this month. - “It’s not if, darling it’s when, there’s always something left unsaid”
Madison Cunningham is such a gift. “Life According To Raechel” is fourth appearance in our playlist, and her second original. - “Could be on a mountain or deep in the sea , I might be lonely tonight, but I won’t stop believing, this is how it should be, and maybe I’m a rolling stone”
Jonah Tolchin and Heather Nation’s “Maybe, I’m A Rolling Stone” brings amazing sweetness and harmonies to our playlist this month. - “I don’t need you to love me, I can’t be broken twice, just tell me I’m beautiful as we lie down, that will suffice”
The Irish trio Wyvern Lingo earned Al’s award for the best video for this month with their song “Used”. And you’ll be happy to learn that, yes, Maciek made it to the gig after all. - “Yeah, I watched you all ask all your lovers away, rolling your eyes, to the back of your heads, surely you know to close them instead”
Who would have thought that an empty swimming pool would be such a great performance setting? dodie, that’s who. - “Now you’re taller than you’ve ever been, there’s a mark on the wall, you see”
Searows feels what would happen if River Whyless, Fleet Foxes, and Bon Iver had a baby. “House Song” is so lovely. - “Well, it’s too late tonight, to drag the past out into the light, we’re one, but we’re not the same, we get to carry each other, carry each other”
We’re in total agreement that Imaginary Future’s “One” is better than U2’s. Take that, Paul David Hewson.
Both our Spotify playlist and our podcast are updated and released around the first of each month. We’re recorded monthly in the warm and cozy hug of the OML Studios in lovely downtown Manchester, Richmond, Virginia.
Thanks to Cooper’s Craft 100 proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey for help in recording this month. Theme music is from “Red Eye” by E’s Jammy Jams, accordion music by Andrew Huang. Trod Along by Blue Dot Sessions. TJ Elwood by Blue Dot Sessions. Dino De Deus by Blue Dot Sessions. Chopin – Mazurka Op6No2 by Blue Dot Sessions.
Featured image: Sunset at the Blue Heron Hotel, OBX
If you have questions or suggestions, please drop us an email.
See you next month!
