1st cycle - gonna put some wheels in motion (or; nothing else behaves like me.)
The introduction to the format and the first playlist cycle. by dean (Originally Posted to the Start Press Substack on Jan 03, 2024)
I’m making a playlist to examine myself. I don’t know what it will be called. Maybe we’ll find a title for it. For now, it will be referred to as “playlist name pending.”
I am 30 years old. I live in Brooklyn, New York. I work at the Alamo Drafthouse in Downtown Brooklyn. I have a wonderful partner named Rebecca and we live together in Bushwick.
These are facts about myself, and I can prove that to you. Anything else I want to tell you about myself is less provable. I am a writer, but you can’t read my stories because they’re not finished. I make original music, but you can’t hear the songs because they’re not recorded. It’s a struggle to introduce myself beyond the basics. I have a hard time saying things. I’m always afraid of sounding uneducated. I’m scared that my voice isn’t worth entering into the conversation. I feel unoriginal and uncomplicated.
With “playlist name pending,” I’d like to remove expectations and just speak plainly about music that I love, or music that I feel like I will love. I have to make myself known, because I feel unknown.
I really recommend you listen to the playlists as you read. At the very least, pick a song or two you’ve never listened to and listen to them if you like what I have to say about them. It would mean a lot to me!
Let’s begin with the first cycle. There isn’t that strong of a theme, here! I want to establish some recurring artists and play around with how I talk about things. We’re working it out!
a new day (curtis schwartz, keith mansfield. 1995.)
“A New Day" by Curtis Schwartz and Keith Mansfield is a production music track featured in Jon Bois’ YouTube series, “The History of the Seattle Mariners.” It is a beautiful piece of instrumentation, soft and inspiring. It has a vintage flavor. You can really feel the 1995 dripping out of it. I include this as a sweet prologue. It was my #2 most-listened to song on my 2023 Spotify Wrapped because I put it on a playlist for when I play Out of the Park Baseball, a baseball manager simulation game. There will be a big baseball tangent later, probably when baseball season arrives.
This song is easy to listen to. It has a strong main motif that is comforting to return to and it makes me feel like the sun is rising over a great city and shining down on greater people living there. Something magical is going to happen when I hear this song.
I’ve debated with myself… Should I download it and use it as my morning alarm? I’m afraid that using it as a necessary function will make me hate the song. It’s gotta be listened to with beautiful intention, right? Let me know if you have ideas about that.
i am a scientist (guided by voices. 1994.)
Time to analyze! I’ve been a big fan of Guided By Voices since high school. It was my junior year, 2010, and I had a flash drive that had like, four albums loaded onto it that I kept to listen to during tech class when we weren’t allowed to have our iPods on us. GBV’s Alien Lanes was on that flash drive.
This song isn’t on that album! But “I Am A Scientist” was the song that connected me to the band. I can’t remember how I found out about the band, or how I first heard the song. I do remember that it felt like I knew about the song already. The main riff was instantly recognizable to me. It’s a major strength of this band, they make eternal melodies. If they had a more conventional sound or wrote lyrics that weren’t dadaist nonsense, they might be mainstream rock legends. Anyway, this song hit me enough to get me interested in exploring the rest of their unique, lo-fi sound.
This song is about looking into yourself, studying what you find, and coming to a not-so-great conclusion about the results. There’s some kinks in your armor, there’s a mess inside. But you gotta move on. It’s okay that it’s messy, that’s just the outcome of the study! At least you looked. Now, it’s time to reiterate on your theories. Find new avenues of exploration. Find a new hypothesis. Something will click and produce the results you want. “Everything works out right.” Accept, and decide that everything’s just fine.
snowball in hell (they might be giants.)
If my life was a sitcom, this would make a really good opening credits song. They Might Be Giants has been my favorite band for as long as I can remember. The only other artists I can think of that I've enjoyed for as long as I’ve loved TMBG would be The Beatles, Weird Al, or John Williams.
These guys are special to me. John Linnell and John Flansburg are two quirked up white boys from Brooklyn who make weird New Wave College Rock for weird New Wave College Rock people. They have a unique sound; a blend of staccato drum machines, twangy electric guitars, accordions, synths, horns, and strange samples. They have an Americana vibe that I’ve never been able to describe with accuracy. Luckily, there is a picture I can point to. Have a look at the photo from the album artwork from their best album, Flood:
It’s a photo by Margaret Bourke-White, a prominent American war photographer. This is a moment from the Ohio River flood in 1937. I’m assuming the flood is the inspiration for the title of the album. This picture informs a lot of how I listen to their songs.
Anyway, “Snowball In Hell” is from their previous album, Lincoln.
Avalanche or roadblock, I was a snowball in hell! Avalanche or roadblock, a jailer trapped in his cell.
A snowball in hell. Impossible. Outlandish. As others have said about They Might Be Giants, it’s funny, but sad.
This song is a great reflection on the pains of working to survive. An anti-work anthem about the daily grind. Snowballs are fragile and the environment is fire and brimstone.
The song uses a sample from a corny, 1960’s self-help book on tape that John Flansburg received as a gift to help him get more organized.
"I didn't expect to find a salesman drinking coffee this late in the morning. How long you been here, Joe?"
"Oh, I don't know, I guess 30, 45 minutes maybe. Why do you ask?"
"You must be making a lot of sales, piling up a good income."
"Oh... uh... I'm doing all right. I could do better, but... Ohhhh, haha - I get it Paul. Back on that old 'Time is Money' kick, right?"
"Not back on it, Joe. Still on it."
I’ve always rolled my eyes at the Time Is Money Man from that exchange. Paul, I guess. The other guy, Joe, is casual and friendly and likes taking breaks and drinking coffee. I like taking breaks and drinking coffee. What is so wrong with that? Don’t be a Paul. I think a lot of my problems stem from the workplace and the, uh, need to be there. Oh, yeah, baby, this is an anti-capitalist essay series!
Which brings us to…
we like to party (the vengabus) (the vengaboys, 1998.)
Imagine… an inter-city disco!! This is the type of national infrastructure we need to be talking about. A cross-country party bus from New York to San Francisco! Is it express? Where else do we stop on this route of a lifetime? I declare The Vengabus a socialist victory. There's no OMNY payments to get onto the Vengabus.
I love the way the singers' Rotterdam Euro accents play with the English lyrics. It's so fun to sing along to these words. It's hypnotic and repetitive and ultra-Euro-hype. If there's ever a Vengaboys Throwback Dance Night at a club near you, hit me up. I'd love to go to a place that bumps this particular flavor of dance. Music video sidebar: I really love the dance move they hit when they sing “the wheels are still a-tchurnin!” (around the 2:06 mark) and they spin their forearms around. That is a great move. Gotta use that move all the time.
I listen to this song on repeat during major dark periods of my life. It helps. It’s soothing and rhythmic. I’m not sure many people would ever describe the Six Flags song as soothing.
The bottom line is this: If the Vengabus pulled up instead of the B38, I’d get the hell on.
“well, well,” said the rocking chair (dean friedman, 1978.)
I don’t know about you, but I fall into this trap all the time. Everything sucks and nothing is fair.
“Well, well…” said the rocking chair. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen such stark despair. Who told you life was fair?”
Paramus, NJ’s own Dean Friedman’s got this really funky and eclectic 70’s sound, and it’s catchy as anything. This song sits right with me. The mundane objects in our lives are the sounding board for our complaints. It’s a little silly, but they offer sage advice. It’s gonna be allllllllright. Take a second, sip a cup of hot coffee, call up a friend. The struggles are heavy but you’ve made it through before.
I saw Dean Friedman last year. He played a show at a hotel bar in Manhattan, and it was really neat. He played his goofy and sensitive songwriterly songs to a bunch of old pals and old people who have been longtime fans. Rebecca and I got some strange looks from these old people, confused about why we youths were at a Dean Friedman show. We just laughed and said we like his music! Rebecca and I connected over another Friedman song that I’ll feature in a later cycle (stay tuned…). At the show, he played a really jazzy rendition of “Rocking Chair” and, my goodness, this dude still has that range!!
It’s a feel-good song. I sing it in the hallways at work sometimes when I need to be elsewhere and remind myself that things aren’t as bad as they seem.
HOT TO GO! (chappell roan, 2023.)
This playlist is going to highlight songs that are relatively new to me that I feel earn the spot of being future all-timers. “HOT TO GO!” is so fun and catchy. With The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Chappell Roan has introduced herself as a huge star. I don’t have a lot to say about this song or what it means or if it relates to me at any point in my life. I just know a hit when I hear it.
Maybe I’ll allow a special rule where I can include a song on one cycle and then write about the song in a later cycle when I have something real to say about it. Good idea? Or against the spirit of the project?
band on the run (wings, 1973.)
This is the first song by the 1970’s rock ensemble Wings on this playlist, but it won’t be the last, I can assure you.
Wings is (are?) one of my all-time favorite bands. I used to dismiss them: the songs are too unstructured, they have some catchy hooks but sometimes they just repeat them over and over until they decide to end. They’re a jam band, and I thought I wasn’t into jam bands.
Then, I turned 29. Watching The Beatles: Get Back, I realized I was pretty much age-contemporary with Paul and the boys at that moment. (Okay, John & Ringo were 29, Paul & George are a bit younger. I digress.) So, I re-litigated what came after The Beatles for my favorite Beatle.
Wings. You’re Paul McCartney of the Beatles. It’s like, 1970 or whatever. You have a wife you’re head over heels for and at the same time you’re breaking up with your greatest collaborators who helped you shape pop culture. What can you possibly do to follow all that up? Paul’s response is natural, use it to have some fun with your family and make some new friends. The low-key effort of Wings is the shedding of the weight of expectation Paul must have felt. It took a few projects to get to the heights of Band On The Run. The first couple Paul solo & Wings albums are all about having fun and experimenting and throwing ideas at the wall until something classic landed. Then, in 1973, it really landed. The whole album is a fantastic Beatles followup, a rock classic in its own right, and the perfect encapsulation of the “language” of Wings’ sprawling musicality.
“Band On The Run” rules, ‘nuff said. I have no further analysis of the song itself, I just wanted to lay the ground on my love for Wings.
i remember that (prefab sprout, 1988.)
I think this song is about nostalgia surrounding relationships or unsaid things between people. That’s great, but I really like the chorus/title phrase.
Nothing sounds as good as “I remember that.”
That’s an evocative sentence in this era of nostalgia and intellectual property. It’s easy to get a kick out of things we’ve long held dear when it’s presented to us again. Absolutely nothing sounds as good as the songs we already love. I try to break out of that trap, I listen to as many ‘new-to-me’ albums that I can in order to gain appreciation for new things (or; new appreciation for things I previously didn’t get attached to or didn’t investigate deeply enough).
I had a few Prefab Sprout songs on various other playlists for a couple of years, but this past year I actually went through their discography and unlocked them as a new favorite band. They write weird literature by way of 80’s soft pop. The jazzy instrumentation is exciting to listen to. They have a pretentious sort of confidence that I really vibe with.
hounds of love (kate bush, 1985. / the futureheads, 2004.)
Note: I’ve included the Futurehead’s cover of this song on the playlist to give the Futureheads their moment, Kate Bush is getting multiple songs in this project. But I’ll put her original here to listen to!
I found a stash of CDs in the closet at my community college from their defunct radio station and found an appealing-looking 2000s post-punk album by a British band called The Futureheads. Stole it from the bin. They rock and I really liked their cover of Kate Bush's Hounds of Love. I think their version is a karaoke go-to for me. It’s full of energy and I can do a funny British punk accent when I sing along.
Take my shoes off and throw them in the lake!
And I'll be two steps on the water
Kate Bush’s vocals are iconic. I love how she sings that chorus part. “Throoowwwww them in the lakeee!!!” It’s just so cool.
This song makes me grapple with my own cowardice and my inability to take action when I need to. We’re all being chased by the hounds of love, through dark forests of choices and chances. Sometimes you need help taking the plunge into a future you can’t comprehend. You need someone to throw your shoes ahead for you.
Do you know what I really need? Do you know what I really need? I need love, love, love, love, yeah!
Thank you for reading and listening along with the first cycle. Let your close friends know about this publication and please subscribe so you don’t miss the next post! Mark this as Not Spam!