So today I am…once again…but for the first time in a while…sitting at Starbucks here in Houston. And as I let my mocha americano slightly cool so I can drink it without burning myself, I’m pondering on what to write here and as I think, I believe this will be a bit of a musical entry. I realize I haven’t posted any of my most recent mixes(the horror!), and so I shall at least chronicle one of them this day(will save others for later on). This is one of the mixes I did pre-Christmas, both for myself and to give a copy to Laura and Caisson! I quite enjoy this one even though it’s quite an odd mix of alt and folk and…pop? It makes me happy, even though it is maybe one of my most melancholy mixes yet. If you listen to it, you’ll notice the “turn” or the “upward, boundless gaze of the heart” doesn’t come until…the last minute of the last song? That is a rather late turn by my standards, but oh is it beautiful. In my mind, this is a beautiful mix to play when it is grey and wet and dreary outside…bare branches waving in the wind and heart swooping to follow. I should stop trying to describe it but merely post the tracklist. Do be aware – it is named after one of the Ainur from the Silmarillion – the angelic being who weeps for grief and cries for mercy, even for the very foulest evildoers. Enough dawdling pretense. Allow me to present…The Tears of Nienna:
1. Kitchen Door – Wolf Larsen
2. Hunnie Pie – Zella Day
3. Forget About Life – Alvvays
4. Grazed Knees – Snow Patrol
5. Soon – Big Little Lions
6. Where Did You Come From – Andrew & Veda
7. Top of the Stairs – Scott Mulvahill
8. Modern Nature – Sondre Lerche
9. I Don’t Know – Benjamin Gibbard
10. Vito’s Ordination Song – Sufjan Stevens
11. Promise – Ben Howard
12. If I Go, I’m Goin’ – Gregory Alan Isakov
13. Upward Over the Mountain – Iron & Wine
14. This is What Makes Us Girls – Lana Del Rey
15. New Year’s Day – Taylor Swift
16. Day Breaks – Norah Jones
17. Liability – Lorde
18. Go Home – Julien Baker
And there you go. Random eh? I’m actually quite happy with it.
Now you may think I’m done with my musical talk for today but it is not to be. I’ve spent the last hour(!!) or so updating my music metrics spreadsheet(by the way, this is my engineering side coming out…yes, I’ve made a spreadsheet to compile my music taste. Delightfully nerdy, I know!!). It took me a lot longer to update the artist/album counts…mostly because I didn’t realize how many mixes I’d made in 2017. Seven! Shockingly high count by my standards but it makes me happy too since I do like doing it. At some point when I have more time, I may detail out some interesting(maybe) facts about my music listening…but for now, I’ll give the top nine artists on my list(for period 2015-2017, inclusive). We have:
1. Green Day (12 tracks!)
2. Lorde (10)
3. Oh Hello’s (9)
4. The Postal Service (8)
5. Needtobreathe (7)
6. Seryn (7)
7. Switchfoot (7)
8. The Dø (7)
9. Zella Day (7)
I feel that Green Day is cheating just a bit, since I had one playlist last year(Lost and Not Yet Found) that had nine of their songs, which is practically a best-of and thus shouldn’t count…but hey, I’ll count them anyway. I do (somewhat guiltily!) love Green Day, so it’s not misleading. The rest of the list makes sense…no big surprises. I still have somewhat random taste, per usual.
My newest mix, which is still in my car – Never Again Sighs the Dawn – I’m still not totally sure if it’s going to be the final mix or not. I like it…but wow, the flow is quite quirky. (Even by my standards!!) And it breaks some new ground in regards to country music…which may surprise a few people here and there. Anyways, once I do finalize it I’ll eventually post tracklist here. Eventually. Next one I post here will be my dance CD from Christmas last year – one which Laura at least said she much enjoyed – yay!!
Ok – now I have sat here at Starbucks far too long and I really should probably get moving. I have only talked about music today…shocking!!! Ah well – ’tis fun to write about. Now must get on to the rest of my day…be well my friends – go in the grace of our Lord!!!
