For Ciera: Music!

Not that I really need to give a disclaimer, but I will say I've been very especially into folk and country as of late. It isn't a new thing, as you know, but it has been almost exclusively what I've been listening to. 

March 22nd, 2024. A great day for music. Four albums by four women. I haven't even had the time to listen to them all yet. 

Trail of Flowers by Sierra Ferrell, of course.  I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for this album for a number of reasons, one of which is that she played Why Haven't You Loved Me Yet at her show last spring in Vancouver and it's been stuck in my head ever since (and she didn't even release it as a single!!). I think if I'd looked for it, I probably could've found it on youtube but for whatever reason, I didn't. 

Tigers Blood by Waxahatchee. I've only started listening to her recently, but I've become obsessed. I can't stop. Her older stuff is so good, too!!

Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker, of Big Thief. I don't know if you listen to her or not but even if you think you haven't heard her before, you have. I really love this cover of her song Anything. 

Bite Down by Rosali. I'm only listening to this one for the first time right now as I write this, but I'm blown away. A voice like a warm hug. 

Stupid Horse but this time it's on the banjo. If you don't know the song yet, click the first link first to get an idea of what it sounds like.

I know I already sent you an Emily Nenni song earlier, but I really think you'd like her and I hope you give her a listen. Her song Never One to Stay was my introduction to her. 

There are too many incredible artists!!!

Lael Neale is somebody I started getting into right around the time I visited you last February and I'm not sure I ever actually showed you her music? I might have been too fixated on making you listen to Skrillex (which I stand by, btw). Particular standout songs for me are I Am The River and Every Star Shivers in the Dark. 

At the tail end of last year and the beginning of this year when I was infatuated by a guy I'm friends with, I got really into the song We Can't Be Friends by Lorene Scafaria, for pretty obvious reason. 

Erin Rae is impossible to choose favorites from. I wish I could listen to her music for the first time over again. I think that Love Like Before may be a perfect song. I used to occasionally send Can't See Stars to a guy I slept with two summers ago and now I think of him every time I listen to it. I think he was infatuated by me. 

I can't imagine you haven't heard Alice Phoebe Lou before, but I'm including people here not because I think you haven't heard them but because I want to emphasize my love for them. Her live versions of her songs take the cake for me, though I listen to her endlessly on spotify as well. My favorites are this version of Something Holy and this version of Only When I. I used to lie down on the floor in my apartment in Seattle and listen to her on repeat for hours, just letting the music wash over me. 

Same goes for Johnny Flynn. Such a unique voice, so much better in live versions. I don't think I've found a single video of him on youtube that I didn't think was lovely. Here's him singing The Water and Amazon Love. 

I sent messages in our group chat a little while ago about Labi Siffre, but I do feel like I want to underscore that one. He's incredible. Another song I listened to a lot during my infatuation was Bless the Telephone. 

There's absolutely no way you haven't heard of  the The California Honeydrops before because I know I've made you listen to them. I am eternally obsessed and have probably seen them live more times than any other band. I've also hung out with them and danced a very very very long salsa with Lech, the lead singer. It's hard to know when to finish dancing when people are just jamming rather than playing songs. When It Was Wrong was the first song of theirs I ever became obsessed with. Were they at Salmonfest the year you were there?

A very recent discovery of mine is Laurie Anderson! O Superman! There's no way she isn't friends with David Byrne. Speaking of, if you haven't listened to much Talking Heads before, there is no time to start like the present. I've loved them all my life because my mom is a big fan and, well, she has probably influenced my taste in music more than anybody else. 

I've also been really into watching videos of Frank Zappa's live performances recently. Here is a brief example. My introduction to him was at this guy's house after we'd been swing dancing. We put on Frank Zappa and I made him watch Jan Svankmajer films, silently, to accompany the music. 

I will make another post if/when I come up with more to share. There's so much music out there and I want to listen to it all.