Quarantine Playlist Part 2: Spring Edition

painting by Sara

You didn't miss Part One, there wasn't one.  There's a half-assed version that is too depressing anyway and I'm over it so we're moving on.

"Quarantine" rolls along.  I miss my friends and I miss my school and I miss going to shows and all the other things that we miss.  But it is a nice reminder of how lucky we are to have those things in the first place.  There is bitter sweetness in realizing you'd taken things for granted.

Meanwhile, Spring is here.  None of the birds or the leaves on the trees give a shit about COVID.  It turns out isolation is pretty freeing once you settle in.

On that note-- 

The Olivia Tremor Control - Green Typewriters

"How much longer can I wait...?" Will Cullen Hart breaks the disorientation near the end of the 20-minute Green Typewriters suite with the question that has bubbled to the top of all of our minds.  The catharsis in the tape-skipping, speaker-ripping guitar solo that ensues seems to suggest that the wait isn't so bad after all.

The Strokes - Someday

"In many ways they'll miss the good old days..."  Someday hits the happiest of nostalgic tones by finding power in good memories.  This is a song for when you're done wasting time waiting for the good times to come, there's too much else to do.

Teenage Fanclub - Going Places

"Kick my feet off the ground, I'll embrace the sky..."  Teenage Fanclub's jangly major-key melodies sound like when the sun catches the very top of a cloud and the vapor glows a bright blue so electric it looks like an interaction.  Because when things feel stagnant sometimes all it takes is the natural motion of things.

The Presidents of the United States of America - Back Porch

"and everything's fine, everything's beautiful, everything's great, I just feel so good..." Social distancing doesn't apply to kitties or chickens or worms or fifteen-hundred bass drum luggin' bug-eyed monkeys so we might as well bring all our animal friends on over to the back porch to jam out. 

Guided by Voices - Game of Pricks

"You could never be strong, you can only be free..."  Guided by Voices is second to none when it comes to reveling in a "fuck it" level of acceptance.  Any number of their songs shine with natural affirmation in the face of bullshit.  This is a good one for when you don't want to play Bee Thousand for the fourth time in a row. 

Sebadoh - Flame

"You can feel anything you wanna feel..."  Feelings run the gamut these days, and none of them are off limits.  

Waxahatchee - Under a Rock

"Maybe you got your head caught in a ditch last night..."  Katie Crutchfield is the reigning master of the kiss-off song.  This is probably the most energizing of her anthems for anti-wallowing and not taking any shit.  

John Lennon - Nobody Told Me

"There's UFOs over New York and I ain't too surprised..."  Because at some point you come to appreciate the weirdness.  Nobody told any of us there'd be days like these.  

Primus - Wynona's Big Brown Beaver

"She pricked her finger one day and it occured to her she might have a porcupine..."  For when the real insanity sets in and you need a rompin'-stompin' yarn courtesy of Mr. Claypool. 

BRONCHO - Try Me Out Sometime

"Gotta get done, get you off'a my head..."  This is a song for when you have to take matters into your own hands and MOVE.  It's for getting after it, whatever that might be doesn't matter much anymore.

Pavement - Gold Soundz

"Is it a crisis or a boring change...?"  Something about Stephen Malkmus's sprawling, schizopherenic poetry that alwas seems to feel its way to a safe landing seems to fit.  Also, you're welcome for not using the easy "you can never quarantine the past" line.  Until now.

Sonny & The Sunsets - Too Young to Burn 

"Now I sit by my window, watch the sun going down, down..."  Because it's ok to just do that, too, we'll be alright.