Music

This Week’s Heavy Rotation #8

“I’ll sail out the window, I’ll walk down the hedge.”

We’re a few weeks away from spring yet, but it finally feels like winter has loosened it’s grip. Not just in the meteorological sense, but in our collective psyche. The sun is out, and I can see spots of grass again. My kids are gearing up to return to in-person learning after 363 days, and the light at the end of the tunnel no longer feels like a train bearing down on all of us.

As I looked back at the songs I listened to most this past week, that recurrent theme of optimism really jumped out. I’m not calling time on winter, and it’s still way too early to declare any kind of normalcy — whatever that will mean going forward — but it’s hard not to think things are looking up.

That said, here are my top 5 of the last 7 days…

Chemical- New Order

Yes, more New Order this week. Most weeks, really. This one’s from 1993’s Republic, an album drummer Stephen Morris once described as “a very, very unpleasant record to make.” In a previous article, this was my pick as the most underrated track on the album.

The band might’ve had a bad time putting this record together, but you’d never know it from uptempo songs like this.

Doormatica- Paul Keeley

I got into a lot of house/dance music this week. Paul Keeley is always one of my go-to artists. Doormatica is my favorite of his. I used to listen to it on repeat when writing papers in school. Last week I listened while stumbling through my runs. This particular video is a road trip through Portland Oregon by YouTuber Freeway Brent. He’s got a lot of these, and they're all strangely alluring. No question on this one’s pull, though — it’s my hometown.

Come for the beats, stay for the bridges.

That’s The Way Love Is (Deep House Mix)- Ten City

More House music. A bazillion years ago I worked in a record store at the mall. At one point the original version was on a compilation we had on our mandatory in-store playlist. I hadn’t heard this in years until a friend dropped a playlist with this version on it.

Don’t Send Me Away-Garfield Fleming

A gift from The Riff! A new one for me, I first saw this in an article by Oliver Norris. He describes the track as “Nothing too fancy here — great melody, deep soul voice and a chorus that will stick with you.”

I responded that I’m a sucker for these sorts of songs. Turns out we’re both right- I’ll bet I’ve listened to this 20 times in the last 2–3 days.

Cold Sweat-The Sugarcubes

Cold Sweat is the second single off of the band’s debut album, Life’s Too Good, and my favorite. It’s hard to articulate, but the song has a strange undercurrent of urgency. Bjork also really shows her vocal range here as well.

I’d never heard anything like it. Still haven’t really.

What’ve you been listening to this week? Let me know in the comments!

As always, thank you to The Riff and the ever-growing list of writers here that make this community so fun to be a part of.

In case you missed last week’s list: