Don’t Delete The Kisses
I am sitting at a coffee shop right now, outdoors, and somehow too warm in just a long-sleeved shirt and jeans even though it is mid-October in Michigan. I wish I was wearing my coat. I love my coat. It's a vintage, pink and yellow and green plaid wool Pendleton coat. The wind feels cold though, when it blows, but the sun is hot so it feels refreshing. I had a sandwich and a chai latte. I like chai lattes because caffeine makes me incredibly anxious, so if I get coffee it has to be decaf anyway. The chai is just enough for me.
Anyway, a few minutes ago a bee decided to jump into my latte. I had to rescue it with a spoon and let it dry off on a napkin. And then it flew away. So that was eventful.
This post is going to be music-centered, because I want to start/continue making Carousel Thirteen playlists. Here is my question for you readers: would you prefer a rotating playlist that switches out its contents periodically, or new, additional playlists sorted with a certain sound or vibe? I would appreciate your feedback. For now I will attach the existing playlist.
I’m super into Wolf Alice right now. If you’re into 2010s indie pop you’ve probably heard “Don’t Delete The Kisses”. It’s sweet, it’s kinda magical, and it perfectly encapsulates that teenage girl/young adult frenzy of emotions. I love it, and I love the entire “Visions Of A Life” album that it’s on. It has a gorgeous album cover, and “Don’t Delete The Kisses” is slightly misleading to the overall sound of the album, as the band’s most popular track, which I enjoy the trickery of (not that that was intentional). It’s a whole mix of sounds, which matches the mix of emotions towards growing older and approaching adulthood. I haven’t fully jumped into the information available on all the meanings of this album, but that’s a bit of what I can gather from what I’ve heard. I’ve added a few tracks from this album into the playlist, as well as some from other albums. Wolf Alice deserves all of our love and attention.
I’m also into Sufjan Stevens a lot right now. I always thought Sufjan would be far too depressing for my taste, from what I knew of his songs for Call Me By Your Name and “Fourth of July” from Carrie and Lowell (which I have not been emotionally prepared enough to dive into yet). Illinois, however, has become one of my new favorite albums ever. EVER. This is not news to anyone in the world, as it is pretty widely agreed, objectively so, that this is not only one of Sufjan’s best works, but also one of the greatest albums ever crafted. So if you haven’t taken the hour and thirteen minutes to enjoy it yet, you must create a block in your calendar to do so. And read the information on each song’s meaning as well, if you’re obsessive about those details like I am. You wont’s regret it! I added a few tracks from Illinois to the playlist as well as a small handful of others. Enjoy.
And finally, I’ve added another handful of some other songs. I make playlists based on no general sound, which becomes sonic whiplash when I listen through them. But I feel like sometimes that’s how it has to be, because it’s less likely you’ll get bored. I have to add some Interpol, because they’re my favorite band right now. I’ve been going strong listening to them since June and still haven’t gotten burnt out. Sometime soon I’ll have to write another post centered on them, which I only sorta did in this post. I think in this very moment my favorite Interpol album is Antics, and if you’re into alternative rock or any related genres you’ve either heard “Evil” or desperately need to. This will certainly be my top song of the year, unless it is “Take You On A Cruise”. Listen to the whole album, PLEASE. If you like The Strokes and don’t know Interpol you’re missing a lot.
I also added a song by the band De Novo Dahl, who the world has somehow completely forgotten about. I know of them through another band from the early-2000s. They’re strange and cool and if you like They Might Be Giants or Weezer or anything else nerd-rock equivalent, you’d probably like the Cats And Kittens album. I have only listened through it once, so I can’t make any huge statements about it, but I do know that the first half of it, the “Cats” side, contains the original tracks, while the second half contains remixed versions of the first half. It’s a super interesting concept for an album, but also two hours long. So to start, I’ve added “Push Buttons”.
And the rest are all random, so here’s a list.
“Golden Brown” - The Stranglers
“Outbound” - After (if you’re into early-2000s music, you must listen to this band)
“Attaway” - Phantogram
“Everything Will Be Alright” - The Killers (I really do love The Killers)
“Gonna Leave You” - Queens of the Stone Age
“On the Sly” - Metric
I hope you enjoy this new playlist. I will keep it up for a while. And then maybe swap the songs out, or make a new playlist. You can probably make a copy of the playlist if you want to save it, if I do end up swapping songs out. We’ll see. Still trying to figure out how to make this all work, but enjoying this little writing outlet I have.
