Last year’s Spotify Wrapped: Thanks, Canada!
This year: All my top music is associated with writing-project playlists. Which is … sad and also kind of predictable.
Two repeats from last year: TMBG and Metric.
I have no means with which to defend myself regarding Vampire Weekend; I just started listening to them this year after thinking “hey, I really really like ‘Unbelievers‘ and ‘Oxford Comma‘; I should check out the rest of their catalog.” And since I grew up listening to a lot of Simon and Garfunkel, Father of the Bride hit me right in the nostalgia.
Fitz and the Tantrums popped up because I saw them at a show in a park this summer – possibly the ideal conditions under which to see this band. Even though the crowd got obnoxious up front and pissed off the band (rightfully so). The rest of us who were not behaving like animals were out on picnic blankets and lawn chairs, there were parents and kids kicking beach balls around, people had dogs, it was extremely chill. All the vibes just clicked. So after that I was like “oh yeah, they’re fun, and particularly good for driving music.”
Two Door Cinema Club is probably half on the strength of Tourist History, which I still freaking love. They tend to pop up on all the “upbeat indie” playlists I throw on in the background, too.
Every. Single. One. Of. These. Songs. is on a playlist for a recent writing project. Mostly on the longer version of the Therapist books 3-4 playlist. Also, like I said above, I listened to Father of the Bride a lot; “Harmony Hall” is on that. It was also on the playlist for the Therapist book 8 draft that I struggled with and then dropped, so that’s some more plays.
Two repeats from last year; Cool People and Ridiculous Romance.
I binged SO much of Queer as Fact‘s backlog this year, yowza. It is so good, y’all. SO GOOD. And sure, they’ve done episodes on your Oscars Wilde and your Stonewalls, but ALSO, when they say “around the world and throughout time,” they are not kidding. So many fascinating deep dives.
Some other shows I’ve enjoyed this year (not counting the ones I gushed about last year)
Normal Gossip, which I think is super popular, but I just found out about it this year. Sometimes you just love a funny story, right?
You Are Good, “a feelings podcast about movies”. I dip in and out of movie podcasts, but man, theirs are always so good.
Chatty AF: The Anime Feminist Podcast
Uncle Bob’s Magic Cabinet, which I found out about this fall when they won a local award for Best Podcast. It’s about magic and mythology in pop culture, and the dynamic between the hosts (a mother/daughter duo) is just so lovely. Also, it’s weirdly soothing to me to listen to a podcast by somebody with a Pittsburgh accent, or at least one of the two. Even though I still live here? I’m not missing anything? I have like 75% of the same accent myself. I dunno why. It’s just soothing.
So that’s it for Spotify calling me out, 2023.