three songs that will brighten your day whatever the weather (but i hope it's sunny).

“will you promise” - ebo taylor

the core horn break of this is pure joy and what caught my ear when i came across the song digging playlists for things to sample. the way the harmonies build on the forest floor, climbing up through the canopy of trees and then the drum fill exploding into blue sky. another image i think of in terms of vibes: the bikini contest scene in i am cuba. it's not just that hook, though: the singing in the verses is beautiful, too. i was trying to do a remix of this with the verse from SZA's "smoking on my ex pack" (which already has a perfect beat of its own, but lilies exist to be gilded) but i haven't been able to get it to work yet. if you like this song, the whole album it comes from, 1975's my love and music, sounds and feels just like it and is a wonderful thing to put on when your life needs to be higher.

“tiana anthem” - la reezy

la reezy is young rapper from new orleans who really isn't even on this song other than in the chorus; instead, it's sung by another artist, domonique warren. this song is so short and simple and even across its brief length is very repetitive...and it's also the song not written by someone named drake or olivia rodrigo that has been looping in my head the most this summer. it just goes bounce bounce bounce and makes me smile and want to listen to it again every time (the video is so charming too). the last time deborah and i were on [redacted] she was asking about why i listen to so much rap by women. early in our relationship i used the word "bitch" much more freely and even after i stopped using it myself, i would defend it in rap music as a necessary crutch for rhymes, a load-bearing cornerstone of flow. even some of the most mainstream rap music i listen to by men still often reflects a deep structural disdain for and devaluation of women that bums me out because i think of how hearing it hits others. of course, rap coming from a woman does not prevent it from being misogynistic, but the different subject position of the speaker also changes the meaning of it? or at least that's what i tell myself. i still listen to and love tons of songs with the word "bitch" (and much worse) in them, but it's nice how this one bounces along on good vibes alone.

"center of gravity" - yo la tengo

yo la tengo is one of those bands i've listened to like at least 10,000 hours of over my life and was super influential to my guitar playing and song composition at a formative age. but we need a german word for how even with artists like that, your core artists that you feel like you know better than anything, there are always gaps in your listening, places your desire lines curved around and past. my first yo la tengo album was summer sun and my highest rotation yo la tengo album was and then nothing turned itself inside-out and this song "center of gravity" was on their other "big" album, i can hear the heart beating as one, which if i recall i had burned onto an MP3 CD that was somewhat scratched and didn't play well. it was such a delight, then, to discover this gleaming gem, with its bright bossa accoutrements and the sweetness of the singer in the chorus reminding their love, over and over, that "whenever you're next to me / center of gravity". something about that hook sticks with me: the way love can shift us, can be stronger than the forces of physics.