Taking Me Back to Back
Gearing Up For The Holidays
Fresh For The Holidays: Spotify | Apple Music
Well, we're finally at the point where I need to address Em's Fresh Christmas. It was an ill considered name and shows my obvious Christmas bias. Hereforth, it'll be Fresh for the Holidays and friends, it is fresh today. We've got a full album from Hiss Golden Messenger, and tracks from Manchester Orchestra, Joshua Radin, Rob Thomas/Ingrid Michaelson, and José Feliciano's 50th Anniversary version of Feliz Navidad.
Also, I'm doing full albums on this playlist. By the end of the season, this'll be massive. I encourage to fork it and create your own playlist of the holiday songs that speak to you so that you can have some fresh music to brighten what can often be a dark season. I generally like to build a happy playlist and a sad playlist, since I do think there's a unique element to this time of year where we're all invited to reflect on sadness in a healthy way that isn't often culturally prioritized.
Friday Funsies
Em's Fresh Fridays: Spotify |** [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/ems-fresh-fridays/pl.u-ZWJs0JDq2e) **| Bandcamp
The cool thing this week is that I get to bookend the playlist with Jack White's new single, as he released two versions of it, each of which is worth your time. I'll be honest, I'm not really able to write much today. I've got a stressful day ahead of me and I really just want to zonk out and watch Dune in order to distract myself.
It's a good playlist, though. Don't miss albums from Every Time I Die, The Dear Hunter, Dearhoof, Circuit des Yeux, and JPEGMAFIA. There's also a new single from Poppy and HEALTH which warms my heart just by merit of its existence.
There's a new track from DJ Snake with Ozuna, Megan Thee Stallion, and LISA (BLACKPINK), which is a fucking whirlwind collaboration that should knock you all right the fuck out. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs has teamed up with The Lovely Eggs to cover.... Donna Summer?!? Jesus Christ, what a choice.
Angel Du$t has a new album that I forgot to mention up there, but it's worth listening to, since one track features fucking Tim Armstrong from Rancid. Not the track I chose to highlight, but you know, one of the tracks on the album.
You may remember Hawthonn's brand of ethereal field recording ambient music from a few weeks back. If that stuck with you, you'll be happy to know that the EP is here today and it's simply more of the same. I'm excited to find ways to sneak this into the soundtrack of board game nights once Frosthaven comes out.
Justin Courtney Pierre is out here with the second single from his upcoming record. If you don't know that name off the top of your head, you're forgiven for not having wasted your entire life in emo rock, but Justin is the Motion City Soundtrack guy. Yeah, you're excited now, aren't you. You fucking emo-ass trash. Go deal with your midlife crisis, ya dink.
If you're queer and have religious trauma, you'll probably find some peace in Semler's new EP. You may know her better as Grace Baldridge on TikTok, but if you don't know her at all, here's the long and short of what you need to know. Grace is a queer Christian musician who is actively confronting the pain of what it means to be queer in a world where spirituality is often made unavailable to those who don't conform to hetero patriarchal standards. I'm really captured by this idea. Why should those of us who have had to fight for our own identities be robbed of the experiences that come with spirituality and faith?
Listening to Semler often leaves me in my own head as I confront my personal relationship to spirituality and what it means that I feel completely unable to claim any of that for myself anymore. Seems wrong, doesn't it? I highly recommend her recent interview with Cameron Esposito on QUEERY. It feels important to me that we give thought to the issue of queer spirituality that isn't defined by cishet standards.
The last two things I really want to draw your attention to are Helado Negro and Bedouine's new albums. Helado Negro's album is a synth-folk record that pulls from a lot of new age ideas while highlighting his truly impressive vocal abilities. It's a small album, but it feels massive. Does that even make sense? Bedouine's album isn't too far afield from it, either. The Syrian-American artist brings us indie-folk that follows exactly what you'd expect from her discography so far. It's heartbreakingly beautiful, delicate, and patient music that probably works best if you close your eyes and just breathe through it. I adore Bedouine and strongly encourage you to join me in that. I think you'll find her stories and heart to be rewarding.
A Disclaimer of Sorts
I try not to include "problematic" artists on my playlists. That'd be people who espouse homophobia, transphobia, sexism, racism, or who just generally have a reputation of being shitty. My exceptions to this often fall within Christian music because I have a very soft spot in my heart for Christianity and am still actively wrestling with what it means to have a relationship to faith and spirituality. So, here's my note about JJ Heller: I don't know anything about her viewpoints or worldviews besides that she is a Christian artist. It's very possible she doesn't believe I should exist as a person and I don't have the heart to look up the details and find out. She's one of my favorite cover artists, with multiple albums of lullaby-esque covers of everything from the American songbook to Disney and even a cover of a Mister Rogers song. Today she brings You Are My Sunshine, which I love.
I allow myself blind spots sometimes so that I can hold onto something that's special to me. I hope I eventually learn that Heller is a ardent supporter of queer rights and that she fights against all of the harmful shit that's come out of white evangelicalism, but I can't find out the opposite of that right now.
Notably, this is also why I didn't include the new song by Lights this week. I adore her, but ever since she started extensively working with Deadmau5, I've been unable to listen to her songs without feeling gross.
If I ever include an artist that makes you feel gross, please let me know? I can't promise I'll never feature them again, but I'll certainly approach them more carefully if I do.
Happy Halloween
I only have one more of these before Halloween hits, so I suspect this is mostly the last week we'll have new Halloween music to revel in. Today we have tracks from Surfbort and Ashnikko as they celebrate the season.
Oh, and a final note: I got a job, which means that future playlists may not be as well thought out as I've been doing recently, as I'm expecting they'll want some of my time on Friday mornings. I'm thrilled to be employed again, but I'll miss getting to burn every Friday soaking in music as thoroughly as possible. Hopefully I can still find a way to keep these interesting as things go. It'll probably just be less writing.
That's it. I'm going to go watch Timotheé Chalamet be young and attractive on screen for a few hours.