Big Straw FM
Happy weekend! We’ve gathered together an assortment of playlists curated by our members for your listening pleasure. Each one is accompanied by a short description introducing the thought process that went into the song selection, or the mental zone it puts us in. Enjoy!
Elizabeth
This is a playlist of songs that I listened to a lot last fall. I fell in love with the band Hotel Apache after randomly hearing one of their songs on a drive with my sister and went chasing after everything I could find that gave me the same vibes as that first listen. I don’t listen to it as much now but when I do, it reminds me of hopping into my parent’s old car and just driving around my hometown for the sake of getting some air after being cooped up all day in Zoom lectures.
Seoyoung
In order:
Too Spicy For My Family
I just don’t like the cover art of My Favorite Fish, for one. Something about that synth in this R&B and pop mix gives it this almost psychedelic and super lush sound that’s too spiced for the Family Experience ™.
I’m kind of surprised that “Left Hand Suzuki Method” is by Gorillaz. It samples a kid playing a violin for her recital, with an explanation of two principles of the Suzuki Method in Japanese and English. It sounds like an experiment (in my favorite way, and my family’s least favorite way).
These two are from anime
See title.
YES I’M OK EMOTIONALLY
The first is just a very unsettling song (as Ricky Montgomery swoons “Blow my brains out in the pool.”) The second is a little more upbeat, though that happiness is a lightly concealed façade dropped in the third sentence of the verse – I want to be with you, damn it! Hits a little too close to home, unfortunately, so skipped!
I’m actually not ashamed of this one: my mom just bans this song in the car and I’m mad about it
Look, ABBA is good, my mom just thinks they’re fake because they don’t “follow the philosophies of free love that they espouse” or something. We even have the Mamma Mia soundtrack as a CD at home?
Simon
For my playlist, I’ve compiled songs by Rina Sawayama and beabadoobee, both Asian-British artists signed to Dirty Hit. Rina’s material is deep and includes songs on her pansexual identity, the West’s perception of Asia and materialism. “Tokyo Love Hotel” is my personal favorite. I’ve heard a lot of songs about Tokyo but this is the first one by a Japanese artist in English that captures its darker side. Speaking of Tokyo, a friend of mine recently sent me a photo of a Harajuku record store marketing beabadoobee’s latest album “Fake it Flowers”, dubbing her “Gen Z’s Muse”. Unlike Sawayama, beabadoobee’s songs are far less cynical and a welcome refuge from the general darkness of the world today. The swelling strings at the end of “Soren” are my favorite 5 seconds of pop music as of right now. I’ve closed the playlist with the song “Hurry Home” sung by the triumvirate of Filipinx diaspora indie musicians: No Rome, beabadoobee and Jay Som.
Isabella
This playlist reminds me of summer no matter what season it is. I usually sort my music by vibe, but these songs are also strongly attached to my memories of what “summer” is supposed to be like. Some of it is also ripped directly from *Luna’s summer mix because I’m unoriginal. Also, did you know that the opening notes of “Honey in the Summer” (the non-acoustic version) sound exactly like the opening notes of “Ai wo Tsutaetaidatoka” by Aimyon? At least, they do to me.