To 2017 and 2018.
December 2017-January 2018 Playlist
Hi friends and music lovers,
This list came together quickly on New Year's Day. What can I say - the month of December was a doozy, and it was only towards the end of 2017 that I was able to dig out some diamonds on the road to and fro Kansas, and in these past couple days in my little abode.
Santigold and Typhoon return with new-to-me goodness. Actually, the majority of this mix is new to me, save for Sanders Bohlke, Over the Rhine, and Cold Specks. Their songs, in particular, have been with me over the years, and their pertinence remains.
For many, 2017 has been marked by grief and sadness for the state of our world, for humanity, as well as in our own lives.
Most of these songs carry those tones. I find myself continually drawn to the music that holds both sadness and joy together. That railroad confounding reality is the truthful life to me. Yet, we are also encouraged to press on, to be brave. So let us be brave.
If we gotta walk away
We gotta hold our heads up high
You're not the first one to start again
Come on now friends
There is something to be said for tenacity
- Over The Rhine, The Laugh of Recognition
There are thieves, who rob us blind
and kings, who kill us fine
but steady, the rights and the wrongs
invade us, in innocent song
I'm not ready, I'm not ready
for the weight of us, for the weight of us
for the weight of us, for the weight of all of us
The time has come, let us be brave
The time has come, let us be brave
Shake off all of your sins
The time has come, let us be brave
The time has come, let us be brave
Let us be brave, let us be brave
- Sanders Bohlke, The Weight Of Us
To 2017, and onward into 2018.
Grace & Peace,
Rachel
Bonuses
Here's three videos I've been revisiting for good reason:
1) Being both a Chicagoan and person of faith, this unreleased song slays me.
2) Justin Vernon will forever be among my tops, and I'd dreamed of hearing this track live. The rendition below will do just fine.
3) Wait 'til you hear what happens at 2:10.