Autumnal music reccs & little blurbs about them

This post was originally shared through my Substack newsletter on Oct. 29th, 2024.

Hello there. I’m writing to you from the discomfort of my home. (It’s a mess, I’m a monster). Boxed mashed potatoes have been on the menu twice this week in my kitchen and I’m desperate for hot apple cider but I refuse to make it. Where’s my cigar?!

I have never smoked a cigar, nor desired to, but why did it feel so right and so good to end that sentence that way?! Sometimes writing prose / a blog / whatever is like music. It’s the rhythm and greater syntax of it all. Makes me relate on an intimate level to Swedish pop producing legend Max Martin in the studio writing for Ariana Grande: “Now that I’ve become who I really are.” It does sound better!

Anyway, sorry. Ignore me. Actually, no, never do that. I have a list for you. A little list of things I’m paying attention to and listening to and doing and recommending to you in some way. I want you to please read it and enjoy. Thank you so much.

Without further ado…

1. Addison Rae's "Aquamarine" Music Video

   I’m keeping tabs on Addison Rae. Her creative director being Mel Ottenberg makes sooo much sense. Mel’s the person who’s been in cahoots with Addison and director Sean Price Williams to create her two recent music videos for “Diet Pepsi” and “Aquamarine”. Ms. Rae is totally what I’d imagine if someone told me to picture a pop star who magically apparated out of an issue of Interview Magazine. Or a Tyra Banks, Life Size version of a teenage girl’s imagined alter ego / adult version of herself she hopes to be. Very vibey very cool, a little hollow but not necessarily in a bad way. (Like a big seashell) I love that she’s dancing. It makes me sad to think about what Tate McRae is thinking in this new era of Addison Rae, does that make sense? :(

   
   

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - “Sugar Water” by Cibo MattoObviously f*ck Joss Whedon but ugh this show is an all time favorite and I’m on my first rewatch. It’s so delightful, it’s so heart-wrenching, it’s so seasonally appropriate. And the MUSIC. If you want me to write season write-ups about my favorite soundtrack music from this show, let me know by liking this post (hehe marketing!)

   But for now here’s a song from season 1 that I love. P.S. This reminds me, if you’re a fan of this show or vampires or the supernatural in general, I suggest my friend Summer’s Substack newsletter: Stacked :) She’s been re-watching Supernatural and writing about it, very regularly.

   
   

3. This live performance of “Speechless” by Lady Gaga from 2009 It’s my all-time favorite live performance of hers, and one of my favorite live performances in general. I actually cry when I watch it. I have all of its little idiosyncrasies memorized and they still delight me like first snowfall every time. Her vocals are so distinct, clear, consistent and emotive. Her performance is the most unreal combination of blasé and deeply committed. Have you ever seen a pop star so fucking comfortable? Her relationship to the piano is an aching symbiosis, watching them is like watching a cowboy on his horse. She has a clear awareness of her audience, but an inconsequential one at that. I really love the negative space she constructs here. It’s that thing, the oxymoronic quality of a performance that’s both expertly calculated and totally off-the-cuff. Pauses that feel personal. I mean, the leg kick onto the piano? The last sip of gin sitting patiently in front of her the whole time? And oh, what did you expect? Of COURSE she takes a pause to finish off her drink before that tongue-in-cheek delivery of, “Why you so speechless, oh oh oh?” Here is my favorite comment from the YouTube video:

   I aspire to elicit this description.

   
   

4. The Meow of a Feral CatWell, it’s music to my ears. We’ve made a new friend recently, my girlfriend and I. She’s a tiny little tuxedo cat with bright green eyes. After a few weeks of gentle approach and consistent feeding, she’s really comfortable around us. She meows (more like meuws) at the most gorgeous E major and begs to be pet on her microscopic head. How did we ever get so lucky? Then she’s gone for five hours and I wonder what we ever did to deserve this. Such is the nature of a feral cat. Never yours, always around the corner. I want the best for her, I’d do anything for her, but she doesn’t really care all that much. If she’d rather spend the day catching mice at the abandoned house across the street, she will. I never know where she goes at night, and I think about her constantly. It’s teaching me about love. I’m thinking of my mother.

   
   

   

   
   

5. And What If I Said the Original Wicked Soundtrack?

   What would you do then, huh? Yell at me? Call me corny? Talk about me behind my back? I don’t care! I don’t care at all. Have you ever heard of joy? I’ll tell you all about it. Joy is putting on a two-woman production of the entire Wicked soundtrack in the backyard at 8 years old. Joy is seeing the traveling production with your dad at the Pantages Theater because mom was too sick to take you at 10 years old. Joy is also me in one month seeing my favorite pop star play Glinda!!!

6. Jeff Lynne’s ELO Farewell Tour

   My girlfriend’s mom got us tickets to see the last show in LA on Jeff Lynne’s ELO goodbye tour. You know what, this is what white people were made for. Being in that crowd, watching that huge band perform, it felt cozy in the way my white friends’ families felt when Obama was in his first term and my politics came from Tumblr. Sometimes you just need 15 musicians to get on stage and play 10 different instruments and sing 5 different harmonies to get a crowd going. It’s in this exact setting where I feel most American.

Well, that’s all I got for now. I’ve been working on my next essay for the better part of the year, and I don’t even know if I like it anymore. But, just so you know, it’s about Ariana Grande.

Thanks for reading, I’ll chat with you soon.

Xoxo