Strictly Bops: songs that transcend all mortal realms

First (possible) weekly playlist curation.

Listen Here:

Playlist curation as a legitimate form of journalism and art was introduced to me in my most recent semester of college. I took a Writing about Music: Pop, Rap, and Rock. My Professor has a serious resumé, having written for Billboard, Rolling Stone, and Creem magazine. I wanted to ask him the entire semester how accurate the movie “Almost Famous” is. I can ask next semester when I take him again. In the class, he introduced us to Substack as a platform, and several people who curate playlists, and use their individual voice to write about the music in them. After subscribing to his Substack and a few others (namely Amaya Lim’s Record Store), I felt inspired to make my own. Mine would not be singularly focused on music, but I certainly wanted to write about my own playlists.

Seeing people gain strong followings for their playlists was an eye-opening experience for me. I have been making specific, niche playlists since high school. The only problem was, I had no way of marketing them except basically shouting into the void for people to follow my playlists. Substack gives me the platform to give an honest pitch for my playlists.

Anyway, let’s dive in to the playlist itself. My first playlist is one I had already created. It is also my most popular with 148 followers at the moment (subtle flex). In future posts, the playlists will likely be made specifically for the post itself. If I do use a playlist I previously created, I will let you know, because I believe in OPEN and HONEST communication around here.

This playlist is titled “songs that transcend all mortal realms”. I was inspired to make this playlist when I heard the outro to “New Slaves” by Kanye West. The outro samples Hungarian rock band Omega’s 1969 song “Gyöngyhajú lány”. Listen to both here.

The outro starts at 2:40.

The blend of the sharp Hungarian vocals, guitar riffs, Kanye’s distorted voice, and Frank Ocean’s soothing voice just activate something in my brain that is indescribable. My idea behind the rest of the playlist is that these songs all give me the same feeling that I just can’t put my finger on. I felt it was necessary to cover as many genres as possible because the euphoric feeling is not bound to just one. However, it is noticeable that I strayed away from rap music towards the end, but that is just because I have been leaning more into any music with good guitar playing. The playlist features psychedelic, progressive rock such as Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Frank Zappa. It seems like a no-brainer to add them due to the link between drugs, euphoria, and psychedelic rock.

It also features modern rap like Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West. The production on Kanye’s albums really tickle the part of my brain that appreciates music. There is some Tame Impala, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Frank Ocean, Playboi Carti, and Labrinth. If I were to individually dive deep into each artist I included, I would be publishing a post the size of those encyclopedia collections they used to have in elementary schools where the spines of the book formed a picture.

Instead of describing all the music in the playlist, I will attempt to compare the feeling I get from the music to other things in life that give me the same feeling. Listening to this playlist is feels like taking a nap on fresh sheets after going swimming all day. You weren’t planning on taking a nap, but now that you did, you certainly do not regret it. The playlist is like finally getting to your destination after a long drive. The drive itself SUCKED, but you feel free now that you have arrived. “songs that transcend all mortal realms” is like when someone compliments your new shirt. You bought the shirt for yourself because you liked it in the store, but you now feel extra great about it because someone noticed it. Finally, this playlist is like when you haven’t had a haircut in a while, so you go get one and you’re nervous because you don’t even know what you want it to look like, and when you’re done you’re washed with relief because you actually really like your new haircut.

I hope the similes I provided pique your interest and convince you to check out the playlist. My future playlists will be much shorter and maybe more specific, I felt it was necessary to begin this series with my most hearty playlist.

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think.

-CJ