Welcome to lucky Earbuzzz episode number 13. I just listened to Shag Carpet on my way home from a particularly grueling shift and it felt like playing Tetris to help process trauma. Whatever. Scroll.
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Shag Carpet
when I had my radio show in college, after which this newsletter is named, I kept a mix of purely instrumental backtracking-type music to play behind my mandatory check-ins every half hour. I’d turn my mic on, announce the time and weather, talk about stuff happening around town, talk about what we’d been listening to. I was only talking for about five minutes at a time before I’d get back to the music, but really the music never stopped.
i like having music playing while I talk. I like having it in the background of conversation, I like a soundtrack to an evening. I like silence, but I find the right music can shave down the awkward edges of discussion and help to set people at ease. In my dreams, I’m sitting in a conversation pit with a good snack spread and interesting people I’ve never met. Shag Carpet spills out of the record player and around our shoulders like unraveling reels of film.
this mix feels like a cool glass ashtray in your fingers. It looks like the crystals in the chandelier twinkling, tinkling gently against each other. It tastes like a Moscow mule, Boursin cheese, and purple grapes. Sit outside, sit inside, sit on the floor, sit on barstools. I don’t care where you go, just speak deeply today. Toss Shag Carpet on shuffle and learn something new about someone you thought you knew like the back of your hand.
RIOT!ROT!FAMINE!FAME!
this is what I’m listening to when I walk into the kitchen and the tv is playing the news. I laugh until I have tears in my eyes at something on my phone, the sky is the most beautiful shade of blue on my way over the bridge. Three customers yell at me that day. I both cut off and am cut off by people on my way home and shake my fist at the world. Gas prices are up again.
i should be protesting but maybe that isn’t safe anymore? I don’t have anything to lose but I have so much to lose? Maybe nothing will happen, maybe nothing will happen only if a lot happens first. I laugh uncontrollably at a picture of my coworker’s dog. I cry at a video of a family sitting front row as their son is carried past them in a star spangled box. Did you see Taylor Swift is engaged?
i go to work again the next day anyway of everything. This mix feels like a worn set of tires and an old blanket you used to love but has begun to carry a smell that won’t wash out. It tastes like waking up after forgetting to brush your teeth. It doesn’t do any good to despair. Do what you have to do and get on with it.
Round up
Shag Carpet: groovy, instrumental, funky, 60’s & 70’s cinematic scores
RIOT!ROT!FAMINE!FAME!: a little bit of everything, mostly indie rock, some rap, some jazzy stuff
That’s all for today, folks. If you’ve made it this far, leave a like to let me know you’re enjoying Earbuzzz. And, if you haven’t already, please consider subscribing! I send out new playlists every Monday.
If you have artist, album, or song recommendations, leave a comment below and I’ll check it out.
I’ll be back next week with more music. Thanks for reading.
Lots of love, always,