It's Ladies' Night Everywhere and Every Night Now

 

While I was in Cleveland a week ago, some of our family and friends stayed at the Hampton Inn in Medina and we would bump into one another in the breakfast area. So beyond the scheduled family events, little tables of conversation would occur between groups of family and friends who normally wouldn't run into each other in this world. Like friends of the family running into cousins or in-laws. Funerals are a weird amalgamation of groups coming together. I found myself introducing my bff Julie (from St. Louis) to my brother's high school friends (also from St. Louis) and their having conversations about Cardinals baseball or "where you went to high school" which is the homing-device question of all St. Louis peoples. 

In any case, we were sitting eating Hampton Inn eggs and waffles one morning and my sister-in-law was complaining about the music her daughter played in the car on their drive from Kansas City to Cleveland. And to be fair, my niece was listening to a podcast about artist Marina Abramović (the fascinating grandmother of performance art) and it was freaking her mother out. My sister-in-law then started talking about the "classic music" from the 1970s that they should have been listening to. 

Meanwhile, my family's longtime brother-from-another-mother (and father) Eddie came down from his room and sat down at our table and said "studies have shown that listening to new music is actually good for your brain."

What great news!

Which is why every few months I like to go into Tidal app's indie music feed to check out what the kids are doing...because it's good for the brain and the soul and your social life and to get over yourself and your small listening habits.

I compiled the playlist below days before my trip to Cleveland and was astonished to find so many great female artists listed in such a short space on the indie feed. Was it Women's History Month or something? (It wasn't.) And these ladies were all doing something different and interesting and genre-bending. They were mostly all singing about their ennui and disappointment (in one case some rage), feelings which a week later seems not only recognizable but somehow vital to listen to over and over again...such as like with a broken record.

It's with great pleasure that I post this ladies playlist here. Boys can have their own lists with their boy songs and voices. Girls are doing great things.   

What Say The Girls (The Playlist)

I previously posted this playlist on Bluesky about two weeks ago but I'm recreating it here for posterity and post-now-allboys-are-stupid.

 
1. "Another Time" by Zoh Amba (3 weeks ago)

 Those freckles!

"How sweet that soul's meant to be." 

 

2. "I'm Still Learning How To Leave You" by Harmony Tividad (3 weeks ago)

Lovely, creative use of makeup in the video and reference to a white flag on the beach. 

"I don't have a sense of closure." (But it's getting there.)

 

 

3.  "Shades Of Blue" by Maria Taylor (3 weeks ago)

 "Maybe it's just motion either way."

 

 

4. "The Ground Above" by Beth Orton (4 weeks ago)

This one killed me, probably due to its themes of grief. But the visualizer too. Mesmerizing.

 

5. "I might say something stupid" by Girlpuppy (4 weeks ago)

"I look perfect for the background." 

 

6. "Alive Inside" by Gia Margaret (3 weeks ago)

 "And when the sadness is too great will you say that the world is big?"

 

7. "Dead Dove (Your Love Was Never A Waste of Time)" by Hiding Places (3 weeks ago)

Well, I feel a bit different on this side of things. I love this one-shot video. 

 

8. "Big Storm" by Jesca Hoop (4 weeks ago)

Common theme to these songs is the act of women exploring and taking control of their own emotions. 

This collage video is awesome.

 

9. "One Thing At A Time" by Courtney Barnett (1 month ago)

 "Oh my god just one thing at a time."

 

10. "Good Person" by Hand Habits (4 weeks ago)

"Tell 'em that I am still a good person."

 

11. "Come To God" by Indigo De Souza (1 month ago)

"Yeah but you are." Yeah. But. You are.

Another haunting video. 

 

12. “The Big Man” by Analise (2 months ago)

There's no YouTube for this one outside of this Tiny Desk performance. I blame The Big Man for this.

 

13. "If You Change" by Widowspeak (1 month ago)

It took me a minute to realize the that is a big beany baby in the video. That's hilarious.

14. "Wants For Everyone" by Slippers (1 month ago)

Best use of dog in a video. (Is that a category? It should be.)

 

15. "Is This All There Is?" by Anna Calvi with Matt Berninger (1 month ago)

 "A duet to explore the 'bravery it takes to hope' amidst existential uncertainty." (domino music)

 

16.  "All I Did Was Dream Of You" by beabadoobee with The Marias (1 month ago)

 "And I want it all the time"

 

 

17. "Wash" by Sadie (1 month ago)

Autotune artist in the Indie feed. Sweet. 

"Her melancholic pop songs are filled with catchy autotune hooks that float above her" (SXSW)

 

18. "Figurine" by Gouge Away (1 month ago)

 What she said.