Playlist #27: Guitar Instrumentals

I've been so busy lately, between last weekend's craft fair and working, that what I've found is I really need good background music to my life. I need music that can provide that background noise without taking my focus away from what I'm doing. You know, I always love to sing along with music, but sometimes I just need to do my own thing. This playlist is all about that--play it while you work, read, cook, etc. Save the singalong songs for the car.

Listen to the playlist.

P.S. Muriel Anderson is phenomenal--she plays the harp guitar and composes her own music. I first heard her at a local concert in Charlotte. If you like this playlist, you should definitely listen to more of her stuff!

What have you been listening to lately?

(photo by Death to the Stock Photo)

Playlist #26: Rockabilly Party

So if you've been reading this blog awhile/follow along with my playlists, you know I go through music phases, like periods of time where I'm obsessed with a certain kind of music. Sometimes...they're a little bit weird. Remember the Spanish rap phase? What about the Elvis phase? Anyone remember the electro-swing phase (that was fun)?

So yes, in case you're totally dense and haven't figured it out, I've got a new one: rockabilly. When I first stumbled upon a rockabilly playlist on 8tracks, I immediately thought of this SNL spoof commercial. So yeah, it's a little bit of a weird genre to be into. But in case you don't really know what rockabilly is, it's basically rock and roll meets country (or 'hillbilly'). Or just think of it as Elvis and Johnny Cash's love child.

Think I'm weird yet? (Rhetorical question.) Go give it a listen.

Rockabilly Party from allielynn24 on 8tracks Radio.

What music have you been listening to?

Playlist #25: May Music Recommendations

(Cover Art by Laura D'Alessandro, who is phenom)

Lately all of the music I've been listening to has been one and the same. 60s/70s folk rock all over. I've been working quite a bit lately and this sort of music is my soundtrack--thankfully my employees haven't complained about the old music too much! 

Since I haven't mentioned it in awhile, I'll recap: in the summers I live in something that can best be described as an "intentional community", sort of like a commune but it's for Christians, not hippies. We don't have communal gardens or anything (though I'd be totally game if anyone wanted to start one). But we've all grown up spending summers together, going to church together, going to the beach together, having barbecue in the park, going on canoe trips, and participating in other programs. So the town is small, we only have a church, small post office and an ice cream shop--my baby. We're only open late at night so after closing, when we clean, we listen to music and mop the night away. 

May Music Recommendations from allielynn24 on 8tracks Radio.

What are you listening to these days?

Playlist #24: Spanish Rap (Thanks, Breaking Bad)

It's official: Breaking Bad has made me love Spanish rap. How weird is that?! I'm all for finding new genres of music (remember my post about celtic rock, electro-swing and gregorian chants?!) but I never expected to find a new genre in a TV show about meth. I mean, duh, I realize it's not a "new" genre, but I just discovered it, so it's new to me. This music kind of makes me want to cook up some meth. (I kid, I kid.)

Also, when I used Music Map to find some similar music, somehow Trampled By Turtles (one of my favorite bluegrass groups), Bassnectar and Nicki Minaj came up as similar to Spanish rap...

So which is better: Breaking Bad or Spanish rap? Wrong, both. 

Playlist #22

Hi friends! I hope you've had a lovely week so far and are ready to ace the rest of your week! I just wanted to say a little thank you for everyone who has been so supportive over the last few weeks as I've been dealing with my whole choosing-a-college situation. Though it hasn't been a super fun situation to be in, it really made me happy to see some of y'all really reach out and say nice things to me. Go you!

Today, I've got a little playlist to help you relax through the rest of your week. Also, I'm sort of in one of those icky music ruts, so if you have any recommendations, send 'em my way, please and thank you!

Have a lovely Wednesday, y'all!

Playlist #21

The worst thing happened to me the other day. Like, the worst possible thing EVER. So remember how I said my computer just up and died on me last Thursday, only to go all Lazarus + come back the next day? And of course, I was pumped! I still had all my designs, all my schoolwork, all my blog notes. But you know what I lost? MY ITUNES LIBRARY. (Sorry, but caps lock was definitely necessary right there.) I know. I might actually be dying, thankyouverymuch. 

So I tried to reinstall it but I'm a little bit computer-impaired + I still haven't figured it out. Sigh. But I refuse to believe that I won't get my music back. That'd just be too much to handle. 

Anywayyys, here are a few songs that I've been listening to lately, though I confess I'm still very much in my Elvis phase. These songs are just chill + non-distracting kind of songs that would be great for laying outside in a hammock (unless you live in the north, #suckstosuck) or reading.

Today, we're talking about sexual selection (yay). So you've all heard of natural selection right? It's a mechanism of evolution where only the strongest animals (or insects or plants or whatever) survive to mate + have babies + their strength gets passed on. Sexual selection is one kind of natural selection. Sexual selection means that an organism is more likely to survive because of some characteristic that makes it more likely to find a mate. This is why male frigatebirds have that huge icky red pouch under their beaks (hey...the ladies like it) and male peacocks have all their fancy plumage. Somehow, those features help those males out-seduce the other males, meaning they get to have sexy-time and have more red-pouched/plumed babies.

However, I think it's kind of funny what great lengths even animals will go to in order to have sex. With some animals, especially birds, the elaborate features they have to attract a mate can also attract predators, which obviously aren't too helpful in getting the animal to survive.

 

What have you been listening to lately?

Playlist #20: Elvis

Hi all! First off, I apologize for being a little absent around these parts the last few weeks. It's kind of odd to me how so many articles of "blog rules" say that you should never apologize for posting less than usual. And obviously rules are meant to be broken, but I really disagree with that. Obviously, no one needs to apologize with blogging if they don't feel they need to, but I feel like I do. 

As a blogger, I feel like my readers expect certain things from me. You expect a quality post, hopefully one that's interesting or useful. You expect me to answer your emails and comments. And if you're a regular reader, you've learned to plan on 3-4 posts a week. And I haven't been doing that successfully. I don't owe you anything, but I want to build a little relationship with each and every one of you, so in the spirit of community, I want to come out and say that I'm sorry. 

I've been doing lots of planning + mind maps + designing + I'm oh-so-excited about all the lovely-rad things I have planned for us in the coming weeks. So stick around! :) 

Today, I'm doing something that I haven't really done much recently (except at Christmas!): share a playlist! With my music tastes, I really go through phases. I'll have a couple weeks where I can't bear to listen to anything but acoustic or a few weeks where it's all 80s rock or opera or 20s swing or (fill in the blank). 

Lately, it's Elvis. Believe it or not, it all started at my internship last week. (Prepare yourselves, I'm about to nerd out.) I've been working with an environmental department of my county government that deals with the health of streams, rivers and lakes in my area. One day, I was with two guys installing a surveillance camera at a local creek that would basically enable us to watch the stream for flood conditions (overflowing). 

While we were doing that, there were a bunch of guys that would walk by and hang in the streets, just loitering. One guy even asked us if he could see the footage because a car had been stolen there the day before. And so I just casually made some comment about how much I love hanging out in the ghetto. In response to this, one of my coworkers, a big, burly fisherman type of guy responds with a falsetto "in the ghettoooo", just like the background singers in Elvis's song "In the Ghetto". So of course, I had the song stuck in my head the rest of the day, and now I'm on an Elvis kick.

Long story to say, I'm obsessed with Elvis at the moment. Listen away, lovelies.

Anyone else fangirl over Elvis like I do? What have you been listening to lately?

A Very 1950s Christmas Playlist

Merry Christmas! (If you're a non-Christmas celebrator, sorry. Just skip this whole post.) I hope your day has been merry + bright so far!

Okay, so this isn't really a real post, I just wanted to share one of my all-time favorite playlists (oh look! I'm the genius who made it) for Christmas. Enjoy!

A Very 50s Christmas from allielynn24 on 8tracks Radio.

How are you spending your Christmas?