New York Play List 2018

Music is my companion, on the streets, the platforms the rides home these past four years, in NYC. During my commutes and travels,  I’ve listened to more music than ever before. Like many other New Yorkers, I usually am in a train, a platform, or in transit for at least 3-6 hours of my day, which lends itself to a lot of time on my own, so I wanted to put together a typical listening day along with some interesting new reading I’ve picked up on.

I break the daily, inspirations, conversations and acoustic journeys into a three part suite. This list is a precursor to a future blog post which focuses a short story around a specific composer but no further teasers!

For now let’s say this is my typical musical 24 hours.

Morning  (5:30-9:00am)

I tend to want o wake up with fire in my belly as I either wake up to a yoga session, a workout session or a Daybreaker event early in the day.

I L.O.V.E mornings I’m a morning person, I love morning workouts,  I like morning sex (ok sorry way too much information) but you get the point. Because of 20 years of Yoga training, I’ve had to wake up from 4am to 5:30 am for most of my adult life, so instead of hating it I embrace the dawn. I have more pictures of sunrises than sunsets in every place I’ve lived in. Morning is my time to reflect, gather my thoughts, plan for the day and write unencumbered by other activities.

I am listening to a lot of Prince again (yes again forever until I die) and the New Tove Lo album, Chemical Brothers (yes my clubber background will never die!)  plus some old and the new Tribe Called Quest albums, as well as one of my favorite online Greek radio stations En Lefko for morning inspiration. (They play an eclectic mix of old school blues, hip hop, modern synth pop, electronica and jazz— yes no kidding) so what they play I absolutely love in the A.M.

Afternoons during the week I need to keep my mind busy and occupied with lovely rhythms so I don’t lose my concentration. When I get to have a break I put on something that reminds me of a calm free afternoon walking around the city. Recently my afternoon playlists are comprised of a mix of

Everything But the Girl– (nothing to be said here they are part of my early clubbing years and I love them!) Lead Singer Tracey Thorn is by far one of the most beautiful female vocalists I’ve heard.

Roisin Murphy– (from her Moloko years to her solo Albums- she is an amazing artist)

Zaz– French singer extraordinaire with a mix of Jazz and rock to her songs.

There are a couple of Greek artists that I have grown to absolutely love… old and new here is a taste of their music

Marina Satti- Is a Greek/ Sudanese singer who is absolutely amazing and talented

Her version of Tha Spaso Koupes is one of my favorites.

Imam Baildi– A multi ethnic, multi musical genre band who sample a lot of old time blues Greek songs from the the 40’s in their modern sound. Their live performances are incredibly engaging! — Take a listen 🙂

Evenings are my most creative and immersed in my music loves. I go in tangents on one evening where I need some inspiration to voice what I’m thinking of or feeling or just to relax and enjoy a whole album.

So here are five artists I’m currently mulling over

Ella Eyre-– British pop musician but with the voice better than Byonce could ever imagine (sorry… I just really dig her rock/chick and ballad singer persona) plus she’s 23 years old and incredibly talented and has enormous depth and maturity to her voice.

Faithless & Massive Attack – If you grew up in the 90’s -early 2000 in Europe, this was something that you could not avoid. I love these amazing artists for very different reasons. When my mind is racing and I need to dance I put on Faithless but when I need to mellow out I go straight for Massive Attack every single time. They are quite possibly the most iconic Electronica, Club, You name it they’ve played it band of this era. Their sampling is amazing and their singers and performers are one of kind.

Amy Winehouse– Her short career was so dense and incredibly fraut with pain and art, she is one of my favorite go to vocalists. Her song Valerie, produced by Marc Ronson,  catapulted her to stardom just before her very bright and rogue start burned out.

When I’m alone in the kitchen I quite frequently sing this song when I’m cooking 🙂

Nina Simone– She is, was and will always be one of my favorite musical influences. Her voice is poetic, pained and beautiful. Her lyrics and music unparalleled and her piano playing some of the best. She need no further introductions…. hail to the Queen.

Reading List for 2018

Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World– Suzy Hansen

Christ Recrucified- Nikos Kazantzakis

Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music– Ann Powers 

Buppies, B-boys, Baps, And Bohos: Notes On Post-soul Black Culture– Nelson George

and lastly….

Poetry lots of it but that’s for another blog post 🙂

 

 

Happy Reading and Listening in 2018!