Me going to any social event outdoors and with a mask and immediately getting like three COVID exposure notifications anyway.
#This is fine.
moodboard
Sunday
in Moods
About An Hour : November 2020
Listen to About An Hour : November 2020
This month’s playlist is one of my favorite’s this entire year, clocking it at 59 minutes exactly, it’s a true embodiment of just about an hour of music to pass the time. I like how all the songs flow together and also very accurately reflect my mood this time around.
I wanted to start it off with the collective sigh we all took at the beginning of the month after a longer-than-we’re-used-to count with Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration.” I cannot hear this song without dancing like a loser. And while this is usually a New Year’s song for me, exceptions can and will be made for a momentous good news moment like the one we had.
From there it’s a happy landslide into the the bouncy “Bootylicious” with a sample from Stevie Nicks as an intro to her taking over in the next song with her bold raspy voice. Then, it’s on to some ambient, matchy moody electronic tunes before transitioning to heavier beats, thanks to Janet Jackson’s naughty 8-second interlude. From “Freak” to Megan Thee Stallion, I love how this month finishes with pop songs, specifically MGMT’s peculiar brand of alternative warbley sounds instead of the usual slow and low love songs. It’s the right amount of bounce to celebrate Nick’s birthday, and then in a week my own birthday. 35. I’m ready for it. I’m cool with it. I feel different — I am different.
By this time last year, my December playlist was moody and one of my favorites of 2019, so we shall see where we net out in a few weeks.
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Listen to About An Hour : November 2020
Listen to my archived monthly playlists on Spotify here.
About An Hour : Sept 2020
It’s getting both harder and easier to believe that this year is winding down in both the most eventful and uneventful ways.
Absolutely wild to know that at the beginning of this year we were all going out to eat, seeing our parents and friends and family, having dinners in people’s houses, having drinks in bars, seeing concerts, seeing sports games, riding on crowded trains, walking down the street, going to gyms, not queueing for anything, sitting in movie theaters, and going to grocery stores during peak times like nothing mattered.
I guess if I had to find a positive right now I’d say to some extent the solitary time is good. Not that I find it particularly comfortable, but I enjoy the forced perspective of looking around me and appreciating what I had, even from a distance: a healthy, loving family, friends also trying to figure it all out in their own hemispheres.
For one thing, the habit I do enjoy is mostly looking to this blog to jot down notes about what I like and what’s going on. I love reading the comments when I get them about how everyone else is doing. This About An Hour playlist is just part 8 of what I suspect will be a 12-part project to encapsulate my mood, or what I wish my mood was, with these silly playlists and mood boards. I’ve been doing this for about 5-6 years now, and this year I really understand the value of this habit: control and a sense of normalcy.
I put on the playlist when I’m doing my jump ropes and work outs, trying to keep the pace, and close my eyes and things almost feel back to normal.
About An Hour : May 2020
Another month, another playlist. How is it already June?
Not much going on ‘round these parts, which I guess means I’m doing my part during these strange times. The country is another story — “boiling point” feels just right when I think about it. At home there’s lots of video calls, texts, and missing my people. But it’s becoming very much not enough. I miss interacting with people in person, listening to their stories, and most of all looking at their mouths. Everyone is just a pair of eyes now that I’m not entirely sure how to read — personally I need and require more signals, facial cues, and fucking nuance to be satisfied socially.
Meanwhile, work is like a gas filling every available nook and cranny of my life with meetings and tasks. It’s mostly my fault (and I’ll get a grip on it), but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I enjoy the sense of purpose. And when I’m really in it, super focused, I selfishly forget about the outside world and I feel in control. I start booting up the familiar tabs and browse shops like I used to. I even put things into my cart and start putting together outfits like before. Then I read the news and I quickly snap back to the new normal. Browser session over. Stupid girl.
I read an article that said that most Americans are impulse buying these days. In a recent poll or something a surprising amount of people are buying things $200+ to feel better. I’m not linking it because I’m trying to make a more general point that I am not immune. My vices: I like triple-cream cheeses and champagne and order it on top of some essential goods whenever I can (and tip very generously, I’m not a monster!). Then, in what is maybe some misguided optimism things will go back to normal, I also got a few material things, too. Like for some reason I also bought a blazer — a nice oversized black Totême jacket that was on super sale and I really like wearing to almost anything I can make an excuse for.
Other than that, one of my favorite things to do are my almost-daily workouts with Laura. My work makes her (and a cadre physical fitness professionals) available to anyone who wants to attend for free virtually. Honestly, I’m surprised at how motivating/interesting it is. Besides the endorphins and the triple-cream-neutralizing-calorie-burn, I like that the calendar invites are handy because the workouts signal to everyone at work that I’m off the clock. It signals to me that I should probably leave my home office situation to move around.
I go to the garage and vacuum the sawdust and whatever else Nick is working on and make myself an area. I pull out my yoga mat and fill up my water and continue living in the bubble I have been since in March.
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About An Hour is a monthly playlist. Shuffle and die. So don’t. You can listen to it here.
All previous playlist are archived monthly in my Spotify profile.
About An Hour : October 2019
Internet friends, it is that time of the month again. This playlist is one of my favorite because of personal reasons and each of these songs will trigger a very specific memory for me. The most exciting this about this playlist is the discovery of The Teskey Brothers when I went to see them open for the insanely talented Tash Sultana at the Greek Theater. Please give their vintage, raspy vibes a listen.
Then make your up to “Is this love," which really needs more play at every concert, party, movie, and TV show ever.
Listen and subscribe to the monthly playlist here on Spotify
My handle is @twelveofour and my years long project of curating monthly playlists can be found there too.
PS: Happy Birthday to my baby brother. I love you so much.
About An Hour : August 2019
Give me About An Hour and I’ll give you 17 songs that defined my month of August.
I’ve been very into BANKS all over again because her new album “III” is just so good. She’s going back to her moody roots (like “Brain” and “Waiting Game”) and I’m here for it all over again. Also, I’m listening to Tash Sultana a ton because “Can’t buy happiness” is pretty much like putting up a mirror and recognizing almost everything about it. I am looking forward to her concert at the Greek Theater so freaking much.
Her guitar breaks make me feel nostalgic, so the playlist makes a left turn to old tunes. I can’t resist putting in a couple old song from REO Speedwagon and Supertramp because they remind me so much of my mama blasting songs on Saturdays in our apartment as a kid, literally pushing the limits of my dad’s left-behind 90’s stereo system with songs like these on repeat. Then, we come back to Tame Impala and their new song “Borderline” and it’s ABBA and disco vibes. But instead of pulling that thread I want to segue back to modern hip hop and 90s throwback back-to-back sandwich.
It’s worth noting that Aaliyah songs are finally available on Spotify again, thanks to some sketchy as hell looking new releases that managed to include her greatest hits. Ignore the cover art, just close your eyes and remember how amazing Aaliyah was. But like most pretty young musicians, the lure of a small private plane ride was too much to resist.
You can give a listen to all the other hour-esque playlists archived in my Spotify account: @twelveofour
About An Hour : July 2019
What a month. Work has been ramping up and I have been doing my best to keep up! In the meantime, I’ve been curating this month’s playlist on the bus ride from Sunnyvale back to the east bay. It' starts out slow, which I like because it helps me focus and relax, then it builds up to a little bit of a synth vibe. After the upbeat funky songs you get into a little strangeness, which taps you right into a some rock. I’ve waited a long time to find the right mood and playlist to fit Muse and NIN in one playlist, and I’m super thrilled it’s the same playlist that the one Taylor Swift song I really enjoy (“Delicate”) lives on.
Enjoy it. It’s 59 minutes on the dot.
→ Don’t forget about my other playlists, all archived on my Spotify profile (@twelveofour)
About An Hour : April 2019
Goodbye, April. You really flew by! I have to say this is one my favorite playlists in a long time. It came together effortlessly, I listen to it all the time when I have to concentrate on an hour-long task, and it is mostly comprised of new music to my ears. I am kind of sad to be moving on to May’s playlist, but I’m happy it will live on forever under 04 / 2019.
Listen to it this month on my ongoing playlist project, About An Hour on Spotify.