Music: Albums of July
One of my goals this year was to listen to more music, particularly full albums. I typically use Spotify (though Josh wants to switch to Apple Music thanks so the Joe Rogan drama) and its most common usage is to play the kids’ requests.
(The kids’ requests are usually: Imagine Dragons, Pokemon music, and Mike Phirman, who writes songs for kids that are quite funny and clever but after the 100th play . . . it’s a lot. Mike, if you are reading this, please get that next album out).
Anyway! I thought a nice sweet spot would be:
- Music listening time daily (while running or one of my commutes, in lieu of a podcast)
- Trying for two albums/month to listen a few times through to really get to know them
As I was reminded while doing a Mid-Year Goals Review, I have not been doing very well. But I can start!
Yesterday, I listened to this past Friday’s New Music All Songs Considered podcast and was super-impressed with several artists, so I have decided I will listen to at least 2 of them on repeat in July.
They are:
Part country with some other genres mixed in
I’m excited to stream #1 on my run this morning. I love music and yet often just . . . forget about including it in my life. Will report back.
Kids @ Camp
We got a bunch of pictures yesterday morning, and it appears that both kids at least look happy. A seems to have aged instantly. Camp pix come via an app with facial recognition software that is impressively good. It’s really fun (and reassuring) to see what they are doing!
I also sent postcards + e-letters with “handwritten response requested” and am dying to see what comes back š
G, as many of you predicted, is loving life. We have a mid-week dinner playdate just for her on Wednesday, and then she is coming with me on a solo trip to Philadelphia to see my parents (and hopefully a certain podcast cohost friend!). She once called it “Self-A-Delphia” and even though she knows the real name now I am calling it our Self-A-Delphia trip. Super exciting. There have been tougher moments, but overall I am really really happy with how this summer is going so far. I will have to remind myself of this on my next tough day!
Off to do an interval run! 78F / 86% humidity. I guess could be worse.
16 Comments
My daughter sends lengthy letters from camp that include message for the cat, pictures, descriptions of what she’s been doing etc. We usually get two or 3 per week starting on the first day of camp.
In his first year at camp, my son sent 1 letter that read in its entirety: Dear Mom and Dad, Send more Snickett books. Love J. His letter writing habits have not changed in the years since…
For kids music, you might like Caspar Babypants. He was actually the lead singer of The Presidents of the United States of America, lol. The songs are super cute and catchy but not obnoxious. He’s put out a lot of albums. For just a random kids’ song, we like “What Kind of Cat Are You?”
The Pokemon Movie soundtrack is absolutely the soundtrack of the pandemic for me. Will would play it first thing EVERY MORNING. “I want to be the very best, like no one ever was…”
Dan once mentioned that you can sing that song to the tune of Amazing Grace and let me tell you, the only thing worse that having a Pokemon song stuck in your head is having a Pokemon song sung to the tune of Amazing Grace stuck in your head.
Re: Caspar Babypants: really? As in āmillions of peaches, peaches for meā? That actually totally tracks, lol. I love his music.
Yes! That’s the guy!
We use Pandora which has more of a radio feel, and have been big fans of their Family Folk Songs station for many years. Our favorite artists from that station include Elizabeth Mitchell, Okee Dokee Bros (bluegrass feel), Caspar Babypants, Iām sure there are others. Your older kids are likely outgrowing ākid musicā, but we listen to it with our 7 yo (girl) and 15 mo. Most of the music we listen to has the theme of nature or bonding (with family, parents) if that makes sense ā more so than the ābaby sharkā genre of nonsense childrenās āmusicā that isnāt any good. My oldest (10 yo) likes pop music now and Iāve let him listen to Maroon Five, Imagine Dragons, other stuff that I used to listen to ten years ago when I downloaded music onto my phone š I keep trying to introduce him to actual good rock music but heās not there yet. And when I was his age I listened to a lot of Weird Al!
Just put the station on ā Renee & Jeremy is another one. Very mellow and relaxing feel.
My kids love Weird Al, and we’re actually going to see him in concert this fall :).
That is like Joshās dream – I need to look at his tour dates haha
Yesssssss
I have not heard of Mike Phirman – I will have to check him out. In the last 1-2 years, our 4yo has gotten very into Taylor Swift and Brandi Carlile! These are 2 of my favorite artists so it thrills me that he loves them, too, and can sing along to a lot of the songs.
I’m not listening to new music, but am going to 2 concerts this summer- Alanis Morisette playing Jagged Little Pill and Brandi Carlile! The concerts are 6 days apart in July so I’ll be living my best life this summer. š The last concert I went to was Brandi in Feb 2020 right before the world shut down! She is my all-time favorite artist and I will see her every time she comes to Minneapolis since she is ahh-mazing in person. She has really risen in popularity so I’m seeing her at a huge venue in July which is a bummer as I prefer small venues w/ great acoustics, but I am sure her and the band are making way more money now that they are more popular so good for them and their families!
I’m not surprised G is loving life w/out her siblings! Having mom and dad’s undivided attention? Yes, please! I think I am finally going to start mommy/son days this summer now that Paul is 4 and we aren’t stressed about covid! My boys get their first dose of Moderna on Friday! Woo hoo!
Actually we are seeing Brandi too – at red rocks in Sept!!!!!! Canāt wait! And Iām mildly jealous of you getting to see alanis š
OMG! That is awesome! That is a bucket list item for me! Probably as part of a girls trip since my husband isnāt as into Brandi as me!
LOVE Brandi Carlile! So jealous of both of these concerts!
I saw a new-to-me artist Madi Diaz perform live in San Francisco this past weekend, and her first song, “Burn”, made me cry – it was so beautiful. She was opening for Ani DiFranco, who was also awesome, especially in light of the recent Supreme Court decisions.
Self-adelphia is the ULTIMATE Freudian slip, toddler edition!
Thank you for reminding me to listen to All Songs Considered. Such a good show!
Haha thatās so true!