playlist
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To Look for America: A Road Trip, a Soundtrack
One thing I was taught about travel—because my father is a black man born in Alabama in 1950—was that there are safe places for black people to go and places that aren’t as safe.
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The Stranger Things Mixtape
If you haven’t been watching Stranger Things, you’re probably being chased by a monster in “the upside down.” The show’s soundtrack is a mashup of synth-laden soundscape themes and ’80s throwbacks that’ll have Gen Xers’ hearts yearning for that simpler, cellphone-free era. And…
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This Week in Posivibes: Songs for Survival
In addition to his song “Spiritual,” which deals with the issue of police brutality, Jay Z has released a playlist of songs to get us through the crushing violence lately exposed by social media. “Songs for Survival” includes music by Beyoncé, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown,…
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Mixed Media
Music and literature make a pretty good pair. Check out this guide, recently updated to include all of the music referenced in Haruki Murakami’s novels (and then go read them).
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Motion Picture Soundtrack
As it turns out, Aleksandar Hemon jams out to D’angelo, Grimes, and Fela Kuti; for the rest of the tunes the writer put on his playlist for The Making of Zombie Wars, head over to Largehearted Boy.
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Skipping Tracks
Laura van den Berg gifts us a playlist over at Electric Literature, composed of songs she listened to while writing Find Me; among other gems, she’s into Grizzly Bear, Hot Chip, and the obligatory Joy Division.
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The Wind Cries Mary
Last week we highlighted Rachel Kaadzhi Ghansah’s piece, “A River Runs Through It,” over at The Believer. Now, she shares a playlist of tunes, recorded at Electric Lady Studios, to accompany the original article: “They all have one thing in common, and…
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The Music Behind the Book
On the heels of her debut novel, Rumpus Essays Editors Roxanne Gay has created a playlist for the book over at Largehearted Boy. According to Gay, An Untamed State took its cues from Kate Bush, The Talking Heads, and a…
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Call This Playlist Ishmael
Kick your summer off right with a different kind of beach read: Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. (Okay, it’s more of a sea read than a beach read.) To put you in the right mood, Liberty Hardy over at Book Riot took a…
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When Literature and Music Become One
Bringing together different artistic domains, authors merge and connect music with their words on the Book Notes series, featured on largehearted boy. Featured now is the playlist Reif Larsen created for his debut novel The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet.…