Feel Good Inc. Playlists

Taking a cue from the New York Times, who this week due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic published an article about the music they would have been hearing live if seemingly every institution were not closed, I’ve decided to create my own list. My list is more of a distraction playlist, a quarantine jukebox, a series of albums that are guaranteed “feel good”. I think we all from time to time create that stuck-in-the-bunker playlist or play a round of “If you could take only one album with you to a deserted island.” Because this is the closest thing to a bunker/Cast Away-like situation I hope to experience for sometime, it seems as good a time as ever to bring out those albums that give me pure joy and that highlight the joy of being alive.

Over the course of the next few days, I'll be having friends and colleagues guest post their own list of feel good music to listen to during the quarantine.

The Playlists

Below is the ongoing list. Click on the name to hear the music and read their posts.

Me
Tyler Taylor (composer)
Max Coleman (sociologist)
Jake Gunnar Walsh (composer & performer)
Miggy Torres (composer)

Feel Good Inc. Part V (composer Miggy Torres)

Originally from South Windsor, Connecticut, composer, Miggy Torres (b. 1992) holds a Master's of Music in Music Composition at the Jacobs School of Music from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN with additional summer studies at IRCAM, Paris. He also holds Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition from the Ithaca College School of Music, in Ithaca, NY. 

A musical omnivore, Miggy regularly enjoys composing for as many media as possible, and constantly seeks to express himself in new and challenging ways. The result has been a compositional style rooted deeply in experimentation that calls upon a smörgåsbord of compositional techniques. Recent interests include sociological explorations of Millennial culture, works generated by specific physical interactions between performer and instrument, and the counterpoint between sound and extra-musical media, including video, theatre, and interactive media.

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Darwin Deez - Songs for Imaginative People (2013)

Since discovering the music of Darwin Deez some four years ago, he has remained of my favorite artists. With smart, quirky, lyrics that express in rich metaphor the many delights, idiosyncrasies, ironies, and complexities of the human condition, and driving indie-pop beats, Darwin Deez’s music is both vulnerable and emotionally empowering.

If I had to pick a favorite album, I’d go with his second LP, Songs for Imaginative People, home to the tracks “Alice,” “Moonlit,” “Redshift,” and “Chelsea’s Hotel.” I will admit, however “The Bomb Song” off his first (self-named) album may be more apropos in these apocalyptic times. Other favorites include “The Mess She Made” and “Melange Mining Co.” from Double Down, as well as the vocoder-driven “The World’s Best Kisser” from his most recent release.

Moses Sumney - Aromanticism (2017)

Moses Sumney’s Aromanticism is both a beautiful exploration of existential loneliness and a critical interrogation of the common notion that romantic love is essential for self-realization. Sumneys sings both in a rich baritone voice and in an intimate falsetto reminiscent of Nina Simone or Macy Gray. Sumney often overlays these two registers in rich multilayered harmonies that articulate his haunting lyrics, such as in the second track, “Don’t Bother Calling," 

I don't know, what we are

But every cell in the corpus resembles stars

Signal into the sky

God sings to me in reply

Don't bother calling, I'll call you.

I can’t name a favorite track on this one as the whole album is really a single work of art, but I will say that the gentle, quasi-psychedelic rollick of “Plastic” is delightflully hypnotizing, and the polytempo, chromatic mediant harmonic motion, and slowly-building texture of “Self-Help Tape” makes it the perfect ending to a beautiful, multi-faceted portrait of the human experience.

Bill Evans - The Bill Evans Album (1971)

Bill Evans’s signature “impressionistic” sound is beautifully captured on this self-titled album that includes signature Bill Evans tunes such as "Waltz For Debby” (two different versions!) and “Re: Person I Knew” (also two versions), as well as lesser-known treasures such as “The Two Lonely People” and “T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune)”—that’s right, Schoenbergian jazz. 

The first “Waltz for Debby” (Track 4) is the runner-up for favorite track, while “The Two Lonely People” is my most listened-to. I’ve even learned to fumble my way through the first chorus of Evans’s solo on piano at home! I love that the head is pretty melancholy, but then the solo drops in and it's upbeat and optimistic. 

Perfect for both deep intellectual appreciation or simply relaxing on a rainy afternoon, The Bill Evans Album is never too far down my “Recently Played” list.

Tigran Hamasyan - Shadow Theatre (2013)

While we’re taking about jazz piano, Tigran Hamasyan’s Shadow Theatre blends jazz with traditional Armenian folk elements, hip-hop grooves, and  syncopated breakdowns drawn from the world of heavy metal. For it’s delicious syncopated refrain, my favorite track on the album is without a doubt “The Court Jester” which includes, appropriately, a harpsichord. Additional favorites include the opening track “The Poet” which ends with a section of complex polymeter in which the drums are in four but the piano is in quintuplets, accenting every three in a swung pattern.

 Odd divisions of the beat are a common feature of this album, but what’s more is that these odd divisions are often overlaid with rich syncopated solos that blur the barline, reminiscent of Ligeti’s late works such as the Piano Etudes.

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Sings Gershwin (1959)

I couldn’t not put Ella on this list. And to be honest, I really can’t pick just one album, but Ella Sings Gershwin has been on repeat for the last few weeks, so—in lieu of posting a giant Ella anthology—I decided I’d go with this one. While a short album, only 8 songs, it boasts some of my favorite Fitzgerald tunes such as “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “I’ve Got A Crush On You,” and “How Long Has This Been Going On?” 

Other favorite Fitzgerald songs not on this album include “Sophisticated Lady,” “It’s Only a Paper Moon,”  and “All The Things You Are.”

ABBA - Voulez-Vous (1979)

While I was first exposed to ABBA around the age of 8 or 9 through my mom’s car stereo and their ABBA Gold album, I recently rediscovered the group and have delved into some of their more deep cuts. Therefore, I can definitively say that Voulez-Vous is 100% their best album. While ABBA spent a long time trying to figure out what they were good at and how to hone those skills, they finally hit their stride in the late 70s and early 80s with a style that turned them into icons: disco. 

While there are certainly some great songs on their other albums, “Fernando” (arguably, their best song), “The Winner Takes It All,” “Under Attack,” and “Me and Bobby and Bobby’s Brother,” “Disillusion,” as well as the many hits made famous by their later incarnations such as the Mamma Mia! musical and the late-90s mainstream ABBA cover-band, A*Teens (“Mamma Mia,” “Dancing Queen,” “SOS,”  “Take a Chance on Me,” etc.), Voulez-Vous represents ABBA at their peak and boasts the highest BPAQ (Bops Per Album Quotient).

The album opens with a Mozartian fake-out that drops into a thick disco funk on “As Good As New.” The seventh track “If It Wasn’t For The Nights” —if you can forgive the inappropriate use of the indicative mood—is the song “Dancing Queen” wishes it could be. The list of bops continues with “Kisses of Fire,” “Angeleyes,” “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” “Does Your Mother Know,” “Chiquitita,” “Lovers (Live A Little Longer),” “Summer Night City,” and the eponymous “Voulez-Vous.”

While the driving disco beat and powerful vocal timbres make Voulez-Vous an immediate feel good album, it offers a lot of intellectual stimulation as well. Many of the songs are lyrically complex with clever rhymes that make you forget that English was their second language. Musically, tracks like “As Good As New” have really fun harmonies that throw you for a loop! And other songs like “Chiquitita” and “I Have A Dream" include odd metrical patterns with extra beats thrown in here and there to keep you on your toes.

Feel Good Inc. Part IV (composer & performer Jake Gunnar Walsh)

Jake Gunnar Walsh is a composer, performer, and educator from Chepachet, Rhode Island.  A recent graduate of Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, he earned a double Masters Degree in Oboe Performance and Music Composition studying oboe with Linda Strommen and Roger Roe, and composition with Claude Baker and David Dzubay.  Jake is passionate about premiering and commissioning new works for the Oboe and English Horn, and specializes in the performance of contemporary music. 

Jake’s choral piece I See Words in Color was the first prize winner of the NOTUS 2018 Composition Competition and premiered by the ensemble at Indiana University under the direction of Dominick DiOrio.  He was a finalist for the ASU Symphony Orchestra Gammage Beyond Composition Commission Competition in 2018. Recently, Jake has had his music performed on such diverse stages as the Boston Landmarks Orchestra at the Hatch Memorial Shell in Boston MA, Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival Emerging Composers concert in New York, NY, and The Nebraska Chamber Players Concerts on the Creek in Lincoln, NE

Jake is currently serving as a sabbatical replacement for Dr. Paige Morgan on the Oboe Faculty at Ithaca College for the Fall 2019 semester.  

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Joni Mitchell - Song to a Seagull (1967)

Although it would be a nearly impossible task, were I to choose a single album that has meant the most to me, it would be this one.  Joni Mitchell wrote and released this album when she was just 24 years old, yet the messages of each song and the entire album are wise beyond her years. The first time I heard the song "Cactus Tree" it was as if I had heard it in another life and had spent this whole life just waiting to hear it again without knowing it--every time I hear the vastness of the guitar intro it is as if I'm hearing it for the first and also one millionth time. 

Joanna Newsom - Sawdust and Diamonds (2006)

I consider this to be one of my "deserted island" songs because I could never tire of Joanna Newsom's virtuosity on the harp, her breathtaking vocal ability, and above all--the text.  Newsom's poetry in Sawdust and Diamonds is unlike any other song I've ever come across.  Were I to be trapped on a deserted island (or say, perhaps quarantined at home for between 8-20 weeks) I could easily spend countless hours (days? weeks?) digging deep into her dense, heartbreaking words and unearthing their beautiful truths. A quote: 

"There's a light in the wings
Hits this system of strings
From the side while they swing;
See the wires, the wires, the wires

And the articulation
In our elbows and knees
Makes us buckle and we couple in endless increase
As the audience admires

And the little white dove
Made with love, made with love
Made with glue and a glove and some pliers

Swings a low sickle arc
From its perch in the dark
Settle down
Settle down
Settle down my desire."

-Joanna Newson, Sawdust and Diamonds

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (as performed by Jacob Collier) (2018)

Leonard Cohen's classic song has been covered famously hundreds of times.  Jacob Collier's beautiful arrangement and performance is simply divine, and I think it speaks for itself. 

Laurie Anderson - O Superman (1982)

I first heard this song my Junior year of college and it rocked my world.  Anderson's message is timeless and can be interpreted a number of ways--I prefer to interpret it as a harsh criticism of the cruel reality of capitalist America, among other things.  Seems just as relevant today as it was in 1982.

Simon & Garfunkel - April Come She Will (1966)

Short and sweet, this song has been on constant repeat for me during this particularly challenging March, and moreover, a rather difficult winter season altogether.  Simon & Garfunkel delicately weave the story of a brief relationship through a comparison to the changing months April to September.  While the song itself is about as far from a pandemic as you can get, the title at least can serve as a gentle reminder that even amidst these uncertain times, April will indeed come. 

Rufus Wainwright - The Art Teacher (2004)

I've long admired Rufus Wainwright as a songwriter, and I just couldn't leave him off my feel-good list.  Art Teacher is a beautiful recollection of an early queer memory as told from the perspective of an adult.  Aside from Wainwright telling a captivating story, I love how this song tackles the way formative moments we have as young people can have lasting, meaningful impact on our adult lives--something in my experience that I have found is particularly true of navigating queer life.

Feel Good Inc. Part III (sociologist Max Coleman)

Max Coleman is a Ph.D. student in sociology at Indiana University Bloomington. His research centers on the psychological consequences of social stratification, with a particular focus on common mental health conditions such as major depression. Rather than use traditional markers of stratification, such as income and education, he is interested in measures of perceived inequality, which capture dimensions of social status beyond the socioeconomic. He received his Master’s in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served as a pre-doctoral trainee at the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health.

https://www.maxecoleman.com/

@max_e_coleman

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Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman (1990)

This is one of my favorite albums. In high school, I was a big “social activist” (what the Right would call a “social justice warrior”), and I loved the song Talkin’ Bout a Revolution. The whole album is brilliant, and Chapman has a lovely and unique voice. I also appreciate that the album addresses issues such as racial segregation, poverty, and criminal justice.

Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) (2001)

This album is very nostalgic for me: it was the album I listened to during my last month or two of college, and it always brings back fond and sometimes bittersweet memories. I found the album by accident during my shift as a desk attendant at the library, and I decided on a whim to download it onto my computer. I learned only later that Gillian Welch was also featured on another album on this list, “O Brother Where Art Thou.”

O Brother Where Art Thou - Soundtrack (2001)

This movie is fantastic, and the soundtrack is by far my favorite soundtrack for any movie (possibly tied with Thomas Newman’s score to American Beauty). In high school, I had the chance to sing this song along with two other tenors in my choir. Take a listen.

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)

I learned recently that Phoenix is a French band and the (English) lyrics are essentially nonsense. But the energy of this album is a constant pick-me-up. Just listen carefully and you’ll hear such delightfully weird phrases as “Fences in a row / fences in a row/ why are they protected in a row?” Makes no sense, but it doesn’t really matter!

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

There are so many great songs on this album. I especially love the first song of the album, “Fixing a Hole,” but I figured I’d pick a more upbeat song below. The song includes the lyrics, “Lovely Rita, meter maid” but I always think they’re singing “meet a maid.” Meter maids seem a bit antiquated in this era (now I just insert my credit card into a machine and wait for it to not work), but the album itself is eminently listenable even after 50 years.

Feel Good Inc. Part II (composer Tyler Taylor)

Tyler W. Taylor was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1992. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Music in composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with a minor in music theory and a secondary minor in horn performance. His latest performances include Modus operandi, featured on the "Jacobs Students Play for NASM" recital, the premiere of Fray by the Indiana University Wind Ensemble, and the premiere of his master’s thesis Liberation Compromise for 17 players – winner of a 67th Annual BMI Student Composer Award and the 2016 Howard Hanson Ensemble Prize. Other notable performances include his sinfonietta Encompass – winner of the 2015 Howard Hanson Ensemble Prize – during the 2017 University of Louisville New Music Festival and his mixed sextet Burlesque Suite performed by members of the Talea Ensemble.

https://www.tylertaylorcomposer.com/

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Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D Major K. 385 (1782)

There’s just something so simple and joyful about this music. And a bit humorous too considering is all essentially a decoration of a descending scale — that’s one way to write a commission, and I love it.

Mahler: Symphony No. 9 (1909)

It’s not necessarily feel good music but it’s music that has the power to make you feel good... for me it has more to do with experiencing something sympathetic to what you are feeling, even if the music is capturing and dealing with things far heavier than what you are (like your own mortality and the inevitable and radical shift from the kind of music you write to another...). It lets me know, when I’m in my darker moods, that I’m in good company and that these places have been explored by many before me.

Essentially any hip hop/R&B from the mid-late 90’s/early 2000’s.

It’s not hard to spend hours revisiting the music of my childhood. Aside from the sense of nostalgia, many of the songs have incredibly empowering and, in some cases, still painfully relevant messages. Some favs:
“Where Is The Love” by The Black Eyed Peas
“Pass that Dutch” Missy Elliott
“Killing Me softly” Lauryn Hill

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (1913)

Seems cliché at this point but there’s always some moment in this piece that has the power to carry me away, whether it’s some of the head-banging/ass-shaking rhythmic sections, the florid virtuosity, or some of the more bleak, static moments. More than anything, it seems to be a  kaleidoscope into the mind of Stravinsky — a place I’d be more than happy to inhabit for a little while. I love every moment of the score.

Feel Good Inc.

Taking a cue from the New York Times, who this week due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic published an article about the music they would have been hearing live if seemingly every institution were not closed, I’ve decided to create my own list. Not so much about the music I would have been hearing at upcoming concerts because, frankly, the next few concerts I would have been going to were my own which are experiencing their own slow drip of cancellations (see news & events). My list is more of a distraction playlist, a quarantine jukebox, a series of albums that are guaranteed “feel good”. I think we all from time to time create that stuck-in-the-bunker playlist or play a round of “If you could take only one album with you to a deserted island.” Because this is the closest thing to a bunker/Cast Away-like situation I hope to experience for sometime, it seems as good a time as ever to bring out those albums that give me pure joy and that highlight the joy of being alive.

I say albums somewhat specifically. Over the past few years, the rise of streaming audio has, in one way or another, made us forget the concept of the album as a whole. The totality of songs in particular order, free of ads about subscription meal plans or Squarespace (website immediately gets taken offline). But I will post one link for each album… To highlight the album as a whole, I’m listening to full albums from my record collection which constitute this playlist. A true Desert Island Discs.

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book (1959)

About two years ago, I found a copy of this album in Bloomington, IN for $30 and nabbed that as quickly as I could. 6 discs of Nelson Riddle’s ingenious and charming arrangements with Ella’s voice (needs no introduction or my poor superlatives) are a guaranteed good time. Easily the best buy of my life.

The Boswell Sisters (1931 - 33, reissued 1982)

The Boswell Sisters, an American vocal trio popular in the early 1930’s, are a recent discovery for me. Their arrangements of classic American standards are…to be brief…insane. The rhythmic syncopation is so sophisticated that I can think of few other examples in jazz that even come close. This one track specifically, their amazing cover of ‘I Don’t Mean A Thing’ distorts the familiar tune to something rarely heard until the advent of computer processing.

Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key of Life (1974-76)

It’s perfect. We all know it’s perfect. Give it a listen.

Igor Stravinsky - The Fairy’s Kiss

A piece which in my experience has a “love it or hate it” kind of reputation, I personally find The Fairy’s Kiss to be borderline laugh out loud funny. It’s Stravinsky’s take (a hot take) on the ballet music of Tchaikovsky and it indeed sounds like The Nutcracker or Sleeping Beauty…but with a mustache on the Mona Lisa type approach.

Joni Mitchell - Blue or Court and Spark or Ladies of the Canyon (1970 - 74)

Much like Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key of Life, very little needs to be said. Just enjoy it.

Paul Simon - The Rhythm of the Saints (1990)

So I would put Graceland and I of course will be listening to both but I feel as though this album doesn’t get the credit it deserves. As the follow up album, it lives in the shadow of Graceland. But it is chock full of fantastic tunes and surprisingly moving ones (Born At The Right Time, The Coast, etc.)

Any John Denver Album of your choice

Possibly a little too feel good? But this golly gee/ shucks kind of outlook is somewhat needed now. Like this ode to the changing seasons which ends his 1972 album Rocky Mountain High…

And oh, I love the life within me, I feel a part of everything I see.
And oh, I love the life around me, a part of everything is here in me.
A part of everything is here in me, a part of everything is here in me.

Overly optimistic perhaps but needed.