something good can work
listening to "channel orange in my living room", in our bedrooms
Hi friends,
Thanks for sticking around for the second round of Kopi Club! (again, to read this post on our website, click here)
Let’s start with some updates from this past week:
We can’t stop listening to ‘Channel Orange in Your Living Room’ by Charlie Burg (J - fun fact: I met him last September, IN THE FLESH, and he said he liked my pants)
While You Were Sleeping turned 25. A moment for Sandra Bullock’s oversized jackets. i c o n i c. They are a reminder that it is now spring in Philadelphia, and how strange it is that we can’t be there to enjoy the optimal weather
Nicole has failed to follow even the simplest recipe for banana bread (who else doesn’t know the difference between baking soda and powder???)
Is ‘Too Hot to Handle’ better than ‘Love is Blind’? Please weigh in (N - I’m Team David, what a king)
After finishing ‘Tiger King’ and baking too many batches of scones, Justine is entering a new stage of quarantine: this time, we’re talking sourdough and The Great Pottery Throwdown
+ some random snaps
N: potato + PB = superior snack, me when I have to put on actual clothes for zoom calls, like dog like owner, & a snippet from our virtual wine date
J: real life upward-facing dog, re: sourdough, scenes from happy hour, & my new life as a cat mom
J: Being home in Singapore has meant confronting many sobering truths. One of them being: I am a hoarder. The other day, I came across a notebook from the fifth grade. The year was 2009: I was rocking thick, purple-frame glasses (see below), and my writing instruments of choice were glitter gel pens. Owl City’s ‘Fireflies’ was unironically my favorite song, which I listened to, on repeat, on my hot pink iPod shuffle.
In the absence of a diary, the closest present-day equivalent I have for this embarrassing repository of 5th grade confessions is my Spotify account. Ah, yes - for those of you that know me well, you *knew* this was coming. These public playlists are home to many private thoughts. The obscure and uncomfortably long names are all references to inside jokes, dumb jokes, art history jokes - which is all to say that I have both a lame sense of humor, and too much time on my hands.
‘chaotic güd’ is a reference to my chart alignment persona: it is music that makes me feel like getting out of bed, putting on my party pants (yes, these are a thing) and dancing like an idiot. Pure, unabashed chaotic energy. I’ve been loving the revival of 80’s beats: with tunes that can only be described as funky, it’s a synth-heavy playlist that serves as a cure for the midday blues.
(is that a chart alignment for my playlists, you ask? yes. yes, it is.)
‘twombly’ is an homage to the artist of the same name: I came to know about Cy Twombly through my contemporary art class, where he was introduced as one of the early lovers of Robert Rauschenberg. In the early 50s, the pair traveled to Europe - already, I’m thinking about romance set to the backdrop of beautiful architecture and many glasses of wine. Very quickly, however, we learned that Rauschenberg had found a new lover. These photographs of Twombly, initially read as mementos of a beautiful day in Rome, now appear to tell the story of solitude, longing; of being left behind - at least, that’s what the hopeless romantic in me sees. ‘twombly’ imagines what this faceless man on the roman steps might be listening to, in 2020.
There’s an idea known as the Proust Effect, which refers to the way that strong sensory stimuli - a specific perfume, a favorite food - can evoke prior memories. I’ve always been fascinated by the way that a simple set of chords can also be a powerful time machine. For me, there’s a playlist for the memory of late afternoon MRT rides in Singapore, for the feeling of Philly on the cusp of spring, for my first trip to Brooklyn, and for that one day I stumbled across my now-favorite bookstore in Old City. In other words, my Spotify has become a scrapbook of songs.
N: Many say that each college semester is defined by one specific activity or emotion. Last Fall was my semester of music. I went to some incredible concerts (some of which were free which made it even better): Lauv, Hozier, Two Door Cinema Club, Daniel Caesar?! I’ve since developed a huge love for live performances. There’s nothing like the thrill of not knowing the set list and hearing the first few words of your favorite song come on - then, you’re screaming the lyrics and that moment is the clearest snapshot of joy.
At home, I’ve been putting on Spotify at full blast and pretending I’m in a concert. Some recent additions to my personal raves are 1) the re-emergence of The Strokes ‘The New Abnormal’ album after a 7 year hiatus, though nothing can quite replace ‘Last Nite’ in my heart, and 2) the discovery of the band ‘Blossoms’ and their song ‘There’s a Reason Why’: the chorus makes me imagine an angsty, late night run through London with a guitar in hand. If you need at-home concert recs, for some indie-rock-revival nostalgia listen to ‘Something Good Can Work’ by Two Door Cinema Club - it always makes me feel some type of way when the drums come on. If you’re looking for slow, chill music: I’ve been loving Gracie Abrams, particularly ‘21’ and ‘Stay’. Lennon Stella has also been a staple - her song ‘Jealous’ is just so soulful and sassy.
Like Justine, I make a playlist for every season. I am currently listening to one named ‘gpwr’ - a badass girl power, sass-queen playlist with the heading song ‘Better by Myself’ by Hey Violet. Speaking of harnessing one’s own power, staying at home helps me see a clearer divide between the things I do for the approval of others, and what I love doing just for myself (dancing in PJs to ABBA in my room, making weird food combinations, drinking wine every night; maybe not all of these simultaneously).
Many of my playlists are also diaries from cities I’ve been to. One of my new playlists is named ‘Timelapse from Budapest’ - it reminds me of a special moment in Budapest when I saw the Hungarian Parliament completely lit up in the evening. The lights were all a different shade of gold. It felt like my eyes were unfocusing and refocusing that entire night because I couldn’t even take it all in. It was both loud and quiet at the same time. As Durant put it, “to have sensation is a sweet and glorious thing”. One of my favorite songs in that playlist is by George Ezra called ‘Budapest’, and funnily enough, that song is about Ezra missing his train to Budapest. I wonder what he’d write about Budapest if he had seen it through my eyes.
Thinking back to all my old playlists, I feel a fondness for the time that has passed regardless of the season of life the playlist belonged to. Hopefully this is how I will look back on life’s many playlists to come: with an abundance of fondness.
In a newsletter all about playlists, of course we couldn’t help ourselves: if you want to have a listen at the songs that fueled KC Vol. II, check it out:
In a post leading up to the release of his new track, Charlie (@burgchar) wrote about his decision to use the original basement recording:
“By releasing raw, imperfect, unedited takes, I chose to preserve a genuineness in my music that now serves as a reminder that music feels best when it is honest”.
We can’t help but think about how much of that sentiment is echoed by this little project of ours. As we read through our drafts during weekly calls, there are many moments when we consider rewriting or even deleting entire sections, in the fear of getting too personal.
But then again, we guess that is the spirit of Kopi Club: you don’t edit out sentences or revise conversations with friends. It can get a little nerve-wracking when you’re sharing writing that comes from a place of vulnerability. But, just like music, writing feels best when it is honest.
Hugs,
J & N