Friday jams (02/23/18)

Erin:
R.E.M.'s album, Monster, came out in 1994 when I was a sophomore in high school. In a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe said "'in terms of the whole queer-straight-bi thing, my feeling is that labels are for canned food,' he [Stipe] says. 'People are much too binary in their thinking--I think sexuality is a much more slippery thing than that. I've always liked the idea that I could publicly play with that and not pronounce myself anything and let people...not wonder...let people take me for what I am.'" As a teenager with what I imagined to be a complicated relationship with sexuality, Stipe's quote resonated with me. I could be who I wanted to be, who I needed to be, without having to try to find a place in the binary. I mean, it turns out that Stipe embraced his queer identity. But what he said in 1995 meant a lot to teenage, queer me.

Janelle Monae dropped two tracks yesterday. They're wildly divergent in feel, but equally awesome. Make Me Feel is a fun Prince-esque jam, but the consensus seems to be that it's more than that. In a different way than Stipe, and (presumably) for different reasons, Monae has always been publicly vague about her sexuality. And the consensus seems to be that Make Me Feel is the bisexual anthem that everyone was sure Monae could make. Yesterday, Brittani Daniels said on Twitter that "Janelle Monae continues to have the most iconic non-coming out coming outs."

Anyway, enough about me. This this song is great. Put it in your ears.

Rachel:
word is that 2018 will bless us with both an album from janelle monae, who I am not entirely sure isn't the goddess athena, AND robyn. I feel like, we're gonna need it, and we're gonna get through.

Robyn's three-part album Bodytalk literally changed my life in a lot of ways I'm not even sure I can explain.

Friday Jams! (02/16/2018)

Rachel:
It's now, Wakanda Forever.

Erin:
All Wakanda Forever everything.

Friday jams (02/09/2018)

Good morning from Denver, friends of the Unified Library Scene!

We're presenting today about creating compelling stories about the value of metadata. If you're wandering around the conference center, you should come join us at the Hyatt in room Capital Peak B. We are committed to not taking ourselves seriously even as we take this topic super seriously. So you can imagine how much fun we'll be having. Join us!

Our jam for today:

Stay positive and keep rockin'

Erin and Rachel

Friday jams (01/19/2018)

Everything is moving a little slower this week on account of the snow days, so there wasn't any new content on Ye Olde Blog this week. Sometimes resolving to be back on your shit means taking it slow and forgiving yourself when you fall short. Watch this space next week, I guess.

Erin:
Tune-Yards have a new record out today. Enjoy this jaunty tune that never fails to make me chair dance when it comes on.

Rachel:
did you know there are people who spend their time putting popular music over the beats of children's cartoons? I did not know that. Rod from my main podcast, The Black Guy Who Tips, put me on to some new to me music this week that I have been mainlining. Here's an inspirational jam:

Friday Jams (1/12/2018)

Rachel:
Erin loves to give me shit about not listening to new music, and it's true, I hardly ever go out and find the freshest newest music, even when it is music that I know for a fact that I will love. But sometimes I do, and that's why I can say I have a best new album of 2017. It is Darius Rucker's When Was the Last Time, in which he continues to get annoyingly better at country music which he was already really good at admit it. It's also annoyingly old people music about like grown up people shit and I am grown up people and I have grown up shit and sometimes I like to listen to music about it, so,

Erin:
In 2017, I got to see Japandroids twice. And both times I was shocked by how two dudes could make that much noise and fill up so much space. This song is on my running playlist and it almost always comes on when I need something to help keep my feet moving.

Friday jams (01/05/2018)

It's Friday, friends of the Unified Library Scene! Time for some Friday jams!

Erin:
In case you missed it, I posted earlier in the week about my hopes for libraries and those who staff them in this new year.

In December, The Hold Steady (from whose song, "Constructive Summer," this blog takes its name) played a series of shows in Brooklyn to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their album Boys and Girls in America. I had tickets for two of those shows but, in what I fear is the first of many times where school got in the way, I didn't end up going.

Anyway...they put out two news songs in honor of the occasion and this is one of them. "Tequila takeoffs and Tecate landings" is a true The Hold Steady lyric if I ever heard one. Put your headphones on, crank it up, and enjoy!

Rachel:

I recently discovered a couple of Martin Zellar albums that I wasn't familiar with. They were released after I'd gone away to college and wasn't keeping up with local legends. Martin Zellar's "Born Under" and the collected works of his band The Geardaddies have been in heavy rotation since my high school days, so stumbling into these new songs was amazing to me. It isn't so much a jam, as Martin writes and sings some extremely sad songs about extremely sad stuff, but it is a comfort to hear these kinds of words in my kind of music, from a voice I've known and trusted for almost my whole life.

So, in a new years way, I present to you this selection from those songs. Moving on and growing can be like this, "I can't pretend that it wouldn't be like killing off a friend," "and I'm scared to let go of the only me I know."

Friday jams (06/30/17)

It's Friday jams time, friends. Time for some jams!

Jason Isbell has a record out in recent weeks which is really awesome and worth a listen. But this gem of a song is from an older Isbell record.

Stay positive,
Erin

Friday jams (04/28/2017)

It's Friday! There are jams! Time for Friday jams, friends!

So, Gorillaz released a new album for the first time since 2012's Escape to Plastic Beach. Several tracks from We are Still Humanz, out today, got some radio play in the weeks prior to the album's release and this morning I heard "Let Me Out" which features Pusha T and Mavis Staples. Having heard a lot of Gorillaz's previous material, I was surprised at how immediate and relevant "Let Me Out" felt. And I'm even more excited to dig into the new album than I already was.

Please enjoy a live version of "Let Me Out," which features Damian Albarn playing a keytar.

Stay positive,
Erin

Friday jams (04/21/2017)

It's Friday. Time for some Friday Jams, friends of the Unified Library Scene.

Big Boi released a couple of tracks from his upcoming album, which are both awesome and worth a listen. Head over to Brooklyn Vegan if you're interested in hearing them in one place. After hearing "Kill Jill," I headed over to YouTube to listen to some of my favorite Outkast songs. So let's celebrate Friday by enjoying a couple of tracks from Outkast.

This one.

And also this one.

Have a nice weekend!

Erin

Friday Jams (03/31/17)

Much like the Mack returned and Backstreet came back, it's Friday and there are Jams to be shared. So it's time for Friday Jams!

Erin:
Jason Isbell has a new album coming out in the spring, and he released a single from that album. It's called "Hope the High Road" and it's really great. It's loud and it's full of hope. And I love how Amanda Shires' vocals are tucked up inside the chorus to the point that you really have to listen intently to find them. Anyway, it's great and I hope you dig it.

Friday jams (02/03/2017)

It's Friday! Time for some Friday jams, friends of the Unified Library Scene!

Erin:
In 2016, Drive-By Truckers put out a really great album with political and social themes that are more...overt than on previous records. The political and social themes have always been there, but DBT usually weaves them into stories instead of confronting you with them directly. My favorite part about this jam is the way all four of the singers harmonize on the chorus in a way that feels both hopefully unified and angrily defiant.

Rachel:
Actually, it's Erin again--posting on Rachel's behalf. I have no commentary for this jam except to say that it's a great song to put in your ears on a Friday.

Friday jams (01/06/2017)

Erin:
It's the first Friday of 2017, so it's time for the first jams of the new year. 2016 was really a great year for music and it seems like 2017 is going to give us some good music as well.

Run the Jewels dropped their third album, RTJ3, on Christmas Eve which allowed it to sneak onto my Best of 2016 list just under the wire. Enjoy a track from that album called "A report to your shareholders/Kill your masters."

Rachel:
Here it is, 2017. I mean, it doesn't make any difference here because, as Erin will tell you, I steadfastly refuse to be exposed to new music.

But it is a time of newness, and coldness, and the promise of the future.

Friday jams (12/16/2016)

Let's be real here. For a variety of reasons, this year has been a real mess for nearly everyone I know. Over here at Unified Library Scene headquarters, we've been holding it together the best way we know how. And in some ways, it feels like we're all just throwing ourselves toward the end zone, hoping that the ball crosses the pylon as we face plant into the astroturf.

Anyway, I hope that you have the opportunity to end the year with the opportunity to rest and reflect in whatever way seems most helpful and restorative to you.

Please enjoy this jam that comes from the newly release A Tribe Called Quest album as the last Friday Jam of 2016.

Stay positive,
Erin

ps--When I mentioned Friday Jams yesterday on Twitter, Rachel posted this. So let's all take a moment to allow Luscious Jackson to fill us with holiday cheer.

Friday jams (09/23/2016)

Two jams-related things.

1.It's Friday, so enjoy this jam--Chance the Rapper on the Ellen DeGeneres show performing "No problem."

2. American Band, the new Drive-By Truckers album, is on NPR First Listen for a limited time. It's a really lovely album and I heartily recommend it.

Stay positive,
Erin

Friday Jams (9/16/2016)

Rachel:
without comment, I give you 

Erin:
Hi, friends of the Unified Library Scene. I'm sorry that it's been so long since a new blog post has gone up. Maybe next week? Definitely next week.

Dwight Yoakam covered "Purple Rain" for his new album. I wanted to not like it, but I do.

Friday Jams! (09/09/2016)

Rachel:
It has been nearly three weeks since my vacation ended and TODAY is the first day that I have had a chance to sit down with my email so all I got to say is

Erin:
I was going to post a really long story about Prophets of Rage. Instead, I'll just leave this El-P produced song by Zack de la Rocha.

Friday jams (08/05/16)

Erin:

My friend was talking on Twitter about Goodnight Tender, an album by Amy Ray. Heather McEntire, of Mount Moriah fame, contributes pretty significantly to Ray's album. 

I am like 51% sure I've posted this song by Mount Morah before, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to it. "Lament" is really great. Enjoy.

Rachel:
I am still on a pretty frequent ANTI jam. It's just, so, you know, Rihanna. Plus she was in the news because some silly white people were saying silly white people things. So, today, we're gonna listen to "You Needed Me" again, possibly on repeat, even though we already know it. I don't link the video because it is super intense and we don't need that.

Friday Jams! (07/22/2016)

Rachel:
I, for one, defer to Erin's jam whole heartedly.  But rules are rules and I am required to provide my own jam. So.

Erin:
This week's jam is from the epic Carpool Karaoke featuring Michelle Obama. It is the two minutes of pure perfection where James and Michelle are joined by Missy and the three of them perform "Get Ur Freak On."

Friday Jams! (07/15/2016)

Rachel:
last night erin reminded me about jams and then told me not to be tardy with my jams this morning but then I didn't do them first thing but here they are now.

The most powerful thing about this song is that it uses the word "no" more than 50 times, which is what I am feeling. no. no. no. no.

Erin:
That story that Rachel just told is 100% true. I even used the word "tardy."

New Wave by Against Me! has this lovely little number in the middle that features Tegan Quin. It's not particularly dance-y but it's still an awesome jam.

FRIDAY POST-ALA JAMS (07/01/2016)

Rachel:

Y'all. It was so good to see you if I saw you. Double jams. Look don't worry about it. Don't think. Just.... jams.

Erin:
Do you know about Anderson .Paak? I didn't until Rachel and I were watching the BET Awards and I spent his entire performance with my hand covering my mouth because it's rude to sit with your mouth hanging open. Anyway, here is Anderson .Paak performing at SXSW 2016.