Private Disco, from us to you

*To listen to the songs in full, click to open in Spotify

1. Dern Kala by Khruangbin

Topher: This is my favorite band that I learned about in the last year, and I play their music often while cooking. Funky grooves influenced by Thai jazz and Latin beats.

2. Tenderly by Prinze George

Tonya: It's a bop. (I don't use that word but apparently I do bc this song is a bop) It sounds like she's saying "I can fuck you tenderly" but she's not but it's fun for while when you think she is.

3. I Don't Know by Beastie Boys

Brenda: I’ve put this on so many mixes. I love the message behind it, and I’m excited about their new doc coming out.

4. Hello In There by John Prine

Shaina: If you don't know this man or his music, this song is a ripe, tender place to start. his memory lives on in his melodies. rest in peace, John Prine

5. Freak Like Me by Caroline Rose

Tonya: I love this new album and I was supposed to see them in Chicago but the concert was obviously/rightfully cancelled. Regardless of the meaning, this song feels lovely and sweet to me.

6. Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie

Topher: I was asked via Instagram meme to choose a quarantine song, and this was it. "It's the terror of knowing what this world is about / watching some good friends scream, let me out!" I've always aspired to project Freddie and Bowie's amazing frontman vocal energies, and I'm thinking about it even more as I spend more time singing at home.

7. Overlord by Dirty Projectors

Sam: This is a beautiful, gentle song that explores complicated feelings about being part of a greater whole, questioning who you are within it, and Is also just a groove. Love me Dirty Projectors.

8. Kyoto by Phoebe Bridgers

Clare: YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS VIDEO; THIS IS QUITE ACTUALLY THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR THIS SONG

9. Keep It Real by Young Bleed

Brenda: Man the fuckin’ beat is so good and that New Orleans drawl/influence/Master P.  Also, the album is titled ‘All I Have In This World, are My Balls and My Word. Same, Young Bleed, same.

10. Yo Love by Vince Staples, 6lack, Mereba (Queen & Slim Soundtrack)

Clare: i just saw Queen & Slim for the first time and it was so powerful, well-written, beautifully shot, beautifully acted and is generally an important film and also the soundtrack is very very good

11. Call of the Wighat by METZ

Sam: It feels really, really, really fucking good to feel the raw energy coming out of this song right now. It’s like breaking shit, which is all I want to do sometimes, without actually breaking shit.

12. Can't Cool Me Down by Car Seat Headrest

Clare: i love this song, it's a tight lil moody weirdo bop and it's the first single off of car seat headrest's first album in 4 years that's coming out on May 1 and i'm just very excited for it and it's nice to have something with a concrete date to look forward to

13. Vatican Song Part 2 by Pontac

Shaina: Deft orchestration powdered with poetic irreverence - this song simultaneously leaves everything and nothing on the table!! listen and lmk what you think!

14. Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn

Tonya: For some reason my boyfriend has been blasting this recently and I've been happy to lean into it, singing and bopping to the cheesiness while cooking dinner. Sometimes I takeover his Google Home with the song while he's working.

15. Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads

Sam: In times of uncertainty, I find comfort in the “titans of art” and David Byrne and the Talking Heads are a group I’ve respected for quite some time, but I’m using this time to explore more of their stuff. This song is just doing something for me, imagining a future, imagining a possibility. Plus, “same as it ever was” slaps different these days.

16. Flirtation by Turtlenecked

Clare: this is such a fucking weird trance song and i can't stop LISTENING TO IT. i feel like i'm just lobbing my head back and forth while my eyes roll around the insides of my head every time it comes on. also it has this exquisite line where he disjointedly goes, "vanilla extract / you smell so sweet / and you taste / well / like most people"

17. Everyday by Weyes Blood

Shaina: This song is a hand pressing down on my shoulder blade. The melody! The piano! The range! It is LOVE and UNREST and I want it scream sung at my wedding

18. The Joke by Brandie Carlile

Brenda: This song makes me cry and sing full voice, especially if I’m walking with headphones

19. Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other by Willie Nelson (originally by Ned Sublette)

Topher: Best gay cowboy song ever!! Learned about it during a virtual birthday party game where someone posted some emoji and you had to guess the song title. The emoji clue was 🤠💯😳❤️🤠

20. Bored in the House by Tyga & Curtis Roach

Tonya: They literally released this because of the quarantine. It's very catchy!

21. Skidamarink by Super Simple Songs

Topher: My best friends' two-year-old is obsessed with this song right now, so I learned it on guitar and have been playing it for him every week over video chat. The first time, his face went totally blank in shock that Uncle Topher was playing his favorite song.

22. Blues Run the Game by Simon & Garfunkel (originally by Jackson C. Frank)

Topher: This reminds me of conversations Margaret and I have had about how you can't solve your personal problems by moving or traveling. "No matter where you go, there you are." I love the image of a couple sitting on the floor of some dingy hotel room drinking cheap liquor out of faux-glass plastic cups.

23. Lovely Day by Bill Withers

Clare: i used to listen to this song every day driving to school for 1-2 years because i was in a generally BUMMED mental space but this song always brought me JOY and positivity even in moments of swirling darkness. i think the collective consciousness probably has bill withers on their mind right now

24. The Baby Snake (Feedakee) by Nana Mouskouri, Harry Belafonte

Tonya: I somehow ended up putting this in a staged reading of mine years ago. Nana Mouskouri's voice is so unique and full of emotion. It sends me.

Complied April 15, 2020 by Tonya Narvaez, Brenda Arellano, Clare Palmer,  Sam Bertken, Shaina Wagner, and Topher Lin for the digital piece "Private Disco, from us to you" as part of the San Francisco Neo-Futurists' "The World Wide Wrench".