Here’s Hoping

I found Jayda G.’s podcast Here’s Hoping when I read about the backstory of our Song Pick “If We Only Knew”. At first, I got it wrong: while her song is about fighting climate change, the podcast projects a broader net and talks about hope in general.

Hope is a positive emotion, and we need more of it in times when news outlets fall over each other to predict the direst outcomes. Fear is a strong motivator, and it sells, and that drives what we see and hear whenever we turn to our various screens.

Conversely, hope and ideas for practical solutions can bring the positive change we need. Jayda G. highlights this in her podcast. In a recent episode, she talks with Cherif Khoury about grassroots initiatives in Senegal to protect the coastlines affected by climate change sustainably. However small that might look, it is a much more practical approach than just constantly raising awareness in an attempt to scare people into changing their behaviors.

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Happy Birthday, Hype Machine Stack!

Hype Machine is a venerable music blog aggregator based in NYC and founded in April 2005. They scrape a hand-curated list of blogs, including glamglare, and maintain a list of the most talked-about new songs. In their heyday in the first half of the last decade, they would make and break new songs; hence their member blogs were sought after by artists and PR agencies – up to and including payment for coverage.

When Hype Machine listed glamglare in 2015, our work changed drastically: instead of looking hard for new music on sites like Bandcamp or Soundcloud, our mailboxes overflowed with pitches for the latest songs.

Hype Machine still does its thing and is a great place to discover music. They recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of their newsletter by looking back on their favorite ten tracks since 2014.

Take a Summer Break in Italy

In the ‘70s and ‘80s in Germany, Italian music put you instantly in the happy state of a summer vacation. Since then, other destinations like Spain or Greece have become more popular, but for Elke and me, it still works: put on some Lucio Dalla or Zucchero, and we feel like at the beach or in a restaurant enjoying Spaghettialle vongole and a caraffe of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Maybe the New York Times music newsletter writer Lindsay Zolads feels similar after her two-week break in Italy. Of course, she has put an eclectic playlist together, which you can listen to on Spotify or Apple Music. Be quick, the playlist will change tomorrow. Also, check out our playlist that combines old and new songs from Italy.

Nine Photos of The Greeting Committee at Bowery Ballroom

Last Saturday, Manhattan’s venerable midsized venue, The Bowery Ballroom, held an eager crowd of overwhelmingly young people who erupted in cheers and excitement once The Greeting Committee took the stage. While I’ve never been to a Taylor Swift concert, I could imagine a similar devotion and breathless joy in the room. For at least half the show, I was almost similarly enchanted and enjoyed hearing songs from their fantastic fourth album Everyone’s Gone and I Know I’m The Cause live. Then it dawned on me. It’s a pop album, very heavy on the synth -which I love- yet only guitar, bass, and a drum kit on stage. Admittedly, this is nitpicking since the Kansas City duo (live a four-piece) gave a compelling show, and the fans couldn’t get enough; in the end, we all spilled out into a hot summer night buzzing with joy that even continued onto the subway platform.