Dear Rocka readers,
This month I got to talk to Nick Rich who has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard. Nick and I chatted for a while about how social media influences making music and how this can be both empowering and demoralizing. This conversation can be run dry sometimes, but I think it’s important to talk to creators who are making art in this creative environment now. His single “Hot Mess” is catchy, sultry, and is only a taste of what he has to offer. Read the feature here.
☆☆☆
A few weeks ago, I impulsively bought tickets to see Shakey Graves at Red Rocks. I grew up in Colorado and have seen a fair amount of shows at Red Rocks, and I guess in a few ways its glamor has become lost to me. But the tickets were $50, and I wasn’t about to pass that up.
The show made me realize how much of a Shakey Graves fan I am. I had no idea how much of his music I knew, let alone word for word. I’ve talked on my radio show about “Kids These Days” and have most tracks on Can’t Wake Up memorized, but I don’t go about my days thinking “I am a Shakey Graves fan.”
The song I love the most off that record is “Excuses.” Not only is it sonically interesting, but the lyricism is both tongue-and-cheek and grave. I’ve been told I’m a “perfectionist” since childhood, and I think this track explores that pressure of wanting to perfect things– even inherently imperfect human relationships.
A lot of the time, the excuses we make for not wanting to get involved with someone are valid. Our health is poor. We’re stressed about school. Work is demanding. We got hurt last time. We sometimes interpret these hesitations as signs that maybe that person isn’t “right” for us, when really it can be our own self-sabotaging instincts entering the boxing ring.
The lyrics commodify love and time, two things that exist in spheres far greater than loose change. The first few verses track this feeling of not being able to “afford” love. Not having the time for it or the resilience to bear another defeat. The song then shifts into an outward expression of yearning, paralyzed in the waiting room.
I can't wait for the phone to ring
I can't wait for summer, I can't wait for spring
I can't wait for someone who can't wait for me
I can't wait to fall in love
I’ve spent a lot of my life in the waiting room, which I’ve now decorated in my head as the Neitherworld waiting room from Beetlejuice. Always glancing at a silent phone, patiently waiting for the leaves on the trees to change, and begging another subpar partner for mutual affection. I think you’re kind of stuck there until you don’t want to be.
Not saying you should settle, but if “Excuses” makes any strong claim it’s that you’ll find an excuse to dismiss anyone, even if you blame it on your own lack of reserves. You don’t have to be rich to offer another what dirty purse change you have or accept their own. A little lint never hurt anyone.
This month’s mix is definitely a mix. I have some big names like Steve Lacy, Remi Wolf, and obviously: Shakey Graves. But also I’ve got some killer tracks by Neal Francis, DRAM, and Ephemerals. So check it out here.
Rocka out,
Ally