November 2022 — Playlist Odyssey

The Boss Is Back; Angelica Salvi Mesmerizes With The Harp; Elder Takes Me To The ‘Innate Passage’; and More Eaze Compels with ‘Strawberry Season’

By Joshua Gutierrez - Editor

Sometimes, the cumulative sound of the world is just a bit too loud.

With the midterm elections, mass shootings, that dumbass Trump running again for president, Kanye being a horrible human being and just the ever-present noise as a parent, November was a lot. I think an attempt to escape that made itself present in my playlist, with three of my “Love’s” coming in the form of ambient/instrumental albums.

Among those, Portuguese composer and harpist Angelica Salvi’s “Habitat” provided such repose. As my Hidden Gem Album of the Month, I’ve been finding myself putting this album on before bed. The harp, the aura and the accompanying aesthetic captivated.

As for Album of the Month for artist above 1M listens, the return of Bruce Springsteen was kind of a no-brainer. Now, if one were to tell me there was going to be a Springsteen covers album of 1960s-70’s classics, I’d be hesitant to show much enthusiasm. But man, did it work! Like Pitchfork wrote, The Boss’ vocals came alive and the enthusiasm of the rock icon was too great to not fall in love.

So, while my personal odyssey began with AC/DC’s “Back In Black,” my first genre I fell in love with was heavy metal. From Megadeth, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden to Metallica, heavy metal is a beautiful genre I’ll always adore. But…. I really have zero appeal to modern metal and all the sub-genres it composes. Though Elder has been classified in many ways, their latest album “Innate Passage” was just soooooo good. Such a great guitar album with epic songs all lasting above 8 minutes. Easily my Below Radar Album of the Month and contender for Top 10 Album of the Year in the same category.

As we collectively head into December, I hopeful to find a few more albums in the next three New Music Fridays. I’ll be compiling my extensive year-end lists soon and will be presenting from December 21 - January 6.

Bye Y’all!!!!!