This month, we're celebrating sunshine past 5 p.m. with some great tunes. Picks about work-life balance and seasons on other planets have us thinking about the long game, too.
Go to Annie's pick
Franki
editorial associate
Even though Disturbed has been near and dear to my heart for over a decade, attending a concert on the recent Evolution tour rekindled my love for the Chicago-based musicians. Not only has their rock music been a source of comfort, but the band members themselves are also big on raising awareness for mental health and just being good humans overall. Their concerts are filled with great music and a sense of belonging that I have felt at few other music events.
What we've played on the office turntable lately:
Golden Hour
The Hunger
Angel Dust
Mimi
editor
Apparently, winter on Pluto gets so cold that its atmosphere will freeze and fall, which is a bizarre thought for residents of Earth. Reading this article in The Atlantic about how seasons change on other planets made me really happy, maybe because it took me back to elementary school (throwback to papier-mâché planetary displays).
Katie
design associate
On a record-store run with my coworkers, I was reintroduced to Sunken, the first studio album of Chicago-based rock band Twin Peaks. It's an impressive 20-minute lo-fi bluesy garage rock album, recorded with subpar equipment in singer and guitarist Cadien Lake James's basement. Twin Peaks’ live shows are goofy, frantic, and fun, and its first album has that same restless energy that I love listening to while the seasons are changing here in Chicago.
Go to Katie's pick
Some of my colleagues will groan about my music picks. They’re not completely off base, since I tend to give music little thought and fall back on old favorites such as Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, and James Taylor. But lately I’ve been reaching for Lily & Madeleine, a folk-pop sister duo from my home state of Indiana, which just released a new album: Canterbury Girls. The sisters’ 2014 album, Fumes, is my favorite, but their latest album still features their characteristic piano and perfect harmonies, and their recent SXSW performance even landed them on Rolling Stone's list of best 30 artists from the event.
Annie
editor
Go to Mimi's pick
by Kacey Musgraves
by Michael Bolton
by Faith No More
I'm always interested in pieces (like this New York Times article) that discuss the delicate dance of work-life balance as well as how certain generations view work. Is it a necessary evil? Should it be twinned with passion? Social media would have us believe that life is about doing what you love and doing it 24/7. It seems more and more likely that the truth about our lives lies elsewhere.
Rachel
editor
Go to Rachel's pick
Go to Franki's pick