Music for the Vortex

While driving home from work about a week ago, Rufus Wainwright's "Beautiful Child" came on my iPhone mix. Normally I listen to audiobooks, but I had an urge to jam out that day, and I think with good reason: inspiration hit. I need a Vortex playlist for my favoritest happy songs.

Music affects my mood like nothing else. There's nothing more satisfying than feeling humdrum, a little blue, and putting in Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile and screaming along with "Starfuckers" (which I happen to think is kind of a funny song--it's just a little too angry, you know?). Or if I want to dwell in my blue-ness and derive a little satisfaction from that vague feeling of longing that comes with it, I can shuffle through my The Sundays collection--favorites for 20 years. I've yet to have an iPod that didn't have The Sundays on board, and I'm all about switching up my music collection.

So when I'm feeling happy, or wanting to feel happy, and don't feel like thinking through some book-on-tape logic to make myself feel better, here are a handful of songs that make it to the top of my list. I've included 3 by Sigur Ros. They're magical, somehow, and not just because they're from Iceland, which is a magical place. Oh, and Bjork gets 3 as well--but, well, she's fuckin' hot, so she gets 3. And she's Icelandic, too. Have I mentioned I've been to Iceland?

Jessica saw me making my playlist, and she said, "You know what I'd put on that playlist." Yes, I do.  Her theme song, "Unwritten," by Nathasha Bedingfield. For being pop, it's a pretty damn good song, too, so in it goes.

You'll notice that not all of these songs are really high energy selections. I think there's a lot to be said for peaceful joy as well as energetic joy. Plus, I get tired if I listen to too much high energy stuff in a row. Maybe I should work on my joy stamina. Or maybe I should just enjoy everything as it comes to me, high energy or peaceful.

Music is the universal language. Which is to say, I believe, it is the language of the universe. My spirit speaks to me when something nice is shooting through the speakers, and in putting on these selections, I start a dialogue that brings me to myself.