I’d close the door behind me, press play on the pod before I hit the first step and off to the metro I went. I was always six subway stops away from seven hours of grueling writing. But why worry when I had a great playlist? ”I wake up and the phone is ringing…”

New York City, with it’s own symphony of sounds, landscape of rhythms, and diverse textures, has always been a catalyst for playlists and track selections for me. When I saunter in New York, I do so with an arsenal of beats intended to emancipate my imagination, allowing my spirit to mesh with chaos. Because music is decisively much more than an in-studio recoding session for me. Once I lend my emotions to a certain track, the chorus, syncopation, drums, vocals begin to transcend their original form and coalesce with my memories.

I remember listening to Lali Puna’s “Faking The Books” in front of the Bowery Ballroom after losing my way and slipping into some dive only to hear Gnarls Barkley reminding me I need to know what’s “Going On”. I remember listening to LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great” the night after I met my girlfriend at a Good Magazine party in Downtown and feeling wonderful. In fact, it’s the soundtrack to my New York City.

These songs, and the others included, are my soundtrack to New York City. Much more than any other place I’ve lived in has a compilation of songs been so prevalent in establishing my story.

I’ll be visiting NYC next week for the first time in six-months and I’m anxious to see what songs I’ll listen to on the Air Train, what tracks will I groove to whilst walking up 7th to my fellow G5-ers pad, and what songs I’ll choose from the Jukebox at Manitoba’s in Alphabet City. I know what Sunday will bring…it’s the last track on the podcast.

It’s officially podcast Thursday. Listen to KThread’s tribute to Eve Sedgwick here. And never a G5er to disappoint, Oso’s intertwined the soundscapes of Mexico with a G5 playlist. You’re more than welcomed to submit your dancing videos to any one of us.

Tracks:

LCD Soundsystem: “Someone Great”
Lali Puna: “Faking The Books”
Gnarls Barkley: “Going On”
Ulrich Schnauss: “Stars”
Boards Of Canada: “Dayvan Cowboy”
Beirut: “A Sunday Smile”

Images [via Citizen192]

 

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