Now Playing: Part 12

Happy anniversary to Now Playing! It's been a great year learning more about the art that influences our writers, and this month is no exception. Our May issue drops tomorrow, so enjoy a sneak peek of this month's contributors and what they've been playing:

C.C. Russell
I have been watching Legion (FX) lately and I really dig it. It’s creepy and atmospheric and harkens back to my childhood love of the X-men comics without clinging to the superheroic aspects. And it makes me think. But that isn’t what this is about. Not directly.

The soundtrack to the show is done very well (especially the strange cover versions of songs they
have chosen…) and often brings me some new music to mull over. This is the case with a recent episode which featured Bon Iver’s “22 (over soon).” I have heard plenty of Bon Iver and have been a fan if not a fanatic, but I did not have the album that contained this song. The song itself is good. It’s a sort of jumbled mess of music – a narrative broken and flayed. The album follows along those lines. It’s chaotic, at turns nostalgic and angry. It is highly processed and yet somehow accessible. It is a meditation and I have been playing it on repeat for the last week. I am about two years behind the times but that’s okay. I am in love.

Brandon Melendez
I am trapped in a perpetual loop of The Office. I fell in love with this show years ago and it's become a grounding force in my life. If I ever feel stressed or just need something calming in the background (so..literally always) I pop on The Office and Michael Scott comes to the rescue. I feel like most of the media I consume obsessively is rooted in nostalgia and the visceral experience of being transported back in time. The Office definitely does that for me.  

Alicia Cole
Somewhere between my daily smoothie--which my husband actually makes for me, every morning--and my "I hate email and am so done with it.  Now." trek, I realized I needed to hear Paul Simon's "Rhythm of the Saints" again.  Somewhere between a beautiful yet harrowing stint in Atlanta, pre-career change and second divorce, pre-homelessness, I neglected to learn that he'd released a remastered version.  It adds a few musical segues, pause points, and adds a nice feel to the album.  Which.  Is.  One.  OfMyFavorites.  I love the rhythm of it, the true rhythm that taps into life and change and love and world religion, and there's probably death in there, if you know how to look for it.  So go look.  Somewhere between everything.