Now Playing: January 2022

Our first Now Playing of 2022 features toe-tappers, crime procedurals, glitchy beats, and more. Check out these recommendations for your eyes and ears from our January contributors.

Łukasz Drobnik

I love to watch people blossom once they embrace their queer identity. Not long after Arca came out as nonbinary, she dropped KiCk i, the first in a series of albums that redefined her sound. Last December, over the course of just four days, she completed the series with KICK ii, KicK iii, kick iiii, and previously unannounced kiCK iiiii. Since then, I’ve been listening to all five albums on repeat. It’s a wondrous collection: one where harsh, glitchy beats find themselves next to otherworldly reggaeton or a pop banger featuring Sia, with distant echoes of Björk’s Vespertine and Aphex Twin’s drukqs. Restless, often wildly danceable music that sounds at once futuristic and oddly familiar.

A.C. Koch

I write fiction because I don't have the chops or the equipment to make movies. Seeking inspiration over New Years weekend, my partner and I did a deep dive into Paul Thomas Anderson's films, including Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love, and then a showing of Licorice Pizza in Denver's majestic Mayan theatre. Each of these films uses a variety of storytelling elements that combine with ecstatic power: long traveling shots, push-in zooms, bursts of aggression, bizarro details and plot twists that add filigrees to the storyline. These idiosyncrasies inspire me to strive for equally personal stylistic flourishes in my own storytelling. It's a license to get weird, man.

M-A Murphy

Yesterday I was stuck at the airport for 4 hours longer than I anticipated because of holiday delays and staff shortages. Outside, it was -40 degrees. I bought a smoothie and found a quiet part of the airport to stare into space and ponder things, particularly heartbreak and how hard the world feels with Omicron and climate change and all the things that hurt. A song called "Mood" by Wizkid came on my headphones and it made my toes start tapping, until eventually I was full on dancing in my little nook of the airport. It was the best part of my day. It brought me so much joy in that moment that I listened to it on repeat for 30 minutes.

Adrienne Novy

When the pandemic first hit in 2020, my dad stayed with me in my on-campus apartment since all of my roommates had left. We started to watch one to two episodes of a TV show while we ate dinner as our way to spend quality time together, and have continued doing this now that I’ve moved home. We’ve gotten through several different series of crime procedure dramas (such as The Mentalist, Broadchurch, and all 15 seasons of Criminal Minds), and are currently finishing up the final season of Burn Notice.

Laurie Uttich

My 25-year-old son just walked into the kitchen and asked Alexa to play the song, "Mr. Blue" by Catherine Feeny. I immediately added it to my phone. Such a beautiful voice and I loved the line about leaving Mr. Blue with a kiss "and you will call it treason."