Twin Cities Mix 3
Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by again!
One hot summer in 2015, I sat staring at the blank beige walls of my room. My family had just moved to a new house, and as I sat in my room by the breeze of a fan, I realized how little I had done to make the space my own. It could have been the sweltering heat or the difficulties that come with moving around, but I had been uninspired to create. My sixteen-year-old self got up and rummaged through some old boxes in our basement, only to find a massive stack of National Geographic and Rolling Stone magazines. I had won the collaging lottery. Naturally, I decided to cover the walls in my room head-to-toe with clippings and collages. No blank space would be spared.
In order to get out of my creative funk, the project had to be paired with a playlist. That afternoon I made a playlist of my favorite artists and played it on a loop while I started to cover my walls. This week I thought I’d create a continuation of that playlist for the third edition of the Twin Cities Mix, curated to spark some creativity in your everyday life and inspire some art-making in the process.
The playlist starts off with one of my favorite musicians out of Minneapolis, Your Smith. Formerly performing under Caroline Smith, this artist renamed herself after locating to Los Angeles but influences of Minneapolis still ring true within her music. Her song, The Spot, is a playful and warm introduction to the mix, featuring elements of funk and Smith’s velvety vocals. Some artists featured on the playlist, like Your Smith and Lucy Michelle and The Velvet Lapelles, were included on my sixteen-year-old version of the playlist and became my introduction to the world of local music in the Twin Cities.
In our local scene, there is creativity around every corner as young musicians are pushing the boundaries of genre and storytelling. Each artist on the playlist reflects their identity and the world around us through their own unique sound. Singer and songwriter, XINA, shows this through her hazy bedroom pop track Day Dreaming. This song takes me to a lazy day in my room where I feel free to scribble in my journal, allowing my thoughts to take over. Her influence of Aretha Franklin is also present in this track, as she echoes the same sentiment ‘day dreaming and I’m thinking of you.’ Similarly, Juniper Douglas finds ways to transport you to another world through their music. The group combines mediums of art, creating short films and visuals along with albums to fully bring the audience into a story. When not under quarantine, the group tours across the country in a school bus with their dog Bruce, but in the meantime, you can keep up with their performances on their website and biweekly Instagram live streams.
Art reflects a moment in time, both in expressing identity and the state of the world when it was created. Minneapolis non-profit, Women for Political Change is collaborating with UNBOTHERED to create TIME:CAPSULE, a digital exhibition and zine that aims to open portals into liberated Black and queer futures. They are currently calling for BIPOC women, queer, trans and/or nonbinary artists under 30 living in Minneapolis. While priority is given to MN artists, I encourage the community of TRASH MAG creators to apply or reach out to your friends with the opportunity! TIME:CAPSULE will be accepting all forms of musical, visual, and literary art until Sunday, July 19th 11:59 PM CST.
Creativity can come in waves, but it is never completely lost. If you’ve been feeling uninspired or need a boost of energy to create, turn on this playlist and take some time out of your day to doodle, scribble down a poem, or start a collage.
If a track or artist really inspired you on this playlist, show them some love by streaming and sharing their work. Make sure to take the artist and us @trashmagtrashmag. <3
Thanks for tuning in,
Maddy
(@muddymelloy)
Follow TRASH MAG on Spotify and listen here!
See below for tracklist and playlist.
