The taste of dried-up hope in my mouth / and the landscape of merry and desperate drought

[rymenhild]

The other day, skygiants was posting fanmixes, and I thought, I used to love making fanmixes. Why don't I do that anymore?

Fortunately, one of the prompts that skygiants hadn't yet filled (suggested by vass) was Erin Bow's Prisoners of Peace duology, a wonderfully iconoclastic take on young adult dystopia that I recommend without reservation. Greta is a logical, courageous princess living in a post-apocalyptic monastery and waiting for her mother to go to war, at which point Greta will be killed, since she's a hostage for the cause of world peace. Keeping her and dozens of other royal children prisoner is the brilliant idea of Talis, immortal AI and amoral murder robot. But everything is more or less fine until a new hostage arrives... at which point Erin Bow scraps all the usual YA dystopia tropes and takes her story somewhere much more interesting. The sequel, which I can't even link to without Book 1 spoilers, is even weirder and better.

All that is to say, I made a playlist. Spotify playlisting is terrific, because there are so many songs to choose from. Somehow I still ended up with two Vienna Teng, two Indigo Girls and two Dar Williams songs on a fourteen-song playlist, though.


1. Dar Williams, "The Great Unknown"
2. Talking Heads, "(Nothing But) Flowers"
3. Vienna Teng, "Drought"
4. Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, "When I Go"
5. Dave Matthews Band, "Satellites"
6. Indigo Girls, "Go"
7. Jennifer Warnes and Leonard Cohen, "Joan of Arc"
8. Natalie Williams, "Grace"


9. Styx, "Mr. Roboto"
10. Andrew Bird, "Not a Robot, But a Ghost"
11. Dar Williams, "And a God Descended"
12. Indigo Girls, "Fugitive"
13. Muse, "The 2nd Law: Isolated System"
14. Vienna Teng, "Level Up"


I'll take other playlist requests, and try to come up with five songs for each.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

So far, every playlist I've rolled for myself within the past little while has had a Vienna Teng song. It's weirder given that I like only three of her albums (about half of Strangers, Territory, Aims). Thanks for posting these! I like picking up people's music--the only Indigo Girls songs I knew are "Galileo" and "Closer to Fine."

[rymenhild]

I spent most of my teenage years with all of the Indigo Girls albums then available on eternal repeat, first on my tape deck and then on my CD player once I had one. Most of their best songs are obscure ones from the middle of their albums.

Vienna Teng is very good on playlists. Her lyrics have just the right balance of clear and cryptic to work in a variety of situations.

[thistleingrey]

right balance of clear and cryptic

That's a great way of putting it.

[genarti]

Ooooh. Definitely listening to this soon, but I know probably about 2/3 of these and they are all EXCELLENT CHOICES.

(I haven't read the second book yet, but I definitely need to; I loved the first.)

[rymenhild]

Oh, you definitely should read the second book. I don't even know how to talk about it without spoilers, but when you do read it, come back and chat.

[skygiants]

I'm ignoring the top part of this post and not looking at your songs until I've made mine, as I want to see whether there ends up being overlap or not!

For prompts: I feel like you would have a really good time making a Vanyel playlist. :P

[rymenhild]

I shall ransack spotify looking for emo music.

[vass]

Thank you so much, this is so good!

I haven't heard all the songs yet, but the ones I do know are perfect. 'Fugitive' and 'The Great Unknown' in particular ("bring your family!" omg)

I also had Tracy Grammer in my unfinished playlist for this fandom, which at the moment has three songs on it:

1. Tracey Grammer, 'Shadows of Evangeline' ("It is rain, it is age, it is poison / Supplication to family honor / Little children with keys to the temple")
2. Suzanne Vega, 'Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser's song)' (this is the MOST Talis song. "And when I'm dead and gone / If you could tell them this / That what was wood became alive")
3. Ellen McLain, 'Still Alive', for some thematic whiplash ("but anyway this cake is great / It's so delicious and moist!")

[rymenhild]

"The Great Unknown" was the last song I added. I was sure I was finished and I definitely wasn't going to have any more repeated artists, but then I got to the verse

I'm no ordinary princess,
I was born in the Cold War,
And my team is the Rockets,
Go team, it's a dangerous time
And I dream of the moon and building lunar clone colonies.
And I build my peace with strength,
That's the best weapon you've got.
Oh, I am the brainchild, I am the mortar,
With a plastic trophy and an eating disorder,
And vision as big as a great big wall,
And they tell me that I'll move forward
For the good of us all,
And the good of nuclear families all.

So of course I knew that was Greta and her world and I couldn't possibly leave it off, especially given the Oppenheimer echoes.

And "Fugitive" is absolutely Rachel, but also Swan Riders!Greta and probably other Swan Riders as well.


"Shadows of Evangeline" is a lovely and very right choice. I will enjoy listening to the other two.

[vass]

Back before I ran out of energy for being fannish about the MCU, 'The Great Unknown' was on my list of songs I'd like to vid if I could get my act together and learn to vid. It'd have been a constructed reality vid about Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, and Betty Ross, but in particular Pepper. Constructed reality because they'd have to confront the central premise of the MCU about the nature of power and safety and heroism and militarism/government/policing and reject it.

[skygiants]

I LOVE THIS PLAYLIST. And I actually managed not to overlap with it! (Though I cheated a bit because I was sure you would have some Vienna Teng and thus pointedly avoided putting her on; I also can't believe I forgot to add "Not a Robot, But a Ghost," I'M A FOOL but a fortuitous fool.) Here's mine!

(It's more first book than second because I've read that one twice and only read the second book once, and need to reread to remember everything that happens in it other than ROBOT BAT MITZVAH, but the last couple songs are definitely more second book.)