I am currently reading about Alexanda Kollontai, particularly her writings during the Russian revolution and later. This is really interesting to me because she is one of the first people to link freedom and equality of women with socialism. That is, even if women are treated equally to men, because of the system they are under they cannot truly be free, because they are still exploited. Lots of interesting ideas to explore here!

I am also midway through the Beartown series, for which I haven't read something as moving, as beautifully written in so many years. It is so wonderful, everyone should read it now !!

Below is my currently reading shelf on goodreads.

The last track I listened to on Spotify was ... by ..., ....

Find the archive: here

I've been meaning to write another one of these for a few weeks now since there's been a few different songs I keep thinking about and that I've been meaning to share out to people. After all that's really what this is for me - an excuse to get people interested in the music I like and to talk about it more and further to discover what other people like too. I actually missed the first anniversary of me starting this which was about 2 months ago now (although if you go back, you have to excuse my as yet not broken in skill for writing about songs - something I'm still not the best at today), it's pretty cool to look back on the things I've written about and listen to them in order, it's like a time capsule. I think just like my diary, there's worth in writing about things at the moment to enjoy it more, but also in the future to look back on now and feel those same feelings but through song. Anyway I'm paying this one forward to future anna too :)

Ok now that we're done with random meta-musings, let's talk about what music I've been getting into. As you all may well know, I've been getting into skating a fair amount recently (wow shock horror !!) and at the same time, a lot of people around me have been reaching back into getting fairer and better ways of accessing music. So when I went home (admittedly like a month ago now) I picked up my old mp4 player and had a good play with it. I think unlike some of the experiences of my friends I did not get on with it as well (ignoring the puyo pop fever game I was addicted to as a child). Don't get me wrong there's some good songs on there, but I fear I have become a snob in the time since then by becoming an indie rock enjoyer because the music is entirely pop and it is NOT doing it for me. But ok, why am I even telling you this? Well, it's not all bad, and yes... you might say "but Anna you just said you don't like pop" and I'm going to tell you shut up, because have you listened to the masterpiece that is Chasing Cars. Oh, it's kinda mid?? Shut up! It's actually really good (and here's where the skating bit becomes relevant) because now I task you to listen to it and imagine yourself figure skating whilst listening. Pretty good, you agree.

Since it's exam time I've been really reaching back into my old haunts from last year, not in my work schedule (I do not miss working til 9pm+ in sloman sorry !!), but definitely in my music listening. I think it's hard to listen to music all day and not get bored with the same over and over sometimes, especially with my mood changing and of course the music has to fit how I'm feeling or I just simply will not be able to get work done. Some things I've been listening to are the Spartacus ballet (an old sotw from Sof), Steely Dan and Talking Heads. But importantly for our next song, is Man/Woman/Chainsaw a band I've been familiar with for a while for their weird rock style with electric violin. It makes for a unique sound and is exciting to see live (as I did in November), whilst their older music leans way more into the guitars and the punk side of it, I really enjoy their new song Nosedive which focusses on the drums and violin way and in a much softer way. It's something I really appreciate to see a tender side that still hits all those notes I love them for, really the same thing happened for their single "Only Girl" that came out earlier this year. I just can't help myself but listen to it over and over and then I will listen to the rest of their discography as a treat. N.b. if you haven't listened to any of their other songs please please listen to the double bill Adam & Steve / Mad Dog back to back. Even though they don't even really link together, but they are so intrinsically linked in my head that I have to add Mad Dog to the queue every time Adam & Steve comes on.

A quick one before the eter- nope, a short one before the last song. Another violin heavy song, this time from Prewn is System. It's this fun slow build over the first few minutes that cascades up and up into the break about halfway through. It's pop-y with guitar and strings and with these long almost needy drawn out vocals that are fun to mimic. It then collates all together at the end slowing back down to a beautiful set of strings drawing out long soft notes, a really lovely end to the song.

To be totally honest, I'm not sure where this last song even came from. Must have just stumbled across it like a coin on the floor. The song is "Elderberry Wine" by Wednesday and it's this kind of typical slow and moody midwest emo vibe, but with a twang of country pouring through that just makes it slick and easy to listen to. The vocals really add a beautiful layer on top particularly the repeated chorus of "cause the champagne tastes like elderberry wine", but equally there is so much time for the guitar to sing on it's own. The band talks about how you can have all the right ingredients, but you have to be super careful or you can accidentally make something poisonous - elderberry wine made correctly is safe to drink, but elderberries themselves are poisonous (at least in part - please inspect your local foraging guide). I have this song in a playlist of other songs that I don't even like but I keep clicking on it over and over and then forgetting to put something else on before the other songs cycle through. I think it's kinda a weird outlier for Wednesday to release this, particularly when I'm more familiar with their more hardcore rock-y stuff, but it's kinda in contrast to Man/Woman/Chainsaw, where it carries that same vibe across despite sounding so different. It sounds so completely different, but I'm so glad they made it because I truly love it. For that reason it's my song of the week :)

To see an archive of the songs I have previously added, see here:

I have recently been enjoying:

• Twin Peaks
• Leverage
• Riverdale (at the behest of myself (ok not true), but to the joy of Sof)