DJ Jim Q Playlist: PERSPECTIVE

Greetings listeners and welcome to the March playlist, is it spring yet? The theme this month is Perspective. Selected by our friends from the Fargo, North Dakota chapter, I love this theme! Perspective is fundamental to knowledge; gaining it, having it, forcing it, giving it, changing it, it’s how we interrogate the world from different angles. Empathy is built on this foundation, being able to shift your perspective enough to see something as someone else might is essential to challenging biases and myopic assumptions. As an intellectual exercise and habit it’s a great way to keep your mind more open and to trace new and irregular thought patterns. When processing something, rather than looking for the fastest most intuitive conclusion based on your experiences, try and see it from another perspective. Assume the role of someone who might think differently than you or start with a conclusion you find less obvious, but that is still within the realm of the reasonable.There are so many great resources on expanding your thought patterns to be more open, this is of course great for creative endeavors. Embrace a new perspective and you might just see something you’ve been missing.

For a west coast perspective, LA-based Kamasi Washington kicks off the playlist with his signature chilled out jazzy grooves in “Perspective”. This one is a great sonic palate cleanser before taking on the full breadth of this month’s 30+ song list. Listening through, you will find genres and styles from a diversity of perspectives. Depeche Mode sings of shifting observations in the 80’s synth pop classic “New Life”. The reverbed out opening melody in that one sounds like a distant call from the 1980’s inviting you to travel back to the mall or maybe the roller skating rink. The Kinks in their classic sing songy style reminisce about the simplicity of Childhood in “Young and Innocent days”. Texas rapper Scarface shares a point of view from his neighborhood in “My Block”. As an aside, check out his semi-recent performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk, so good! From a darker place, SZA ruminates on negative thoughts with a desire to shift her perspective to someplace better, she proposes “Saturn” maybe? DC hardcore pioneer Bad Brains, shout out their semi motivational anthem “Attitude”, I got that PMA (Positive Mental Attitude)! And closing out the playlist is chart crushing juggernaut Drake with his song “Nice for What”. This is such a weird song for a mainstream pop artist like Drake. I remember hearing it on the radio and wondering to myself, is that a Big Freedia vocal loop? And then I heard the unexpected non musical break in the middle. With the repetitive stutter loops and aggressive staccato beat, this is essentially a bounce song. Good for Drake at the time for putting out such a radio unfriendly song and despite that, making it a hit. Also the themes seem to related from the perspective of a woman going through personal transition, it is female centered and it feels real and empathetic in a way that is uncommon for the genre and especially from male artists. Those are just a few of the angles examined in this month’s expansive track list. What’s your perspective on these selections?

This month’s playlist theme is Perspective. So expand your view and take in every angle, from Drake to Little Sim to Lizzy Mcalpine to Roxy Music and New Order, every side and surface is revealed.

Thanks for listening and I will see you next month with a new playlist and post. If you enjoy these lists, give me a shout on Twitter, and be sure to follow and like on Spotify.