RCFSV Mixtape

The Rock County Folk Symposium may well be our favorite part of the summer, and we’re over the moon about sharing this mix with you. On Saturday, August 23rd, join us in the safe zone of Camp Rotamer and let the antidote of live music, local food, and interactive art steel you against the encroaching madness and heal what ails you. The main stage artists have all handpicked a piece to share with you. For a field test, retrieve your headphones and bunker down – if your body and soul feel rejuvenated it is in your best interest to enter the quarantine zone and seek the full treatment. Let heritage lead you home.

Cover Art by Jeremy Nealis

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RCFSV Mixtape

01| Leave the Dance (With the Girl You Brought) by Double Ewes
02| Chirp by Sayth f/Wealthy Relative
03| It’s a Trick by Bedtimes

04| Acceptance by Jon Mueller: Death Blues
05| King Ciccada by Dietrich Gosser

06| Good Luck by Hello Death

07| Perhaps by Adelyn Rose

08| Things I Say by Softly, Dear

09| Reunion by All Tiny Creatures

hot’n’slow

Hello! I’m excited to announce the first of at least one guest post from Valerie Burn. I have had top-of-my-lungs sing-alongs to her high school mixtapes after being well into my twenties, and thus am very pleased that Ms. Burn has been kind enough to share with us her hottest and slowest summer jams.

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Everyone loves a good, hot, summer jam. Everyone. This is science. However, sometimes you need to roll it back. Slow it down a bit. And that is precisely what slow jams are for.

But what, dear readers, would it mean if a song could be both? Simultaneously a hot jam and a slow jam? Before your head explodes, allow me to explain.

Sometimes musicians, usually white ones in indie rock bands, take an amazing hot jam and slow it down – with the tempo, acoustics, or otherwise. It’s like Columbusing, but way cooler and hopefully less offensive. Certainly, some (many) covers are awful, which is why I conveniently made you this list. You’re welcome.

These hot’n’slow jams are the perfect music to listen to at the end of a long night. Party’s over, but everyone’s got time for one last singalong.

hot’n’slow
01| Are You That Somebody – Gossip

02| Umbrella – Marie Digby

03| Crazy – Emily Asen

04| Hey Ya – Obadiah Parker

05| Hot in Herre – Jenny Owen Youngs

06| Heartless – Virender Singh

07| Whatever You Like – Anya Marina

08| Cry Me a River – Glen Hansard

09| Single Ladies – Pomplamoose

10| Bitches Ain’t Shit – Ben Folds

11| Whatcha Say – Princess

12| Grenade – Julia Sheer & Tyler Ward

13| 99 Problems – Hugo

14| Pursuit of Happiness – Lissie

 

Honorable mentions (i.e., songs not on Spotify or they might be on this list):

No Diggity – Klaxons

Umbrella – Mandy Moore (starts at 0:35)

World’s Greatest – Bonnie “Prince” Billy

Cry Me a River – Selena Gomez (trust me)

We Found Love – Ed Sheeran

Valerie Burn is a very cool adult who writes things sometimes and is always looking for new and innovative ways to listen to pop music.

gravity’s just a word people say to sound smart

Babes – Isn’t It Love?

This video from Babes is totally ridiculous and totally wonderful. The song is a dreamy country-tinged lament buoyed by a narrator with stars in her eyes, and the visuals are befitting of a late-night 80s infomercial trying to capitalize on the success of Devo’s “Whip It.”  Baby Bird to Flaps to Roig’s Choice – you, too, can whip up a potential love interest.

i had my reasons at the time

Dry the River – Everlasting Light

This was not the sound I was expected when I tuned in to the newest video from UK band Dry the River. My only experience with them had been catching them at the Spotify House a couple of years ago during SXSW, and that performance was stripped down and folky. The gloves are off with “Everlasting Light,” and while it’s a bit more aggressive, the push is not unwelcome.

 

eyes wide open but i will not sleep

Stumbleine f/ Violet Skies – We’re Shadows

A beautiful rippling pulse carries this track, the latest from Peter Cooper’s Stumbleine. The song’s unrest and sadness is perfectly put on display with expressionless teens floating adrift and striking hooded figures who seem to be in control.

is it so strange?

Craft Spells – Nausea

A bit of motion-sick animation to accompany the latest single from Craft Spells, “Nausea.”

reverie is my goddamn right

PHOX – Kingfisher

I haven’t jumped on the PHOX bandwagon in the way almost every other human I’ve encountered has, but I like this track – it has the editing and single focus I’d like to see for them overall. The video is at once ethereal and wacky, a fairly succinct summation of the band.