For CP Radio 006, from March of last year, I wrote about the powerfully invigorating feeling that is brought about by the changing of seasons that typically occurs this time of year. Reading my words from a year ago, about the new leaves forming upon previously dead and weathered branches, I realize just how harsh and long this year’s winter has persisted in New York, and around the globe. This seemingly unending winter has made me deeply attuned to the impact of one’s environment on one’s mind, body, and spirit. Notably, the extra five to ten minutes of preparation that is added to the process of simply stepping foot outside, as layers are layered upon layers, and shoes are strapped onto paws, one by one by one by one, for protection from the burning combination of salt and ice that lines the streets and sidewalks alike.
We just filmed an episode of The (Almost) Reckless Podcast with Jeffrey Saad (releasing in April) wherein he spoke to the philosophical concept of practicing control over one’s thoughts to in turn exert control over one’s feelings. This made me think about the unique power in physically manipulating one’s perception of life, and therefor one’s environment. Generally, thoughts and feelings move in a bidirectional pattern where the emphasis on one direction over the other is represented by the differences between a cognitive or somatic approach to understanding the feedback loop, respectively. It follows that CP Radio is thus exemplary of a blend of these approaches - somatically acknowledging that environmental and physical sensations may shape thoughts/feelings, while cognitively aimed toward positively influencing those thoughts/feelings so as to alter, or emphasize, the perception of our environment through the medium of music. And music, when employed at different times and in varying situations, maintains an undeniably strong ability to alter our state of mind. To alter…or to emphasize - to alter in scenarios that warrant escape, and to emphasize in those that yield a desire for presence.
Sunny, by Bobby Hebb, is a perfect example of this concept. Last week, while walking to the subway as snow fell and the air felt like a chill sixteen degrees, Sunny transported my mind to a brighter place, and consequently brought about a mental warmth that seemed to radiate through my body as I moved through the cold city. Serving a similarly warm purpose is Fountain of Good Fortune, by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. RBCF is a band of five out of Melbourne, Australia that appears twice on this month’s curation, the other song of which is called French Press. Their music is made, no doubt, for a cruise along a coastline - in the least corny of ways - and is oddly equally as fitting for the dirt snow lined streets of NYC. Listening to RBCF in this latter mentioned context has a transcendent like affect, as it begins to feel like one may start floating across the ice beneath our feet.
However, it is unfair to expect life to be all sunshine and rainbows, all the time. The reality is that it’s not. Just as A is A, so to are feelings a pendulum that swings from one end to the other, and it is for this swing, from side to side, that we are able to feel in the first place. Musically this concept may be represented on 018 by Radiohead’s Street Spirit (Fade Out), and Lie to Me, by Chris Isaac. The tracks, when listened to in tandem and paired with the sweeping, string synth sounds of Lullaby by The Cure, provide a grounding sense of our unescapable reality - a dose of the present to mix in with a dose of the envied that when swirled together, land us somewhere in the beautiful awareness of the middle.
By this time next month, I hope to write as I once did about the joyous inspiration brought about by a season of green growth. Until then, we find solace and hope in the sounds of CP Radio 018 - an eager presence in the now as we know it will soon shift, and that our gratitude for what is to come will be ever greater.
Radiohead and The Cure. Yes!!!