STEPHEN TO ANNE MARIE:

SB: What is your favorite song?

AM: This month it's a powerhouse tie between Won’t You Call Me by Nydge and Bedroom by Litany. I also like that my visceral, emotional reaction to these two feels similar but almost like they’re inverted. Won’t You Call Me has me feeling like I’ve just come home from a long day and I’m planning on staying in and wishing someone in particular (Claude) would call, but I have a feeling he won’t because I saw him recently. Then he calls anyway and we talk for an hour as I wash dishes in my workout clothes and eventually he asks why we’re not just hanging out instead of talking on the phone? I ask if he wants me to come over, he says yes, and I’m in the car. Bedroom is the opposite. It’s me putting myself out there and saying I’m the one who wants him to come over. I had a long week and I want it to end with him. There’s no hour long conversation with this one, though. 

SB: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

AM: I’ve heard quite a few versions of Redbone. File that under ‘song I loved that the radio killed’. LA notoriously overplays sometimes. 

SB: You've decided on a whim to hop in your car and head to Vegas in the middle of the night. What's the song you want playing as you approach the glowing city in the distance?

AM: My “entering Vegas city limits” song is Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me by Ron Gallo. My “casing the Bellagio” song is Discontinued by Nomo.

ANNE MARIE TO STEPHEN:

AM: What is your favorite song?

SB: So Good At Being in Trouble by UMO

AM: Have you heard any of these tracks before?

SB: Let Me Know by Hi-C...classic old school hip hop and something I used to jam out to in college. I'm going to be honest - I’m 50/50 on whether I’ve heard the James Taylor track before. Many of his songs sound the same and, for real, we heard a lot of JT growing up. This one didn't have the same instant recognition of "In my mind, I'm going to Carolina..." but who knows. Also the Unknown Mortal Orchestra song for sure. I'm actually really bummed that I didn't ever include them on any of my lists. They have a great psychedelic/rock vibe and are frequent Austin visitors. Well done on that one.

AM: Listen carefully. Then tell me what your favorite string of lyrics is and why?

SB: While my first reaction was "I'm a roll model, I roll models in and out of my room at night" by Hi-C, I'm going to have to go with "I wanted you but I don't know if I was brave enough to say how the sight of you messed up my mind" from Fruit Bats. There's so much going on in that one sentence. First off, the fact that he does't know if he was brave enough to say something that's already happened in the past proves that he is in fact messed up in the mind thus making it somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Secondly, I think we've all been there before — whether it's a person or a thing — having something that you want when you know it's not the best thing for you. And, finally, because if I listen to all of the lyrics in that song, I still can't tell if he's a great poet or just high out of his mind and rambling...and the not knowing works for me.