Pretty in Possible
the soundtrack to potential
click here to listen on Mixcloud
With spring around the corner, I was inspired to make a mix around the feeling of potential. That youngest form of an idea or emotion within us; a sleepy seed in the earth yet to awaken; a deep breath before a giant leap. This mix has some instrumental, avant pop, lofi, jazz, and indie rock.
I ended up playing a few cover songs, mostly unintentionally, which emerged as a sub-theme as I pondered about how once a piece of music is released into the world, it can be reinterpreted in any number of ways. Even a finished song is full of potential in that way.
Featured poems:
”The Voice” by Ben Lerner, read by Sammy Maine
”Intervalo” by Octavio Paz, read by Daniela Roger
Originally aired live on WXGC 90.7 FM Acra / wavefarm.org on March 12, 2025. WGXC relies on listener support. Support community radio! Make a donation to WGXC.
Tracklist
Crescent / New Leaves
Sei & Swann / To Here Knows When (My Bloody Valentine cover)
Moondog / Chaconne in C
Sui Zhen / Sleepless
Ezra Feinberg / Get Some Rest feat. Mary Lattimore
Ben Lerner / The Voice
LOMA / Going Out (Dinner cover)
yeule / Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl (Broken Social Scene cover)
Caroline Polachek / Pretty in Possible
Gary's Dream / Lumia
Tara Clerkin Trio / The Turning Ground
Moondog / OO Solo 6/4
Octavio Paz / Intervalo
The Lounge Lizards / Bob the Bob
Ben Seretan / a surreal hour of normalcy
Further Listening
The Blossom Filled Streets - Movietone
I learned about Movietone recently and they appear to be a pretty low-key but pivotal group from the sprawling scene in 90s Bristol (where Portishead and Massive Attack also hail from). I actually heard a song first by Crescent — a band whose membership overlaps almost entirely with Movietone — I think on Maria Somerville’s Early Bird show on NTS, and then began digging into albums by both bands. I really like their production style: dark and loose drums, dubby effects, spoken word lyrics that feel like the voice of the subconscious, nice flourishes of woodwinds and cello here and there.
The History of Bones: A Memoir by John Lurie
I had also not heard of John Lurie nor The Lounge Lizards until this year. This was a real WTF for me because (a) I lived and worked in the East Village (b) I grew up playing reed instruments and (c) Basquiat is a film I like a lot and have seen multiple times, and by all counts, as a mentor to the young Jean-Michel, Lurie should be depicted in it, but he’s not (Lurie has some choice words about being “disappeared” in the memoir). I did a mix of reading the ebook and listening to the audiobook, and hearing Lurie read his own words in his deep gravel-y voice was a pleasure. His dry, observational, occasionally bitter humor really landed with me and, as I said in the show, I’m “in my Lurie era” now ie. watching Fishing with John and A Lounge Lizard Alone, listening to The Lounge Lizards albums, enjoying his paintings (have to watch Painting with John next). I love when I start getting into an artist and there is no shortage of media by and about them. So much good Lurie lore out there.
See you in April!