Strapped Winter Playlist: Nataanii Means, Rachel Bochner, Suzzallo, and Infinite Coles
The winter always feels haunted. It’s cold and dark out, and in the Pacific Northwest, wet. There’s something mournful about it. Bruised. It gets cold here, but not the kind of cold it gets elsewhere in the US. Low 30s, sometimes 20s. You don’t get deadly cold unless you go up into the mountains. When you do, and you step out of the warm confines of the lodge to face the bitter, killing cold, there’s just nothing else like it. Feeling the wind just cut right through your layers upon layers of sweaters and Columbia-brand omni-heat tech-wear is scary, humbling, and exhilarating. As a kid it always felt like a reminder. This cold, this mountain, these woods will kill you if you don’t treat them with respect.
That’s winter for me. It’s the exhilarating fear that makes my heart beat louder than the relentless jingle-jangle of commercial cheer and all the whispering ghosts and memories on repeat that follow it. It’s the reminder that we’re animals, the cold dark is dangerous to us. It makes me want to be with the people I love. To seek closeness and huddle together. To keep each other safe and warm in the darkest, coldest months while frigid memories howl against the windows.
Four albums that capture that vibe for me this week are 2 Worlds by Nataanii Means, Lovergirl by Rachel Bochner, and Sweetface Killah by Infinite Coles. You can find to the curated playlist on Youtube Music and Apple Music.
2 Worlds, by Nataanii Means
Buy on Bandcamp, listen on Apple Music or Spotify
Released in October 2013, 2 Worlds is Nataanii Means’ debut album. A visceral expression, condemnation, and celebration of what it’s like to live in the US as an Indigenous American. How we find joy while living in the shadow of monumental loss – of self, of culture, of language, without forgetting what makes us us. Means captures that feeling perfectly in the lyric “I’m the product between genocide and loss.” Later tracks on the album get into a swingy, late 90s hip-hop vibe, and that potent concoction of relaxing beats, tight flow, and recognition of indigeneity embody that huddling-together-against-the-cold vibe.
Lovergirl, by Rachel Bochner
Buy on Bandcamp, listen on Apple Music or Spotify
There’s something special about hearing an artist for the first time in the wild, no context, just their voice hitting you square in the chest. That was Rachel Bochner for me last week, when she was in town opening for Anna of the North. One song in and she'd already jolted the Monday night Seattle crowd to their feet. Her voice is intimate and breathy like she’s leaning close to tell you a secret, and then suddenly she’ll hit a line (especially in “Groupie”) that tears right through the room. She wraps punchy lyrical turns in slow-burn sapphic yearning, and she performs with the kind of stage presence that pulls your attention to her like gravity. She’s absolutely one to watch.
The Quiet Year by Suzzallo
Buy on Bandcamp, listen on Apple Music or Spotify
On an album full of bangers, “Shattered Stars” stands out for me. I had the privilege of hearing it for the very first time at a KEXP event I went to with my girlfriend. The event, Death and Music, was as much performance as it was an outlet for communal grieving. I’d already been quietly crying a couple times during the event, hearing the performers and presenters tell their stories of loss, music, and healing. But when Suzzallo came out and performed “Shattered Stars,” it broke something in me that desperately needed breaking.
Sweetface Killah, by Infinite Coles
Listen on Apple Music or Tidal
Released just this month, Sweetface Killah by Infinite Coles is one for all the queer kids out there wrestling with trauma and complicated (and let’s be real, fucked up, one-sided) relationships with family this holiday season. Coles is Ghostface Killa’s son, yeah that one. And this album is part of an effort to step out of that shadow, in part because Dennis Coles (Ghostface Killa) was a shitty dad to his bold, brash, and unapologetically queer kid. Infinite Coles’ sound is rooted in ballroom aesthetics, and as the album goes on you start to really feel that. Coles effortlessly weaves together the smooth vocals of R&B with the rapid-fire flow of ballroom-tinged rap, and queer-centric lyrical turns that feel equal parts gut-punch and knife-twist in the best possible way.
Three More Bites
To close things out, I have three more tracks that I’ve been listening to on repeat this week. “Killing Kind” by Marianas Trench, “Bark Like a God” by Sloppy Jane, and a “Wolf Like Me” cover by Lera Lynn. Feels thematic. Deadly cold, dogs, wolves, winter, yknow? Yes I had a weird thing for Balto growing up, no we don’t need to talk about it – that's what AO3 is for.