Every November when we trace our hand with a crayon so as to make an illustrated Thanksgiving turkey, we often forget that Thanksgiving is about so much more than hand turkeys or matching the big brass buckles on our shoes with a bigger brass buckle on our large black hat. You can't spell "Thanksgiving" without the words "giving" and "thanks." So, this season, we are giving extra thanks for music and all the comforts and escapism that it provides.
Press play to listen to Pandora Picks – November 2024
My pick for this month comes from the album, Music For Hard Times by The Living Earth Show & Danny Clay. While the name of the album speaks for itself, the story behind it is really interesting. It was built with the aim of offering a sonic resource for comfort and calming. The composers created an eight-movement work using a series of composed, calming exercise. And they say it was created to answer a fundamental research question. Is it possible for us to use the tools of classical art music to make people feel better? If you like this song, I definitely recommend checking out the entire album. It is blissful and indeed music for hard times.
-Noel
My pick for this month is by Dr. Malia Jade who is a music theory professor, and she has just released 90s songs for like, piano (piano version), an entire collection of solo piano covers from the 90s. It includes stuff like Radiohead's “Creep” and “Hurt” by originally by Nine Inch Nails (also covered by Johnny Cash). But I picked (Massive Attack’s) “Teardrop.” I love José González's cover of “Teardrop.” And Malia's version of this is in that vein. It's super fun.
-Jamie
This year, I am thankful for Guck who are a new Los Angeles band I saw this year for the first time and they're pretty rad and they put out their first song that is not like a Bandcamp/YouTube thing. It's a track called “IDGAG.” Presumably, “I don't give a guck” is what I think it means. And they sort of remind me of this ‘90s synth era of like Six Finger Satellite or Brainiac and like the 2000s Load Records-era bands like Coughs. But they're happening now and they're great. Check out Guck.
-George
So, you're about to hear the latest single from LA-based instrumental trio, LA LOM, which is short for the Los Angeles League Of Musicians. They've got a really cool thing going, only been around since 2001. They borrow sounds from Cumbia Sonidera, Peruvian Chicha, old school soul, classic romantic boleros, and even a drop of Bakersfield country. This music kind of makes me feel like I'm in an LA dance hall in 1960 waiting to get asked to dance. Or in a lively tiki bar in 2024, soaking up the hypnotic melodies and feel-good rhythms with my honey and my Navy Grog. This is “La Tijera.”
-Michelle
This November I am thankful for the gift of music discovery. While visiting San Francisco, I went to the Make-Out Room to see my favorite West Coast shoegaze band, Seablite. Thankfully, I arrived early enough to check out the opener, Rachel Travers, and where the hell has her music been my whole life? She describes her songs as “low serotonin girl pop,” but to my ears, her gorgeous songs blend 20th century dream pop with earlier influences of post punk, and modern-day bedroom lo-fi charm. “Vertigo” is my favorite song from her Sentimental Poverty EP. It starts with a fuzzed-out tremolo before blooming into a dreamy, dancy, gauzy, gazey, gem of a song that just had to be my Pandora Pick of November 2024. But honestly, all three songs on the EP are amazing.
-Eric S
Dub Is A Weapon is the name of the artist. “Forwarding Home” is the track. This is my pick for November. Led by New Yorker, Dave Hahn, Dub Is A Weapon that plays live dub, and they have actually been support and backing band for Lee “Scratch” Perry on one of his final tours. From their Vaporized album, this brings together some very classic dub elements but also some new twists and I will say some rather wicked lead guitar playing.
-Eric D
This month, I am thankful for good ambient music. To that end, look no further than the amazing Vica Pacheco. I've chosen her track “Detrás del Teide” from the album, Aquapelagos, Vol. 3: Pacífico, an excellent example of her immense creativity in this space.
-Diego
My pick for this month's Pandora Picks, is new music from Paysage D'hiver. Three years after his most recent full-length, the one-man band known as Paysage D'hiver returns with another sprawling, suffocating, snow-capped masterpiece. Originally a side project of Swiss black metal space lords (and lady) Darkspace, Paysage D'hiver has outpaced its musical mothership with more than 20 releases since his 1998 debut. The new record is called Die Berge, and its centerpiece is the three-part, nearly 35-minute song suite called “Transzendenz” which culminates in my pick, “Part III,” a plotting, buzz-drenched dirge that’s as epic as it is sonically dense. Minor key, melancholy drifts woozily amidst swirling clouds of disembodied riffage, while death march drums offer a bit of direction, the song churning and loping, eventually disappearing into the sound of wind and snow right where it began. Check it out.
-Andee