It's already Saturday in Paris, which would imply two things: 1) It's unquestionably time for a long-overdue shuffle; 2) My god, do I miss the city. You know the one. The city ahead of which I'm currently time traveling, sidling around the sun six hours in advance: NY, NY. Lounging around in black skinny jeans and eating croissants from my dorm's vending machine might mean I'm living the Paris dream, but it also means I'm constantly day-dreaming of NYC. And it's often on Friday nights, when grocery stores close at 6 and the metro at 1:30, that my heart is with the city that never sleeps. I don't worry too much, though, we're all looking up at the same moon, right? If either of our cities could see it through the pollution. And digital music transcends time zones, man. All that to say: here's another mix, from Paris, with love.

Evening, city slickers and country bumpkins. I've a confession: whenever suffering through another finals season, my go-to jones isn't studying, or sleeping: it's spending an hour shuffling it up for you kids. There's no helping it: neither common sense nor a prohibitive French language pledge (for instance) has done much to keep me on the academic straight and narrow. And this time I even went to the extra effort (heruclean, really) to delete all the acoustic folky bits, thus ensuring I haven't become the Generation Y equivalent of a broken record (maybe that girl you know who updates her status with "Sooo bored txt it" every twelve hours? Hail the great philosophers of our time). Here's hoping you appreciate it, as my GPA certainly won't. (You're welcome.)

• Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters, Black Keys, Band of Horses, and K'Naan. 
• Central Park, September 29th.
• Free, if you can score a ticket.

Ladies and gents, it's time for another quick playlist to start your weekend off right. Lord knows I'm going to need it, making my way in a sorry station wagon full of other exhausted lunatics, from VT to RI, at 4am this morning. We've somehow managed to convince ourselves after Bonnaroo 2011 that doing this again, in the middle of jobs and school and visa applications, will be chicken soup for the insomniac's soul. Hence interrupting our glamorous research assistant/baby grad student lives for a pilgrimage to Newport Folk 2012. The whole thing should generally be considered a fit of youthful foolishness, in which we'll do our best to channel Dean Moriarty minus the casual misogyny and drug addiction. Expect updates in re our success or failure on our return. Sorry if it's not your speed--I'll mix it up next time, pinky promise.
 

Recently got some film developed that I shot in the city this May. I like this Only in NY because (for once) it could actually be many many places where green things come up in spring.

Some of the first buds coming up in Morningside Park, May 2012


Early Spring 2012 in Riverside Park

Hello New Yorkers and fellow exiles! I've been revising some thoughts I put down this spring about going back to my high school job, and decided that giving it to you might make me leave it alone for once and for all. Longer than usual, but I think you'll like it (it's about you, after all. Sort of, anyway. It might mostly be about me. But I'll leave that open to debate).

Read me ramble under the cut:

Unbelievably, tomorrow I'm actually moving home for quite a while, and I'm not sure what to do. I'll sacrifice pithy alliteration this week to simply say: New York, I miss you already. I don't know when I'll be back again for the long haul, but I won't let it go too long. In the meantime, I'll be living it up on the Jersey shore and trying not to think too much. HAGS. Never change.

Its that time of March again, and I'll confess to have begun collecting songs almost immediately on returning from winter break. Nevertheless, we're leaving school, we're coming back home, we're grudgingly starting term papers and failing to study for midterms. What better time for a homeward bound playlist, even if some of our destinations may be less than homey (I'm looking at you, Cancun). Count on another one come May--it's not as if it's an uncommon theme in either song lyrics or the life of an undergrad. And once again, while going home and  leaving NYC are synonymous for me, they may not be for you, and for that I apologize. Then again, I can only recommend moving to New York as a solution--if you're unconvinced, try last year's homeward bound playlist on for size. My advice: stay just long enough for that sunny-sweet homesickness to kick in. Happy Spring.

Good evening, intrepid and intermittent METROPOLIS readers. Dwelling as we do in this metropolitan den of iniquity, I hope my fellow New Yorkers can find it in their constitutions to suffer another shuffle of a weekday. After all, devil music is surely a step in the wrong direction. Fear not! Assuming your moral compasses are as degraded as mine has become, take this 5-song playlist as a not-quite-as-good substitution for a spiritual awakening, a chocolate bar, or a long summer car ride with the windows down (that is, whatever your heart most deeply desires). If I knew a better way to guide you I would--in the absence of enlightenment, an ignorant iTunes mix will have to do. Ever in the face of adversity we must soldier on, and to that effect I reward your persistence with yet another lazy shuffle, equally lazily-introduced.

Hey kids! Back from the grave and better than ever, METROPOLIS mini-revival at your service. Hold on to your headphones for a Thursday shuffle that will blow your minds, and not just because it's the first post in months. That's right, treat your last Thursday of vacation to some Saturday style. Let's call it fitting: one short week from today, Thursday night'll give you the semester's first taste of weekend freedom (from the higher education that is also freeing your wallet from the constraints of cash). Break monotony's overrated, or that's what we're telling ourselves. But enough banter! Back to my failure to get a jump on next term's reading and your enjoyment of this bangin' playlist, brought to you by iTunes®  and laziness. 

I toyed with calling this a Shuffle Saturday, despite two things. One, inarguably, is that it’s not Saturday. The other is it’s not a shuffle. Heading off for the semester has really brought out the nostalgia in this newly rising sophomore(!). Blame my unwavering optimism, something in the air, or the fact that finals really are over: here are five songs for your roadtrip home, or rather some roadtrip while home, seeing as I’ve been rather more occupied by reunions than by blogging this week. Also, I may have gotten a bit excited and stretched the home theme to a just general leaving theme, so sue me. I’d been itching to head out of Manhattan towards decidedly sunnier suburbia, and here I am. I’ll be missing Morningside in about three days.

METRPOLIS doesn't have much by way of words of wisdom this week, but we can only hope that you sit your finals, pack your boxes, and say your tearful goodbyes with a spring in your step--toward that end, here's a playlist we imagine is at least marginally more interesting than Kant and Hume (or, you know, Wikipedia. If we're being real here). In fact, maybe a cheesy homeward bound playlist was really in order here, but don't consider this post a missed opportunity. After all, we've still got a few days yet...

METROPOLIS knows Snoop Dogg isn't all you wanted to hear this sunny Saturday, and if you're like us, you need a break from crying into your pillow about the sorry state of affairs that is your term paper/last problem set/final exam schedule. Never fear, METROPOLIS has all the answers, conveniently accessible in five song form. Remember, these last two weeks will be over soon, whether you like it or not, and you might as well spend a few minutes humoring us as we all try to ignore that ticking, ticking clock.



1. To the Alps- Princeton
2. Blue Song- Mint Royale
3. People Like Me- K'naan
4. Blue Skies- Noah and the Whale
5. Fixin' to Die- G. Love

This week's Shuffle Saturday comes including the 90s one-hit-wonders without which any playlist is truly incomplete. It's all about the jams, man, and give yourself a chance to enjoy them this morning--I think we both know nobody's going outside today. METROPOLIS recommends that for all our sakes you pray to the weather gods, or pray to the Easter God, or raise up a fine shiraz, whatever floats your boat (and you're going to need one, assuming you wanted to go get a bagel from that cart on 107th today).

It's Saturday afternoon and time for a new METROPOLIS feature, in the hope of interrupting your dark days of research paper scribbling and coffee inhaling with a singular ray of light: a 5-song playlist that took less time to mix than this sentence just did to read (METROPOLIS has papers too). Shuffle Sat. represents the results of an utterly* random iTunes shuffle, left entirely** to the gods of chance (much like your paper grades may appear).
*that is, somewhat:

**with minimal human oversight--eg, removal of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers theme song. We have some dignity to preserve.