Category: Music

California Songs

On By Amy Lordan-TrippIn MusicLeave a comment

I’m heading west to Los Angeles next week, so I’m updating my “California Adventure” playlist. Following is my current list of songs about L.A. and/or California. Some popular songs are omitted because I’m just not a fan of the artist (Sorry, RHCP fans!) or I’ve heard them one too many times (i.e., “California Girls”). My playlist starts with “Intro,” which is a bit of dialogue from the Gregg Araki film Nowhere. It’s spoken by actor James Duval and is sourced from the soundtrack. The second track is “Back to Cali,” by LL Cool J, but after that, it’s pretty much a jumble that fills ten hours. The playlist can also be found on Apple Music.

  • “Pacific Ocean Blue” – A
  • “Hollywood Sunset” – Barry Adamson
  • “Escape From Los Angeles” – AFI
  • “Angel In L.A.” – Kelli Ali
  • “Maybe California” – Tori Amos
  • “Pacific Palisades” – Ash
  • “Tinseltown” – Ash
  • “Hollywood Bowl” – Band of Skulls
  • “California” – beabadoobee
  • “California Saga (On My Way To Sunny Californ-I-A)” – The Beach Boys
  • “Ms. California” – Beach Bunny
  • “Blue Jay Way” – The Beatles
  • “California Nights” – Best Coast
  • “The Only Place” – Best Coast
  • “Los Angeles” – The Bird and The Bee
  • “Los Angeles” – Frank Black
  • “California” – Perry Blake
  • “I Won’t Go Hollywood” – Bleu
  • “California” – Blink-182
  • “Los Angeles” – Blink-182
  • “Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham” – Blue Cheer
  • “California Stars” – Billy Bragg & Wilco
  • “Drinking In L.A.” Bran Van 3000
  • “Tangerine” – Buffalo Tom
  • “Cowboys From Hollywood” – Camper Van Beethoven
  • “In California” – Neko Case
  • “All the Gold In California” – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
  • “Thoughts” – Charli XCX
  • “California Man” – Cheap Trick
  • “California” – CHVRCHES
  • “Beverly Hills” – Circle Jerks
  • “California” – CMAT
  • “Still In Hollywood” – Concrete Blonde
  • “California” – Copeland (But it’s also about Florida)
  • “Malibu” – Miley Cyrus
  • “Party In the USA” – Miley Cyrus
  • “Hooray for Hollywood” – Doris Day
  • “California” – Lana Del Rey
  • “Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.” – Lana Del Rey
  • “Freak” – Lana Del Rey
  • “West Coast” – Lana Del Rey
  • “California” – Dressy Bessy
  • “Oh My California” – Drinking Boys and Girls Choir
  • “Hotel California” – Eagles
  • “San Berdoo Sunburn” – Eagles of Death Metal
  • “Wannabe In LA” – Eagles of Death Metal
  • “Californiamiut (Going to California)” – Elisapie
  • “Like a California King” – Everclear
  • “Santa Monica” – Everclear
  • “Mulholland Dr.” – Failure
  • “Funtimes In Babylon” – Father John Misty
  • “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” – Father John Misty
  • “Leaving LA” – Father John Misty
  • “L.A. Song” – Fischerspooner
  • “California Sex Lawyer” – Fountains of Wayne
  • “Hollywood Nites” – Kim Fowley
  • “California Crossing” – Fu Manchu
  • “When Evening Falls On Tinseltown” – Future Bible Heroes
  • “Soarin’”- Jerry Goldsmith
  • “Sunset Blvd” – Selena Gomez & benny blanco
  • “California (The Way I Say I Love You)” – Good Charlotte
  • “California Nights” – Lesley Gore
  • “Hollywood” – Gorillaz feat. Snoop Dogg & Jamie Principle
  • “California” – Grimes
  • “It Never Rains In Southern California” – Albert Hammond
  • “Please Please Please (Young Hollywood)” – Head Automatica
  • “Miss California” – The Heavy
  • “Liquid California” – Heretix
  • “LAX” – Kristin Hersh
  • “Hollywood In Winter” – Hex
  • “Malibu” – Hole
  • “Pacific Coast Highway” – Hole
  • “California Took My Bobby Away” – Holy Wave
  • “L.A. Woman” – Billy Idol
  • “Winter In L.A.” – Japanese Breakfast
  • “California Via Tennessee” – Shooter Jennings & Hierophant
  • “Hollywood” – Junkyard
  • “Whirling Eye” – The Kills
  • “Celluloid Heroes” – The Kinks
  • “California” – Lenny Kravitz
  • “California” – L.A. Guns
  • “California” – Ladytron
  • “Creepin’ Coastline of Lights” – Mark Lanegan
  • “Death’s Head Tattoo” – Mark Lanegan
  • “California and Me” – Laufey
  • “Castle In Hollywood” – Laufey
  • “Hollywood Is Just a Dream When You’re Seventeen” – Amanda Lear
  • “Going to California” – Led Zeppelin
  • “It’s Sunny Outside” – Letters to Cleo
  • “Hollywood Lawn” – Jenny Lewis
  • “New In Town” – Little Boots
  • “Going Back to Cali” – LL Cool J
  • “California Songs” – Local H (This is my last musical track of the playlist!)
  • “Los Angelenos” – The Lost Vegas
  • “California” – Loudermilk
  • “Sunset Strip” – Courtney Love
  • “California” – Low
  • “California (All the Way) – Luna
  • “Californian Dreamin'” – The Mamas and the Papas
  • “Hollywood Babylon” – The Misfits
  • “Walking In L.A.” – Missing Persons
  • “West Hollywood” – MØ
  • “Sweet L.A.” – Morcheeba
  • “Hotel California” – Nerf Herder
  • “I Love L.A.” – Randy Newman
  • “Growin’ Up In California” -Night Ranger
  • “Hollywood Baby” – 100 Gecs
  • “California Blue” – Roy Orbison
  • “West Coast Serenade” – Palmdale
  • “Outta Time” – Orville Peck
  • “California” – Phantom Planet
  • “Hollywood Perfume” – The Pretenders
  • “Burn Hollywood Burn” – Public Enemy feat. Ice Cube & Big Daddy Kane
  • “Electrolite” – R.E.M.
  • “I Remember California” – R.E.M.
  • “Down Rodeo” – Rage Against the Machine
  • “California Sun” – Ramones
  • “Ode to L.A.” – The Raveonettes feat. Ronnie Spector
  • “Pink Pony Club” – Chappell Roan
  • “Leaving Los Feliz” – Mark Ronson
  • “California Paradise” – The Runaways
  • “Hollywood” – The Runaways
  • “I Love LA” – Skee-Lo
  • “Losing California” – Sloan
  • “L.A.” Elliott Smith
  • “California (Hustle & Flow)” – Social Distortion
  • “Highway 101” – Social Distortion
  • “Riot On Sunset Strip” – The Standells
  • “I Love LA” – Starcrawler
  • “California, I Love That Name” – Stars
  • “This Hollywood Life” – Suede
  • “Back to California” – Sugarcult
  • “Los Angeles” – Sugarcult
  • “California Nights” – Sweet
  • “Come to California” – Matthew Sweet
  • “Hollywood (Down On Your Luck)” – Thin Lizzy
  • “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo” – A Tribe Called Quest
  • “California Love” – 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre
  • “Malibu” – Sharon Van Etten
  • “Promising Actress” – John Vanderslice
  • “So at Last” – Butch Walker
  • “To Live and Die In L.A.” – Wang Chung
  • “California Fade” – Anna Waronker
  • “California” – The Wedding Present
  • “Beverly Hills” – Weezer
  • “California Kids” – Weezer
  • “L.A. Girlz” – Weezer
  • “La Brea Tar Pits” – Weezer
  • “Living In L.A.” – Weezer
  • “Delicious Things” – Wolf Alice
  • “Los Angeles” – X
  • “The Destruction of Laurel Canyon” – Youth Group
  • “Valley Girl” – Frank Zappa
  • “(Go to) California” – Rob Zombie

Songs About New York City

On By Amy Lordan-TrippIn MusicLeave a comment

I love making playlists. I used to look forward to making year’s end “Best of …” mix CDs for all my friends every December. And of course, I adored making mix tapes! I made mixes with various themes (sleepytime, vitamins, places).

Recently, I sought to add to my already five-hour-long NYC playlist because the husband and I were driving down to see Waiting for Godot, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, on Broadway. I posted ten random songs from my playlist and asked folks to share their favorite NYC tunes. I ended up with a bunch of recommendations, so I thought I’d share my whole NYC playlist here, since I don’t do streaming*. I use what used to be iTunes and have been putting my CD collection and digital Bandcamp purchases on it. When I can’t get something from Bandcamp, I’ll buy the digital version from Apple Music.

*Update: I now use Apple Music and my NYC playlist can be found here!

Here’s my NYC playlist!

  • “Manhattan Skyline” – a-ha
  • “New York, New York” – Ryan Adams
  • “My Blue Manhattan” – Ryan Adams
  • “New York” – Richard Ashcroft
  • “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” – Beastie Boys
  • “An Open Letter to NYC” – Beastie Boys
  • “Working Boy In New York City” – Belle and Sebastian
  • “New York’s In Love” – David Bowie
  • “Manhattan” – Cat Power
  • “New York City” – The Chainsmokers
  • “Another Rainy Day In New York City” – Chicago
  • “Manhattan” – Cinerama
  • “9th Ave. Limbo” – Julee Cruise
  • “Diet Mountain Dew” – Lana Del Rey
  • “Brooklyn Baby” – Lana Del Rey
  • “Brooklyn Roads” – Neil Diamond
  • “N.Y.” – Doves
  • “N.Y.C.” – Steve Earle
  • “New York Morning” – Elbow
  • “New York City” – Emigrate
  • “New York” – Ex:Re
  • “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones” – Fear
  • “Survival Car” – Fountains of Wayne
  • “Acela” – Fountains of Wayne
  • “New York Groove” – Ace Frehley
  • “New York Town” – Woody Guthrie
  • “You Said Something” – PJ Harvey
  • “Brooklyn Is Burning” – Head Automatica
  • “Bridge and Tunnel” – Holy Ghost!
  • “NYC” – Interpol
  • “P.S. New York Is Burning” – Jawbreaker
  • “Empire State of Mind (Explicit)” – Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
  • “New York City” – The Jesus and Mary Chain
  • “New York State of Mind” – Billy Joel
  • “Cousin In the Bronx” – Kaiser Chiefs
  • “NYC Baby” – Karen O
  • “What New York Used to Be” – The Kills
  • “N.Y. Hotel” – The Knife
  • “New York” – Alex Lahey
  • “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” – LCD Soundsystem
  • “My My Metrocard” – Le Tigre
  • “Stars of New York” – Look Park
  • “I Love New York” – Madonna
  • “The Luckiest Guy On the Lower East Side” – The Magnetic Fields
  • “Brooklyn” – Jesse Malin
  • “Silver Manhattan” – Jesse Malin
  • “Brooklyn, You’re Killing Me” – Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness
  • “Remember Manhattan” – Richard Marx
  • “Central Park East” – Mercury Rev
  • “Going to Queens” – The Mountain Goats
  • “N.Y. State of Mind” – Nas
  • “Little Faith” – The National
  • “Chelsea Girls” – Nico
  • “I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City” – Harry Nilsson
  • “O’Oh” – Ono feat. Shitake Monkey
  • “Breakfast In NYC” – Oppenheimer
  • “New York City Boy” – Pet Shop Boys
  • “ABCs of New York” – Princess Nokia
  • “53rd & 3rd” – Ramones
  • “New York Was Great” – The Raveonettes
  • “Coney Island Baby” – Lou Reed
  • “Walk On the Wild Side” – Lou Reed
  • “New York Telephone Conversation” – Lou Reed
  • “Brooklyn” – Silverbird
  • “Bleecker Street” – Simon & Garfunkel
  • “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” – Simon & Garfunkel
  • “The Only Living Boy in New York” – Simon & Garfunkel
  • “(Theme From) New York, New York” – Frank Sinatra
  • “New York Blackout” – Soul Asylum
  • “New York” – St. Vincent
  • “New York City Cops” – The Strokes
  • “Ever Since New York” – Harry Styles
  • “Welcome to New York” – Taylor Swift
  • “Maroon” – Taylor Swift
  • “Coney Island” – Taylor Swift feat. The National
  • “Long Island” – that dog
  • “New York City” – They Might Be Giants
  • “Summer In New York” – Sofi Tukker
  • “I’m Waiting for the Man” – The Velvet Underground
  • “I Love New York City” – Andrew W.K.
  • “A Madman From Manhattan” – Jack White
  • “You Took the Sunshine From New York” – The Wildhearts
  • “Across 110th Street” – Bobby Womack
  • “New York Rain” – Ken Yates
  • “Yeah! New York” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Bandcamp Friday Picks – August 2025

On By Amy Lordan-TrippIn MusicLeave a comment

Bandcamp Friday returns on August 1, from midnight to midnight (Pacific Time). That means Bandcamp waives their revenue share and more of your money goes directly to musicians! So Friday is the day to support artists by buying music and merch on Bandcamp! Here are some of my picks.

Goddess – Goddess This impactful collaboration between Savages’ drummer Fay Milton and ten feminine/non-binary artists is quickly becoming one of my favorites of this year. It’s got a haunting song from Elena Tonra (Ex:Re/Daughter), a dreamy one from Izzy Bee Philips (Black Honey), and commanding tracks from Salvia and Harriet Rock.

Anika – Abyss Driving rock with a hints of grunge mix well with Anika’s English/German accented vocals. Recommended for fans of Flood-produced PJ Harvey.

Deep Sea Diver – Billboard Heart This indie rock opus swirls. I’m obsessed with the tracks “Let Me Go,” which features Grammy award winner Madison Cunningham, and “What Do I Know.”

Pulp – More Pulp is back with their first album in 24 years and they’re still frisky! Jarvis Cocker and co. have created another brilliant album with a Britpop heart. Make sure you get your tickets to see them on tour this fall. In Boston, they are hitting The Stage at Suffolk Downs on Saturday, September 13.

Lambrini Girls – Who Let the Dogs Out Thrumming punk rock from Brighton, England. How can I not love a band with a song called “Cuntology 101”?

Julian Baker & TORRES – Send a Prayer My Way Tunes that tug at the heartstrings with a dash of twang.

Bandcamp Friday Picks – May 2025

On By Amy Lordan-TrippIn Music, Power Pop, ShoegazeLeave a comment

Here are some tunes to purchase on this Bandcamp Friday, May 2!

Rain Money Dogs by Miynt
  • Miynt – Rain Money Dogs Dreamy, lackadaisical pop from Sweden. Hints of Mazzy Star and Elysian Fields. Pre-order this album that comes out on May 30th and get four tracks now.
Swallow by Steve Queralt
  • Steve Queralt – Swallow This is another pre-order recommendation because you don’t want to wait to get the brilliant track “Lonely Town” that features Emma Anderson! Queralt (Ride) and Anderson (Lush/Sing-Sing) join forces on two tracks of his debut solo album.
Choose Myself by Jessica Lea Mayfield
  • Jessica Lea Mayfield – Choose Myself Mayfield creates some of the saddest music in the world. This five song EP is no exception. I think of Mayfield as a descendant of Lisa Germano. Bonus: Rhett Miller (Old 97’s) appears on Choose Myself. I’m super excited to catch her on tour with Lucero this autumn.
Welcome to My Blue Sky by Momma
  • Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky Blissful alternative rock, with touches of shoegaze, from L.A. They’re currently on tour with my next pick …
Planet Popstar by Wishy
  • Wishy – Planet Popstar These Indianapolis up-and-comers made it onto my Favorite Albums list last year with their debut full-length Triple Seven. When I bought Triple Seven on vinyl at Nice Price Books and Records, both staff members were ecstatic. Wishy makes me hopeful for the future of alternative rock.
Natural by terraplana
  • terraplana – Natural This Brazilian outfit trades in shoegaze, dream pop, and noise pop with aplomb.
Don’t Wanna Know / Rock & Roll Queen by Alex Lahey
  • Alex Lahey – Don’t Wanna Know / Rock & Roll Queen “Don’t Wanna Know” is a power pop gem that I listen to on repeat. “Rock & Roll Queen” is the cover I didn’t know I needed.

Bandcamp Friday Picks March 2025

On By Amy Lordan-TrippIn Music, Pop Culture, Shoegaze, Synth PopLeave a comment
  • Winter Gardens – “Anthropocene” This fantastic synth wave/shoegaze single is such a tease. I want a full-length album from this UK outfit!
  • Andy Bell – Pinball Wanderer Shimmering dream pop plus some groovy Madchester-sounding tunes from Ride’s Andy Bell. Includes a heavenly cover of The Passions’ “I’m In Love with a German Film Star” featuring Dot Allison and Michael Rother. It’s on one of my favorite labels-Sonic Cathedral.
  • Saint Etienne – The Night Somehow, I missed this chill album when it came out in December of last year. It’s a shift for the band, moving to a more ambient, atmospheric vibe.
Travels With Brindle | Photo by Vintage Girl Studios
  • Travels With Brindle – No. 1 In Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle This fully-licensed Sparks covers album takes the original Giorgio Moroder-produced disco gems and gives them a lovely, twee second life. Recommended for fans of The Magnetic Fields.
  • Various Artists – Los Angeles Rising Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Jarvis Cocker, and others have donated previously unreleased tracks for this fundraising compilation to aid those affected by the Los Angeles fires.
  • Die Feen – Dinner & Drinks & Desserts Addictive dark wave with a touch of new wave on Die Feen’s latest two tracks.
  • SPC ECO – Hello The prolific Dean Garcia (Curve) and his daughter, Rose Berlin, have manifested another electronic opus with gorgeous layered synths.
  • Chalk – Conditions III I am obsessed with Chalk. As I said in my “Favorite Music of 2024” list, Chalk would’ve fit in perfectly on Wax Tracks in the ‘90s. They’ve released another EP of thrumming industrial rock. I’m dying to see them live.