I put a new-to-me track on my Year of the Dragon mix and now I'm on an Iron & Wine kick. I listened to some stuff I'd DLed a while back but never really heard before. Dead Man's Will just hit me hard. Wow. I'd just got back from a walk where I ran into a friend who just lost his brother, so that made it even more poignant. And then, next up in the playlist: The Trapeze Swinger, which is also a funeral song. Oof! Beautiful stuff but very affecting. I've tended to DL new Iron & Wine songs piecemeal, not devour a whole album at once so I'm always rediscovering him. (He also does a cover of New Order's Love Vigilantes, which is also very melancholy in its own way, especially his version.)

So far this year, I've listened to a lot of Pogues, Billy Bragg and Fleet Foxes. So a little introspection, a lot of beautiful melodies and voices and some anti-establishment fervor.