Arlo Guthrie - “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre” - 1967, If this isn’t in your Thanksgiving repertoire, it should be. This is a talking blues song by Arlo Guthrie, loosely based on a story from his own life where he was arrested for illegally dumping trash. In whole, the song is a satire and protest of the Vietnam draft. There are some words in here that might not make some people happy - keep in mind this is satire.

The African Messengers - “Highlife Picadilly” - 1967, The African Messengers are a Nigerian Jazz band formed by percussionist, George Folunsho “Ginger” Johnson. In the mid 1930s Ginger joined the British Merchant Navy and eventually settled in London after WWII. While in London he played and recorded as an African percussionist with quite a few English Jazz musicians. In the 60s he was a leading percussionist in the “Swinging London” counterculture movement and played with some highly successful rock acts, including Hawkwind, Genesis, and Elton John.

Certainly So - “Wonderful Time” - 2021, Certainly So is a relatively new indie rock quartet from Nashville, TN. This song is off of their first album which was pretty solid front to back.

Hipsumhaps - “Hjarta” - 2023, Hipsumhaps is Fannar Ingi’s music project from just outside Reykjavik, Iceland. This is the first of three Icelanders on this playlist (side note - Iceland has a wild talented people to population ratio somehow). He plays Indie Rock/Pop backed with rich electronic soundscapes. Hjarta translates directly to “heart” in Icelandic, but in the context of having “heart” or “courage”.

Cosmo’s Midnight - “Yesteryear” - 2020, Cosmo’s Midnight is an electronic music due (twin brothers, actually) from Sydney, Australia. They are known for mixing electronic music with pop and R&B.

EARTHGANG, Spillage Village - “Flavors of Karma” - 2023, EARTHGANG is a hip hop duo consisting of Olu (aka Johnny Venus) and WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dot). Spillage Village is the music group that they co-founded including fellow hip hop artists JID, Hollywood JB, JordxnBryant, 6LACK, Mereba, and Benji.

Wiki - “Eggs” - 2019, Wiki is a rapper from New York City, originally in the hip hop group, Ratking until 2015. He is known for his music that is influenced by New York’s people, culture and history, particularly counterculture and underground scenes.

David McCallum - “The Edge” - 1967, This guy is basically a legend. First of all, if you grew up in the 90s, you will immediately recognize this song, as it is the main sample for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog’s, “The Next Episode.” David McCallum was a Scottish actor first and foremost, starting off on the stage. After joining and serving in the British Army’s 3rd battalion, which was seconded to the Royal West African Frontier Force, McCallum starred in the film The Great Escape in 1963, then The Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV series from 1964 to 1968. His TV stint reportedly led him to receive more fan mail than any other actor in MGM’s history, including Clark Gable and Elvis Presley. He also received two Emmy’s for his role. In 2003, McCallum starred in the TV series NCIS, for which he became an expert in forensics to play the part and served the show as an unofficial technical advisor. He served this role until his death in 2023.

Pachyman - “Sale el Sol” - 2023, Pachy García is a Puerto Rican musician and multi-instrumentalist. He records and performs all of the instruments on his albums, which he became recognized for through social media. He plays a blend of Latin and Reggae beats.

Nu Genea - “Marechià” - 2021, Nu Genea was created by musicians/DJs Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina. I don’t know if you can tell by those names, but they are Italian, specifically from Napoli. They make electronic music that explores the history of dance music from the earliest days, and includes disco, funk, boogie, electronic, and dub.

Fin del Mundo - “El Próximo Verano” - 2022, Fin del Mundo is an all female indie/shoegaze band from Buenos Aires, Argentina, founded in 2020. I discovered them on KEXP’s Youtube channel, which if you haven’t watched, they find the best bands out there before anyone else it seems like.

Rahill, Beck - “Fables” - 2023, I became a fan of Rahill with her new album from 2023 that this song is on. She is an Iranian-American musician and DJ, and got her start with the NYC psych rock band, Habibi. This album moves away from psych rock and goes into a jazzy, trip-hop sound mixed with pop. This song was a collaboration with Beck.

The Bees - “I Really Need Love” - 2011, The Bees are a band from the Isle of Wight, that mix pop, soul, British rock and psychedelia. The unicorn, Tommy, showed this song to me.

Small Paul - “Miner for a Dream” - 2023, Small Paul is one of the few good things to happen directly from the COVID shut down. The band members were all in their own respective bands (The Moondoggies, The Gutterballs, and All Star Opera), but also room mates, and when everything shut down, they started writing and recording in their home together. Thus, their first album was born.

Mitski - “I Don’t Like My Mind” - 2023, Mitski is a Japanese-American, but lived in Japan, Turkey, China, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo growing up, due to her father working for the US Department of State. She channels all of her experiences of the world into her beautiful music. If you could somehow fuse pop, jazz, and opera, you might get somewhere close to Mitski.

Sigur Rós - “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” - 2008, Sigór Ros is our second Icelandic band, and one of my top 5 favorite bands of all time. The name of the band means “Victory Rose,” and was named after the lead singer’s younger sister, Sigurros, who was born days before the band’s first show. They sing in Icelandic, as well as a language that the singer, Jonsi, made up dubbed Volenska, or “Hope-landic”. Because obviously I don’t speak either of those languages, the singers voice, especially in the style he sings, almost becomes another instrument. This song is off of their 5th album, and is translated to “Within Me a Lunatic Sings.”

Eunice Collins - “At the Hotel” - 2012, Eunice was a Chicago soul singer in the 1970s, that spent time singing in clubs, but only recorded one single (this song). This version was released in 2012, but was recorded in 1974.

Zephaniah OHora - “Somethin’ Stupid” - 2017, Zephaniah is a country and western artist from Brooklyn, NY. he is a more recent find of mine, and I was blown away when I listened the first time. If you are a old style country fan, definitely give him a listen. This song is a cover of the famous song by Frank Sinatra, reimagined as a country duet, featuring Dori Freeman.

Laufey - “Second Best” - 2023, Laufey (pronounced lay-vay) is the third Icelandic artist on this list. This is also a super recent find. She is an Icelandic-Chinese Jazz singer, now living in LA that went to the Berklee College of Music. She is so good, that she has somehow broken through into the TikTok younger crowd, despite the fact that she sings music that I can’t believe the younger generation listens to, but that’s what I mean - she is that good.

Prison Affair - “Join the Plane” - 2020, Since the last few songs were on the slower sleepier side, I wanted to wake you up with the last one. Prison Affair is pure mayhem synth punk known as “Egg Punk”. Egg punk is a straight up protest of popular “chain-punk” bands, and is meant to be satirical, danceable, energetic, and cynical of the punk and hardcore bands that take themselves too seriously.