Daily Stream: What Matt Reber is listening to

• My Records 

Of course, the turntable sits right next to my work-from-home-desk. I do not call them “vinyls” and neither should you. :) 

I played a few of these in the background of some of my Zoom meetings to add a nice atmosphere and some levity. I usually choose some upbeat '60s garage or soul or folk. My department meets on Zoom four times a week and during those meetings I’ve been able to get in Going All The Way with The Squires!, Ike and Tina, some Phil Ochs, and the Fugs. I did try to play a James Brown record, Soul on Top, which is Mr. Brown recorded in 1969 with an 18-piece jazz orchestra. But the second song on side one, a version of the Hank Williams song "Your Cheatin’ Heart," was so good it was distracting so I took it off.

When I’m plowing through inventory data tables and other mundane store tasks, I usually put on something either heavy or angry or energetic: '70s UK punk Rezillos, my '90s punk peers and pals Red Aunts, Judas Priest’s Sad Wings of Destiny, or Giorgio Moroder’s stellar ’77 disco record From Here to Eternity.

• Artshop Manager playlist

My professional alter ego has a playlist on Apple Music. It's synched in Spotify, too.

• Prince

Here are some playlists I made for a memorial dance party in 2016.

• Fifi

I know Fifi from my touring days in the 90s particularly when my band toured with his band, Teengenerate, in Europe, the US, and Japan. Thanks to this lovely quarantine, 25 years later, I can see him spin records live from his bar Poor Cow in Tokyo at 9 in the morning (that’s 10 PM, Tokyo time). Even though my understanding of the Japanese language is 99 percent nonexistent, his enthusiasm and knowledge of the music he’s playing still comes through as he sings along, pumps his fist, and chats over the music. It’s the exact same vibe I’d get backstage at some German club listening to whatever obscure record he’d just bought at the record store.

• Orchestral Maneuvers

Former Columbus fixture Don Howland has a great classical radio program that is archived on Mixcloud. As he describes it: "Broadcasting Thursdays 10–midnight on WSFM-LP 103.3 in Asheville, NC, Orchestral Maneuvers is a 'classical' music show for people who like music from the dark side. Usually. No chandeliers, no wigs, no ruffles. The focus is on 20th and 21st Century composers like Shostakovich, Schnittke, Bartok, Saariaho, Ligeti, et al. Lots of rarely heard composers and rarely played works by well known composers."

• Tutti Time

Tutti Jackson, Reference Archivist and Project Curator at Ohio History Connection (also my friend and bandmate), posts a “monthly mix of '60s mod, soul, pop, garage, yé-yé and more.” 

• "How Lucky," by JR Reynolds and Matt Sweeney

I stumbled across this duet of the John Prine song whilst scrolling instagram and have watched it at least a dozen times. I’ve known Matt Sweeney for most of my adult life (we’re both about to be 51 so you can do the math) and he’s actually the one who alerted me to Fifi’s live DJ set earlier in the week. It was tough to lose John Prine and this version was a nice salve at the right time.

• "She was the rose of my heart" playlist by Patrick Amory

A late addition recommended by Matt Sweeney, a nice eclectic mix that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'll be digging deeper into his other mixes soon.