{On Repeat}....Bal-Musette

I was listening to a podcast of Fresh Air the other day and heard some of the most whimsical music: Bal-Musette. It's a style of French music that predominantly features the accordion (I had always thought of polkas when it comes to accordions) and from turn of the twentieth century. Musettes were played in dance halls in France and are inspired from Italian, Bohemian, and Auvergnat cultures.

Fun fact for coffee lovers, bal-musette dance was also known as java.

I never would have guessed, but I'm finding bal-musette to be the perfect early-winter music. It's fun, upbeat, a little romantic in a goofy way, and feels very exotic. Listening to it is like a mini vacation––everything seems sparklier and more special.

I suggest listening to: The Paris Musette, Guy Visuer, and Accordeon Melancolique

Image: lithograph by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1892), via MoMA

{On Repeat}...Caroline Smith

My friend recently introduced me to a Minnesota-native artist, Caroline Smith. I'm hooked and it feels like the perfect playlist for autumn right now. What I like about her music is its adaptability. It's simultaneously romantic, melancholic, spunky––it fits every mood.

Her voice is delicately strong; her music sounds like those cool girls who are quietly confident. Listen to her album Half About Being a Woman here.

If I must choose, my favorite tracks are: "The One Thing," "Child of Moving On," and "Buy Me Something," all of which are infectious.

Photo by Reginald P.