Hi Everyone,

This week happens to be one of my favorite weeks of the year: Paris Fashion Week, but not for just the obvious reasons. Even if you don’t consider yourself a person that cares about fashion, the clothes you choose to put on every day are in fact an expression of you are: your interests, what you care about, and how you choose to present yourself to the world.

The “things” that I care the most about are: Art, Music, Cinema, and Fashion, which is where the first three intersect and reflect back to us. All of these art forms are what I consider the best ways to document the times we are living in, much more so than the news we watch or read daily.

I was just re-watching Fade to Black – which chronicles the making of Jay-Z’s Black Album, the other night. It was such a great glimpse into the creative process. One of my favorite moments of the documentary was when Pharrell is trying to sell Jay on a track- he says “you remember at the end of Carlito’s Way and the guys just trying to get out of the game?” to which Jay-Z responds, “That’s the speech?!” and a confident Pharrell just smiles and hits play. He earlier told the camera “I am gonna’ get my movie moment!” This loop is what would later be the basis of “Allure”. On a later studio visit, a young Kanye brings some beats and gives a similar pitch- there is a moment where he exclaims “this record is not just a record, it’s like the score or soundtrack to scenes from a great movie”

For most of us, our music is the soundtrack to our lives…all the moments, big and small.

Today’s news is as fleeting as our Instagram stories, so these are the things we will continue to come back to and reflect on and will carry on long after us. You will remember what was going on in your life or the world often by just hearing a certain song or album. Art in any form tells the collective tale of moments and movements, struggles and achievements for us all.

I am particularly fond of Paris Fashion week probably just because it is where some of my favorite designers show, and historically the soundtracks to these shows have been a great source for new music for me. I have discovered some of my favorite new artists this way. The first time I heard Cherry Glazerr or Sunflower Bean (when they were but a blip on Soundcloud) or La Femme, or Leon Vynehall…it was all fresh off the runway.

So for my CIMS Pick this week, here are some of my favorite PFW inspired tracks to get you ready for the weekend:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/51l48hWGGVvXE3q5JJV6kY?si=l9sGiEuvSQa7eLIn6yimnQ

Here are the charts,
Andrea

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic