Good Morning!
Today we’re listening to the “Mellow Universe” playlist built for you by Punit Thakkar.
I first started this project because I had a ton of music I wanted to share and was looking for like-minded people to share it with.
I’ve always been that kid that made mixtapes for people, and would (sometimes obnoxiously) hype bands I wanted people to love as much as I did. Living 2 time zones away from my tribe of music nerds put a damper on that. Isolation during the pandemic just made a bad scene worse. Social media left me cranky & exhausted. I declared content bankruptcy, and with the ironic exception of Twitter abandoned most platforms.
In their place, I did what everyone else seemed to be doing; I started baking sourdough writing again. I expected that reviving a long-dormant habit would have plenty of upside. What I didn’t see coming were all of the new connections I would make with music fans (that’s you!) and writers alike.
One of those people is Punit Thakkar. Punit hails from Mumbai and writes Hello Universe here on Substack. Once a week, he sends out poetry mixed with viewing/listening recommendations.
I’ll let Punit describe it:
Hello Universe is a place where I share fun, thought-provoking poems every week!
I started writing poetry as a way to capture the lost poems of my childhood that had a catchy meter, fun rhyming schemes, and were really memorable as a result.
And just like I can enjoy animated shows with grown-up themes now that I've grown up, I believe that catchy, rhyming, and memorable poetry can speak about some grown-up themes, while being fun and thought-provoking.
Hello Universe is a great read, and well worth space in your inbox.
Listen:
Thakkar also builds fantastic playlists, and this one is no exception. It’s titled “Mellow Universe, but don’t let the title (or pun) fool you; it’ll get you where you need to be on your Monday.
Enjoy!
What’d you think of this list? Any new favorites?
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
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Nice work on this shout-out, Kevin. I think I’ve seen Punit’s stack on Writer’s Hours. I took a quick listen through the playlist and “Lady Blues” was my favourite.
Woohoo! This feels unreal. It's the first time I've shared a playlist to the world, I hope everyone likes it. 😃