Episode 69: Love Is the Answer

Happy is the one who goes on holiday.

I wish we could invent little proverbs like that all year long.

I’ve just returned from Andalusia, and some of the landscapes are still with me. A region literally dried out by the summer. In places, you could clearly imagine where the river was supposed to be, but instead of water, there was only a bed of stones, dust and sand.

I hope this summer hasn’t been too harsh on you. I hope you haven’t suffered too much from the extreme weather that is still affecting so many places around the world.

And today, a huge thought goes to the firefighters, civil protection teams, residents, farmers and volunteers who are still fighting the fires, protecting homes, land, animals and each other.

And then… we return to the Salon.

As we do every week.

1,5 hour to close the curtains a little, leave the noise outside, and listen to some small indie treasures together.

I haven’t been able to go through the dozens of tracks that arrived during the past few days, holidays have consequences!  so for Episode 69, I decided to dive back into the Salon’s own past.

And there are some beautiful things hiding there.

Synthetik Blonde’s “Love Is The Answer” was the very first track of hers I ever played here. It feels rather appropriate to bring it back today.

Because yes.

Episode 69.

Obviously, love had to be the thread running through this one.

But love in the broadest possible sense: tenderness, desire, loneliness, friendship, chaos, memories, things ending and things beginning again.

Along the way we meet Benjamin Russel, from Canada, Aliénor, Lauren Alvarez, and then let ourselves drift through Echomatica,  “Love Isn’t Always”, Melø “Only the Lonely”, Brother Dynamite  “Shine”, and Stefski & Hutch “Into an End.”

Different sounds, different places, different stories.

Same Salon.

And this Friday comes with another small milestone too: the 100th edition of the Mitxoda Weekly.

One hundred.

Quite a strange and beautiful number when you think about all the music, artists, words, discoveries, conversations and little accidents that have somehow accumulated along the way.

So we keep going.

Mike Stollen “Piece of Advice.”

Mitxoda  “Sourire Au Chaos.”

And then Trenchfoot, Laura Rickenbacker, Someplace, Killian Ruffley, and Arcane Synthetic & Plains Desperate Symphony carry us through the final part of this 69th journey.

And suddenly, once again, two hours have disappeared.

The chairs are still warm, a few glasses remain on the table, and it is already time to close the Salon.

But not before one last voice.

For the final track, I’ll leave you in the hands of Liz Arcane, who will accompany us while we slowly close the doors and shutters.

We’ll meet again next week for the final Salon Indie of August.

Until then, take care of yourselves.

And above all:

keep having fun.
Keep living.
Keep dancing.
Keep singing.
Keep creating.
Keep dreaming.

There is still plenty of room for all of that.

Welcome to Episode 69 of Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda.