Wildflowers

Natural beauty can be ephemeral. Take wildflowers, for example. They bloom and often quickly disappear, leaving you wishing it were springtime again. How do you capture that feeling of fleeting beauty? Maybe with a song. And that's exactly what we attempted this week.

SONGS:

Hot Chip: Colours (2006)

Dina Ögon: Undantag (2021)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

How Did the Bluebonnet Become a Symbol of Texas?

Tom Petty - Wildflowers

Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center - Texas Bluebonnet

California Super Bloom

Poppy Cam Live Feed 

Reaction Video for Udantag (Neon Mushroom)

Pri on Dina Ögon’s new album Människobar

Tyler, The Creator Shares His Favorite Songs of 2022 

Dina Ögon Might Be the Brightest Band on the Planet (Pop Corporation, 2023)

Dina Ögon’s guest Dj set on KEXP

Dear listener, please take a page out of the book of wildflowers and grow where you want. Be delicate, and resilient. Exceed expectations (if you feel like it). And take care of yourself, and those around you.

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hi, I'm Christina. And I'm Christine.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Stereo Thematica.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Music is how we connect with the world and with each other. When I moved to Texas, Christina and I started a weekly game. One theme, two songs.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

That game grew into deeper conversations about each other and about the music that shapes us.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love or never expect. Look at you with your floral shirt on. Tell me, tell me about this look.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Well, in honor of the theme, I thought I would pander to you since it was your theme. And and wear a little flower top thingy. It's the one I have. The only one I have.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

This is also my one floral top that I have. I'm like looking around like, no. But thank you for humoring me. Spring is springing. I know. It's nice. We look so girly. Yeah. This is not our normal uh podcasting or everyday attire.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Definitely not. I mean, if you look at our Instagram, it's it's mostly t-shirts, I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Usually black for me. Yeah. But never flowers.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

No, never flowers. This is a special occasion. But yeah, spring. Spring means more flowers to me. What about you? Flowers. Allergies.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Allergies for sure. I'm I'm a big allergy girl. I go through like several tissues every morning.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

That's rough. Yes. Do you have a trap nose too?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Pretty much all the time. Yeah. And it's not it's, I mean, it is seasonal, but it feels like because it's always hot, it's just I'm always having the allergies. It's like that dry heat and the winds, and it's Santa Anna's. Yeah. It's one thing or another. It's either the pollen in the air, it's the winds, it's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Spring though is so worth it. Like, I think I know a lot of people are not spring fans, but I guess because I live in a place that is hot so much that spring is really special to me.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

You know, this time I mean, like March, March 8th was the 25th anniversary of Thomas and I meeting. And this is a very important date for us. And I remember the way the clouds looked and the sky and the air was so crisp and starting to shift into the warmth. And we don't have that any. It's all hot. It's just hot all the time. Thanks, global warming.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

That's really beautiful that you have that memory. And just, you know, at least it's a fond memory if it's not something that you can look forward to like experiencing again each year.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

No, and well, it's nice. I don't my friend Christina, Christine, our friend, friend of the pod, and friend of her. She's she's a designer. She actually also we both met our spouses at the same time. And so this is the time of the year that we reminisce a lot about like how it was like just the feeling. So that's that's nice to have that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

I think that's an appropriate segue to talk a little bit about this this episode because I feel like if you're a listener and you see wildflowers, it's not immediately maybe going to bring something to mind. I mean, it could. I think there are songs about wildflowers, but I it's a more interpretive theme. And I'll tell you how it came to me if you'd like. I've been very curious about this. Okay, good. So I recently took a little road trip with my mom to central Texas to celebrate her birthday, and we drove through the hill country, which is one of my favorite places on earth, and I started seeing some of the iconic Texas blue bonnets cropping up on the roadside. Are you familiar?

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Yes, I am, because my friend Eva, um, I have two Evas, Eva Eva and Eva. This is Greek Eva, and she lives in Austin, and she took me to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Yeah. And I absolutely loved it, but I left with a stuffy nose.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Oh, yeah. It'll it'll do that. Like really bad.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

I don't think I've had allergies as bad as when I go to Austin.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Especially Austin. Yeah, and it's always in March. Yeah. So bad there. Yeah. But the I mean, I'm so glad that you went there because it is truly like such a gem. It's run through the University of Texas, which I'm a big fan of. And it is just, I feel like we're so lucky to have that because for me, I have well, I've only really experienced wildflowers in a couple of places, and that's Texas, California, and Colorado. And it's probably because I'm in, you know, either if I'm if it's spring, I'm probably in Texas, or I have lived, you know, a lot of time in California, but those are really good wildflower places, in my opinion. And the blue bonnet itself is the state flower of Texas, and it's so deeply beloved by the people of Texas that it's actually illegal to pick them. Oh wow. Hand to God, I have never and I will never pick one. So I actually was like having a little scary moment earlier today. I was like, what if I was like so little and I didn't know about it? If I picked one and I'm like, that doesn't count. But I don't like it.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Or if you exit, you step on them, you're gonna. I guess stepping on them and killing them is fine. You shouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

And like TBH, that's one of my pet peeves. I'm not even gonna lie. I was what wait, what does TBH mean? Sorry, the millennial is jumping out in me, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Oh, thank you. I've never known what that meant.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

I love that you're discovering on air. I saw people, I was driving this morning and I saw people taking because it's like a thing in Texas to take your photos with the blue bonnets. Like people do it for their like Easter pictures and everything like that. But I saw a family on like literally on the side of the road because that's where the blue bonnets grow. Yeah. Yeah. Doing their little photos. And I in my head, I was like, don't step on them. Because you'll see people tromping all over them, which is a huge bummer. But I was curious about where this love for the blue bonnet came for Texans. And there are a couple of indigenous folk tales about the blue bonnet, and I'll link to the article where I read about this. But essentially, one pertains to a Spanish nun who was a missionary working in New Mexico in the mid-1700s. Supposedly, she wore a blue cloak over her nun's habit. And members of the I will say this two ways, and someone can just pick whichever one. Given that I'm not like a pro colonizing, you know, person. Let's jump to the other story, which is from the Comanche tribe. And they said that the ground was covered in blue flowers after a particularly harsh winter where they had to sacrifice their most beloved items by making a bonfire, and one little girl threw in her favorite cornhust doll outfitted with a blue feather into the flames, thus the appearance of blue bonnets. So I like that one. I think it's cool. We'll go with that one. But I love a legend, I love storytelling more than anything. I love wildflowers, and the blue bonnets are spectacular. So I wanted to recreate the feeling of driving through the fields of blue bonnets. So I started thinking of songs that reminded me of them. Of course, Tom Petty's Wildflowers came to mind, which is a song I truly love, but it reminds me of my Tilly Dog, so I didn't want to pick that one for this theme. And then there's Minnie Ripperton, Les Fleurs. Did I say that right? Leah Leslie, thank you. Love that song too, but it wasn't the same thing. And then I just started thinking what's so special about wildflowers. They're a burst of color on the side of the road that sometimes can literally make you say, Wow. And I hope I'm not scooping anything from your experience, a native Californian, but I have felt overwhelmed by the beauty of the California superbloom of the bright orange poppies and how special it is to be around these beautiful, fragile plants. So colors or colours, and you can't hear it, but I'm saying with a you like the British.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Oh, I hear it.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Oh, thank you. Cheerio. Colors were my inspiration for wildflowers, and as such, I picked colours with a you by hot chip from their 2008 album, The Warning. What did you think of this song, Christine?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Oh my god. Well, the theme, the song, it just felt like a warm hug from the music heavens. It was, it was so perfect. I added it to my Apple Music. So that says a lot. Yes. Um, I felt like it was a lot like craft work, but with like even more humanity. I'm kidding. I mean, no craft work has a lot. I know, don't hate me, craft work. But you know what I mean? I just thought it was a very beautiful song for the moment for me. And I I can't wait to hear more about it. I actually added this. You know how I have an infinite jest playlist? I do know.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

But maybe not all of our listeners now.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

I have an infinite I sometimes for books I'll make playlists, and I felt like this fit into that. We'll talk about that another time.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

But thank you. I loved it. I'm honored. Thank you. It's really nice to hear that because I do love this song. It's like to me, it's very repetitive in a calming way. And well, Hot Chip is one of my favorite electronic bands. Their lead singer has such a beautiful voice that it's almost comical that he's the singer for an often like very dancy, very remixed band. Because I don't know, I feel like for the genre, you're not necessarily seeking out, like, oh, this guy's got the best voice. Let's get him in my like, you know, drum and bass like crazy remix. So, yeah, anyway, this song isn't really hitting you over the head with the electronica, in my opinion. It's got its little moments with some of the bips and you know, little weird musical distortions, but it is sweet and it actually makes me sad for some reason. And while I was preparing for this episode yesterday, I was listening to it, just close listening, and I was just crying because it felt so beautiful and really, really nice. And I kind of feel that way about wildflowers too. They're so breathtakingly beautiful, but for such a short time, you have to cherish your time with them because it's so temporary and you have to wait all year to see them again if you're lucky. And I hope our California and Texas listeners will make some time to see the wildflowers. I recognize by the time this episode comes out, it's like the cusp of when things will be available. But if you're not in California or Texas, I would absolutely love to know about your state's wildflowers too. If you'd like to share that with us, please do, because it would it would really mean a lot to me. Sometimes I'm so sentimental, Christine, that I can't even believe myself. Like crying over an electronic song. I'm I'm really ready to hear about how you interpreted this theme. So please tell me.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Well, first, I really appreciated that you made this a free-for-all. I don't know if you stated that at the beginning of this episode, but when you shared it, you said wildflowers, it's a free-for-all. And so I thought you meant like you're gonna do it this way, but you can do what you want. Am I right in thinking that 1000%.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Okay, good. So the fact that you gave me this freedom wanted me to stick to the theme even more. So yeah. So I wanted to um go with something that felt colorful and warm and fresh, and maybe something I didn't have attachment to. As you know, and as some of our listeners know, it was a pretty devastating week for me and when you initially uh shared this theme. And while I'm not quite ready to talk about it here, I just wanted to acknowledge that context. I think you even asked if I wanted to skip the game that week, but I really wanted to keep it because one of the main purposes of this show is talking about how music is a form of therapy. And it's always interesting to see what sort of emotions come up with certain songs. Now, of course, knowing how empathetic you are, I was maybe even curious, like to see where you would go with the theme and your pick. And you definitely delivered. Thanks. So I found my pick in Apple Music, my Discovery Channel, and I was driving down to Orange County to see my mom for like the third time that week. I think I needed just to dissociate. I'd already been listening to the songs that make me feel a lot. It was like I was all cried out, and I was prepared to do this like ADHD thing of skipping through the music until I found something that felt right. And it really delivered this discovery playlist, I gotta say. So a song came on in a language that I suspected was like from the Scandinavian region, and it immediately gave me the chills. And I think I sent it to you just like later that evening. It happened to be a Sunday, so that's like the cutoff date. The supposed cutoff date. And the song is Ndang Tag, which is Swedish for exception, and it's from the Swedish band Dinar Urgon. So before I get into what I learned about the band recently, let's talk about the vibes. Um, this choice is all vibe space for me. I said, Yeah, I sent it to you before I even knew what the song meant. Like what, yeah, I didn't know that what the title was translated to. So I know you liked it. I was happy that it was new to you, but I'm curious to know how it made you feel.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Like really emotional, but like very warm, very like just it felt so beautiful when I was listening to it. I immediately loved it, and it was just kind of one of those surprising songs because of how special it felt on first listen without any context, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

No, I I mean it it I felt the same way about it, obviously. It just like the vocals are so dreamy, and I love when the bass comes in, and it's just it feels just so settling in a way. So so the band Dinar Urgon means your eyes in English, and they're a Stockholm quartet made up of Anna Anlund, Daniel Ergin, Lova Ursan, and Christopher Kintio.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Kudos on the Swedish language pronunciation just now.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Well, I don't know. We'll see. I looked it up, but I can't be certain. So if there are any Swedish listeners that want to correct me, Christopher Koncio, I don't know. I just I'm pronouncing that the Spanish way. So the song Untank Tag is on their debut self-titled album from 2021. And this is the first Swedish song we've talked about on the show, though not the first in our game. And eventually we'll get to that one. But you know what one? It was Yu. Yeah, because I I love Jen's Luckman.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

He's my guy.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Okay. Yeah. And and we'll tease it for a future episode for. No, not at all. But I think we will share the theme for that one, it was funny. So so something to look forward to. But anyway, when Googling around, you can find several reviews that describe the band as sounding like the love child of Fleetwood Mac, Eric B and Rakeem, Krungbin, and Obscure B-side singing. I love all of that.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

That's like right up my alley.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

No, it is yeah, I know, right? And it's always in quotes, so it I kind of wonder if it's like something from the band's website that puts things. That's even better. Because then like either way, I think.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Can you imagine if you didn't like any of those bands and they were like, this is who this band sounds like? And they're like, crap. No, I know.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

But yeah, it it it totally makes sense. And you know what else? I don't know if you experienced this like in reruns as a child, but there was the schoolhouse rock on Saturdays, Saturday morning cartoons. Did you have that? I think we watched it in syndication.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Like, and that's sad because you know, I was in school in the 90s and those came out in what like the 70s?

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yeah, yeah, pretty much. But it was special. I could see where they would want to share that with you. I don't know. But it kind of reminds me of the music from that time, which was a lot of times just like 70s like vibe music in a way. So yeah, that that was kind of like sweet to have that.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Which song do you remember from Schoolhouse Rock?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Oh man, I mean, obviously, like the the schoolhouse rock. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

I'm not prepared to. Well, the one that I always used to sing when I was in college, not even when I was younger, I would just walk around and going, the great American melting butt.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

There was the other one about the bill. On Capitol Hill. But no, it is Yes, the Capitol Hill song. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Say goodbye to your concentration.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

I know. Okay. Okay, so their rise has been pretty quick. They formed in 2020, released their debut album in 2021. Their second album, OAS, which is Oasis, in 2023, won two Swedish Grammys. And that is not Grammy with a Y, but with an I. Their third album, Orion, or I don't know how to pronounce it, I'm just Orion, followed in 2024. And a fourth album, Manisko Bam, was just released in February 2026. And I've listened to a little bit of it. It's just as gorgeous. I think you're gonna love it. And so I was like, when I saw that, I was looking around, and then I come across this amazing TikTok. I didn't even know you knew how to access TikTok. I know because I Googled, and so then it took me to this guy from London. I kind of think he might be a DJ, and he's talking about the song, the lead song from this this new album. And I'm just like, he's vibing, I'm vibing. And then um, I'm looking at all his other TikToks, and it's just like cool disco, international disco music, and things like just that aren't very obvious, but a lot of international music. And so, like, we'll share his TikTok. I hate the interface, it makes me so uncomfortable, but I definitely will um be looking at this for him.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

I don't have a TikTok either for the record, but I like to see them when people send them to me.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

But you know what I hate about it is it keeps like that looping into the next one. That's that's how they hook you, right? Yeah. Oh, I hate it. And what is his name? His name is Pre. Okay. So we'll share. We'll put that in the show notes. But there's not a whole lot written about them or this album. I there was a delightful review on of their second album on the Pop Corporation website, and they open with the perfect first line. Sometimes good music feels like it actively nourishes you, and one such band that are better than vitamins are Swedens Dinar Organ. Seriously, you'll actively feel better about your insides after listening to them. And truly, I did.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

I love that. Like, yeah, that's very like high praise too for a band. Like that's an incredible thing to be nourished.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Yeah, for sure. And even without fully grasping the lyrics, obviously, I I look them up, put them in Google Translate, look at different like websites that have lyrics just to get a sense, you know, they're always a little bit different. But it's the song feels like it's about longing and contradiction. And, you know, I've I've talked about that a million times on the show. So, so right up my alley. But specifically, they seem to revolve around movement and hesitation with lines about like going somewhere and what draws you forward, and about trying not to be held back. And the word exception, the song's title, returns over and over, and it's this like uplifting feel, but with so much yearning to it. And then there's also these moments where they talk about drawing up or trusting in what it means to be alive or to live, and and then knowing what they want, what knowing what you want. And yet the song ends with the idea that it becomes nothing or maybe nothing matters. So I think I picked Undone Tog because it lives in that strange place where beauty and pain coincide. Another thing we've we've talked about so a lot. That that would be our motto too. I mean you get this feeling of reaching and returning at the same time. There's this push and pull of existence which as sad as it might be, especially given the context of when I'm learning about this song, it really did make my insides feel better. And I have to say it was the perfect compliment to your pick. Agree. Which which I mean to me your song is all about perception and emotion and the way colors and and by extension feelings can shift depending on where you're standing physically and mentally. And and I also think it ends up being quite appropriate for the actual theme. Wow. Yeah. Bringing it back to wildflowers. I mean they're obviously beautiful but they're so unruly and and they grow where they want they show up in the cracks in the roadside like you see them from the freeway. And they're like so delicate but also resilient and they're like exceptions to expectations of what you you know think about where flock is 100%. And I feel like both of our songs say okay you're depressed you're feeling melancholic but there's a lot of beauty in the world and you can still enjoy it even when you're sad and that you can and must experience a spectrum of emotions at once. And maybe that's the motto of our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

That's pretty spot on truly especially for who we are and how we engage with the world. Oh that's beautiful. No seriously as always Christine you are the queen of interpreting and delivering and giving us such beauty and I am grateful and if I can lean on our listeners a little bit I would truly truly love to know if you have a wildflower song and if not a wildflower song do you have a wildflower experience? Uh we always want to engage with y'all and see you know how either music serves you or nature or beauty. So comment on our Instagram post today.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

And that's not a CPA. That's just like we want to we want to like connect with you.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

So um connect with us if you're if you're interested especially you know if this resonated with you. And Christine I am curious what our hint for next week's episode is.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Next week we're gonna be tripping but not falling.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Oh I love that. Thanks for listening to Seriathematica. If you like what you're hearing please consider a review a rating or sharing with a friend.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

And remember there's always Instagram where you can share those songs about wildflowers. We really do want to hear about them and and remember it is a free for all so it doesn't have to actually be about wildflowers if you don't have a wildflower.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

The more interpretive the better and if you want to see more wildflower beauty you can head over to stereothematica.com