These are songs that paint an impressionist's portrait of the big city, something I've been living in a lot lately and can't stop thinking about. I could die any day on these streets, mainly because of these cars everyone’s always driving around (and me, I’m one of the worst culprits).

Meow!

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little heat-madness from this summer sun. Like if I slip I might float away, you know the feeling? If not, these songs will explain.

Here are my twenty favorite songs of the year so far, in reverse order to build suspense. Hold on tight!

You know the longest case of the hiccups lasted for sixty-eight years? I imagine at first it was like any other case. Only grew abnormal when he went to bed and woke up still burpin’. But still, he thought, any day now. Just a mighty long case.

It's the longest day of the year, and I'm breaking my one rule—this playlist will be long to match. These songs are the playlist breakers, the ones you can never include because they're too damn tangential. But now they’re all in one place at long last. Nothing under seven minutes.

A big part of being alive is having to get out of bed when you don't want to. One of the worst parts, actually. So I wanted to make another playlist to help anyone who might be needing to calm down on the way home from a bad day at work, or, god forbid, stave off a panic attack (a bit of a riff off my first playlist).

The songs are like a white noise machine, but instead of rain it's the sound of a summer under the fairy lights. It's a nice vibe to return to on long drives or lonely nights. This playlist has my own version of things; some songs that I think are synonyms. Consider it my thesaurus for the soundtrack.

It's a playlist of what we dub Record Store Songs. These are things I would play if I were ever lucky enough to work the counter at Record Collector, one of Iowa's best and brightest businesses. Almost every record I own is from there. I tried to stop there every time I walked home from class.

Your move came just in time for a housewarming party on Memorial Day weekend. It's no penthouse, but you can see the Rockies, and there's a pool. Happiness, after years of dormancy, has awakened at last.

“1. Do not obey in advance. 2. Defend institutions. 3. Beware the one-party state. 4. Take responsibility for the face of the world. 5. Remember professional ethics.”

I, too, would love to sail across the sea for years and not come back until this country is ready to be rebuilt. I find that very relatable.

Another year, another Shaky Knees playlist! Light on text this week cause I'll be at the festival, but you can follow along at home, all of these songs are all-timers. I've been itching to give you guys "Seventeen" and "Pressure to Party" back-to-back for months.

A wyrm itself is a sort of wingless, limbless dragon of yore, so this is as good a time as any to confess where I got the Earwyrms name. I regret to inform everyone that I guess I'm just a huge nerd. My critics don't have to dig much further than my history with Coheed & Cambria.

The sea is very big, and also the scariest thing in the world. If I were to speak into it, I would spew nothing but bubbles, and I'd have to come up for air after accomplishing nothing, which is a bit like tweeting.

We know that vanity stems from deep insecurity: no brag comes untethered from something to prove, some perceived injustice it's trying to conceal. If you're truly comfortable with your status, it remains unremarkable.

My own personal exercise preference is running. It's the only arena of my life where I can set goals and actually achieve them, week-in and week-out, without failure.

*sunrise over sodden beams across the bar floor, splinters stir with foraging rodents*. *kicks aside twisted mic stand, wipes broken reading glasses on blood-stained khakis*.

By personality alone, I'd probably be a Stark, as basic as it sounds: my reticence, my gloomy tendencies, and my preference for cold. Physically, I feel more like a Tully—an auburn-headed boy from a land of rivers—but maybe we'll get to that in later weeks.

2009: the last good year, or the first bad one? Less depends on the events of the past, and more on how young you are when they happen.