The Medley 007

The gratitude edition

Welcome to an abridged version of the monthly community digest! November is a month where many folks observe and honor feelings of gratitude, so I’ll begin by sharing what I’m thankful for as it relates to the directory:

• the interviewees who participated in the 2025 featured guest series

• each connection I’ve made in this virtual space

• every person who has submitted their publication

• every subscribe/share/comment/restack

• the thoughtful engagement and participation in the chat

• the music I’ve been introduced to (and reminded of)

• last, but certainly not least: your ongoing support, grace, and understanding

Thank you for witnessing me evolve in my creative purposes and expand my capacity through this labor of love. Before it gets too mushy, I’ll save the “looking ahead to 2026” thoughts for the December digest.

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Announcements & Community Housekeeping

The general submission form remains open for anyone who would like to be listed in the directory! I have linked this form and the directory maintenance request form in the “All About Forms” post (which is also pinned to the website’s navigation bar).

All About Forms

Please note: the directory is optimized to be viewed on a web browser, not necessarily for the Substack app. The categories are visible on the homepage and there’s also a category tab in the navigation bar.

Click the image to visit the homepage!

For our end-of-year digest, I am accepting submissions for two topics. The first is a collection of our favorite/top/best music of 2025 lists. This roundup will be similar to the community post I published at the end of 2024.

Your Best/Top/Favorite Music of 2024

If you need further inspiration, the final TMD interview of 2025 will include a focus on EOY lists and the methodology that can go into building this type of recap—be on the lookout for this feature to arrive the second week of December. You may submit your EOY lists via the following button:

I would also like to include an “In Memory Of…” section in the December digest. If you have written a tribute to honor any music folks we lost in 2025, you may submit links via the button below—there is also space on the form to include brief quotes or anecdotes in lieu of full write-ups.

Both submission windows will remain open until December 28th at 11:59 PM EST.

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Memos from the chat

Much love to Nielly for being my featured guest during November. As she said, our conversation “was less an ‘interview’ and more two people getting to deeply connect about a shared passion.”

Nielly graciously provided each of the community chat prompts for this month, so here’s a recap of what we collectively discussed.

Harvest Time

The prompt: Fall is for harvesting all the seeds you’ve planted and grown. Which song represents your harvest? And which song represents what you intend to plant next year?

For songs that represent my 2025 harvest, I chose a full EP: Fall Be Kind by Animal Collective. I revisit this each fall and the sonic trajectory reminds me of reaping what we’ve sown. For planting next year’s seeds, I selected Clouds of Joy by Badge Époque Ensemble—specifically the songs “Conspiring with Nature” and “Zodiac.”

Paul Giess picked “Vital Transformation” by Georgia Anne Muldrow, stating that it was “the seed and the harvest” for him.

Tamara Casey returned to a favorite from 1998, a 4-disc collection of timeless classics titled A Jazz Romance: A Night In With Verve.

Jonathan Christiansen noted that Autumn often leads him to Bon Iver’s music, so he chose “There’s a Rhythmn” from the artist’s most recent album SABLE, fABLE.

“[It] speaks with reflection, questioning, and learning from your past…in a way that encourages internalization and finding my own ‘rhythm’,” he said.

Meanwhile, Christiansen introduced me to a new song I enjoyed with his choice for planting seeds in 2026: “Make Way For The Sun” by O & The Mo.

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Guilty Pleasures

The prompt: whose albums are you clutching onto with your cold, dead hands (embarrassment be damned!)?

Personally, I find myself being less embarrassed about the media I enjoy as I get older, especially if it was something I was fond of in my formative years. My answer was MGMT—it’s not that I’m uneasy to admit that I like them, but rather that I don’t follow their career as closely as I once used to. This band was an entry point for me into genres like neo-psychedelia and freak folk; they meant a lot to me during my adolescent music discovery phases.

The general consensus of the chat was that life’s too short to feel guilty about the things we like! Ken Asher said it best: “I have no shame. I gave up caring what others thought of me or my taste ages ago. I am sure a lot of my music taste is considered out of fashion. Don’t care. You do you, I will do me.”

Wayne Robins concurred with a profound statement: “There is only pleasure. I don’t have time for ‘guilty’ pleasures. Found that out when I woke up one day and I was older than I’d ever been, but felt younger.”

Jenny H. agreed that she’s never liked qualifying things as guilty, admitting to “a soft spot for the uncool 90s country music I grew up on—no matter how corny it might be.” She continued, “And speaking of corny and unhip, I’ve definitely been listening to a whole lot of xmas music lately. I’d argue that you need a little bit of “bad” taste sprinkled in to truly have “good” taste. It reminds me of how even some of the best chefs like a trip to Taco Bell every now and then.”

I will also show solidarity by admitting to playing out music from bands like Kings of Leon and Coldplay (both of whom Nielly name-dropped in the interview) when the time calls for it. Y’all may or may not know how fond I am of long songs, so “Knocked Up” by KoL gets played on repeat whenever I’m in the mood.

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Musical DNA

Nielly and I discussed the concept of music DNA—simply defined as essential artists and genres that have informed one’s taste. She mentioned rock music as a whole, but also included influential music of various genres that family members introduced to her.

The prompt: Which song or album is a part of your musical DNA? Can you tie it to a person or memory?

I recently wrote about Mama’s Gun by Erykah Badu for its 25th anniversary—I grew up knowing the singles “Didn’t Cha Know” and “Bag Lady.” I also included an anecdote of dancing to the latter during a family Halloween party as a child. The album is one that has become more impactful to me as I get older.

Mama's Gun by Erykah Badu

Carmelia chose all three discs of The Eternal Dance, a 1992 compilation by Earth, Wind & Fire. “I remember the first time we heard that orchestration, the energy, and the harmonies. It was on a road trip and that music hit just right. ‘Fantasy,’ ‘Boogie Wonderland,’ ‘After the Love has Gone,’ it was just too good, even the instrumental solos,” she reminisced.

Cecilia Gigliotti recalled a song that she heard during a first date: “I’ll go with ‘You and Me’ by Lifehouse, which I remember hearing in the restaurant my first boyfriend and I went to on our first official date. (Thanks, Cheesecake Factory???),” she said.

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I hope you have enjoyed this community digest! I’ll conclude by sharing more songs of gratitude, many of which were previously featured in a related video playlist on my personal newsletter.

Until next time,

Shanté