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Song of the Day #4,077: ‘Apple Blossom’ – The White Stripes

My appreciation for Quentin Tarantino was recently rekindled by his splendid new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I decided to rewatch all of his films to revisit their pleasures, see how they’ve aged, and look at them in context of his entire filmography.

I spent a rewarding couple of weeks catching up with all ten films (including a rewatching of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and I am now ready to present my definitive ranked list of Tarantino’s movies.

I’m joking when I say “definitive” because I have shuffled this list at least a dozen times before settling on the order I’m going with here. I feel rock solid about the #1 and #10 movies but the rest are a little more fluid.

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Song of the Day #4,076: ‘The Moment of Conception’ – David Byrne

Here’s a track from David Byrne’s 2001 album Look Into the Eyeball, a record that represents the moment my fandom started to wane.

Prior to this, Byrne has released a string of four great solo albums between 1989 and 1997, culminating with Feelings, the best of them. That period also found me in my late teens and early 20s, a prime musical discovery zone.

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Song of the Day #4,075: ‘Take It Back’ – She & Him

I went five years between She & Him songs on Random Weekends, posting the first back in 2014 and the second earlier this month. Now, just three weeks later, the duo shows up again.

Little surprises like this that go hand-in-hand with mathematical randomness are the most satisfying part of Random iTunes Weekends. I love the anomalies and clusters that inevitably pop up when you repeatedly spin the wheel.

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Song of the Day #4,074: ‘Motivation’ – Normani

I’m calling it on August 30. Normani’s ‘Motivation’ is the best video of 2019. It’s one of the summer’s best songs, too.

Camila Cabello is the Fifth Harmony alum who has had the most solo success to date, but Normani will be hot on her heels with this infectious track that nods to the R&B/pop songs of the late 90s and early 00s, with a video that recalls Beyoncé’s ‘Crazy in Love’ and Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’.

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Song of the Day #4,073: ‘Summer Girl’ – Haim

Haim is back with a breezy song that captures the lazy haze of summer — the appropriately titled ‘Summer Girl.’

The trio of California sisters has teamed up with director Paul Thomas Anderson once again on the video (this is their fourth collaboration with the filmmaker, who has known the ladies since he was a student of their art teacher mother).

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