Music Monday Marginalia: Episode 2.

I don’t watch music videos anymore, even the clips on Spotify are never on my radar. I grew up watching MuchMusic at my friend’s house after school (we didn’t have a tv at home) and that was all music videos all the time. Then, life got too busy and I was either working, at the gym, at dance class, or raising children. That didn’t leave much time for music videos. I did go to an early days Soul Cycle class that was set up in front of a giant screen with a Beyoncé (I believe) music video and that was not the spin cycle class or musi video style that I was used to or enjoyed. Lately, once in a while the younger folk around me have mentioned a really good music video and most recently, reading an interview with Vendredi sur Mer in Metal Magazine was the tipping point for me to make space for some music videos in my life again.

Tell me a bit more about your very singular aesthetic. In your videos, there is a lot skin, tongues all over the place, ‘eroticism’ one might say. How do these elements illustrate your songs?

There is a real coherence between my music and the visual aspect of it. It’s almost impossible to fathom Vendredi sur Mer without its visual impact. It’s a blend of different areas where each responds to the other. I often talk about resounding images. I suppose that’s the reason why my videos are so lascivious, almost erotic: I like the idea of pushing one’s fantasies, emotions and feelings to the extreme.

Charline Mignot aka Vendredi sur Mer, interviewed by Laetitia Collier for Metal Magazine

Once Were Live Music Moments Captured

Tiny Desk Concerts

If you haven’t hopped on the Tiny Desk Concerts bandwagon yet, I highly recommend you do. Tiny Desk Concerts, like so many great ideas, started out as a bit of a joke in 2008 when Bob Boilen and Stephen Thompson, of the NPR music team, were at a bar at South by Southwest trying to see the singer-songwriter named Laura Gibson. It happened to be a really quiet set and they couldn’t really hear anything, so they jokingly said they should have Gibson perform at their desk. Laura Gibson took them up on the offer and the first Tiny Desk Concert was “booked”. They made 10 that year, and since then they do that many in a month. The best way to start is to think of your favourite artist and try to find their Tiny Desk Concert. Then you’ll be well on your way to enjoying these miniscule music moments which offer a new perspective on a particular artists or song just because of the unique circumstances of the setting.

A few of my favourite TIny Desk Concerts are:

Emily King, she has such good warm energy as a person and a musician. She can fill an entire concert hall or a tiny desk with that palpable love and warmth. It really comes through in her November 3, 2025 Tiny Desk Concert.

Lucius always puts on a great show. Their Tiny Desk Concert is a throw back to January 7, 2013. Their voices and their looks are on point. Definitely a Tiny Desk concert worth watching and a band worth seeing live too.

Suzanne Vega because she’s someone I grew up with and know her songs well, but haven’t seen her face in decades. It is good to see artists you haven’t seen in ages. Sometimes they’re done touring, or have started up again. Suzanne Vega’s February 10th 2014 Tiny Desk Concert has songs she is well known for and newer songs that we might not know yet. Sarah McLachlan’s Tiny Desk Concert is from February 12th 2026. I was lucky enough to see both of these artists live at Lilith Fair at Great Woods.

I love Bad Bunny’s April 7 2025 Tiny Desk Concert and I love how very much “him” it is. Just watch it and you will understand.

Laufey’s December 13 2023 Tiny Desk Concert is so sweet as well. Part of what is nice about any concert, but especially these ones that are moments captured in time, is that you revisit artists at various times in their careers.

A Tiny Desk Concert is a good way to check if you want to see someone who is coming to town too. You can get a sense for their voice live and performance style, although of course a live show on stage somewhere in Boston will look very different than a Tiny Desk Concert. Some bands coming to Boston soon and their Tiny Desk Concerts include Maro (Brighton Music Hall 9/24/2026), Sarah McLachlan (Leader Bank Pavilion 7/10/2026), Oklou (Royale 4/30/2026)

Deep Dives off the Beaten Path of Streaming

Streaming music is easy. I rely on it most of my day. My husband is a bigger radio station fan getting so much of his music from Emerson’s WERS radio. I used to listen to the radio with the kids in the car, we had our favourite local stations. Now that I go to many more concerts and get artists sent to my inbox more often, I usually play albums of upcoming artists’ shows on my streaming service, play vinyl from the last year of concerts I went to, or let my streaming service take me for a ride (both good and bad). The nice thing about radio, is sometimes they go on deep dives for you and pull up versions of songs, or covers that don’t show up on your streaming service. This led me to check out some of the BBC Radio 1 videos.

This version of Shania Twain’s You’re Still The One by boygenius on BBC Radio 1 December 18 2023 plucks on your heartstrings and you may find yourself watching it over and over again because it is so easy to get lost in the music. And to flip things a little there is Olivia Dean’s version of boygenius’ Cool About It from September 17 2023. There is also this lovely pairing of Arlo Parks and Phoebe Bridgers performing Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees from September 6 2020.