I like to do re-RECs every other week, as a general rule. I find it takes me about that long to find roughly ten pieces (and I like to have about ten pieces) that I really, really love and can rhapsodize about for longer than "this is awesome and I like it! You should too!" However, with the big push to have more re-RECs this week, I felt like I should contribute somewhat, so I'm doing something slightly different. This week I'm looking back through everything I've ever pressed the heart button for and making categorical recommendations - both of my favorite music (which is my favorite kind of RECord, if I had to choose one) and favorite text (because text RECords need more love. It's a fact).

So, to start with, favoite hitRECord music! First of all, I'd like to state that ideally, I'd like this to be a more interactive re-REC. I am always, always, always searching for new music, on and off hitRECord, so please take this opportunity to go "hey, based on what Julia's put here, I think she'd like [insert song/band/hitRECord artist/hitRECord song] a lot!" I'm new-ish here, relatively speaking, and there's a giant backlog of songs that I've just barely scratched the surface of. Well, let's be honest, there's a giant backlog of everything.

I tried to only have one song per hitRECorder, because otherwise this would just be an exercise in copy-pasting everything Madrond101, Metaphorest, and amferraro have ever done, but I think through collaboration Sarah managed to sneak her way in here three times, because she's sneaky like that with her insidious collaboration.

And Sleep by Seldelaterre - I often refer to this song, in my head, as the Introvert's Anthem. I love the lyrics that Day_Glo initially did, and I feel like Sel's version really evokes the feeling in them of just sometimes rathering your own company.  And, as an avowed introvert, I appreciate this on a fundamental, personal level.

The Best Parts of You by tonguecutsparrow - Sigh. This song is so melancholy and heartfelt and worn-in feeling, like a dull, aching regret. It's like listening to Nick Drake and The Hollies and The Velvet Underground all wrapped up in one package that hurts so good.

Clocks Back by Metaphorest and PASIV - Sarah always does absolutely amazing lyrics and vocals and those totally shouldn't go unnoticed, but what really, really makes his song for me is the production of it all. What PASIV did was pure magic. Sarah's style is very stripped-down and folksy and he somehow managed to keep the heartfelt integrity and subtlety of her voice an not overwhelm it while adding piano and harmonies and strings that make the entire thing feel decadent and cinematic, like it's playing behind the most emotionally heart-wrenching and climactic scene ever where someone holds their dead lover in their arms and sobs in the rain. And I have very little patience for those sorts of scenes. But if this was in it? I'd watch. And probably cry a lot.

Everything, Baby by Metaphorest - This is technically the only non-collab Metaphorest song on this mix, which counts, okay? It totally counts.

Choosing a favorite song of Sarah's is really, really, really hard. They're all so good and sweet and lovely and I honestly don't understand how some record label hasn't scooped her up and had her make a million Lisa Hannigan-like albums, but I can only attribute that to their own short-sightedeness, and they should feel bad about themselves. I chose this one not because it's my favorite (don't ask me what my favorite is, there are too many) but because it's the most Sarah to me. It just encapsulates everything I think about when I think about her music, which is warm and tiny and cozy and gently lovely, like a warm drink on a very cold day.

Head West by Chase_Horseman - Guys. Guys. I have a secret, you guys. I... really like folksy and heartfelt songs about regret and anguish where dudes work out their feelings through guitar strumming. I know! This is like the most shocking news you have ever heard! What can I say. I'm a woman of many layers and mysteries.

A Misty Haze by Babbish - It has been niggling at my brain ever since I re-REC'd this last week what it sounds like. I keep listening and listening and wondering why it strikes such a deep chord with me (hah! music punnery) and then it finally hit me - it sounds just like The Watson Twins! And I love The Watson Twins! Mystery solved, song still awesome.

Patriot by Amferraro - My obsession with amferraro and his music is, like, bordering on ridiculous and creepy. And by "bordering on" I mean that I passed the border a while ago and like to glance over my shoulder at it, sigh, remember when I used to have dignity and stuff. When I start typing in the hitRECord URL now instead of just asking if I mean I want to go to my Activity tab or my profile it asks me if I want to go to all of this guy's RECords. Because that's how many times I've just creeped around his profile, listening to his stuff. If I had to choose my favorite song of his, though, I would (reluctantly! They're all so good!) choose this one. Don't ask me why. I can't tell you without wondering if secretly I meant every single other song.

Secret Sayings by ALittleNothing - This song starts off pretty good, don't get me wrong, but it is really, really worth listening for the end when it picks up and there are the percussive claps (I love percussive claps!) and the tinkly... I'm not sure what instrument it is, toy piano? Ding-maker? Whatever, that starts going along with the clapping and the refrain of "my heart is bigger than your heart" and that's what takes this song from "pretty nice" to "let's see how long I can stick this on loop before someone asks me to plug in my headphones".

Sick Again by RegularJOE - Confession time: this is not actually my favorite Joe song. My actual favorite Joe song is his cover of I Don't Want to Live on the Moon that I found before I even knew what hitRECord was and I was on Youtube looking for clips for a 40th anniversary retrospective of Sesame Street I was writing for work at the time. And, to be honest, there is pretty much nothing Joe can do for me that will ever top that, because I have a long-held emotional attachment to this song that I will happily explain to anyone if they have about five to ten minutes to listen to me ramble about how Sesame Street shaped me and scarred my psychologically and still remains one of the greatest shows ever, of all time.

But since most people do not want to hear that (and I don't blame them), Sick Again is my favorite Joe song that can actually be put up on hitRECord. It's like listening to being depressed, which I shouldn't actually like because I've been dealing with depression on and off since high school and it blows, so logically why would I like a song that encapsulates that feeling so well? Except, I dunno, I just do. It's almost comforting, like, when I listen to this song and am down I feel better that hey, someone gets it. They really get it. Which is a nice feeling.

And then I go listen to Sesame Street songs some more and maybe cry because it was in that episode where Slimy went to WASA and Oscar was really sad and it moved me, okay?

The Sound of Her Heart by Madrond101 - I know this isn't the most typical of Madrond's style or, like, what he's best known for, but it's totally my favorite of his. I'm normally not much of an instrumentals girl. I'm very wordy (in case that wasn't clear) and lyrics make a huge difference to me. But this is probably one of the most heartfelt instrumental pieces I've ever heard. You can really, honestly feel this was written about someone, and someone that was exceedingly adored, and all that love just pours out of every note. Which, whoa. Did you know instrumentals could do that? I did not.

Tide by Robo_J - Oh, I want to live in this song. It's like late summer and that throat-catchingly happy feeling and the way my dad's t-shirts smell when they're clean and the way babies shift in their sleep and quiet Sunday mornings and everything cozy and perfect in the world.

To This by LizzieMackie - Lizzie's voice is just... I can't even. Sigh! It's just, like, it's like floating away in a bubble. I'm aware I should be all psh, another silly love song, I'm so jaded and above that, but who am I kidding, I'm not, especially when it's presented as sweetly as this. Like, I'm not a fan of that first feeling of falling for someone because I find it totally terrifying, like I'm going to do something and suddenly the other person will realize how secretly gross I am and run away screaming. But this song makes me a) feel that feeling and b) like it.

Wah Wah Wanderer by alpal and Metaphorest - This is really super outside of my normal realm of stuff I love, but I am addicted to this song. It's one of those songs I sort of hum with a lot of doo-doo-doos while going around the house doing laundry or dishes and makes people look at me sideways and go "what on earth are you humming?" and I'm like "something awesome, no big."

Also, is it just me, or does this sound like something Garrison Keillor would feature on Prairie Home Companion? And don't look at me like that, there has to be someone on hitRECord who had parents who made them listen to that growing up like mine did.

Wintersleep Violin REmix by Michellek - True story, this is the first thing I ever hearted on hitRECord. I was nosing around in, I think, December? Sometime around the holidays, anyway, still playing with the idea of if I'd ever join and post something or not, and I stumbled across this and went "...WHOA." Oh, strings. You get me. You get me every time.

You're My Kind, Dancing Babe by Mikeregannoise - Something you might not be able to tell about me from this list, but I love love love shameless pop, the more twee-sounding the better. This sounds a lot like Coconut Records (in a great way) and gives me the same feeling of wanting to bop around pretending my life is a Wes Anderson film. Because I'm actually just that pretentious and obnoxious a person. And to be clear, I mean that I'm pretentious, not that this song is. This song is awesome.

...And now to study for my midterm. But I will be back with text recs later, Munchkins, so enjoy this for now! Listen! Recommend stuff to me! And... go.