BY JOANNA C. VALENTE

Music brings people together. Communities are created and fostered through melodies, which is why it’s important to promote excellent work by musicians both popular and obscure from all over the world. As a music lover myself, I’m always searching for new music (regardless of when it was released).

Here are three of my picks for this week:

Stevie Nicks - Street Angel

Revisiting Nicks’ 1994 album is kind of amazing. “Blue Denim” is a song not to miss.

Hamilton Leithauser - Black Hours

Did you know the singer of the now defunct band The Walkmen has a solo career, and whose first solo album was released in 2014? It’s quite good. My favorite” “5 AM.”

Sun Ra- Crystal Spears

Recordings of Sun Ra were just released and it’s delightfully strange. My favorite: “Sunrise in the Western Sky.”

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body) (forthcoming, Madhouse Press, 2019), and is the editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault. They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is the founder of Yes Poetry and the senior managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine. Some of their writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Them, Brooklyn Magazine, BUST, and elsewhere. Joanna also leads workshops at Brooklyn Poets. joannavalente.com / Twitter: @joannasaid / IG: joannacvalente / FB: joannacvalente