Weekend Mix Tapes Edition: Tossin' Off Your Compliments, Wow

Sam Smith has the kind of voice that wraps around you like a blanket, comforting you with its beauty and raw emotion. (Or is that just me?) I first heard this with "Lay Me Down," with his acoustic version that's so impeccable and intense it'll make your heart break. Then there was his acoustic take on Disclosure's "Latch"—which was already great—and holy shit:



This week, he's done it again with "Safe with Me," but this time with some production from Two Inch Punch that takes things to a slightly different place. Get ready to believe in love:



Then there was this terrific, minimalistic video—lights in tree branches, that's it—to match perfectly with Volcano Choir's song, "Byegone" (Volcano Choir = Justin Vernon of Bon Iver with band Collections of Colonies of Bees).

I don't know what I love more: when Vernon starts declaring, "Set sail! Set sail! Set sail!" or at the end when he sings, "Tossin' off your compliments, wow/Sexing all your Parliaments" — what does that even MEAN? Oh, just listen:



Finally, in other music news that left me absolutely delighted this week, AlunaGeorge's debut LP, Body Music, is now available to stream. It's perfection. Standout tracks: ALL OF THEM. But here are a couple of my favorites.





One week till Lollapalooza madness! Happy listening.

LOLLAPALOOZA!

I'll be spending the weekend serving beer at Lollapalooza, something I've been really excited about until two days ago, when my eye started exploding on me. For real. Serious aversion to any form of light—yesterday I spent the entire day holed up in my bedroom with a washcloth over my face, which was so sad it was almost funny. Almost.

Anyway, if any of you are going to be at Lolla this weekend, I'll be in one of the beer tents on the South side (by the Vitamin Water stage and Chicago 2016 stage). Come see me! I will of course be more excited to see you if your name is Lykke Li or Ben Harper, but come see me nonetheless.

I'll be the white girl wearing an eye patch. I hope that won't stop Ben from his marriage proposal.