During these cold, lovely months I’m always on the lookout for new albums to spice up my music library. It is a time for discovering music that makes us feel good, takes little effort to listen to and enjoy, broadens our music taste, and brings people together. When grandpa tries to share with you his favorite Neil Young album on vinyl this Christmas, give it a shot. (Check out Winterlong.) He may be onto something. In my case, winter is also a time for succumbing to the cold weather and staying in with a friend and a few Sundance Films. Where there are Sundance films, there are tasteful soundtracks. A couple films that I have recently watched and loved both for the content and the music are: Pulp Fiction and Flash Gordon (Music by Queen). As far as artists go, I have recently become obsessed with Tomorrow Tulips and Courtney Barnett with her new album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit.

I’ll start off with the iconic tunes from everyone’s favorite drama, Pulp Fiction. While being aware of the glamorization of crime and drug use in this film, no one can deny the ultra-hip, sly, and humorous nature of each character. Mia Wallace dancing to “Girl, You’ll be A Woman Soon” is iconic and unforgettable, and even with the first note one can begin to understand the cunning sound and invincibility that the song holds, that a simple girl may be inspired to dance to. In all honestly, the song is a bit creepy. Thankfully it has an endearingly powerful melody to distract from its lyrics, if needed. A few other songs worth checking out from this film are “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield and “Jungle Boogie” by Kool & the Gang.

Flash Gordon is a cheesy sci-fi 80s cult classic with an eerie fantasy that could easily enthrall any superhero/comic lover. The entire original soundtrack is by Queen. Some of my favorite short songs from the soundtrack are the Love Themes that play while Flash and his lady-friend are being held captive by aliens on another planet. With a synthesized, hypnotic dreamlike tune in the background, they joke about how they are simply dreaming and may wake up any moment, while another alien ponders over the “water leaking from their eyes,” that they come to find are tears. This soundtrack also contains several dramatic, orchestral movements that represent Flash’s triumph and strife, like “Execution of Flash,” “Flash to the Rescue,” and of course, “Flash’s Theme.” After giving the album a few listens, I came to realize the voice behind some of the strong, otherworldly harmonies that were similar to that of an Opera singer: Freddie Mercury. There was no one better to musically encompass the drama and thrill for such an iconic sci-fi film, and in many ways I think the soundtrack is the best thing about the movie.

The Tomorrow Tulips are a scruffy teenage garage grunge trio from Southern California. I sometimes feel like it is mediocre and cliche to be listening to an angsty indie rock band in high school, but I then remember that if I’m to enjoy this genre of music at any point in my life, it may as well be now. Their lead guitarist and vocalist, Alex Knost, was heavily inspired by 90s underground and wanted to create a unique, low-fi, less rocked-out version of this intimate genre. This is apparent with their first and second albums, Eternally Teenage and Experimental Jelly. My favorite songs of theirs are “Mr. Sun,” “Flowers on the Wall,” and “Wake Up.”

I received Courtney Barnett’s first album, The Double EP: A Sea of Split Seas for Christmas last year. This year, I’ve already treated myself with her second album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit. Courtney Barnett, to put it simply, is very special. I had the chance to see her live back in May at Bottlerock Festival in Napa, and while she isn’t your typical pretty-voiced female songwriter, she is very much her own. Being from Australia, she has a wonderfully unique accent, so wonderfully unique that I feel silly singing along to certain phrases that are pronounced so different, and am too much of a Californian for it to sound acceptable. Her songs are witty and rambling, and she pulls it off extremely well. A line from my favorite song of hers, “Depreston,” is: “It’s got a lovely garden.. a garage for two cars to park in.. Or a lot of room for storage if you’ve just got one.” If you can imagine a cute, t-shirt and jeans wearing Australian brunette singing these words and playing guitar in the hot sun in Sonoma County, then you could also imagine how joyful it was to hear her. A couple other songs worth checking out are “Avant Gardener,” “History Eraser,” and “Boxing Day Blues.”