Swahili Blonde has dropped a new solo album with And Only The Melody Was Real and to celebrate it we have a special playlist put together by Nicole Turley.

My sonic love affair with Arthur Lee and LOVE started around age 22. I had moved on up to the “nicer” part of Koreatown (“nicer” meaning closer to The Wiltern Theater and metro), and had just started playing drums in my first band; an all girl psychedelic ensemble called Seventh Sea. There was a good amount of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra being played around that time. But really, all us ladies were obsessed with LOVE. That music spoke to us; spoke to that time. The wild reckless abandon of youth. The soft melodies. The manic songwriting. Arthur’s sometimes beautiful and sometimes decrepit voice. We loved it. We loved every moment of every thing he shared with us through our stereos.

For many months now I have been working on a pilot script trying to capture this precious place and time. It is a coming of age story about a group of young women in Koreatown who, because they have spirit to spare, move forward boldly and brightly in playing their music with instruments broken and bandaged. There’s no other music I could have possibly written this story to other than the music of LOVE.

So now I share with you my playlist from the pilot script. Enjoy!