The Playlist is a weekly column where staff writers and occasional guest musicians will have the opportunity to put together a Spotify playlist of songs which they’ve been listening to recently.
*”The Things That Went Wrong” by The Radio Dept is not currently available on Spotify. A video created by staff member Autumn Andel has been substituted.
01. The Radio Dept. – “The Things That Went Wrong”
“My favourite band is The Radio Dept. and in 2011, I saw them three times in concert – Portland, Denmark, Sasquatch – all within a few months. They were supposed to return to Portland that November but the tour was cancelled. Then I tried to find my way to South America to see them last spring but couldn’t make it happen. Recently, I’ve learned that they are touring Asia this month and playing in Istanbul in June – information that came too late… the consequence of a band that has no interest in the Internet. So once again, I am mourning over the fact that I won’t be able to see them again.” ~Autumn Andel
02. Brown Bird – “Nine Eyes”
“”Nine Eyes”, the first single off Brown Bird’s new album Fits of Reason (April 2, Supply and Demand) encapsulates the duo’s transition from “folk artists” to kick-ass music makers. With a potent Middle Eastern feel, the band’s new direction is razor-like: cutting, precise; perhaps too sharp for some, but ultimately exhilarating.” ~Brian A. Hodge
03. Fishboy – “Minus Two”
“Sometimes the simplest songs are the ones that stay with you the longest. I came across Denton, TX’s-own ecstatically pop Fishboy and fell hard. I was just getting into the Elephant 6 Collective and fuzzy, catchy pop was my go-to drug of choice. And “Minus Two” was one of the most insanely memorable songs that I’d heard in a very long time. For quite some time, I wanted to have written this song. Not too late, I guess. Just let me dig out my Way-Back Machine.” ~Joshua Pickard
04. L-Vis 1990 – “Ballad 4D”
“I have become totally obsessed with this track: it sounds like typical Night Slugs fare until the minute-mark when the song plunges to ridiculous depths, somehow bringing forth a bass tone that sounds genuinely like a subaquatic transmission. I mean, the whole package is great, but the self-styled ‘submarine vibes’…damn. Hammering the replay on this one.” ~Gabriel Szatan
05. Apple Miner Colony – “The Heat Haunted Fever”
“There’s something to be said for getting exactly what you want and expect from a song. From the first time I heard “The Heat Haunted Fever,” I knew exactly what I wanted, and Apple Miner Colony were more than happy to oblige me. The slightly folksy, slightly indie rock-ish tune just builds and builds until you know just when to expect the inevitable cathartic crescendo. And when it does come, it washes everything away–scrubbing you raw. There’s something almost baptismal about the song–in the way it seems to wash you clean and leave you feeling slightly out of breath but happy to be breathing.” ~Joshua Pickard
06. Women – “Shaking Hand”
“This is the song that helped me understand that beautifully meticulous guitar work can be lifted to importance in the modern sense. “Shaking Hand” is a euphoric moment in the short life of a band that never quite got its full due.” ~Andrew Halverson
07. Jackson C. Frank – “Blues Run the Game”
“Beloved by folk historians and adored by filmmakers like Wes Anderson, Jackson C. Frank is the kind of ar artists that you kick yourself for never having heard of him…until you do. His honey-coated vocals subtly remind you of Nick Drake but his rhythms and acoustic precision feel closer in tone to Paul Simon oddly enough. “Blues Run the Game” is the consummate time capsule of mid-60’s minimalist pop folk perfection.” ~Joshua Pickard
08. Sean Nicolas Savage – “Common Ground”
“Sometimes, it takes a while for a song to “click” with you. This song didn’t “click” with me until one day I was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike, and it was overcast and my gas tank was just about empty and I’d just been dumped by a guy I’d been seeing and I tried to ash my cigarette out the window but I think the flaming ashes just flew into the back seat. Oh well. Thanks for understanding, Sean.” ~Josh Becker
09. Milk Music – “Illegal and Free”
“The living ghosts of the late ’80s converge on Olympia, Wa for 11 minutes of off the rails, Coxen-wailed, desert rock. Oh and guitarist Charles Waring says it’s the “best fucking record ever made.”” ~Colin Joyce
10. Ween – “She Wanted To Leave”
“Ween are…Ween. If you’re a fan, you know why. If not, I’m not sure I could successfully articulate why you should love them, but you should. Beneath the dick jokes and superficial assholery, Dean and Gene Ween are kickass musicians with a vicious dark humor. But on The Mollusk (probably their best record to date), they toned it down and wrote a sea shanty of sorts about the wandering ways of a woman who has been loved and cared for her whole life. And she has turned her back on this man who loved her above everything else, and only at his lowest does he finally understand. And his last statement of “I’m not the man I used to be/Now, I’m one of them” is as honest a confession as you’re likely to ever hear.” ~Joshua Pickard
If you enjoy any of these tracks, please support the artists by purchasing their respective albums.
