Hype Starts Here's Fall 2015 Playlist

        Hello, and welcome to Hype Starts Here's Fall 2015 Playlist, a 33-pack of tracks eager to serenade you on rainy walks with falling leaves abounding. Because I am apparently stuck in the year 2005, the songs here have assembled as a double-disc, each made to fit on an old-fashioned blank CD (see: shy of 80 minutes). Brief descriptions of each tune can be found below, while the Spotify playlist is just a click away. Enjoy:

Hype Starts Here's Fall 2015 Playlist

Disc 1:

1. Sound and Color---Alabama Shakes***

        A lovely, autumnal hymn that brings out the soft side of vocalist Brittany Howard's stereotypically power-house bellow, this one's been on repeat for me ever since its masterful use in the season finally of Mr. Robot... because I'm sure that matters to you.

2. Haunted Heart---Little Hurricane

        A gritty, fleet-of-foot little ditty that gains muscle from a killer guitar riff, all distorted and echoing over the song's cavernous sonics.

3. The Fall---Rhye

        Yeah, kind of cute to pick a song with the season in the title, but The Fall bares its name for a reason, its mellow sway perfectly capturing the November's down-tempo identity.

4. Retrograde---James Blake***

        A mysterious epic with a rare tryptic structure that encapsulates both the hope and fear that make Blake's music so singular and indelible. 

5. I Got Money---Raekwon feat. ASAP Rocky

        22 years after the world first met him on 36 Chambers, the Chef still has no problems throwing it down. S1 and Jerry Wonda's luscious beat doesn't exactly hurt either.

6. Depreston---Courtney Barnett***

        On an album full of songs that ride the line between parody and earnestness, Depreston stands out for it's storytelling, emotional complexity, and warm, breezy sound.

7. Getaway---Dr. John

        Who says a 70-year-old can't still come out guns blazing? A highlight from his 2012 release, Locked Down, the New Orleans native delivers a moody ass kicking, all spunk and fire.

8. Armchairs---Andrew Bird

        The oldest song on this playlist, this languid ballad remains one of the highlights of Andrew Bird's career, slowly sauntering it's way into emotional enormity.

9. Jonathan---Fiona Apple***

        No one is better at marrying admiration with spite through their songwriting than Fiona Apple, and here she's at it again, singing of a (presumably) doomed romance atop misty atmospherics.

        

10. Oblivion---Grimes

        Speaking of atmospherics, Oblivion stands as one of the most uniquely haunting pieces of songwriting you're likely to ever hear, its words and electronic pulse constantly caught between fear and fascination.

11. Two Coffins---Against Me!***

        The lone track on Transgender Dysphoria Blues that decides to turn the volume down is gorgeous and lovelorn, a sublimely teary-eyed 2:20.

12. Annie---Neon Indian

        Awash in a sea of undulating synthesizers and funkiness, Alan Palomo's pleas for affection from the titular Annie come off more as playful and bright than desperate and lonely.

13. Silent Song---Daniel Rossen

        One half of the two-headed eerie songwriting machine that is Grizzly Bear, this stand-out mishmash of acoustic and slide guitars comes from Rossen's painfully overlooked 2012 EP Silent Hour/Golden Mile.

14. The Won't See Me---The Field

        The Field always boast of a contemplative sound, but the music of Axel Willner is rarely as foreboding as on this gloomily powerful, 9-minute monster.

15. Point of No Return---Surfer Blood***

        One of the best impressions of The Smiths that you could ask for, John Paul Pitts' open, inviting intonation plays party guest in one of this playlists most contented tracks.

16. And That's All I Know---Kevin Drew

        The closer to Drew's last LP, Darlings, might make you wait for it, but by the time the Broken Social Scene luminary's voice lifts, and the track bursts into kaleidoscopic colors, you won't mind.

17. Somewhere Tonight---Beach House

        Though they rarely use the form, Beach House is often at their strongest while playing a waltz, and Somewhere Tonight is no exception, all wine and roses underpinned by an organ whose sharp notes tell a different story.

Disc 2:

1. Byegone---Volcano Choir***

        We know Bon Iver's Justin Vernon primarily for his aching falsetto, but something magical happens when he drops that voice several octaves, and really lets it rip.

2. Wake Up Your Saints---The National

        Horns have become a mainstay of The National's arsenal, but using them to paint a tune with blustery, haphazard joy is wholly unique to this cut from the extended edition of their 2010 masterpiece High Violet.

3. No Rest for the Wicked---Lykke Li

        Heartbreak is rarely more cinematic than it was on Li's latest disc, I Never Learn, and No Rest captures the bombastic and saturated feelings of lost love to a tee.

4. Low Key---Tweedy***

        Never has a song been more aptly titled than this one, a cozy, honey-dipped morsel about understanding the vital differences in how people express themselves.

5. Gabby---The Internet feat. Janelle Monae
        I still struggle to believe that anything this sensual and laid-back could have ever derived from the Odd Future camp, but Syd tha Kyd is the real deal, as is the jazzy, R&B band that stands behind her.

6. Weight of Love---The Black Keys
        A textbook example of how to build a song out of near nothingness and turn it into a tsunami, Weight of Love escapes the blue-tinted haze of its opening passages, and comes down like a thunder storm.

7. Do You---Spoon***
        "Someone get popsicles/Someone do something about this heat" almost couldn't be more ill-fitting if it tried; this is a track set as the blazing sun has finally decided to set, with a brilliant orange lighting up the sky.

8. Baby Blue---Action Bronson feat Chance the Rapper
        Baby Blue only gets better as it goes along, Bronson's silly sing-rap guiding us to Chance's zippy, funny, and honest verse, all played out by trumpets that almost massage the ears.

9. London Thunder---Foals
        Foals can do 'big' about as well as any band working today, which is what makes London Thunder so special; it gets there without hardly raising its voice, shedding new light on the band's world-conquering aesthetic.

10. An Ocean Between the Waves---The War on Drugs***
        Another big, bustling rock tune, The War on Drugs embrace their inner Tom Petty (or is it outer at this point?), slowly revving up the MPH until all that's left is a welcome onslaught of guitar solos.

11. Towers---Bon Iver
        So different from the aforementioned Justin Vernon song that you'd be forgiven for believing it to be a different vocalist all together, Towers is rife with feeling, and resplendent in sound.

12. Someone Great---LCD Soundsystem
        Some say it's about death, and others about love, but one thing's for certain; Someone Great is an incredibly poignant encapsulation of loss, sporting an intricate backdrop that keeps listeners' hands right next to the repeat button.

13. I Don't Want Love---The Antlers***
        A bitter kiss-off presented in glittering gloriousness by The Antlers, this is an anti-romance anthem for the ages.

14. Neptune Estate---King Krule
        Neptune Estate is like nothing else on this planet, a loopy, spacious offering that flaunts an unthinkably unique structure just below Archie Marshall's singularly gravely croon.

15. Taro---Alt-J
        The first Alt-J disc was full of moments that swapped out steady tension for cathartic release, but none more so than Taro, stings and lungs howling together as the song bursts wide open.

16. Goldtone---Kurt Vile***
        Clocking in at 10:26, Goldtone is almost more of an experience than a proper song, undulating from one movement to the next, shimmering with staggering beauty all the while.

 ***Pictured Artist

Hype Starts Here's Summer 2015 Playlist

       Hello, and welcome to Hype Starts Here's 2015 Summer Playlist, a 40-pack of tracks eager to score your neighborhood barbecue or late night house party. Because I am apparently stuck in the year 2005, the songs here have assembled as a double-disc, each made to fit on an old-fashioned blank CD (see: >80 minutes). Brief descriptions of each tune can be found below, while the Spotify playlist is just a click away. Enjoy:

Hype Starts Here's Summer 2015 Playlist

Disc 1:
1. Excuses---The Morning Benders
         That's right, I'm starting yet another Summer Playlist with Excuses. I've perhaps been excessive in my praise of this glorious, sun-soaked anthem, but my priorities are in the right place; I want EVERYONE to hear this song

2. Idle Delilah---Azealia Banks***
        A warm, breezy R&B track that manages to squeeze in Bank's irrefutable skills as a rapper in a loose, free-flowing manner.

3. If You Didn't See Me (Then You Weren't On The Dancefloor)---Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
        Don't let Dancefloor's subtle opening trick you; this is a big, blissful dollop of dance pop goodness, powered by tidal waves of synth.

4. Jackie and Wilson---Hozier
        Turns out there's more to Hozier than wrought despair; J&W is a down-home jam powered by the man's signature croon, and a massive chorus.

5. Ohio---Justice
        Ohio makes you wait for it, setting the stage with warped, echoing vocals before unfurling into a trippy, undulating anthem.

6. Lovers Carvings---Bibio
        Time to take it down a notch; LC is the prized jewel of Bibio's career, a beautiful, ruminating two-parter completely soaked in sunshine and contentment.

7. Don't Wanna Lose---Ex Hex
        Zippy pop punk that wastes no time in getting down to business, Don't Wanna Lose is a two-and-a-half minute blast that's over in the blink of an eye.

8. Jam---A Tribe Called Quest***
        Pratically any Tribe song could fit on a Summer Playlist, but Jam is a party song in the most literal sense, chronicling a night out on the town over a silky smooth beat.

9. 11th Dimension---Julian Casablancas
        This is artifice of the very best kind, a glittering wall of electronica more than capable of taking over the room.

10. Flashed Junk Mind---Milky Chance
        Simple, subtle, and radiating with warmth, FJM is a modest morsel of comfort and nostalgia.

11. Monoliths---Lotus Plaza
        You don't exactly name a song Monoliths if you're not aiming for something big; this Lotus Plaza track won't stop getting bigger and more enveloping, slowly ascending to the heavens.

12. I'm Not Part Of Me---Cloud Nothings
        A steady churning surf rock wonder with a seemingly inexhaustible store of killer hooks stuffed into its four-and-a-half minutes of existence

13. Whorehouse---ceo***
        A kaleidoscopic cacophony of colors, sounds, and motion, Whorehouse is a pop song for maniacs, as jaunty as it is bizarre.

14. 400 Lux---Lorde

        Taking it down several notches, 400 Lux is a sweet, sumptuous ditty that wraps itself all around you without lifting its voice beyond a whisper.

15. Work---Gang Starr***
        I can think of no better way to bring the party back than one of the best beats of DJ Premier's storied carrier, gliding along underneath Guru's braggadocio flow.

16. I'm Always In Love---Wilco
        Wilco is no stranger to grandstanding sing-a-longs, and Love stands among their best, a mid-june jam replete with joyful bombast.

17. Breakers---Local Natives
        From one high-flying chorus to another, Breakers is downright colossal, its rolling drums and irrepressible chants combining into an oceanic expanse.

18. The Soundmaker---Rodrigo y Gabriela
        Just two people slamming away at their acoustic guitars, RodGab slam on the gas from first moment to last, their intertwining axe-work never lass than mesmerizing.

19. It All Feels Right---Washed Out
        We close out Disc One with It All Feels Right, a down-tempo paradise that's hugs ears in the most sincere of embraces.

Disc 2:
1. Huarache Lights---Hot Chip
        Like most everything Hot Chip, HL is a captivating oddball, a dancefloor-bound paean that grows into the best kind of frenzy.

2. Byebye, Big Ocean---A Sunny Day in Glasgow
        A gargantuan shoe gaze epic with layers upon layers of radiant sounds for earbuds to parcel through.

3. King Kunta---Kendrick Lamar***
        The most straight-forward track from Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, Kunta is a leering march and a funky show-stopper rolled into one.

4. Brill Bruisers---The New Pornographers
        Yet another gigantic chorus, because really, isn't that what summer pop songs are all about? BB simply towers, its pastel enormity proving impossible to resist.

5. Evil Eye---Franz Ferdinand***
        Stomping and screaming its way into existence, Evil Eye is as tightly packed as they come, an angular, arresting jam that puts bodies in motion.

6. Turn Around---Mikal Cronin
        Cronin is a disciple of all things gorgeous, packing this four-minute wonder with drums, guitars, violins, and piano that combine into an awfully lovely cocktail.

7. Collard Greens---Schoolboy Q feat. Kendrick Lamar
        A sophomoric house party anthem for the ages, CG gets down and dirty with Q's sordid wordplay, and Lamar's boastful brilliance.

8. Big Decisions---My Morning Jacket
        The banner-carrier from MMJ's 2015 comeback album, The Waterfall, BD is prodigious crowd pleaser tinged with a country-sounding slide guitar.

9. Chateau Lobby 4 (in C for Two Virgins)---Father John Misty***
        Perhaps the most loving song about shared hatred ever written, Chateau is a dazzlingly warm ode to love with a cabinet full of vinegar.

10. Freaky---The Men
        The Men are at their best when they're in full rock-on mode, and Freaky is proof, chugging along on a mammoth riff, and riding off into the sunset.

11. Mind Playing Tricks on Me---Geto Boys***
        Has there ever been a beat less suited for the chosen lyrics? Scarface and friends might be giving into paranoia and hallucinations, but their backing is a buttery as can be.

12. Witness---Will Butler
        A playful number complete with call-and-response vocals and a tempo that refuses to lower the MPH for anything.

13. The Rest is Noise---Jamie XX
        A smaller moment from Jamie XX's brilliant In Colour, this elegant instrumental conveys a myriad of emotions without a single word.

14. Shine Blockas---Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane***
        Quite possibly Big Boi's single greatest moment outside of his Outkast career, SB is a soulful joint stuffed to the brim with swagger. Gucci Mane has never been better.

15. Robson Girl---Mac Demarco
        Slacker guitar pop doesn't get much smoother than this, Demarco's effortless croon wafting above one of the niftiest guitar riffs you'll ever hear.

16. Lost Queen---Pharrell***
        Happy might have taken over the world about a year and a half ago, but LQ stands as my personal favorite cut from 2014's G I R L, sexy, playful and romantic all at once.

17. Until We Can't (Let's Go)---Passion Pit
        Passion Pit is often at their best when at their most cosmically large, a fact that Let's Go makes evident with its swelling verses, and towering chorus.

18. It Ain't Hard To Tell---Nas***
        The closer to the greatest hip hop album of all time, Hard to Tell is the sound of dropping the mic in triumph, a pulse-quickening beat drenched in the lyrical genius that's typical of Illmatic.

19. Supersymmetry---Arcade Fire
        The ravishing closer on Arcade Fire's Reflektor serves the same purpose here; wrapping us up in its warm, graceful arms before bidding us farewell.

Bonus Tracks (AKA Stuff That's Not on Spotify):
1. The Front---Kool A.D. Feat. Toro y Moi & Amaze 88***
        Some beat makers can't quite mellow out all the way down to Kool A.D.'s level, but Toro y Moi groovy track fits him like a glove. Bonus points for Amaze 88's slippery closing verse.

2. Sunday Candy---Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment
        The show-stopping penultimate track from Donnie and the gang's 2015 effort Surf, SC is the sound of deeply felt happiness and love, invading headphones with rousing joy.

***=Contains Explicit Language

Fall 2012 Playlist

1. Our Swords---Band of Horses***
        We open our Falling Leaves playlist with this beauteous rumble, rolling along gracefully on top of a forthright baseline, and subdued, evening-time magic.
2. Earthforms---Matthew Dear
        From subtle earnestness to the seediest guy on the dance floor, Earthforms is the standout track off of Dear's 2012 effort, Beams, building and swirling around a filthy, irrepressable groove.
3. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards---Tame Impala***
        Bass lines again take president in this 60's-pop-riffing gem, woozy guitar fiddling and plain-spoken vocal yearning giving way to a sublime background jam session right around the two-minute mark.

4. & It Was U---How to Dress Well
        Tom Krell's HtDW project isn't often upbeat in nature, which makes this 3+ minute blast of Jacko-infused R&B that much more elating, its rippling beat and piercing falsetto difficult to deny.
5. Blue Bloods---Foals
        The opening few notes of BB seem to echo in a vast, limitless space, a chasm that the Oxford boys then fill all the way past the brim with funky undercurrents, sky-scaping vocals, and gorgeous mayhem.
6. Poetic Justice---Kendrick Lamar feat. Drake
        Lamar has one of the most varied, singular flows of anybody on the scene, and PJ perfectly frames his ability to instantaneously change cadences and offer true-to-life sentiments with equal aplomb.

7. Yes, I Know---Daphni***
         We may never know what the endlessly looping line, "Yes, I know; she told me so," refers to, but given the ecstatic, enormous, brass-sampling track it floats around, I'm guess it's good news.
8. Out Getting Ribs---Zoo Kid
       OGR is a bare-bones production, nothing more than Archie Marshall's slacker mumblings, and one of the most evocative guitar lines imaginable, noodling along into glowing oblivion.
9. Ego---Burial+Four Tet+Thom Yorke
         An all-star assemblage of some of the most accomplished trance-inducers in all the land, Ego is a dancy, dark, and psychedelic all at once, Yorke's ghostly croon stretching out over the tune's brooding pulse.
10. Jerome---Lykke Li***
        A powerhouse track of the, 'doomed romance,' variety, Jerome's thunderous percussion lines fire off like cannons beneath Li's tormented harmonizing.
11. Radio Ballet---Eluvium
        From a couple tracks wrought with tension to a shimmering beauty of unfettered loveliness, RB consists of nothing more than a piano, ascending to enveloping, luminescent heights.
12. Running---Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx
         Who would have thought that neon beats and Scott-Heron's father-time ramblings would make for such a pairing? Running's current runs bone-deep, all while its philosophies tickle the mind.
13. White Magic---ceo
        WM is a multi-faceted journey of a track all in 4-and-a-half minutes, churning furiously through its blustery opening half before busting open into technicolor relief.
14. Marked---EMA***
        A gritty, poignantly unpolished lament, Erika M. Anderson's voice aches with loss and desperation, smokily swaying before turning into a growling rasp, and scaling back down into a gentle hush.
15. Henrietta---Yeasayer
        Henrietta is a story of two halves, opening to a boisterous, skittering electro beat before spending act two on billowing clouds of synth, all powered by one monster of a bass line.
16. When I'm Small---Phantogram
        A nightclub bounce lent mysterious allure by vocalist Sarah Barthel's breathy, dynamic turn, all wrapped tightly in a record player's fuzzy hiss.
17. Pink Matter---Frank Ocean feat. Andre 3000
        One of Ocean's most dynamic, explosive vocal performances to date (and that's already saying something), PM lets the troubadour's voice soar, then gets out of the way for one hell of a guest verse by Andre himself.

18. So Long You Pretty Thing---Spiritualized***
        The go-for-broke finale on an album built almost entirely on the very same principle, Jason Pierce's small, personal plea unravels into an enormous, cathartic climax.

***=Pictured

Summer 2012 Playlist

1. Unbearable Why---Dr. Dog***      
        The kick-off to my notably delayed Summer 2012 Playlist (the heat's only getting started here in Portland, kids), UW is a piano-led ditty that blossoms into lovely harmonies that sound like mellow sunshine in your ears.
2. Asunder---Fang Island
        All right: no more sitting around. The lead single and best track off of FI's latest, Asunder is a celebration of rock 'n' roll rowdiness, drums pounding mercilessly, guitars jumping up and down in a sugar-fueled craze.
3. About to Die---Dirty Projectors
        Like the rest of Dirty Projectors' summer LP, About to Die finds a miraculous balance between the group's overt eccentricity, and cathcy-as-hell pop song craft.
4. Missing Pieces---Jack White***
         A bluesy, rocky sway squarely in the linage of White's best work with The White Stripes, tossed up into the stratosphere of awesomeness by the killer solos that make up its bridge.
5. Killer Dope---DJ Quik
         One of the most arrogant, unabashedly self-loving tracks in recent memory, Quik's tune grooves along on a smooth, summery beat, and concludes with one of the greatest shout-outs I've ever heard.
6. Monoliths---Lotus Plaza
         60's/70's rock, spruced up with all of the advantages of today, building into a glorious, cathartic tune that you never saw coming.
7. Wave Goodbye---Ty Segall Band***
        The biggest, filthiest, most epic punk track to grace my ears in all of 2012, Wave Goodbye is a positively sinister jam, becoming more expansive and more gnarly with each passing, ass-kicking second.

8. Mona Lisa---Atlas Sound
        And back down to miniature loveliness. Mona Lisa is a simple tune, wherein Bradford Cox refuses to ever raise his voice, but the song's glittering warmth cannot be denied.
9. (Druun)---DIIV
        An instrumental that serves both as a segue into the second half of the playlist, and smiling, nostalgic sound scape in which one could easily become lost.

10. The Mending of the Gown---Sunset Rubdown***
        Still the single bast song ever released by Spencer Krug's Sunset Rubdown outfit, Gown is relentlessly exuberant, flying through its semi-lengthy runtime on wings made of guitars and keyboards.
11. Heaven's on Fire---The Radio Dept.
        The Radio Dept. can be a bit polite for my taste, and while HOF probably says its please's and thank you's as well, its central piano melody is an ear worm that you won't mind having around in the least.
12. Muscle 'N Flo---Menomena***
        Menomena are at their best when they're at their most audacious, a fact that Muscle 'N Flo leaves no doubt about, throwing all manner of instrumentation into one monumental pop song.
13. It's Real---Real Estate
        From expansive and elaborate to small and intimate, It's Real is a tiny morsel of a tune that sounds about as much like Summer as music can, wonderful and inviting in every way imaginable.
14. Turn it Around---The Men
        The Men love nothing more than to rip right into it, and Open Your Heart opener Turn it Around does absolutely nothing to defy this trend. It's piss-and-vinager rocking out from first second to last.
15. Summer Holiday---Wild Nothing***
        If Summer Holiday had come out in the 80's, we'd probably all have it associated with some John Hughes movie which it inevitably soundtracked. As is, you'll have to make you own memories to this charming, glowing trip to yesteryear.

16. King of the Beach---Wavves
        Aaaaand back to rocking. KotB is a lively, sprinting pop-punk offering that can stand right next to the band's best, slamming on the gas while frontman Nathan Williams lays claim to the throne of sand.
17. World News---Local Natives
        The most warm-weather track on an album chuck-full of them, WN soars on the elating vocal harmonies that helped the band make its name, packaged with some pretty sublime axe-work to boot.
18. Rapping 2 U---Das Racist
        Rapping is 4:41 in length, only a matter of seconds deprived of sensational flow. The track possesses only three verses, but each is so terrific, you feel like you've had a whole hip hop meal by the time you're done.
19. Default---Django Django
        A barn-burner of a pop rock song, set to an irrepressible stomp, powered further by some of the most unique vocal pairings of 2012.

20. Meet Me in the Basement---Broken Social Scene***
        My Summer Playlist isn't looking to go down without a fight, which is why it places rock-until-the-walls-start-to-crumble instrumental Meet Me in the Basement, a rambunctious riot that's best heard at full-blast.

***Artist Pictured

Spring 2012 Playlist

1. Bleak Bake---King Krule***
        The warm and woozy opener to Archy Marshall's debut EP under the moniker King Krule, Bleak Bake floats casually along on light, welcoming guitar strums, and subtle electro-trappings.

2. Lately (I've Been On My Back)---BOAT
       A goofy-fun little trifle from the Seattle-based Pop/Punk group, steadily building into jubilant, chant-worthy climactic shouts. Perfect for cranking in your car.

3. Furr---Blitzen Trapper
        A lovely little gem from Portland's own Blitzen Trapper, Furr has a sweetly nostalgic strum, and its lyrics, as penned by frontman Eric Earley, are rich with natural allusions to Spring time's sun-soaked majesty.

4. The Look---Metronomy***
        One of the most finely-tuned acts in music today, Metronomy takes razor-sharp, ear-worm melodies, and drives them home with aplomb. The Look might be the best example yet.

5. Two Doves---Dirty Projectors
         Who could resist this little wonder, wherein Angel Deradoorian reminds of a higher-voiced Nico, stealing center-stage from frontman David Longstreth, delivering something straight-forward, and emotionally pure.

6. Burned Out---The Field


        The Field releases songs that you can get lost inside of. Burned Out is no different, 7 and a half minutes of swirling, enveloping gorgeousness almost leaves you light-headed when its over.


7. Cannons---Youth Lagoon***
        Lo-Fi Bedroom Pop done right, Cannons takes a familiar road to heart-on-sleeve, fist-pumping glory, but where it arrives is big, intimate, and rousing to no end.


8. Riding for the Feeling---Bill Callahan
        A bummed-out tune for a dusty-roads traveler, Riding for the Feeling fills the air of any room in which it plays like a palpable mist, Callahan's beauteous blues doled out over 6 sweeping minutes.


9. Rigamortis---Kendrick Lamar
         One of the absolute best Hip Hop songs of 2011, Lamar has a lazy phrasing that creates a tantalizing juxtaposition against the way he positively plows through tongue twisters.


10. Fast Jabroni---Surfer Blood
        Just good, ol'-fashioned College Rock, done to giggly, head-banging perfection by one of the only bands out there who still makes the stuff.




11. Sweet Moment---Bowerbirds***
        Pretty much all of Bowerbirds' latest album, The Clearing, is ideally suited for Spring listening, but none more than Sweet Moment, a sunset marvel filled with sticky-sweet harmonies.

12. Tenuousness---Andrew Bird
        Andrew Bird at his most relaxing (and this guy was on Yo Gabba Gabba... so...), tenuousness is a gentle concoction constructed out of a clapping gallop, and Bird's ever-playful lyricism.

13. Fast Peter---Moonface
        An engrossing rush of looped organs, Fast Peter immediately feels exhaustive until its groove settles down into your bones, topped by some of Spencer Krug's most earnest, charming and goofy lyrics to date.


14. Family Tree---TV on the Radio
        A ballad if ever there was one, Family Tree is TV on the Radio clearing out space for Tunde Adebimpe to deliver a power-house vocal performance, garnished with violins, cellos, and other lovelinesses.

15. Weekend---Smith Westerns***
        An all-fun, all-the-time little guitar jam that would have seemingly been in place on the Ed Sullivan Show, Weekend will hop right into your head, and stay there for days.


16. Raconte-Moi Une Histoire---M83
        One of the only songs I've ever heard that could accurately be described as both adorable and psychedelic, M83's odd little number tells an oddly heartening story, placed on top of shifting, exciting instrumentals.


17. Lord Knows Best---Dirty Beaches
         Lord Knows Best's scratchy, looped piano sample is so hypnotizing that you almost start to see the world in slow motion, caught in the tune's strange glow.

18. Cherry---Ratatat***
        Quite possibly the only truly mellow tune in Ratatat's catalogue, Cherry is the sound of walking through open fields, and seeing and feeling the season's change.

Winter 2011 Playlist

***Each title is a clickable link to its respective song on Youtube***

1. The Birth and the Death of Day---Explosions in the Sky*
        Perhaps a bit heavier than one might expect from a first track, but an epic of this song's size can really only go first or last. The tune is perfectly befitting of its title, booming into life before receding into mellow beauty, only to burst all the more gloriously at the track's conclusion. No vocals required, Explosions make ridiculously emotive music without uttering a word, and this is a prime example.


2. Alien Observer---Grouper
        Portland's own Grouper released a double disc of material earlier this year, and to my mind, this song is easily her finest creation of 2011. Filled only with endlessly looped vocals, and a stray, echoing guitar part, Alien Observer uses simple parts to weave a dense, immersive sounds. Both eerie and beautiful, the song is filled with strange, wintry enchantments.


3. Winter '05---Ra Ra Riot
        Decidedly more fun that either of my previous choices, Ra Ra Riot opens this one up with strings that drip with romance, Wes Miles' love-lorn declaration that, "If you were here, Winter wouldn't pass quite so slow," repeated over and over again over the chorus.

4. The Wilhelm Scream---James Blake*
        Minimal isn't really a word often associated with Dub-Step these days, so thank god for James Blake, who keeps on fighting the good fight. Like many of his best tracks, Wilhelm is sparse and uncluttered, Blake's echoing auto-tune sounding distant and worn over small beats that grow and grow as time passes.


5. Take Care---Beach House
        You almost can't hear the beginning of Take Care without envisioning snowfall. The track is somehow both warm and cold, like sitting in a warm living room and watching the frost blow outside, simple gorgeous sounds repeated until they sink deep into your being.


6. NYC---Interpol
        From what is, without a doubt, the finest album of their career (Turn on the Bright Lights), NYC seems to float into existence, a night-time number without even a touch of the grit and rock often linked to the band. It's a swoony sing-a-long, perfect for ill-lit drives in the planet's coldest season.


7. Run---Air
        Loopy and disorienting, Run is a strange song written by a strange band, but but that doesn't prevent its second half from revealing a startling beauty to the thing. At first mind-bending, and them heart-warming.


8. Ocean of Noise---Arcade Fire
        One of the truly, 'big,' songs by a band who goes big unlike anyone else on the scene today,  the verses of this epic are dreary and cold, held together by a gentle guitar hook, and a thudding, ominous bass. The track builds and builds, exploding into brass and strings as Win Butler wails away at the troubles of the universe.

9. Lovecrimes (Somehow Unavailable on Youtube)---Frank Ocean*
        Frank Ocean is all about being silky-smooth, and Lovecrimes might just be his most accomplished song yet in this regard. The beat is simple and sexy, allowing space for Ocean to not have to yell over his backing. Scaled back R&B masterclass.


10. Lovesick Teenagers---Bear in Heaven
        In contrast to Lovecrimes, Lovesick hits like a ton of bricks upon arrival. The tune is powered by unrelenting synths, straight-forward and enveloping, with a chorus that opens up into something massive and taut.


11. Winter's Love---Animal Collective 
        Though Winter's Love comes from an odder, more divisive period in Animal Collective's career, the track itself should prove appealing to just about everyone. There's something undeniably tribal going on here, from the light taps and chants of the song's first half, to the pounding, jovial tomfoolery of its second.

12. Snookered---Dan Deacon*
        One of the craziest, most singular artists working today, Deacon employs his mad-cap take on electro-indie to marvelous effect in Snookered. Unfolding slowly over the course of 8+ minutes, the song sees xylophone tinkering proceed a dazzling fury of vocal samples and computerized mania, always retaining its inherent loveliness.


13. Epilogue---The Antlers
        On a playlist full of heartbreakers (It is Winter, after all), Epilogue is doubtlessly the more wrenching. The closing statement on the band's beautiful, miserable Hospice, the tune is built only on an acoustic guitar, and Peter Silberman's pained, impassioned wailings.


14. What's a Girl to Do?---Bat for Lashes
        Dark and spacious, this Bat for Lashes track fills up the room with the pounding of a bass drum, a tricky little keyboard ditty, and more echo than you could even imagine. The chorus is where the thing really blooms, Natasha Khan's voice sailing above it all. Be sure to watch the Music Video.


15. Flume---Bon Iver
        As if the sound of Justin Vernon's project weren't enough, the words Bon Iver even roughly translate to, 'Good Winter.' This isn't exactly sunny music, a sturdy, weary steel-string guitar powering Vernon's miraculous falsetto, the tune's well of sadness seeping under your skin.

16. Colorado---Grizzly Bear*
        One of my very most favorite closing tracks ever, Colorado is a psychedelic experience that makes use of crushingly deep piano chords, and about a million layers of vocalist Ed Droste's ghostly call. The song is bold and confrontational, benefitting from both to become one of the most expansive knock-outs to come from indie music in years.


*---Artist Pictured