New Summer Playlist: Like a Spark
I used to make playlists a lot. In college, back on an old blog, I posted a themed-mix every month. When life started to take over, those dropped to seasonal mixes. The last few years, I’ve been averaging a playlist a year. I spend too much time on these, thinking through structure, transitions, vibes but it’s still a fun activity for me and a way to sort through the always-too-much music available to me. My last few mixes have been ambient: a handful of Moog-centered mixes that I call “Garden Songs” and an guitar-driven instrumental playlist.
I’ve been wanting to make one that was louder, that captures the feeling of the long days of summer. When I heard the new Rostam album, I knew the first track, Like a Spark, was the opening of a new playlist and I knew I wanted to end with Bruce Hornsby’s “Take a Light Strain”, one of my favorite songs of this year so far. This mix, also called Like a Spark, is my attempt to find the songs that go in between, connecting one from the other. I hope you enjoy it!
Listen to the playlist on Spotify
And here’s the tracklisting:
- Like a Spark - Rostam
- Sunflower (feat. Steve Lacy) - Vampire Weekend
- Scabs - Speedy Ortiz
- Dirty Work - Steely Dan
- Rain - Dando Shaft
- These Days - Nico
- Waters of March - Art Garfunkel
- Bless the Telephone - Labi Siffre
- The Deer in the Forest Part 1 - Arthur Russell
- Stepping Out for Air - Bill Callahan
- Seven Degrees - Friko
- Anything You Want - Spoon
- Hollywood Baby - 100 gecs
- Identical - Phoenix
- Take a Light Strain - Bruce Hornsby
As always, all my playlists are collected on my webiste, right here.