I also forgot to mention, I believe I have a pretty consistent record of being a bit tongue-in-cheek with my opening song on these playlists. This is no different. I wanted to shout out Marian Anderson and it had the right song title, and I thought my transition out of it kind of worked in an amusing way. I can't pretend to know her music very well, and I don't think anything of the song.
I'm a bit surprised at how many have never heard Rocket Launcher, but its obviously an age thing.
The song got heavy airplay (at least here in Boston) in the mid 80's. Was always fun to sing along to in a party setting, especially the "some son of a bitch would die" line.
That song was the big breakout hit when the members simultaneously released solo albums.
Ace's album was by far the best overall, Peter Criss' was complete dog shit.
I remember reading reviews for all four of those on rateyourmusic a while back, and man are there some hilariously savage takes on some of them. But even better are the reviews for that fantasy rock opera thing that Kiss did. People really don't like that album.
So, Laz's list overall. Very eclectic as you would expect from him, with a lot of surprising choices that end up working really well (e.g. Ace Frehley, Van Halen, Neil Diamond). I liked that those showed sides of artists that you would not normally associate with them. The Dylan selection was also a mega-deep cut. There were a lot of tracks here I would never have come across via my usual listening habits but ended up enjoying - Throwing Muses is an example. And I have to check out that Ween album right away.
Kendrick is a cool opener. He should drop a new album during this pandemic, as a treat.
The T. Rex track is great. Some Beatlesy vibes here, and I love the drumming.
Never heard of Joel Plaskett but that's a nice song.
Love the Chance and Noname track. Got to see Noname live a few years back and she's wonderful.
I really only know the biggest Floyd albums (DSOTM, WYWH, The Wall) so this Floyd track is lovely. David Gilmour's vocals were nice to hear. It's been awhile since I've listened to anything by them.
Talking Heads...great, duh. So this was my favorite section of the list.
Ventilator Blues...I used a track off Exile myself! One of the greatest albums ever, and a hugely formative one for me personally. So I'm always gonna love Exile-era Stones.
RIP J Dilla
On to Travis' list. I probably won't be able to get to Laz's until the weekend because of the downloading and whatnot. Easiest to just get the Spotify lists out of the way first.
In keeping with the theme I got from Dave's list, I wonder how many of these songs will be new to me. Perusing the list to begin with, I'd say that number is definitely some! Delirious starts out and reminds me of the THX movie intro at the beginning. I hadn't heard this song before. Seems very on the nose, but that's not bad. I really like the production on this with the panned sample hits. The melody is unexpected, but nice and it doesn't seem forced like some unexpected melodies I've heard. The transition to Joga was good, but I've never been a Björk fan and nothing about this song changes that. I don't hate it.
And now Fall In Love. I knew this song, I love this song. This is the best Phantogram song in my opinion. Which is funny because it's followed by Empire Ants, which I could say the same thing about with Gorillaz. This is a spectacular section. And not because I knew these two, but because I think they're the best songs by their artists.
I had not heard Running, or anything by Jessie Ware. It was nice enough. Loud Places was mostly good, my gripe is with the mixing on that song. The bass is really overbearing. The rest of it is nice though. A pleasant surprise (bass aside), since I thought I'd be bored to tears - the first album by the xx was hard for me to get through. Transition into Sportstar was masterful. Another where I've not heard the song nor the artist before. It was good. Another song/artist I haven't heard with flyin'. Musically felt like modern Motown to me, which I'm here for. Then there's Slide, which was good once it got going. Not sure if it's something that'll draw me back, and the same can be said of Hit Me Where It Hurts.
Maybe I'm just projecting, but I definitely feel like your taste has changed a bit since the last time I participated in a Desert Island. This is a lot poppier than I expected, which continues with the next section - Gone is fantastic and I'd never really given Charli XCX the time of day before but that might need to change. And Julien is just great. One of my favs by Carly Rae. And Never Again is solid stuff as well. Really dig what's going on with the stereo image there. Grimes is another artist I feel like I should like because I see her mentioned in many places, but for whatever reason I never have. Flesh without Blood was just fine - probably nothing that forces my hand to check her out more, but we'll see!
The first rough transtion for me was into Endless Summer, another I'd never heard before. It was nice and soaked in reverb. Jay Som is an artist the drummer for my future live band is obsessed with, so I've actually heard this one. She's a great musician and this song is fantastic! Then the next bit gets super warm and fuzzy with In Undertow, Future Me Hates Me, and Flyway. They kind of meld together. Alvvays is a band I know some of, but obviously not enough because I didn't recognize In Undertow.
And I need to take a break at this point and will pick it back up after a couple meetings this afternoon.
I'm not sure if my taste has grown more pop inclined in general so much as I've found more appreciation for the artistry of great pop music. I think the songwriting in a lot of these songs is superb and I really appreciate that as a musician.
Awsome that you were into the Charli, Shura and Jay Som tracks without being overly familiar with the artists. I think they're some of the most exciting that we have today and I wanted to make sure my list showed off what I find exciting about current music after five years away from DI.
With that being said...most of the second half of my list is comprised of tracks that are at least 15 years old. lol
Generally familiar with the earlier songs. I started to listen to Susanne Sundfor some time ago at LM’s recommendation. I like her but sometimes can’t get into her stuff. But this is a good opening song.
Homogenic being one of my favorite albums of that decade, hard not to like Joga’s placement there.
Phantogram’s output hasn’t been great of late, but Voices was good, and Fall In Love is one of its best songs. Incidentally, Rhye’s The Fall would fit well here.
Over the years I have gravitated towards shorter playlists because longer ones tend to lose me at times. I think this was the case for that Gorillaz-Shura stretch, even though there are a number of songs that I like here (Loud Places in particular). Slide provided a good break from that mood, I think, so it got back into it.
That transition from Hit Me Where It Hurts to Gone was excellent (even though Charli XCX has never clicked with me). And leading into my favorite stretch so far from CARLY through the second best song on Art Angels.
Endless Summer was added to my DI Good Discoveries playlist.
The outro in Superbike is so cool. Future Me Hates Me is really good - another discovery for me.
Kero Kero Bonito is another artist that I listened to at LM’s recommendation (didn’t you have it in a best of list, maybe a couple of years ago?). I didn’t really get into them at that point.
I’ll need to pause here at the halfway mark. Thoughts for the first part. This is a super consistent mood for a playlist, full of great songs that I like and a few new ones that I discovered. And these styles/genres are mostly stuff that I love, so it was a good listen throughout.
Oh, and I was expecting a Hatchie song in that first half.
And the fuzzy warmth continues with Dsco. Great fuzzy synths in the instrumental part. I Love You Like The Way That I Used To Do really reminds me of a band I listened to a lot right out of high school called The American Analog Set. So it brings out a bunch of similarity-nostalgia there. The Stereolab song felt off to me. I don't really care for it. It sounds like the vocals were sung directly into a blanket. It kind of gives me a vibe of suffocation or claustrophobia. Which, maybe is what it's trying to evoke. It reminded me of panic attacks, though, so it wasn't something I'll probably ever relisten to unless it's in a future Desert Island. Marbles kinda also gives me that feeling, but less so. Reminds me a little bit of Courtney Barnett in the way he delivers the lines. And then Before We Begin sounds like a breath of fresh air compared to the last two, more open and airy, but then it gets all stifled up again with Master of None. At this point, I checked another song to make sure my headphones weren't having some issue, but I think these are all just artistic choice muffles.
The next section is more what I think of as what I'd find on your Desert Island playlist. Solid Beach Boys selection. I'd never heard Weyes Blood before and Something to Believe was pleasant. I've seen Weyes Blood mentioned on here before and it seems like I should investigate further. The same could be said of Angel Olsen. I think I'd only heard maybe one of her songs before? Hot Dreams reminded me a lot of Father Son Holy Ghost by Girls, which is a very solid record, so you could say I liked it quite a bit. This is a section where I need to check out the artists more.
Erica America has a good chorus, but I don't find a whole lot more about it that I really cared for. Triangles always make me cringe. Haha! Jody reminded me of being a kid.
When I was a kid, we only listened to oldies from about 1960-1970 and Christian music. Something about the production of that song reminds me heavily of early-to-mid 1980s Amy Grant. Some people might take that as a dig, but that is not a dig from me. That is a compliment! It totally makes me feel like I should be in one of the bedrooms at my parents' house listening to something on cassette while laying across the floor and playing Risk with my brothers.
Nashville Parent also did very little for me.
Based on my spoiler above, I feel like I should have know the songs in the next section, but I didn't. They felt like classics though, from Dusty Springfield through Laura Nyro. Fiona Apple continues to not do much for me, which I'm sure is some sort of musical blasphemy - it feels like everyone I know likes her. And wow, can't believe I'd never heard Exile Vilify before. It was a great way to end things.
Final thoughts:
My favorite duo was Fall In Love->Empire Ants.
My favorite stretch was Gone->I Love You Like The Way That I Used To Do
My least favorite part was The Flower Called Nowhere->Master of None
I'll probably look into Jessie Ware, Charli XCX, Grimes, Weyes Blood, and Angel Olsen and take deeper dives into Jay Som and Alvvays.
This is a classic Travis playlist. The flow is nearly impeccable, and the quality is top notch. Thanks for putting this whole thing together!
Thanks for listening and giving such detailed thoughts, Andrew!
I was definitely going for that warm, fuzzy, mildly suffocating sound on purpose with parts of this list. I wanted it to feel like being in a lethargic, anxious quarantine for weeks on end so I can go back to it and feel that it captured a place in time, but I didn't want every song to be depressing and hopeless. So it became a matter of finding the right production.
So I never knew so much music I liked came from Philly.
I found the initial section a bit hard to get into down to Hoodrich Disco, but on a second run through I came round to liking the Vacationer song.
After that you had me with the Roots and the next run of tracks down to Circa Survive. Highlights in this section were Wolfman Jack, I knew of Todd Rundgren but never gave him much of a look in but it's definitely a bit of a boogie.
Cayetana, The Wonder Years and Circa Survive songs were a great change of pace and I really loved them and I didn't really know any of those groups so more to dig into there I hope. The transitions in this section as mentioned by others were top notch and it built nicely.
I did maybe zone out a bit in the section that followed, the flow and everything was great but it maybe blended a bit too well even though it contained lots of bands I follow like Waxahatchee and Dr Dog.
It picked up for me at Kurt Vile again. Highlighting the artists I was more unfamiliar with, Japanese Breakfast, Man Man ( loved this one) and Hop Along it was a stronger finish for me than the start.
And for the life of me I am so sure I have heard The Districts tune before on TV show or something as it feels extremely familiar to me but its bugging me that I can't place it.
But anyway lots of new stuff for me to look further into which is great and its inspiring me to see what I could do for Manchester without being too obvious!
Just looking at it on paper, you wouldn't think it would flow as well as it did. But lots of the transitions between the rock and rap tunes surprisingly worked quite well! There are a few rough spots that come off as abrupt changes though. Besides the transitions, I like how the whole playlist kind of had this heady feel, like a night out in a smoky lounge throughout different eras and settings. It's the type of playlist I could picture working for a house party with a good of friends with eclectic tastes. Or as your image shows, a day out on the lake.
Going song-by-song:
Blow My High - I'm much more familiar with recent Kendrick than his earlier work. His talent is of course impossible to ignore at any era - but I do prefer his work on To Pimp A Butterfly or DAMN to this.
Cosmic Dancer - This song reminded me that I need to actually listen to Electric Warrior in full. This song is far gentler and windswept than I thought T-Rex generally went. Not bad at all though and I like the warped guitar solo to close.
I I Had A Rocket Launcher - Really enjoyed this one. It's super 80s and the lyrics read as overly earnest on paper, but Cockburn sells it with his performance. He's got that Springsteen-style commitment and belief that makes you nod your head in agreement rather than roll your eyes.
Waiting to Be Discovered & What's the Use? - Neither of these made much of an impression on me sadly. I like the guitar tone in the former and Thundercat's work in the latter though.
Da Funk - Great segue from What's the Use? It's one of those Daft Punk songs that I keep forgetting exists, then I hear it again and rediscover what a fun song it is.
Lost - I've tried but Chance just doesn't do anything for me.
Wot's...Uh The Deal - I've never heard this Pink Floyd song before but really enjoyed it. It's got such a chilled-out vibe without the underlying darkness of latter-period Floyd.
Life During Wartime - Classic Talking Heads, my second favorite of their songs behind Once In A Lifetime. I really need to relisten to Fear of Music again. A great album I don't listen to often enough.
Do Not Fire! & Out of Touch - There is absolutely no reason why these two songs should flow well together. Like, at all. And yet, this transition might be my favorite moment in the entire playlist. Going from such a woozy, sinister vibe into the polar opposite of that and having it still work? Fantastic.
Ventilator Blues & Fair Chance - The former is so sludgy and bluesy and perfectly fitting for the Stones. Bit of a rough transition from Out of Touch but works wonderfully sliding into the bubbles and falsettos of Fair Chance.
Impossibilium - I don't know the Tragically Hip's music, but I really like this song. It's got such a great R.E.M. style vibe, with tons of passion and unique college-rock riffage.
So Far to Go & How Does It Feel - Another couple of songs that shouldn't really segue well, but I thought this worked well. Plus, How Does It Feel is an unexpectedly effective closer. It's like when the party's wrapping up and you're saying see you later to your friends, anticipating many more good times together.
Overall, a strong way to kick off this Desert Island! Next up is Laz.
I know when people say I have a Philly accent, they're most certainly saying I sound like Elton John.
I appreciate your feedback. Are there specific references in there? Yes. In addition to that Meek Mill song, I used to live directly across the street from his grandmother. She used to put signs in her windows in support of Meek while he was imprisoned by a racist judge for a questionable parole violation. We were one block down the street from Marian Anderson Park, as she grew up in the neighborhood I lived in. I met Anthony Green, the lead singer of Circa Survive, because he was recording a solo album in a studio outside Northwest Philly that I used to live near. Kurt Vile and Victoria Legrand both went to high school near where I grew up. Todd Rundgren is from the same town as my father. I know a couple people who play in the smaller bands on this list, like Queen of Jeans. I've been in a music video of theirs. Frances Quinlan (frontwoman of Hop Along) used to tend bar at Johnny Brenda's, a well known small venue in Fishtown (she went from there to co-headlining a bill with Future Islands when I saw them last summer). And Johnny Brenda's is the venue where my buddy who introduced me to The Districts saw them play an insane New Year's set a few years back. They're originally from Lancaster County, where they played in the same music scene as a cousin of mine out there. There's a lot of intertwining.
But as to your question about theme, there is no specific story. It's a vibe that I think inevitably occurs when everyone's from the same area. I see myself or friends in a lot of the songs here. I've lived in South Philly for three years now, and have never lived farther than 20 miles from downtown. Everyone from Philly views themselves as an underdog; the city has "little brother" status when it comes to New York, and in the minds of many even smaller east coast cities like Boston and Washington. The Meek Mill song "Dreams and Nightmares" that I used was the anthem for the Eagles during the 2017 season that ended with their improbable run to the championship. The song "Came Out Swinging" has the lyric "I came out swinging from a South Philly basement," which I think is a bit of a thesis statement for certain people from here.
The title obviously comes from that David Lynch quote I cited about how living in Philadelphia impacted him, and the cover is a photo of he and Jack Nance while they were filming Eraserhead. That image has them in Callowhill, which is a post-industrial neighborhood which is well known in the Philly music scene, because it has several notable music venues like Union Transfer, Electric Factory, and Underground Arts. That's also the neighborhood my brother lives in.
The Heidecker album is straightforward, but funny at various times because he's just a funny person. It's not meant to be a joke song; there are a couple that are closer to joke songs on the album, like "Ghost in My Bed" and "I Saw Nicolas Cage." I actually find the title track's chorus to be funny simply because he's mundanely describing LA geography in a soaring manner. But I wanted to include one of his songs, not only because he's a Temple graduate (which qualifies him for this list), but also because I thought his album was surprisingly impressive when it came out. And everyone in Philly is hungover constantly, so it's definitely appropriate for the culture.
I also forgot to mention, I believe I have a pretty consistent record of being a bit tongue-in-cheek with my opening song on these playlists. This is no different. I wanted to shout out Marian Anderson and it had the right song title, and I thought my transition out of it kind of worked in an amusing way. I can't pretend to know her music very well, and I don't think anything of the song.
Axver, work has not been kind to me tonight. I tried to listen to your list. I have a feeling it's going to have to wait until tomorrow now But this Woodes track is fire.
Ah shit, I'm probably going to have a really hard time picking between Ax and Travis' lists for my favorite if it keeps up like this. Though, if I do hear a better one, this competition is going to be a favorite DI of mine
I didn't know a single song on this list going other than Floyd and Talking Heads. Those two are obviously great.
Favorite new discoveries here are T-Rex, Cockburn, Joel Plaskett, Daft Punk, Hall & Oates, Tragically Hip, Sade.
I didn't expect T-Rex to sound like that. I mean, I pretty much only know Children Of The Revolution, and I just assumed that glam rock was their thing, but this was decidedly not that. I enjoyed it a lot though.
Cockburn is good easy-listening 80s fun.
I really liked that Plaskett track. That riff that drives the song from about 2:10 to 3:40 is huge. It's reminding me of something but I can't put my finger on it. Definitely grooving to it.
I've always liked Daft Punk, but that's a track I haven't heard...probably because it's pre-Discovery. This must be one of the first things they did. Anyway, I dig. Found myself bopping my head with it.
I don't listen to H&O on purpose too often, but I always enjoy it when I do.
As someone whose wheelhouse is alternative rock from the 80s and 90s, I feel like I should probably know the Tragically Hip, but aside from knowing they exist, I really don't. This track makes me think I should change that.
The Slade track is probably my favorite new discovery here. Another group I need to get to know better.
I didn't much care for some of the hip-hop tracks. Chance and Mac Miller left me cold. Even Kendrick...I think TPAB is fantastic, and DAMN is good too, but I find myself having a hard time getting into earlier Kendrick. Good Kid Mad City didn't do much for me, and this track from Section.80 didn't fare much better.
Outside of that, the only track on the whole thing that didn't do anything for me was the Stones track. That's just me though - I've always had a hard time getting into Exile. I truly don't get its reputation.
As a whole, the flow was good throughout - favorite stretch was Floyd->H&O(I was bracing myself for Madvillian->H&O to be a jarring transition but it actually worked much better than I thought it would) - and I made a good handful of discoveries and have some new artists to look into. I enjoyed it.
oh I thought it was a genius opener for the playlist itself.
