Artist-Curated Playlists

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...

Now approaching their 50th (!) year as a band, Sparks (a.k.a. Ron and Russell Mael) have been at the forefront of many crucial developments in pop music—glam rock, electronic disco, New Wave, neoclassical baroque n roll—and have put their own singular, absurdist stamp on them all. As their fabulous recent release, Hippopotamus, proves, Sparks’ flair for extravagant art-pop and whip-smart lyricism remains undiminished. And as their contribution to The Dowsers attests, nobody puts together a playlist quite like the Brothers Mael. Here are their liner notes:“Hasai Ojisan,” Shokichi Kina: The most infectious song of all time, from Okinawa, and a huge hit in Japan in the ‘70s“Maria Bartiromo,” Joey Ramone: The late great vocalist for the sublime Ramones solo ode to the TV financial babe.“London by Night,” The Singers Unlimited: Exquisite a cappella work that far outshines even The Beach Boys“Agharta Prelude (Part I),” Miles Davis: Daring to break from his modal work with two amazing quintets in order to explore new musical territory and risk alienating his followers and critics, Miles Davis is always an inspiration.“HeadBangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!,” BABYMETAL: Great fusion of heavy metal and cute Japanese girl pop. One of the best live acts in the world.“I Love to Rhyme,” George and Ira Gershwin: A hymn to the art of, well, rhyming. George Gershwin was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, both in popular song and in "serious" music.“Du hast,” Rammstein: As heavy as heavy gets.“Twisted,” Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross: A lovely ode to insanity.“Past, Present & Future”: The Shangri-Las: Hyper-emotional, classically tinged pop song by bouffanted beauties masterminded by Shadow Morton.“Symphony No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 65: III,” Dmitri Shostakovich: Rocks like a motherfucker!“911 Is a Joke,” Public Enemy: Dense and tense music from the magnificent duo. Great in concert.“Baltimore Oriole,” Bob Dorough: Idiosyncratic and thus cool vocals by a jazz great.“All Dressed Up for School,” The Beach Boys: Great pre-genius work by Brian Wilson and more interesting to us than the entire Pet Sounds and Smile albums combined.

Whats This Playlist All About? The grungy indie rockers compile a list of favorite tunes as they prepare for the April release of their third album, Twerp Verse.

What You Get: A playful, kitschy mix of oddball sounds that oddly kind of work together. Find yourself swaying to the doe-eyed Irish folk of The Roches before thrusting to the X-rated raps of Cupcakke. Elsewhere, charming lo-fi (Frankie Cosmos) sits alongside groovy, kaleidoscopic pop (Shintaro Sakamoto); streamlined dance bangers (Zedd); growling metalcore (Code Orange); and spooky, melancholic marvels (Sparklehorse).

Greatest Discovery: Young singer-songwriter Sidney Gishs "I Eat Salads Now," a witty and charmingly weird slice of DIY guitar-pop.

How Does This Reflect Speedy Ortiz in 2018? Twerp Verse singles like the dark, twisted "Villain" and the disorienting pop of "Lean In When I Suffer" blend together some of the more warped riffs and sardonic wit sprinkled throughout the playlist. Like the mix itself, Speedy Ortiz have become a little harder to pin down—in a good way.

Seattle band Spesh spin out a swirling, dream-pop sound lovingly indebted to British C86 indie and shoegaze. The songs are soft-focus but supple, faded technicolor seeping in at the edges to overtake the typical Pacific Northwest gray. For this playlist, the band dig deep into UK influences such as the Pastels, Cocteau Twins, Orange Juice, and many more, but also include further afield faves from Björk to Roedelius. Spesh says, "[This is] music we dance, eat, sing, cry, love, and wake up to. Songs and bands that have influenced the way we see and do and play things."

Glasgow’s Spinning Coin are the latest in a long, storied lineage of winsome, delightfully discordant Scottish indie-pop bands. With their Edwyn Collins-produced debut, Permo, due to arrive on Domino Records on Nov. 10, the group collaborated to make us this playlist of current and eternal favourites.

SEAN ARMSTRONG (VOCALS, GUITAR)Diana Ross & the Supremes, “Someday Well Be Together”Listened pretty much exclusively to Diana Ross & the Supremes for a couple of years. Fell in love with the vocal style—soft and harsh at the same time. Amazing vibrato, and the songs were so intense and real.Sean Nicholas Savage, “Pupil of The Night”Otherworldly pop music. Listened to his album Flamingo over and over in the van on my first tour of Europe. It was the perfect soundtrack—full of wonder and strangeness, and an incredible voice.King Krule, “Czech One”Really love the way King Krule produces his music. A loose collage with jazz influences, and a lot of feeling. Warm, brilliant atmospheric sounds.Keel Her, “Dont Look At Me”Fantastic and prolific. Has thousands of songs, all brilliant, and quite varied. Very inspiring to anyone who wants to home-record.RACHEL TAYLOR (VOCALS, KEYBOARD)Éliane Radigue, “Kyema (Intermediate States)”A beautiful and restorative piece of drone music. For years I would listen to it while falling asleep. Its a nice listen on a long walk as well.Mary Margaret OHara, “Bodys in Trouble”This record is brilliant. Mary rarely performs these days, but every year she puts on a St. Patricks party in Toronto called The Martian Awareness Ball. When we met, she invited me to play one of them without having heard my music. It was my first gig! I felt so lucky.Tasseomancy, “29 Palms”Sari and Romys tunes are gorgeous and trippy. I remember when they released this record, it felt like Id received a gift.Elliott Smith, “Coming up Roses”Every autumn I seem to fall back into an Elliott Smith vortex. This is one of my favourites.JACK MELLIN (VOCALS, GUITAR)Brigid Mae Power, “I Left Myself For A While”A beautiful song from an amazing album I have been listening to obsessively for weeks.Anne Briggs, “Ride, Ride” *Anne Briggs makes sacred, elemental, earth music, best listened to in deep meditation.* This song isn’t available on Spotify, so listen to it on YouTube instead.Trash Kit, “Leaves”I really love Trash Kit. I listen to this album regularly first thing in the morning! There are two Rachels in this band, and they are/have been involved in lots of other great bands—Bamboo, Halo Halo, Sacred Paws, Shopping, and more!Sex Hands, “Pivot”Can you work out what this concept album is about? Sex Hands are also involved in other great things—check out The Birth Marks and Irma Vep.CHRIS WHITE (DRUMS)Joe Meek and the Blue Men, “The Bulblight”I love Joe Meek productions. I like to think of him up in his flat on Holloway Road coming up with these mad sounds.Funkadelic, “Back In Our Minds”This sounds so cool. Funkadelic make you feel good—they can transport you with their music.The Breeders, “Off You” Me, Sean, and Rachel went to see The Breeders the other week. They have so many great songs. I love the synth stab in this one.Golden Teacher, “Dante and Pilgrim”Friends from Glasgow making great tunes. Kicked off at Green Door Studios; amazing live.CAL DONNELLY (BASS) Delta 5, “Mind Your Own Business”One of the first covers I played that I liked.OutKast, “Aquemini”Production sounds like a swamp house, and I like swamp houses.Duds, “No Remark”Friends from Manchester playing great tunes.Dele Sosimi, “E Go Betta”A song I was shown fairly recently that blew my tiny mind.BONUS TRACKS FROM JACK!Alvvays, “In Undertow”We played with Alvvays recently. It was a great pleasure. They have lots of wonderful tunes! I am addicted to them these days.Girl Ray, “Trouble”Really looking forward to supporting Girl Ray. They have sooo many amazing songs!Angel Olsen, “Stars”This is definitely one of my favourite songs and albums from the past few years. Love it! “Sister” is also an incredible track worth checking out.

SRSQ (pronounced “seer-skew”), the solo project of Kennedy Ashlyn, came in the wake of a tragic event: “the worst thing to happen in my life thus far,” she told Noisey. Ashlyn lost Cash Askew, her partner in the dream-pop duo Them Are Us Too, in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, CA, in 2016. As SRSQ, Ashlyn channels her grief into gray, gossamer goth-pop that ebbs and flows with the celestial allure of the Cocteau Twins. She calls it “griefwave” or “grating pop for the unfit,” and her 2018 debut album, Unreality, embodies just that. As much as making her own music has been a necessary therapy, listening to others’ is just as healing, and she’s shared a moody yet mesmerizing list just for us.Says Ashlyn: This is a “soundtrack for people who wear sunglasses or live underwater. Overstimulation overtime forces mitigation. Embrace a blasé-faire attitude; stay unhinged.”

Since 2010, Londons DJ Mais Um Gringo—thats Portuguese for "One More Gringo"—has channeled his passion for Brazilian music into Mais Um Discos, a label dedicated to contemporary Brazilian musicians who, in the labels words, "fuse styles, disregard genres, and irritate purists." Their catalog runs the gamut from Graveolas sprightly nova-tropicalia to the loping rhythms and rhymes of Espião and other artists featured on their compilation Daora: Underground Sounds of Urban Brasil. They pay special attention to the deep links between African and Brazilian musical traditions: Poet Arnado Antunes and guitarist Edgard Scandurra team up with the Malian kora legend Toumani Diabaté, while São Paulos Bixiga 70 pay tribute to the spirit of Afrobeat with a distinctly Brazilian twist. Venturing even further afield, Metá Metá project samba through a fuzzy, post-punk lens.

Sweet Apple is the power-pop supergroup featuring vocalist John Petkovic and guitarist Tim Parnin of Cobra Verde, and bassist Dave Sweetapple and drummer J. Mascis of Witch. (You may also know the latter from another band.) To mark the release of their second album, Sing the Night in Sorrow, Petkovic created this special Dowsers playlist featuring songs from the record, and the classic tracks that directly inspired them. Here, he breaks down the albums key influences on a song-by-song basis.SONG: "(My Head is Stuck in the) Traffic"INSPIRATION: “Girl U Want” by Devo“(My Head is Stuck in the) Traffic”—the opening track on our album, Sing the Night in Sorrow—features this driving, jagged riff on the verse. The obvious thing would have been to pair it with straight-ahead drums, but it wouldn’t have provided the kind of tension we were shooting for. Devo are one of the pioneers of the “herky-jerky” rhythm with songs like “Girl U Want,” “Mongoloid” or even “Whip It.” Devo popped into my head right away because they embraced the tension between guitar and drums. As a whole, none of those Devo songs sound all that much “Traffic,” but if you listen to the hi-hat and where it fits, and the loopiness of the rhythm, they owe a debt to Devo.SONG: “World I’m Gonna Leave You”INSPIRATION: The theme song from Get SmartI was flipping through the TV late at night and was stopped by the theme song to the 1960s secret-agent spoof Get Smart. The riff just sounded so bad-ass—these boisterous horns blaring out this punchy melody with this incessant rhythm underneath it. Right away, I hit pause and picked up a guitar and started playing along until that riff turned into something very different—which became the basis for “World I’m Gonna Leave You.”SONG: “You Dont Belong to Me”INSPIRATION: “Tubular Bells - Pt. 1” by Mike OldfieldOn the surface or in any other way, “Tubular Bells” sounds nothing like the Sweet Apple song. But the opening to Oldfield’s song, made popular by The Exorcist, always resonated with me because it features a circular note pattern played with layers of instruments. The strategy matched what we were trying to do with a note pattern played by Tim on acoustic and electric guitars on the intro and outro of what is otherwise a power-pop song.SONG: “A Girl and a Gun”INSPIRATIONS: The soundtrack to Duck You Sucker, and “Man With Harmonica” from the soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in the WestBoth of these Ennio Morricone soundtracks roll out sprawling themes. They also boast so many stellar details: A plucked banjo that acts more as an uneasy marker of time than an instrument; a detuned note played in unison with another to create a warbled melody; an incidental sound; those warped harmonicas; those haunting, weird vocals. “A Girl and a Gun” features all sorts of sounds that might not specifically sound like Morricone’s soundtracks, but there’s a similar strategy at work with the strummed autoharp, the layered vocals, the out-of-tune synth lead, and the warped toy piano. Meanwhile, the plucked banjo is straight out of these soundtracks.SONG: “She Wants to Run”INSPIRATION: The soundtrack to The Royal TenenbaumsI like some Wes Anderson films, but the sheer amount of whimsy in the scores borders on empty signifiers. I wanted to capture that kind of whimsy in the acoustic opening to “She Wants to Run," only to follow it by having a rock n roll band bust down the door and smash their acoustics and turn up the amps. So we recorded the sound of a cord being plugged into an electric guitar jack and then having a loud rock band blowing the acoustic troupe away.SONG: “Candles in the Sun”INSPIRATIONS: "Cocaine and Camcorders," by UNKLE and South from the Sexy Beast soundtrack + "Hey Bulldog" by The BeatlesThe UNKLE contributions to the Sexy Beast soundtrack boast these pulsating drones that make the songs mesmerizing, because they keep throbbing along even as other parts come in and out and change. The notes and instruments are different, but the guitar riff provides a similar function, pushing along even as chords modulate. As for the guitar tone, check out George Harrison on later-period Beatles songs, like “Hey Bulldog” or “I Want You (Shes So Heavy).”SONG: “Summers Gone”INSPIRATION: “The Great Dominions” by The Teardrop ExplodesThe idea of doing some sunny ode to the end of summer in a place where the sun doesn’t shine often was the basis for the song. It features sunny back-up vocals, but there is also a drone throughout the song. A song that incorporated the drone to moody effect so well is “The Great Dominions,” by Julian Cope’s early band The Teardrop Explodes. The drones continue throughout and in many ways glue the song together with this deep, hypnotic underpinning that gives it a sense of foreboding menace.SONG: “Thank You”INSPIRATION: "Saturday Night Special" by Lynyrd SkynyrdThe perception of Lynyrd Skynyd as some "southern-rock" band overshadows just how great and timeless the production is on the band’s records—from the guitar and bass sounds to the deep snap of the snare. When we went into this one, I was imagining that snare run recorded really hot—ditto for the guitars.SONG: “Crying in the Clouds”INSPIRATION: “Morning Sun Rays,” by Popol VuhThe German group created a number of stellar soundtracks for Werner Herzog and so few groups managed to make the acoustic guitar so evocative and otherworldly—especially when combined with other string and wind instruments. The Sweet Apple song features six- and 12-string acoustics paired with a droning harmonica and a toy accordion, as well as a collage of various instruments in the middle part. While it doesn’t sound like anything Popol Vuh, it embraced the group’s expansive view of acoustic music.SONG: “Everybodys Leaving”INSPIRATION: “By the TIme I Get to Phoenix,” Glen CampbellSongs about leaving are bound to be moody and full of longing and loss, but how do you convey that without being melodramatic? Glen Campbell hit it with the string arrangements on the Jimmy Webb-penned classic “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” It’s accentuated with the breezy pacing of his vocals and the space to breathe in the music—which makes it all the more evocative. “Everybody’s Leaving” might be a very different-sounding song, but there was a general strategy at work—and we hoped these little layers, like the echo-y electric piano on the bridge, accentuated a similar atmosphere.

"Listening to an eclectic range of music has been a great way for me to spark fresh ideas. Theres so much music out there its hard to fit it all into genres and often the best songs dont fit into a category at all. The most important element is how the music makes you feel! The following playlist is a taste of the music I was listening to while recording Shapeshifter II: Outbreak that bends genres and feels good to me. Youll hear a soup of drum&bass, electronic, hip-hop, progressive-rock, and more that circles around the TAUK camp. Enjoy the ride!" - Alric “A.C.” Carter (keyboardist)

The xx have taken their time releasing the follow up to 2012’s Coexist. There have been rumors (and even this extensive New Yorker write-up from 2014 on the making of the album), but nothing has materialized and fans have been scrambling for clues as far as what the album might sound like. Jamie XX’s solo album was a full embrace of dance culture, but it’s unclear whether this more signals a broader move for a band in this direction. This playlist, a compilation of the music they’ve been listening to in the studio, and released alongside news of a larger world tour, is probably our best signal to date. Some of their picks are not surprising. “I’ll Be Your Mirror” negotiates brittle classic pop melodies with the hedonistic grime and baggage of Velvet Underground, a juxtaposition that The xx have mined in their own work. With its tear-drops keys, and its overlapping male/female vocal harmonies, Drake collaboration with PartyNextDoor, “With You,” sounds like a reworked track from The xx’s debut. And, yes, like all of us in 2016, The xx are going to be listening to Sampha, Frank Ocean, and Solange. But there are some surprises here. The inclusion of Ace’s glam-tinted pub-rock classic “How Long” is a bit startling at first, but the bright hook and easy groove mirrors the more sanguine moments from the last xx album, and the inclusion of No Wave pioneers Liquid Liquid and proto-punkers Suicide show that they’ve been immersed in the modern experimental lands of modern music. But even if the new album ends up sounding nothing like any of this, they’ve certainly given us an enjoyable playlist. Nina Simone’s “Baltimore” is a late-period jewel that matches her singular vocal phrasing with a reggae-tinged interpretation of a great Randy Newman song, and “A Forest” remains one of the Cure’s strongest track. -- Sam Chennault