Artist-Curated Playlists

Whats This Playlist All About? The slick synth-pop soul man carefully compiles a mix to go along with his new fourth album, Caer. Or, in his words, "Sometimes we brace and then fall. Sometimes we dont feel right. Sometimes we dont fall at all." (FYI, "caer" means "to fall" in Spanish.)

What You Get: George Lewis Jr., aka Twin Shadow, is as slick and shrewd of a playlist curator as he is an artist, so expect a well-crafted mix that reflects much of his own work. Some of his more obvious 80s influences—The Cure, Prince, even Bruce Springsteen—make an appearance, alongside some chirpy Japanese synth-pop (Yellow Magic Orchestra) and sax-infused jangle pop (Orange Juice). But Lewis isnt completely stuck in that decade, including some soulful hip-hop from Australian band Winston Surfshirt and atmospheric rap from Young Fathers.

Greatest Discovery: The soothing, slippery, nearly psychedelic electronic sprawl of Montreal duo The Beat Escapes "Moon in Aquarius.” The track comes from their debut album Life is Short the Answers Long, which is releasing the same day as Caer.

Does This Mix Serve as a Good Companion to Caer? Absolutely. Springsteen prepares you for the swinging, shimmering, Heartland-leaning pop of "Saturdays," featuring lovable sister trio HAIM. Meanwhile, the moody hip-hop of 6lack, the dark ambient of Grouper, and the melancholic piano of Nils Frahm come together beautifully on the doomy, Auto-Tuned burner "Little Woman."

Uni are a fab new glitter-rock trio from NYC featuring Nico Fuzz, David Strange, and Charlotte Kemp Muhl, best known for collaborating with Sean Ono Lennon in their psych-pop outfit The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger. The band just released their starry-eyed first single, “What’s the Problem?,” with a full-length coming out in early 2018 on Ono Lennon’s Chimera Music label. To give you a taste of what to expect, the group curated a Dowsers playlist that salutes their glitter-rock gods—and provided these highly informative, totally fact-checked, irrefutable liner notes about each song’s creation:Gentle Giant, “The Queen”This song was inspired by a notorious crossdressing hermaphrodite who lived in the underground tunnels beneath Leicester Square in the winter of 1976. She only had three teeth, ate nothing but fish and chips, and prowled the streets in a tattered sequin negligee mumbling about “Churchill’s black dog” and the “goddam war.”T. Rex, “Children of the Revolution”This song is about a stray bullet that pierced the testicle of a revolutionary soldier during the Siege of Yorktown (Virginia, Oct. 1781) and lodged itself in the ovary of an 18-year-old girl who was 300 yards away at the time. Two separate eggs were inseminated and the offspring of this most unsafe sex in history were known as the Children of The Revolution. Marc Bolan wrote this song about them.Electric Light Orchestra, “Telephone Line”Jeff Lynne was addicted to phone-sex hotlines before the advent of the internet. He squandered his vast earnings from Electric Light Orchestra on 1-800 numbers then wrote this song penniless, heartbroken, and destitute on the floor of a Telephone Booth in 1976 detailing his downward spiral like the cord of a telephone line.Sparks, “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us” This is Sparks’ magnum octopus. It’s a modern-day West Side Story that gives voice to the gentrification of Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2017. It speaks from the voice of a Wall Street banker who purchased, tore down, and built condos on the site of a former Puerto Rican community center. Sparks makes their political statement clear in this epic manifesto.John Cameron Mitchell, “The Origin of Love” (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch) In Plato’s Symposium (or, The Drinking Party), Aristophanes, a well-known comedic playwright at the time, suggests that humans were once round balls of flesh with both male and female anatomy who rolled to and fro. Zeus, threatened by their power, cut them in two with a lightning bolt. He describes love as the human desire to be whole again by locating the missing half. Hedwig further immortalized this myth in this incredible song.Pulp, “This Is Hardcore”In 1998, after mixing quaaludes, LSD, bourbon, and Marlboro Reds, Jarvis Cocker stumbled into a Hollywood soundstage shooting a dream sequence of Busby Berkeley line dancers. Doesnt get any cooler than an emaciated, confused Jarvis being brushed by feather fans while singing "you are hardcore/ you make me hard."Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”Elton was diagnosed with high blood sugar in 1971. Yellow Brick Road was a salt-water taffy and Rocky Mountain-style fudge shop that he used to have send chocolate-dipped potato chips, brown bears, and caramel nut patties to him on the road. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” was a bittersweet farewell to his sweet tooth that he performed on The Muppet Show. Lou Reed, “Vicious”Lou wrote the first version of this song entirely on the cowbell. When it came time to record the track, it wasn’t coming together very well, so Lou swallowed his pride and on the recommendation of producers David Bowie and Mick Ronson, called in all of Blue Öyster Cult to lay down the initial cowbell recording that you hear featured prominently in the final version. It became the inspiration for Ian Durys “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” and many other classics.Oasis, “Supersonic”Oasis made this list because they’re the only band who fights with each other more than we do.David Bowie, “Life on Mars”Bowie took the chord changes from Sinatra’s “My Way” to write this song. Sinatra took the womb of Mia Farrow from Woody Allen. And Woody Allen took his daughter to be his wife. So, we hope there is life on Mars.Chrisma, “Black Silk Stocking” From 1991 to 1999, the USA Network aired a drama series called Silk Stalkings. Advertised as “crime-time TV,” in reality it was soft-core porn stitched together from the leftover plots of 1980s triple X films. Chrisma’s “Black Silk Stocking” was cited as the series’ main inspiration.Pink Floyd, “Apples and Oranges”Song about the two basic food groups.Lemon Twigs, “Frank” In 2016, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut regained the Mustard Yellow International Belt at the annual Fourth of July hot-dog-eating contest at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island. Chestnut, 32, downed 70 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes—the most hot dogs and buns ever eaten at the competition. That same year, The Lemon Twigs released “Frank”—a song, we assume, that’s about hot dogs and their admiration for this American hero.The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Snakedriver”Not a euphemism. Definitely a song about a chauffeur who works for a very wealthy snake.Queen, “Mister Fahrenheit”[Ed. note: Were pretty sure they mean “Don’t Stop Me Now]Undoubtedly the most debated song in rock history. The argument goes like this: If Queen is a British band, then why would they call the song “Mister Fahrenheit” and not “Sister Celsius”Marilyn Manson, “Personal Jesus” In 2005, Manson gave us his Personal Jesus. In 2013, Kanye publicly brought Jesus onstage with him. In 1964, Bob Dylan said “The Times They Are a Changin’.”The Modern Lovers, “Pablo Picasso” This is song is the handbook for any lonely guy who wants to pick up chicks.Violent Femmes, “Good Feeling”The song you hear in your head when you are trying to keep the sun from rising.Beck, “New Pollution” People really confuse the meaning of this song. An art department intern at Geffen responsible for delivering the final album files accidentally left out an “s” in the song title. It was meant to be called “News Pollution,” all about fake news. Beck smelt it back in the ’90s and was trying to warn us. Because of this one typo, the whole country believed Bill Clinton never had sexual relations with an intern, thought everything was cool in Rwanda and Burundi, were convinced Iraq had WMDs, and had no reason to think that Harvey Weinstein was anything other than guy who liked professional one-on-one meetings with all his prospective female leads. If only we knew now what Beck knew then…The Rolling Stones, “Shes a Rainbow”Definitely the best jingle that Skittles ever had in a commercial. I have no idea how they convinced the Stones to write this one for them, but we did hear that Keith ate nothing but blue skittles and vodka during the summer of 1967, so maybe this had something to do with the decision. Great song either way. Taste the Rainbow…T. Rex, “Cosmic Dancer”If all the celestial bodies in the infinite firmament of beginning-less time and the vacuum of space manifested their quarks into a private lap dance on your deathbed on the moon in the final countdown before the Milky Way exploded, it would feel exactly like this song.

The Michigan-based duo In the Valley Below took their art to the next level in 2019, releasing the multimedia project The Pink Chateau, in which their sophomore full-length album serves as the soundtrack for a feature-length film of the same name, written and co-directed by the band’s singer and keyboardist Angela Gail Mattson. According to the duo, the film was inspired by vintage French erotica and follows the journey of an intimate meeting between two strangers. Their slinky, sulky alt-pop lends a tantalizing touch to the visuals, but it still holds its own intrigue, especially on dreamy downtempo tracks like “Rise.” Given their natural ability to set the mood, they seem like just the right people to put together an ideal soundtrack for a romantic dinner date.Say Mattson and bandmate Jeffrey Jacob Mendel of the playlist: “We like to listen to mostly instrumental music when we eat dinner. Something that goes with red wine or whiskey. Sexy with a few subtle surprises. Not distracting from conversation, but not boring. Soulful and inspiring. Playful with a hint of darkness. Something dreamy like Dorothy Ashby and her harp to Angelo Badalamenti and the familiar songs of Twin Peaks. Miles Davis’ simple haunting dual-note melody to the sunny gospel groove of Booker T. and The M.G.’s. This playlist is a collection of songs for our ideal evening of conversation and romance.”

Canadian/American singer-songwriter and poet Vera Sola (born Danielle Aykroyd, as in daughter of actor Dan Aykroyd) makes sorrowful and sweet country-tinged indie folk forefronting her sense of moody, mercurial lyricism and her rich, sonorous singing voice. Ironically, then, in this curated playlist, Vera Sola chooses to focus on songs where its the background vocals, whether through harmony or counterpoint or layering effects, that do the heavy work.Vera Sola says:"I’ve been haunted by this one sort of sound my whole life. For a while I wasn’t sure what it was. I’ve described it in the past as the tuning up of demonic orchestra. Or some kind of dysfunctional organ. The closest approximation I’d found, until recently, was a broken mellotron—the decaying of the choir tapes. But that still didn’t quite nail it. It wasn’t till I entered the studio to record my first album (Out now! Called ‘Shades’!) that I realized it was my own voice in harmony or discord with itself. Many tracks layered and panned and pitted against one-another.That discovery got me thinking about my particular love of songs that are "made" by their background vocals. Especially ones with backing vox or harmonies that don’t quite fit the mood of a song. Or arrangements that blend backgrounds with other sonic elements so they become as one. Or, even better, sound like or perform the function of other instruments entirely. Whether it’s a voice that sounds like a trumpet, or a deep growl that becomes percussion.This concept was built around my obsession with a song called El Pauling’s "Cool Teenager"—which employs a twisted choir to chilling effect, to kick the shit out of an otherwise pretty standard 50’s teeny-bopper tune. But gah! That’s been removed from Spotify! So go find it wherever you can.This is a playlist, that’s, like me, all over the place in mood and genre. But what the songs have in common is the wonder of whats going on with the human voices that arent right at the fore. Some of them are just straight-forwardly beautiful, or exciting, or just particularly moving. Others are strange, unsettling, confusing to the ear. What instrument is that? If it’s on this playlist, and you can’t quite pin it down, it’s probably someone singing.It opens and closes with the Mills Brothers, whose early records feature just one guitar—everything else is a humanvoice. Woven between the brothers you’ll find the masterful gang vocals of prisoners chopping wood on a Lomax field recording, the strange soprano counter-melody in Sam Cooke’s version of Summertime, some shape note singing, and the brilliant sampling of Bill Withers’ humming at the beginning of ‘Grandma’s Hands’ that makes up the backbone of 90’s classic ‘No Diggity.’ (Hip Hop and Rap artists took this concept to a new level—it felt overwhelming to choose, and worthy of a whole ‘nother playlist. Check out Wu Tang’s 36 Chambers for example, after example.) And then of course there’s the do-wop, the cowboy, the folk and its iterations, as well as some punk thrown in. I know I’ve left off so many. But Spotify’s lacking some key ones and I maxed out on songs. Got a particularly weird one I missed? Write me. Let me know."

Seattle hard-rock supergroup Walking Papers——featuring Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan and Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin——recently released their second album, WP2. Here, the band’s singer/guitarist, Jefferson Angell, shares the music that moves him, either physically or mentally. “I divide my music into two categories: music for the neck up, and music for the neck down. I dont really prefer any one genre over another. This playlist has a little of both and was put together spontaneously as I listened along. I just allowed them to work their magic at the moment and let my mind lead me to the next one. All of these songs, at one time or another, stopped me in my tracks, and I became obsessed with them. Exclusively, or along with the album they are pulled from. Some are new to me, others have stuck with me since childhood.”——Jefferson Angell, Walking Papers

Having spent the past year working on their new LP, A Deeper Understanding (out August 25 on Atlantic Records), The War On Drugs rhythm section—bassist Dave Hartley and drummer Charlie Hall—have compiled this special playlist for The Dowsers. Whether directly or indirectly, these are the artists and songs from which Dave and Charlie found inspiration—from George Harrison to the Cocteau Twins to Iasos, and all points in between.

Toronto indie-rock quartet Weaves have just released their wonderfully hooky and kooky second album, Wide Open. On this playlist she created specially for The Dowsers, frontwoman Jasmyn Burke breaks down the rock classics that inspired the record’s mind-bending melange of glam, New Wave, and avant-pop. “These songs are from albums that inspired our new record! Playful, insightful, and direct. Simplicity meets extremity.”—Jasmyn Burke, Weaves

Indie-rock / dream-pop mastermind Jack Tatum, aka Wild Nothing, might be ever so slightly influenced by the 80s. With the lush, shimmering synth + guitars of his latest single "Shallow Water" off the upcoming album Indigo (August 31), he - alongside Cam Allen on drums, Benji Lysaght on guitar and Ariel Pink collaborator Jorge Elbrecht producing - has captured a mix between a timeless sound of then with the modern appeal of now. So naturally, when we asked him to make us a playlist, his concoction was right on par. Says Tatum, "This mix is a grab bag of new and old favorites. Most of these tracks are from the 1980s, which should be no surprise coming from me. This is what Ive been listening to at home during the LA heat wave. Everything from early 80s Brazilian pop to Dutch glam rock and contemporary ambient music."Listen above or go right here.

Portland synth-pop quintet Wild Ones recently released their splendorous second record, Mirror Touch. And as singer Danielle Sullivans reveals through her Dowsers playlist, the album’s electro reveries were the product of a very specific process: “I listened to these songs often during the making of Mirror Touch. I would typically take a walk and listen to music in my neighborhood before sitting down to work on a demo. If I ever got completely stuck and hit a wall I would turn off my computer, hit the street, and try again. There’s something about putting a soundtrack to moving scenery that always makes me feel inspired.”—Danielle Sullivan, Wild Ones

Will Saul is among the most trusted names in electronic music. A former A&R wiz for the influential !K7 label, Saul went on to form Aus Music, which released music from the likes of Carl Craig, Joy Orbison, and Actress, among many many others. The label was known for its "prestige" electronic music, but Saul always kept his eyes on the dancefloor, and the music on his label and in his sets was fun and visceral.Saul recently curated Inside Out, a brand new series that invites DJs and producers to blur the boundaries between traditional artist albums and mix compilations. The concept encourages artists to showcase their own music and or the music of those in their own individual circles. The mix will be release digitally and on CD, while a selection of the tracks will also be available on double gatefold vinyl.This playlist is an insight into the musical DNA of Will Saul and contains some of the inspirations behind the Inside Out the compilation. Pick it up here.