Artists

His landmark debut album with Air, Moon Safari, just turned 20, but Jean-Benoît Dunckel isn’t looking back. On March 16, he releases his new solo album, H+, and to prep us for its cinematic dream-pop synth-scapes, he’s made us a playlist of widescreened inspirations. “These days, Im listening to more soundtracky music, music for cinema, because I’d like my life to look more like a movie. I would know the scenario in advance, and I would meet anybody I fancy for real, as I’d take care of the casting as well. This playlist is for traveling safely, and to bring comfort and relaxation.”—Jean-Benoît DunckelWatch the video for the latest single from H+, “Transhumanity”:

Jean Castelis a French multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, CA who first debuted his Billboard-described "forward-thinking pop" in the form of his catchy single, "What Happened to Us?" earlier this summer. Now with his infections debut EP Orange & Yellow out, Castel created a playlist for The Dowsers exploring what went into the making of his music. Having worked with production group Infrared, a partnership with Spike Stent (Ed Sheeran, Julia Michaels) and mastering by Chris Gehringer (Vince Staples, Rihanna), its no surprise to see some of those artists name-checked by Castel. Listen to his inspired playlist right here and check out his resulting debut EP.Says Castel, "Here’s my playlist. I’ve called it “Orange & Yellow, The Sounds”. They are the songs that inspired my forthcoming EP. I’ve drawn influence from each and every one of these records."

Jay Jenkins burst into national consciousness in 2005 as Young Jeezy, but a few years later the Atlanta rapper shortened his official handle to simply Jeezy. And he’s certainly not “young” anymore, as he turns 40 on September 28. For over a decade, Jeezy has stood with his friend T.I. and his collaborator-turned-foe Gucci Mane as one of the titans of trap music, the street-hustler variation on southern rap that has become one of modern Atlanta’s biggest cultural exports.With a hoarse but gregarious voice, Jeezy was at first more known for his ad libs than his rhymes, cackling “ha haaaa” and “yeahhhh” on his multiplatinum Def Jam debut Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, and his group Boyz N Da Hood’s self-titled album, both in 2005. But there was also an unflinching darkness to his music that he retained even in crossover hits like the Akon collaboration “Soul Survivor.” And an unlikely political bent emerged in his music with the 2008 album The Recession, which contained hip-hop’s biggest unofficial Barack Obama anthem, “My President.”Jeezy The Snowman’s career has cooled off in the years since his rapid ascent to stardom, but he’s remained one of Atlanta trap’s most consistent hitmakers. He was early to adapt to new sounds like DJ Mustard’s west coast groove on “R.I.P.” and traded introspective bars with JAY Z on “Seen It All.” More recently, in 2016 he returned to the top of the charts with Trap Or Die 3 (a sequel to his 2005 breakthrough mixtape), which featured “All There,” a posthumous hit for the late Bankroll Fresh. And it’s hard to imagine Jeezy retiring anytime soon even as he marks another decade of life.

Long Island indie-rock hero Jeff Rosenstock kicked off 2018 in the most awesome way possible: With a surprise album, POST-, released on January 1 to Bandcamp through his own Quote Unquote label. (Polyvinyl Records followed the next day with a widespread digital release before issuing it on vinyl in March.) The new record sees Rosenstock pushing his patented shout-along underdog-punk anthems to thrilling new levels of emotional intensity and instrumental extravagance. (Seriously, "USA" should be Americas new national anthem.) And after dropping the first great album of 2018, he gives us the first great playlist!

"Hey you over there! Its Jeff Rosenstock over here! I didnt go super high-concept with my playlist like 10 Songs To Break Up With Your Lover Over Lunch To or make, like, a playlist with songs from animated movies that would be great to listen to on a long drive and call it Car Tunes. I tried to just make a playlist like I would have made a mix tape or CD when I was a kid——just as many songs I like that could fit onto a CD-R."—Jeff Rosenstock

1. PARQUET COURTS, "SUNBATHING ANIMAL": Parquet Courts are one of my favorite bands, and this song is SO FUCKIN SICK! Just listen to it!

2. CYNDI LAUPER, "MONEY CHANGES EVERYTHING": Not that long ago, I found out that Cyndi Laupers Shes So Unusual was a record stacked with great pop jams. It plays like a greatest hits record, not a debut album.

3. BLACK SABBATH, "SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE (REMASTERED VERSION)": Wow! Remastered for my listening pleasure! Thanks, someone! I like playing this riff at soundcheck cause its so thiiiiick and I can think of Beavis and Butthead singing it. Also the shift in the middle of this song is a good example of later-Ozzy-era Black Sabbath taking weird risks! The four records they did after Paranoid are epic and amazing, check em out.

4. ALVVAYS, "THE AGENCY GROUP": You know that guy at the party who is drunk and talking too loud about some band that youve heard of and havent heard and you just want him to go away? Well, that is me any time anyone brings up Alvvays, cause I cannot stop listening to their records. I picked this song because its fun to sing at soundcheck, and a love song titled after a booking agency is good bit.

5. LIL MAMA, "LIP GLOSS": This song is the banger to end all bangers, and I think we can all get behind the universal truth that Lil Mamas lip gloss is poppin.

6. CAKE, "ROCK N ROLL LIFESTYLE": Haaaaaaaa... I heard this song on the radio the other day and thought it was funny. Cake is a cool band, but I dont know much about em.

7. CHAI, "SOUND & STOMACH": Heard this band at a listening station in the Shibuya Tower Records. I really like J-Pop, J-Rock, whatever this is. I kinda thought, "Whoa, I discovered a new hip underground band!" and then I saw ads for their new album lining the streets later on. Im down with any song that has speak-sing rapping a la "There Was a Door" by Crying.

8. LABRADORS, "ALL I HAVE IS MY HEART": We played with the Labradors when we were on tour in Italy and they were so good. I had this song stuck in my head for months after we returned and it always makes me think of good times in Italy.

9. ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, "ACROSS THE BORDER": Okay, so if you like ELO, but you only know the hits, Im here to give you a HARD 10/10 RECOMMENDATION to check out their albums from Eldorado up until Discovery. They are great! Maybe start with A New World Record or Discovery. Anyway, this songs not on either of those two records.

10. SCARED OF CHAKA, "WHY ARE YOU WEIRD?": I have woken up with this song stuck in my head for the last 15 years.

11. P.O.S, "PUREXED": Ive known Stef for a while and its been really fun to watch him turn into such a great creative rapper. This song is next level and totally caught me off guard the first time I heard it.

12. SONIC YOUTH, "BULL IN THE HEATHER": I just basically always want to listen to this song. Theres also a sick Go! Team cover of this

13. KENDRICK LAMAR, "FEAR.": I really liked this record, every song is a jam, and it was hard to choose. I picked this one because I love the verses which, from what I read somewhere, are from the perspective of him as at ages seven, 17, and 27. Kendrick Lamar makes cool shit, have you heard of him?

14. THE VANDALS, "I HAVE A DATE": I heard this song late at night on the radio when I was like 13 or 14 and scrambled to find a blank tape and record as much of it as possible to listen to over and over. Warren Fitzgerald has been a guitar hero of mine forever. He doesnt do any wild n crazy shit on this one, but he does sing on it and its a lot of fun.

15. SCATMAN JOHN, "SCATMANS WORLD": Oh man, have you heard this song? Have you seen this video? Have you looked into the history of Scatman John, who started scatting to embrace a stutter that he was always self-conscious about? BA BO BAYY BO BOPPITY.

16. THE THERMALS, "HEY YOU": Im guessing you like The Thermals, but maybe you forgot that they put out a great record in 2016 that had this perfect pop-punk song on it.

17. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE, "SURVIVAL CAR": I never really liked the song "Stacys Mom" and assumed this band would be annoying until my wife played me this perfect power-pop record. It was hard to pick a song on it, but this song is just such a feel-good classic. Roll the windows down! Do the thingy with your hand and the wind! Oh no, roll the window back up, its freezing!

18. KIM MITCHELL, "GO FOR A SODA": This past summer, we had the pleasure of having Zack Mykula of PUP play drums for us in Canada, and his partner Julia rode with us for a few days as well. We made a playlist of Canadian songs we knew and they were like, "yo, you dont know shit about Canada" and we were like "fair enough." They introduced us to a LOT of pub-rock anthems, but this one just takes the cake. "Might as well go for a soda/ Nobody hurts/ And nobody cries" over arena-rock drums? Its so fun to me finding out about a big hit song in another country that just never made it over to me. Anyway, thats what I have to say about Kim Mitchell. Also, if you wanna listen to more, I suggest checking out "I Am A Wild Party"——theres only a live version and its an insane song.

19. SHIT PRESENT, "SHIT TALK": I love Ionas songs and I love Shit Present. I saw her play this on her own the last time we were in the UK and it made me very happy. Its no "My Fruit Bowl" but I cant find that one on Spotify.

20. SQUEEZE, "ANOTHER NAIL IN MY HEART": Squeeze is another band, like ELO, that I think people have heard are good, but might only know "Tempted" and been like, "Yeah, I guess theyre okay." Well, guess what: Squeeze rocks! Fast, wordy power-pop. I listen to Squeeze all the damn time. Also, "Tempted" is sick too, back off!

21. THE SIDEKICKS, "DAISY": If listening to The Sidekicks is not part of your life, NOW IS THE TIME TO GET IN. This record is a great place to start, and then youll get stoked cause their next record is going to be amazing, and then youre gonna go back to Runners and Weight of Air and be like, "Wow, these are great too, how is this band so good?" And then youll be like me every time I see The Sidekicks. BE LIKE ME only this one time.

Around the 2007 release of Wilco’s sixth studio album, Sky Blue Sky, Jeff Tweedy talked a lot about classic rock. Sky Blue Sky eschewed much of the experimentation that had characterized the album’s immediate predecessors (2001’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and 2004’s A Ghost Is Born), favoring a more straightforward musical and lyrical style. In several interviews, Tweedy insisted that he preferred not to give too much credence to the “alternative country” and “experimental” labels that had followed him since his earliest days as a founding member of Uncle Tupelo. Instead, Tweedy insisted, Wilco should be known as a rock ‘n’ roll band.For a piece in the Wall Street Journal, Tweedy acknowledged the influence that 1970s rock had on Sky Blue Sky, listing his five favorite albums from that era. The first five songs on this playlist are sourced from that article, wherein Tweedy confesses he “often tries to emulate” Nick Drake’s picking style and claims The Clash’s “Train In Vain” “was huge” for him growing up. Considering Wilco’s sound, those choices—as well as the inclusion of Dylan and Wings—make sense. The outlier in his list is Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” which Tweedy calls “a great pop record.” However, despite all the talk of experimentation surrounding Wilco, Tweedy has always known how to make catchy music.The remaining tracks on the playlist were added based on covers Tweedy has done, both live and on record, with Wilco and Uncle Tupelo. A version of Doug Sahm’s “Give Back the Key to My Heart” appears on Uncle Tupelo’s swan song Anodyne*, and a cover of Waylon Jennings’ “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” appears on the 2003 reissue of that album. Wilco has frequently covered Bill Fay** and Big Star, including the latter’s “In The Street” (a.k.a. The theme song to That ‘70s Show). During an all-covers set at 2013’s Solid Sound Festival, Wilco played the classic songs by The Rolling Stones, Velvet Underground, and Television that are featured here.Sticklers may note that The Band’s “The Weight” was technically released in 1968. However, this version with The Staples Singers was recorded at the group’s 1976 farewell concert and released two years later as part of the Scorsese documentary The Last Waltz. Tweedy, who has collaborated with Mavis Staples throughout the years, joined an ensemble of musical greats—including Nick Lowe, whose “Peace, Love, and Understanding” Wilco covered for Spotify’s Singles Series—to perform a rendition of “The Weight” in 2014 in honor of Staples’ 75th birthday.Tweedy is gearing up for the June 2017 release of Together at Last, which features acoustic versions of songs by various bands throughout his illustrious career. By playing in a stripped down form, devoid of any attempts at musical experimentation, Tweedy will likely reinforce just how influential this decade of classic rock was on the formation of his own, unique sound.*This song isn’t on Spotify, and was replaced with Sahm’s “Don’t Turn Around,” from his 1973 album Doug Sahm and His Band.**Tweedy typically covers Bill Fay’s “Be Not So Fearful,” which isn’t on Spotify, so I’ve replaced it with Fay’s cover of Wilco’s “Jesus, etc.,” which, of course, was not released in the ‘70s.

In August 2017, indie rocker Jen Cloher released her self-titled record, which cracked the Top 5 on the album charts in her native Australia; she also received a great deal of exposure in North America when her song “Fear Is Like a Forest” was covered on Lotta Sea Lice, the collaborative album from Kurt Vile and Cloher’s better half, Courtney Barnett. Before she heads out on her U.S. and European tours in early 2018, Jen shares the songs that defined 2017 for her. “2017 was a year where we heard more diverse voices break through, in Australia particularly. While global politics became more regressive, divisive, and fear-mongering, music did the opposite.”—Jen Cloher

Canadian singer-songwriter Jennifer Castle explores loss and comfort in those losses on her new album "Angels of Death," out today. Harkening back to early eras of singer-songwriters, Castles stripped down guitar-and-piano-driven folk-drenched songs offer nostalgia with a modern twist, both twang-y and downright spiritual.Expains Castle, "I grew up upon a blue carpet in the summertime, in a small wooden cabin on an island in Georgian Bay, Ontario (acknowledging the Anishnabeeg here). There, on Saturday nights, quiet by the light of a fire, listening to my dad dream out loud (red, red wine), my sister and I in bunk beds, golden oldies floating through the walls, I became a budding songwriter (RIP and thanks for the memories, Dad). With [new album] Angels of Death, I wanted to represent the type of child who listens through walls, sits in the back seat looking out the window dreaming, tunes radios when left alone, absorbs everything, etc."It’s not nostalgia that motivates me, but memories are like fuel on an already burning fire. One day the child whom is led around by parents seemingly and suddenly becomes an adult herself, making choices like what colour of carpet should I put in? Short answer: BLUE!"Check out her accompanying playlist now.

Avant-folk-rock explorers Xylouris White——a.k.a. Greek singer/lute player George Xylouris and drummer Jim White of Australian trio The Dirty Three—released their third album, Mother, on Bella Union. Here, White gives us a peek into his eclectic music collection with a set that spans psychedelic jazz to post-punk to modern pop.Xylouris White are currently touring across the U.S. before hitting Europe in the spring; check here for upcoming dates.

This post is part of our Psych 101 program, an in-depth, 14-part series that looks at the impact of psychedelia on modern music. Want to sign up to receive the other installments in your inbox? Go here. Already signed up and enjoying it? Help us get the word out by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter or just sending your friends this link. Theyll thank you. We thank you.Celebrating pivotal moments in rock history is a congested, clickbait racket these days, but if there’s any one album truly worthy of reverence, it’s the Jimi Hendrix Experiences mighty 1967 debut, Are You Experienced. Seriously—its release was nothing less than a BC/AD kind of event. In addition to articulating an astonishingly new understanding of heaviness, it opened up exotic vistas in feedback, echo, delay, and studio-as-instrument experimentation (legendary reggae producer Dennis Bovell even believes that the brain-liquefying “Third Stone From The Sun” is the first dub track). Indeed, nothing like The Experience had ever existed before—not Cream, not The Who, not The Yardbirds, not Link Wray, not Johnny Burnette and The Rock and Roll Trio.Hendrix’s countless innovations loom over rock’s evolution, but instead of trotting out the same tired mix of mainstream guitar heroes as proof of his profound influence—e.g., Eddie Van Halen, Prince, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, etc.—we’ve opted to honor his sonic radicalism with a playlist charting his sweeping impact on the evolution of out sound: This includes proto-metal, Japanese psychedelia, German experimental rock, jazz fusion, avant-rock, stoner metal, sludge, and beyond. After all, just about any band or artist pushing the limits of maximum distortion and sweaty groove action within a rock, jazz, or blues context owes Hendrix no small debt. This is equally true of late-’60s long-hairs Blue Cheer and MC5, ’70s fusion explorers Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime, and modern-day noise weirdos Skullflower and Fushitsusha.Prepare to commune with your inner mind, as our playlist is packed with lots of extended freak-out jams and third-eye lysergia. Sonny Sharrock’s nearly 10-minute “Promises Kept,” from his 1991 masterwork Ask The Ages, bursts into a frenzy of amplifier-scorching fire music, but there are also a lot of fist-pumping riff ragers to jam out to: Fu Manchu’s “Mega-Bumpers” is a deliciously fuzzy, funky slab of ’70s spliff rock filtered through shaggy, Dogtown-skater cool.One thing you can be sure of, by the playlist’s end, you’ll be able to answer the question “Are you experienced?” with a big, resounding YES.

Prince may have owned the 80s, but his former collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis owned R&B in the 80s (and early 90s). They first rose to prominence as members of The Time, but theyre probably best known as the go-to producers for Janet Jackson. Though, really, diminishing their contributions to one band or one singer does them a disservice. Check out Soulbounces succinct retrospective of their best hits.