Artists

With a career that spans more than 60 years, Quincy Jones has one of music’s most formidable résumés: sideman, Dizzy Gillespie musical director, bandleader, label executive, arranger, soundtrack composer, TV mogul, and winner of 28 Grammys (so far). His biggest legacy, however, is as a producer—a job he described as “part babysitter, part shrink.” Though his long footprint has been known to careen into jazz, bossa nova, and hip-hop, it’s the R&B, pop, soul, and soundtrack music he made in the ’70s and ’80s that define entire worlds, thanks to Q’s lush arrangements, perky percussion, and airy sounds—not to mention his work on Michael Jackson’s 1983 album, Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.His early-’70s soundtrack work and TV themes mixed large orchestral vision with indelible jazz-funk rhythms. His mid-’70s solo albums—and concurrent work with Aretha Franklin and the Brothers Johnson—simmered with soft-focus groove, bravado, slickness, and warmth. It was a perfect fit for the era when disco and funk met pop, when he eased on down the road into the 1978 soundtrack to The Wiz and Michael Jackson’s glossy 1979 breakthrough Off the Wall. The records he produced on his record label, Qwest—George Benson, Patti Austin, James Ingram, and a late-career album for Frank Sinatra—provided sophisticated songs for Quiet Storm radio and beyond.By the end of the ’80s, Jones had produced the record-breaking charity single “We Are the World,” garnered three Academy Award nominations for his work on The Color Purple, produced Jackson’s Bad, and taken his own victory lap with 1989’s star-studded solo album Back on the Block, winner of that year’s Grammy for Album of the Year. On the title track, featuring rappers Ice-T, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, and Big Daddy Kane, you can hear the whining horn from Ironside that he had introduced nearly 20 years earlier. In honor of Off the Wall’s 40th birthday, here’s a celebration of Jones—the producer—in his most iconic period.

Click here to subscribe to the Spotify playlist.Rapper/producer/super-villain MF DOOM is a paradox. He is a legend, revered by a generation of indie music fans, but he’s also all-but-unknown to casual music fans. He is at once mercurial and unmistakable -- he wears a mask to disguise his face, changes monikers like Hillary changes pantsuits, and has appeared, disappeared and reappeared again (without warning) over the course of his 20 + year career. Yet, there is also no mistaking DOOM on the mic -- the slightly nasally flow, the jumble of alliteration and internal rhymes, the expansive surrealist imagery. It’s easy to over-intellectualize MF DOOM, but he is also genuinely funny -- such as on Rhinestone Cowboy, when he declared that he “got more soul than a sock with a hole” -- and playful (his take on lesser rappers: “Out of work jerks since they shut down Chippendales/ They chippin nails, DOOM, tippin scales”).It’s a really fun but, I suspect, largely thankless task to come up with a list of his best tracks. For this one, we’ve used three criteria: we wanted to represent as wide a span of his career as possible (it’s tempting to just cull from the span between Doomsday and Madvillian); and we want the list to have a certain flow and work as a playlist that you can put on and listen to all the way through; and we want to throw in a few left-field and obscure tracks for those who are already familiar with him. -- Sam Chennault

Drake OvO Sound may effectively be a vanity imprint for its biggest star, but there’s something to admire in their stylistic consistency and aesthetic continuity. It speaks to Drake’s overall impact on culture, and also the partnership that Drake has formed with his core set of producers (40 and Boi-1da). There’s a clear through-line from the sound those developed on solo Drake releases and the sonic nooks that PARTYNEXTDOOR or dvsn are currently exploring. This playlist, curated by Drake, features some of the labels best tracks. Though the music is at times vibrant and it’s well worth a listen, this at times feels like a boilerplate marketing/PR playlist, and the inclusion of Drake on at least 2/3rds of the tracks feels slightly distasteful.

Over time, Anderson .Paak grew to become the kind of artist who can stack his albums with cameos from the likes of Smokey Robinson, Brandy, and a posthumous Nate Dogg — actually, that’s all on his 2019 LP Ventura, and we didn’t even mention the André 3000 verse that tears up the set’s astral-funk opener, “Come Home.” The kid from Oxnard, California, earned his clout. Becoming Dr. Dre’s pet prodigy surely helped, but .Paak paid it forward as a hugely prolific and effective guest MC and hook slinger for years.This playlist culls the man’s best features from a list that stretches into the 70s. .Paak is a shape-shifter, sliding between melodic rhymes and swaggerful singing with the same ease that allows him to coast through an alt-R&B dreamscape (“Realla”) one minute and lead a rip-roaring Afrobeat band the next (“Black Hole”). Even after becoming a star, .Paak popped up on others’ cuts, and always with the mood to match. There he is, playing a starry-eyed philosopher over FlyLo’s far-out electronica. With Freddie Gibbs, he’s a soulful-but-cold gangsta documentarian. For T.I. in grown-ass-man mode, .Paak’s a world-weary lover.That versatility doesn’t mean these songs don’t stick together. .Paak’s unmistakable voice is a powerful binding agent, of course — he tends to steal the show — but so is his penchant for appearing on tracks that feel outré and in-the-pocket, old school yet future-leaning, easy to get on the first listen but packed with enough style and substance that repeat plays are a must. .Paak knows how to pick a good collaborator, but considering the broad range of folks he’s worked with, we’d like to think that in addition to bringing his own magic to the studio, he’s pulling something special out of damn near everyone he meets.Photo credit: Israel Ramos

Painted Doll are a collaboration between comedian/guitar shredder Dave Hill and metal veteran Chris Reifert from Autopsy and Death. The two released their self-titled debut on Tee Pee Records. You can listen here. The Dowsers recently asked them to curate a playlist of their faves. This is what they had to say:ChrisFrom my end, this is a list of:a: Songs that I sent to Dave a couple of years ago when we were trading music back and forth just for fun. Little did we know at the time that the exchange would initiate the formation of Painted Doll, but hey, here we are!b: Songs that I grew up with that still sound great.c: Songs that I think are hella cool in general. Maybe other folks will dig too. Just do yourself a favor and listen to this stuff on good speakers.DaveThis is a list of some stone cold jams that have inspired us to rock together and give some serious thought to making stickers at some point.

Listen to Partners delightful debut album, In Search of Lost Time, and you will quickly learn that Canadas foremost queer-positive fuzz-pop duo are also massive potheads. For this Dowsers playlist, they reveal the songs they like to crank up when they spark up. "Stoner," Young Thug: This song is cool because, while there are a lot of odes to weed, this song is a little different: Its an ode to stoners. Young Thug thinks stoners are cool and is proud to be one. Plus, this track just buuumps."Cotton Eye Joe," Rednex: This song is good to get stoned to just cause its really hilarious and a total throwback to middle-school dances. No matter how lazy you are feeling, you might be able to muster a jig. Bonus points for the weird/scary video."Sweet Leaf," Black Sabbath: The original ode to weed. "You introduced me/ to my mind." SAME. Possibly the only song written in the second person, directed at weed, that doesnt use the term "Mary Jane.""Really Doe," Danny Brown: This song is great to get stoned to cause its a sick posse cut featuring a really cool stylistic array of rappers. Earls verse shouts out dirty spliffs and blunts. Everyones flow is completely different and they are all very impressive, especially when youre stoned."James Joint," Rihanna: "Id rather be/ smoking weed." Lots of people love to smoke weed, but Rihanna somehow also manages to make blazing seem glamorous and sexy. (Impressive.)"Solo," Frank Ocean: Like Rihanna, when Frank talks about smoking weed, it seems sophisticated and deep. This is a great track to listen to when youre blazing alone, at night, wondering what it all means..."Broccoli," DRAM (feat Lil Yachty): DRAM is all "good vibes" if thats what youre into, and this is a feel-good party-jam ode to rolling one up at a party. Infectious piano hook."HennyNHoes," Young M.A.: This is a good song to listen to at any time, and we will never not shout it out cause its our favourite and Young M.A. is cool as fuck."You Dont Know How It Feels," Tom Petty: This song is great to get stoned to cause when it gets to the part where he says, "lets rollll another joiiint," you can use it as an excuse to do just that."Dust on the Bottle," David Lee Murphy: This song is about homemade wine, not weed, but its great to get stoned to, cause it tells a great story and, lets be real, all music is good when youre stoned.

The release of Partynextdoor’s third album, PX3 or Partynextdoor 3 has been greeted by a growing realization that this Canadian singer is a bona fide R&B star. After all, it was only three years ago when critics derided the Toronto singer’s debut as a Faustian cataclysm of Future’s croon, the Weeknd’s anomie, and Drake’s suburban blues. Yet partly thanks to Drake’s cosign, each of his albums have performed better than the last, with his recent “Come and See Me” single being the first to crack the pop charts. His music fits snugly into the genre’s taste for what has been described as “woozy” R&B, a electronic conceit that once seemed like an innovation with the Weekend’s 2010 trio of EPs and Miguel’s “Adorn” smash, but which, over five years later, now looks like an artistic cul-de-sac. However, unlike other genres, tastemakers don’t determine the course of R&B – the audience does. Twitter trolls may love to crack jokes about Bryson Tiller’s overly familiar blend of screwed rap&B, but his album still went platinum. And Drake’s continued dominance needs no unpacking here. Like it or not, the electronic, synthesized “wooz” of post-millennial R&B clichés seems like it will be with us for the immediate future.

While writing his latest album, "Some Strange Reason," Peace to Mateo kept this playlist cued up for inspiration.

This playlist consists of a wide range of bands and types of music, but mostly songs by current & active artists. When I look over it I realize a bunch of the songs are by bands PKP met and played with on tour and who we ended up loving. It feels nice to share memories with people whose music you love.

All four of the founding, permanent members of Pearl Jam will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in April 2017, but of the four drummers who played on the band’s albums over the course of their 25-year run, only two will be inducted with them: Dave Krusen and Matt Cameron. A third, Jack Irons, is already in the Hall of Fame for his work with Red Hot Chili Peppers, so that leaves just one odd man out: Dave Abbruzzese.The exclusion of Abbruzzese from the Hall of Fame induction is notable because, while he only played with the band from 1991 to 1994, that era represents the peak of Pearl Jam’s fame. He played on two of the band’s three top-selling albums, Vs. and Vitalogy, and toured heavily in support of the other, Ten. Fourteen tracks with Abbruzzese, nearly half of his studio work with the band, got enough radio airplay to appear on Billboard’s rock charts.Abbruzzese played on some of Pearl Jam’s most recognizable songs, including “Better Man” and “Daughter,” and songs that remain setlist staples to this day like “Rearviewmirror” and “Corduroy.” He also played on the band’s memorable contributions to the multi-platinum soundtrack for Cameron Crowe’s Singles, the hit cover of Victoria Williams’ “Crazy Mary,” and several B-sides.A steady and versatile drummer, Dave Abbruzzese handled expansive midtempo grooves like “Immortality” as well as the scorching punk of “Spin the Black Circle.” Though he only received a handful of songwriting credits, his drum fills and splashy flourishes left a distinctive signature on many songs. Still, Abbruzzese reportedly never clicked with the rest of the band on a personal or political level; rumor has it that the lyrics of “Glorified G” were Eddie Vedder taking a potshot at the drummer, a proud gun owner. And while Pearl Jam’s black sheep drummer won’t be inducted into the Rock Hall with the band next month, it’s hard to imagine they won’t be playing any songs he helped originate.