New Series Announcement: Some No-Holds-Barred Playlisting
Graphic by Christian Ortmann
By Emily Herbein and Christian Ortmann
Yo! I wanted to start off the new year with a new series that wasn’t interview-based, so I’m hopping on the Spotify bandwagon. Our Date With and The 30% are my favorite parts of this site, but I also knew it needed something that was light on reading and heavy on taste. I asked my friend Christian to help me curate some monthly playlists because I don’t think there’s anyone better at this than him. We’ve been friends since our college house show days, back when our collective favorite artist was Bucolic, and Bucolic only. I miss dancing in West Philly’s grossest basements with him. Anyways — the content I typically cover here is all local, which I love, but I’m shaking it up a little with this. My only parameter for Christian was to zoom out and put together a list of non-local favorites that he’s been listening to. He’s also a fantastic writer, so the words below are his thoughts on how he built the first playlist, “January.” We’re still building the name and aesthetic of this series (I want it to involve my cats and my affinity for whiskey lol), but for now, we got “January.”
Follow Philly Live on Spotify right here, and scroll to the end for the tunes.
The subtle art of curating an excellent playlist is oft over-complicated if not pretentious. A good playlist needs only one ingredient: good songs you love. Beginning two years ago I put together seasonal playlists of tunes new and old that successfully weaseled their way into my ear one way for another and nestled stubbornly somewhere in my brain for a while. So arriving at the present day, in collaboration with Philly Live, we will carry forward that tradition. So let's dive in and do what this blog was designed to do by its most simple definition: share music we love. We present a playlist free from any categorical or sonic constraints which will be posted once a month as an earnest reflection of what has resonated with us the most during that time.
Tracks 1-4: electronic/popish
Music is the weapon I choose to stave off those winter blues. These often playful, melody driven, electronic based tracks are perfect for getting lost in. You know that gif of the Russian kid in a denim jacket just letting loose at the club? This is the soundtrack to when my brain feels like he must have.
The Avalanches
Tracks 5-9: (alt) rockish
The whinging white guy road trip portion of the mix. Perfect for looking wistfully out the window and or singing along fearlessly while you desperately yearn for a more fulfilling existence. Anybody? Just me? Alright great moving on…
The Wombats
Tracks 10-14: folk singer-songwriterish
Getting real vulnerable here and letting those pesky emotions sit with us for a while. Here are some simple stripped-back performances with haunting vocal performances as a meditative exercise to find some peace with.
Adrianne Lenker
Tracks 15-17: muddy aggressive stuff
I just can’t end on a somber note. Bringing the energy back, now is the time to get anything left in your system and let it out. A rambunctious finale to carry us onward with the resilience that could carry us eleven more months at least.
Viagra Boys
The thing I (Em) want to emphasize with this series is this: listen to what you want to listen to. Sometimes, all I do is listen to the same song for a week and a half before I exhaust it. (Right now, it’s this one for me). I love working specifically in this local space, but I want to use this series as a way to explore the completely expansive space that is someone else’s non-conforming taste. These playlists don’t have any rules, and they shouldn’t. I just want to know what is sitting in your mind at any given time, and why it’s sticking with you. Here’s what we’ve got going on in ours. Hope you enjoy it.