Awesome Lists

What’s This Playlist All About? “The most trusted voice in music” works its way through a decade we all can’t seem to get enough of with this disclaimer: “Longtime readers may remember that, in 2002, we made a list of The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s. That list was shorter, sure, but it also represented a limited editorial stance we have worked hard to move past; its lack of diversity, both in album selections and contributing critics, does not represent the voice Pitchfork has become. For this new list, we gathered votes from more than 50 full-time staffers and regularly contributing writers to open up our discussion.”What You Get: The usual suspects crowd the top of the list (Prince, MJ, Madonna, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, New Order), but dig into the heart of it and you may find some real hidden gems. You’ll find the throbbing, funky post-punk of Bronx band ESG; the brilliant sampling of hip-hop greats EPMD; the Satanic doggedness of death metal gods Morbid Angel; the infectious South African rhythms of The Indestructible Beat of Soweto compilation; and the intricate computer patchworks of electronic pioneer Laurie Spiegel. Let’s just say the whole 575-song mix certainly has the diversity promised.Greatest Discovery: At No. 130 is Scientist’s Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires, excellently described by reviewer Eddie “Stats” Houghton as “one of the greatest dub albums ever, transforming the swing of dancehall’s catchiest tunes into their spookiest, most expansive selves. Historically, this record is a precursor to trip-hop and dubstep, but even encountered as an isolated sonic experience, the tracks are revelatory, uniquely suffused with an eerie joy.”Do We Really Need Another ‘80s Playlist? This list is surprisingly fresh, and it may even be worth starting from the bottom, as you’ll likely discover some unexpected treasures you’ve never heard before. In other words, yes, another ‘80s playlist will do just fine. There’s still plenty to discover from the decade that just won’t die—thankfully.

Ratts 1984 snarler "Round and Round" was one of that years biggest rock songs—it peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it landed at No. 87 on the magazines year-end singles chart. Among bands who crawled out of the Sunset Strips gutters and onto the charts, though, they were something of an anomaly, hitting it big on radio with nasty guitars and Stephen Pearcys acid-tipped vocals, instead of lighter-worthy choruses and proclamations of love. But as this playlist of Hot 100-charting songs shows, hard rock made it to the all-genre chart with a considerable skew, thanks to Billboard leaving video airplay out of their equations. Ballads and covers were big; straight-ahead rockers, with a few exceptions, were not."Round and Round" remains one of the best rock songs of its era, a tight package of twisted romance and spiteful lyrics with a killer modulation that ratchets up its tension. Its ubiquity was massively assisted by MTV, which seemingly reveled in playing the song’s Milton Berle-starring video. (Berles nephew Marshall, Ratts then-manager, called in a familial favor.) MTV was playing a lot of music that fell under the "heavy metal" rubric at the time; this 1984 playlist, in addition to featuring "Round and Round," has videos by Jersey boys Bon Jovi and L.A. stalwarts Quiet Riot in heavy rotation (maximum four plays a day), while clips by Ronnie James Dio and Sammy Hagar are alongside Ratts similarly caustic "Back For More" in medium rotation (three plays max). "Were a part of MTV," guitarist Robbin Crosby told Billboard in 1985. "They were behind us from the start, and took pride in us."One of the biggest oddities of the post-MTV age was that despite the fact that the video-music channel was incredibly influential in popular culture, its data held zero sway over the Hot 100, which used only sales and radio airplay in its calculations. The pop-metal landscape presented by MTV, both in its daily programming and its Saturday-night metal-mania celebration Headbangers Ball, was harder and more acerbic than its full-chart counterpart; consider this 1990 playlist, which features Ratts bluesy Detonator single "Lovin You’s A Dirty Job" in active (not quite heavy) rotation alongside Love Hates manic sleeper hit "Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?" and Queensrÿches anti-globalist screed "Empire." Meanwhile, Mötley Crües bi-curious rave-up "Same Ol Situation," Jon Bon Jovis "Wanted Dead or Alive" rewrite of "Blaze of Glory," and Slaughters weepy "Fly to the Angels" are in heavy rotation, while Warrants excessively horny "Cherry Pie" and Wingers longingly goopy "Miles Away" are among the clips being touted as MTV exclusives, which meant prime (and frequent) airplay time.Most of the metal-tagged songs on that weeks corresponding Hot 100 chart fall on the more romantic side of things—the twin duo Nelson, who had the blonde tresses of any act worth their Aqua Net but whose sweeping rock songs were much more in the big-ticket vein of Boston, were at No. 1 with the harmony-rich "(Cant Live Without Your) Love and Affection," while Bon Jovis return to the Wild West was at No. 4. Ballads and rockers are surprisingly balanced on the rest of the chart: Faces revivalists The London Quireboys "I Dont Love You Anymore" dips down from No. 92 to No. 95; Styx-Nugent supergroup Damn Yankees string-laden "High Enough" is at No. 74 and eventually makes its way to No. 3; "Fly to the Angels," which would peak at No. 19, is at No. 28. Winger, Warrant, and Poison all have cheekier tracks—"Cant Get Enuff," "Cherry Pie," and "Unskinny Bop," respectively—bobbing around the 15-to-50 range, although those successes were more sales-based than radio-based. All three benefited from being the lead singles of not-yet-released albums by huge bands.Ratts last single to make the Hot 100, peaking at No. 75, was "Way Cool Jr.," a swaggering Reach for the Sky track about a slickster-cool drug dealer. Like "Round and Round"—and the four other Ratt songs that made pops biggest chart—it was a bit of a Hot 100 anomaly, trafficking in razor-wire guitars and led by Pearcys withering vocal (and it wasn’t a cover, à la Bulletboys rework of the OJays world-weary "For the Love of Money" or Great Whites version of Ian Hunters pervy "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"). But like so many other metal-edged singles of its era, it loomed larger on the rock landscape than the charts suggested, thanks to a consistent presence throughout late 1988 and early 1989 on MTV.

What’s This Playlist All About? The tastemaking site compiles its annual collection of bests, prefaced with this rather orotund description: “More than ever, music felt like a playing field where new, exciting artists were sharing the discussion with the veterans, if not taking it over outright. A sea change was underway, the borders eroded—and music was better for it.”What You Get: As promised, there are indeed plenty of newcomers here—many of them women—from Snail Mail’s evocative, ‘90s-nostalgic indie rock to Tierra Whack’s one-minute hip-hop daydreams to cupcakKe and Cardi B’s brash and bold one-liners. In fact, women totally dominate this list, down to folk supertrio boygenius and alt-pop siren Mitski, who nabs the No. 1 spot. Heck, there’s even old standby Cat Power, whose “Woman,” featuring Lana Del Rey, may just sum up everything. But that’s not to say the men are ignored—no, not at all with electronic faves like DJ Koze and Jon Hopkins and hip-hop trendsetters like Earl Sweatshirt and Pusha T squeezed comfortably in between.Greatest Discoveries: Spanish powerhouse Rosalia and her smoking mix of flamenco and alt-pop; Brooklyn singer-songwriter Amen Dunes’ moody, psych-tinged indie folk; and Against All Logic (Nicolas Jaar)’s heady, soul-groovy dance music.How Well Does This Define the Year 2018? As mentioned above, the women rule the show here (appropriate for the year of #metoo), but Pitchfork clearly made a conscious decision to make this list plenty diverse to show—as they put it—an erosion of borders happening not just around the world but within our own musical tastes.

“I am a DJ, I am what I play,” David Bowie sang on his 1979 single, “DJ,” and just a few weeks prior to its release, he was putting that philosophy into action. At the time, Bowie was on the verge of releasing Lodger, the final instalment of the “Berlin trilogy” that saw him drift away from guitar-based rock into futurist, synth-smeared pop and abstract electronica. But when invited by the BBC to play disc jockey for a couple of hours, Bowie treated listeners to a This Is Your Life-scaled journey through his many phases and obsessions, with a set list that effectively doubled as a brain map.Much as Bowie’s own records pushed rock audiences to explore more esoteric sounds, his BBC broadcast began on familiar turf (The Doors, John Lennon, and, in a nod to his theatrical roots, an old Danny Kaye showtune) before thrusting listeners into the avant-classical of Philip Glass and the caterwauling no wave of Mars. Over time, many of these selections have become familiar to even the most casual record collectors, but they’re emblematic of Bowie’s rarefied position at the time as a conduit between the rock establishment (Springsteen, Jeff Beck, Bob Seger) and post-punk’s new wave (Blondie, Talking Heads, Mekons).After Bowie’s death in January 2016, YouTube rips of his BBC stint began circulating in tribute posts, but they appear to have fallen victim to copyright claims. So, in honor of the ultimate musical curator, we’ve reconstructed his set in playlist form so that, in a world without Bowie, he can still be what he played. * A couple of Bowie’s selections—Little Richard’s “He’s My Star” and The Staple Singers’ “Lies”—aren’t available on Spotify. The original version of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” also isn’t available, so we’ve subbed in a live take instead.

She was a tragic character from the very beginning—Lana Del Rey was Born to Die. And yet, half a decade later, her story continues; her myth still grows. The pouty princess who once served as Hipster Runoffs lifeline has made her way to the (literal) top of Hollywood with a renewed Lust for Life. "Were the masters of our own fate," she coos with confidence on the albums title track. Its a well-worn cliché that sounds downright profound coming from a woman who has meticulously created and refined a persona that is far more than meets the black-lined eye.Lana is not the tortured seductress we first assumed her to be. No, she is a true and shrewd 21st-century star. She glorifies outdated stereotypes, while challenging outdated perspectives on sex, race, youth, beauty, power, fame, and the American dream. She then neatly fits these ideas into classic archetypal figures that come alive in noir soundscapes as silky and sumptuous as her bed sheets surely must be. Here, we break down Lana Del Rey into her four most distinct roles and unpack the influences behind them.THE FEMME FATALE

Lana got plenty of heat back in 2014 for telling The Fader, "The issue of feminism is just not an interesting concept." The fact that she opens a song with a line like "my pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola" doesnt help her cause, but shes hardly proven to be a powerless woman. In fact, Lana is arguably at her best in her most infamous role: the femme fatale. Her idea of feminism is using and abusing the power of femininity, not unlike strong sex symbols before her, from the slithery slyness of Nancy Sinatra and Brigitte Bardot to the overt eroticism of Madonna. Of course, the femme fatale can be as lethal to herself as she is to the opposite sex. When her own dangerous games of sex, drugs, and intrigue turn against her, self-awareness becomes crucial. When Lana admits that she wants "Money Power Glory" and that "prison isnt nothing to me" (on "Florida Kilos"), she takes on the gall and grit of proud bad girls Rihanna and Amy Winehouse.

THE HOPELESS ROMANTIC

Lana will break an endless amount of hearts, but will forever find true love elusive. She can lure the boys in but never quite let them go. She is the hopeless romantic, much like "Lust for Life" collaborator The Weeknd, who once said, "she is the girl in my music, and I am the guy in her music." On her big, symphonic ballads, shell sweep you up in every intimate detail with the pained quiver of Antony Hegarty, the vivid imagery of Leonard Cohen (whose "Chelsea Hotel #2" Lana has covered), and the brooding intensity of Chris Isaaks sultriest unrequited-love song, "Wicked Game." All the while, she associates youth and beauty with romance ("Will you still love me/ When Im no longer young and beautiful"), believing that none of these things will ever last—but it doesnt mean shell stop falling in love.

THE SAD GIRL

Behind every calculated move and every shade of cool is a sad girl "crying tears of gold." This is the fate of a tough temptress with a soft soul. Lana wallows in her sorrow as much as she does in her drugs, booze, and boys. Her most indulgent torch songs are draped in infinite sadness, starting with the obvious "Sad Girl," with its dark, dusky swing in the style of Twin Peaks enchantress Julee Cruise, or "Million Dollar Man," in which she echoes the most "Sullen Girl" of all, Fiona Apple. She even finds a kindred spirit in Mr. Lonely himself with her stunning cover of Bobby Vinton’s "Blue Velvet." Still, through all that misery, at least she knows that shes pretty when she cries.

THE ALL-AMERICAN PROVOCATEUR

Lana embodies the American dream as every bit of the illusion that it is. The American flag is her most provocative symbol, whether shes standing proudly before it (mischievously winking) or suggestively wrapping herself in its stars and stripes. She finds money, fame, and all that dream promises—but never happiness. She sings of Springsteen in "American"; portrays herself as both Marilyn Monroe and Jackie O in the video for "National Anthem"; and even gets political on "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind." Her vision of America starts and ends on the West Coast. She paints the Golden State as both scandal and savior with hints of EMA and Courtney Love; tells sordid tales of "Guns and Roses" like only Guns N Roses could; and finds her fellow California "Freak" in video co-star Father John Misty. All together, she is America the Beautiful, the Cunning, the Miserable.

How Björk managed to become such a powerful force in mainstream pop culture is one of the great unexplainable mysteries of our time. Over the course of her 40-plus-year career making music, Björk has epitomized the ideal of the free-spirited artist, taking her work wherever her muse may lead it without bending to the will of commercial trends or mass-market crowd pleasing. And yet she is one of the most distinct, consistently celebrated voices of the turn of the millennium, a pop-art maven whose work is difficult to even put into words, and yet whose sense of emotion and sonic innovation is unmistakable.Part of Björk’s rise to stardom can certainly be attributed to the wonderfully eccentric music videos she deployed with the help of directors like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze right as she was emerging as a solo artist. The early ‘90s very well may have been the right place and the right time for weirdos like Björk (and Radiohead and Aphex Twin) to shimmy their way into the mainstream via MTV, even if, in Björk’s case, her videos were always more popular than her singles (at least in the U.S.). Not that that ever slowed her stride; tracing the evolution of Björk’s work, her earliest material is probably the most accessible music she ever made, her albums becoming more mutated and surreal with each release while always remaining a present and powerful locus of the cultural moment.To say that Björk is an acquired taste would be an understatement, and that’s exactly how her music should be. Between her uncannily raw voice, her assorted spread of disorienting producers and collaborators, and her childlike commentaries on love and sexuality, Björk’s work is about as confrontational and avant-garde as it gets, only magnified to a level of public consciousness that few artists ever achieve. Whether you’re a curious newcomer unfamiliar to her strange world or a hyper-fan just seeking some nourishment, we’re here to break down Björk’s music into something that almost resembles common sense.

FIRST STEPS

Björk’s major breakthrough as a solo artist in the ‘90s largely fit in with certain sonic trends of the era. House music, trip-hop, and an umbrella sense of “alternative” were all having their moment, and these sounds largely informed the surreal dance pop of Debut and Post. “Army of Me,” with its Led Zeppelin-sampling backbeat and grimy production (courtesy of 808 State’s Graham Massey), sounds like a Portishead song that’s been set on fire, and these influences would carry through even to her modern work. Tracks like “Joga” and “Pagan Poetry” stir dark electronics with an orchestral sense of melody, while “Lionsong” drifts in and out of its beat as Björk delivers a painfully intimate serenade on dissipating love. But lest her sound become too easily categorized as “electronic,” let us not forget the shimmering, theatrical opus that is “It’s Oh So Quiet,” a surprise hit if there ever was one, thanks to its old-school brass-band arrangement and unhinged sense of release.

THE NEXT LEVEL

Part of what’s made Björk’s music so enduring over the years is the way she’s managed to synthesize a plethora of influences into something wholly her own. Take “Where Is The Line,” for example, a highlight off the a capella concept record Medúlla: The track combines a flurry of throaty beatboxing with distorted programming and operatic singing to bizarre effect, creating something otherworldly that still manages to call back to Björk’s early fascination with drum ‘n’ bass. Songs like “Possibly Maybe” and “Cocoon” show off just how atmospheric Björk is capable of being as well, both numbers swelling with deep synthesizer tones and light glitchy effects that contrast with her stark, passionate voice. Her knack for composition shines through as well on songs like “Black Lake” and the film-scoring “Ambergris March,” the former a somber requiem of slowly unfolding strings, the latter a peculiar yet lovely parade of bells and hand drums.

THE DEEP END

Whether she’s teaming up with collaborators or exploring the most extreme recesses of her sound, Björk is anything if not adventurous. Her earliest hit came with the Icelandic jangle-pop group The Sugarcubes, whose song “Birthday” may very well have set the stage for Björk’s massive solo career. Her starring role in Lars Von Trier’s Dancer In The Dark resulted in a soundtrack of original songs as well, with “Cvalda” blurring the line between old Hollywood theatre and skull-crushing factory sounds. But Björk’s primary interest has always been revealing the physical intricacies of the body through otherworldly distortion, whether through the thrashing dance rhythms of “Pluto,” the primal a capella funk of “Triumph of a Heart,” or the echoing siren song of “Storm.” Entering Björk’s unusual sonic world can be unwieldy business, but as alien as it might seem, what’s consistently enthralling about her music is how utterly human it truly is.

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.Los Angeles’ beat scene was always loose by design. Though it had a very specific and physical home—Low End Theory, a club night that still happens every Wednesday at The Airliner in L.A.—the music is more mercurial, with innumerable sub-genres flourishing and swiftly fading. The architects of the scene understood that tying themselves to any one sound meant desertion when the wave inevitably crashed. So, the music was omnivorous, encompassing rap, IDM, psychedelia, turntablism, dance music, trap, jazz, ambient, trip-hop, and spiritual music.The resulting milieu produced a body of work that is nearly unparalleled in hip-hop and modern electronic music, and you can hear the beat scene’s influence in everyone from Thom Yorke and Erykah Badu to Odd Future, Kendrick Lamar,Drake, and Kid Cudi. It transformed L.A. from an electronic-music backwater to a hub of indigenous electronic music culture. And while even casual electronic music fans know its commercial lodestars—Flying Lotus, Thundercat, TOKiMONSTA, Daedelus, et al.—the scene has a deep bench, a psychedelic assortment of mad scientists, Afrofuturists, and avant garde tinkerers that seem like characters ripped out of comic books.The Dowsers has partnered up with The Passion of the Weiss to present an exhaustive look at this scene—complete with an accompanying playlist of definitive tracks. Head here to check out their list of the Top 20 albums, and check out our remix of their list below, which focuses on the 10 artists who defined the movement.

AN ORIGIN STORY, OF SORTSNearly 10 years removed from its release, Flying Lotus’ 2008 album Los Angeles still feels like an anomaly. Most L.A. music evokes sunshine, but FlyLo used techno, bass music, jazz, and hip-hop to sketch a picture of stoned weirdoes marauding through the city’s endless expanse. African percussion collided with IDM sub-frequencies, and Moog licks bounced off record static, conjuring strange, shamanistic imagery. It’s unsurprising that its Afrofuturist grit earned full-throated endorsements from the electronic-music press; the “black Aphex Twin” headlines wrote themselves.And yet despite its electronic bona fides, Los Angeles is hip-hop to the core. Released during a half-decade death spiral of rap’s ’90s generation, and during the South’s ringtone rap phase, Los Angeles didn’t fit. What it did, however, was inspire misfits, both global and local. The irreverent beat science of Odd Future pointed directly to Los Angeles, while Detroit’s Danny Brown calculated what it’d take to rap over music this weird. Soon, an entire scene of blunted beatmakers sprung up both around Low End Theory (Lotus’ performance space of choice) and the internet (where his music was consumed). We’re a decade removed from cloud rap, half a decade from Yeezus, and two years from Future’s DS2, and while we don’t know for sure if Clams Casino, Kanye, or Future heard Los Angeles, the album was the butterfly whose wings indirectly started a rap hurricane where harsh electronic productions became an acceptable canvas over which to brag about sexcapades and Gucci brand footwear.Listen to key tracks from Los Angeles alongside the music that inspired it:

INTO A DARK SILENCENosaj Thing was one of the earliest members of the beat scene, but where his contemporaries tended to produce more fleshed-out sounds, often with a heavy hip-hop influence, Nosaj Thing created a canvas shaded as much by silence as by noise. On his debut album, 2009’s Drift, the beats are dark and exploratory, and, while he couldnt have known it at the time, it has a lot in common with "the drift" of Guillermo del Toros Pacific Rim. In both instances, the drift is a process by which two active participants bond over synchronized brain waves to form a more perfect whole. While del Toro had a specific, mechanical process in mind, Nosaj Thing found a far more organic approach, realizing that (re)creation wasn’t about moving away from the original source as much as it was about moving toward a new one.Listen to key tracks from Drift alongside the music that inspired it:

THE WANDERERGonjasufi has the voice of a man who’s been through the gutter and back. An ancient, rusted-out croon, it’s by turns manic and tender, evoking many days lost in the wilderness, and many more spent re-aligning the chakras. His 2010 release, A Sufi and a Killer, feels like an epic trek, as producers Gaslamp Killer, Mainframe, and Flying Lotus sample a global list of artists to forge soulful, psychedelic beats. The vibe is dirty, and the thunder and rain that comes in at the tail end of “Love of Reign” makes the voyage that much more unnerving. Still, Sufi navigates the landscape with confidence, unleashing a crisp poetry that lays his contradictions bare in an allegorical track about a lion that wishes he were a sheep. When the singer finally finds redemption in “Made”—whose lyrics find a parallel between the coming of spring and the arrival of a paycheck—his voice is feather-light and full of relief.Listen to key tracks from A Sufi and a Killer alongside the music that inspired it:

HEARING IS BELIEVINGTo see The Gaslamp Killer is to believe in The Gaslamp Killer. The Low End Theory co-founder/resident DJ’s wide-ranging sets reside on the brink of chaos, mixing hip-hop, rock, electronic, and all points in between. On stage, he resembles the waving, inflatable man outside of a car dealership, yet the rhythmic flailing isn’t a substitute for pyrotechnics or pre-planned drops. It’s genuine, and he connects without a shred of self-consciousness, guiding audiences with shamanistic conviction.His Brainfeeder debut, 2012’s Breakthrough, captures the intimate, heartfelt lunacy of his live sets. It is the circadian rhythm compressed, shuttling you at breakneck speed from a psychedelic midnight to lucid dawn. “Holy Mt Washington” (with Computer Jay) tempers eviscerating low-end bounce with buoyant, Morricone-inspired whistling. “Peasants, Cripples, & Retards” (with Samiyam) moves from industrial, intergalactic funk to Jamaican dub. The emotive plucking of the yiali tambur by Jogger’s Amir Yaghmai on “Nissim” is backed by Gaslamp’s breakbeat barrage. It remains the standout, a reminder that not every song from the beat scene needed to rattle your body in order to touch your soul.

THE AFROCENTRIC FROM ALPHA CENTAURIRas G is the beat scene’s answer to Sun Ra. His music is an attempt to commune with the constellations, drawing equally from the electronic and analogue. His 2008 album, Brotha From Anotha Planet, is prime headphone listening, a solitary exploration of the soul in twilight hours. Ras G’s willingness to pull back between banging beats, to tie everything together with these oddly comforting intergalactic sound collages, is brilliant. It’s in these moments that we reflect, reminding ourselves of that a celestial experience is visceral as well as cerebral, and attempt to find our place in the universe.

THE FUTURE AT 90 BPMTeebs’ balancing act between subtly and bombast not only served as the M.O. for his 2010 debut, Ardour, but as a mission statement for the beat scene. While early Los Angeles electro used the sparseness of drum machines to rock the party, and DJ Shadow pushed crate digging to its first extremes, Teebs pulls both traditions toward the center, balancing the psychedelic quality of the music with a palpable sonic immediacy. It’s hard to disassociate the somatic contrast between weight and weightlessness from New Yorker Teebs’ adopted sunshine state. Rick Rubin’s beats were born of boomboxes on trains, Detroit techno’s future jazz filled the mechanical void left by shut-down factories, and Ardour was brought to you by dispensary-bought weed cookies and 90 bpm hip-hop records.

AN ALCHEMYShlohmo (a.k.a. Henry Laufer) has a gift for building tension by mining the space between wonder and terror. On 2011’s Bad Vibes, his intricate, skeletal rhythms invite close inspection, and the natural sounds and white noise textures have all the warmth of a down comforter, but the booby-trapped funk of “Just Us”—opening on a thread of light, blurpy synths and then boiling over in a wash of phantom electronics—makes you question just how safe this world really is. Laufer said that he was going through a rough patch when making this album, yet Bad Vibes reflects deeper, more ingrained burdens. Some are consumed by pain, fear, and insecurity, but Shlohmo transformed it into something beautiful.

RAZOR BLADE BEATSIf you stumbled into Low End Theory between 2008 and 2012, you felt Samiyam’s bass hit you so hard that it felt like you had a razor blade in your throat. The Ann Arbor transplant twisted synths into shrapnel, while his drums signaled an imminent sonic destruction. Samiyam’s 2011 release, Sam Baker’s Album, is an instrumental suite that is alternately gorgeous and gargoyle-heavy. Its innately infused with Samiyams grit and filth, and plucks diamonds from dirt, stars in soot, breathing artesian oxygen and then descending into a valley of smog. It reminds you that the beat scene was as far away from Hollywood as it was Hanoi.

JAZZ MUTATIONSThe influence of jazz on the beat scene is more spiritual than aesthetic. Before Kamasi Washington (who came later, and orbited the periphery), the scene produced only one true jazz artist —the young piano prodigy Austin Peralta. Peralta had a reputation as a live performer, and the recordings that have surfaced since his 2012 passing have taken on a near-mythical dimension. They are full of exuberance and wonder, with every chord revealing new avenues of sound. This willingness to push boundaries provides a through-line that connects Peralta to the larger beat scene.But experimentation is hollow without a handle on the fundamentals, and while Peralta’s live sets reached the farthest edges, his most important studio work, Endless Planets, is comparatively conservative. The piano and rhythm section do the bulk of the work, staying comfortably in pocket, with only a sparse smattering of electronics and a few ambient flourishes revealing the album’s progressive modernity. Endless Planets’ relatively reserved approach provides a launching pad for Peralta’s mutations, and established a link between the beat scene and a larger jazz tradition.

8-BIT BOOM RAPThough producer Jonwayne declares that Nintendo DS game Animal Crossing gave him the only semblance of structure in his life—understandable for a guy who used to work at Gamestop—he is first and foremost a hip-hop aficionado. He established his crate-digging bonafides by exalting criminally overlooked Pasadena crew Mad Kap, and he’s a devout follower of the cult of Busta. Still, it’s remarkable how nicely Jonwayne’s two obsessions dovetailed on his 2011 debut, Bowser. The eerie, descending keyboards of “Bowser I (Sigma Head)” evoke a King Koopa rampaging like Ice Cube’s dad in “Down for Whatever,” drunk and threatening to turn the party out, while “Beady Bablo”’s woozy, chiptune interpolation of “Freek-A-Leek” proves that Petey Pablo could have a second career stealing princesses from castles.SaveSaveSaveSave

Still flying high on their 2016 release, Strange Little Birds, and their summer 2017 tour with Blondie, alt-rock icons Garbage also recently released a coffee-table book chronicling their two-decade history, titled This Is the Noise That Keeps Me Awake. But on this playlist she created specially for The Dowsers, frontwoman Shirley Manson reveals the songs she turns to when she wants to cry herself to sleep. “The Winner Takes It All,” ABBA: The first slow dance I ever shared with a boy was to this song. I didn’t know at the time that it was a song about divorce, but I do now. Pop brilliance at its finest.“I’m a Fool to Want You,” Billie Holiday: I have nothing but love and gratitude for Billie Holliday and her artistry. True love forever.“Don’t Smoke in Bed,” Peggy Lee: The first time I realized that a song didn’t need to be catchy or feel good. It could tell a story—and a great, heartbreaking one at that.“So in Love,” Ella Fitzgerald: I associate Ella Fitzgerald with my mum because she played her so regularly in our household. This song is killer.“Wild Is the Wind,” Nina Simone: Nina Simone is without doubt the greatest voice I have ever heard in my life. And this song is blissful agony to listen to from start to finish. Utter perfection.“Anyone Who Had a Heart,” Dusty Springfield: After listening to this song, I always feel like I just got gutted like a fish.“Troy,” Sinéad O’Connor: One of my most favorite singers of all time. Sinead has the voice of a creature sent from the heavens. We must strive harder to cherish her whilst she still walks amongst us.“Revenge,” Patti Smith: Patti is everything to me. She is a god. She is a light. She is my go-to when everything gets dark.“You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” The Supremes: One of the first songs I can remember singing along to into the handle of my hairbrush at the top of my lungs. Diana Ross remains, to this day. one of my most beloved stars.“Why Dya Do it,” Marianne Faithfull: This song is perfect. I wish I’d written it. A woman destroyed is a woman not to be trifled with.“Winter Kills,” Yazoo: Fucking love how twisted and dark this still sounds.“Save Me,” Joan Armatrading: I love how unique and rich Joan Armatrading’s voice is. A criminally underrated, and unsung talent.“Oh Daddy,” Fleetwood Mac: I participated in a recording of this song during music class at school. It was the first time I’d ever been inside a recording studio. My music class was very inspired by Fleetwood Mac at the time, and I remain so.“You’re Not the Only One I Know,” The Sundays: I love how deliciously cavalier this song sounds. So easy and breezy and bitchy.“I Go to Sleep,” Pretenders: I have cried myself to sleep over and over to this song. Chrissie Hynde slays me every time.“Here You Come Again,” Dolly Parton: The most brilliant and sunny angel on earth.“I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” Ike & Tina Turner: The vocal is completely sick.“Talking in Your Sleep,” Crystal Gayle: This song is so fucking sad! I first heard it listening to a tiny radio my grannie gave to me for my ninth birthday. I didn’t really understand what it meant at the time, but I could tell it didn’t mean anything good.“Cry Me a River,” Julie London: Such a nasty little song disguised in such silky and satin sounds.“I Will Survive,” Gloria Gaynor: Favorite rebound song of all time. Game over. Mic drop.NOTE: Shortly after this list was published, Shirley Tweeted us the following request, which we have honored, of course:

🖤Can you add in Amy Winehouse Back to Black? I don’t understand why I forgot to add this song. The voice of a generation.🖤

— Garbage (@garbage) November 10, 2017

Photo Credit: Joseph CulticeSaveSave

Jamie XX links up with Complex to give a themed favorite tracks playlist. You get a sense of the broad range of influences that goes into his own music, from the lo-fi electric blues of Love Sculptures "Blues Helping" to the skeletal proto-dubstep of Buriels "Forgive." The Walls and Steel An Skin tracks are simply sublime (Jamie samples the latter on his own "Sleep Sounds").Songs to Relax To: Love Sculpture, “Blues Helping”Songs Most Proud of Making: Radiohead, “Bloom (Jamie xx Rework Part 3)”Album that Made Him Want to Start Producing: Burial, BurialFavorite Song With Steel Drums: Steel An’ Skin “Afro Punk Reggae Dub”UK Garage Track He Cant Stop Playing: DJ Zinc “138 Trek”Album that Inspired Him While Recording In Colour: Walls, WallsTrack that Encompasses Everything He Loves About U.K. Rave Culture: Jamie XX, "All Under One Roof Raving"Favorite song from his label, XL Recordings: Roy Davis Jr. f/ Peven Everett “Gabriel”Go-to song for DJing: Bileo, “You Can Win”Song that makes Him Excited About Dance Music: C.P.I., “Proceso (Barnt Remix)”Want amazing playlist delivered to your inbox every day? Click here to subscribe to the Dowsers e-mail!