Saturday Sounds | 5 Playlists from My Spotify
Blithe Field’s “In the Moonlight”, from my playlist Walking Through The City
There are quite a few playlists on my Spotify. There are some that have maybe 6 songs, some have over 100. It’s not that I prefer Spotify over Apple Music or Soundcloud - it was Baby’s First DSP and it’s still the easiest to curate. When I first started DJing, the DJay Pro setup from Algoriddim was ideal as I could link any playlist from Spotify to the deck and search and add songs in real-time. That helped for five hour vinyl + digital sets at Jupiter Bar in Belltown or digging up a glam rock gem at the monthly set Abbie and I had at Screwdriver.
But the playlists got more and more refined over time, and some of them I’ve been lovingly cultivating for years, and some I’ve just started. Here are some of the picks:
It’s your city, it’s your walk, it’s your movie - consider me your music supervisor. My hope is that you find this collection the perfect soundtrack to your walk, day or night, dusk or dawn. There’s songs to slow down, get out of the rain, and stop to take it all in.
As seen on my Ambient songs post, this is a collection of non-vocal or soft vocal songs for meditation, relaxation, reading, not thinking. Consider this playlist an extension of this post, with selections from Nicolas Jaar, Cate Le Bon, Clams Casino, and Elliott Smith.
This is the catch-all, recommended listening in order. It starts very nuanced and vibey and towards the end it gets a little hairy with the more mainstream pop requests and the wedding-party hits. It’s an honest look at how a night could go, and requests aside, I’m a bit of a glutton for sugary pop confections.
My favorite get to know you question: “What’s the last song you Shazam’d?” I consider it an auditory passport, collecting the stamps of late nights out dancing, record store picks, songs heard blasting from the cars driving down Myrtle Ave, and antique stores on Bainbridge Island. Let’s compare stamps - share yours with me in the comments.
The First Playlist I Made on Spotify (ta-daahh) in 2010. I’d describe the songs selected for this playlist as string lights in an 18 year-olds’ bedroom, something pretty, glowing and reassuring like big stars. It’s indie, it’s dreamy, it’s a great time-capsule of what I was into.