This Week in Playlisting

There has been a lot of action this past week in the world of playlisting. Andrew Gilstrap of Popmatters offers song advice for increasing your friends tolerance for country music with his article entitled Sneaking in the Twang. The Guardian selects the Top 10 Songs About London, but leaves out the top choice of most music aficionados, “London Calling” by The Clash. Also, be sure to check out the Top 50 London Songs in YME. The Onion A.V. Club lists 12 Delightfully Odd Concept Albums, with the Louvin Brothers‘ Satan Is Real topping the list. Robin Hilton, the producer of NPR’s All Songs Considered, selects her Top 10 Living Songwriters. The New York Post lists the Top Summer Songs from the last 50 years. Keira Knightley, currently starring in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Man’s Chest, has revealed a personal playlist crafted specifically to help her get through pre-menstrual symptoms. And Greg Stepanich of the Palm Beach Post creates a Fourth of July playlist made up of compositions by American composers.

In other news, a new Yahoo Music Unlimited specific playlist blog was launched this week by Simon Carless. The blog is YMU Playa and is yet another place to visit when you’re longing to discover, or learn something new about music. Add it to your feed reader along with The Rugs Don’t Work and the Yahoo Radish and you can easily browse playlists daily in search of those that spark your interest. It’s exciting stuff, we are witnessing the beginnings of a community that offers so much more than the per-track download model does. I hope you’ll become part of it, if not as a participant than as an active listener. Remember, you can always kick around playlist ideas over at the YMU Playlisters group.

This week I wanted to examine the “Label Playlist”, that is, a playlist that pulls songs from albums which have been released by an independent record label. Of course, you could do this with major labels as well, but they’re certainly not as fun, or as well defined. Many independent labels have a particular sound they are looking for in new acts. This means that label-centric playlists not only give you an overview of the music released by a record company, but can have excellent continuity as well. Below are some links to YMU playlists organized by label.

Lo Recordings Sampler - This compilation comes to us courtesy of YMU Playa. It features songs by artists on the somewhat obscure electronica label Lo Recordings out of the UK. From down-tempo haze to full-out electronic assaults, this is an ultra-hip list.

Matador Records Sampler - Matador Records has a reputation for signing artistically significant indie bands to it’s roster. On top of the label’s commitment to releasing quality records, they also have an indie-friendly reputation for their anti-corporate culture.

SST Sampler - Ian Rogers put together this playlist of songs by artists on the legendary punk label SST, co-founded and run by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn.

Hush Records Sampler - Hush Records features mostly mellow, acoustic-based indie bands. Some of my favorite Hush artists include Corrina Repp, Reclinerland, and Super XX Man. They also have at least two Decemberists albums available.

Barsuk Records Sampler - Barsuk Records (pronounced bar SOOK) is Russian for “Badger” and this small Seattle label has helped launched some bands who are becoming (became?) household names, including Death Cab For Cutie and Rilo Kiley.

Sub Pop Box Set - The Seattle based Sub Pop set their place in history with the release of the debut album Bleach by Nirvana and their involvement with the birth of Grunge. Since that time they have released a diverse mix of indie, grunge, alternative and retro music.

There are still heaps of independent labels that need public playlists published. Won’t you build one for your favorite independent?

Finally, I leave you with some further playlist ideas from the past week.

Jethro Tull Family Tree

Play The All Music Guide lists 21 musicians who have, at some point in their career, been part of the renaissance rock unit Jethro Tull. This playlist selects songs by bands that are connected to Jethro Tull through at least one member. It contains a mix of celtic folk, classic rock and progressive rock, just as one would expect, but not as much flute as you would find on the typical Tull record. If this playlist was a visual medium, you would also notice a reduction in man tights and codpieces. So count yourself lucky. Band family trees are a great way to become familiar with the connections between groups through common members. And many times they can turn you on to an artist you were not familiar with, especially if you’re a fan of the band being traced. For example, most won’t be surprised by the Jethro Tull connection to Ian Anderson’s solo material, Fairport Convention and Pentangle, but Black Sabbath, Whitesnake and The Proclaimers? Yes, it’s true, and you can dig further by clicking on a band member’s name at the end of this article. Be sure to check out our other Band Family Tree playlists or create your own with the help of allmusic.com or bandtoband.com.

Ode To Chicago

Play Chi-town has played second fiddle to New York City since it was incorporated in 1837. This number two spot on the “greatest cities in America” list has earned it the nickname ”Second City”, in addition to numerous other labels. The metropolis is a ganglion of American culture and it’s musical heritage could spin off piles of fine playlists. For this one however, we focus on songs that pay homage to the city in some way. Of course, the list contains no-brainers like “Sweet Home Chicago” by Robert Johnson, “My Kind Of Town” by Frank Sinatra and “The Night Chicago Died” by Paper Lace, but also contains lesser-known odes from scads of musical genres. Sufjan Stevens kicks off this playlist with “Chicago” from my favorite album of 2005, Illinois, which is the second effort in his audacious attempt to create on full-length album for each of the 50 states. (Also, see Michigan). Other artists in the list include Ryan Adams, Wilco, Jim Croce, Merle Haggard, Smashing Pumpkins and more. Continue with this article to see the complete list with links to each artist.

Jazz Standards From The 1930s

Play The 1930’s were years marked by worldwide suffering caused by the great depression. About two months before the clock struck midnight on January 1, 1930, black Thursday happened. The great Wall Street crash of ‘29 ushered in an economic depression that would last most of the decade and the Dow Jones Industrial Average would not return to it’s pre-crash levels for 25 years. The 30’s were a time of pain and hardship and a period that would see nations march into yet another world war. However, one of the cultural benefits was the amount of great music produced in the 10 years between 1929 and 1940. Music experienced a boom during the 1930’s, in part, because musicians could draw on the creative energy created by hard times and partly because audiences were hungry to escape the dim realities of life. This energy between artist and audience sparked a creative explosion that gave us some of the most memorable songs ever written. This playlist contains 95 of these classic standards as performed by a diverse cross-section of jazz artists that span the last 75 years. From early jazz pioneers like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, to golden age legends like Coltrane and Monk, to classic crooners like Sinatra, Bennett and Mel Torme, to modern day torch singers like Norah Jones and Diana Krall. This 6+ hour playlist provides an excellent overview of not only the music of the 1930’s, but a glimpse into how these timeless tracks have been interpreted over the years.

Robert Burke
Yahoo Radish