Welcome to my first ever monthly playlist post! Many of you know that I love music and I absolutely love sharing my music with people and making them playlists. If you don’t know me, just know I spend a large chunk of my life exploring new music, reading about the current music scene(s), and attending concerts.
Each month I’m going to post a playlist of songs to share with you all. I’ll post a link to the playlist on Spotify and write a description of the playlist below if you want more information on what the playlist includes. If you don’t use Spotify, comment and let me know and I can make you the same playlist on YouTube – although Spotify is free and I highly recommend it! If you like my music you can also follow me on Spotify and browse the many playlists I’ve made.
The music on these playlists will be a mixture of songs. Some songs will be newly released music, some will be songs I’ve recently discovered, and still others will be songs I just happen to be listening to at the moment. Some playlists might have themes or focus on a specific artist on genre while others are just a random mixture (such as this one). I will try to avoid songs that are on mainstream radio, as the point of these playlists is to be music for you to discover! I put 15 songs on this playlist, which is around an hour of music, but that number could go up or down in the future depending on the response I get.
Anyways, enough talking (typing?). Without further ado, here’s the August 2016 playlist. Don’t forget to comment or message me and tell me what you did/didn’t like, any changes I can make, and if there’s anything you’d like to see next month!
This first playlist I’ve thrown together a lot of the music that I’ve been listening to this summer. To start, in honor of writing this post from Belgium, I’ve included songs from Stromae, one of my favorite artists. Both tous les mêmes (1) and Papaoutai (7) are two of his more popular songs, but both of his albums are full of solid songs. Sometime I might write a separate blog post just on Stromae because I love everything about him.
She’s Out of Her Mind (2) is a track off the new album California from a Tom DeLonge-less blink-182. While I’m not too big on their new music, this is one of the few songs that retains the old sound many of us grew to love from blink.
80’s Films (3) and Fashion (6) are two songs off NYC artist Jon Bellion’s debut album, The Human Condition. I was introduced to Bellion by a good friend of mine this summer (thanks John!) and I’ve been in love with this entire album, which has a large variety of music and has gotten fantastic reviews so far. He has a unique way of mixing hip-hop, R&B, and rap choruses with a pop- and rock-based sound.
The fourth track, Move (4), is a new song from Saint Motel, a band most people would know from their 2014 hit My Type. Much in the same vein, Move blends that disco and funk sound into this catchy alternative track.
The next track, Hold Up, Wait a Minute (5), as well as In The Morning (8) and Generationwhy (15) are all songs from LA-based artist Zhu. Zhu has been my favorite artist throughout this summer. Mostly known for his songs such as Faded and Working For It, Zhu released his debut album GENERATIONWHY a few weeks ago. Picking which songs to include on this playlist was nearly impossible because I love almost every track he’s done, so I’ll probably include more of his music in the future.
Some of you know that one of my favorite genres recently has been tropical house music, and this is shown in my choices of Perfect Strangers (9), False Alarm (10), and Summer on You (11). All three have that laid-back, relaxed feel of tropical house that evokes a sense of nostalgia, reminding you of that one summer on the beach a few years ago.
The playlist finishes up with a few songs on the slower side. Agape (12) is a song by the relatively-unknown U.K. band Bear’s Den, off their first album Islands. I like to describe the band as having the true folk-rock sound Mumford & Sons used to have before they turned into a more pop-alternative focused band. I’ve also been listening to their new new album Red Earth & Pouring Rain, so expect some of that music to show up in future playlists.
Angela (13) is one of my favorite tracks on The Lumineer’s recent album Cleopatra. Some of you probably know both the title track and the song Ophelia from the radio, but the entire album is full of solid songs.
Finally, Help Me Lose My Mind (14) is a song by the English duo Disclosure. Disclosure is one of my top artists of all time, and they’re well known for their hits where they’ve collaborated with a variety of artists, including Sam Smith, Lorde, and The Weeknd. Help Me Lose My Mind is one of their lesser-known hits as the final track on their debut album Settle, but it’s a song I love playing on late-night drives to chill and vibe out to.
That’s all for this playlist, thanks for reading/listening! Be on the lookout for the September playlist in a few weeks.