Winter ‘25 Playlist
Okay, if I’m going to do this, today’s the day— it’s the first day of spring, so the window for sharing anything winter-related is closing, like, now. I’ll try to keep this introduction brief, but brevity usually has other plans for me..
I’ve been making “playlists,” which we Olds used to call “mixes,” for myself and my friends since the time of cassettes— when every song on the mix missed the first five seconds and the last five were cut off by the DJ. I absolutely thrived in the age of Napster and CD burners, and quickly became the unofficial distributor of mix CDs for my high school. Sharing music with people, friends or strangers, has always been my absolute favorite thing to do. I am the opposite of a gatekeeper. I am a Reverse Gatekeeper. Please like the things I like so we can obsess over them together. Please understand that if you say, “I’ll check it out,” I will be following up.
Anyway, I’ve been doing this forever, but it got harder when things went digital (“posting” something is very different from making something for someone), and I slacked on my distributor role. But lately, I’ve felt the the pull to start back up again— if you hadn’t noticed, I like to be social and I need a community to stay sane. This work-from-home life has me climbing the walls. So, here I am, back on my mix tape BS, just trying to get us all to talk (and listen!) to each other a bit more.
If there were a way for me to burn these as CDs for you and gift them, complete with Sharpie art, I would. But in the age of streaming, I’m sharing my Spotify playlists. I’ve been making them since 2011. These seasonal mixes are short— others are longer or ongoing, and I’ll probably get to sharing those too, but these are meant to reflect a season of my life; I add songs as I discover them. They’re not curated in advance to fit what a season should feel like. Sometimes, they’re just the same three artists over and over, which is usually a good sign that there are some great albums out there. Sometimes it all flows really nicely together, and sometimes it’s chaos. We shall seeeee.
One last thing before I leave you to it: I’ve thought way too long and hard about why I’m starting to share these things on the internet, with people I know and people I don’t know at all. What struck me recently— I think because my grandma is so good at this, and because Kaitlin and I talked about it the other day— is the idea of keeping a record. Not just of our own lives, but of the social and cultural moments of our society at large. Some people keep journals; I keep playlists. Music is the best way I know to reflect the person I am at a moment in time, and I hope someday my kids will listen to all of these playlists I’ve left behind and get a better understanding of who I was (though thankfully, they’re just as into most of the music I love too).
Without further ado, here are the songs I obsessed over this winter. I hope you’ll reach out if you’re into any of it or just want to talk music. Oh, right— also, if you are in New York and go to shows, please say hello!
Editor’s note: That Charli XCX song that’s trending right now snuck into repeat at like 11:30 p.m. last night. It might end up here as the honorary Song Matt Does Not Get on each of these.
Track Listing
Sharon Van Etten- Trouble: LIYL this Paula Cole song when you were WAY too young
Japanese Breakfast- Orlando In Love: Honestly I’ll blindly like everything Japanese Breakfast does, but thankfully I haven’t had to fake it yet. I don’t think this is her best track, but it’s romantic and lovely and this album is going to be so good (out tomorrow!)
Tems- Love Me JeJe: I’m late to the Tems party but man am I glad I joined. Many a Monday morning have started out with dance parties to this album to get me going.
Youth Lagoon- Speed Freak: Yes, the same Youth Lagoon you liked from that 2011 album with the rainbow on the cover. This album is so fantastic. This is for sure the edgiest track; the rest feels much more tender. The clips from home videos are the sweetest.
Σtella- Omorfo Mou: I heard “Charmed” like the rest of us did, via The Algorithm, and am really glad it led me to discover the rest of Σtella’s catalog. Super excited for this next album.
Japanese Breakfast- Mega Circuit: I love when a single is released on a Friday and it’s literally the only thing I listen to all day. For sure this will be the big single on her album but, I suspect there will be a few others that hit hard. The tour’s going to be gorgeous.
Horsegirl- Switch Over: I love to push Horsegirl on people [who like Velvet Underground]. The Guardian called this album an “minimal indiepop masterpiece” and I am inclined to agree- I love the whole thing top to bottom. Watch this video- it’s the cutest. They do the “final minute of a track victory lap” like pros.
Sharon Van Etten- Afterlife: I’ve never gotten into Sharon Van Etten until this album- a few songs climbed into repeat status and this was one of them.
Horsegirl- Julie: On the surface, one might find this song boring, but I think it’s incredibly sweet. I happened to hang with a good friend Julie one day and played this album on the drive home, and now when I hear this song I think of her. <3
Bon Iver- Everything is Peaceful Love: My prediction is this album will earn at least 3 Grammys and a 6.9 on Pitchfork. Regardless of its reception, I’m a fan and this song is sweet.
Courtney Barnett- Lotta Love: Big Courtney Barnett fan, big Neil Young fan, there’s a cute little daisy on the album cover.. what’s not to love. The whole thing is adorable.
Twin Shadow- Headless Hero: Josiah’s DL15 always delivers. I caught the end of this one the other day and thought it was beautiful. The guitar gave me Mk.gee feels which is an automatic win in my book.
