SG Lewis asked his Twitter followers what were their favourite sad soul songs. Similar to what I did with brokemogul’s “Best Music Documentaries,” I took over 100 responses and compiled it down to 77 songs.
What I love about this list is how deeply personal and eclectic it is. It comes from over 100 different people who have the same purpose in mind and some level of love for SG Lewis but are probably pretty different otherwise. I removed a few songs that didn’t fit and some late 80’s/early 90’s R&B, but I tried to keep too much of my bias out of it.
It was hard to define what’s sad and what’s soul music. Or what’s old for that matter. Some songs may sound happy – Sam Cooke’s “Good Times” is a good example – but can be used just as well for sad times. The Twitter responses pushed the boundaries of what soul music can be defined as, which I can appreciate to a certain point (it’s still a good song.)
My biggest conflict was not including Angie Stone’s “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” and it’s for the most childish reason. Seriously, wait for it. I swear there’s a random fart noise every measure or so. Or am I just making this shit up? First one starts 14 seconds in. It’s an otherwise genuinely beautiful song.
SG Lewis still has yet to post his own sad soul song. Maybe we can get 77 more in the next year with his choice included.
I wanted to make a playlist for my friends’ wedding, but not with all the stereotypical hits. Unlike what I’ve promoted in the past, this playlist still caters to what music people know and love singing to (or at least dance to), but not all the hits you hear at weddings.
It starts with the best, goes into what we loved growing up in the 90’s, takes it back to what our parents grew up with, and ends with the newer favorites.
I also stuck in a few personal gems for the bride & groom. Congrats, Connie & Dan!
COLORS out of Berlin produces some of the cleanest music performances on YouTube with some of the biggest prospects in music right now. Going through the 271 videos they’ve uploaded so far, and picking 36 (13%), two themes in my selection process stuck out.
The videos didn’t help every performer sound better. In the end, it was about their vocal chops. It did, however, bring out the best in the voices that stood out. Imagine a COLORS festival in Berlin. Live is the ultimate goal for any content company and most others.
I also realized, or more so confirmed, my dislike for listening to rap from outside of the US. It’s not about what they say, it’s about how they say it. Not being exposed enough to the phonetics in other languages when it comes to music has trained my brain to prefer the American accent. Even Canadian rappers I can’t take seriously sometimes. “Aboot” makes me chuckle, let alone when it’s in a rap song.
That’s why I appreciate COLORS. I trust their selection and they expose me to rap from around the world. I know if I listen long enough, they’ll find something I love. And if not COLORS, there are plenty of other international curation houses that’ll turn something up. Although not with a simple, vibrant, one-color backdrop that COLORS displays so beautifully behind each upload.
Would love to see Durand Jones & The Indications in front of COLORS someday.
In the wake of the tropical house bubble, back in the time of Kygo, came something much better. This ethereal style of house, popularized by ODESZA, will be appreciated far longer than its tropical house counterpart. Although the depths of it, beyond ODESZA, isn’t appreciated enough. That’s what this playlist is for.
Remixes get a bad rap. They’ve got a famous song to compete with and the production value probably isn’t as good. That said, you gotta appreciate what they give us.
Remixes are meant to take the songs we love and make them something for the club. Give it groove. The production might not be 100% on all these, but for some they’re better than their original.
Sadly, this is the first playlist out of our latest that won’t be available on Spotify or Apple Music. Usually, the two music services have at least 50% of what YouTube Music and SoundCloud have, but this time it’s close to zero. I don’t know if one of these remixes are on Spotify or Apple. Thankfully, Dubset is changing that.
This style all started for me with the quirky, anime & classic video-game sampling kawaii music. It’s grown into all sorts of future bass and trap offshoots. And I love it so much for its experimentation.
I first wanna here melodies and rhythms I’ve never heard before. It resonating is second, albeit more important.
Loose Control, BURN DISCO, and Four on the Floor are playlists for dancing, and Jack Your Body is the latest to add. A different style of house than the four on the floor it’s known for, tech house & g house are a different rhythm to dance to. Along with trap, which makes a few appearances on here.
Jack is the first playlist we’ve had that has the full catalog on Spotify. YouTube Music is the one missing a track for once.
There are two types of music people. Ones who care about the lyrics and ones who care about the sound. Ya, you can be for both, but you’re also for one. I’m about the sound. Even with rap, it’s not so much about what they say, but how they say it.
I was listening to a Del a few years back and in one of his tracks I always thought he was saying “phonetical finesse.” Turns out he wasn’t, but those two words since have summed up what I love so much about hip-hop: wordplay.
Rap Finesse is a special playlist because a lot of the artists on here (towards the bottom) are the reason I started caring about underground, independent, and locally-known music. There wouldn’t be a Silence Nogood without ’em.
What I respect so much about Majestic Casual is their focus on curation. Unlike editorial outlets like Pitchfork, it’s not about music news or witty reviews. It’s about finding what’s next in music.
Never before have I gone through another curator’s full catalog. It took about 10 days to go through all 1,932 tracks (and counting) on Majestic Casual’s YouTube channel and another week to whittle it down to 130 selected. Mind you, I only spent a minute or so on each track initially, which still comes out to over 32 hours of listening. Not including the hours it took to refine them down.
I was shooting to playlist less than 6% of their total catalog but ended up with just under 7%. And it wasn’t easy. I never realized how many tracks Majestic put on my radar over the years. Not to mention the ones I swiped up in the last few weeks, which are about 44% of this list. They promote a variety of music styles and are going beyond simply curating music.
Majestic is going on tour in the US over the next few weeks – I’ll be at the SF show. They’ve released a print and online journal. They’ve got merch, a record label, and are doing more with video and photography. There is one thing though they need help with.
It’s not just about promoting music partnerships. Uploads and even closer relationships Majestic has with artists are the bedrock from which they’ve become so successful – something we lack – but shouldn’t be the entire game. There is so much more good music out there that fits Majestic’s aesthetic and deserves to be in their collection, uploaded or not.
I love and hate house music most. With anything taken mainstream, we’re all bombarded with bloodsuckers making a buck off of it, but beneath all that is an underground of creators making something fresh. My favorite, like all other things in life, is with soul.
And even in this soulful house playlist, there are many different styles. From horizontal disco to deep house, there are so many shades of sexuality, and it’s only gettin better.