A Noise Rock Odyssey

For this month's genre playlist, we've put together a little something for those of you who prefer your rock music dissonant and in shambles. Here's a sprawling set of 21 noise rock tracks we dig, lasting an hour-and-3/4. That's just a case of tinnitus waiting to happen, so we wanna take the opportunity to remind you to protect your ears! (Honestly this playlist isn't extremely abrasive throughout, but it's a message that can't be stated enough.)

As always, you'll probably come up with things we omitted. In particular, there are some intriguing noise rock artists on Tzadik, whose catalog isn't on Spotify; nor is Dope Body's. They would have been fun additions, but we hope you enjoy what made the cut!

A Folktronica Odyssey

This week we've compiled a playlist of folktronica music from across the globe. The genre is pretty straightforward, encompassing just about any fusion of traditional instrumentation and songwriting with modern electronic production techniques. But as you can imagine, that leaves a ton of possibilities - the material is sometimes danceable, sometimes freaky, sometimes both - and this is hopefully reflected in the above set.

So, we hope you enjoy the trip. If there are songs in this style not included here that you believe deserve attention, feel free to share them in a comment. Happy listening!

A Shoegaze Odyssey

This week's playlist feature is a voyage through the beloved genre of shoegaze, from its late 80's/early 90's UK origins to worldwide explorations of the sound up to the modern day.

Be warned: this set exceeds two hours and only the strongest of ears and wills will be invigorated rather than fatigued by the vast layers of distorted guitars and airy vocals herein. We also probably didn't get to every artist you dig, but we did our best to vary the energy of the tracks and keep the lushness/dreaminess levels bearable.

Naturally, this isn't a chronological presentation, either -- it could really only kick off one way, after all. Blissful listening!