The eagle eyed ones of you will notice that we have added a Spotify playlist to the left hand side of the website. Currently, this widget displays a selection from our monthly Editors’ Picks segment, rotating on a monthly basis. But that got me thinking. Playlists are a useful thing, a tool which I use on an almost daily basis to regulate my listening. I often listen to music when performing some other task or when I’m in a specific mood. I don’t want to have to constantly select and play certain songs or albums. Sometimes I just don’t have the time; sometimes, I just don’t care what I listen to except that it’s “death metal” or “broodingly heavy”. For that, playlists are perfect, allowing you to easily curate in advance your vast musical collection. Keeping a large stock of them will help you chop down the sheer amount of moods available in music into something that can be digested properly.
However, there’s an even better use for playlist: discovering new music from one is one of life’s joys for me. You simply let the tracks unwind and they come at you, each one providing something new and strange. So, I thought, why not take the Spotify playlist to the next level? From that thought was born The Soul Curator – a bi-weekly post that simply selects a mood/task/genre and creates a playlist for you. It’ll have some commentary after the playlist, explaining and illuminating some of its choices, but it would mostly focus just on the music. Idea in tow, I started thinking about which playlist would best reflect the carefree attitude I wanted these posts to have. I don’t want them to be bogged down with too much explanations (he says after writing the ~300th word). And then it hit me: there’d been a certain type of music which I had wanted to exhibit on the blog for a long time and which captured the carefree, wild, exploratory mood that I wanted these posts to have.
And so, I present to you my driving music playlist! It’s quite eclectic, focusing on high power mingled with slow wonderment. That pretty much captures my mood when driving. On one hand, I’m on edge since holy shit I’m careening away in a thin metal box and everyone is terrible but on the other hand, the land undulates before me, places where people live and that sets my mind far-ranging. The playlist below reflects this duality, containing the high octane stylings of Blind Guardian and Mastodon, the unfolding hymns of Earth and Motorpsycho, and even the throbbing, retrowave antics of Dan Terminus. It ends with the soothing vibes of Purity Ring, meant to be a polar opposite from the explosive opening. The list flows from track to track but is also jarring, meant to keep you on edge and attentive. Without further, unnecessary ado, I turn you into the loving care of the playlist. Rev up that engine, adjust your mirrors, and let’s ride!