This is a website.
February 2026
Date Added: 2/3/26
Song: The Heat
Artist: The Bones of J.R. Jones
Added by: John
Commentary: "Okay I’m back up again! Cold Sun had a very bluesy rock feel, and it was very tempting to go with The White Stripes or The Black Keys. But I ultimately settled on The Heat from The Bones of J.R. Jones, which has this cool bluesy riff running through almost the whole song. Its all about inner turmoil and I feel like the steady beat and unrelenting riff contribute to that tension the song evokes."
Date Added: 2/1/26
Song: Bodegas and Blood
Artist: Butch Walker
Added by: Dan
Commentary: "I picked "Bodegas And Blood" by Butch Walker. I felt like it has a similar vibe around not feeling like we have to engage with negativity all the time just because it's there. It's nice to be a person, and be around people, who try make their spaces lighter when there's too much dark."
Date Added: 2/2/26
Song: Cold Sun
Artist: Black Pistol Fire
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "Thanks Dan for that Bodegas and Blood song. I hadn’t heard of Butch Walker before and I appreciate the variety it adds to a playlist that tended to verge toward sad girl/sad boy music last month. My first impression was, “This is the kind of band that sounds like they’d be fun to watch performing live at a bar,” which brought me to Cold Sun by Black Pistol Fire off their 2015 self titled album. High energy “bar rock” with some dirty southern twang in the guitar. I saw them perform at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco and it was a sweaty good time."
January 2026
Every day in 2026, my friends and I choose a new song to add to this playlist based on the song preceding it.
Date Added: 1/31/26
Song: Let’s Dance to Joy Division
Artist: The Wombats
Added by: John
Commentary: "I liked Lime Garden a lot. It’s bouncy, British indie with a bit of a sad message underneath. That led me to the old Wombats track ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ - which hits those notes and feels, to me, in a similar vein."
Date Added: 1/30/26
Song: 23
Artist: Lime Garden
Added by: Claire
Commentary: "The theme is 17. The song is called 23 and it’s my favorite song of ‘26 so far."
Date Added: 1/29/26
Song: Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
Artist: Broken Social Scene
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "Alright, Sharon van Etton’s Seventeen took me immediately to Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl by Broken Social Scene off their 2003 album You Forget it in People. Broken Social Scene is a Canadian musical collective with fluid membership that has at times included Feist and members of Stars. This was the first song I heard by them. Ironically I was probably also 17 when this song came out. Like SvE’s Seventeen, this song is also stripped down to feature the female vocals and reminiscing about late adolescence. Though instead of nostalgic, it’s more pining for a friend that “used to be one of the rotten ones” and has now forgotten the singer as she tried to blend in with the cool girls. Which if you ask me is pretty lame. It’d be like if all your high school friends were into punk rock and then one of them showed up in an old navy sweater. Old navy is definitely not what the “rotten ones” wear."
Date Added: 1/28/26
Song: Seventeen
Artist: Sharon Van Etten
Added by: Liz
Commentary: "Ok after Neil Young’s Old Man I figured we’d stick with the age theme so I’m going with this song that just feels nostalgic for some reason"
Date Added: 1/27/26
Song: Old Man
Artist: Neil Young
Added by: John
Commentary: "Coming from Fade Into You, I’m keeping it mellow and acoustic and taking the slide guitar featured in yesterday’s song in a pedal steel direction with Neil Young’s ‘Old Man’."
Date Added: 1/26/26
Song: Fade Into You
Artist: Mazzy Star
Added by: Liz
Commentary: "Well clearly I needed to play off the rolling slow 6/8 feel and that guitar line thru out so we gotta go Mazzy Star’s classic ‘Fade Into You’"
Date Added: 1/25/26
Song: Putting The Dog To Sleep
Artist: The Antlers
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "[Down By The Water] was a great choice and it took me in a lot of directions. I was thinking Garbage, because of a similar sound and era. I was thinking Hey Joe by Hendrix but going from infanticide to domestic violence seemed tone deaf. Likewise for Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, which is my favorite song by the Killers, which have killing in their name for gosh sakes. But I settled on Putting the Dog to Sleep by the Antlers off their 2011 album Burst Apart. It’s got a theme of killing something/someone you love, albeit more metaphorical maybe than PJ Harvey. But it goes in more of a grief and loneliness direction, which the Antlers do well. In fact their 2009 concept album Hospice is about a hospice worker falling in love with a woman with cancer and their turbulent romance."
Date Added: 1/24/26
Song: Down By The Water
Artist: PJ Harvey
Added by: Claire
Commentary: "Continuing the themes of murderessness with PJ Harvey’s 1995 hit, ‘Down By The Water’. In it, the protagonist drowns her daughter."
Date Added: 1/23/26
Song: Nothing is Safe
Artist: clipping.
Added by: Liz
Commentary: "Alright, taking the killer theme I'm shifting over to Clipping's 2019 album There Existed an Addiction To blood which is a concept album with slasher movie themes."
Date Added: 1/22/26
Song: Psycho Killer
Artist: Talking Heads
Added by: Claire
Commentary: "After ‘My Coco’ picked up the pace in Verse 1, I knew immediately that I would be choosing a Talking Heads song. The unique vocal delivery and New Wave treated guitar led me here. I’d be surprised if stellastarr* didn’t consider them an influence. I chose ‘Psychokiller’ off of ‘Talking Heads: 77’ for the plodding bass line and repeated syllables - cococo vs fafafa."
Date Added: 1/21/26
Song: My Coco
Artist: stellastarr*
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "Yesterday’s song led me to My Coco by stellastarr* off their self-titled 2003 album. In both Bandages and My Coco there’s sort of a giddy, almost manic pace to the lyrics with a lot of staccato emphasis. The vocal qualities are also similar. Maybe not entirely surprising since they’re both arising from a similar phase of indie rock."
Date Added: 1/20/26
Song: Bandages
Artist: Hot Hot Heat
Added by: Claire
Commentary: "'Jesus Is Alive & Well (And Living In Mexico)' strikes me as a synthless Hot Hot Heat song. And while Audio Karate progressed from high school pop punk to a rawer, noisier indie rock sound, Hot Hot Heat evolved in the opposite direction. I really wanted to choose 2006's 'Middle of Nowhere', because I was recently reminded of that song, but I think 2002's 'Bandages' is a better fit."
Date Added: 1/19/26
Song: Jesus Is Alive & Well (And Living In Mexico)
Artist: Audio Karate
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "Alright, if you were starting to feel lulled by Sufjan Stevens and Ben Folds, then it’s time to WAKE UP MOTHERFUCKERS!! The connection is no mystery, the title Jesusland made me think of one of my favorite songs by Audio Karate, Jesus is Alive and Well (and living in Mexico) off the 2004 album Lady Melody. Audio Karate is a band that I wish had gotten a bit more recognition as the early aughts pop punk era was coming to a close. I think it’s understandable to hear them at first as just loud and screamy, but I think it’s easy to take for granted the complexity in their song structures and layered guitar parts. I come back to Audio Karate a lot, they’ve survived long past that era for me."
Date Added: 1/18/26
Song: Jesusland
Artist: Ben Folds
Added by: Liz
Commentary: "For me the Sufjan song has this pulsing melodic percussive element throughout the whole thing as a soft but driving undercurrent. Jesusland brings that melodic percussive driving rhythm to the forefront in Fold's piano work."
Date Added: 1/17/26
Song: Mystery of Love
Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Added by: John
Commentary: "Okay here’s my song today - actually it’s a new one for me too, but in looking for some similar songs I really liked this one and I think it sets us up nicely to continue. It’s a Sufjan Stevens track from the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack."
Date Added: 1/16/26
Song: Last Waltz
Artist: Horse Feathers
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "I had a few possible directions to go from Agnes Obel but ultimately the waltz feel of Aventine brought me to the angelic vocals of Portland’s Justin Ringle in Horse Feathers’ Last Waltz from the 2012 album Cynic’s New Year. Fun fact: a string quartet kicked off our wedding with a pure instrumental version of this waltz!"
Date Added: 1/15/26
Song: Aventine
Artist: Agnes Obel
Added by: Liz
Commentary: "Picking up on the pizzicato strings (also Obel was featured in Dark and the creators other show, but i forget exactly which songs)"
Date Added: 1/14/26
Song: Me and the Devil
Artist: Soap&Skin
Added by: John
Commentary: "Austrian artist Soap&Skin covering an old blues song ‘Me and the Devil’ in a haunting experimental electronic style. You may recognize this from the soundtrack of DARK if you remember that show. The Sleigh Bells track reminded me of this in that it’s a cover, a bit experimental, and it’s dark. Enjoy!"
Date Added: 1/13/26
Song: Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Artist: Sleigh Bells
Added by: Claire
Commentary: "There must be 1,000 different recorded versions of the folk classic, ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?’ / ‘In the Pines’. I considered versions by Leadbelly, The Grateful Dead, and Loretta Lynn, but ultimately I’d rather push the playlist in the direction of Sleigh Bells."
Date Added: 1/12/26
Song: Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Artist: Nirvana
Added by: Liz
Commentary: "The guitar work and vocal stylings reminded me of Nirvana's Unplugged album and specifically the final song in the set: Where Did You Sleep Last Night. Especially the parts where Kurt really digs in and gives it his all. I always loved this song and would steal my brothers CD when we were kids."
Date Added: 1/11/26
Song: Unsatisfied
Artist: The Replacements
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "Good choice John, I like the Cranberries a lot. But I’m also ready to get us out of our sad girl slump. In relistening to ‘Linger’, I noticed a detail I hadn’t paid much attention to before: the quiet musical prelude before the drums kick in and the song really picks up. It’s not an intro, per se, since it’s so different from the rest of the song, which feels like it then takes an abrupt turn as it “really” starts. It reminded me of the musical prelude to ‘Unsatisfied’ by the Replacements off of the 1984 album ‘Let it Be’. The prelude is fairly different from the whole rest of the song - a little teaser before the drums hit and the song takes a 90 degree turn."
Date Added: 1/10/26
Song: Linger
Artist: The Cranberries
Added by: John
Commentary: "True free association and no deep meaning for this one - listening to the Blondshell song made me think of The Cranberries - but not quite the darkness of ‘Zombies’ or the peaceful hopefulness of ‘Dreams’, so I’m sharing ‘Linger’."
Date Added: 1/9/26
Song: Berlin TV Tower
Artist: Blondshell
Added by: Claire
Commentary: "More sad music with Berlin-related lyrics"
Date Added: 1/8/26
Song: Good Will Hunting
Artist: Black Country, New Road
Added by: Liz
Commentary: "Moving from sad girl music onto sad boy music with Black Country, New Road's ‘Good Will Hunting’. We have a sad connection, but we also have a lyrical connection"
Date Added: 1/7/26
Song: I Know The End
Artist: Phoebe Bridgers
Added by: John
Commentary: "I liked the way yesterday’s track built and built without solid resolution as it just got a bit more chaotic and loud. One track came to the forefront for me, and that’s “I Know the End” by Phoebe Bridgers. I know, we didn’t even make it until February before I shared a Phoebe Bridgers track. The song is really three songs in one, each one louder than the last until it explodes at the very end. And it doesn’t really have any resolution, similar to the Florence song, just tension, tension, tension."
Date Added: 1/6/26
Song: Delilah
Artist: Florence + the Machine
Added by: Claire
Commentary: "I couldn’t NOT do a Samson and Delilah theme. I was going to add the Plain White T’s song, even though it would be the least cool song on the playlist by a mile. While I was looking it up, I found this Florence + the Machine track. I hadn’t heard it before today, but groove-wise, it fits much better with Marling and Spektor. I love when the snare comes in."
Date Added: 1/5/26
Song: Samson
Artist: Regina Spektor
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "I think the last song led me here both in the sound and themes. This song is also quiet and spacious and mostly driven by the female vocalist. Also the themes (loosely) of intimacy between a couple in bed, as well as the subject of the songs needing strength against enemies. (Although in Laura Marling’s song she’s defending her partner saying “you’ll have to go through me” while in the story of Samson she’s actually responsible for destroying his strength. Deep.)"
Date Added: 1/4/26
Song: Night Terror
Artist: Laura Marling
Added by: Liz
Commentary: "The connect: the off-beat tambourine that drives a lot of the forward momentum in the Spoon song, only now in a very laid back way, but very critical to this song’s feel"
Date Added: 1/3/26
Song: You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
Artist: Spoon
Added by: Jeff
Commentary: "I love this song, especially the vintage sounding horns. The connection is that if I ever ran away, I’d be sure to bring a spoon in my bindle. Oh, and Cherry Bombs."
Date Added: 1/2/26
Song: Cherry Bomb
Artist: The Runaways
Added by: Claire
Commentary: "I chose 'Cherry Bomb' to follow 'Changes' because both songs have attached a "ch-ch-ch-" prefix to the songs' title lyrics."
Date Added: 1/1/26
Song: Changes
Artist: David Bowie
Added by: John
Commentary: "For the theme of New Years Day I’ve chosen David Bowie’s ‘Changes’, which isn’t so much about New Year’s resolutions changes, just that change is inevitable so turn and face the strain!"