no one really listens to the music unless it sucks...
July 15, 2006 8:28 AM   Subscribe

Playlist help: Having a party at my place for a bunch of trendy 20 something new yorkers, what songs should I be sure to play?

I'm really bad at making playlists as I listen to the same shit over and over.
posted by slapshot57 to Society & Culture (33 answers total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'd suggest Edwin Starr's 25 Miles (thanks jonmc!), it's retro, hip, very funky an most of them will have never heard it.
posted by fenriq at 8:35 AM on July 15, 2006


What is the shit you listen to over and over? Just curious.

Take a look at ye olde pitchfork media to get an idea of the new stuff the hip kids are listening to, and then cut it with about 20% old-school hip-hop and slow jams and 10% classic drinkin' country tunes.
posted by cilantro at 8:42 AM on July 15, 2006




You can't go wrong with Neutral Milk Hotel. 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' is revered by many indie kids as the Best. Album. Ever. (For good reason, I think. It really is good.)

Can't go wrong with Radiohead.

Gnarls Barkley is really big over here in London at the moment.

So is Lily Allen. Check out her MySpace page to get a feel for her stuff if you haven't already.
posted by hazelshade at 9:00 AM on July 15, 2006




Just get one or more of the Hotel Costes albums. Can't go wrong with Hotel Costes and pretentious trendy people and booze.
posted by awesomebrad at 9:03 AM on July 15, 2006


cyphill is right. I was at a trendy party with a bunch of music snobs (indie) and put that on. Then I was Mr. Cool --- it's really awesome, if too short. You may also want to try the whole anti-cool thing (Phil Collins - Sussudio, Huey Lewis). It's retro and dorky enough that they will appreciate the "irony" and just enjoy good tunes.
posted by geoff. at 9:04 AM on July 15, 2006


Well, lemme see what's on my hipster party playlist (ideally all vinyl, but you do what you can do):

Esp Black Mass
Cars Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
Punk Under Pressure Kadie Red
I Need A Freak Sexual Harrassment
Closet Freak Cee-Lo
Don't Lose Control Material
(Just Like We) Breakdown Hot Chip
Do Ya Electric Light Orchestra
Affentanz Abwärts
Limited entertainment Glaxo Babies
I Bet You Funkadelic
Dark Skin Girls Del Tha Funky Homosapien
Needy Girl (Bloc Party Remix) Chromeo
Heavy Rotation Cobra Killer
Where You Headed? DJ Jubilee
Game Over (Feat Jay Dee And Phat Kat) Dabrye

04 1 Baroque Jazz Trio
01 Merry-Go-Round TERUMASA HINO
My Very Own Sweetheart Heavy Balloon
Track 10 Embermen Five
Minikillers I Johnny Teupen
A Hidden Trap Cosmos Factory
What's The Name Of Your School? DJ Jubilee
Corn Fish Dub Lee "Scratch" Perry
Dom (Electricity Elects The Rain 39 Clocks
Happy Girl Who Made Who
Program Me Bruce Haack With Ed Harvey
Killer Man Jaro Dillinger
Don`t Take Another Man`s Life Ranking Dellinger
Deshominisation (I) Alain Goraguer

gigantor
Her_story Flying Lizards
Saturday Night Langley Schools Music Project
Bored [1978] Destroy All Monsters
Skin Tight Skin Suzi Quatro
Bad Reputation The dB'S
Hearts In Exile Homosexuals, The
Dub It (Nice and Easy) Upsetters
Cool Stroker Prince Buster & The All Stars
Handa Wanda Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indian Band
50 Ways Kool Moe Dee
Neck, the Kent And The Candidates
Dance This Mess Around B-52's, The
Back Seat Love Nikki and the Corvettes
Hey Girls The Avatars
11 59 Blondie
I Know You Love My Synthesizers Charlie Slick
Eric B. Is President Eric B & Rakim
Poney Part 1 Vitalic
Are Friends Electric Gary Numan

Oh, and to above posters— You can, indeed, go wrong with Radiohead. Amnesiac is not a party I want to go to.

I've got a few more playlists kicking around, most sized for CDs, if you want 'em.
posted by klangklangston at 9:21 AM on July 15, 2006 [1 favorite]


(Or, if you need me to zip these up, I can...)
posted by klangklangston at 9:22 AM on July 15, 2006


You should play the album "Inhuman Rampage" by Dragonforce in its entirety. Repeatedly.
posted by baphomet at 9:25 AM on July 15, 2006


Lily Allen's mixtape is great.

also Girl Talk and CSS have new albums out.

and probably any of the songs/artists from Pitchfork's Infinite Mixtape.

(people like to bitch about pitchfork, so you may or may not want to mention that as a source source. but it's a good selection of music.)
posted by ab3 at 9:28 AM on July 15, 2006


Is this the sort of party where the music is important? I mean: will people actually be listening to it, or will they be talking to each other? If it's the sort of party where people are going to sit around socializing, the playlist is probably unimportant...
posted by jdroth at 9:34 AM on July 15, 2006


Blur's second album, Think Tank, is somewhat funky and excellent for the background. This has worked well for me as background music at parties and in group car rides. I highly recommend it.
posted by galimatias at 9:42 AM on July 15, 2006


Nothing but Happy Flowers and Killdozer.
posted by NoMich at 9:44 AM on July 15, 2006


A couple of my recent playlist favorites:

Etta James - "I Got You Babe" (whole "Tell Mama" album) for a dash of the Muscle Shoals sound

Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy" the catchiest song to come out of Atlanta (the Cee-Lo half) since Hey Ya!

"Tighten Up!" by the J.B.'s and "Memphis Soul Stew" by Solomon Burke for funky soul
posted by Frank Grimes at 9:57 AM on July 15, 2006


I wanna go to NoMich's party.
Oh, and Think Tank? That's Blur's two-star NINTH album. You can do better for a party.
posted by klangklangston at 9:58 AM on July 15, 2006


I think cilantro does the % break down pretty well.

For classic hip hop, you can't go wrong with "brooklyn zoo" and "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" from old dirty bastards first album. If you play that after everybody's pretty drunk, they'll probably get into it.
posted by milarepa at 10:05 AM on July 15, 2006


Thom Yorke's new solo album, The Eraser, is really quite good and, and has some nice upbeat-yet-laid-back groovyness going for it at times (lyrically, of course, it's, you know, Thom Yorke. So not so much on the happy).....I could imagine having it playing in the background at a party and going over really well with everyone.
posted by Windigo at 10:13 AM on July 15, 2006


Response by poster: klangklangston
yeah, can you send those to me?

blue eyes meets bed sty- Brilliant, anyone know where I can get it today? It's not on iTunes

lilly allen- also brilliant. getting her album but is there an easy way to get the songs from her second mix tape? it seems like some (nan, window shopper) haven't been released

the music's just going to be on in the background and right now it's a mix of gnarls barkley, radiohead, fischerspooner, bowie, cash, clash, with other random shit thrown in.
posted by slapshot57 at 10:14 AM on July 15, 2006


Response by poster: oh, and this has been great so far, thanks everyone
posted by slapshot57 at 10:14 AM on July 15, 2006


I may not be your target demographic, but "a mix of gnarls barkley, radiohead, fischerspooner, bowie, cash, clash, with other random shit thrown in" sounds good to me.

I'd recommend Dan the Automator's "Wanna Buy a Monkey?" - it's a pretty swell mixtape with Doves, Tortoise, Gorillaz, and some bands that aren't named for animals. Set it and forget it.

If you're going for a more mellow vibe, I've thought "Strange Geometry" by The Clientele would be a great album to hang out to.
posted by MonkeyMeat at 10:33 AM on July 15, 2006


slapshot57, my email is in my profile.

Send me an email and I will send you a link to bedstuy meets blue eyes.
posted by milarepa at 10:36 AM on July 15, 2006


If they like or if they haven't heard it, most people (of this demographic you seem to be describing) enjoy The Dismemberment Plan.
posted by travosaurus at 10:45 AM on July 15, 2006


Do you have any idea if they feel 80's nostalgia? If they do, there was great music back then.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:56 AM on July 15, 2006


You should play the album "Inhuman Rampage" by Dragonforce in its entirety. Repeatedly.

Seconded, for a party of people who enjoy being awesome.

For a more indie rock group, though, I find Metric, Broken Social Scene, The Hold Steady, and Pixies usually do well.
posted by Drunken_munky at 10:57 AM on July 15, 2006


The Avalanches, especially if you can liberate an unedited copy of their "Since I Left You" mix.

Failing that, you could always rock some 2 Many DJ's.
posted by rachelpapers at 1:10 PM on July 15, 2006


Blackalicious has some good sparse beats that are good for the background if you do the EQ right. I don't know if they're hip anymore though. Depending on how you feel about synthpop, Freezepop has a number of amusing sparse songs that blend well into the background (if they speak french, you can play parlez-vous freezepop?).

Gorillaz might be too mainstream, but a lot of their stuff goes well in the background.

Grateful Dead blends into anything ever, but not sure if that's quite what you're looking for.

If you actually want to throw on a few songs that they'll hear, try Molotov. Great sound, just kind of aggressive.

A little reggae never hurt. Peter Tosh may be the best bet here.

Tool if they're depressed. The Pharcyde if you're careful about track selection.
posted by devilsbrigade at 1:24 PM on July 15, 2006


Check here for ideas.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 2:28 PM on July 15, 2006


The Justice vs Simian remix of We Are Your Friends has been stuck on loop in my head recently, as has Bottle Rocket by the Go! Team - in fact the whole Go! Team album is pretty good. I've found that Lemonjelly and Mr Scruff go down pretty well in general, too, and cover both indie and dance fans.
posted by greycap at 3:12 PM on July 15, 2006


Oh, and the Guillemots seem to be catching on in the UK and are suitably esoteric but catchy - try Who Left the Lights Off Baby or Made Up Love Song #43.
posted by greycap at 3:26 PM on July 15, 2006


Kompressor
posted by Hat Maui at 5:16 PM on July 15, 2006


Be sure to include some Kleptones mash-ups. They have elevated the genre to an artform, despite not wanting to.
posted by clunkyrobot at 8:27 AM on July 17, 2006


For those what were interested— I've zipped up the mixes that I mentioned, and am in the process of uploading them. In the interest of not making Matt (or other members) squeemish about the loose copyright treatment, I'll be posting them to my blog, which is listed in my profile.
For those of you who mentioned swapping stuff, go ahead and comment with an upload.
(The post might not be up for a little bit, as my computer's upload speeds aren't the greatest).
posted by klangklangston at 9:08 AM on July 17, 2006


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