There was so much music in October and it took me this long to choose what to feature here. Yeah that’s the excuse I’ll go with. In all seriousness: fantastic records await for October, including LPs from Irish shoegazers Just Mustard, the unlikely collaboration between OKC artists Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo, the gentle tranquility of Rafael Toral and more.
I’ve been on a tear the last three years of making fall-themed playlists and I wanted to keep the streak alive. Sure this isn’t an overwhelmingly FALL vibe, but rather it’s something cozy. It was inspired by the Tasha song “Love’s Changing,” and I wanted to build something that felt romantic, groovy, wistful and confident in its commitment.
These are woozy love songs dedicated to a partner who doesn’t fit in the mold. They bend the light of everyday life and shines it upon your surroundings in a way you’ve never noticed before. You’re convinced this person you love is unlike every single person on this planet, and that everyone else lost out on their uniqueness. The songs here are gentle, patient and playful. A sense of melancholy also surrounds the tracklist, and that might be a personal bias. My wife and I have had a hard year that’s also been touched by so much love. It’s here in these times of chaos where our love is being cultivated. It also helps that a lot of these songs and artists are some of my wife’s favorites. This is a playlist by a certified wife guy.
Hopefully this playlist can help soundtrack your autumn going into winter and give it a lasting glow before we lose the light for a few months.
Only somewhat late and to give myself at least a little credit, September 2025 moderately exploded with high quality albums. This summer had some good stuff, but my personal life left me feeling dazed and zoomed out. By September I was locked in, resulting in this delivery of 15 albums as opposed to the usual 10.
Below you’ll find highly-anticipated follow-ups of blog favorites, some ambitious debuts, some surprise blow-ups and more. It’s starting to feel good again. Let’s see what you can dig into.
Solid month of new music from August. Ninajirachi and Oli XL are by far standing out to me. Feeling good about music in 2025… who’d have thunk it?
The music of July 2025 was unfortunately hugely clouded over by personal events in my life, but I was able to enjoy a few records here and there. It’s great to have Forth Wanderers back and their new album brought me back to the late 10s, Kokoroko’s Tuff Times Never Last has been my go-to summer album, and Safe Mind has been a total obsession since I saw them back in May. Some nice variation of styles in here as well – excited for you to give em a listen.
Remember June? My July was pretty hellish, so unfortunately the blog suffered. Don’t fear though, because I found a good truckload of tunes in the middle month of the year. Some of these records are looking like locks for my top 10, top 15 for the year as a whole. Not bad!
The final installment of my summer 2025 synth pop / chillwave / balearic revival playlist series is the one I most clearly pair with a summery vision. The others could be a bit more modular, fitting in different scenarios. Not so on Sunset High Dive.
For one, I wanted to make the tracklist look like a lost Hype Machine playlist, chock full of remixes (there are eight featured!) as a callback to the lost culture of free mp3 downloads and hit-or-miss remixes that would clog my iTunes after a downloading binge. Not only are free mp3 download blogs securely a thing of the past, but it feels like remix records are as well. Purely no one is talking about them, and I can’t remember the last time I heard a compelling remix of an indie pop or rock song. In this case, it lets me feature one of my favorite remixes of the era, Toro y Moi’s reworking of Cut Copy’s “Blink And You’ll Miss A Revolution,” along with other jammers like Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas groovy version of Mr Twin Sister’s “Bad Street,” the electrifying dance remix of Glasser’s “Treasury of We” by Delorean, and the incredibly euphoric and blissful takes on Teen Daze’s Tycho “Hours” remix and Air France’s edit of Friendly Fires’ “Skeleton Boy.” I’ve loved the original versions of the latter two songs for nearly 15 years each, and I only discovered these remixes while building this playlist. The remixes both sounded better and worked better for the concept for this playlist, which I thought was pretty neat.
Secondly, I envision this playlist would sound best on a bike ride during sunset. I wanted to call it Sunset Bike Ride but that felt a bit too on the nose / not creative enough. Is High Dive any better? Either way, cruising the streets on a Friday evening with the summer shadows arcing long in your path, this bumping on either your speaker or in headphones, I gotta imagine that’s a good feeling. Plenty of great grooves to keep you pedaling. Initially this playlist skewed more “rock,” but I reordered the whole thing aside from the first two tracks after a few unsatisfactory full-listens of the prototype.
Summer is technically nearly over as we’ve just crossed over into August, but I hope you’re able to pull some joy out of these collections, or at the very least enjoy a few little time capsules of songs you probably haven’t thought about for 10-15 years.
Find the other playlists in the my chillwave nostalgia series here:
The third installment of my summer’s synth pop playlists, Melting Portal Vision leans into squelchy, rubbery and especially 80s-indebted synth textures more than the others in the series. It aims to be a dizzying, blissful sink into warm waters. Near the end it cleans up a bit, the high wearing off and showing slivers of sunlight through the clouds, but then slides back into shifting, bleary sands right at the end.
As a refresher, this suite of playlists are built almost exclusively from songs released in the late 00s to early 10s, roosting in a realm of nostalgia that’s extra juicy to me right now. Throwbacks to summers with less responsibilities, and ones where the summery music felt sculpted for warm temps and sweaty nights. Melting Portal Vision also includes a few heavy-hitters of the era, like MGMT’s “Electric Feel” + Passion Pit’s “The Reeling” and Grimes’ “Genesis.” Can’t deny the classics! Not always trying to be the coolest guy in the room!
Either way, this playlist drifts between the bleary and the lucid, and is a love letter to the other blogs that are still hanging on, and those that have since passed. Gone but not forgotten (except I’ve definitely forgotten a few, and I’m sorry about that). The tunes definitely sustain. You’ll notice a few more remixes on this one – definitely going to be a major theme for the final playlist in the series coming up after this one.
This is the second installment in my summer 2025 synth pop playlist series, where I mine every single morsel of musical nostalgia I’ve accumulated for the summers of ~2008 to 2015. Plundering a rich field of fools gold chillwave, 80s-inspired pop wallpaper, and grooves galore.
In my playlisty brain, Electric Eel Boogie is the direct sequel, or what follows in-universe events that happen after my previous playlist Sun Glitters On Cool Water (which you can listen to HERE). It features tracks that are a bit more clubby / electronic, including Aeroplane’s remix of Friendly Fires’ “Paris,” Cut Copy’s stab into 90s electro “Let Me Show You Love” off their 2013 record Free Your Mind, along with touches of darkness within the otherwise buoyant synth pop lineup.
Looking at the playlist as a whole, this one seems to be more built off tracks I’ve hung onto and have become “canon-defining” of the era. Do I know if a lot of these songs have stuck with others like me? No, but I do know they’re both good and have stuck with me since their release. Examples include When Saints Go Machine’s “Kelly,” Still Corners’ “Berlin Lovers,” Tomas Barfod’s “November Skies” and Games (aka Ford & Lopatin) “Strawberry Skies” with Laurel Halo on vocals. Alongside the chillwave of it all, there’s also a foray into maximal synth pop ie CHVRCHES, Postiljonen and Class Actress. I think it’s a solid playlist that encapsulates the era and summer vibe well, and I hope it brings you some rose-colored, early Instagram filtered joy.
It’s been far too long since I’ve posted a new playlist on the blog (also just posted anything period), but I’m breaking that dry spell with four new chillwave / balearic revival / synth pop playlists all set to soundtrack your summer.
With the hellish events that have been occurring without abatement putting a damper on my summer, I’ve personally been yearning for my summers past, specifically those from 2008 to 2015, also known as my high school and college years. Not only is the music paired with a time where I was at my lightest, responsibility-wise and most surrounded by friends and family, but the music from the era itself feels more upbeat, cheery and rosy. I can’t be ashamed of indie nostalgia since it’s fully baked into my musical discovery journey.
Anyways – I’ve made four playlists to channel back to those times, full of songs that were from that sweet late 00s / early 10s spot. I’ve made a chillwave / balearic pop playlist before, Beach Ball Hell, which you can find HERE. It’s built upon the scene cornerstones Toro y Moi, Washed Out, Neon Indian, Small Black, Brothertiger, along with a few other personal favorites. It’s the boilerplate! Sun Glitters on Cool Water follows a similar formula, focusing on the big names and building out from there and features many of the same artists like the ones listed above along with Kisses, Beat Connection, Tanlines, Mr Twin Sister, Delorean, Lemonade, Korallreven, The Tough Alliance and more. I love the early 2010s! There was a surplus of fantastic bike riding, driving, summery grooves to choose from.
Picture yourself sitting by a pool, or better yet, retreat to your most treasured summertime memories while listening to this playlist. The taste and sensation of cool, frozen grapes from the cooler. The feeling of jumping into still water. The plush feeling of cushions on a deck chair. It’s a playlist that I picture working better in the daytime, and absolutely slaps on a long car ride. It’s here to make you feel good, to be a sort of salve. I hope it helps.
Warm Visions 