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Latest Drops
The newest playlists and freshly-surfaced artists — straight from the curator. Check back often; this updates whenever something new earns its place.
Recently Added Playlists
Hi-Fi Latin Rhythms: Tango — Music of Passion
Ten tracks of Argentine tango, pulled into the rotation from the outside as the 'Music of Passion'…
Tiny Desk Favorites
Thirteen tracks of NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert favorites — the pared-down acoustic-and-low-volume…
WK: Body Movers #822
Ninety-three tracks of body-movers Weekend Kickoff programming — the long-form rotation built…
Your Top Songs 2021
One hundred tracks of the personal 2021 year-end rotation — the Spotify-Wrapped-style ‘Your Top…
WK: Later Covi #521
Seventy-eight tracks of the May 2021 Weekend Kickoff ‘Later Covid’ edition — the second-year…
Your Top Songs 2020
138 tracks from the 2020 listening rotation — what actually got played at home that year, not the…
Freshly Surfaced Artists
Calvin Harris
Massive EDM-pop anthems and sun-drenched seventies funk-pop
→ ProfileDrake
The Degrassi-to-OVO arc that reshaped the sound of Toronto rap
→ ProfileDavid Guetta
The architect who married big-room house to mainstream pop hooks
→ ProfileJustin Bieber
The era-defining Skrillex and Diplo turn that won over critics
→ ProfileColdplay
63 tracks across 28 playlists
→ ProfileKaty Perry
39 tracks across 26 playlists
→ ProfileDJ Khaled
47 tracks across 25 playlists
→ ProfileBruno Mars
34 tracks across 24 playlists
→ ProfileFrom the Notes
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Hans Zimmer built a band, not an orchestra
The Diamond in the Desert concert cut runs 1:46:01 and hands its biggest cues to soloists rather than sections. A timestamped guide to who plays what — Tina Guo, Lisa Gerrard, Lebo M, Loire Cotler, Pedro Eustache — and where Zimmer's method breaks from John Williams.
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Legacy acts are quietly outwriting the algorithm this summer
Robert Smith on a Rolling Stones bridge, the Yummy Fur back after 28 years, Fiona Apple scoring a prestige miniseries, Hayley Williams covering Sinéad O'Connor, Queens of the Stone Age burying the setlist formula, and Victor Willis's death — six stories this week that all argue the same thing: the people who built the genres are still writing better songs than the systems that replaced them.
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Clive Davis and the end of the record man
Clive Davis — who ran Columbia, founded Arista and J Records, signed Janis Joplin and Santana and launched Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys — died at his Manhattan home on June 22 at 94. On the last of the great A&R men and the era of the all-powerful label boss.
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