Five from the Modern Mix

For this week’s musical snapshot, I’ve pulled 5 modern songs from my Spotify lists that I think you’ll enjoy. For those who may be interested, the two playlists that I am continually expanding are Modern Retro with more upbeat and dance/rock entries, and Warm Handshake with more down tempo and melodic entries. Here are a few selections from the former. Enjoy!

CHVRCHES with Robert Smith – How Not To Drown

I like quite a bit of CHVRCHES, but what really excels in this song is the vocal entrance of Robert Smith, one of my all-time musical heroes (lead singer of The Cure, in case you’re wondering).

 

My Brightest Diamond – To Pluto’s Moon

By far, my favorite of singer and multi-instrumentalist Shara Nova from her band My Brightest Diamond. Plus, she sometimes hangs out with Sufjan Stevens, which automatically makes her cool, so…

 

Modeselektor – Blue Clouds

German electronic duo Modeselektor went from live acid house music at illegal underground parties (an aspect of the German music scene that I still want to experience) into remixers and producers. I became familiar with them through one of their side projects, Moderat (where I also discovered Apparat). This instrumental is a total earworm: it’ll get stuck in your head, so be careful not to put it on repeat too many times. Also — they are a favorite of Thom Yorke from Radiohead, so there’s that.

 

Tom Vek – Aroused

Design school dropout and self-taught musician Thomas Vernon-Kell performs as Tom Vek, through which he creates some very angsty-yet-danceable tunes. Also a big fan of his song Sherman (Animals in the Jungle)

 

Shinichi Osawa – Star Guitar

A remix of the Chemical Brothers‘ song by Japanese electronica / house musician, DJ, and producer Shinichi Osawa. I prefer this version to the original, but it’s all good.