All the Playlists You Can Eat!

Playlists for catching up with the entirety of 2024. Playlists for weird little moods. Playlists for new music that sounds like the '90s, '80s, & '70s. Plus, a sliding scale for paid subscriptions.

THIS IS FINE. EVERYTHING IS FINE. LISTEN TO SOME MUSIC. HERE ARE 500 PLAYLISTS. IT’S ALL OOOOKAY.

I was going to take some time off to recover from last week’s dumpster fire, but not posting anything at all makes me feel guilty. Instead I’m going to distract you from the complete lack of substance in today’s post by throwing an enormous amount of playlists right in your face and hoping that will tide you over until I’m operating at moderately full capacity again.

Have fuuuun.

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Cram for the 2024 End-of-Year Music Exams

I hate logging into TikTok these days, but when I do, I’m happy to check out @emilie.theaux, who has fabulously eclectic taste and is far more up to date on new music than I am.

We don’t deserve

Jared Smith

’s painstaking album curation, but still he provides it. These are his song picks for the year.

Fellow Philly music Substacker

Indie Scientist

makes monthly playlists that always make me feel like they were catered specifically to my tastes. I have a feeling we’re in store for a full year best-of pretty soon.

Beebe Sharkey

has saved her favorite song from every single album she listened to in 2024. I think I might adopt this strategy for 2025, if only so I can keep better track of every record I listen to (I give up on spreadsheets!)

I’ll throw my own favorite song picks from 2024 in too, why not!

Tune Into Highly Specific Vibes

For those nights when your thoughts are keeping you awake,

Shanté

has you covered.

You’re still wondering what on earth hyperpop is. Let

Joe

introduce you to SOPHIE.

S.W. Lauden

says power pop is for the boys (well, kinda). What do you think?

David Coleman

is the master of shoegaze revival. Consequently, he’s the savior of this latest thread over on the NBfOH chat.

Adrian Day

has general disillusionment locked down: post-punk, post-post-punk, new wave, new-new-wave… post everything.

David Coleman

,

Joe

, and I (plus our friend Juan Rodriguez who isn’t taggable on Substack!) imagine what kind of “new classics” your neighborhood bar would play.

I’ve missed a lot — drop your own playlists in the comments.

Experience the Original New Bands for Old Heads Flavor Pack

(Remember all of these playlists are also on Apple, YouTube, Amazon and Tidal).

I would be nowhere without the biggest, brightest, and alt-rockiest: the ‘90s-inspired behemoth that started this entire enterprise.

We then moved backwards into new music inspired by the ‘80s: synths, new wave, and goth rock, oh my.

I’ve already shared the classic rock playlist several times, but you may not have seen the same same but different ‘70s-inspired playlist, filled with disco, soul, and R&B (I envision a themed post about this at some point soon).

And then there’s hip hop, which I don’t post nearly enough about. I am constantly looking for more up-to-the-moment recommendations for this list, so please share freely.

The expansion pack to this original lineup features many more playlists, of course, but I won’t toy with e-mail limit lengths for today.

A Little Good News/Bad News

I guess a little interstitial throwaway post is as good a time as any to make a bummer announcement.

I’m raising my subscription prices.

I KNOW, I KNOW, I’M SORRY. I’m the worst. It’s been super cheap until now, though, and I need to start taking this a little bit more seriously.

First, a reminder that nearly everything I do here is free and that’s not going to change for the foreseeable future. I paywall some playlists and record giveaways, and that’s pretty much it. Most playlists are free, and they are available on five platforms. Paid subscriptions help pay those fees.

You do not have to pay anything, ever, and your experience will probably not change at all. So, that’s the main thing.

I know price increases suck, so I’m going to offer a sliding scale until the end of the year.

These are going to be good for one year, on annual subscriptions only. It’s a good way to show a little support if you haven’t felt before like you can pay the full price.

Sliding Scale Subscriptions

• $45/year ($3.75/mo.)***

• $30/year ($2.50/mo.)

• $15/year ($1.25/mo.)

***This was the price before the increase, so if you pick this one it locks the price in permanently, not just for one year.

As always, please e-mail me if you are having serious financial hardship but would like to have paid subscriber benefits.

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Am I still planning on doing the end-of-year-list song and dance? Yes. Definitely. Just give me a few more days to despondently faceplant in nebulous political upheaval and I’ll get back to my regularly scheduled programming!

xo

Gabbie