Playlist Articles

¡ATENCION! ACHTUNG! ВНИМАНИЕ! ATTENTION! TO: All Rebels, Disunited States of AmuriKKKa, Planet Inferno FROM: Dix Winstanley, Counterintelligence Division SECURITY LEVEL: 9 – Deep Classification CODE: Mauve Comrades, We regret to inform you of the apparent disappearance of Benjamin Venercour.

Fellow Still-Sheltering Observers of the Ever-Raging Inferno Known as 2020: How ya been? Ah. Alive. Good. Me? Same. Yes, you’re right: It has been a scalding hot minute since I last laid a playlist on you. I’d like to say this was my plan all along, and that the previous mondo mix — Emergency on Planet Earth, … Read more

Future bleach guzzlers: here comes another mondo playlist. “Seriously,” I imagine some of you mocking, “ANOTHER 100 SONGS?!?” Serious as covid on asthma, yes. But I’ll keep this one’s introduction brief. 

Fellow armchair warriors, musical comrades, any and all in need of screaming relief: Having spent the past two weeks devoted to very personal playlist pursuits — my admiration of the late producer (and covid victim) Hal Willner, followed by a subjective 5th-anniversary reconstruction of the Coachella at which Jessica and I met — I have … Read more

Five years ago, on this exact date, at the very minute this latest LCKDWN playlist and accompanying explanation are set to appear, one exceedingly nervous Benjamin A. Wener approached one quite bewildered Jessica A. Lanska and spoke to her for the first time. He had noticed her walking toward the Mojave Tent to check out … Read more

Having lost so many significant musical figures in such a short span of time, whether to covid or other causes, hasn’t exactly helped slow the playlist parade. Kenny Rogers, Bill Withers, the great Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and so many other things — they all merit playlists of their own. As does, of … Read more

  My fellow future victims: As some of you may recall, many moons in the past, as long ago as a teenage lifetime, I used to write a column called Pop Life for the OC Register. This was back in those halcyon days before I tried transitioning away from strictly being a critic so I … Read more