Best Before September 22 

This summer playlist has been inspired mostly by film and television. Everything here appeared in or was inspired by either Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Master of None, High Maintenance or Halt and Catch Fire. There has been plenty written about the Master of None soundtrack and its music supervisor Zach Cowie so I won’t retread that worn tire. Six of these tunes play a part in Master of None (marked MON) so I guess it was really on my mind and in that sense Cowie did most of the work for me. Don’t worry it sticks to the summer themes: love, loss, regret, hook-ups, lust, easy-going day dreaming, youth and so on.



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Sing Us a Song 

Someone ran Trump through Google's Deep Dream, then I ran it through Barbara Kruger

They say every war movie, is an anti-war movie. Can the same be said of a playlist? Is every political playlist, an anti-political playlist? Okay, that sounded better in my head. What isn’t obvious is when the “current political climate” (also known as the End of Days) makes you see songs you’re familiar with in a new light, with new meaning - or even to finally make sense of a meaning or tone you never realized. This was intended as an ode to spring but spring arrived with very little fanfare this year. Here in Toronto we’ve had unusually warm days only to be followed by wet snow and blizzard warnings that became rainstorms. The end of winter and beginning of spring has also marked the first months of a new American enterprise (it seems perverse to call the current president’s cadre of cohorts an administration) and that has left me seeing everything through that lens.



This playlist reflects both a political sensitivity and at times respite from worldly affairs. Basically, I let the stream of Spotify flow over me like a tepid shower and when something piqued my interest I bookmarked it into this list, and as is my wont, stopped at sixteen.
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Summery 

Death defying leap into summer. Image via andyliang.com



Here is a summery sextodecimo. The really unnecessary thing to do is explain why you included a bunch of songs in your summer playlist. There’s no Bieber, no Taylor Swift, and maybe that needs explaining (it doesn’t but whateve’s). Here’s to unnecessary explanations which is like most of the meetings I attend are like these days.

You Bring the Summer
This is a track from a new album from The Monkees. Yes those Monkees. Written by XTC’s Andy Partridge, this is exactly what I imagine being 12 in 1969 sounded like.
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Solstice Playlist 

I guess this Solstice Sextodecimo (unlike the previous sextodecimos) is also a little bit of a requiem for Rdio, the streaming service I was using until it was acquired by Pandora and shut-down. Instead I'm kind of moving o'er to Spotify as the defacto non-Apple music provider. So here, for the first time is a Spotify Solstice playlist:



I actually had the Pogues' Fairytale in New York on here, if only to celebrate Shane MacGowan's new teeth (see: the Everest of Dentistry) but thought better of it. Apparently today is International Joe Strummer Day so having a Clash song on here seems obvious (plus the song keeps coming on whenever I go for a run so it's been in my head a lot).

Kitchen Disco Sextodecimo 

Note: no actual disco in the playlist; just a lot of dancing around dangerously with knives and hot peppers. Rdio subscription required.

I hadn't really cooked for awhile (lots of salads lately, in a summer mode) but on a rainy night like tonight I made a curry which I hadn't done for months. Thus a new playlist was born into this world. No pretensions of trying to impress more musically knowledgable friends or to fool myself I'm not old as I am - just something to keep the pot simmering as the rice cooked.

I may add a YouTube playlist if the urge strikes me.

And Suddenly, It Was Summer 

image via Best of Instagram, @jimmy_chin, Ocean Mood

Without a clammer, without even making much of an effort, Summer arrived. Here in Toronto we’ve only had several sputtering starts with extreme heat one day, cold the next, punctuated throughout by heavy or constant rain. But now it’s official and it feels official. All the summer festivals are running or advertising they’ll be here soon; Luminato, NXNE, Pride, the Pan Am Games and whatever local street festival or farmer’s market demarcates your neighbourhood. This year, even Ramadan is in the summer (sucks to be you, with long days to fast between sunrise and sunset). To herald the beginning of summer, here’s a sextodecimo, democratically presented as Rdio, Spotify and Youtube playlists. Don’t ever say I didn’t do anything for you.





Spotify playlist

The Playlist

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2014 Winter Solstice Playlist 

Rdio subscription required to stream the playlist above

Consider this a sort of “Year in Review”, a playlist that has a bit of old and a bit of new and whatever it was that caught my ear this year.

If you don't have a Rdio.com subscription you can stream the playlist from tapely.com

If you're a fan of 8tracks.com then there's a playlist for you too:

2014 Winter Solstice from rowdyman on 8tracks Radio.

A detailed track list will follow.

Quarterly Sextodecimo: 2014 AE Edition 

The Autumn Equinox sort of snuck up on me but I’ve had this idea to make a Sextodecimo primarily of live and/or found recordings. You can stream a sort simulacrum of the playlist on Rdio.



Or download it here (extract and after importing the files into your player application, you can also import the playlist as an XML file to ensure the correct order).

The recordings between the actual songs are just random things I’ve recorded with my phone. It’s been said the best camera is the one you have with you so I guess the same might be true for recording equipment.

See more for the play list description: Read more »

2014 Summer Sextodecimo 

Image from Michael Winkelman




Back in March I began a sextodecimo playlist for the Vernal Equinox. Well, that didn't happen. That's okay, it'll become the Summer Solstice Playlist. Oh too late. Maybe I was busy that day because again it didn't happen. Well, now the summer is on the descent and I can feel the desperation of cramming some more outside-ness into the week, the days or the lunch hour.
So finally, here it is. What I've been listening to lately. The streaming Grooveshark version above and The Rdio.com version below (account required):


Enjoy responsibly.

2013 Winter Solstice Playlist 

Image by Benoit Courti via This is Colossal

This is actually a sextodecimo plus eight - you know, for the kids… In an effort to play appropriately seasonal music without the treacle or kitsch you might so often hear in our temples of retail and coffee I have assembled the following concoction. How many gluten-free, low-calorie, vegan, shade-grown, dolphin-friendly treats can you enjoy in December? Well, here's one.

Listen at Rdio (subscription required).

Or download from here.

Tracklist is as follows: Read more »

The Triple Distilled Sextodecimo 

2013 Sextodecimo. Vol.4. Drink up, boys, you may never get a chance to pose comedically with alcohol again.

“The first step is admitting you have a problem. The next is to write a song about it.”

Lately, one feels as though the days of romancing addiction are coming to an end. Perhaps, but unlikely. Finding inspiration at the bottom of a bottle is such an enduring cliché, it's hard to think of any artform not touched by it. From poetry, novels, film, music to painting, there are more examples than can be named. Momentarily I thought, surely you wouldn't dance drunk, then realized that is exactly the only time many people will dance in public. So, here's to you, Addiction and some of the fine art your illness has wrought.

Download the playlist here. See the playlist below.
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Under Attack… and Loving It 

I reserve the right to leave this image unexplained.

“It's summer in the city.”

Tonight, summer arrived in a big pimped-out super-stretch white limo with gold trim and white leather interior. A pair of long smooth tan legs periscoped from the moon roof. Jet black fresh tires roiled pavement puddles, rippling reflected neon stripes that rolled beneath the moon-dyed silvern clouds. A canopy of dark leaves heaved above the radiant concrete. It's summer in the city. This is the season when youth attacks, as the grownups rock from their turrets and lean on railings in a nostalgic reverie. So that's the way this play list goes - from high energy to soulful dark sky watching. In summer, the whole world feels young again. Let the kids play.

The Cruelest Month, The Musical 

To provide a salve to the damaged soul, I put together this playlist of tracks that seemed to sum up the strangeness of last April. To be sure we've moved on. Since April, the Boston bombers have been killed or apprehended while their victims have begun to piece their damaged lives back together. The mayor of Toronto has been accused of smoking crack cocaine (though a co-worker rightly points out that Rob Ford is far too fat to be a crack addict), "super" tornados have ravaged the mid-west with frightening ferocity killing not only residents but respected storm-chasers, Conservative senators dodged one scandal only to step into another and one bad news story piled on top of another.

Well, hell, that's life. That's when we find refuge in art, isn't it? I sank into a theatre and watched two trifling flights of fantasy and laughed through a season of comedies. Tonight I removed a failing bike computer with something like 2400 km on it and I'm charging a new one as I write this. Funny, but I can't seem to just throw out the old one. Despite being digital, it feels like a record of my meagre biking – it's actually the second one of that make - I think the previous one, since misplaced, had about 1200 km frozen on its display.

Yet you really do have to start anew. Tomorrow's another day. Get back on your horse and ride off into another sunset. I think there's a scientific phrase for the human ability to put bad memories out of your mind and just get on with it, but for the life of me, I can't recall it. I've moved on.

Here's the Rdio Playlist - for those subscribed to that service:

The Quarterly Sextodecimo: Golden Mean 

The Quarterly Sextodecimo, vol.1, March 2013

This list started as my favourite film music but morphed into, "what tracks would I use in a film" - if I were making a movie that would somehow be a cross of North by Northwest, The Big Lebowski, Manhattan and oh I don't know, Snatch, maybe.

Hear the music. Read the playlist. Read more »

Groovesharks Never Sleep

…or so I'm told. I had essentially forgotten about Grooveshark being here in the streaming music ghetto known as Canada (no Pandora, no Spotify; Rdio via a subscription) but I'm hoping this thing sticks around as a way to listen and discover music - and share it such as this playlist I made up as a bit of an afternoon wake-up (no caffeine shakes or coffee tummy either). Enjoy.

The 2012 Musical Advent Calendar 

In the past I’ve made physical Advent Calendars packed with chocolates and occasionally a fun surprise, but I was never satisfied with the lack of craftsmanship or could never find a reasonably simple method of manufacture. This year, I’m embracing the virtual and hopefully virtuous.

“The World's Only Musical Advent Calendar that has hardly anything to do with Advent, Christmas or calendars.”

Here's the Playlist. Download it here. (122 MB. If using iTunes, import the tracks as you normally do and import the XML file as a playlist.)
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Mix Equal Parts Day and Night 

The increasingly misnamed Quarterly Sextodecimo, Autumn 2012 Issue

With the arrival of the Autumnal Equinox, the air has chilled faster than a punctured CO₂ cartridge, and I ought to know. In the last 28 days, I've had seven flat tires on three different bikes. It's difficult to imagine a more frustrating occasion of flaccidity than that of a blown tire but if you're going to ride, you're going to get flats. It's equally difficult to accept the changing of the season. I hope this playlist will be a salve to your fading summer sunburn.

Download it here (116 MB - as usual, if you're using iTunes, after importing the tracks, import the included XML file for the playlist to appear in order).

The Tunes

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I Miss the Honky Tonks, Dairy Queens and 7-11s 

Road image via Top Left Pixel

Every road trip needs a playlist. These are not the songs we played from the dashboard of a car but ones that came to mind or we sang aloud as bugs flew into our smiles. Some are obvious and cliché. Some are obscure and fitting while others are simply the songs that bubbled to the surface when my spongy brain was squeezed of all its hydration.

You can download the tracks here (warning: it's a 150 mb file. Note: if using iTunes, import the files as you normally would, then import the playlist – that's the XML file – and the playlist should appear in the sidebar along with your other playlists). I'll make an embedded streaming version to play from this page when I have the time.

You can purchase the playlist in iTunes (will open in iTunes).
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The Darling Buds of May  

20120511 Sextodecimo from rowdyman on 8tracks.

This playlist is consists of music that is either a live recording or I heard simply as a background to something else and as such, it was compiled largely through the iPhone App, "Shazam" - the near magical application that listens to some recorded music and after comparing it to an online database, identifies the track.
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Sextodecimo of the Dragon  

It's the year of the Dragon and this is my soundtrack for it (well, at least the first half). I feel like I'm cheating a little bit by putting three tracks straight from the Soundtrack of the film Drive here, but consider it props to one of the best soundtracks of the year that was disqualified from being nominated for an Oscar simply because the Academy doesn't understand contemporary electronic composition. The phrase "The Academy" always seems like a stand-in for the standard quo. You can picture a cadre of decrepit old men, of broken bodies and dusty minds, sitting arm in arm, locked in opposition to the new. It's as if they were the progenitors of saying, "Young people today! Their clothes are outrageous and their music is stupid." I'd like to thank the Academy for reminding me of the resilience of stubbornness.

Download the playlist here (97 MB) - if you're using iTunes, import the playlist which is included as an XML file.


Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller of Sleigh Bells. Okay, so I only included this picture because how great Alexis Krauss looks. Read the New York Times Magazine article before their meteoric rise.

Track List

Bonus Track: Mother and Son - Nichols & May
Limehouse Blues - Charlie Byrd
Sweet City Woman - Stampeders
Best Love (feat. Paul McCartney) - Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers
La Mer (El Mar) - Julio Iglesias
Tease Me - Lianne La Havas
Memphis - Joe Jackson
Sleep of the Just - The Costello Show Feat. The Attractions
Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington
Cub (Keep Shelly in Athens remix) - Solar Bears
Same Dream China - Gold Panda
Little Fluffy Clouds - The Orb
Tick of the Clock - The Chromatics
Under Your Spell - Desire Under
A Real Hero - College (Featuring Electric Youth)
Comeback Kid - Sleigh Bells
Midnight City - M83