quarantine-playlists3 featuring kate moss the dog

Quarantine playlists: what the BrooklynVegan staff is listening to in isolation this week

With the coronavirus pandemic keeping many of us home a lot more, music (and TV) is perhaps more important than ever. It provides solace during these crazy times and an escape from the endless scroll of news, and fortunately — despite no concerts happening — there is no lack of music to get us through. We’ve been posting several musicians’ livestreamed performances on a daily basis and some of our favorite live concert videos every week day. We’ve also asked several artists to make playlists of the music they’ve been listening to in isolation, and several BrooklynVegan staff members/contributors have made our own isolation playlists too. If you’re looking for something new to listen to, or old to revisit, maybe one or more of these playlists will do the trick.

We’ll be posting new playlists weekly. Here’s this week’s:

Andrew Sacher (editor)

I’ve been finding solace in sad music during these sad times, as my playlists reflected the last two weeks, but it’s starting to get a little nicer out here in New York (well, until this morning’s storm) and you can’t stay sad forever, so here are some (mostly) more upbeat songs that have lifted my spirits over the past week. (And, for what it’s worth, the last song on this was already Fleetwood Mac’s “Storms” before I woke up to this morning’s nasty weather. Next week I better end with “Who Loves The Sun” or something.)

Bill Pearis (editor)

I fell into a mid-’00s nostalgia hole this weekend while cooking and cleaning, all growing out of Guillemots’ “Trains to Brazil.” So here’s a sampling of that from the Peak Music Blog era when every person seemed to have a WordPress site (or in my case, Typepad). It’s a mix of “hits” and songs you may have forgotten about (or didn’t know existed). By no means a definitive list and I could probably do another two hours from 2003-2008. And maybe I still will.

Amanda Hatfield (editor)

As my self-quarantine continues, I find my music listening dividing further and further between a steady stream of new stuff, broken up by deeper and deeper cuts from my own musical history. This week, between recent favorites from Phoebe Bridgers, Half Waif, Soccer Mommy, and EOB with Laura Marling, I included a few songs that were in heavy rotation for me in high school from Tori Amos, Nine Inch Nails, and PJ Harvey, and some others that fit my current mood from all over the map. And of course, there was no one to start with but the amazing John Prine, RIP.

Jeremy Nifras (contributing writer)

This week’s playlist is more of a mixed bag compared to the past two weeks, consisting of several artists I’ve had in my rotation while I ride out this strange world experience we’re all living in. There’s some classics from T. Rex and U2 in here, alongside some tracks from this year, including cuts from the incredible new Laura Marling record, the solid new Waxahatchee album, and a highlight from The Strokes’ latest LP The New Abnormal, which, based on its title, is perhaps the best album that could’ve dropped at the moment. Like that record, this new life is new and abnormal, but unfortunately it isn’t as catchy.

David Andrako (contributing photographer)

Shit week. John Prine died. I love John Prine and I love that a lot of people have been listening to John Prine songs for the 1st, 8th or 145th time this week. “Lake Marie” is a perfect song.

The rest of these songs are some of my all-time favorites and the results of a late night google deep dive into songs featuring someone playing a Celesta. I wonder if Buddy Holly heard “Pannonica” before he wrote “Everyday.”

Next week’s playlist is going to a romantic dinner playlist for Bill DeBlasio and Andrew Cuomo. C’mon fellas – get your shit sorted out.

Get well soon Sturgill. #DDSS

Browse our archive of BrooklynVegan Quarantine playlists for more. For even more songs and playlists, keep up with our daily new song roundups and monthly new song playlists.