CITYSPACE
October 12, 2016
Courtesy of Wallpaper Up
There is something inexplicably intoxicating about the haze of city lights. This is the quintessential playlist to accompany your midnight highway car rides past rows of interminably tall skyscrapers and neon radiance ÛÒ or escape to the very state of mind.
“Pete’s Jazz” begins the mellow cruise with a jazz and hip hop fusion, purely instrumental and smooth ÛÒ it almost melds perfectly with the next track, A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric RelaxationÛ. The accompanying album, MidnightMarauders, is an exemplary city-oriented album ÛÒ and “Electric Relaxation” possesses the groove in its driving bass line and head bop-worthy beat. The shift into Majid Jordan’s atmospheric “HerÛ, however, marks the turn into a contemporary, ambient, synth and beat-heavy portion of the playlist, one that inspired the very concept of the “Cityscape” playlist. Jordan’s angelic vocals carve melodic pathways into the listless anthem “R.I.P. Kevin MillerÛ, tinkling keys and muffled, thunderous drums perfectly accenting the wondrous nature of peering up at looming, glossy buildings bursting with lights with the chilled-out auras from the jazz influences beginning the playlist.
Drake’s archetypal “Legend” is a track best enjoyed with the windows down, with the bass seemingly rattling the gravel beneath car wheels, before moving to Drake’s labelmate PARTYNEXTDOOR and embodying the similarly urban, dreamy, beat-heavy bangers with “Grown WomanÛ. Elliot Moss croons over the transition into the electronic realm ÛÒ “Slip” certainly mirrors the dark ambience of the previous selections. Next, “Grandloves” by Purity Ring ft. Young Magic ÛÒ harboring a pulsating beat rivaling that of flickering streetlights ÛÒ tantalizes with unearthly heights.
Willow Smith utters a honeyed, liberating song supplemented by smooth guitars, an ode to being young and untrammeled ÛÒ fitting for a contemplative car ride down any lightspun highway. Following it is the equally airy, epiphanic “New Person, Same Old MistakesÛ, arguably one of my most played tracks of 2016 (both Tame Impala’s original and Rihanna’s cover) for the brooding, eerie composition, and gossamer vocals. Ian Curtis warbles over the steady build-up of bass and empowering drum in the aptly atmospheric “Atmosphere” ÛÒ like the exposition to the previous whirlwinds of lyrics and clashing voices.
Frank Sinatra’s ties to two cities known for their glitz ÛÒ Las Vegas and New York ÛÒ prompt the final track, with the verve delivered in the recognizable velvet of Sinatra’s timbre fashioning the ribbon on the glossy, gleaming package. It’s difficult not to wrap up the chilled fluctuations of the “Cityscape” playlist with the air of someone dressed to the nines, unwinding on velvet seats with diamond prospects at whatever destination dazzles beyond the stars.
Enjoy the playlist below.
