David Byrne Shares December "Abstract Pop" Playlist

David Byrne is a known master curator and has been regularly releasing music mixes on his website for us all to enjoy. This month’s new playlist focuses on his love of abstract pop music, stuff that definitely doesn’t strike everyone’s fancy but requires a regular revisiting.

Here’s a playlist and a proposition- is music coming apart at the seams, shattering into shards, fragmenting like a distorting mirror or some kind of cubist abstract painting? Hate to spot a trend that doesn’t exist, or that only I perceive, but listen to these songs! See if you don’t think we’re in time of deconstruction- erratic beats (hardly for dancing) disruptive sounds and music as landscape more than groove.

He leans into the concept here a bit in introducing artists like Serpent, Hudson Mohawke, Bon Iver, SebastiAn, Björk, Django Reinhardt and more…

This is radical- some of it is even popular, despite how radical it is. Is this how we feel now? Does this music mirror the world we live in?

Here’s the full tracklist. Check it out here.

Serpent – TNGHT
Hudson Mohawke – Chimes
Sudan Archives – Water
serpentwithfeet – messy
Bon Iver – Jelmore
SebastiAn – thirst
SebastiAn – Movement
Björk – Arisen My Senses (feat. Arca)
Arca – Vanity
Django Reinhardt – Django’s Tiger (2000 Remastered Version)
Sophie – Faceshopping
Kitaro – Last Phone Call