The end of the week is near, and Callie is here with this week’s playlist to help you celebrate. You may not have ever heard these songs before, but they all exist on a similar, smoky, sentimental frequency that makes you feel like you’ve been transported to the past. Listen to the playlist here. 

  1. “Don’t Look Back In Anger” – Oasis. “Wonderwall” may be Oasis’ ultimate calling card, but “Don’t Look Back In Anger” swirls with the same simultaneous sensation of boldness and tenderness. In the decades since its release, it has also become a symbol of resilience for some listeners, which makes it the perfect introduction for a playlist about warm-hearted reminiscence.
  2. “No Other Heart” – Mac DeMarco. Mac DeMarco often feels out of place among his electronically-driven contemporaries; everything including his chord progressions and kindly voice oozes a sense of nostalgia and yearning. Mac himself told NPR that “No Other Heart” reminds him of something John Lennon might sing, which truly cements this song’s place amongst a smattering of pre-21st century bops.
  3. “Bitter Sweet Symphony” – The Verve. This churning, grand anthem is certainly something of an anomaly for rock-pop hits. It spans a full six minutes long, boasting sparse lyrics and ambitious orchestral arrangements — and yet, it has found huge success in a market that prioritizes catchy choruses and short attention spans. It has stood the test of time in the most unexpected and magical way.
  4. “Mysterious Ways” – U2. If Bono’s voice doesn’t immediately draw your mind into a forgone, astral plane, then the curiously evocative vibes of “Mysterious Ways” will finish the job — as could only be expected from a song that kicks off with the line, “take a walk with your sister the moon.”
  5. “Gods & Monsters” – Lana Del Rey. Lana Del Rey specializes in making you homesick for a place you’ve never been, or desperate for a feeling you may not have ever experienced. Lana deals directly with the powers of otherworldly vocals, the aura of old Hollywood starlets, and feelings of “innocence lost.”
  6. “Evil Woman” – Electric Light Orchestra. Electric Light Orchestra’s style may still sound relevant, thanks to their enduring charm and a selection of modern samples (snippets of “Evil Woman” appear in a Daft Punk song, for example), but this song still vibrates with the memories of family road trips and adult dinner parties before you were old enough to participate.
  7. “Sex And Candy” – Marcy Playground. The beauty of this song is in its stripped, straightforward approach — but it still crackles like an old vinyl record. Its lyrical ambiguity only adds to the nostalgic aches and sentimentality, because describing something “like double cherry pie” and “like disco lemonade” will bring up different feelings and memories for each individual listener.
  8. “Walk On the Wild Side” – Lou Reed. Lou Reed’s masterpiece was produced by David Bowie and conceived as a tribute to Andy Warhol. For those of us gazing backwards, starry-eyed, at departed eras of artistic and musical genius, it doesn’t get much more nostalgic than that.
  9. “No Rain” – Blind Melon. “No Rain” is capable of questioning its listeners and empathizing with them at the same time. It overflows with honesty and wistful longing, but it’s unclear exactly what the singer — and, by extension, the listeners — are left longing for.
  10. “The First Days Of Spring” – Noah And The Whale. While this song relies of feelings of optimism, a sense that “my life is starting over again,” looking forward to a brighter future cannot exist without reflecting on the past.