Stay Gold

We’d like to offer a slight respite with this here playlist. The theme this time, in case it’s not clear, is artists who do something new with retro-ish sounds. What’s cool is how the end results often approach a sort of “space yacht” vibe. Many of these songs present a new take on soft rock — one that you can dance to, sure, but it’s lighter on the synths and guitars and has a dreamier feeling to it. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did putting it together. In the meantime, we’d like to make sure you’re well acquainted with some of the featured artists.

The Southern California-based quartet SOFTLIGHTES (formerly known as the Incredible Moses Leroy) toured recently with Wolfmother. Currently signed to the awesome Australian label Modular, their music’s appeared in ads for the Gap, Vespa and Northwest Air.

LADYHAWKE AKA Phillipa “Pip” Brown is a New Zealand-born singer-songwriter  with a penchant for naming her musical contributions after films. Her prior band was called Two Lane Blacktop, after the 1970s film of the same name. Her own name comes from a 1985 film by Richard Donner, while her best known single is the 2008 tune “Paris Is Burning,” named for the movie of the same name.

The core members of the smooth and funky Brooklyn-based TIGERCITY met in school, at Hampshire college, during a game of basketball. Rock, synth, house and disco all swim together in their musical soup.

TOUGH ALLIANCE, or TTA, is a duo based in Gotthenburg, Sweden. Henning Fürst and Eric Berglund have gotten a lot of critical praise from around the world (including Pitchfork) for their pliant electro-pop. But back at home they’ve stirred controversy for shows in which they swing baseball bats about and sing along to backing tapes.

—DJ Yeti