Need playlist help

[cr47t 8]

ok so i'm very particular with this one playlist I'm composing, and I'm in a real pickle to make this one segment work. thought I'd turn to y'all for tips or song recommendations. no generative AI posts please but I expect that won't be an issue here

TL;DR I'm looking for song suggestions. details below

PART 1/3: THE PLAYLIST'S ORDER'S LOGIC

first off, it's on Spotify Free (I don't wanna pay for premium) so any song recs need to be on there as songs (not as podcast uploads). also in order to make this particular playlist work I've turned on the crossfade at 0s and turned Automix on - this will be important to keep in mind.

so the way Spotify's ad segments work for free users is, if you've streamed a total of 6 minutes since the last ad, when you get to the end of a track or press skip, it gives you an ad - but it won't interrupt an ongoing track for it. this means you can get as close to 6m as you can, then stick a real long one at the end, you can prolong the ads by as long as the long song is.

for example
"Oxygene"  (1:05) by C418 + "Girl/Boy Song" (4:52) by Aphex Twin + "Crush" with the U not the A (8:09) by Dave Matthews Band -->14+min between ads (5:57 for first 2 tracks)
or
"Tonight, Tonight" by Smashing Pumpkins (4:14) + "Threshold" (1:06) by Steve Miller Band + "Pyramids" (9:52) by Frank Ocean -->15+min
for these timestamps I'm going by the time from the right end of the song-length bar-thingy, as that's sometimes 1sec or so shorter than the time on the list.

and it's important to me that whatever "song blocks" I've got between ads, the total block time exceeds 9 minutes total. this is because they can't all reach the highs of the above 2 examples while still including all the songs that give the playlist its character (I'm making it as shorthand for my music taste) yet at the same time, every complete song block I have rn tops 9min and that's pretty good anyways. (they're usually 2 or 3 tracks long, interludes included.)
(I also sometimes make transitions that span across ad breaks, for the paid users who I meet and befriend.)

I can share the current playlist's tracklist if needed but would prefer not to if it isn't needed at the moment.

PART 2/3: WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO AT THE MOMENT

both examples of long song breaks I listed above in italics, are actually in the playlist. I'm currently trying to figure out something to put in this blank:

... "Crush" by Dave Matthews Band + AD + __________ + "Dsco" (3:11) by Sweet Trip + "Black Qualls" (3:09) by Thundercat and co. + AD + "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" by Radiohead + ...etc

I listed way more songs that are relevant to my problem here, just as a sampler for the "sound" of the playlist and its range/similarities. but for the purposes of today's problem, we're only going to focus on "Crush" through to "Black Qualls", mainly surrounding the blank spot.

I need a song that's at least 2:40 and less than 2:49 (on the length bar). I would prefer it to not sound too jarring coming out of "Crush"s long fadeout and segue smoothly or at least cleverly into "Dsco". I particularly want this specific song block to have 3 or more tracks in it

PART 3/3: I THINK YOU CAN GUESS THE PROBLEM BUT HERE IT IS ANYWAY

I cannot find a single track that fits just right into this specific blank spot, and it's driving me nuts. I've looked on reddit threads (don't have an acc of my own yet) I've looked on Spotify playlists in searches, from my family members, even my own favorites list and generated "mix" playlists and it's still not doing anything for me. the only thing I've found that remotely fits is "Knock Yourself Out XD" but not only is it jarring coming out of dead time from "Crush", I also feel that it overwhelms "Dsco" when placed right next to it.

I've been wondering about taking "Dsco" out entirely and replacing it with something else, but from the VDC album, only "Pro: Lov: Ad" really fits without being too guitar-shoegazey ("Chocolate Matter" is out), too bleep-glitchy (e.g. "Dedicated") or too long (e.g. "Sept" etc.) Even then I like "Dsco" better, the lyrics have more variation. As for songs elsewhere, "Unrecorded" by M83 does segue in a somewhat clever and weirdly smooth manner to me, but something about the tonal dissonance between that and "Black Qualls" afterwards doesn't feel quite right (to me, anyways: how does it go for you?)

besides I kinda like "Dsco" if only for 1)  it's an upbeat song that 2) has its own distinct character to it as opposed to the "radio filler sound" expected of tracks this tempo, tone and length (or even amongst the other songs on the VDC album, but those are much more left field) which combined with point 1 is hard to find, and 3) there's another Sweet Trip song earlier on the playlist ("Milk", a sadder one, off the You Will Never Know Why album) and I just like the idea of two wildly different songs that make people who pay attention think "wait, this is the same artist/band?" (don't worry, I'm not touching anything from A Tiny House or the reunion in general)

soooooooo does anyone have song ideas for the blank spot going into "Dsco"? or going into some other song that goes well into "Black Qualls" if pairing it w/ "Dsco" is a hopeless case?

thanks in the meantime

[radio414 951]

did some digging, just going to share the songs that went through my listening process

angela by bill callahan flows nicely off of crush but just really extends the problem into dsco

pieces of what by mgmt has a slight ramp up at the beginning and then adds more instrumentation in the backhalf to almost hit the energy of dsco

von dutch by charli xcx doesn't need an introduction but i'll justify it by saying it has a ramp up so it doesn't completely jar off of crush imo

i got about this far before i remembered barns courtney, who might have the energy you're looking for

hellfire is from an album that i gave more listens to backinzaday but supernatural might be better for what you're looking for

[Zamazenta the OS-Tan Fan 17]

I wish I could help you but sadly my device has no audio since my Laptop died 😞

[cr47t 8]

20 hours ago, radio414 said:

did some digging, just going to share the songs that went through my listening process

angela by bill callahan flows nicely off of crush but just really extends the problem into dsco

pieces of what by mgmt has a slight ramp up at the beginning and then adds more instrumentation in the backhalf to almost hit the energy of dsco

von dutch by charli xcx doesn't need an introduction but i'll justify it by saying it has a ramp up so it doesn't completely jar off of crush imo

i got about this far before i remembered barns courtney, who might have the energy you're looking for

hellfire is from an album that i gave more listens to backinzaday but supernatural might be better for what you're looking for

listened to these

I agree about the bill callahan song, doesn't really bridge well

pieces of what is good as a bridge, but as a song on its own merits It's just not my thing.

same goes with the two barns Courtney songs, I get too many imagine dragons-ey stomp-yo-feet-on-the-arena-floor vibes. not to mention, is the supernatural art AI generated? because that's a big no no for me (Midjourney was released a few days before the album so I can't be sure)

von dutch is ok, I guess. i don't really care for it much though, it feels much more club music-y than disco itself or especially the rest of the playlist

so its time to explore some replacements for Dsco methinks
but if anyone knows something that can go before Dsco you can still comment those, still open to it

I think I'd go with "Pro: Lov: Ad" as the preferred Dsco replacement. thinking about it now, PLA does a better job at conveying the character of the VDC album: sonically unpredictable, but still manages to express some kind of human emotion beneath all the crazy flows. at the same time PLA isn't as extreme with its rapid fire sounds or its bleep-bloop-iness as "Tekka" or "Dedicated". not to mention the transition between PLA and Black Qualls is gapless, so that's something I like

the main thing holding me back is that Deco's lyrics give that song more of a collaborative feel: while PDA does feature Val taking the lead on vocals it is more of a showcase for the production and songwriting for Roby, which became the downfall of the Tiny House album. but unlike the Tiny House album, VDC was not created as a vehicle for creep behavior and was at a time when Rob & Val were on good terms, and rob probably didn't have anything nasty on his mind at the time (2003 for VDC, 2021 for tiny house) so is it still unethical to use PLA?

the other option on the table is "Unrecorded" by M83, but that would require a search for a new song to pair with that, and while the transition from Unrecorded into Black Qualls is smooth, I can't help but imagine some of my friends reacting to the tonal shift with some kinda emotional whiplash, since Unrecorded is somber unlike "Pro: Lov: Ad".

so therefore this I think tilts in the favor of "Pro: Lov" Ad" replacing "Dsco. Yeah the song block times out to 8:55 with PLA and Qualls, which my adhd brain keeps focusing on those missing 5 seconds but when in the car or at the party is anyone really going to notice let along complain? I just dunno if its unethical to use PLA for reasons elaborated two paragraphs above here

[radio414 951]

12 minutes ago, cr47t said:

is the supernatural art AI generated?

kind of a deep insult to haris nukem like i know he dipped his toes into nfts three years ago but line goes up hadn't come out yet

[cr47t 8]

12 hours ago, radio414 said:

kind of a deep insult to haris nukem like i know he dipped his toes into nfts three years ago but line goes up hadn't come out yet

my apologies if I caused any offense, I just wanted to double check - didn't mean to point any fingers, I'm just not familiar with the lane of music that the album seems in

in the meantime could you please weigh in on the other stuff in my newest post before this one here? it'd mean a lot to me

Edited November 29, 2024 by cr47t