The sky was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

This is Dark Alley Jazz, if Dark Alley Jazz were set 50 years in the future. This playlist is here to encapsulate the feelings going through the mind of some console cowboy as they wait at the light in a rainy megatropolis while out shopping for cigarettes.

Who is selling the cigarettes?

An older lady. She’ll tell you something about the way things used to be, and you’ll smile kind of sadly.

When did you first come to this hole in the wall selling cigarettes?

It doesn’t matter. They’re everywhere.

Are there any megacorporations?

Oh, there are several. But no more. Not enough room in the market for that.

hear me out now: linkin park holds up thank you for coming to my ted talk

Yes, of course it has the flute song in it.

An hour and a half of Linkin Park is perhaps too much Linkin Park, but hear me out (now): there is joy to be found here. Assuming that you are exactly like me (naive, but a pleasure not afforded to those teenage years where this stuff hit home), there’s stuff in here you remember from your teenage years that holds up pleasantly, stuff in here from after your teenage years that’s fun to discover, and yes I TOLD you the flute song is in here that shit SLAPS

This is objectively the best of Linkin Park unless you have an argument for replacing “Hands Held High”

Downloading GBA ROMs at 1AM on a Thursday

A playlist for when you’re in high school, it’s way after you should have already gone to sleep in the middle of the week, but you just got news that the Mother 3 fan translation patch is out. You know you don’t have time to start it, but you can make time to at least take off the shrink wrap, in a sense. You can boot it up for like thirty seconds after all this anticipation and rest in the warm welcome of its cute family sprites and reassuring, looping soundtrack.

This one is loop-heavy electronic music that gradually fades into ambient, suitable for relaxing work music or for gently nudging you to maybe just go to sleep already.

Dark Alley Jazz

For when you’ve spent a lot of time wishing you were a private eye in a 1940s spy movie. Not in a “ah, the good old days when men were men and women were probably trying to kill you” way, but more in a sneak around and solve mysteries and fight off your adversaries, the greatest of whom is yourself, way.

This playlist is for Jazz to listen to while chain smoking in a speakeasy somewhere. Smooth but unforgiving, like the scotch you’re drinking or the memories of a former love you try not to think about.

checking your work email on monday morning

You like the taste of coffee. It has nothing to do with being More Productive. That said, you’d really like to get through your inbox before you finish this first cup of coffee today and/or panic.

This playlist is for quickly easing into a soothing sense of focus. It switches up genres enough to keep you engaged, but stays instrumental (you gotta read those emails, those words to focus on). There’s some lo-fi study beats on the nose, chillout on the palate, and a jazzy finish. Hopefully that’s the least pretentious thought you have this morning – again, you got emails to read. Maybe even write! Don’t worry, we’ll get you through the first hour and a half of your week.