The (Improved!) Playlist Guide
An updated resource (and a personality quiz!) to help you find your way around New Bands for Old Heads playlists + posts.
Not sure which playlist to start with? I made a playlist personality quiz1. It’s stupid. It’s fun. It’s free.
If you’re new, it’ll help orient you with a few playlists picked out just for you.
Navigate:
Genres + Eras | “Best Of”s | Mixtapes | Community Playlists
Most playlists available on: 🍎Apple, ☁️SoundCloud, 💿Qobuz,
🌊Tidal, ▶️YouTube. Find those links in the directory.
The directory also includes every single band I’ve ever recommended in the newsletter. It’s pretty sweet.
Ok, on to the playlists —
Genres + Eras
New music that sounds generally like the older stuff listed here.
⭐ = core playlist
⭐ ‘70s (Soul, Disco, R&B) - playlist
⭐ ’80s (Synth, New Wave) - playlist
⭐ ‘90s (Alt, Riot Grrl, College Rock, Shoegaze) - playlist
⭐ Classic Rock - playlist
Hip-Hop - playlist
Pop - playlist
Yé-yé (French pop) - post
“Best Of”s:
Yearly
2026 - Best Tracks
20254 - Best Tracks | Midyear | EOY 1 | EOY 2 | EOY 3 | EOY 4
2024 - Best Tracks | Midyear | EOY 1 | EOY 2 | EOY 3 | EOY 4
2023 - Best Tracks
2022 - Best Tracks
Monthly
Mixtapes:
Mostly “If You Like [X], Then You’ll Like [Y]” posts + companion playlists (new music that sounds like specific older artists).
🎤 = guest playlist
If You Like [X] Then You’ll Like [Y]: The OG (Gang of Four, New Order, Veruca Salt, Smashing Pumpkins, Pavement, Radiohead, Lauryn Hill, Elliott Smith)
‘90s Counterculture (introducing Chris Dalla Riva to non-hit genres of the ‘90s: grunge, britpop, shoegaze, big beat, trip hop, twee)
Album Scores Are Meaningless (great albums that only got an average 7/10 meta-rating)
Experimental (a mixtape for Anja Huwe of X-mal Deutschland)
Female-Fronted Bands (“won’t someone think of the men?”)
🎤 Folk (New Canadiana, by Matthew Joel Vanderkwaak)
Foreign Language (3 hours of new music, none in English)
Gen X Nostalgia (a mixtape for Kevin Alexander)
🎤 Lilith Fair (What New Bands Belong on the Lilith Fair Stage in 2025?, by Caroline in the Garden)
New Band/Old Band (the basics of how my brain works; new/old pairings)
Pop-punk (Dragging Daniel Parris out of his 2000s rut)
Problematic Artists (Problematic older artists paired with modern non-problematic equivalents)
Romance & Drama (A shimmery mixtape for Olivia Rafferty ✨)
Slutty Summer (All your hot summer jamz)
Teen Movies (reviving the sound of the late ‘90s teen romcom)
“Uncool” Music (a mixtape for Justin McElroy of My Brother My Brother and Me)
Witchy Disco (my take on the Fall playlist)
Community Playlists:
Known Unknowns - Community-generated playlists featuring your favorite unknown & underrated artists.
Directory-only extras:
The Disco - a multi-era dance party
Discord Community Music Recs - old heads share their favorite music of all time
The best way to support New Bands for Old Heads is to become a paid subscriber. If this newsletter ever turned you on to a band you wouldn’t have found otherwise, please consider upgrading. Support your friendly local (human!) music curator, and help keep the playlists bountiful across all platforms. Learn more here.
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Invite a friend, get free access!
Existing subscribers, the quiz is in your inbox. DM me if you don’t have it.
If chain punk is for serious, hardcore anti-establishment aggros, then egg punk is for weird little nerds who like experimenting with gadgets in their bedrooms.
See also: Post-Punk Party Hour (a mix of new and old post-punk that you’ve likely never heard before)
Extras only in the Directory:
Reader Favorites: First Half of 2025 + All of 2025
Gabbie’s Favorite Tracks of 2025
Missed in 2025
Love the personality quiz!!! What’s the model? Simple ad hoc logic branches, fancy discriminant function analysis or something else?
Do you have any folk music playlists? I've been playing 60s and 70s folk for a class and would love to recommend some newer songs.