Happy New Year!
Oh, did you overdo it during the holiday season? Does it feel like Clown from Slipknot is using the inside of your head for bin-thumping practice? Oh, you. Just lie down and listen to our special New Year’s Day playlist to make everything feel better. There, there… It’s alright.
Deftones – No Ordinary Love
Chino Moreno wraps his honeyed larynx around this unspeakably gorgeous classic from soul chanteuse Sade’s 1992 Love Deluxe album.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms
No-one does piano ballads quite like Nick Cave, and this heart-string-tugging classic from 1997’s The Boatman’s Call album could scarcely be more affecting.
The Smashing Pumpkins – Thirty-three
The final single lifted from the Pumpkins’ sprawling 28-song Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album is one of Billy Corgan’s most tender and understated compositions. Can you feel your headache start to fade away yet? Hang on in there, you’re going to be fine.
Muse – Unintended
Still one of the highlights of Muse’s live shows, this bitter-sweet ballad from the band’s Showbiz album works beautifully even without a stadium-full of glowing smart phones as a backdrop. As the track ends, you’ll start to notice that the thudding war inside your head echoes in the distance. A tip of the cap to whoever invented painkillers and handfuls of tepid water from the bathroom tap.
Mogwai – Blues Hour
A haunting, slo-core meditation upon love and loss from 2013’s Rave Tapes, with barely-there vocals from mainman Stuart Braithwaite. Maybe you should try some food once you’ve stopped dry heaving into the laundry basket.
Placebo – The Crawl
A low-key, pitch-black highpoint of the band’s Without You I’m Nothing album, recorded around the time Brian Molko was tiring of leaving his infamous “trail of blood and spunk” across the country. And by now, the thought of getting up and dressed doesn’t seem like such a Herculean task, does it? We believe in you, champ. Even if you’re wearing your T-shirt back-to-front.
Queens Of The Stone Age – The Vampyre Of Time And Memory
One of the slow-burning highlights of QOTSA’s masterful …Like Clockwork album. “I want God to come and take me home,” sings Josh Homme. We’ve all been there. It must’ve been that round of deep blue sambucas. Bloody Keith.
Screaming Trees – Look At You
The most beautiful song on Dust, one of the most under-rated rock albums of the 1990s. That Mark Lanegan fella could make a house brick shed tears. Now, some pizza sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? Who does sambuca think it is anyway, trying to ruin the first day of your year? Fuck you, you woozy 2-for-1 demons. Be gone!
Mazzy Star – Fade Into You
If this song doesn’t unscramble your hungover brain then you might actually be dead already. And anyway, you should think about getting ready before the end of this song. Baby steps, right? Your pizza will be here soon.
Biffy Clyro – The Rain
Originally a b-side on the band’s Black Chandelier single, The Rain will calm even the most enthusiastic of post-booze tremors. Wait, did you just utter the ‘I’m never drinking again’ mantra? Oh, you. That’s the pizza moped pulling up outside. You only brought this on yourself.
Faith No More – Midnight Cowboy
The beautiful, downbeat coda to Faith No More’s most schizophrenic album Angel Dust, originally composed by John Barry for the 1969 film of the same name. Right, you’ve got this hangover beat. The pizza tastes glorious. And what’s this? A text from your mates suggesting a few pints this evening? Oh, go on then. This playlist will be waiting for you tomorrow – just avoid those sambuccas.
