The Plug’n Play: October (‘24)

November 1, 2024

Illustration by Malaaya Adams

You can listen to the full playlist on Apple Music, Spotify, or Tidal

Each month, my friend, Kevin and I select some of our favorite songs from the past month, compiling them into one playlist. While our tastes overlap in a lot of ways, they also diverge. Ultimately, these songs represent what has drawn us in, made us curious, feel something. So, if you’re looking for new music, this is the place for you!

Songs 1 - 17 were selected by Kevin. Songs 18 - 35 were selected by me, Stanley. We hope you find a song you like and check out the larger body of work, whether it’s an EP or an album. Below are a few words on some of my favorite songs from the month:

Tomorrow — Tyler, The Creator

I’ve long been a fan of Tyler, The Creator’s ear: his choice in keyboards, his taste in harmony and chord structure, the timbre of his drums. There is a sonic language that comes with Tyler, The Creator’s music that feels familiar to me. The Neptunes and Kanye West are somewhat obvious influences. But there’s also Musiq Soulchild, Erykah Badu, Vivian Green, Jamiroquai, and others generally associated with “Neo-Soul” that he’s talked about. As a child of the early 2000s (Tyler, The Creator’s a year older than me) who also counts this time period as a formative moment — this is sonic language that is recognizable to me.

On Tomorrow Tyler, The Creator reflects on aging: his mother’s hands growing wrinkled, gray hairs, his waistline expanding, lamenting the expectation that he should have children by this point in life. It’s the type of song you could have a hard time envisioning if you listened to his earlier music. Sonically, it’s a standout song on the album. The guitar is mellow and singular; drums are used sparingly, but effectively; Daniel Caesar’s sustained oo-vowel sounds as backing vocals are haunting; and there’s a guitar solo (it sounds like a synth, but its a guitar, I think?) around that 2:20 mark by Pedro Martins, the Brazilian guitarist, that releases the tension that had built throughout the song.

Never Satisfied — Leon Bridges

Listening to Leon Bridges’ new album, Leon, I was struck by the clarity, the vividness of his writing. Raised in Forth Worth, Texas — colloquially known as “Panther City” — Bridges’ new album is a reflection on the time and place that has shaped him: his first crush, getting Little Debby’s from the corner store, seeing poverty and addiction play out in real time on the streets where he and his friends played. Sonically, the album feels like the culmination of what a Black kid growing up in Panther City during the 90s and early 2000s might have listened to — a culmination of R&B, Gospel, Folk, Hip-Hop, Country, and so on.