Playlist: 2026.5 | Thunder in Our Hearts, Lightning in Our Veins
This is W Department, translated into sound
There is a moment, early in this playlist, that I keep returning to. Running Up That Hill ends — Kate Bush, 1985, that propulsive drum machine, that longing, a thunderous storm — and before the silence has fully settled, Charli xcx begins. Always Everywhere. Strings. A different kind of voltage entirely, but the same storm system moving through. Thunder in our hearts. Lightning in our veins. That is what it feels like when these songs meet.
After the storm, things open up. The air clears, but the electricity lingers. This is a celebration of that post-storm calm—one that hums.
The middle of this mix is where I feel most at home. Masta Ace, Erykah Badu, Mos Def — Ms. Fat Booty, a song I have loved since 1999, since the first time I heard that drum break walk through my speakers — The Pharcyde… these are records that don’t age, they deepen.
We settle into the groove — a stretch of the playlist that asks nothing of you except to be present in it. Handsome Boy Modeling School closes the center with I’ve Been Thinking, Dan The Automator and Prince Paul producing, Cat Power singing over something that sounds like the last hour of a long and beautiful afternoon.
And then we begin our descent — Pale Jay and Okonski’s By the Lake — unhurried, easy, the kind of song that makes you want to sit outside and not check anything. And then Mazzy Star, Fade Into You. If you know this song, you know there is nothing to say about it. If you don’t, let this be the moment.
May in Santa Fe means the cottonwoods have leafed out along the acequias, the light is warm and long, and the mountains still carry snow (what little we got this year) on their highest peaks. There is a particular feeling this month of weather held in tension — warmth and cold at the same time, sun and the threat of a storm. This playlist has that tension. It starts in a storm, moves through open heat, and lingers like dusk—unresolved, but complete.
It is W Department, translated into sound.
–Christopher Webster
Track List
- Running up that hill, Kate Bush
- Always Everywhere, Charli xcx
- Free, Sault
- Brothers on the Slide , Cymande
- Lion, Little Simz, Obongjayar
- Beautiful, Masta Ace
- Appletree- 2B3 Summer Vibe Mix, Erykah Badu
- Ms. Fat Booty, Mos Def
- Passin’ Me By, The Pharcyde
- Be Thankful For What You’ve Got, Orgone
- Yes Baby Yes, Mo’Horizons
- Baltisoul, Ks French
- I’ve Been Thinking, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Dan The Automator, Prince Paul, Cat Power
- By the Lake, Pale Jay, Okonski
- Fade Into You, Mazzy Star