Favourites Playlist - Winter ’26
Well, thank f*ck that's over. I've never really been a winter person — but I did manage to have some pretty good tunes to go alongside the cold weather this year. I also managed to cheat and escape winter for a whole month sooooo I can’t complain too much.
This past season I had an interesting relationship with music. I guess I used it as an escape. I often talk about using music as my friend, to share moments and memories with — but truly, this season I feel I used it as an escape.
Let's get into the music I looooved this season-
I absolutely fell head over heels for Brian Eno's music. He's always been a bit of a favourite of mine, mainly from the music he's produced or been a part of, and I knew a few of his personal songs — but over the last few months I really dove deep into his discography, from his upbeat, cheerful music to his ambient, meditative songs. Not only did I dive into his music, but also into him as a person. He is truly an incredible human being — artist-wise, but also his ideologies, the way he sees the world, and just the person he is. Incredible.
I also read his book, What Art Does, which was a fun little read. So, Brian Eno is very clearly my artist of the season.
I've also been loving Sumo, an Argentinian band I've been listening to for about a year. They combine English and Spanish to create this reggae-rock sound unlike anything I've ever heard before. A lot of their songs were on repeat for me over the last season — some of the main ones were "La Rubia Tarada," which translates to "the dumb blonde" (I don't want to lean into the stereotype, but yes, sometimes I am her), and "Lo Quiero Ya," translating to "I want it now" — and yeah, there's a lot of things I want now, like right now, and don't want to have to wait for. I think that's why that song was on repeat so much for me.
Special mention to the Pearl Jam MTV Unplugged album — this was on repeat so many times. Pearl Jam is just amazing, one of my favourite bands of all time, and MTV Unplugged adds this element to the songs that you don't get in a studio-recorded version. Shout out to "Oceans" — I just bloody love that song.
Of course there's a bit of Fela Kuti in there — if you don't know who he is, God, what rock do you live under? He's an incredible Nigerian Afrobeat artist who pretty much paved the way for a lot of African artists. He had his breakout in the '70s and has just had the craziest, most interesting life. Talking Heads took inspiration from Fela Kuti's music in creating their album Remain in Light, which was actually co-produced by Brian Eno and David Byrne.
A big shout out to the king, Jimi Hendrix — this playlist has quite a few songs from Axis: Bold as Love, an extremely incredible psychedelic rock album that helped redefine how far psychedelic rock could go. Yes, it's a psychedelic rock album, but not like the psychedelic rock albums that came before it — it's got a beautiful equilibrium between heavy rock, psychedelia, and almost jazz-like harmonies. I had a huge poster of his album cover art in my room as a teenager, this album has a very special place in my heart.
A couple of special mentions: Mark Lanegan, who has this deep, almost growly voice unlike anything I've ever heard — for me, my favourite part of his music is his poetry in the lyric writing. And the Sublime Everything Under the Sun compilation, which has a bunch of really sick rarities and alternate versions of some of the classic songs, adding a fun, slightly different twist to some classics.
Top tracks of this playlist-
La Rubia Tarada — Sumo
Some of Them Are Old — Brian Eno
Little Miss Lover — Jimi Hendrix
Come to Me — Mark Lanegan and PJ Harvey
Nobody but You — Lou Reed and John Cale
Lady — Fela Kuti
Llegaste — Gustavo Cerati
Oceans (Live, MTV Unplugged) — Pearl Jam
Then She Did — Jane's Addiction
Happy — Mazzy Star
Hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do.
Much love, Kalea