Exclusive: Stream Astral Swans’ New Curated Spotify Playlist

By: Staff –

To celebrate the release of Astral Swans’ new single “Shine the Light Inside”, the experimental bedroom pop artist curated a brand new Spotify playlist. 

“I recorded my most recent batch of songs while doing a residency in a hotel in Calgary,” said the artist. “I recorded in isolation with a very minimalist setup. A lot of the music drew on electronic influences, diy, and lo-fi experimentation. This playlist features artists that inspire me along those listening lines. There are varying degrees of experimentation & catchiness. When possible I tried to feature music that has some tie to my hometown of Calgary, Canada which is seated on the traditional indigenous territories that comprise Treaty 7.”

Ursula Bogner – ‘Begleitung Fur Tuba’

Ursula Bogner was a pharmacist, a mom, and an in private electronic music composer. Bogner’s work was mostly recorded between 1969-1988 but didn’t receive widespread release until 2008. It’s beautiful, weird stuff, and compositionally years ahead of its time.

Broadcast – ‘Before We Begin’

I am a massive Broadcast fan, and really could have picked any song from their collection. This is from the 2003 album HaHa. RIP Trish Keenan.

Califone – ‘Funeral Singers’

Tim Rutelli writes incredible songs. Califone records always feel homemade to me. I love the found sounds, the minimalist playing, and the mesmerizing lyrics. This is from the 2009 record, All My Friends Are Funeral Singers.

Sarah Davachi & Sean McCann – ‘Or Something’

Sarah Davachi is a Canadian composer and experimental musician of electroacoustic and minimalist music. She is probably one of the most interesting, and talented musicians to ever come out of my Hometown of Calgary (Mohkintsis). This short composition with Sean McCann is a moody little piece, of real beauty.

CAN – ‘Father Cannot Yell’

Malcolm Mooney, the original singer of CAN, lives down the street from me. We drink coffee together, and I get to listen to his trippy stories about the very creative and inspiring life he has lived. This summer I had the pleasure of performing with him at a residency that I was doing, as well as collaborating at another residency that he was doing in which a small group of us improvised music, while Malcolm Action painted on a giant scroll. I love this work on the album Monster Movie. This is one of my favourites from that record.

SMOG – ‘Keep Some Steady Friends Around’

I love Bill Callahan (especially from his Smog period). I love the DIY aesthetic of his early work. This track is from Rain on Lens which is a fairly upbeat record with cool drones, and vibe for days.

Child Actress – ‘Always Moving’

Child Actress is Rena Kozak. She is a longtime friend, and collaborator who has creative superpowers. Rena and I met in Calgary, and played in bands together before she moved to Montreal a few years back. Rena writes, records, and produces her own records when she’s not out on the road doing tour management for bands like The Strokes. This song is sublime goths goodness.

Shonen Knife – ‘A Map Master’

Catchy sounds from the veteran Osaka vets. This song is from 2002’s Heavy Songs.

Chad VanGaalen – ‘Mini TV’s’

Chad VanGaalen set the bar pretty high for us Calgary folks when he put out his first record Infiniheart in 2003. Since then he’s been inching it even further up. I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with Chad through the years including an upcoming split 10” to be released on Oct 13. I really wanted to put the Side A single ‘Earth People’ here, but you’ll have to wait till Oct 13.

Astral Swans – ‘Shine the Light Inside’ (feat Jairus Sharif)

I’m putting my latest single here cuz I’m a hustler. It’s the B-side from the aforementioned split with Chad Vangaalen. I recorded this during my hotel residency. What make this song is the noise sax solo from the very gifted Jairus Sharif who’s 2022 record Water and Tools was possibly the best Canadian LP of the year.

The Glands – ‘When I Laugh’

The Glands were such a great band! Like the Kinks meet The Clean or something fine like that. I love this song

Chris Reimer – ‘Mustard Gas’

Chris Reimer was a guitarist in the noise pop group ‘Women’. He was an adventurous musician & a really great human. Sadly he passed at the far too young age of 26. Fortunately however, his legacy lives on with both his great work on the Women Records, as well as an incredibly impressive posthumous collection of ambient & experimental guitar recordings called Hello People.