Spotify playlists
The best Spotify playlists worth following
Twelve playlists for new releases, DJ favourites and label selections, from KEXP and Four Tet to Toolroom and UKF.
Follow the people choosing the music.
A playlist can introduce you to a station’s latest rotation or the records a DJ takes to a club. Following a curator gives you a reason to return: you get to know their taste and hear what they choose next.
This list favours playlists with a person, station, publication or label behind them. Some update every week. Others are long, unruly archives that become more useful as they grow. The curator’s name gives you somewhere to look for more music, whether that is a radio schedule, a review or another DJ set.
How these playlists were chosen.
The curators offer different ways to discover music: current releases from broadcasters and publications, selections by artists, and archives to explore at your own pace. Choose by the music and the person selecting it.
The order is practical rather than numerical. Start with the first section if you want a steady feed of new releases across genres. Go to the second if you want electronic and dance music with sharper scene boundaries. If none of these works, how to find new music covers radio, labels, DJ sets, databases and other routes that do not begin inside Spotify.
Best Spotify playlists for finding new music.
KEXP
New This Week
KEXP is a Seattle listener-supported station with decades of practice turning a broadcast schedule into a point of view. New This Week is the useful compressed version: recent records crossing indie rock, soul, hip-hop, electronic music and whatever else has entered the station's rotation. Use it for a broad selection of new releases from the station.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗Pitchfork
Pitchfork's Best New Music
This is a playlist with a strict relationship to a publication. Tracks arrive because Pitchfork has placed the corresponding release inside its Best New Music coverage, so the selection is narrower than a generic new-release feed and easier to interrogate. You may disagree with the reviews, but you know why a record is there.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗Pigeons & Planes
Pigeons & Planes
Pigeons & Planes built its reputation on catching artists between a first upload and a wider audience. Its playlist still works best in that middle distance. Hip-hop and alternative pop provide the centre, but the useful entries are often the ones that do not sit cleanly inside either category.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗GemsOnVHS
GemsOnVHS Monthly Playlist
GemsOnVHS is known for filming country, folk and roots musicians in plain rooms, porches and fields for its video sessions. The monthly playlist brings those country, folk and roots selections to Spotify. It is the outlier here, and a good reset after several hours of electronic music or chart-facing new releases.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗Best electronic and dance Spotify playlists.
thecatrave
Rare Electronic Music
I curate Rare Electronic Music. Rare Electronic Music is the broadest version of thecatrave's club taste: breaks, techno, leftfield house, hard turns and records heard at raves that do not fit one clean genre shelf. The opening run currently moves from FUCK!LACRÈME to Skin On Skin and ATRIP. These are records from my own listening and nights out.
Curated by thecatraveOpen full playlist on Spotify ↗thecatrave
Emotional Electronic Music
My second playlist concentrates on melodic electronic music with a club rhythm. Patrick Holland, Public Memory and a KETTAMA mix lead the current version; later entries move through liquid drum and bass, Skream, dBridge and softer club records without turning into background music.
Curated by thecatraveOpen full playlist on Spotify ↗Bicep
Feel My Bicep
Bicep began Feel My Bicep as a music blog before the duo's own records filled festival stages. The playlist preserves that collector's instinct. House and techno are the centre of gravity, but old records, new releases and odd rhythmic connections are allowed to sit together. It is more useful as a window into what the duo are carrying than as a summary of Bicep's own sound.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗Four Tet
Four Tet's symbol-titled playlist
The title is a thicket of planets, circles and symbols, so searching by Four Tet's profile is easier than typing it. The playlist itself is even less interested in neat labelling. It is a very long public notebook spanning club music, jazz, folk, rap, pop and records that make sense only because Kieran Hebden placed them next to something else. Do not try to finish it. Drop into a different stretch each time.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗Spotify
Altar
Altar is selected by Spotify’s editorial team. It is one of the platform's clearer electronic propositions: contemporary club music that sits outside the mainstage EDM lane, with alternative pop and experimental production allowed into the room. Use it to follow current releases.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗Toolroom Records
Toolroom Tech House
Toolroom's playlist does exactly what a label-led list should do. It stays close to the records the label understands: functional house, rolling basslines and tracks designed for a busy room. Check it for new releases in that style.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗Danny L Harle
Danny L Harle's HUGE PLAYLIST
Danny L Harle's selection connects maximal pop writing to trance, hardcore, happy-hardcore velocity and internet-era mutations of all three. It is the fastest and most deliberately excessive playlist in this article. The sequencing can be ridiculous, but it is ridiculous with a producer's ear for chords, hooks and acceleration.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗UKF
UKF Drum & Bass
UKF has documented drum and bass online since 2009, long enough for its playlist to function as both a release feed and a map of the scene's accessible centre. It leans toward current, polished production rather than the full historical range. Pair it with the drum and bass guide when you want the records, labels and breaks behind that present-day surface.
Open full playlist on Spotify ↗Which Spotify playlist should you choose?
Choose a curator whose selection suits what you want to hear. A station playlist is useful when you want a changing release feed. A publication list lets you connect songs to reviews. An artist playlist exposes influences and records carried into DJ sets. A label playlist concentrates on its releases and related artists.
Save one list that updates often and one long archive that does not need to. The first keeps you current; the second lets you enter somewhere other than the top. If you want an hour with an actual sequence rather than a list on shuffle, go to live DJ sets or let the Selector choose a set at random.
| Playlist | Curator | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| New This Week ↗ | KEXP | A broad current release feed |
| Pitchfork's Best New Music ↗ | Pitchfork | Music tied to published reviews |
| Pigeons & Planes ↗ | Pigeons & Planes | Emerging hip-hop and alternative pop |
| GemsOnVHS Monthly ↗ | GemsOnVHS | Country, folk and roots discoveries |
| Rare Electronic Music ↗ | thecatrave | Breaks, techno and leftfield club music |
| Emotional Electronic Music ↗ | thecatrave | Melodic club music with weight |
| Feel My Bicep ↗ | Bicep | A working dance-music record bag |
| Four Tet's playlist ↗ | Four Tet | A deep, genre-resistant archive |
| Altar ↗ | Spotify | Current alternative electronic music |
| Toolroom Tech House ↗ | Toolroom Records | Focused weekly tech house |
| Danny L Harle's HUGE PLAYLIST ↗ | Danny L Harle | Trance, hardcore and maximal pop |
| UKF Drum & Bass ↗ | UKF | Current accessible drum and bass |
For scene context, continue with the guides to bass music, UK garage, dubstep and drum and bass.
Spotify playlist FAQ.
What are some good playlists on Spotify right now?
Good playlists on Spotify have a clear job. For broad new music, start with KEXP New This Week, Pitchfork's Best New Music or Pigeons & Planes. For electronic music, try Feel My Bicep, Four Tet's long symbol-titled playlist, Altar, Toolroom Tech House, UKF Drum & Bass, or the two thecatrave playlists on this page.
What is the best playlist on Spotify for finding new music?
KEXP New This Week is the strongest general starting point because it turns the current rotation of an independent radio station into a playable list. Pitchfork is better if you want reviews attached to the choices. Pigeons & Planes is stronger for emerging hip-hop and alternative pop.
What are the top playlists on Spotify for electronic music?
Rare Electronic Music and Emotional Electronic Music reflect thecatrave's own listening, Feel My Bicep and Four Tet provide artist-led routes, and Altar, Toolroom Tech House and UKF Drum & Bass cover more defined scenes. Danny L Harle's HUGE PLAYLIST is the maximal, genre-colliding option.
Are popular Spotify playlists always the best ones?
No. Follower count can show reach, but it cannot tell you whether the sequence has a point of view or fits what you want to hear. Independent playlists often reveal a more specific taste, while Spotify editorial lists usually update reliably and cover a scene at greater scale.
Where can I find Spotify playlist recommendations with a human point of view?
Start with radio stations, music publications, artists and labels whose taste you already trust, then follow the curator rather than a generic mood term. The Spotify playlist recommendations on this page were selected for an identifiable curator, a clear musical lane and either active updates or durable archival value.
Sources.
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