“My neighborhood sometimes feels like another dimension—or rather, many dimensions in one,” Youth Lagoon’s Trevor Powers tells us, describing his playlist he created for the site. Titled “A Brisk Walk Through Heaven and Hell,” the collection of tunes is a reflection of his new album, Heaven Is a Junkyard. There’s heaven in hell and vice versa, trash is treasure, and one man’s gold. The clichés are infinite, but Youth Lagoon’s sound is singular. On Heaven Is a Junkyard, lounge pop glows with a neon toxicity that gleams in its ruinous state. Powers takes great delight in that perfectly derelict line between ugly and pretty that so much of life exists in.
Powers is, as much as he is a songwriter, an observer and cataloger of things that interest him. It turns out, much of what interests him can be found in his immediate surroundings in his home of Boise, Idaho, where he writes his songs. “It’s got the whole cast of characters: 90-year-old war vets, meth addicts, piano teachers, retired carnies, loving mothers, toothless racists, hopeful farmers, holy rollers, dirty children, grieving widows, and gracious hosts,” explains Powers. In essence, Powers has the world in his backyard. “It is a world of angels and demons. These songs are all heaven in my book, but some are sprinkled with just the right amount of hell. Close your eyes and walk with me.”
Check out Heaven Is a Junkyard here, and find his playlist below.
Hamlet Gonashvili, “Tsintskaro”
I’m convinced if more people heard this track, world peace may be attainable. Hands down one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. Also, Hamlet died at the height of his fame by falling out of an apple tree. Superstar shit.
Suicide, “Wild in Blue”
I could listen to this track forever. Creates the kind of world I don’t want to leave. If I ever made a movie, this would be in the opening credits. Doesn’t really matter what the rest of the movie is after that.
Billie Holiday, “You’ve Changed”
There’s real magic in this whole record [Lady in Satin], but “You've Changed” has a quality that somehow feels both good and evil. Billie’s voice in the mid-to-late-’50s had morphed a lot from drugs, alcohol, and smoking, and that gives it all the more truth. People say she died in 1959, but I don’t buy it. She's immortal.
ICO, “Heal”
If you haven't heard the soundtrack for the video game ICO (Playstation 2, 2002), cancel everything and get the fuck home. Beautiful, transcendent, supernatural...a masterwork of the highest order. Whole album was a big inspiration for me when I wrote/recorded Capricorn in 2020. Impossible to choose a favorite from this thing so I closed my eyes and picked one.
Rezzett, “Hala”
An absolute gem. Textures here are just as good and vital as the music. Inseparable, really. Rezzett’s music says more through instrumentals than most artists can with words.
Yoshio Hayakawa, “Muyounosuke”
The effective minimalism here is unrivaled. Somehow it’s as human as it gets, while at the same time feeling like it’s getting beamed in from another dimension. Checks every box for me.
Swans, “A Little God in My Hands”
I want this song played at my funeral. If anyone is crying, this will snap them out of it, and they’ll all huddle together, swaying back and forth and wanting to destroy something.
Susan Christie, “I Love Onions”
There’s a very solid case somewhere that this is the greatest song of all time. I’ll leave it at that.
Wu-Tang Clan, “Protect Ya Neck”
Hard to imagine just how different art, culture, and life would look if it wasn’t for Wu-Tang. Quite possibly my favorite by them. The flow is godly—wholly unstoppable. They don’t even let you breathe. And you don’t want to.
Kate Bush, “And Dream of Sheep”
Instead of typing up any description or saying what I love about this song, I’m just gonna sit here and cry. Please let me be.
