Staff Selects Playlist: Ten Minutes

August 31, 2012



Every week, a different FADER editor compiles a playlist to highlight a new release and give you a guide to that artist’s web of influences and peers. These Staff Selects live in our Spotify app, alongside GEN Fs from our archives and playlists for each issue. This week, it’s Matthew Schnipper on 10-minute songs.

Frank Ocean's "Pyramids" really hits its stride around the five-and-a-half minute mark. Then it keeps going for another four-plus minutes. I like a luxurious jam, one that takes its time. In real life, 10 minutes is not a particularly long time, but in music it's kinda an eternity. I like songs that slow boil and take advantage of all that time. Ten minutes seems to be the sweet spot. Here are ten tracks I really love all hovering around 10 minutes, all more than nine and less than 11. From Johnny Dyani's faded jazz to Laraaji's New Age zither, from some zoned out gamelan to Sonny Sharrock shredding, all of these songs know how to use the space. Bonus track is definitely "After the War," the bummer/triumphant final part of Steve Reich's Holocaust piece "Different Trains," but it just seemed too harsh to push you towards nirvana.

Staff Selects Playlist: Ten Minutes

From The Collection:

Staff selects
Staff Selects Playlist: Ten Minutes