Steve Lacy, Beck, and More: This Week’s Pitchfork Selects Playlist

The staff of Pitchfork listens to a lot of new music. A lot of it. On any given day our writers, editors, and contributors go through an imposing number of new releases, giving recommendations to each other and discovering new favorites along the way. Each Monday, with our Pitchfork Selects playlist, we’re sharing what our writers are playing obsessively and highlighting some of the Pitchfork staff’s favorite new music. The playlist is a grab-bag of tracks: Its only guiding principle is that these are the songs you’d gladly send to a friend.
This week’s Pitchfork Selects playlist features Steve Lacy, Beck, Tinashe, and more. Listen below and follow our playlists on Apple Music and Spotify. (Pitchfork earns a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.)
Tinashe: “Crash Out” —Alex Suskind
Molly Santana and Chy Cartier: “Walk” —Olivier Lafontant
Steve Lacy: “Pure Colour” [ft. Erykah Badu] —AS
Beck: “In the Night” —Sam Sodomsky
Meg Lui: “Elvis Queen” —AS
Swapmeet: “Bonny” —Nina Corcoran
Homework: “Made” —NC
Sachi Keiko, Bridge Percussion: “City Dreams” —Lily Goldberg

Facts Only

* Pitchfork staff listen to new music regularly.
* Writers, editors, and contributors discover and share music.
* A Monday playlist, Pitchfork Selects, is shared.
* The playlist shares tracks favored by the Pitchfork staff.
* Featured artists include Steve Lacy, Beck, Tinashe, Molly Santana, Chy Cartier, Meg Lui, Swapmeet, Homework, Sachi Keiko, and Bridge Percussion.
* Specific track and artist pairings are listed with attributed contributors for this week's selections.

Executive Summary

The Pitchfork staff regularly engage with a large volume of new music releases, facilitating recommendations among themselves and discovery of new favorites. Each Monday, the publication features a "Pitchfork Selects" playlist highlighting tracks favored by the writers and editors. This week’s playlist includes songs by artists such as Steve Lacy, Beck, Tinashe, Molly Santana, Chy Cartier, Meg Lui, Swapmeet, Homework, Sachi Keiko, and Bridge Percussion. The material featured on the playlist is intended for sharing with friends, and the publication earns commission from affiliate links on its site via Apple Music and Spotify.

Full Take

The mechanism described establishes a system where curation by an internal group—the staff—translates external consumption (new music) into internal cultural signaling (playlists). This suggests a dynamic where peer validation within a recognized critical sphere dictates taste, which is then broadcast to a wider audience through affiliate monetization. The reliance on an "obsessive" selection implies an internal, intense vetting process that seeks to establish an authoritative taste among the contributors. The structure moves from private critical engagement to public, monetized recommendation. The implications center on how niche cultural curation intersects with platform economies; the act of selecting music for friends becomes both a social bonding ritual and a micro-economic opportunity managed by a specific institutional voice. What assumptions underpin the necessity of this constant internal sharing for content vitality? How does the monetization layer affect the perceived authenticity of the "grab-bag" nature of the selections?