Cheers to SPRITZCORE 🍹

I made up a genre and poured 33⅓ songs into it.

Welcome inside The Wax Museum, broadcasting from Orlando, where the heat index will hit 110° today. Mamma mia!

Weather like this calls for bubbly drinks and bubbly music, so I went looking for songs that felt sun-drunk.

Before long, I had invented a new genre, and I will share it with you now, since this is the kind of thing you can do when you have your own newsletter and no editor around to stop you.

I’m calling it SPRITZCORE, the soundtrack to your Aperitivo Hour(s). It’s a little yacht, a little disco, a little French pop, a little Balearic, a little bit of Monica in my life, a little bit of Erica by my side… sorry.

Bookending the playlist is Nirosta Steel, who’s the talk of music discourse right now, and for good reason. Steven Hall, under the Nirosta Steel moniker, just dropped his four-decades-in-the-making MY SKYSCRAPER, an 83-minute uneven collection of works-forever-in-progress.

Nirosta Steel’s MY SKYSCRAPER | Stream on Bandcamp and snag the vinyl.

The MY SKYSCRAPER cuts on constant repeat for me are the Balearic disco of “BOSS TRIX (BENNY’S SONG)” and the space lounge-y “GO FOR THE NIGHT,” both of which are pure bottled SPRITZCORE, baby!

Enjoy those two and the rest of the 33⅓-song SPRITZCORE playlist, aka The Spritz List. SPRITZCORE is less of a genre than a feeling, so go add your own suggestions in the comments. This is a mix I’ll continually update, so give it a follow and spread the good word of SPRITZCORE.

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The SPRITZCORE Playlist

Stream: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

Tracklist:

1. Nirosta Steel - BOSS TRIX (BENNY’S SONG)

2. Chromatics - Cherry

3. Washed Out - Amor Fati

4. MUNYA - Un Deux Trois

5. Tennis - I’m Callin’

6. Paul Cherry - Our Night

7. Air - La femme d’argent

8. Todd Terje - Preben Goes to Acapulco

9. Discovery - Orange Shirt

10. Yuksek - Always On the Run (Peter & The Magician Remix)

11. Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers (The Magician Remix)

12. Panama - Always (Classixx Remix)

13. Disclosure and Al Green - Feel Like I Do

14. Daft Punk feat. Todd Edwards - Fragments of Time

15. Tanlines - Real Life

16. Little Dragon - The Pop Life

17. 14KT - Gee Whiz

18. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band - PIMP

19. Evans Pyramid - Never Gonna Leave You

20. Marvin Gaye - I Want You

21. Todd Rundgren - Hello It’s Me

22. Ambrosia - How Much I Feel

23. Joe Jackson - Steppin’ Out

24. Ra Ra Riot - Valerie

25. Crumb - Sleep Talk

26. Jamie xx - Obvs

27. Mr Twin Sister - Lady Daydream

28. The Durutti Column - Future Perfect

29. Télépopmusik - Breathe

30. Everything But The Girl - Nothing Left To Lose (Four Tet Remix)

31. The Juan Maclean - Running Back To You

32. Delorean - Stay Close

33. Zero 7 - In The Waiting Line

34. Nirosta Steel - GO FOR THE NIGHT

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This playlist is the latest entry in our ongoing, actually human-curated mixtape series. No algorithms or AI slop, just handpicked tracks from someone with too many records and not enough shelf space.

For more summer jams, check out the seasonally refreshed PATIO GROOVES (Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music)

And if you like your playlists with a side of paranoia, check out WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE CANYON (Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music) with an accompanying longread of the CIA’s covert activity in 1960’s Laurel Canyon.

Lastly, if you missed it, I did a midyear album review, highlighting 50 killer records in 50 sentences. It’s the fastest way to catch up on the latest and greatest.

2026 Best So Far: 50 Albums, 50 Sentences

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Before I sign off, I’m shipping up to Boston and Portland, Maine next week. The itinerary currently consists of lobster rolls, Narragansetts, and wandering into every record store I can find. If you’ve got recommendations for records, food, breweries, bookstores, or hidden gems, I’m all ears.

Until next time,
Jared