ExComm’s 420 Playlist
Happy 420 KCSB Family, whether you’re stoned or not, enjoy this very special playlist for this important national holiday!!!
★ PARKER’S RECS ★
“Smoke A Bowl” – Sebadoh
Off kilter vocals paired with a gentle rhythmic swing embody the feeling of a high creeping in and taking hold.
“Come Down Easy (Demo)” – Spacemen 3
Jason Pierce’s vocals soar and take this song into the stratosphere. The demo for this track stands out to me more than any studio release. With vibrant guitars and a distorted droning undercurrent, it’s easy to become enveloped in the atmosphere Spacemen 3 creates. “Nineteen eighty-seven / All I want to do is get stoned…”
“Smoke you right out of here” – David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights
Considerably chill, with strange spacey noodlings running amok in the background. The body may be sedated but the brain bounces around the skull with ideas. Kilgour is formerly of the classic New Zealand group The Clean!
“Exhaust Sniffa” – Gee Tee
Something to keep in mind if your supply runs low.
“Hazy” – Built To Spill
Edges are softened and the world slows down for a little while. Doug Martsch’s vocals sound much rougher on this track than on any other song from them I’ve heard. Smoker’s cough maybe? “High and wondering why so loud and bright / I ain’t got no idea what the hell is going on”
★ AVERY K.’S RECS ★
“Princess” – Feng
Yeah she act like a princess, but she look like a Barbie, but she smoke like a Marley. Feng is so awesome and I know he’s becoming less and less niche but honestly I’m all good with him becoming mainstream hyper pop, always a fire listen especially when blazed.
Dog Daze – Cruza
Definitely more chill than Feng, Cruza are an Orlando based group whose music is notoriously vibey and perfect for times like these.
Another High – Snow Strippers
So fireeeeeeee. Came to UCSB last year, Snow Strippers embody a DIY spirit with an EDM and hyper pop flare… a common theme and genre I’ve been gravitating towards recently. Gives some versatility to the playlist if you’re seeking more of a hype high vibe.
★ LILY’S RECS ★
“Greenthumb” – Bongzilla
All of my recs for this playlist are pretty similar: heavy, droney, greened-out stoner doom metal. Bongzilla is from Wisconsin, formed in 1995 and are very forward about their “green” themes. Another one of their albums, “Amerijuanican,” describes them pretty well.
“Names of the Devil” – Belzebong
From Poland! These guys get a little more occult with it, leaning more into doomy and darker themes rather than light-hearted cannabis references.
“Weed Monkey” – Weedeater
LOVE these guys. From North Carolina, they blend garagey elements of stoner/acid rock with doom metal. Vocals are insane. They do a killer cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Back My Bullets,” as well.
“Fifty Weapons” – Dope Smoker
Groovy and repetitive in a meditative, trance-like way, Dope Smoker (from Wales) is perfect for spacing out (or trippin’ if that’s your vibe).
“Grown Tired” – High n’ Heavy
Hard acid/psych rock with a doomy quality, High n’ Heavy lives up to their name with gargantuan riffs and powerful vocals.
★ EL’S RECS ★
“Grass” – The Pretty Things
The Pretty Things is an English band of the 60s and 70s who perfectly embody that classic rock psychedelic sound. This track is slow and mellow, with incredible guitar solos and an overall hypnotizing sound that leaves you in a trance. The lyrics contribute to the spacey feel and everything comes together perfectly (including the length of the song– 4 minutes and 20 seconds). Fun fact: their album S.F. Sorrow was one of the first rock operas ever created!
“Twilight Mushrooms” – Parsley Sound
Parsley Sound is an indie rock band, and this song includes folk and electronic influences (maybe even a little bit of twee) that add to the atmosphere of the song. Overall this track has a very relaxed and laid-back sound to it, with a slow build up that guides you the whole way. Despite having a pretty modern sound, this album came out in 2003!
“Light Up Or Leave Me Alone” – Traffic
What can I say, I am a sucker for classic rock! The psychedelic grooviness of this song is perfect for this occasion, with subtle lyrics and long instrumental sections that will transport you to a different time. Traffic is known for incorporating jazz and improvisation within their songs, and this one has a sort of jazz-improv feel. This song feels like the sun on my face, and is sure to contribute good vibes for your next sesh.
“Ma Porte De Shed” – Plume Latraverse
Despite having drinking references (and being in French), I think this song is perfect for this unique holiday. This track starts out slow and gets extremely funky especially on the vocals side of it, with a grittiness and expressiveness that is super unique. The bass is super clear in this song too, which contributes a distinctive grooviness I love. Interestingly, Plume Latraverse is only one guy (also known as Michel Latraverse) and is really influential within the Quebecois rock scene!
★ Ted’s RECS ★
“Up In Smoke 2018” – Cheech & Chong
I have an older brother, so I was exposed to this duo’s hilarious second LP, Big Bambu, at a very young age (it was the one with the rolling paper attached to the LP jacket, but Jeff’s didn’t have that, and he definitely didn’t use it). I realized years later just how pioneering they have been. Champions of decriminalization and legalization for decades, risk takers (Tommy Chong did time for selling glass bongs, not drugs!), talented musicians (Tommy got his start with Motown act Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers), and well-rounded human beings (Cheech Marin founded a Museum of Chicano Art & Culture in Riverside, and their racial identities I think have also impacted a lot of fans positively all these years). Their seven studio LPs are chockablock not just with skits, but also a lot of songs. Cheech hit the charts with “Born in East L.A.” in the 1980s, but listening to this reprise of the theme song to their first feature film (40 years later), it’s hard not to get a little wistful.
“Roll Me Up” – Willie Nelson
Tommy Chong is 87, and his last film with Cheech, a documentary, was released last year. C&W music legend Willie Nelson is 92, and he’s still touring with his Family band and legendary friends. “Roll Me Up (and Smoke Me When I Die),” was released in 2012 on 4/20 (when he was 78), and Willie recorded it with Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson, and Jamey Johnson. True to his Outlaw Country roots, Willie has been a gentle patriarch of “alternative country” music, but so much more. He’s also been an outspoken champion of the marijuana legalization nonprofit NORML (which used to have a PSA with Willie’s voice on KCSB), but this song really lays it all out there. It’s a good-natured reflection on his decades in music, and of life: “I’ve been here long enough / So sing and tell more jokes and dance and stuff / Just keep the music playing, that will be a good goodbye / Roll me up and smoke me when I die.”
“High with Me” – Free Weed
Free Weed’s solo-synth track “Hight with Me” (sic) from the 2015 lo-fi release Introducing (Plastic Response Records) is something of a theme song to the oddball TV anthology High Maintenance, by Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, with the latter playing The Guy, an enigmatic, bearded, bike-riding pot dealer whose encounters with customers depict NYC in all of its colorful, dizzying diversity. I picked this work too, in part, because it brings us full circle from the highly-criminalized, black market marijuana era, as pioneered onscreen by Cheech & Chong. It’s a media depiction of a “medicinal” lifestyle that’s emerged rather fully from that duo’s hippie counterculture. High Maintenance is quite funny, too, more surreal dramedy than sketch comedy, & well worth your attention. Free Weed is Eric Gage of Portland psych-band White Fang. This song has its own stripped-down groove & “maintains” the indie webisode roots of that now-classic series, which had 6 seasons on Vimeo & 4 on HBO.
★ SARAH B’S RECS ★
Stoner song from a somewhat stoner-rock band that sounds like, and most likely was, recorded while stoned. I love the simple acoustic guitar and wavering vocals that give this track a pure and childlike nature, emphasized by the laughter that can be heard towards the end. Ween is a wildly talented and creative band whose silly nature does not overpower their genius, but does make for good stoned listening.
“Bong Song” – Butthole Surfers
This song is a trip. Kicks off with bong gurgle noises, then leads into some heavy distorted rock, and then an organ appears; it’s a fever dream. This might be a little overstimulating to listen to while stoned but it is an interesting and fun track about weed so I wanted to include it.
“Throne of Gold” – Steel Pulse
I found this song on an old cassette mixtape that my mom’s “stoner” college boyfriend made her. She was very into the UK ska scene at the time (80’s), and apparently smoking weed, so Britain based reggae band Steel Pulse was a favorite of hers. This track is smooth, groovy, relaxed, and would definitely put you in the right mood for a chill 4/20.
“Up From the Desert” – Jerry Garcia & Howard Wales
Growing up in the bay and visiting Haight Street, the Grateful Dead and weed became somewhat synonymous. This track is from Jerry’s collaboration album with keyboardist Howard Wales “Hooteroll?+2” which leans the Dead’s psych-rock vibe into a more jazz-like sound which I absolutely love. This track, and this whole album, are instrumental which I feel creates a perfect soundtrack for lounging around on 4/20.
The 4/20 holiday originated in the Bay Area so it felt necessary to represent my home and add a track from Bay Area legend Mac Dre. Mac Dre has many songs about smoking weed so it was hard to pick just one but this is one of my favorites. This track is catchy, melodic, and quintessentially west-coast, like all Mac Dre tracks. It’s about crossing Mac Dre’s two favorite things, weed and Hennessey, and would be a great anthem for any 4/20 parties still going on despite it falling on a Monday this year :/