Songs to wake up
to are great, but the sounds of the after hours need love too. So I came up
with a playlist that stays up late, hangs out with the devil, gets weird, and
then loses its mind. 

1.    
“The
Distance” – Cake

This
song is perfect for long nights. Got a paper you need done by tomorrow and you
haven’t really started it? Put this on repeat and you’ll have the motivation
you need to “go the distance” and get it done (Yes, I’m speaking from personal
experience). Or play it when you get home after a night out. Either way, the
rolling bass and sweet horns are a perfect fit for after hours listening.

2.    
“Crying
Lightning” – Arctic Monkeys

This
song’s distorted bass line continues the trend of songs with a heavy backbone.
But it’s getting later, so this song is a bit darker. Lead singer Alex Turner
details his travails with a particularly difficult and nasty female friend, whose
“past times consisted of the strange and twisted and deranged.” This vixen also
likes to “aggravate the ice cream man on rainy afternoons,” and anyone who does
that has to be pure evil. Those lyrics, along with the spiraling guitar and
dark bass, make for a sinister scene. 

3.    
“Ain’t
No Rest For the Wicked” – Cage the Elephant

Now
that the evil scene has been set, here’s a song about people’s inclination to
the wrong and immoral. This song was a hit last year, and it earned the playing
time it received on the radio. Its provocative subjects of prostitution, armed
robbery, and corrupt priests, coupled with its gritty blues sound make for a
wicked combination. 

4.    
“The
Handshake” – MGMT

The
elegiac organs and satanic references of this song take you deeper into the
evils of the night. The verse fools you at first with a standard chord
progression and approachable melody. Then the singer gets to the line “The
handshake is on the tip of my tongue/tastes like dirt but it looks like fun,”
and you know the song is up to no good. The stomping outro in which “We got the
handshake under our tongue” is repeatedly chanted evokes dark images of shady
figures.

5.    
“Golden
and Green” – The Builders and the Butchers

This
song has a medieval feel, and an evil subject. The raging mandolin and nasaly
vocals support the eerie topic of death and decay. I found this band last year
at Lollapalooza, and I’d describe them as an eviler, angrier, louder version of
Mumford and Sons.

6.    
“Oscar
Wilde” – Company of Thieves

This
song elegantly makes use of the famous Oscar Wilde quote: “We are all our own devil/And
we make this world our hell.” Lead singer Genevieve Schatz’s beautiful voice
and the sweeping guitar distract you from the song’s heavy subject. This is an
amazing song, both lyrically and instrumentally, and it verbalizes the mischief
of the previous songs.

7.    
“Desert
Song” – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

This
band is based on a book started by lead singer Alex Ebert about a messianic
figure named Edward Sharpe. The band is made up of ten members and tours around
in a big white bus. But this song tells us that Edward is the devil’s son, and
subsequently describes Edward’s journey into the desert to kill his father.
Pretty heavy stuff for a bunch of hippies.

8.    
“No
Quarter” – Led Zeppelin

As
a huge Zeppelin fan, I can honestly say that this is the weirdest of them all.
Thus this is where the playlist gets weird, kinda like when you start getting
loopy when you’ve been up way too late. This song features a barren organ line,
creepy underwater vocals, and a searing distorted guitar riff that startles you
from the lull the rest of the song puts you in. And its topic is about
mysterious figures that “choose the path where no one goes” and walk “side by
side with death.” Mr. Plant and crew master the art of evil song writing on
this one.

9.    
“Where
is My Mind?” – The Pixies

At
this point, all the wickedness and mischief that can be found in the dark
corners of the night (or just the fact that it’s 5 AM and you’re still up) has
made you lose your mind. This is a great song about the lapses in sanity that everybody
experiences at some point or another.

10. “Dramamine” – Modest Mouse

It’s
finally time to go to sleep, and this song will lull you into a pleasant
slumber, albeit the sad topic: band leader Isaac Brock’s use of Dramamine.
Regardless, the mesmerizing bass line that permeates the song is perfect for
zoning out and drifting off the sleep.