Welcome to Herb Sundays.
"Everyone understands the importance of skirting the algorithm, but few know how to accomplish it. Herb Sundays is beautiful in both simplicity and execution: Ask people about the music that excites them. The playlists are snapshots of beautifully idiosyncratic tastes. What I love most are Sam’s essays, putting both his subjects and their selections in context. An indispensable resource." -
Herb Sundays is a weekly playlist series by different curators each go-round.
As a DJ for over 30 years and having run a record label for 25, I especially like the songs people go to when they need a real life-affirming dose, and I hope Herb Sundays is a way to find those songs.
The "Herb" in question is old school NYC slang for an uncool person, so I ask world-class music fans (artists, writers, musicians, etc.) to make their perfect Sunday mix for "when no one is looking” so it should be a great mix but maybe include some unexpected or candid moments that work in this context. No posing, no flexing, just the best stuff.
Check out the mixes and see for yourself...
It’s also a chance to give flowers, as it were, I try to write an obituary for the still living. Why wait?
: You interview “world-class music fans” for this newsletter. What does it mean to be a world-class music fan?
SV4: My criteria is that the folks I ask for playlists have dedicated a large portion of their life to the search for music in some capacity. They don’t have to work in music, but music informs their work and is a big part of their inner life or sense of self.
: “All the Herb mixes are fantastic. But I think the one I’ve gone back to the most is #17 from noted DJ, graphic designer, and label boss Trevor Jackson (a true WITI hero). As I said, my measure of how much I like one of these is how many paths it takes me down. I think I’ve now got albums in my library with nearly every song featured on this mix.”
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It’s just another email, Herb.
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People
Record label founder. Writer of Herb Sundays on Substack, featuring a new playlist from someone each week.