The Graveyard Shift

  • Home
  • The Graveyard Shift

The Graveyard Shift http://www.mixcloud.com/kevin-sanchez

12/08/2026
13/07/2026

“I didn’t really identify with the music of my own generation,” Tom Waits once said, then pausing for a moment and adding: “But I was very curious about the music of others.” It is in that sentiment we go looking inside the curiosity of one of contemporary music’s greatest minds. 🙌🎶

Usually, a list of favourite albums is riddled with personal choices that don’t necessarily resonate far and wide. However, the favourite records of Tom Waits is a collection so perfectly balanced, so neatly constructed, and so rich with the sonic texture that made Waits himself a star. As Waits once said: “My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane”.

Read more below ⬇️

09/05/2026

Not everyone experiences music the same way. For roughly half the population, a powerful chord, a vocal break, or a sudden key change can trigger something physical — goosebumps, shivers, a wave of sensation across the skin. This phenomenon has a name: frisson.

Research from the University of Southern California found that people who experience frisson have measurably different brain structures from those who do not. Specifically, they show greater connectivity between the auditory cortex and the areas responsible for emotional processing — meaning music and emotion are more deeply linked in their brains. When a piece of music hits an unexpected emotional peak, the brain releases dopamine through both the anticipation and the arrival of that moment — producing not just a felt emotion but a full physiological response.

Studies also show that people who regularly experience frisson tend to score higher on the personality trait of openness to experience — a trait associated with curiosity, creativity, and emotional depth. Musical training further increases sensitivity, as trained listeners are more attuned to the structural cues — crescendos, harmonic tension, vocal dynamics — that most reliably trigger the response.

The experience itself involves the autonomic nervous system — the same system behind the fight-or-flight response. A sudden emotional resolution in music can register like a mild version of a surprising or deeply meaningful event, and the body responds before the conscious mind has fully caught up.

If music regularly moves you physically, that is not just preference. It is neuroscience.

Images are generated by AI and for demonstration purposes only.

Source: Wassiliwizky, E., et al. (2017). The emotional power of poetry: Neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(8), 1229–1240. / Salimpoor, V. N., et al. (2011). Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music. Nature Neuroscience, 14(2), 257–262.

28/04/2026

🆕🎧 THE STROKES grab a 3rd week at #1. QUIET LIGHT has the highest debut.LUCY DACUS, BECK, MALCOLM TODD, MODEST MOUSE, SMERZ, and GIA MARGARET also debut in the top 10. QUIET LIGHT and SWAPMEET chart for the first time.

YouTube Playlist: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5d0KUsqqVoQ&list=PLxlSBzMcrtkMCVtuXEIz5BXpPfycTwsS5
Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3oek0V0Gmx1QO4ZTNERl3U?si=81654b4f85664bf5
Tidal Playlist: https://tidal.com/playlist/4792d464-651b-48cd-bd4e-1bdfa6f8fa77

Methodology: The chart is compiled from dozens of blogs and playlists focusing on new alternative and indie track releases, plus YouTube and Spotify streams. Sources are weighted based on historical track record of reporting new alt/indie releases (and not off-genre tracks). Tracks are scored based on # of sources, source reputation, r/indieheads [FRESH] votes, and average daily YouTube and Spotify streams.

Off ( # weeks on) (peak position)
* Arctic Monkeys - Opening Night (13) (1)
* American Football, Brendan Yates - No Feeling (2) (7)
* Grian Chatten, Antony Genn, Martin Slattery, The Immortal Man - Puppet (6) (8)
* Aldous Harding - Venus in the Zinnia (2) (8)
* Broken Social Scene - The Call (1) (9)
* Arlo Parks - Get Go (6) (10)
* Iceage - Ember (2) (13)
* Widowspeak - No Driver (1) (17)
* The Beths - Til My Heart Stops (1) (21)
* My New Band Believe - Love Story (2) (27)
* Gregory Alan Isakov, Sylvan Esso - Fade Into You (1) (32)
* Ea Othilde - Florence (1) (34)
* Oxis - Grey Mullet (1) (35)
* Nation of Language - Tougher Than the Rest (1) (36)
* SPELLLING, Jean Dawson - Ammunition (1) (37)


* 1 year ago: HAIM - Down to be wrong
* 2 years ago: Fontaines D.C. - Starburster
* 3 years ago: The National Ft. Taylor Swift - The Alcott
* 4 years ago: Florence + The Machine - Free
* 5 years ago: CHVRCHES - He Said, She Said
* 6 years ago: The 1975 - If You're Too Shy
* 7 years ago: Beck - Saw Lightning
* 8 years ago: Courtney Barnett - City Looks Pretty
* 9 years ago: Phoenix - J-Boy
* 10 years ago: KONGOS - Take It From Me

Fresh Blood
Top artists this week who haven't charted previously (including those beyond the top 40)
1. Quiet Light *
2. Swapmeet *
3. Carla dal Forno
4. Death Lens
5. Ruby Fields
6. Show Me the Body
7. Man/Woman/Chainsaw
8. Sophia Stel
9. Infinity Song
10. Baileyrp
* = graduated to the chart this week

Hatching Tracks
Most streamed tracks by artists with

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Graveyard Shift posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Share