A recent heatwave has pushed my meandering daily walks into the evenings, when night paints my neighborhood in a dusky palette: fuchsia bougainvillea petals into shadowy purple, acid jacaranda flowers into dark gold, palm fronds into silver gray. I’ve been winding my way through my music library and feel like familiar songs are made new. While I’ve always favored straightforward uptempo funk, on recent re-listens I find my ear tuned in to its darker shades: yearning, dancing as an escape from loneliness, hedonism as an antidote to fear. This curated playlist features disco and dance tracks from the 70s to current day: From Labi Siffre’s “I Got The…” famously sampled by Wu-Tang Clan and Eminem, to cult hit “Aaj Shanibar” and Polo & Pan’s surreal “Feel Good”, this playlist tries to capture some of the genre’s bittersweet textures.