FAITH PLATES: 15 Songs on Constant Rotation
There is something deeply personal about the way people talk about the songs that stay with them. Not just the records they admire, but the ones that become attached to memory, routine, seasons, friendships, or entire stretches of life. We invited Berlin-based artist FAITH PLATES in to guide us through the fifteen tracks that she has on constant rotation.
1. “Soon the New Day” - Talib Kweli (feat. Norah Jones) (2007)
I have loved this song since I was a kid. I think it must have been my first exposure to hip hop; my mom bought the Norah Jones feature compilation album and played it in the car. I would like to take this moment to strongly recommend that whole album - there is no other collection of songs that is a) include Willie Nelson, Talib Kweli, Outkast, Q-Tip, and Dolly Parton and b) is as good as this. Norah Jones has The Best Voice Ever and Talib Kweli is a force of nature. I have regularly been coming back to this record for literally fifteen years.
2. “If someone’s gonna love you” - Operelly (2025)
This one has been in my regular rotation since I found it last summer. The vocal layers and (sort of) non-committal confessional words + vaguely honkytonk piano make me feel like I’m sitting on the balcony in the summertime. The minor key B part gets me every time. Very warm and very beautiful.
3. “Amber Waves” - Ethel Cain (2025)
I have been big into Ethel Cain for a few years. This is one of the more melodic songs off of her mainly ambient 2025 album Handwriting Practice No.1, and she makes eleven minutes feel like four to me. It feels very brave to make a song so sure of itself that it drops nearly six minutes into the record, and it is perfectly executed and devastatingly beautiful.
4. “A Figure in the Surf” - Mount Kimbie (2024)
I think it’s old news that Mount Kimbie’s productions are absolutely wonderful, but this is one of the songs that instantly left an impression on me. The guitar tone is genuinely crazy, the vocal processing is incredible, the drums are so fun, and the whole thing makes me wish I had a driver’s license for the sole purpose of listening to this song with one hand driving and one out the window.
5. “Let Me Get There” - Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (feat. Kurt Vile) (2016)
I had never listened to any of Hope Sandoval’s work outside of Mazzy Star, but her angel voice mixed with Kurt Vile’s laidback-ness is a new favourite combination of mine. I am also a big fan of duets that take turns line by line, and this is one of those. It feels like one of those songs that somehow manages to encapsulate the lighter, softer part of being human.
6. “Always Have a Choice” - Havoc (2009)
Sometimes songs are recommended to me but rarely do they end up in my heavy rotation. This is thankfully one of them. This song is heavenly. I admit that up until writing this I had no idea that Havoc is one half of Mobb Deep, nor that this was produced by Clams Casino in 2009 BEFORE any other rappers (A$AP Rocky, Lil B, Mac Miller, etc.) hopped on that train. Incredible and so, so good.
7. “Scratching” - Dijon (2021)
In 2026, saying this song is good feels like saying water is wet, but I recently listened to this album, Absolutely, again and felt like I understood it for the first time. It’s one of those sneaky songs that is actually kind of heartbreaking if you listen enough, or maybe it just took me too long to realise. There is nothing groundbreaking I can say about the supremely special production here that has not (deservedly!) been said many times before, but it sounds to me like a moment of surrender and acknowledgement of something without trying to fix it, and how that is always easier said than done.
8. “Tyrone - Extended Version” - Erykah Badu (1997)
Nothing could ever adequately describe the force that emanates out of Erykah Badu and her voice alone. I can only say this is incredibly clean, gorgeous, and funny in the way only she knows how to be. Particularly a huge fan of the choir backing vocals (“CALL HIM!”). I am inclined to instantly believe everything she ever sings.
9. “I Won’t Crumble with You If You Fall” - Bernice Johnson Reagon (1997)
I heard this song a few years ago for the first time without knowing anything about Bernice Johnson Reagon and fell in love with it. When her name was mentioned in combination with the topic of folk songs in a paper I was reading for a class I was taking, I rediscovered it. It sounds so rich that I have to remind myself it is purely a cappella of three voices. The way the voices overlap slightly, harmonise with each other, and the things they sing about is deeply moving. I think I will be listening to this forever.
10. “Undercurrent” - Toro y Moi, Don Toliver, Porches (2024)
This is crazy. I cannot believe that these artists all exist on one track, it feels like it was made to specifically cover every corner of music I enjoy. There is a quality to the Porches guy’s voice that makes me want to listen to it all the time. I rewind just to hear his verse again. I feel like Toro y Moi and Don Toliver go without saying.
11. “Visible Winds of Spring” - Tettix Hexer (2020)
Gorgeous distorted reverbed synth, this does just feel like a wind in spring. That is the only thing I am able to say, I think the rest speaks for itself.
12. “Losing Focus” - EXUM (2025)
This is also one of those songs that feels like it was tailored specifically to things I like to listen to. It feels like a surreal country-adjacent meditation. The drums are phenomenal. The interweaving, hugely reverbed and delayed vocals + crunchy half-sung/half-rapped second verse + tiny vocal sample towards the end that feels almost reminiscent of Memphis-style vocal chops is a combination of things I cannot possibly picture ever coming up with, but I am so glad someone on this earth did.
13. “perfect storm” - spirit blue (2024)
Another song that was shown to me and instantly became part of my rotation. I realise while writing this list I am extremely blessed to be surrounded by people with excellent taste. The almost-but-not-quite-autotuned vocal processing and super dry drums driving this feel like rain and makes me listen to it over and over.
14. “Emo Regulation” - RIP Swirl & Ydegirl (2025)
This sort of feels like the next song I want to queue immediately after “perfect storm.” There seem to be crazy musical things happening in Copenhagen. Truly outstanding production and honestly maybe one of the best new songs I have come across lately.
15. “Radio” - Lana Del Rey (2012)
As someone who has been actively listening to Lana Del Rey since 2012, at the appropriate age of twelve, I feel as though her music has been one of the rare constants in my life, and I find myself always returning to it whenever I feel a core human emotion. In this case that emotion is joy, and this song feels like it. I believe she is one of the greatest artists of our generation.
Across these fifteen tracks, music becomes memory and mood in constant rotation. From childhood car rides to late-night discoveries, FAITH PLATES moves across genres while keeping a clear emotional thread. It reads less like a playlist and more a lived-in map of listening that keeps unfolding over time.