Josh Wink

Josh Wink recently released his new Selects Playlist on Apple Music - a personal, wide-ranging collection of the tracks that shaped his musical foundation long before his own productions were released. Its selections read like a map of his inner universe during his formative years - a blend of early electronic innovators, synth-pop icons, industrial experimentalists, hip-hop pioneers, post-punk visionaries, and foundational house and techno artists.

Josh Wink: “These are some of the songs that soundtracked my life during my early teenage years and early 20s. They not only served as tools for me to DJ with but also nurtured and inspired my desires to make electronic music as an artist in the ‘90s.”

Across its 67 tracks, the playlist moves from Kraftwerk’s ‘Home Computer’, 808 State’s ‘Pacific State’, and Jean-Michel Jarre’s ‘Oxygène Pt. 4’ to the raw Chicago DNA of Phuture’s ‘Acid Tracks’, Adonis’ ‘No Way Back’, Sleezy D’s ‘I’ve Lost Control’, and Steve Poindexter’s ‘Computer Madness’. 

It embraces post-punk and industrial classics from Siouxsie and the Banshees, Cabaret Voltaire, Fad Gadget, Front 242, Joy Division, and The Normal - bands whose dark romanticism and mechanical pulse possibly helped define a generation of DJs.

There are also the artists and tracks including Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’, Afrika Bambaataa’s ‘Planet Rock’, Scritti Politti, A Tribe Called Quest, Paul McCartney’s ‘Temporary Secretary’, and Grace Jones’ ‘Slave to the Rhythm’. 

Soul, jazz fusion, and Philadelphia roots also weave through the playlist, from Teddy Pendergrass to MFSB, underscoring the deep musical DNA of Wink’s hometown. And ambient, cinematic selections like Steve Roach’s ‘Structures from Silence’, Tangerine Dream’s ‘Love On A Real Train’, and Peter Gabriel’s ‘Of These, Hope’ offer glimpses into the meditative, textural worlds that later informed his own productions.

Taken together, the playlist forms an eclectic portrait of the influences that shaped his evolution from a young Philadelphia DJ to his current status. 

© justaweemusicblog.com