Introducing the Big Monocle Quarterly Playlists. Each quarter, each Big Monocle employee shares 10 songs for our quarterly playlist. Here are the picks for Q1, a Seasonal Depression Dance Party playlist to shake off the winter blues.

 

Jeff
I used to live in Idaho. It’s a beautiful place, but it’s also a place with snow on the ground 8 months of year. (One year, the last day of snowfall was in June!) My friends and I found that the best antidote for sub-zero temperatures was dancing, so here are ten of the warmest, most booty-shaking tunes from our Idaho dance parties, each guaranteed to melt the frost away. If you too find yourself stuck in winter gloom, try basking in the sunny synth of electropop. It’s easy. Just turn down the lights. Turn up the volume. And dance yourself clean of winter’s icy grip. 

Dillon
It turns out, through scouring through my personal playlists, that I’m honestly not that big a fan of pump-up, dancey music. But after searching far and wide, my 10 songs gathered consist of a few heavy-beat, dance club-y jams as well as one Heart song (cuz it makes me feel old school badass, ya know?). Added to that, throw in one electro-pop French artist and 3 AlunaGeorge collabs and you’ve got what I turn on on a February drive home, dreaming of that sweet, sweet spring air to hit me like a ton of bricks. Or one can hope it will sometime soon.

Mayra
I chose a couple of good mood songs that make me pick up my dog and dance around my apartment. I also probably chose my dog’s least favorite songs. In particular, Hunnybee by the Unkown Mortal Orchestra is one you can’t help but dance to, and Attack of Panic by my favorite middle school pop duo Aly & AJ.

Amy
I get stuck on songs for days at a time, so my SDDP playlist would probably only have two songs on it: Purple Hat by Sofi Tukker and Dance Monkey by Tones and I. I dare you to explore the simple pleasures of one song on repeat for an hour — do it on a roadtrip, power through a design session, clean the kitchen, the louder the better.