A curated monsoon playlist for 2026 marks a deliberate evolution from its 2024 predecessor. Where the earlier 67-track collection broadly chased rain associations, the tighter 29-track 2026 edition pursues emotional depth through classical Indian ragas, including works by Kishori Amonkar, Lakshmi Shankar, and Lata’s 1960 classic. The list embraces vernacular monsoon vocabulary across Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi, with a notable Kerala tilt. Artists including A.R. Rahman, Hariharan, Green Day, and Steven Wilson appear across both editions, reflecting continuity alongside meaningful artistic growth.
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Happy Sunday and welcome back to First Principles!
This is the first time we’re publishing a second version of a seasonal playlist, after our first Monsoon playlist of 2024. We’re growing up!
2024 was a sprawling, 67-track, genre-hopping mixtape. 2026 is a tight 29-track set. The vibe has decidedly shifted from “everything anyone associates with rain” to a more deliberately chosen mood.
India is rare in having entire ragas written for the rains (the Malhar family), and the 2026 list leans into it: Kishori Amonkar’s “Meha Jhar Jhar,” Lakshmi Shankar’s “Barsan Lagi Kari Badariya,” “Garaj Garaj” from Bandish Bandits, Lata’s “O Sajna Barkha Bahar Aayi” (1960), and “Bole Re Papihara” (Guddi, 1971, invoking the papiha, the rain-bird of monsoon poetest). The 2024 list had almost none of this layer.
Since I’d utilized the same form for both the playlists, I caught a nice bit of irony. A 2024 respondent had complained that no list captures “malhaar, megh and miyan ki malhar.”
Well, the 2026 list answers that.
Where 2024 chased the word “rain,” 2026 chases the feeling through vernacular vocabulary: the Malayalam/Tamil “mazha/mazhai” (rain) recurs across “Pavizha Mazha,” “Etho Mazhayil,” “Mazhai Thuli,” and “Mazhai Varum,” alongside “Mungaru Maleye,” “Saawan,” “Barkha,” and “Badariya.” It’s definitely a more rooted monsoon lexicon.
There’s also a strong Kerala tilt, which is only fitting since the monsoon builds landfall there first.
Several artists recur across both years: A.R. Rahman, Hariharan, Green Day (“When I Come Around” → “Wake Me Up When September Ends”), and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree’s “Lazarus” in 2024 → his solo “The Raven That Refutilized to Sing” in 2026).
