Welcome to CP Radio, the 23rd installment - a select curation of tracks for the month of August 2026.
As I write this out, I realize that next month will mark the two year anniversary of this project. A collection of 23 playlists comprised of 50+ hours of music that captures the evolution of our curatorial skill in its rawest form, all grounded in creative pragmatism. There is an inherent beauty in a project like this that could, at first glance, run contrary to what one might naturally perceive. As time goes on, it may seem as though the process of piecing these playlists together should become increasingly difficult. One might even be so inclined to believe that the good songs could run out, that the inspiration could dwindle, that the range of sound may even dissipate into sameness.
We are well-aware that 50 hours barely scratches even the thinnest of surfaces in relation to the impossibly large and unknowable amount of music that yearns to be appreciated. And thus CP Radio represents a creative endeavor that actually improves, innovates, and deepens with each passing day. No song has ever been repeated on our playlists, and no song ever shall. This is the main, and quite frankly, only clear creative constraint within which we work here, and within our limitations we tend to uncover the utmost freedoms.
Freedom in this context is illustrated by relinquishing our concern with what to listen for and where to look, as the answers to these questions are simple and monolexical. Everything and everywhere, respectively. No artist, no sound, no era is off-limits, for art is always advancing in all ways. There are endless references to this ethos throughout the 23 CP Radio playlists. From the latest set of songs, take Alex Kassian’s Leave Your Life - Lonely Hearts Mix that samples and reinterprates Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes. A quintessential track of the 1980s that will no doubt forever play an integral role in the American pop-culture made for now by Kassian’s seamless blend with his Leave Your Life track from 2023. Through his masterful ear and a lifetime behind the production board, Kassian’s mix achieves the precise and necessary fusion of creative pragmatism needed to land itself on 023.
In line with this 80s sound, we turn next to Falling by the Pender Street Steppers - a duo out of Vancouver, Canada. As our playlists are created to align with each month of the year, this track feels quite fitting for now. August signals the imminent end of summer, a confusing period when one grapples with the desire to live out the last days of warmth and sunlight whilst maintaining a stark, and contradictorily subconscious, awareness of the calendar’s push toward the holiday season. Throughout Falling you’ll hear quirky beeps and boops, the classic gated reverb sound of the ‘80s era, and vocal echos that together manufacture a sonic swirl effortlessly occupying a mind that likes to run.
There is a liminality to the limbo we sit in in August, and through the balance of the tracks on this curation our goal is to capture that feeling - Deep Sea by Tokyo Black Star does this well - but the aforementioned tracks are preferential to a transitional period, and not fully evocative of a desire to simmer in the sliver of summer that remains. Alas, Chloe Caillet and her ultimate sunnytimes track, DouDou, comes to the rescue. Chloe’s edit of the 1985 classic, Avèou Doudou, provides us with the proverbial green light to stay a little longer, get your hair wet, leave the sand under your nails, as the song sits on your shoulder whispering ‘don’t leave just yet, there is more peace and fun to be found’.
The decision to curate a playlist with considerable influence from 1980s did not arrive consciously, as I only came to this realization after writing the above. We could turn inward and try to come up with some deep psychological reasoning as to why it happened, but its more likely that the ‘80s just had really awesome music - so much so that it has made a lasting and inescapable mark on the artistry of today. CP Radio 023 is out and asking to be listened to, it can be found on Spotify and Apple Music. We hope you enjoy this months curation, it’s a good one to close out the season with, or if you’re me, to be inspired to hang on a little bit longer.