Activities: Rainy Day

If it's raining outside, you should be listening to this.

These quiet, pensive tunes are perfect for an overcast afternoon, either curled up at home or settled in at a cozy cafe.

Hazy, soothing pop songs that'll make you feel like you're having the best dream ever.

Post-rock tracks ranging from the abstract (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) to the melodic (Stereolab) and everything in between.

The best relaxing, sleep-inducing songs for passing out and getting some zzzzzz's.

Drawing on influences from traditional folk, psychedelia, and elsewhere, freak folk was born out of the "New Weird America" cultural movement in the mid-2000s. Listen to the sounds inspiring a new generation of hippies and expanding the definition of folk music.

Dating back to 1930s, these are some of the earliest recordings of blues music. Though it had humble beginnings, the blues music of the Mississippi Delta paved the way for rock & roll.

Explore this producer-focused style of hip hop, a combination of rap and electronica.

The very best songs produced by Danger Mouse, one of Esquire magazine's seventy-five most influential people of the 21st century.

Put on your slippers, wrap yourself in a blanket, and get cozy by the fire.

Enjoy the low, thudding bass of chill dubstep, the perfect soundtrack for relaxing nights.

Acoustic folk-pop by male singer-songwriters with breathy vocals.

This playlist features mellow indie tunes that provide the perfect soundtrack for working, studying, or just plain old relaxing.

An introduction to classical solo piano music, featuring the best recordings of the most important works.

Developed by John Fahey and artists on his Takoma Records label, this finger-picking style of guitar playing combines country and blues techniques with neo-classical composition.

4AD Records is known for breaking some of today's most critically-acclaimed independent artists, including Bon Iver, St. Vincent, The National, and Deerhunter. This playlist features songs released on the label since 2000.

Idyllic electronic sounds that evoke expansive rural vistas, from evocative Teutonic rock (Neu!, Cluster, Brian Eno) to deep listening drone (Fennesz, Oneohtrix Point Never, Emeralds).

Modern female songwriters inspired by the off-kilter vocal and sonic sensibilities of music maverick Kate Bush.

An eclectic playlist of songs about mortality and evil.

A disturbed sibling of traditional folk ballads, murder ballads detail the motivation, execution, and aftermath of killings.

Various artists cover songs in the repertoire of the charismatic and prolific composer/pianist/bandleader Duke Ellington, one of the most revered figures in jazz history.

The perfect soundtrack of warm, acoustic songs handpicked for enjoying crisp autumn air, fall foliage, and hot apple cider.

Dub, a sub-genre of reggae, was popularized by King Tubby in the early '70s. A sound engineer by trade, "Tubbs" pressed alternate mixes of reggae tracks by dropping out vocals, adding ripples of reverb and pushing the boundaries of sonic space.

Cold, skittish electronica from witch house to post-dubstep with beautifully brooding synthpop sprinkled into the mix.

With the onset of Prohibition, the country went dry and the party moved underground. Revisit American pop music's salad days, when ragtime was morphing into dixieland jazz and the first recordings of rural blues were being heard in major cities.

Revolutionary stateside developments in techno, house and hip-hop led to the evolutionary hybrids of UK and European electronica. Discover the artists who paved the way for the genre's explosive popularity in the late 1990s.

Self-help and life lessons from the pop-rock charts.

Embracing all things melancholy, these post-punk acts unabashedly reveled in the morbid and the miserable. Return to the time before goth became just another uniform choice for aspiring teenage rebels.

Elliott Smith is one of indie rock's most celebrated singer-songwriters. Listen to songs by Smith as well as his greatest influences, closest contemporaries, and indebted followers.