What Ben Sinclair from High Maintenance Is Listening to Right Now

When Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld created High Maintenance in 2012, they were attempting to correct something: how TV shows of the past had poorly portrayed the pot-smoking and listening habits of everyday people. Sinclair, who also stars as the good-natured weed dealer known simply as “The Guy” in the web series turned HBO show, explains it this way: “I’m listening to music all the time. All the time! So when my characters talk, I want them to be listening to awesome music.”

By now, the sound of High Maintenance is one of its most recognizable characters: a foggy, gently psychedelic soundtrack that can make its NYC setting feel distant and full of wonder. Just like Sinclair’s portrayal of “The Guy,” the music drifts in and out of cars and apartments with a benevolent calm, highlighting the subtle ways our lives are intertwined. Recent episodes have featured a campfire singalong to Joan Osborne’s “What If God Was One Of Us” and a karaoke freakout to the B-52s, deep cuts from Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Minnie Riperton, and recent tracks by Weyes Blood and Sandro Perri. (There’s an official Spotify playlist for each of the four HBO seasons plus the web series, and they are worth checking out.)

Sinclair describes his hunt for music as a full-time job that runs concurrent with writing and producing High Maintenance. The current season may be the show’s last for a while (“I think we need a break, but I don’t think it’s the last season”), but Sinclair will miss the strong sense of community he feels among the sprawling cast and crew. He’s the type of person who likes to connect, and that approach extends to matters of music discovery and taste, too. “Communing over music is a big deal for me,” he says. “I’m not a record store guy, but I like being friends with the record store guys. There are people I dated who I’m not dating anymore, but I still go through their Spotify playlists.”

Calling from Los Angeles last week, Sinclair shares five recent favorites.

Issam Hajali: “Ana Damir El Motakallim”

Ben Sinclair: Looking at all the songs I picked, it seems like I either want to be calmed down or nostalgic for another time… in another country. This song is like the OK Computer of Lebanese music from the 1970s. It has so many parts. The synthesizers are sick. It’s an 11-minute song, and it’s the first one on the album, and the whole album [Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard] is really sweet. I first heard this from Spotify Discover. I hate to say it, but I get a lot of stuff from that. There are a lot of times when it misses, but sometimes it just hits it so hard on the head.

Beverly Glenn-Copeland: “Keyboard Fantasies”

I heard this in a Japanese restaurant in East Williamsburg [Brooklyn] and I had to ask what it is. When you were younger, did you ever go to a store at the mall called Natural Wonders? This album brings me back to Natural Wonders, man. I just feel like I’m playing with some Etch-A-Sketch-adjacent analog toy while looking at a kaleidoscope in the safety and security of the mall, pre-coronavirus.

Osborn: “Oyasumi”

This one was submitted to me by our music supervisor [Meghan Currier]. I remember I was looking for a specific scene that involved two people talking. It was supposed to make you feel sort of warm and cozy. The word “oyasumi” literally means “bedtime.” That’s what this song is—like a lullaby. And then I saw it [in the scene] and thought it felt too much like a score, so I put in a Roches song instead. It’s oftentimes about the people’s voices in the scene along with the music.

Adriano Celentano: “Prisencolinensinainciusol”

Have you ever asked your non-English-speaking friends to do their impression of English? I love that about this song—I love that they go “allllllright.” It’s novelty rock! Harmonica is not my instrument, and I don’t normally gravitate toward the blues. But I love the video. It gives me such a weird feeling. You just can’t take your eyes off him. When I’m at a party and somebody’s like “put something on,” this one just gets it going. I associate that song with getting riled up. If I was doing a montage, I would want something with that propulsive kind of beat.

Devendra Banhart: “Love Song” (Helado Negro Remix)

I’ve become friendly with Devendra in the last year. He’s lovely. He’s in tune with a greater vibration—whatever you want to call it, he’s tapped in. I used this song in an episode this season. There’s a lot of talk about relationships on the show. But the show is also about being alone and capturing our modern mass solitude. And what helps us to not feel alone—being together, right?

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork