When you load up Spotify, a great big chunk of the time you can’t think what to play, right? You default back to your old favourites, those albums and songs you played on repeat when you first discovered you could make them yours.

This isn’t about guilty pleasures; it’s about those songs you’ll still be listening to when you’re old and in your rocking chair. So, enter Teenage Kicks – a playlist series that sees bands running through the music they listened to in their formative years.

Next up, Alaska and Dylan from Witch Post.

J is one of the main reasons I play guitar. This riff is particularly awesome. I could choose 'Get Me' or 'The Post' or 'The Wagon' or 'Thumb', but I guess I'm in a 'Start Choppin" mood right now. When I was in elementary school in Montana, my dad would drive me through the Paradise Valley every morning, blasting Dino CDs. I've seen Dino so many times, and I still tear up at every show. Dino's music feels like a lifelong friend. When I listen to Dino, I remember how I felt when I was a teenager first writing songs. J's lyrics are so simple and cool as well. He embeds intimate dialogues within massive riffs that carry you away.

When I was a teenager and taking voice lessons, I sang a lot of the Ella songs. She has multiple incredible vocal moments in 'Black Coffee' that I would try to sing along with. It's almost as if she's doing a guitar lick but with her voice. I still marvel at how smooth and effortless her singing sounds. Back in Montana, I thought I was going to be an opera singer; then, I started singing and listening to Ella's songs! She reminds me of when I first moved to California and my musical world opened up. I remember bothering some pianist at an Italian restaurant in Van Nuys, hoping he'd let me sing some standards with him.

The album 'I'll Take It' was huge for me. 'Black Balloon' into 'Start from Scratch' blew my mind. 'Start from Scratch' has a really manic scrambled eggs in the brain quality to it. The production on this record is so crazy, especially how it meshes with the songwriting. I didn't actually know what production was until I was older, so looking back, I realise this was probably one of the first times I was thinking of what production could do, but in an abstract sense. I like how the vocals change song by song. I was listening to this album before the internet was something I used. I'd stare at the cover and listen to the songs and really wonder, "Why did they do this"? I think this feeling was really important, the wonder and the mystery of why a certain artist does something. Also, because this was before streaming, I thought this band was really big. At the time, I lived in a place no one toured anyway, so I never understood if a band or musician was successful. If I heard a song, it I just thought it was popular. I actually really miss that from being younger because I just took art at strictly face value.

This was an important song for me and my sisters. I loved the story of it all; I loved how Jack and Loretta were also so different, and the story in the lyrics speaks to that, too. Two strangers drunk and lonely on Sloe Gin Fizz in a Portland bar, that's a short story! I learned to sing by listening to Loretta. She's one of those people for me. I love her tone and delivery, it's so special, so confident and simple. The guitars rock on this song, too; it has an iconic intro. My sisters and I would sing this song in my parent's minivan. Loretta's 'Van Lear Rose' was another big one for me, I loved the story, I loved that it was about a woman; most songs are about dudes thinking about women. I listen to these two songs back to back and think how cool it is that Loretta had such a long and quality career.

This song will never leave my life. I always think about this song, everything from the lyrics to Joni's vocal delivery to the production. As I say above, this song is also a short story, or a novel. My mom would always say when I was a teen, try to sing along to this song. It's so hard; once you get it, you'll have mastered something special. It's hard to articulate, but the vocal phrasing ties in with the emotions in such an important way. It's got such a visual beauty as well. You can look at any landscape and imagine Joni's appaloosas, eagles and tides. Her line, "Staring a hole in his scrambled eggs / picks up my scent on his fingers while he's watching a waitresses' legs". I've thought about that line and that character so much. Teen me was probably like, watch out for that guy in Joni's song; you're going to meet someone like this if you keep making rock music. Like all great songs, they become something that you fit around your own life, or it feels like the artist is whispering into your mind. This is one of those songs that's very personal, very imaginative. It gains more depth the older I get as well -- each listen is new both sonically and lyrically.

This song and her album 'Eye To The Telescope' is one of my first memories of music. My mum used to play this album in her car all the time. This song feels like a warm hug to me. I don't have much to say about this apart from it's just a fucking great song.

If you were anywhere near tumblr in 2013 you knew this song. This was probably one of my first introductions to the world of melancholy, haha. Desaturated and the fade filter up max. I fell in love with Elena Tonra's voice. I used to sing this song at open mic's at venues in my hometown. Would highly recommend her Ex:Re album. I love how simple her songs are, there's a lot of space in them but her lyrics and her voice really fill it and paint a picture in your mind.

My dad had this album and would play it constantly in the car. It's funny because I feel like I knew this album before I knew any Oasis songs, like this was the first album that I knew back to front. Against my own will because my dad would just always play it, but I wasn't complaining.

Again, I have my mum to thank for this one. My mum bought this album after hearing one of Lana's songs on the radio, and she'd play it in the car. I always feel like it should've been me showing her this album,, but I was 11 when this came out, so I don't think I was really aware of what was happening culturally at that point. I just remember being really taken by Lana's voice and the music. It felt really cool to me but also weird. In ways, it was sort of my introduction to more obscure voices which today are generally my favourite. I'm never drawn to "technically" good singers, it's all about emotion for me, and Lana is really amazing at conveying that.