Doomscrolling on StreetEasy again? Check out our playlist
- Brick Underground compiled songs that match the highs and lows of the apartment hunt
- Listen to Bob Dylan and other classics, plus lesser known artists like Dead Gowns
Brick Underground put the apartment search to music.
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Finding a new apartment in New York City isn’t easy. The search requires patience, determination, and maybe…an epic soundtrack?
If you’re looking for a new place, you might find yourself spending hours doomscrolling StreetEasy, researching landlords and brokers, and riding the subway to (yet another) tour. We at Brick Underground wanted to create a playlist that encapsulates that journey, and hopefully, makes it a little more fun.
There are a lot of songs we could’ve included on this playlist: “The Old Apartment” by Canadian darlings The Barenaked Ladies, “Rent” from the eponymous musical, or even the mournful, meandering “Real House” by Adrianne Lenker. There are tunes about coming home, going home, or just the broad concept of “home.” (Seriously, there are hundreds.)
But we wanted this playlist to focus on the search itself. It begins like most apartment hunts: with a desire for something new in Toro y Moi’s “New House” and its steady chorus, “I want a brand new house/ something I cannot buy/ something I can’t afford.” It shifts into the alienating transience of renting, with “Renter not a Buyer” and “Open Letter (to a Landlord),” and culminates in the dreamy peace of “In my Room” as covered by Jakob Dylan and Fiona Apple (sorry Beach Boys fans).
So whether you’re a renter seeking a new apartment or looking to buy, we hope you enjoy Brick Underground’s Real Estate Playlist.
And if you have a favorite song about searching for a new apartment, drop us an email. We’d love to hear from you. You can listen to this playlist on Spotify, or check the playlist out below to get our favorite versions of these tracks.
1. “New House” by Toro y Moi
Toro y Moi (a.k.a. Chaz Bear) shot an incredible music video for “New House” in December 2019, but his National Public Radio Tiny Desk performance is one of our favorites.
2. “Lullaby” by Grace Ives
Ives' haunting tune serves as a good lyrical reminder to watch out for apartment scams: “I look at pictures of real estate/ I see the ad and I take the bait.”
3. “Depreston” by Courtney Barnett
“Depreston” focuses on the practicalities of a search for a home in the suburbs, with Barnett’s iconic, nuanced lyricism. If you’re looking for a place on Long Island, this one’s for you.
4. “Renter not a buyer” by Dead Gowns
In “Renter not a buyer,” Dead Gowns explores the loneliness that comes with playing a temporary role in someone’s life through the metaphor of renting. Her music video takes her lyricism literally, as workers empty a house of her belongings in front of her.
5. “Rent” by Halima
In Halima’s “Rent,” the burden of paying her rent even supersedes her relationship. She writes, “I gotta bigger fish to burn/ I gotta make rent.”
6. “Dear Landlord” by Bob Dylan
It’s hard to find a better lyricist that describes the difficulties of paying rent than Bob Dylan. (And no, we couldn’t find a Timothée Chalamet version of this song.)
7. “Movin’ Out (Anthony's Song)” by Billy Joel
Every buyer has doubts about whether owning a place is worth it. But nobody belts those doubts better than Billy Joel.
8. “Open Letter (to a Landlord)” by Living Colour
Living Color’s 1988 song “Open Letter (to a Landlord)” focuses on the loss of place when New Yorkers are evicted and their long-time buildings are torn down. It mirrors the artists’ own experience with gentrification, according to poet Tracie Morris, one of the songwriters.
9. “New Apartment” by Ari Lennox
Lennox’s track “New Apartment” celebrates what happens when the search goes right, and you finally land your own place (though living alone isn’t always cheerful).
10. “In my Room” by Jakob Dylan and Fiona Apple (Cover)
Jakob Dylan and Fiona Apple’s dreamy cover of the Beach Boys’ “In my Room” closes out our playlist with a more relaxed vibe. The search is over, and that room is finally yours.
