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Wilco, Ray Lamontagne, Arcade Fire Make Obama’s Spotify Playlist

Early this morning, via Twitter, President Obama’s campaign staff released a Spotify playlist of the music that will soundtrack the president’s upcoming reelection campaign. And the artists that made the cut represent quite an eclectic array of musicians.

Wilco, Ray Lamontagne and Arcade Fire round out some surprisingly indie choices, and other artists represent many other genres from soul to country to classic rock. Conspicuously absent, however, are any hip-hop songs.

In all, the playlist contains 28 songs, and includes notable artists like Bruce Springsteen (and his newest single “We Take Care of Our Own,”), Aretha Franklin and Al Green’s legendary “Let’s Stay Together.” President Obama sang a few bars of the latter song at a recent event at the Apollo Theater, surprising many in the audience, including his staff.

Country music also is represented strongly on the playlists, with Dierks Bentley, Sugarland, Darius Rucker, Montgomery Gentry and the Zac Brown Band all making appearances. In fact, Sugarland and Dierks Bentley each get two cuts on the list. The classic rock genre gets contributions from Earth Wind & Fire, Booker T. & the MG’s, REO Speedwagon and the Electric Light Orchestra all contributing music.

More seemingly out-of-place artists on the presidential playlist include No Doubt, Florence and the Machine, Noa and the Whale and Ricky Martin. A little known band called AgesandAges is also on the list, and have been described by local critics as a Portland, Ore. indie-band which features “raw choral pop.”

Other big names are U2 and James Taylor.

Spotify is a streaming music subscription service that was introduced to America last year. Users can sign up for a paid account, which will allow them to stream songs on their computer and/or mobile device with no ads. Users can obtain a free subscription, but the service plays ads between songs. Spotify users that already have an account can log in to the service and view and listen to the entire playlist.

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