What I Listened To: WILT_2026-02

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 4 Jan 2026 to 10 Jan 2026.

  1. Yek – Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, Andreas Werliin
  2. A Title Comes – Tortoise
  3. Bolete – Flur
  4. Nothing Does Not Show – Natural Information Society, Bitchin Bajas
  5. Quixotism Part 3 – Oren Ambarchi
  6. We Take Things For Granted – Sarathy Korwar
  7. All I Can Say of the Blossoms – Ancient Infinity Orchestra
  8. Elka – Tortoise
  9. Amongst All Of The Rubble – Sarathy Korwar

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2026-02

Notes

Was the absence deafening?

What I Listened To is resuming after 11 weeks of inactivity. The abridged reason for the lack of publishing updates was because I needed time away from the project, time away from listening to music, and time away from a version of myself that I had constructed in my head. Not posting and being okay with it has helped me realise that this is normal, that this is what being human is about. We show up, and sometimes we don’t show up. There are limits to who we are and that nothing really lasts forever, except forever. Between that are just the ebbs and flows of consciousness and sparks of ordered thought.

I went through the new year without much new sounds. I still love music, but it, or the journalling of it are not the only things that will define me. I still believe in the practice of journaling my relationship with music, but less so from needing the discipline of a fixed schedule, and more so about naturally journalling and exploring my relationship with music, its appreciation, and its curation.

So 2026 as a listening year started with re-visiting the pathways of ambient, classical, electronic, and jazz. Genres and institutions constantly negotiating at the frontiers, and what I needed as a way to combat against the derivativeness of both music and the act of listening to it.

To assist in this endeavour, I will also be spending less time creating accompanying art and graphics to the playlists, and less time on developing social media to promote the publishing cycle, and using the time I have to journal and publish, as simply and as raw as I would like to make it. I’ve come to learn that there are things remarkably intuitive to me, and that includes both listening and expressing myself in words, all for the pleasure of mine own.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-42

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 12 Oct 2025 to 18 Oct 2025.

  1. Carrion Song – Pile
  2. Prom Song – Pile
  3. God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars – Shallowater
  4. Suffer Debt – Truth Club
  5. Hallelujah – Agriculture
  6. Bow Down – Geese
  7. SAD GENERATION, HAPPY PICTURES – Noga Erez, Flyana Boss
  8. YOU SO DONE – Noga Erez
  9. One Last Nothing – DARKSIDE
  10. make dolla – ABANGSAPAU
  11. forgive – celai
  12. Talking Is Tragic – Nick Broadhurst
  13. ray – Cowboy Mugshot
  14. PRAY – LEM

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-42

Notes

I was feeling very listless and lethargic prior to the writing of this week’s entry. The music had already been collated and it was quite an inspired listening week, however, the overall stress of the week really got to me and I just could not bring myself to write in any capacity, opting rather for distraction rather than purpose or expression.

However, perhaps it is a blessing or a curse, but I am slightly tipsy as I am putting these words together, and all this while listening to the music that I had selected earlier in the week while plugged in and fully immersed, fully locked in. And by jove do we have some absolute bangers this week.

Pile carries on from the previous week and starts us of for the new week with its brandishing of insolence and insouciance. For a brief moment, I was quite content with Pile being one of the more important bands that I’ve come across in 2025, but that is slowly being replaced by Agriculture and its self-described ecstatic black metal as well as an absolute disregard for the songwriting format while still being a song. 

In between, we also get all sorts of music that challenge the idea of vibes and songs, and somehow endeavour to put together something that will stand both the test of time, as well as blaze abruptly into the eternal night.

Tonight, the music is making me feel, and good golly gosh does it remind me of the human capacity to be more than just ourselves.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-41

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 5 Oct 2025 to 11 Oct 2025.

  1. Dirty Dog – Prewn
  2. Allnighter – Twen
  3. In Twos (Demo) – Horsegirl
  4. Au Pays du Cocaine – Geese
  5. Don’t Be Scared – Prewn
  6. Fortune 500 – Twen
  7. Black Box – Automatic
  8. tokyo sway – Night Tapes
  9. Red – World News
  10. For Cutting The Grass – GOON
  11. Real Life – ear
  12. Chrysalis – Kelly Moran
  13. HEAD FIRST – Weval, Nsanshi
  14. Peace Exists Here – Max Cooper
  15. Force of Habit – Barker
  16. Deep Clay – Pile

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-41

Notes

System (2025) by Prewn was a recommended album to me on Spotify and I was quite taken by some of its dirty basslines and ultimately the rather nonchalant attitude that permeates through the track listing. From there, bands like Twen, Automatic, Geese and Night Tapes all shuffled into rotation, sounding not quite like each other, but each with a particular brand of indie, melancholia and stoicism that was enough for me to sit up and take notice.

Toward the end of the week, I searched for music similar to Rival Consoles because I was struggling with focus and producers like Kelly Moran and Barker did not disappoint.

Finally, just as the week was coming to a close, I decided to check out another recommended album, Sunshine and Balance Beams (2025) by Pile, and I was not disappointed again. They play the sort of music I wished I could also be be in a band playing, with just a right balance of noise to melody ratio, with a bias towards noise.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-40

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 28 Sep 2025 to 4 Oct 2025.

  1. DYLM – Hank

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-40

Notes

I thought there would be more music this week but I’m ending up with one song because nothing much intrigued me this week. Oh well, here’s to one good song getting the spotlight. It’s not even the greatest song, but it gets a spotlight of some sort.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-39

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 21 Sep 2025 to 27 Sep 2025.

  1. Student Housing – Truth Club
  2. technique – semiwestern
  3. Ground Wire – Neu Blume
  4. Win – Cusp
  5. Twenty-Two – Gaddage
  6. Blindness – Maripool
  7. i could not find it – Witches Exist
  8. It’s Not My Job – Cusp

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-39

Notes

I think this week’s playlist was informed by Win by Cusp, which really gripped me with its strong guitar tone and performance. There’s just something nonchalant and brazen that makes me look upon it fondly and with a ton of nostalgia. And yet, while a lot of the other songs on this playlist sound familiar, they also sound very current or part of a generation that is not my own, and rightfully so.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-38

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 14 Sep 2025 to 20 Sep 2025.

  1. Skins – The Orchestra (For Now)
  2. The Strip – The Orchestra (For Now)
  3. Reconcile – Maruja
  4. See You Around – Truthpaste
  5. Hattrick – The Orchestra (For Now)
  6. Break The Tension – Maruja
  7. Wild World – Fine Food Market
  8. Moon Man – Chartreuse
  9. Bloodsport – Maruja
  10. In The Field – supernowhere
  11. Offerings – Chartreuse
  12. Born To Die – Maruja
  13. Kid Won’t Eat – Chartreuse
  14. Rage – Maruja
  15. Broadcast – Legss
  16. Nancy Tries To Take The Night – Black Country, New Road
  17. Rot – Speedial
  18. The Tinker – Maruja
  19. Avenue You – Coral Grief
  20. Anyone – John Moods
  21. Two Birds – Sister.
  22. I Can’t Wait Until I’m Old – Flip Top Head
  23. I’m Losing It – Chartreuse
  24. Weeks & Months – Snowy Band

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-38

Notes

The Orchestra (For Now) was a recommended artist to me on Spotify and that in turn spawned a listening journey that that brought artists like Maruja and Chartreuse into the foray.

Maruja was a great discovery this week as was Chartreuse. One was able to fuse elements of punk, jazz and hardcore, and the other was able to explore elements of indie rock that I didn’t know the genre still had to give. Overall, this is a rather folk-indie heavy playlist which isn’t something I’ve been exploring in awhile, but it still listens rather familiarly and progressively at the same time.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-37

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 7 Sep 2025 to 13 Sep 2025.

  1. Play Me – Fcukers
  2. All My Friends (ATRIP Remix) – Barry Can’t Swim, ATRIP
  3. Love – Ami Taf Ra, Ryan Porter
  4. MOVEMENT – Weval
  5. Say Tell Me – TOKiMONSTA
  6. Katana – Pongo
  7. Bam Bam (Remix) – Henry Fong, Sister Nancy
  8. Safe and Sound – Justice
  9. Mwaki – Zerb, Sofiya Nzau
  10. CANDY – Tokischa
  11. Star – Machinedrum, Mono/Poly, Tanerélle
  12. Rigamarole – ROZET
  13. RISE – Machinedrum, ROZET
  14. Clarity – ROZET
  15. Automatic (feat. ROZET) – Kitty Ca$h, ROZET

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-37

Notes

A lot of this playlist are selects from the playlist, TOKiMONSTA’s ETERNAL REVERIE PLAYLIST, and then comes my fascination with ROZET who makes up the tail end of this week’s playlist, although some shoutouts go to Tanerélle, Pongo, Sofia Nzau, and anything that Machinedrum touches.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-36

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 31 Aug 2025 to 6 Sep 2025.

  1. Blue Hour – Nosaj Thing, Julianna Barwick
  2. milk of the madonna – Deftones
  3. Violently Blue – Dead Air
  4. Thirst – Slow Crush
  5. Leap – Slow Crush
  6. The Ghost of You Lingers – Spoon
  7. Egypt – Kate Bush
  8. The Wedding List – Kate Bush
  9. Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth – Parquet Courts
  10. db – CONDOR44
  11. Shed – Shye

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-36

Notes

I’ve got a headspace that is currently scattered and all over the place. 

I should talk a little bit about this week’s playlist, but I’m not exactly in a frame of mind where I was emotionally attached to anything that I listened to this week. 

But if I were to journal, Blue Hour, milk of the madonna and Violently Blue all came from Jenna’s algorithm which I loved for the mood setting. Slow Crush released a new album, Thirst (2025), and I can also see that they’re becoming very popular and that shoegaze is really entering the mainstream. Listening to all this shoegaze also reminded me of a solo instrumental music project that I embarked on during university called “The Ghost of Anna Karina” which involved rather immature obsessions. Still, that explains why I re-listened to Spoon’s The Ghost of You Lingers, and why there is also a great playlist called The Ghost of You Lingers that features more than eleven hours of mood-filled music and also opened the door to more of Kate Bush’s discography with Egypt and The Wedding List as well as Parquet Court’s Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth. From there, the shoegaze continues with YouTube recommendations of db as well as Shye’s new single, Shed, to which I was alerted to through TikTok.

Edit: In a rather quick retrospective, I think one reason I’m feeling this way is because the afternoon I’ve just experienced has been emotionally draining and it is absolutely logical that my emotional disposition is also feeling rather blank, neutral, and / or unattached to anything at the moment. This is a reminder to myself that there will always be activities or responsibilities that despite our best efforts, or no matter how much of it is attributed to filial piety or even as positive actions, can still drain you emotionally just by the nature of the activity. Being emotionally drained is not a reflection of your character but perhaps more about how your body regulates its own emotions so that it can either continue to function, or when it needs to rally to give more when needed, or when it needs to recuperate to give of itself once again when called upon.

“Behold! The field in which I grow my fucks. Lay thine eyes upon it and see that it is barren.” – Hank Green, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-35

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 24 Aug 2025 to 30 Aug 2025.

  1. Go To Sleep (Live) – Radiohead
  2. Where I End and You Begin – Radiohead
  3. Undine – Druidess
  4. The Sniffing Accountant – Druidess
  5. Two Horses – Black Country, New Road
  6. Happy Birthday – Black Country, New Road
  7. 拝啓、僕へ – PEDRO
  8. ZAWAMEKI IN MY HEART – PEDRO
  9. Graze – she’s green
  10. Little Birds – she’s green

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-35

Notes

There isn’t much of a journey to this week’s playlist, but somehow it’s also curation in one of its simplest forms. I simply picked two songs from each new release that I came across, or an album or EP that I wanted to listen to at some point. Absolutely random and absolutely purposed all at once.

I can’t say if every song is a banger, but my ears definitely perked up a little for each of these songs, or at least tickled that there was something special going on, regardless of how small.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-34

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 17 Aug 2025 to 23 Aug 2025.

  1. EARth – Sawano Hiroyuki
  2. ESIRNUS – Sawano Hiroyuki
  3. MANhUNTer – Sawano Hiroyuki
  4. GIx2 – Sawano Hiroyuki
  5. car5p3 PENELOPE – Sawano Hiroyuki
  6. XI – Sawano Hiroyuki
  7. TRACER – Sawano Hiroyuki, Benjamin
  8. [I] – Sawano Hiroyuki
  9. The Intrepid – Akira Senju
  10. Embrace Your Dreams – Alex Moukala
  11. Survival – TesseracT
  12. Tourniquet – TesseracT
  13. Utopia – TesseracT
  14. Cages – TesseracT
  15. ecdysis – Deftones
  16. infinite source – Deftones

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-34

Notes

A lot of this week’s playlist was informed by the OST for the movie, Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash (2021). It was the second time I had watched the movie and it was much more appreciated the second time around. The movie is a continuation of that events that happened in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988) and is set in the UC timeline, which is the franchise’s principal timeline. I’d never watched Char’s Counterattack or Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986–1987) which would actually be required watches to fully understand the plot of Hathaway’s Flash, but thank goodness for the Internet and watching some abridged versions, I was able to re-watch the movie with more background and new perspectives.

The portrayal of mech or mobile suit battles in Hathaway’s Flash is probably some of the most realistic I’ve seen in the franchise with a great appreciation for mechanical design, atmospheric combat and dogfighting, and the actual pilot skill required to pilot these giant battle suits. Coupled with a soundtrack that soars both in terms of orchestral arrangements or electronic beats and synthscapes, it does created a backdrop of grounded science fiction. 

That appreciation then led me to a re-listen of TesseracT’s Polaris / Erai (2015 / 2016) for it’s very grounded approach to progressive metal where you can fully appreciate the band’s expressive musicality but paired and tempered with the acute sense of composing to create both beautiful and haunting melodies, as well as tight syncopated grooves.

Finally, Deftones finally released their new album, private music (2025) and while I’ve only listened through it once, I selected some tracks that were not my mind is a mountain, which was the single they released earlier and I still absolutely adore.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-33

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 10 Aug 2025 to 16 Aug 2025.

  1. Heartsick – Apocryphos
  2. Oressa – How To Completely Disappear
  3. Secret From The River – REPULSIVE
  4. Torn Out Roots – Nocmar
  5. Subtotem – Mount Shrine
  6. Nordsjøen – Ben Chatwin
  7. Dominus-Magisterium – Monasterium Imperi
  8. Dolmen – Ben Chatwin

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-35

Notes

It’s been pretty long three weeks for me with me falling ill, my dad then being warded in the hospital and receiving surgery, all while juggling some work projects and exigencies, as well clearing a backlog that accumulated while I was on annual leave. If anything, it all came ahead on Monday when my dad finally came out of a surgical procedure and he was cleared for discharge from the hospital on the Saturday. For now, we transition from a health scare, managing heightened emotions and stress, to a new season of recovery and mora encouragement, but I’m heartened that the family is able to put one race behind, and get to the starting line of another race. 

As it all accumulated, I sought the meditation and focus of drone and ambient music. Through a recommendation from a YouTube creator, I was introduced to Apocryphos and How To Disappear Completely (which I learned is the title of a book by Doug Richmond). Both explorations led to other drone artists who are able to channel music from another dimensionality into our current perception, and if this is the sound you need to calm an addled mind, you could do well to start here.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-32

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 3 Aug 2025 to 9 Aug 2025.

  1. Bet – Hana Eid
  2. Justin’s Headed Out – mercury
  3. Sport Mode – The Sewing Club
  4. CHOMP – sleepazoid
  5. New > Old – Sloe Noon
  6. loser 😦 – ivri
  7. Knife Fight – Trophy Fight
  8. HMID – Sloe Noon
  9. Punch In The Face – RATSALAD.

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-32

Notes

I was feeling a bit listless this week until I decided to check out a new single released by Hana Eid, Waldo, but it was the re-listening of Bet that just continued us down this path of shoegazey alternative indie rock by a new generation of bands. (Bet first appeared in WILT-2025-29)

mercury, sleepazoid, ivri, Sloe Noon and RATSALAD. are all great bands to explore further, combining many musical sub-genres into a seamless tapestry of musical expression. Give it a go, I think it’d fun to catch these bands live.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-31

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 27 Jul 2025 to 2 Aug 2025.

  1. Raw Blue – Whirr
  2. Collect Sadness – Whirr
  3. Get Ur Freak On – Missy Elliott
  4. Work It – Missy Elliott
  5. RATATA – Skrillex, Missy Elliott, Mr. Oizo
  6. Nobody’s Perfect – J. Cole, Missy Elliott
  7. Anthem of Sutra – TAMIW
  8. Conditions Of My Parole – Puscifer
  9. The Remedy – Puscifer
  10. Grand Canyon – Puscifer
  11. Stutter Kiss – 2wo, Rob Halford
  12. Last Walk in the Light – Seventh Void
  13. Let’s Go – Ministry
  14. Graze – she’s green

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-31

Notes

I listened to more music by Whirr, and that somehow made me think of Japanese indie shoegaze which brought me back to this record listening coffee shop where I was listening to Erykah Badu which somehow made me think that I missed out on listening to Missy Elliott’s discography, and that’s where I find myself. 

From there, the music of TAMIW was recommended to me by an Instagram ad, and the new Puscifer compilation, In Case You Missed Us, was brought to my attention. Listening to Puscifer made me read up on some of the liner notes, and that brought Ministry bassist, Paul Barker, to my knowledge. I’d always heard of Ministry, but industrial rock was never really on constant rotation, however, I do have feel glad that I have another new discography to listen to, especially one that can be considered part of the precursors to bands like Health.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-30

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 20 Jul 2025 to 26 Jul 2025.

  1. my mind is a mountain – Deftones
  2. You’ve Seen the Butcher – Deftones
  3. Rosemary – Deftones
  4. Stare At The Void – Superheaven
  5. Uneasy – Suzy Clue
  6. Life In A Jar – Superheaven
  7. Rocket Skates – Deftones
  8. Ease – Whirr
  9. Headlines – Deftones
  10. Throw Yourself to the Sword – Die Spitz
  11. Overthrow – monopolice
  12. Sisters of Bilitis – Grails

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-30

Notes

Deftones have a new single, my mind is a mountain that they released earlier this month, and both Jenna and I are absolutely in love with how crushing the riff is, and I love how Stephen Carpenter’s guitar riff has nothing to do with the melody but everything to do with creating a tonal foundation that everything else can be built upon.

It’s so good that I had to include two more of my favourite Deftones guitar riffs, You’ve Seen The Butcher and Rosemary to celebrate this triumvirate of carnal riffage.

Beyond that, Superheaven makes a reappearance, as do new recommendations like Suzy Clue, Whirr, and Die Spitz, all who bring their own brand of sonic density.

I also got to check out monopolice’s new album, El Elefente, and the song Overthrow is a gorgeous, regal and ephemeral outpouring of catharsis.

Finally, KEXP finally featured a live studio performance of Grails, one of my all-time favourite post-rock bands. Sisters of Bilitis is from their 2023 album, Anches En Maat and features a wonderfully soaring musical arrangement, almost to a moment of euphoria.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-29

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 13 Jul 2025 to 19 Jul 2025.

  1. tell me more – AFAR
  2. After The Goldrush – Cari Cari
  3. La Luna y el Lobo (Jhon Montoya Expedition) – Matanza, Oceanvs Orientalis, Jhon Montoya
  4. Birds Leave – Little Element
  5. Real Thing – Drugdealer, Weyes Blood
  6. Bet – Hana Eid
  7. Daydrinking in Springfield – Dana and Alden
  8. 97 Jag – Kevin Abstract, Love Spells
  9. Fuck Me Eyes – Ethel Cain
  10. If You Never Left Me – Nat & Alex Wolff
  11. Deadhead – Foxwarren, Andy Shauf, Darryl Kissick
  12. No Fruit – U.S. Girls
  13. Fold – Chartreuse
  14. Say Goodbye – El Michels Affair, Florence Adooni
  15. Lanewood Pines – Brooke Combe

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-29

Notes

Almost everything from this week’s playlist came from my listen of Spotify’s All New Indie playlist except for Brooke Combe who came on as a late entrant.

Listening to the heart and creativity found in these artists does make me feel secure that humans will keep on creating something earnest and human despite the odds. Hana Eid and Brooke Combe are standouts for me in this regard.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-28

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 6 Jul 2025 to 12 Jul 2025.

  1. Floating Against Time (Wata Igarashi Shimmering Mix) – Wata Igarashi
  2. The Chain – Kerala Dust
  3. I Can’t Tell You Why – The Eagles
  4. Night Bell (Arizona) – Kerala Dust
  5. Bell – Kerala Dust

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-28

Notes

A bit of a short list because I’m currently on holiday in Japan. 

I was feeling a bit nostalgic for Kerala Dust and The Eagles’s I Can’t Tell You Why because this video came on to remind me of how good a song it was and still is.

I’m going to leave the notes as they are because my mind is in the realm of blue skies, and I’d like to continue that without excessive input.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-27

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 29 Jun 2025 to 5 Jul 2025.

  1. Out There – Dinosaur Jr.
  2. Touch, Peel and Stand – Days of the New
  3. Mexicola – Queens of the Stone Age
  4. Pardon Me – Incubus
  5. Stellar – Incubus
  6. Vasoline – Stone Temple Pilots
  7. Fresh Tendrils – Soundgarden
  8. Nutshell – Alice In Chains
  9. Evacuation – Pearl Jam
  10. To Bring You My Love – PJ Harvey
  11. Down By The Water – PJ Harvey
  12. Turnip Farm – Dinosaur Jr.
  13. Rotten Apple – Alice In Chains
  14. Plowed – Sponge
  15. Leafy Incline – Tad
  16. Volcano Girls – Veruca Salt
  17. Comedown – Bush
  18. Crazy Love – Gruntruck
  19. Graze – Live
  20. Demon Cleaner – Kyuss

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-27

Notes

I’ve made it to Tokyo, Japan for a long awaited holiday. The getting here seemed like such a long time in between work trip preparations, handover preparations, as well as anything that could be accomplished it work before I left Singapore for a much needed break. 

I don’t think I’ll be reflecting much on the week that just happened, but the listening notes I’ll leave you with are that Dinosaur Jr.’s Out There surfaced from somewhere, and I decided that I would visit and revisit some classic grunge bands and their adjacent alternative rock contemporaries to capture some sense of haze, nonchalance and aggression, as well as the tones that only bands and musicians in the nineties were able to achieve in all their glory and all their grotesqueness.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-26

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 22 Jun 2025 to 28 Jun 2025.

  1. Wood – Duval Timothy, Yu Su
  2. Plantwood (Day) – Lynn Avery, Cole Pulice
  3. Gonna Be – Rosie Lowe, Duval Timothy
  4. The Invisible Landscape – The Zenmenn
  5. Bolted Orange – Fuubutsushi
  6. Ibs – Duval Timothy
  7. Vanishing Act – Benny Bock
  8. I’ll Show You How – Cinnamon Soulettes
  9. Duvet – Laurie Torres

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-26

Notes

Duval Timothy informs this week’s playlist. A continuation from the previous week, Timothy’s Wood stood out with its gentle and poignant piano and composition, stripped bare of any distraction and thus allowing timbre to push the air and reverberate across the room. Or in this instance, a facsimile of that experience through the wonders of recording technology. 

Still, that music and the ones that came after it were a gentle accompaniment to an otherwise stress-laden week as I took off to Seoul, South Korea for a work trip that demanded most of my attention every time I was working, and allowed me to wallow in the respites in between. 

It was also my first time to Seoul, and despite the travel being work-related, it still astounds me on the opportunity I have to see the world, to experience something I would not normally seek, and to walk the bridge of another’s hospitality. The world seems smaller the more I get to walk across its land, as it is also larger as my perspective of myself shrinks in the engulfing ignorance of how much I do not know.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-25

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 15 Jun 2025 to 21 Jun 2025.

  1. I Can’t Move – Africa Express, Sibot, Mr Jukes, Moonchild Sanelly, Damon Albarn, Blue May
  2. Blow! – Joviale
  3. Groundnut – Duval Timothy, Twin Shadow
  4. Uncomfortable – SAULT
  5. High – Divine Earth
  6. Up All Night – SAULT
  7. Elegy for Love – Kit Sebastian
  8. Jackson Miles – Wildcookie, Anthony Mills, Freddie Cruger
  9. Stand Strong (Revolutionaires Position) – Reginald Omas Mamode IV
  10. Your Love – Babeheaven
  11. Next To You – Erykah Badu, The Alchemist

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-25

Notes

The week started with the listening of SAULT’s album, 10, and what was generated by the algorithm as recommendations. 

I didn’t intervene much on this playlist and let it meander into the realms of new soul, jazz, and hip hop and afro beat while I worked on was in-between commutes. 

I don’t have a lot of energy or time for reflection because I am still preparing for an upcoming work trip and the holiday preparation that comes after that, but it still feels good to be able to catalogue some of the interesting sounds that I come across week on week. If anything, every song here sounds fire to me and I will always delight in this realm of music that chooses to innovate and express with such abandon.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-24

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 8 Jun 2025 to 14 Jun 2025.

  1. Jack The Ripper – Japandroids
  2. Jack the Ripper – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
  3. Jack The Ripper – The Horrors
  4. Jack the Ripper – Morrissey
  5. Jack the Ripper – Link Wray
  6. JACK THE RIPPER – Seikima-II
  7. Jack The Ripper – Nationalteatern
  8. Jack the Ripper – Screaming Lord Sutch
  9. Jack The Ripper – That’s a NO NO!
  10. Jack-the-Ripper – UK Rampage
  11. Jack The Ripper – THE STRIKES
  12. JACK THE RIPPER – Guitar Wolf
  13. Jack the Ripper – The Fuzztones

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-24

Notes

In a rare development, there’s a theme to this week’s playlist. I won’t spoil it for you but I think you’d be able to figure it out.

Also, I’m becoming very self-conscious now, because when have I ever assumed a readership when it comes to these ramblings? But then again, if I didn’t assume that these words would be read, why would I commit them? Even if the reader was I, the writer. 

Oh for heaven’s sake.

There’s a theme to this week’s playlist, it’s bloody obvious, and everything else I’ve written thus far is a farce to which I now endeavour to create some notes about.

I do not remember the original genesis, but I think there was an attempt to explore indie rock akin to Japandroids. Listening to Japandroids inadvertently leads to my fascination with their cover of a Nick Cave song. That then spun out into this idea of, what other songs had the same title and were they all the covers of a cover of a cover? Or were they their own thing? 

In summary, it’s a combination of both, but if there was any observable thread, it’s that there is a certain frenzy that comes from evoking the spirit of the ripper.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-23

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 1 Jun 2025 to 7 Jun 2025.

  1. Hold – DjRUM
  2. Glass Beach – Dustin Wong
  3. Clock no Clock – Natural Information Society, Bitchin Bajas
  4. I’m Really Flagging (or I Trusted U) – Moin, Ben Vince
  5. Prayer For My Sovereign Dignity – Alabaster DePlume
  6. OUR GIRL MIRI J 160BPM – KHYA, Mirasia
  7. Soft Thang – 1 9 0 5, Former City Records
  8. FREAKY (JUST MY TYPE) – SHERELLE, George Riley
  9. Sex Life – Tracey, Riko Dan
  10. Andres – DJ Swisha, Kush Jones
  11. Trail – Xades
  12. TAKE YO PANTIES OFF (feat. George Riley) – HiTech, George Riley
  13. bunnyhop – 2touch
  14. Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn) – Horrendous
  15. Lost Again – J Rongson
  16. Hell Star Indie Wars – The Noise Club
  17. Scorching Heat – Radium Dolls
  18. Scar – Balancing Act
  19. Drowner – Patiently

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-23

Notes

Portions of this week’s playlist were selected from generated playlists that came from the listening of Bitchin Bajas, George Riley, and The Noise Club.

Bitcoin Bajas was brought to my attention by Dan, who I bumped into at the Yussef Dayes gig. We had not met for what seems to be a decade, but we had a really good time catching up with some other mutual friends who were also music lovers. It also brought home the sense that music recommended by something external to my own learning model, but from someone else’s assumption of me and what they project on me that I might like. That particular interaction makes me feel seen, by another human being with a desire to connect on a human level. 

It’s a matter of time before we start falling in love with software because most of the time, humans just want to connect with something, to not just feel like a speck of sentient cosmic dust.

Listening to a new track by George Riley brought me down a path of beat-laden tasty treats, some with extremely inane but hilarious lyrical content.

My wife then shared the recommendation of The Noise Club which shaped the final portion of this week’s playlist that touches on the spectrum of grunge and alt rock, all of which seem to somehow drench on melancholic emotions with equally drenched guitar tones.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-22

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 25 May 2025 to 31 May 2025.

  1. Manuva(s) – Goya Gumbani, Joe Armon-Jones,
  2. 2024 (feat. Fla$hBackS) – JJJ, Fla$hBackS
  3. Démounaj – Celia Wa
  4. Empire (feat. John Carroll Kirby) – Eddie Chacon, John Carroll Kirby
  5. Deep Breath – Soshi Takeda
  6. Are You Tired (Keep on Singing) – DARKSIDE
  7. We Don’t Need The Weather – Eli Keszler
  8. Yamayama – Mamazu
  9. Losing You – Everything Is Recorded, Sampha, Laura Groves, Jah Wobble, Yazz Ahmed
  10. It Will Get Worse – Lifeguard
  11. SLAU – DARKSIDE
  12. S.N.C – DARKSIDE
  13. Websites – Surprise Chef
  14. This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice – Mark Pritchard, Thom Yorke
  15. Lay – Leifur James
  16. under the sun, beneath the rainfall – Logic1000
  17. Bologna – Destroyer, Fiver
  18. A Tune for Us – DjRUM
  19. Feisty – Smerz
  20. Kelly Watch the Stars (Vegyn Version) – Vegyn, Air
  21. DIPAD33 / W.I.D.F.U – Saya Gray
  22. Talisman (Vegyn Version) – Vegyn, Air
  23. Cold Heart – Nilüfer Yanya
  24. Oganesson – Tortoise
  25. Invincibility – Alabaster DePlume
  26. Reframing – Barker
  27. II Remember – Maribou State
  28. Firebird – Common Saints
  29. Dreams – Common Saints
  30. Rebel Paradise – Common Saints

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-22

Notes

I broke out of the previous week’s rut by hopping onto a playlist curated by BEAMS Japan. That also paved the way toward learning that DARKSIDE had released a new album, Nothing, which in turn tuned me onto the new album by Maribou State, Hallucinating Love, as well as the interpretation of psychedelic rock by Common Saints that evokes the same warmth of the music from the late seventies. 

Other highlights from this week of listening include tracks by Barker, Lifeguard, Sushi Takeda, and more.

Outside of the music on Spotify, there were also explorations towards tastemakers on YouTube like revisiting John Digweed’s Transitions series, to which I’d point out a brilliant setlist in Transitions #1081 as well as a set by one of Singapore’s foremost progressive house DJs, Aldrin, at Therapy Room.

After not listening for a week, I do wonder, Why do I still listen? Why do I still write? Do I find that I need a place to collect these cultural anecdotes, or curate a version of Singapore that I want to know or to introduce to non-Singaporeans with similar tastes to myself? Is this exercise simply an exercise to connect through music, even though I’d also like to just vibe out and not get into anything too overcommitted.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-21

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 18 May 2025 to 24 May 2025.

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-21

Notes

A week has passed and there was nothing of interest that came along. I admit, I wasn’t the most inspired this past week. Everything sort of came and went, and I wished I were more present, but I felt rather disassociated the whole of last week.

Pity though, this week’s playlist art is somewhat pleasant.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-20

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 11 May 2025 to 17 May 2025.

  1. Silk Dub – Move D
  2. Gate 2 – Upwellings
  3. Kingston – Rod Modell
  4. Blinde Side – Claro Intelecto
  5. First Storm (Original Mix) – Upwellings
  6. Sunrise – Satoshi Tomiie, Dopeus
  7. L’entraide (Variation) – Zzzzra
  8. Starlight (Echospace Unreleased Mix) – Model 500
  9. Sedsumting – oOoOO
  10. Burnout Eyess (Vision Of Trees Remix) – oOoOO, Vision Of Trees

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-20

Notes

I was drawn to the idea of Satoshi Tomiie’s music due to a combination of nostalgia and a revisiting of updated and contemporary genre nomenclature like “dub techno” and “ambient techno”. 

The same style of beats that would greet me at nightclubs like Zouk before euphoria set in are now an alternative to the binaural beats that I rely on to get me into a state of productivity. One state allows me to experience humanity, and the other allows me to experience humanity, both through the release of dopamine, just at various rates.

I might be revisiting more of the music that came out of Tomiie’s stomping grounds from the last 15 years because that’s always something that’s been in my rearview, but it’s also been developing in its own way, and somehow I think it’s also the type of music that I can take with me into my idea of the future, and the excitement and idea that music continues to progress and develop in its own way that isn’t necessarily what you find in dogmatic trends and enclaves.

I also managed to discover the music of oOoOO that is also classified by some as “witch house”, to which I will just scribble onto my notebook if I ever needed to do more research into the style of music.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-19

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 4 May 2025 to 10 May 2025.

  1. A Trip To Blogatanga – African Head Charge
  2. Achibaba – Les Filles de Illighadad
  3. I Chant Too – African Head Charge
  4. Asalatua – African Head Charge
  5. Passing Clouds – African Head Charge
  6. Open the Gates – Irreversible Entanglements, Moor Mother
  7. Stebeni’s Theme – African Head Charge
  8. DESTEJER – Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, Frank Rosaly
  9. Free Chant (Churchical Chant Of The lyabinghi) – African Head Charge
  10. Stella Marina – Charif Megarbane
  11. Dense – Khalab, Tommaso Cappellato, Shabaka
  12. Pinc Sunset (Wrongtom Remix) – Huw Marc Bennett, Cleo Savva, Angela Christofilou, Wrongtom
  13. Heaven is a State of Mind – Pictureplane
  14. Sopratutto – Nicolini
  15. Blue Monday – HEALTH

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-19

Notes

I’m not quite sure why African Head Charge first came on my radar again but I have no complaints about it. It was enough to set me off into a direction of afrobeat territories and adjacent, with some latin jazz and afrojazz in the mix. Ultimately, it somehow landed in the territory of dub to which I was very eager for more as a way to slow down and be more present in the groove. 

The spell was broken when I put on the new single by HEALTH and Chelsea Wolfe which ultimately opened a portal into the realm of synth-wave, no-wave and post-punk.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-18

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 27 Apr 2025 to 3 May 2025.

  1. Eri Rimse – Umeko Ando
  2. Saranpe – Umeko Ando
  3. Remember Me – Leslie Parrish
  4. around the world (Dave Rodgers remix) – m.o.v.e
  5. NIGHT FEVER – Dave Rodgers, MEGA NRG MAN

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-18

Notes

I apologise in advance for the sheer dissonance for the choices made in this week’s playlist inclusions, but I suppose that in itself was a journey that left across any logic apart from a whim.

We start of the week with Umeko Ando, and Ainu singer who was brought to my attention through Vaatividya’s video, 25 Surprising Secrets in Elden Ring! in the chapter, Hymn of the Bats. Sadly, Ainu is also a language facing extinction and who knows how it may be preserved.

I then had a desire to explore the genre of Eurobeat because of all the deja vu drifting memes, my favourite being the one where a Mazda Miata winks at the camera before drifting off. This leads down a road of high bpm synthesiser compositions that give a sense of high energy and rose-coloured nostalgia of the late nineties and early noughts.

Other than the sheer obnoxiousness of this curation, it was also Singapore’s general election over the weekend and it’s probably the election that I did the most reading up on to better understanding who I was voting for, why I was voting for them, and my own relationship to the society I’m plugged into.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-17

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 20 Apr 2025 to 26 Apr 2025.

  1. Youth Body Swayed – Insect Ark
  2. Cleaven Hearted – Insect Ark
  3. Living the Eternal Now – Spaceslug
  4. Dread – REZN
  5. Omniscient Messiah – Sons of Arrakis
  6. Magellanic Clouds – Savanah
  7. Arc Debris – Forming the Void
  8. SpaceRunner – Spaceslug
  9. Shadow Command – Restless Spirit
  10. Haunted – Restless Spirit
  11. Save Me – Emma-Jean Thackray
  12. Tofu – Emma-Jean Thackray
  13. Fried Rice – Emma-Jean Thackray
  14. Where’d You Go – Emma-Jean Thackray

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-17

Notes

This week’s playlist came about from listening to two albums, Restless Spirit’s Blood of the Old Gods (2021) and Insect Ark’s Raw Blood Singing (2024). These two albums really stood out as I was exploring deeper into both bands because of how much their music stood out to me in the previous playlist.

The rest of the playlist is made up of other bands from the desert rock or heavy rock genres that are adjacent to Restless Spirit, as well as songs from Emma-Jean Thackray’s new album, Weirdo (2025)

All in all, I really enjoyed re-exploring these rock, sludge, and noise sub-genres, as well as the progressive jazz direction that Thackray is digging into. Let’s hope the taste of music continues to be something unctuous to all our palettes.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-16

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 13 Apr 2025 to 19 Apr 2025.

  1. Dominion – Restless Spirit
  2. Forgotten Tale – Daevar
  3. The Hands – Insect Ark
  4. Horses – My Diligence

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-16

Notes

I have another short playlist because of a rather short listening week. 

I think we went into more stoner, drone and sludge territory this week. Restless Spirit, Daevar, Insect Ark, and My Diligence all bring a certain appreciation of the expansiveness of letting some distortion ring a bit longer that walks the line between pleasure and pain.

The work week was quite intense despite being a short one due to Good Friday and Easter, so that meant less attention for active listening because I really needed my aural aids to help with keeping my attention and focus. 

Despite all that, it was good to discover new bands within the genre that I can include on rotation for future rounds.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-15

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 6 Apr 2025 to 12 Apr 2025.

  1. Oblivious / Obnoxious / Defiant – Chapel of Disease
  2. Calice – Grin
  3. The Potato – Oscar Jerome

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-15

Notes

A very short playlist this week. 

Here’s how it happened.

I wanted to listen to more Chapel of Disease because I really enjoyed discovering them the previous week. There is a good balance of black and death metal, but also peppered with big blues rock solos which sounds extremely weird, but it does scratch a weird scab of an itch.

That led to the discovery of Grin, which I am really enjoying for its big, dark, and twisted sounds that pummels itself into your psychic core.

And finally, Oscar Jerome’s new album, The Fork, is out now, I’ve also been enjoying the listens so far. It’s more “jammy” than his previous effort, but I’m always in favour of good grooves.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-14

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 30 Mar 2025 to 5 Apr 2025.

  1. Inner Paths (To Outer Space) – Blood Incantation
  2. Abscission – Deathspell Omega
  3. Charnel Rifts – Black Curse
  4. Visceral Ends – Ulcerate
  5. Void of Words – Chapel of Disease
  6. Sybelius – Blut Aus Nord
  7. 1.000 Different Paths – Chapel of Disease
  8. The presence of a being, whose interest in our endeavor is ephemeral and rarely believed, speaks imperceptibly in the space in between our breaths – Rejoice! The Light Has Come
  9. By Virtue of a Promise – Sweven

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-14

Notes

This week is an exploration into black metal, death metal, and the progression between them. 

I started the week being reminded of the band, Horrendous, which then brought Sweven into my rotation, and that in turn led me down some paths that I wished I’d either gone down earlier, or spent more time with.

There’s something in the sheer carnality of the riffage that is explored in these genres, as well as the dissonant brutality of the arrangements and techniques. There is a whole world of expression to explore when adherence to listenability is thrown out the window, which in turn ironically makes something more listenable because the listener was tired of listening.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-13

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 23 Mar 2025 to 29 Mar 2025.

  1. Colonial Mentality (Live) – Kokoroko, Sheila Maurice-Grey, Richie Seivwright, Oscar Laurence, Mutale Chashi, Onome Edgeworth, Ayo Salawu
  2. Brockley – Theon Cross
  3. Nikinakinu – Greg Foat
  4. Maybe Nowhere – Emma-Jean Thackray
  5. Sweet Chestnut – Scrimshire
  6. Biblio – Okonski
  7. La cumbia me está llamando – Nubya Garcia, La Perla, Kaidi Tatham
  8. Mam Pe’ela Su’ure – Florence Adooni

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-13

Notes

I believe I started the week by listening to Theon Cross, because Thomas and I were trading notes on music, and the focus was on jazz, blues, and soul music. That foray into Theon Cross inadvertently opens doors into a realm of jazz that always excites me, with many progressive and experimental ideas, as well as seamless blending with many other musical styles both from the musical history as well as contemporary influences.

The new single by Emma-Jean Thackray, Maybe Nowhere, also sounds extremely promising and I look forward to her new album that should be releasing soon.

The last leg of this playlist takes us into the realm of afrobeat, which is always a welcome style toward any playlist with jazz-leanings. The two genres are definitely intertwined, and afrobeat is both a great grounding as well as launchpad toward showcasing the potential of music’s more progressive energy, flitting just outside outside the boundaries of known universes. I also welcome back the re-discovery of Florence Adooni’s music whose vocal prowess and indelible energy make her brand of frafra gospel an instant pick me up and pause from the weight of any day.

This week, I also walked Chestnut Nature Park with Rudi, and it might be one of my favourite trails in Singapore because of its balance of trail walking, natural features and walking ease.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-12

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 16 Mar 2025 to 22 Mar 2025.

  1. Eternal – TOKiMONSTA
  2. Flash – WheelUP, Abacus
  3. LIFE ON THE BLUE LINE – MoMa Ready
  4. Tao – Demuja
  5. Knows – Mietze Conte
  6. Can You – 박혜진 Park Hye Jin
  7. i i i i am am am am – FREE JIMI
  8. That Time Has Passed – Harpsichord Canvas, Orchid Mantis
  9. In The After Hours – No_4mat
  10. I can relate – Resonara
  11. luvdub – NEW YORK, Lulu
  12. Break Free – ESP
  13. Aurora – Quiet Light
  14. AMNESIA – goneMUNE
  15. pretty in the dark – goneMUNE
  16. Busy – Whirr
  17. Sonic Angel – Sunken
  18. Theremini – Throwing Muses
  19. underneath it all – insomniac, Sipper
  20. Slip – Womb
  21. no one could see me – flexinvent, khxznq, yourshxbx
  22. Chance – Roomer
  23. if i smile i’ll be okay – subtle life enthusiast
  24. don’t you let the wheels scream! – Swirl Circuit, Cross Kristoff
  25. CHEW – cleopatrick
  26. An Embroidery – Clarissa Connelly
  27. 5 – Dean Blunt, Elias Rønnenfelt
  28. Flames shard goo – ML Buch
  29. 11 – Horse Vision
  30. Clayboy – RIP Swirl, Ydegirl

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-12

Notes

I didn’t really know how this week’s playlist was going to turn out, but then a new track by TOKiMONSTA, Eternal, showed up on Spotify’s home page and I decided to check that out. This then led down several rabbit holes to which I will attempt to retrace the steps as to how I got there. Eternal brought me down a pathway of soulful electronic beats, something that has been missing in my listening orbits of late, as well as what I knew of TOKiMONSTA’s released work of late. I gravitated to this quite naturally.

I think the first deviation was when I came across knows by Mietze Conte, and I was just really taken by the very simple guitar riffs with the treble rolled off. It definitely felt refreshing as I had avoided this type of music, whether consciously or unconsciously.

This pathway then led me down many independent producers with standout sounds and sonic boards that travelled across a wide spectrum of genres. For example, there are the synth wails of I can relate by Resonara, or the pounding progressive tech house of In The After Hours by no_4mat. However, it was probably the avant beats of NEW YORK and Lulu in luvdub, or the dreamy soundscapes of Quiet Light’s Aurora that reminded me to check out some new material by Singapore’s goneMUNE, who released Amnesia in the last two weeks, to which it is a welcomed foray into the dark parts of synth wave that easily draws those kindred together. 

That path then led to more indie-adjacent music, of which standouts include Chance by Roomer, a wonderfully delicate and slow guitar-based number reminiscent of Low, and with a particularly daring bass line that is evoked more by tone just because of how drone-y they made it. 

I was also quite taken by Womb’s Slip, with a guitar riff that’s reminiscent of The Cure’s Lullaby, but with a vocal melody that’s both aching and angelic, and with an entire arrangement that both salves and rips apart the stitches on your heart.

Well, that journey goes on till we get to Clarissa Connelly’s An Embrodiery, but somewhere near the end of the week, Spotify surfaces a playlist called called Cph+, which allows one to experience the alternative sounds coming out of Copenhagen and perhaps some other parts of the nordics. 

This playlist made me both happy and sad, in that it’s great that there is so many other forms of expression around the world, but but melancholic because the country that I call home has not invested in nurturing our artists or our desire for expression.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-11

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 9 Mar 2025 to 15 Mar 2025.

  1. I Wanna Be a Star – 박혜진 Park Hye Jin
  2. See so (I Can Hear Your Heart) – 박혜진 Park Hye Jin
  3. In Your System – AceMo
  4. I’m Sad but Not Crying – 박혜진 Park Hye Jin
  5. First Floor – Ruff Stuff
  6. ORGAN DANCE – MoMa Ready
  7. Kit Kat Kot – Miss J.C. Jo, Silver Jeffi
  8. ABC – 박혜진 Park Hye Jin
  9. GHX – Mytron, Zongamin
  10. PASHU (Slowed) – MVTRIIIX, M2K
  11. Hope Is On The Horizon (Instrumental) – Fred Everything
  12. A Way Out – Moomin
  13. 08932168 – Mytron, Zongamin
  14. Shut up Give Me Kiss – 박혜진 Park Hye Jin
  15. Calliope Omniglot – Mytron, Zongamin

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-11

Notes

This week’s listening sort of revolved around 박혜진 Park Hye Jin, a South Korean producer and rapper that’s been in my orbit for the past few years. However, this was the week that I put one of her albums front to back and along with it came a slew of other similar tracks flitting around similar stylings of minimal house beats and some tech house (maybe).

Other standouts this week include Mytron, Zongamin, Ruff Stuff, and MoMa Ready.

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What I Listened To: WILT_2025-10

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 2 Mar 2025 to 8 Mar 2025.

  1. 7/4 (Shoreline) – Broken Social Scene
  2. Stay Happy – Broken Social Scene
  3. Can’t Find My Heart – Broken Social Scene
  4. Torches Together – mewithoutYou
  5. Punk as Fuck – The American Analog Set
  6. Tal Uno – Barrie
  7. The Dryness And The Rain – mewithoutYou
  8. Disaster Tourism – mewithoutYou
  9. Carousels – mewithoutYou
  10. Backseat Crew – Native
  11. Red Cow – mewithoutYou
  12. Under The Moon – No Knife
  13. Line In The Sand – Q And Not You

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-10

Notes

I had a yearning for Broken Social Scene’s 7/4 (Shoreline) because it felt like I had forgotten what indie rock sounded like. By no means is this song representative of the genre, but it does represent something in me, perhaps a a switch turning on toward the manic-ness or effervescence that can sometimes permeate into genres that just make certain kinds of music more engaging than just playing the formula.

Broken Social Scene led to mewithoutYou, who approach guitar-based rock music in their own capacity and interpretation. I’ve always been a fan, and this week was a good revisit into their first two albums, as well as some of their later work.

WILT_2025-09

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-09

WILT_2025-09

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 23 Feb 2025 to 1 Mar 2025.

  1. RAINY HEART – Kingo Hamada
  2. Crush – Beckett
  3. Don’t Get Me Started (James Holden Remix) – The Smile, James Holden
  4. Inside – Salami Rose Joe Louis
  5. Steady – Daniel Brandt
  6. Skipping – Pat’s Soundhouse
  7. Seasonal Disorder – Martin Jarl
  8. 抱かれに来た女 – Kingo Hamada
  9. WASTED SUMMER LOVE – Kingo Hamada
  10. シャワールームのある風景 – Kingo Hamada
  11. GIRLS – Kingo Hamada
  12. Slow Nights – Tomoko Aran
  13. Kimi ha 1000% – 1986 OMEGA TRIBE
  14. Must Be Lucky 〜愛の国へ〜 – Cindy
  15. JAPANESE WOMAN – Bread And Butter
  16. Otoko to Onna – Junko Ohashi
  17. It Will Be Gone – Elori Saxl

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-09

Notes

RAINY HEART by Kingo Hamada came out of nowhere and it was an instant joy to my ears and sensibilities because of its strong syncopations and horn flourishes. As a bass player, the respect for the pocket is so apparent and bound to make any groove lovers locked in for the duration of the song.

There was also some delving into electronic beats inspired by Burial, because I needed yet more stimulation and accompaniment while at work. Those leanings led to discoveries of the James Holden remix of The Smile’s Don’t Get Me Started, which is a frenetic rhythmic tryst, Salami Rose Joe Louis’s Insidewhich sucks you into a swirling arpeggiated synth pool, and Daniel Brandt’s Steady, with its droning 8-note bass line driving an ethereal fever dream of beats, synths and all sorts of bloop.

Pockets of ephemerality also set in with pieces by Pat’s Soundhouse and Martin Jarl, both of which create music and moods that permeate any state or any space. 

Somehow, the playlist then shifts gears back towards the city pop beginnings of Kingo Hamada, or rather, the type of Japanese new pop from the 1980s to the 1990s that fused rock, jazz, r&b and pop into a musical fusion that distilled the precision of each genre and alchemised a hyper-focused celebration of almost clinical groove and musicianship that listens like a concentrated concoction of groovy-berry juice.

I didn’t expect to go down this hard with city-pop for this playlist, but it was a welcomed change of pace. Apart from Kingo Hamada’s work, some of these grooves go extremely hard, like Bread and Butter’s Japanese Woman and Junko Ohashi’s Otoko to Onna or they go buttery smooth like Tomoko Aran’s Slow Nights, and yet you can kind of tell that they come from a similar period of musical innovation and excitement.

WILT_2025-08

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-08

WILT_2025-08

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 16 Feb 2025 to 22 Feb 2025.

  1. Just Dreams – Alfa Mist, Amika Quartet
  2. Symphony No. 1 in E Minor: I. Allegro ma non troppo – Florence Beatrice Price, Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  3. Radiance III – Basic Channel
  4. Dael – Autechre
  5. My Red Hot Car – Squarepusher
  6. Tha – Aphex Twin
  7. Carn Marth – Aphex Twin
  8. Cryo – Oneohtrix Point Never
  9. Yellow Calx – Aphex Twin
  10. Smokes Quantity – Boards of Canada
  11. Kodomotachi – Susumu Yokota
  12. Sea-Watch – Floating Points
  13. lambic 5 Poetry – Squarepusher

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-08

Notes

I was curious about the representation of black artists in the classical realm, and yes, it is a somewhat rare occurrence. However, that also did lead me down a path of Yuseff Dayes’s 2023 album, Black Classical Music, which is more jazz, but it does incorporate some classical stylings and arrangements. Despite the under-representation, there were black composers like Florence Beatrice Price who did contribute to the history of music, and they also had to navigate the racial boundaries and stereotypes of music that were apparent then as they are now. 

The next section of the playlist had to do with how I was having trouble concentrating at work and if I were being honest, I was slightly bored of the procedural binaural beats and frequencies. I had a flash of inspiration that some of the ambient freneticism of Aphex Twin and other similar artists might be a good accompaniment and it was just the right amount of busyness and calm that accompanied deep work so well and effectively for me.

WILT_2025-07

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-07

WILT_2025-07

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 9 Feb 2025 to 15 Feb 2025.

  1. Hoxa Sound – Erland Cooper
  2. Coriolis – Penguin Cafe
  3. sony dcr-trv120 – iuky
  4. plague dogs – oklou
  5. Amber Waves – Ethel Cain
  6. Floating On A Moment – Beth Gibbons
  7. Looming – Rival Consoles

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-07

Notes

I’m not entirely sure where this is headed.

The week sort of came and went, in a flash of work, responsibilities, and physical workouts. I’ve somehow come out the end of it spent, yet I know that I was there for others, but I don’t really know what was needed for myself.

The week’s music choices reflect a little on the quiet that I seek, to perhaps take some time for myself and to be by myself in a sort of non-expectant state. Perhaps I need to try that out for myself with more intent.

WILT_2025-06

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-06

WILT_2025-06

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 2 Feb 2025 to 8 Feb 2025.

  1. Allegra – Hania Rani
  2. Struggle – Hania Rani
  3. Dreamy – Hania Rani
  4. superloved – iuky
  5. sexo virtual ❤ – Dinamarca, AKRIILA
  6. favorita – Dinamarca, AMORE
  7. casandra – Dinamarca, Irenegarry

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-06

Notes

This week was somewhat lacklustre in that there were quite a few work challenges, so I was not particularly in a frame of mind to fully enjoy what I was listening to, nor did I carve out any time for myself dedicated to active listening. 

Having said that, Hania Rani was recommended to me and while I was fairly certain that I had come across her music before, the records in this journal inform me otherwise. Still, Rani’s music was a welcome salve to some of the dull aches inflicted on me this week.

I also came across the music of iuky and Dinamarca, which came about because I started revisiting the music coming out of South America after I learned the musical term, “Calypso beat”, from my friend, Thomas. It was great to finally have a technical label for the style of music that had been an impact on me from the previous year.

Lastly, other anecdotes from this week include watching Generation Kill (2008), a 7-episode mini-series set during the beginning of the 2023 invasion of Iraq. I think what really drew me into the series was the utter banality of the non-combat scenarios, the motivations of an industrial military complex, and the radio chatter and voice procedures that task the watcher with piecing together information based on what’s being said. To me, it’s one of the more realistic portrayals of war or conflict, in that despite what grand designs propaganda will tell us, for boots on the ground, they all tend to be feeling one part of the elephant.

Another anecdote is that I’ve been nursing a strain on my major and minor pectoralis for the past two weeks. It is an odd sensation in that I have almost full range of motion until I don’t. It’s one of those muscle groups that act as a starting source for most movement, but because the effort is distributed to other muscle groups, the pectorals don’t feel the strain until they do.

Yeah, systems are kinda cool.

WILT_2025-05

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-05

WILT_2025-05

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 26 Jan 2025 to 1 Feb 2025.

  1. Good-Bye – 板橋文夫 (Fumio Itabashi)
  2. Aprieta – Vincen Garcia
  3. Bird – LEENALCHI
  4. Tiger is Coming – LEENALCHI
  5. Hihi Haha – LEENALCHI
  6. Crying Softshell Turtle – LEENALCHI
  7. Oppressed – yuragi
  8. To Know You As You Are With No Ends – yuragi
  9. soon – yuragi
  10. Waters of March – John Roseboro, Mei Semones
  11. Tegami – Mei Semones
  12. Inaka – Mei Semones

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-05

Notes

I spent the first of of the week in Penang to visit my Father-in-law’s family for the Lunar New Year reunion dinner, and spent the next half of the week back in Singapore being with my side of the family as well as having a short rest by being away from the office.

Musically, I stumbled upon previous albums that I had saved on my Spotify account’s offline mode and landed on listening to 板橋文夫 (Fumio Itabashi) on the plane. The relentless piano playing definitely imprinted something on me.

I came across Vincen Garcia’s Aprieta through a YouTube video recommendation, and I also checked out the music of LEENALCHI after coming across an ad promoting their upcoming performance at the Esplanade on 22 February 2025. I’m definitely intrigued by the sounds that they are presenting, fusing an updated version of Parklife-esque brit/indie-pop with pansori-style singing.

yuragi I was curious about after listening to To Know You As You Are With No Ends, particularly because of the quiet that instil in their sonicscapes, and lastly Mei Semones, whom I had come across recommended on Instagram reels, and I was very curious about her jazz-inspired indie folk. 

All in all, music remains exciting with a new guard pushing forward earnestly with new forms of expression.

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-04

WILT_2025-04

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 19 Jan 2025 to 25 Jan 2025.

  1. Demon State – The Observatory, Koichi Shimizu
  2. Lichen – The Observatory, Koichi Shimizu
  3. Imprisoned Mind, The Observatory, Koichi Shimizu
  4. Look – David Alfred
  5. Now Transiet – FLOCKS
  6. Not Today – Ben Kenney
  7. Robots II – The Band Royale
  8. Jura – Brontide
  9. Alec Baldwin’s Hair – Cleft
  10. Undone – PÆRISH
  11. Sink – Animal Flag
  12. Oh Well – Middle Class Rut
  13. Aftertouch – Ben Kenney
  14. Shot Down – Nine Black Alps
  15. Tough Girl – Open Hand

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-04

Notes

In continuation from the previous week, I was wondering what the parallel to Erased Tapes in Singapore could be and I had to land on Ujikaji Records and The Observatory. Not that they sounded similar, but more of a pioneering spirit when it comes to composing and performing music. If there’s any freedom to be had in Singapore toward creating more free-wheeling expression devoid of audience or market expectation, perhaps this music embraces it somewhat. Exploring music for the sake of music itself, or the pursuit of some idea and the obsession to see it through. Who knows? I’ll admit I haven’t studied it enough, nor am I currently in a mental state where I am desiring to be speak on anything grounded in reality. 

The next part of the playlist comes from seeing that Ben Kenney had recently released a new song, Fires. Kenny was quite an inspiration to me as a bass player, particularly on his work in Incubus’s later discography. It also always astounded how much of a multi-instrumentalist he was, and in his solo pursuits, how he explored melding both rock and soul together, but not in a Lenny Kravitz up-strokey way, but in a more psychedelic way that also celebrated some level of precision. 

Surprisingly, that pathway led to a bunch of other bands that were approaching guitar rock from a more textural and rhythmic angle, similar to what Kenney was also attempting. The Band Royale stands most similar in this endeavour, and there is something fundamental about their musical approach that intrigues me, that takes me back both to my youth, but also reveals some sort of window into an alternate timeline when alternative rock was more mainstream and more celebrated.

WILT_2025-03

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-03

WILT_2025-03

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 12 Jan 2025 to 18 Jan 2025.

  1. -. — … – . .–. — -. .– .. -. –. (NOSTEPONWING) // . .－. .－ … . －.. (ERASED)
  2. -.-. — .-.. — ..- .-. ..-. .. . .-.. -.. … (COLOURFIELDS) // . .－. .－ … . －.. (ERASED)
  3. — .- – .. -.-. (MATIC) // . .－. .－ … . －.. (ERASED)
  4. No Step On Wing – Nils Frahm
  5. VII: COLOUR FIELDS – Bell Orchestre
  6. Matic – Qasim Naqvi
  7. Brutal Moderna – Qasim Naqvi
  8. Ritual Song – Rival Consoles
  9. Zebra – Kiasmos, Högni
  10. Pending – Ben Lukas Boysen
  11. Bel Tono – Anne Müller
  12. Spaceship Magical – Masayoshi Fujita
  13. Melodica – Rival Consoles
  14. Black White Felt – Roedelius, Arnold Kasar
  15. Opal – Felix Rösch
  16. Your Name Is My Infinite – Gigi Masin
  17. Aqualung, Motherfucker – A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Adam Wiltzie, Dustin O’Halloran
  18. To Speak Of Solitude – Brambles
  19. U Should Not Be Doing That – Amyl and The Sniffers
  20. Do It Do It – Amyl and The Sniffers
  21. Pure At The Heart – Warmduscher, Janet Planet
  22. Pull It Off – Hank
  23. Walking Wires – High Vis
  24. You Can’t Relate – SNOWMEN
  25. Ode To Clio – Man/Woman/Chainsaw
  26. baethoven – Ekko Astral
  27. Pretty Girls – Honeyglaze
  28. this is my california – mary in the junkyard

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-03

Notes

The listlessness from the previous week continued and thus I sought the out music of the more ambient variety to envelope the listening mind with tones, rhythms, timbres and sounds that sound like dust particles frozen by light. I sought out the stillness and the movement of air. 

I found it with a revisiting of . .－. .－ … . －.., a project released by the Erased Tapes label during the COVID lockdown in 2021. [ERATP130] I journaled about them in WILT_2021-01 [Link], but this time I used a morse code translator to figure out what the codes meant, and seeing as how everything was a curation of songs and artists from the label, it’s an interesting concept to mask everything behind a code to let the music attain a new sort of meaning that is divorced from what contextualised it in the first place.

This journey then led to an exploration of another compilation by Erased Tapes, 2018’s Erased Tapes 1+1=X [Link to Spotify] [Link to ERATP100] as well as algorithmic recommendations of the ambient and classical kind.

A chance viewing of Amyl and The Sniffers performing U Should Not Be Doing That live on Jools Holland [Link to YouTube] lurched me out of this stupor. Obviously the performance was spellbinding, and if I could summarise it for myself, it would be as if I were watching Iggy Pop and The Stooges but for a more current generation. 

That flung the doors right open for more attitude-filled rock with a certain sensitivity and sensibility that appreciate in my (hopefully) more wisened years. Where the feminine because more masculine, and the masculine becomes more feminine, where the ideals become more blended and the roles not so fixed or constructed. There just seems to be a lot more excitement in the tones between frets when there aren’t any frets. That’s when music becomes exciting. 

Almost every artist in this week’s playlist deserves to be put on some sort of attention-list as this is turned out to be a engaging soiree to the current genres of indie / alt rock and ambient electronica.

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-02

WILT_2025-02

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 5 Jan 2025 to 11 Jan 2025.

  1. Subtractive Skies – Steve Hauschildt
  2. Beep Street – Squarepusher
  3. Fly – Tujiko Noriko
  4. Forcasa 3 – Bola
  5. An Everest Death Situation – ||||||||||||||||||||
  6. lux – The Surrealist, DARK
  7. Perla – Oora
  8. The Last Picture I Took – Martin Glass
  9. Luft – Keinseier
  10. em2500 M253X (London 03.06.17) – Aphex Twin

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-02

Notes

There was something getting in the way to my brain’s processing centre this past week. Every time I tried to access it to perform a task, it would be blocked the idea of failure, or toward the sheer daunting-ness of the task at hand. I face these thoughts pretty often, and the only two options I have in front of me are to either avoid them altogether, or face them straight on. 

Facing these obstacles usually means needing to prime my brain into a state of focus and non-judgement. For that to happen, certain rituals need to take place, if perhaps to center one-self, and enter a more meditative state of work.

In doing so, I sought out music that scratched a certain part of my psyche, that deeply dug into the blockers that had burrowed their way into my reward and pleasure centres, and I had to find some way to normalise and balance the chemicals just so that I could function again.

What I Listened To: WILT_2025-01

WILT_2025-01

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 29 Dec 2024 to 4 Jan 2025.

  1. Bella – Jerskin Fendrix
  2. Duncan and Martha – Jerskin Fendrix
  3. Alexandria – Jerskin Fendrix
  4. I’ll Wait for it – Jerskin Fendrix
  5. We’ll live through the long, long days, and through the long nights (Oto) – Eiko Ishibashi
  6. I Remember You – Christopher Bear, Daniel Rossen
  7. 193193 (For Marimba) – Chino Yoshio
  8. wreck – Rei Harakami
  9. falling in love with a new york pigeon – Birb
  10. small fish drowns in the big city – Birb
  11. Following the Clock to Sleep – Oberhofer

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2025-01

Notes

So we crossed into 2025 in the middle of the week. If anything, it was a good break away from work and I was able to have one before returning back to work on the new year. 

We watched Poor Things (2023) by director, Yorgos Lanthimos, on either New Year’s Eve, or the day before, and it was a wonderfully witty science fiction film with an awe-inspiring and unnerving soundtrack courtesy of Jerskin Fendrix. This pathway led to the rest of the week’s listening journey, exploring composition and arrangement from various composers, typically more of the ambient type as the music strives to convey a mood or emotion, versus a scenario or a story. Perhaps.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-00

WILT_2024-00

A playlist of songs that intrigued me every week from Sunday to Saturday for 52 weeks. Year of 2024.

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-00

Notes

The end of another calendar year is upon us, and that means another 52 entries have been written into this music listening and journaling project. Doing this has helped me make sense of the music I listen to, but more importantly, it has helped me make some sense of the time that I’ve lived through.

Doing this for the past year has shown me that music is still a fascinating medium with plenty of amazing artists and craft-folk pursuing a standard that only they know and only they keep. That there is still any number of pathways to experience and enter, any any number of pathways to express and innovate. To compose and perform is one part of the communion as the the act of listening and moving comprise the other part. If for a brief moment, the air between us electrifies, and stirs the spirit toward something more than just survival and maybe to something that wrestles with chaos and imposes our own imprint of order toward this haphazard universe.

Thank you for the support of your readership and listenership. If you’re here yesterday, today, or tomorrow, may we all find joy in the things that lift us and others up.

According to Spotify’s 2024 Wrapped–

I listened to:

  • 5,938 songs
  • 30,500 minutes of music
  • 3,679 artists

My top songs:

  1. POPPER! – AKRILLA, TAICHU
  2. How Do I Know? – Body of Light
  3. Finish In Silence – LSSNS
  4. Under The Magnolia Tree – Pale Jay
  5. Blue Tuesday – Francis of Delirium

My top artists:

  1. Sam Gendel
  2. AKRILLA
  3. Ryuichi Sakamoto
  4. Whitney Houston
  5. The Smile

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-52

WILT_2024-52

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 22 Dec 2024 to 28 Dec 2024.

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-52

Notes

I couldn’t really bring myself to listen to any music this week. Not particularly for any reason other than that I was on annual leave and that I chose to catch up on other forms of media besides music.

As the week progressed, a thought took root and that was around the idea that one of the entries for this year would include an empty list. What would it mean to publish a post without said playlist? But that would be somewhat accurate, because what did I actually listen to this week? There were some throwaway moments but nothing that really stood out. Other sounds took over, ones that weren’t music serving as a distraction, but the sound bridge that connects us to the world and to each other. Making sense of different rhythms and melodies, to an arrangement that has yet to reveal a meaning to me.

So there goes another year. And as the final entry to the 2024 edition, perhaps this could be a bookend to challenge against the self-imposed rules and structures, to perhaps be unafraid to listen to nothing if nothing is what you need.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-51

WILT_2024-51

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 15 Dec 2024 to 21 Dec 2024.

  1. Right Right Right (Paris) – Nils Frahm
  2. Briefly (Paris) – Nils Frahm
  3. To The Moon – Shabaka, André 3000
  4. Lighter – Nils Frahm
  5. Desert Belly – Oscar Jerome
  6. Arctic Lover’s Rock Pt. 1 – Tim Hecker

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-51

Notes

There isn’t much to be said because there wasn’t much to be heard. I was feeling all sorts of anxious and so I sought out the music of Nils Frahm, wondering if the introspection might lend any sort of relief and balm. Alas, there was nothing of the sort as time just seemed to pass, listless as ever, moments that went by unrecorded, moments that went by as moments do. 

I thought I would explore more, but there was nary an intrepid bone in me this week. 

One more week, one more year.

Annecdote: I did find some solace in the end.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-50

WILT_2024-50

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 8 Dec 2024 to 14 Dec 2024.

  1. Goodbye Subtlety – Baby Combat
  2. Calling Youth – Baby Combat
  3. 10K – Sunken
  4. Kilroy – Bleem
  5. Doctor – Auden
  6. Own Best Friend – Love of Everything
  7. Deeper We Fall – Baby Combat
  8. Ten Times Fold – Baby Combat

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-50

Notes

I saw that my friend, Baby Combat, had released a new single titled Goodbye Subtlety, to which he also stated that the lyrics were referencing from the times before his sobriety where he’d find himself passed out in public spaces as well as the sense of excitement of drinking to excess. As someone who also heard the first-hand account of the motivations and experience of becoming sober, as well as some who navigates his own relationship with alcohol, this one was a bit of a spotlight to hear a friend out who was chronicling their own thoughts on the matter, as well as appreciating the prolificness of a creative individual who is somehow able to put music to words and words to music, multiplying the meaning and joy that comes with living and loving.

There’s a lot more Baby Combat on this playlist because I was just having a ton of fun listening to songs back to back and for some extended periods of time. The songs I’ve chosen to highlight showcase the sense of fun, abandon, and maximum feeling that I remember when I was playing in the same band as him. They also showcase a much deeper introspection and assuredness of vision to convey rather deep emotion, but in a manner that is almost universal. In some sense, anybody’s who felt sad will feel sad, but they might never have felt sad that way, and Baby Combat’s music and songwriting is the sort of emotion you get when someone wipes the dirt off your cheek in the kindest and gentlest way possible, and you didn’t even know the speck was there to begin with. Somehow, you feel seen in the raw emotion of the music.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-49

WILT_2024-49

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 1 Dec 2024 to 7 Dec 2024.

  1. Opium (feat. EARTHGANG) – Gorillaz, EARTHGANG
  2. Severed Head (feat. Goldlink and Unknown Mortal Orchestra) – Gorillaz, Goldlink, Unknown Mortal Orchestra
  3. With Love To An Ex (feat. Moonchild Sanelly) – Gorillaz, Moonchild Sanelly
  4. Fm – Nathan Haines
  5. Free The Frail – JPEGMAFIA, Helena Deland
  6. Water Slide – Mcbaise, Kamggarn
  7. Moving Men – Myd, Mac Demarco
  8. Oh The Sunn! – The Avalanches, Perry Farrell
  9. Take Care In Your Dreaming – The Avalanches, Denzel Curry, Tricky, Sampa The Great

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-49

Notes

What was I listening to before I landed on the 2020 Gorillaz album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez? I can’t truly remember, but the carefully crafted electronic beats and arrangements captured my attention fully and combined with collaborations with unorthodox musicians made for a recipe of innovative and daring new sounds.

That further journeyed to the jazz rock sounds of Nathan Haines with strong smatterings of Steely Dan, the soulful innocuousness of JPEGMAFIA, the hazy trip hop of Mcbaise and lazy sunny pop of Myd and Mac Demarco.

Ultimately, that brought me to the 2020 Avalanches album, We Will Always Love You, where the group’s talent is on full display with samples of rare groove deep cuts put together in some of the most euphoric celebrations that soar towards a state of higher.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-48

WILT_2024-48

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 24 Nov 2024 to 30 Nov 2024.

  1. Easy – Commodores
  2. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! – ABBA
  3. I’ll Be Around – The Spinners
  4. How Much I Feel – Ambrosia
  5. Smooth Operator – Sade
  6. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City – Bobby “Blue” Bland
  7. Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got) – Four Tops
  8. I Heard It Through The Grapevine – Marvin Gaye
  9. What The World Needs Now (Is Love) – Dionne Warwick
  10. It Never Rains in Southern California – Albert Hammond
  11. My Cherie Amour – Stevie Wonder
  12. Ain’t No Sunshine – Bill Withers
  13. Rainbow Chaser – Nirvana
  14. Life’s A Gas – T.Rex
  15. Mambo Sun – T.Rex
  16. Wild One – Thin Lizzy

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-48

Notes

As I was listening to music this week, the thought of the “perfect pop song” came to mind. It’s a formula that worked with the mainstream then, and it should with the mainstream now. To some extent, nothing has changed in that it captures the incredible ear-worm melody that provides a zeitgeist of the times, and to another extent everything has changed in the sense that audiences’ tastes have changed through the decades, movements, and social contexts.

The thought came to mind when Easy by the Commodores came on and it listened like such a well-packaged song with elements of everything that I love. Hooks, melodies, flashes of inspired musicianship and the discipline to lock in a product rather than the open interpretation that more artistic ventures tend to delve into. And perhaps I started listening to more widely celebrated songs from a bygone era rather than the contemporary because they still sound new and fresh from a time because these were still manufactured by hand rather than by industry. Or at least romanticism tells me so.

I also embarked on listening to the music of T.Rex when I chanced upon some performances by Mark Bolan on YouTube and the music was something that I was not familiar with but I had to quickly educate myself on because you could hear their influence on so much of the type of rock music that I enjoy.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-47

WILT_2024-47

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 17 Nov 2024 to 23 Nov 2024.

  1. Rhododendrons (ALT Version) – Tony Njoku
  2. Anhedonia – Mark McGuire
  3. House Tears – Josiah Steinbrick
  4. The Hum II – The Vernon Spring
  5. Oblique – Akusmi
  6. Love You Got – Kelly Lee Owens
  7. Air – Kelly Lee Owens
  8. What If You Didn’t Need A Reason – Moin, James K
  9. Just A Western – Nilüfer Yanya
  10. Lift You – Moin, Sophia Al-Maria
  11. It’s Messy Coping – Moin

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-47

Notes

The week continues with an even more haunting version of Tony Njoku’s Rhododendrons off his 2024 EP, Encore. Here, the arrangement is less abstract, but reveals the fundamentals that Njoku adheres to by presenting an effortless yet panging performance of the composer longing for a sensation that once was.

The following explorations leads us down a road of compositions that flit between forms before ultimately landing on Akusmi’s Oblique II that seems to wrap up the journey with a scene of quiet contemplation that takes its time unpacking every knot and strand of feelings felt.

Next, we embark on Kelly Lee Owen’s new album, Dreamstate. The album features all the things one would love from Owens, intricate yet pulsing rhythms and beats that would sound equally good on the dance floor or an evening of solitude when the rest of the outside world gets too much.

And they all ultimately end with Moin and Nilüfer Yanya. One with almost non-guitar, and the other re-assembling what guitar-indie rock music should sound like.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-46

WILT_2024-46

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 10 Nov 2024 to 16 Nov 2024.

  1. Drone:Nodrone – The Cure
  2. Mimi Omi – Deron Johnson, Sam Gendel
  3. (Just a Little) Something – Petros Klampanis
  4. Around The Corner – Snazzback
  5. Lost Forever – Tony Njoku
  6. Waltz – Tony Njoku
  7. Brooklyn – Furio Di Castri, Paolo Fresu
  8. Rhododendrons (Solo Piano Version) – Tony Njoku

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-46

Notes

I was originally very lethargic to write this post, and maybe I still am, but there is something to be said about doing the thing that you said you would do. Some might say that this is to be expected of responsible human behaviour, but some times you just want to let things slide, especially when the worst of what could happen is, nothing much. There are no irreprievable consequences to me not writing this except to the standards I hold for myself. Perhaps I still wanted to meet those standards, self-inflicted as they may be.

Do I have any reason to lethargic? Not much so, save for perhaps the general listlessness of a weekend with most of my responsibilities out of the way, some by merit, some by procrastination. But responsibilities never end, and if you don’t take time out to release that anxiety, it does not necessarily explode as it does eat you from the inside out. Hence with that, I somehow managed to approach this computer again to type out my thoughts, perhaps one of the few activities left that I am able to generate some sort of meaning purely for myself, some sort of human expression still left to me that allows me to craft what I want to craft with nary an expectation on the medium or format save for what I choose. 

In the time that I choose to carve toward this pursuit, for a brief moment nothing touches me lest I allow it to. The absolute terror of an ego field.

So I started the listening week as a continuation of the previous, only in that I included another banger on the new Cure album. Drone:Nodrone takes me back to Bloodflowers yet somehow with a more mature sound, cohesive even. Gallop’s baseline shines through in the way it always has, but this time with an aggression that still sees a defiant anger in its town and performance.

Then explorations come by the way of Sam Gendel, but with a refocus through Tony Njoku as I came across this article, Tony Njoku is decolonising modern classical music (Dazed, 8 Nov 2024)

Nook’s compositions are expansive in that they expound something deep inside that truly comes through his performance. But perhaps it is the boundless potential in which he approaches the tenets with as much trepidation and defiance. I’m by no means a scholar-ed student of the arts, but perhaps that is where the line between decolonisation and de-institutionalisation does not need much distinction in the early twenty-first century.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-45

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A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 3 Nov 2024 to 9 Nov 2024.

  1. Breakout – N.E.R.D
  2. Wonderful Place – N.E.R.D
  3. Thrasher – N.E.R.D, Lenny Kravitz
  4. Maybe – N.E.R.D
  5. Obituaries – Free Nationals, Shafiq Husayn
  6. Golden Boys – Res
  7. You Know What – N.E.R.D
  8. It’s Your Anniversary – Freddie Gibbs
  9. They-Say Vision – Res
  10. only thing on my mind – Zach Fox
  11. 700 Mile Situation – Res
  12. Ten Dreams – Sam Gendel, Benny Brock, Hans P. Kjorstad
  13. Ribog – Venice Sex
  14. Speaking My Language – Sam Gendel
  15. GBTC – Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes
  16. 1J – Fumitake Tamura, Jason Kòlar
  17. pure heart – ABUNAI
  18. Sleep / Reptiles – Gianni Brezzo
  19. Rebel Soul – Michael Kiwanuka
  20. Under My Skin – NewDad
  21. Rain – Wunderhorse
  22. And Nothing Is Forever – The Cure

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-45

Notes

What a joy it is to be typing without the stress of looming deadlines above you. 

I wasn’t particularly inspired to write this post as I’ve just been enjoying some of my downtime a bit too much, but I suppose that’s why some of us have to set routines to participate in wider society if not we end up being recluses. 

It’s been a somewhat eventful week in things other than work. Donald Trump got voted in as the 47th President of the United States, and I met some friends for dinner and conversation the past week too. I’m being a bit more social this week, more so than I’ve been in recent week, and boy is it both rewarding as it is tiring. Nonetheless, I should be thankful that I still have friends to hang out with and I’m learning through life that we should not take these sorts of relationships for granted. 

Music-wise, something got me re-visiting N.E.R.D at the start of the week. Was it the nostalgia from the previous week rubbing off? Nonetheless, it was a good journey and the music was still unique enough for me to take notice. I also managed to discover Res through this expedition, and that is another brand of alt-rock hip-hop or r&b that still seems like an outlier.

I also checked out another new effort (Dream Trio 2024) by Sam Gendel which opened doors into the areas of jazz, electronica and ambient. This leg of the playlist is a lot more atmospheric and abstract that also features a lot of music and sounds that soothe the distractions constantly in my mind. (e.g. 1J by Fumitake Tamura and Jason Kòlar)

Finally, I gave the new Cure album, Songs Of A Lost World (2024) a listen. It’s a phenomenal effort that harkens back to the days if Disintegration (1989) and also some Bloodflowers (2000). Lyrically, it touches on the themes one would expect of a person in their late seventies, but performance-wise, that is a sort of frenetic desperation that strives for the the most accurate articulation of emotion, yet also with the reserved confidence that it might not really matter in the end. What erupts is a layered, complex, and nuanced version of songwriting that perhaps only visits those that are able to sit and commune with the muse, and also depict some version of its ephemeral glory.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-44

WILT_2024-44

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 27 Oct 2024 to 2 Nov 2024.

  1. Crazy – Gnarls Barkley
  2. Maneater – Daryl Hall, John Oates
  3. One On One – Daryl Hall, John Oates
  4. hey rose – Son Little
  5. The Way – CeeLo Green
  6. Don’t Lie – CeeLo Green
  7. People Watching – CeeLo Green
  8. Raoul and the Kings of Spain – Tears For Fears

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-44

Notes

This playlist was put together because I went down a small rabbit hole of watching live performances on YouTube. I think I was watching some performances of Tears For Fears from the last 5–8 years which would put them in their late 50s or early 60s at the time of recording these performances, and I was simply blown away by the preservation of their quality, and if not, the heightened attunement that comes from experience and mastery. 

I would then remember that the YouTube series, Live from Daryl’s House by Daryl Oates always brought with it the joy of watching some of the very best musicians performing together at a calibre that not many can attain. The control, mastery, restraint, and virtuosity is on full display if you watch any of their performances with their guests. 

That’s also when I realised what a late entrant I am to recognising the virtuosity and talent of CeeLo Green. Green is a vocal chameleon who is able to cover a wide variety of styles, lending everything towards the style or genre yet retaining a timbre or flair that is uniquely his. Just check out how he flits between funk, soul, pop so effortlessly.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-43

WILT_2024-43

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 20 Oct 2024 to 26 Oct 2024.

  1. Blue Joe – CS + Kreme
  2. I Saw Another Bird – Mount Eerie
  3. Unreal Shapes (Dreamland II) 幻境二 – Gong Gong Gong 工工工, Mong Tong
  4. September 23rd (Excerpt 3) – William Basinski
  5. Corey – CS + Kreme
  6. ááá – Threshold
  7. Foothill Daze – Black Duck
  8. Fools Journey – Goat
  9. Bongo Season – Geordie Greep
  10. circadas – ((( O )))
  11. Goatbrain – Goat
  12. Gently Fade – Jabu, Birthmark
  13. Slipping – Pat’s Soundhouse
  14. The Mirror-Glade – Lynn Avery, Cole Pulice
  15. Simple Fractures – Annelies Monseré
  16. Main Character NRG – Spivak
  17. Honeycomb – Alabastar Deplume
  18. Saisir L’Éternité Dans Le Temps – Delphine Dora
  19. Strolling – Pat’s Soundhouse
  20. Naked Flame – Greg Spero, Harvey Mason, Michael Shiono
  21. In The Way – Jabu
  22. Not Too Late (To Take Revenge) 未晚 – Gong Gong Gong 工工工, Mong Tong
  23. Strings – Mong Tong
  24. Backprint radiation – Oliver Coates, Faten Kanaan
  25. Under the Maples 楓林 – Gong Gong Gong 工工工, Mong Tong

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-43

Notes

I wish I had more to say about this week’s playlist but I might have to keep it short because I’m on a bit of a time crunch today. 

A lot of the playlist was borne out of continued listening from the previous week’s playlist and somehow it coalesced into a rather instrumental, and sound art-forward listening experience.

Some standouts for me include the haphazard flourishes of Gong Gong Gong 工工工 and Mong Tong, as well as Pat’s Soundhouse, who composes and performs on the khaen, a Lao mouth organ.

To that, I will leave the rest of the listening experience for you to embody and decipher. Perhaps it will offer some perspective or comfort as it did, me.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-42

WILT_2024-42

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 13 Oct 2024 to 19 Oct 2024.

  1. Falling, the Light – Tindersticks
  2. Mutations – Nilüfer Yanya
  3. Please, Come In – Loma
  4. Arrhythmia – Loma
  5. Conversion – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
  6. Sociometer Blues – Arab Strap
  7. Glimpse – Future Islands
  8. BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
  9. BROKEN SPIRES AT DEAD KAPITAL – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
  10. PALE SPECTATOR TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
  11. Veteran – Christtt
  12. Shame – Chat Pile
  13. Frownland – Chat Pile
  14. Livonia (Ryko Version) – His Name Is Alive

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-42

Notes

I listened to two albums this week which each spun out their own musical travels. Wild God (Aug 2024), by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD (Oct 2024) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

This week I was reminded as to what a master songwriter and performer Cave is, and what a masterful band he is being backed by. Conversion starts off in that classic Cave buildup, smatterings of Warren Ellis permeate the atmospheric preamble before launching into a gospel-style refrain that takes us to the song’s end. It’s not the most representative song on the album in that it has the most classic arrangement, but it’s as a good an introduction to Cave’s and the Bad Seeds’s music if you’re new. 

Falling, the Light by Tindersticks is a gorgeous lullaby of delicate trepidation, while Arryhthmia suggests electronic-folk arrangement with classical piano with an addictive shuffle beat that envelopes the listener with a cold breeze that leaks through a door ajar. 

I also felt rather unsettled this week, quite possibly from the mounting stress for an upcoming event that the team is busy putting the final touches on, as well as tying up on loose ends. Somehow that unsettledness was placated with even more unsettling sounds from Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s latest album. The earlier songs in the album felt more contemporary post-rock, but by the time we arrive at BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD, I could tell that something was looming, and then we are met with the classic chamber orchestral stylings that make GY!BE one of the very best in their own genre of music. Stirring, evocative, and with emotions crying out like a wave of unbridled humanity To accept their music into your life is to accept that we are all flawed perfections.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-41

WILT_2024-41

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 6 Oct 2024 to 12 Oct 2024.

  1. Jaeune Reflection – Evenings
  2. Thought 2 – Thrupence
  3. Abacus – Edamame
  4. Drowsy – Falside
  5. Soul Food – Martina Topley-Bird
  6. Sandpaper Kisses – Martina Topley-Bird
  7. Break Me Down – Yukimi, Little Dragon
  8. Got To Be Good – Gotts Street Park, Pip Millett
  9. Colours Fly – The Smile
  10. Charmed – Σtella, Redinho
  11. Like I Say (I runaway) – Nilüfer Yanya
  12. Eyes & Mouth – The Smile
  13. Do You Really – Oscar Jerome
  14. Where You Belong – Little Dragon
  15. Sweet Revenge – Mister Modo, Ugly Mac Beer
  16. Glades and Avenues – Equatoriale, Theodor
  17. Dafodil – Jamie xx, Kelsey Lu, John Glacier, Panda Bear
  18. Only Love – Les Imprimés
  19. Dancing Circles 2.0 – Sampha
  20. Otherside – Maribou State, Holly Walker
  21. Ain’t Got Nothing On You – Leon Bridges
  22. Come Find Me – Caribou
  23. Don’t Get Me Started – The Smile
  24. I Would Have To Be A Fool – Stimulator Jones
  25. Dealer – Gliiico, Grace Aimi

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-41

Notes

The listening week started off chill with some remnants of the previous week’s algorithm presenting down-tempo recommendations.

I then revisited the re-release of Maria Topley-Bird’s 2003 album, Quixotic, that I had set aside for a later listen. Topley-Bird demonstrates why her craft is so sought after with an amalgation of soul, trip-hop, r&b and folk, all entwined her utter unique voicings.

Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon has also just embarked on a new solo pursuit as Yukimi. She released the new single, Break Me Down, in Oct 2024 with Ninja Tune, and it is all the things I love about Nagano’s unique style, but now presented as Yukimi. 

This then set me down a path of electronic-forward music with a very healthy mixing of musical ideas across the genres of pop, rock, soul and jazz. Some standouts for me include The Smile’s Eyes & Mouth which is an utterly gripping and exhilarating portrayal of Jonny Greenwood’s unmatched guitar playing and musicianship, in no part hampered by Thom Yorke’s genius stylings on the electric piano chords and vocal delivery, and absolutely unhinged yet locked-in drumming of Tom Skinner. Truly a highlight of this week.

Nilüfer Yanya delivers yet again with her own compositions that continue to excite both the ears that scratch an itch of familiarity and innovation at the same time. This might actually be one of the most rock-oriented songs on this playlist, which demonstrates to me how much more latitude the genre can still be explored.

The majority of the playlist then explores the realm of electronic music through a lens of lo-fi, hip hop, and jazz, with the exception of a Leon Bridges song that gripped me with its earnest lyrics and delivery. I’d heard of him in some peripherals and I think I had an impression that he was a somewhat popular musician and singer, but that shouldn’t have any bearing on the quality of his songcraft and talent, lest it comes across that I only value the obscure. Give it a listen, it’s a seamless presentation of country and soul with a very delicate arrangement of instruments and vocal delivery. It takes a particular confidence and vision to produce something like this which sits a bit counter to the hyper-charisma that most other contemporary pop acts tend to embody (observably). 

And so the rest of the playlist features jazzy undertones with rare-groove beats and exciting musical ideas. Dancing Circles 2.0 by Sampha, Dafodil, by Jamie xx, Kelsey Lu, John Glacier, Panda Bear, and Otherside by Maribou State and Holly Walker are all great listens that also great rhythms and grooves that are meant to be felt just the same.

Rounding out the whole playlist, there’s an addictive bassline on Stimulator Jones’s I Would Have To Be A Fool bouncing along with filter warbles on the octave and running sixteenth notes to drive this vibey disco-synth song forwards. And lastly, it seems apt to close on a rather exciting find of Giiico, who bring a haze of psychedelic-inspired hip hop and slowed down funk that reminisces Clams Casino, but adds their own flair that I can see potentially capturing a particular zeitgeist of cool and expressive art.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-40

WILT_2024-40

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 29 Sep 2024 to 5 Oct 2024.

  1. New Reggae (Live) – Jaco Pastorius
  2. Black Market / Clean Up Woman / Beaver Patrol (Reprise) (Live) – Jaco Pastorius
  3. As Is – Wayne Krantz
  4. Showtime – Joshua Redman Elastic Band
  5. To the Women in My Life – Billy Cobham
  6. Captain Jocelyn (The Pianist) – Chick Corea Elektric Band
  7. Alliance – Wayne Krantz
  8. Conga Fury – Juno Reactor
  9. To Byculla – Juno Reactor
  10. Your Friends Are Scary – Younger Brother
  11. Bodies Laughing – The Smile
  12. Road – Nick Drake
  13. High Noon – Ora Cogan
  14. Tiptoe – The Smile

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-40

Notes

Damn, I’m tired and I just want to get this over with.

Thanks for reading by the way, if you are, and if it comes across that I am ungrateful for readers and listeners of this series, I’m not. I’m just a tad tired and there isn’t much headroom left for creative pursuits in my capacity right now.

I saw a new live album by Jaco Pastorius so I decided to check it out and was not disappointed. The energy of the live performance is really at a level that only the greats perform at.

The next milestone was when I came across this fan music video of 2012’s 009 Re:Cyborg featuring Juno Reactor’s Conga Fury. I guess I really enjoyed how the aesthetic and music came together.

Lastly, I learned of new music by The Smile and checked that out too. Loved it and some of the generated recommendations that came after that, and what was funny was how I told Jenna that Tiptoe sounded like “Radiohead: The Musical”, which is not real by the way.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-39

WILT_2024-39

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 22 Sep 2024 to 28 Sep 2024.

  1. Mobilizations – Kluztunk
  2. Theme of Patlabor 2 – Kenji Kawai
  3. With Love – Kenji Kawai
  4. Hallucination – Kenji Kawai
  5. Barrack – Nobuko Toda (戸田信子), Kazuma Jinnouchi (陣内一真)
  6. The Whole Armour – Garoad
  7. Die Toteninsel (Emptiness) – 1000 Eyes, Tom Schley
  8. the second sorrow – Ichiko Hashimoto

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-39

Notes

I was gripped by a small wave of nostalgia, particularly the music from the 80s and 90s anime mecha genre, but more from the real-robot and fantasy sub-genres. Aurally this results in more expansive synth-based soundscapes which lands us squarely on Kenji Kawai whose influence can still be heard to this day.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-38

WILT_2024-38

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 15 Sep 2024 to 21 Sep 2024.

  1. Vocoder (Club Mix) – Floating Points
  2. Afflecks Palace – Floating Points
  3. Tilt Shift – Floating Points
  4. Fried – Patrick Holland
  5. Running Dreams – Clark
  6. Recovery – Rival Consoles
  7. This Version Of You (Joseph Ray Remix) – ODESZA, Joseph Ray, Julianna Barwick
  8. Another Girl – Jacques Greene
  9. Kalimba Dreams – ANNA
  10. Banho de Folhas (Maz Remix) – Luedji Luna, Maz
  11. Banho de Folhas – Luedji Luna
  12. I Have Nothing – Whitney Houston
  13. I’m Every Woman – Whitney Houston
  14. Take Good Care of My Heart – Whitney Houston, Jermaine Jackson
  15. Love Is a Contact Sport – Whitney Houston
  16. I’m Your Baby Tonight – Whitney Houston
  17. Lover for Life – Whitney Houston
  18. All The Man That I Need – Whitney Houston
  19. Juicy – D.K.
  20. Shiny Tune – Patrick Holland
  21. Dusty Rhodes – Gerald Bailey, David Agee
  22. Fish Bowl – High Pulp
  23. 3 Kings – Snazzback
  24. Into The Deep – Underground Canopy
  25. Woo – forcian

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-38

Notes

The week started with me checking out Floating Point’s new album, Cascade, to which I am already a fan of. A more straight-forward effort compared to 2021’s Promises, still the arrangements and use of electronic instruments are both innovative and genre-bending as they are elegant and finessed.

That album led to two DJ mix albums, DJ Kicks: DJ Boring and Global Underground #46: ANNA, both of which held a tremendous amount of listening potential and a reminder that good DJs have awesome curations. I wouldn’t want to rely on AI for everything, and at least for now I think some human intervention is necessary and also what connects us between one form of expression to another. 

I then stumbled upon a video of two buskers singing Whitney Houston’s I Have Nothing and I was quite intrigued in that I did not realise that Houston sang the original. It’s from the nineties, and that still is somewhat of a bit of a musical blindspot for me. Nonetheless, I went down a rabbit hole listening to Houston’s back catalog and it was this video of her performing All The Man That I Need that sealed the deal for me that I had been missing out on truly one of the greatest singers of her generation, and what a tremendous backing band and recording band she had playing with her. The basslines on I’m Every Woman, as as tight as they are fluid, and good lord, that accent of a string arrangement. It’s an excellent rendition of the Chaka Khan classic. Other standouts to me would be Love Is A Contact Sport with its absolutely bonkers and ear-wormy pop hook that elevates its disco roots into a transcendent piece of radio hit.

I was happy to end the playlist there, but then there were a few more recommendations that came my way that put me down a path of both jazz and electronica. They’re standouts in their own right, not quite like what Whitney Houston did for me the past week, but they were definitely strong vibes that accompanied and enhanced either my work sessions or downtime.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-37

WILT_2024-37

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 8 Sep 2024 to 14 Sep 2024.

  1. JUST COMMUNICATION – TWO-MIX
  2. RHYTHM EMOTION – TWO-MIX
  3. COME ON!! – TWO-MIX
  4. TRUST ME – TWO MIX

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-37

Notes

This week’s playlist is really short and features just one artist, TWO-MIX. I cannot exactly remember what the trigger was to listen to TWO-MIX again, but I remember having a vague sensation of nostalgia for the very catchy JUST COMMUNICATION which was used as the opening title sequence to Gundam Wing. I’m also surprised that I’m appreciating this type of electronic music more than 25 years later because to my elitist ears all those years ago, I remember finding it all extremely distasteful and cheesy, but now, with more wisdom and experience, I find the energy is uplifting, soaring, and pulsing, and perhaps most importantly, still fresh and somewhat timeless.

I did not manage to listen to anything else because I was not able to fully concentrate on what I was listening to, or I needed an extra boost from deeper audio-productivity tools. Still, this was a fun foray into the discography of TWO-MIX, and I suppose the door is still open to explore other songs in the same vein.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-36

WILT_2024-36

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 1 Sep 2024 to 7 Sep 2024.

  1. All You Children – Jamie xx, The Avalanches
  2. Come Find Me – Caribou
  3. Hold On (feat. Dawn Richard) – KAYTRANADA, Dawn Richard
  4. Knights – Crystal Castles
  5. Baptism – Crystal Castles
  6. Without Love – Alice Glass
  7. Tommy Boy – Kid Smoko
  8. Without Love (Mija Remix) – Alice Glass, Mija
  9. Natural Selection (Ghostemane Remix) – Alice Glass, Ghostemane
  10. The Altar (Ruined by Yves Tumor) – Alice Glass, Yves Tumor
  11. Forgiveness (Paul White Remix) – Alice Glass, Paul White
  12. Darkness, I’ll Always Be Your Girl – R. Missing
  13. Dancing on Your Grave – Pixel Grip
  14. White Gold – Labyrinth Ear
  15. Black Chardonnay – Pictureplane, YAWNS, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal
  16. Oppressive Face – Pearly Drops

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-36

Notes

It’s funny how music gets recommended, discovered, and re-discovered. It’s funny how we sometimes allow ourselves to be brought down a path versus deciding where we’d like to go and how to get ourselves there. Curation’s a funny thing in the regard that sometimes I can actively curate, but there are times that you allow yourself to wander, one step in front of the other, seemingly not knowing how your end up where you end up, and yet you always have a choice of taking that next step, to take a different direction, or go back the way you came. 

The week started with a notice that Jamie xx had a new single released, All You Children, in collaboration with The Avalanches. One listen and it was an immediate hit in my opinion. The classic production values of xx with the sample fuel of The Avalanches results in a collaboration that brings the best of both producers together in an updated electro-fuelled haze of beats, synths and wondrous vocal samples.

That then led to another new song, this time by Caribou. It’s amazing how everything sounds so familiar, yet so updated as well. That’s something to give thanks for, when artists continue to be inspired and are constantly innovating, sharpening, and re-defining their practice and their idea of what success looks like. So far, these are musical artists that I’ve listened for more than a decade, yet the music that they create continues to excite without being derivative.

Below are a list of videos I stumbled across that would continue to inform this week’s playlist

The Crystal Castles story is extremely sad, traumatic and manipulative, particular from Glass’s perspective. As a listener and an outsider, on the one-hand the music is intense, macabre, and just effortlessly cool in both performance and practice. However, knowing what you know about the abuse, I don’t even know if it’s right to say that anything or anyone benefited, whether through listening, experiencing, or artistic output. Maybe they did, but it will always be at the expense of predatory behaviour, abuse, trauma and other dark places of the human condition. So with that, perhaps as one needs to continue the narrative on by closing the chapter on Crystal Castles and we ought to follow the trajectory of Alice Glass.

Listening to Alice Glass sounds like there’s some level of emancipation and catharsis happening. Knowing what we know, it is now her story to tell, whatever that may be. 

That journey also brought forward some meanderings into other musicians exploring soundscapes that are haunting, without being held back by oblivion, but propelled by release and stepping into some semblance of deserved-ness or acceptance. Darkness, I’ll Always Be Your Girl by R. Missing somehow embodies this strange, unsettling emotion. Speaking of unsettledness, the rest of the songs that close out this week’s playlist take us on an auditory journey by being that digital blanket in a digital winter. With that said, I would listen to more Pearly Drops.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-35

WILT_2024-35

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 25 Aug 2024 to 31 Aug 2024.

  1. Little Techno – 44th Move
  2. Inspiration / Inner Beauty – Pavel Dovgal
  3. Fade Out – Still Corners
  4. Thinking Of – Weval
  5. Come On – Martyn Heyne
  6. Trustt – Jitwam
  7. Pacific – Billy Bahama
  8. Stay – Daniel Bortz
  9. Yakuza – Szymon
  10. Suit of Armour – Danika
  11. ride the dragon – FKA twigs
  12. pamplemousse – FKA twigs
  13. papi bones – FKA twigs, shygirl
  14. Video Girl – FKA twigs
  15. Two Weeks – FKA twigs

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-35

Notes

I started the week wanting to listen to FKA twigs after a conversation with my wife and she introduced the artist to me. A personality I’d seen being raved about by friends and media, I did not think to explore her discography till recently.

We were watching some of the music videos put out by AKRIILA when Jenna suggested that I also check out the videos made by FKA twigs and it was just something that intrigued the soul, both musically as well as visually. 

However, before we arrived at FKA twigs, I was first distracted by the revisiting of previous playlists. The first half of this playlist came from a generated playlist of WILT_20222-35. There’s also Suit of Armour by Danika, which came about exploring some recommendations from Jenna’s friend, and that stood out with its folksy bedroom pop vibe.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-34

WILT_2024-34

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 18 Aug 2024 to 24 Aug 2024.

  1. Arcadia – Art Block
  2. Burning (Alt Version) – Art Block
  3. Tiger – Art Block
  4. Autumn Antique – Teebs
  5. Earth Creature – Salami Rose Joe Louis
  6. Closed Place, Open World – Slauson Malone 1
  7. Horizon – weish, Claude Glass
  8. Rain Candy – Fake Creators, LITE, DE DE MOUSE, Misi Ke
  9. Utopia Reimagined: house – weish
  10. PRINCESS – Shye
  11. NEVER – Shye
  12. NEED – Shye
  13. Half-Life – Slauson Malone 1
  14. Ocotillo – Floating Points
  15. Caballeros Del Albedrio – Austin TV
  16. NANA フリーク版 – AKRIILA
  17. http://www.hotxulito.com – AKRIILA, Young Cister
  18. POPPER – AKRIILA, TAICHU
  19. mucho, poquito, nada – AKRIILA

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-34

Notes

It started with a mention on Threads to check out some of Art Block’s music, so I did. A blend of several rock and folk elements and a dose of Americana, it did evoke shades of nostalgia for singers like Ryan Adams, Sister Hazel, Tonic, or The Wallflowers. I did pick out a few tracks that I enjoyed specifically for the emotive guitar playing and vocal performances.

I then revisited weish’s music because her performance of Horizon on national television was so good. Listening to the recorded version also showcases the amazing collaborative production prowess of both Claude Glass and weish who are both able to create such a raw and visceral melancholic joy through vocals and electronic arrangement. This path also led me to revisit Utopia Reimagined: house that I first listened to in WILT_2023-19. Whatever path weish is headed down, it is one of the most creatively powerful forces that we have the pleasure of following behind. 

With a head in the space for Singaporean-made music, I listened to Shye’s 2023 album, 9LIVES, which hits with a good dose of alterna-pop. The delivery is catchy, saccharine, and wistful but also backed by a healthy dose of distortion and rock beats that puts it somewhere between a fancy cocktail and a shitty beer.

This week I was slightly curious with Slauson Malone 1 because of Closed Space, Open World’s reggae vibe, but sadly I could not find any other instances of this vibe. Half-Life was an interesting evocation of emotion and catharsis and if anything demonstrates the versatility or eclectic-ness of the artist’s influences and expression.

Floating Points has a new single, Ocotillo, which is a precursor to his new album, Cascade releasing on 13 September. If you’re a fan, you’re going to stay a fan.

I came across Austin TV while browsing YouTube, and there’s a performance by them recorded by KEXP that is a great introduction to their music. Typically, I am wary of any masked artists if their aesthetic is used more as a gimmick to distract from the music, but I’m glad to report that Austin TV is not one of those bands. The music is frenetic, intense, and complex, all of which remind me of bands like Battles, who are able to make swimming in the deep end look like a casual splash in the pond.

Finally, one of the artists that fascinated me in 2024, AKRIILA, has recently released a new album, epistolares. I first came across AKRIILA through the song, POPPER, back in WILT_2024-25, and have just been mesmerised by the creative energy, attitude and snippets of culture perpetuated by the Chilean rapper. If you have not checked out the video to POPPER, you should. It’s a rush and displays incredible visual art talent as well.

So, epistolares is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Maybe the language barrier is one thing, but while I love some of the most explosive beats, or the latin rhythms that I’ve been missing out in my music diet, you can also hear some of the inexperience in other less fleshed-out tracks. Despite that, you do want AKRIILA and their creative team to maintain the pursuit and find a sound to take and dominate in. I’ve highlighted a bit in the middle of the album that is a series of highs for me that perks my mood just listening to them. You can also check out the whole album as a video playlist here.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-33

WILT_2024-33

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 11 Aug 2024 to 17 Aug 2024.

  1. Almost There – ||||||||||||||||||||
  2. Brainjazz Reprise – ||||||||||||||||||||
  3. Room Temp. Armor. – ||||||||||||||||||||
  4. PICTURE THIS – UnityTX
  5. WORLD OF MALICE – UnityTX
  6. Tornado – No Face No Case
  7. Self-Destruct – Kublai Khan TX
  8. By Design – Distinguisher
  9. Double Bass in Love – Long Arm
  10. Clothes Off – Cousin Kula
  11. Free Time – Sven Wunder, Drumetrics
  12. Count Your Sunrises – Dimlite
  13. We Are (우리는) – Nosaj Thing, HYUKOH
  14. Satellite Business 2.0 – Sampha, Little Simz

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-33

Notes

I started the week by checking out a new release by |||||||||||||||||||| as well as some others from their discography that I might have missed in the past year or two. 

Surprisingly our next musical stop comes the way of exploring the resurgence of nu-metal as a genre. That unearthed UnityTX, which is one of the more exciting bands that develops upon the genre, rather than almost every other derivative song out there. Jenna let me listen to some of her discoveries which also included No Face No Case, and we also round out with some other hardcore sounds courtesy of Kublai Khan TX and Distinguisher.

I then came across a promo for a new Shigeto single, Ready. Set. Flex. Although I didn’t add it to the list, it did spawn a bunch of other algorithmic recommendations that touch on electronica, psych-rock, funk, jazz, but more importantly just general good vibes with complex and tasty undertones. Here’s looking’ at Nosaj Thing, HYUKOH, Sampha and Little Simz.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-32

WILT_2024-32

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 4 Aug 2024 to 10 Aug 2024.

  1. Earthmover – Have A Nice Life
  2. Ugly Brunette – Horse Jumper of Love
  3. 96 – Valium Aggelein
  4. DON’T TRY – HEALTH
  5. The Unknowing – Jfarrari
  6. Coldstar. – Gallant, boystrip
  7. Boyhood – Birth Day
  8. Everything Is Scary – German Error Message
  9. Tunnel Lights (††† Crosses Remix) – Chelsea Wolfe, ††† (Crosses)
  10. Levels – Chenayder
  11. flower – Blue Smiley
  12. Bunny – Eiafuawn
  13. Russeting – Deadharrie
  14. still around – Fousheé
  15. No Excuses (feat. Ludwig Göransson) – Childish Gambino, Ludwig Göransson
  16. Happiness – Starry Cat
  17. Birds – Eiafuawn

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-32

Notes

I listening to this YouTube video by VHJ1dGhzYXllciBuLjk3NTIzMTA= that featured Earthmover by Have A Nice Life, Ugly Brunette by Horse Jumper of Love, and 96 by Valium Aggelein. I was slightly surprised that the video featured actual songs with structure, but it did remind me of the dark and lo-fi tones that always capture my attention.

As I was listening to YouTube or YouTube music, I was including the tracks that I liked to this week’s playlist, but by HEALTH’s DON’T TRY I was pretty much adding tracks from algorithmic recommendations. 

The darkwave and nowave inspirations continued in this vein and you’d get hooky bangers like Jfarrari’s The Unknowing or enchanting synth opuses like †††’s remix of Chelsea Wolfe’s Tunnel Lights. Similarly you’d also get lo-fi slacker pop in the style of Birth Day’s Boyhood or the grungy flower by Blue Smiley. 

But perhaps most surprising and interesting are tracks like Coldstar by Gallant and boys trip, still around by Fousheé and ‌No Excuses by Childish Gambino and Ludwig Göransson, all of which feature percussion or bass arrangements from the leftfield. Another interesting artist featured is Eiafuawn that seems to be both grunge, alt rock, and avant pop all at the same time. The guitar arrangements are definitely unique but not avant garde to the point that they become unrecognisable as songs.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-31

WILT_2024-31

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 28 Jul 2024 to 3 Aug 2024.

  1. in search of consolation – nowt
  2. someone you love is gone (piano version) – endless withdrawal
  3. demons – MADEBYGODES, Sedogy Bedam
  4. // this is what nostalgia feels like. (another deep slowed version) – tooshitsu!, MADEBYGODES, Sedogy Bedam

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-31

Notes

Imagine that this video thumbnail and title appeared on your YouTube home page. Would you click on it?

I did, and was treated to an enigma of ominous music and aesthetic. This serves as a gateway to dark soundscapes that are also great to work to if you are also taken by ASMR and binaural tones. As such, I listened to a lot of the playlists by VHJ1dGhzYXllciBuLjk3NTIzMTA= but didn’t really pick out anything specific because of how absorbed I was. 

So this week’s playlist is a caricature of what it’s based on.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-30

WILT_2024-30

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 21 Jul 2024 to 27 Jul 2024.

  1. Not Like Us – Kendrick Lamar
  2. BUNKER/PREROLL – mynameisntjmack, Tommy Richman
  3. Rich Spirit – Kendrick Lamar
  4. Four Hands Piano 4 – Irena Havlová, Vojtěch Havel, Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi
  5. Four Hands Piano 5 – Irena Havlová, Vojtěch Havel, Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi
  6. Four Hands Organ 12 – Irena Havlová, Vojtěch Havel, Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi
  7. Four Hands Piano & Organ 16 – Irena Havlová, Vojtěch Havel, Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi
  8. The Secret of the Old Mill – Emile Mosseri, Sam Gendel
  9. Ready Rubbed Blue – Lilacs & Champagne
  10. GH – Sam Gendel
  11. Your Love (Might as Well Been Hate) – 01LUCID, Robert Quinn
  12. たましい – ELAIZA
  13. Construction – Haruy
  14. Let’s go – DONGURIZU
  15. Once (feat. 荒谷翔大) – Shōtaro Aoyama, 荒谷翔大 (Shota Aratani)
  16. 白鯨 (Compuma Remix) – Summer Eye, COMPUMA
  17. Angel – Ako
  18. By Now (feat. marco marets) – RiE MORRiS, marco marets, TAAR
  19. Dreaming Kills (2024 Remix) – Glen Check
  20. A Damn Will Always Divide (Lew E Asks The Dust Remix) – Avalon Emerson, Tornado Wallace
  21. Mystical Composer (feat. I’M) – Tokimeki Records, I’m
  22. ASAHINAGU – MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-30

Notes

I started the week curious about Kendrick Lamar because I came across the music video for Not Like Us. Some see this as the peak of the Drake vs. Lamar beef that’s been brewing for months and while I’ve heard snippets of it here and there, the disses in this track were not hiding behind any metaphors or reference but absolutely out in the open and delivered with absolute smoothness and conviction. It’s like watching a courtroom defence by a rapper lawyer. 

Next, I explored more of Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi’s work and it’s been quite a journey. The album Four Hands has been a journey into their musical relationship and the two musicians sound absolutely in tune when playing with each other.

That exploration led to a few meanderings of contemporary electronic music that incorporated jazz and classical elements, which by now some readers should be familiar with. 

Up next, I chanced upon the music video for たましい by ELAIZA and I was quite transfixed, both by the beat and the beauty. However, that really opened the door to into a branch of Japanese electronic music that I would like to intensely know more of and perhaps that is what I will delve more into in the future.

Lastly, I chanced upon a fan music video of the movie Linda Linda Linda (2005) set to the music of ASAHINAGU by MASS OF THE FERMENTING DRUGS. It was very well edited and definitely made the film a compelling recommendation to me. The choice cuts revealed a sensitive and contemplative cinematography and composition, and there is also something about Bae Doona’s screen presence that is so alluring.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-29

WILT_2024-29

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 14 Jul 2024 to 20 Jul 2024.

  1. Gohatto (Opening Theme) – Ryuichi Sakamoto
  2. Piano & Violoncello 3 – Irena and Vojtech Havlovi
  3. Suggestion – Ryuichi Sakamoto

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-29

Notes

There isn’t much I intend to write today apart from feeling rather unsettled this past week. Nothing happened to me directly, but perhaps it was something that changed in the power relationships within this world.

The week started with this video essay, A Movie I Couldn’t Stop Thinking About by Bushido Blues about the 1999 film, Gohatto by director Nagisa Ōshima. This then set me on a path to listen to the original soundtrack composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto which I ultimately found haunting, pensive, and yes, unsettling.

I didn’t listen to much else after that as there was a lot of work to concentrate through, but a piece by Irene and Vojtech Havlovi stood out to me in my passive listening moments. I would like to explore more about their music in the future.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-28

WILT_2024-28

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 7 Jul 2024 to 13 Jul 2024.

  1. The Council of Nightowls – Kitsune Kawai, Sara Kawai, Solomon Fox
  2. Give Me The Painkiller – Nails
  3. Crawling Back to God – Full Of Hell
  4. He Is Never Coming Back – Gaza
  5. I’ll All Work Out – Pedro The Lion
  6. words fell out – Goat Girl
  7. Affinity – Loma
  8. Delphinium Blue – Cassandra Jenkins
  9. motorway – Goat Girl
  10. The only conscious being in the universe – bar italia
  11. Animated Heart – Efterklang, Sønderjysk Pigekor (South Denmark Girls Choir)
  12. Raining On Your Pillow – DIIV
  13. Davey Says – King Hannah
  14. Yer Brothers – Pedro The Lion, American Football, Nick Wilkerson, Dragon Inn 3
  15. Across The Sky – Idaho
  16. Alien – Dehd
  17. My Best Friend Needs – Babehoven
  18. As Your Sleep By My Feet – Jonnine
  19. I’ll Call You Back – Erykah Badu
  20. New York, Let’s Do Nothing – King Hannah
  21. Lioness – Songs: Ohia, Jason Molina

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-28

Notes

Let’s get started.

I was in an ambient, electronica mood at the start of the week listening to a new record by Kisamos, Olafur Arnalds and Janus Ramussen, but that didn’t last long but I was derailed by the new single released by Nails and stumbled onto a hardcore bender. I ultimately stumbled out of it because while I was enjoying the riff to Gaza’s He Is Never Coming Back, I started becoming uncomfortable by my ignorance of the band’s subject matter and political views. Not that it would have mattered from a standpoint of musical appreciation, but I suppose I was confronted with something I had been putting off for a very long time. In my bouts of listening, I don’t really listen to the lyrics. 

So that made me search for Pedro The Lion, because he was someone I used to listen to a lot in university, and I liked his songs for the song itself, not just the music. That opened up a door into a room of indie music and while I didn’t end up paying attention to the lyrics ultimately, I did innately trust that the lyrical matter would be in the realm of introspective expression, cryptic meanings and what not, since the music’s just… pleasant and cordial. 

By the end of the week, I was exploring another playlist that had a new song by HTRK’s Jonnine, which segued nicely into Erykah Badu’s I’ll Call U Back. However, I decided to end the playlist with a song for the lyrics that I really do enjoy. As I listen to it, I wonder if this could be one of my favourite written songs.

It’s Lioness by Jason Molina or Songs: Ohia and it’s fairly simply written and arranged, but there’s something about the violence of the language that when applied to love, passion, longing or desire that makes it such a power and moving image. It definitely captures the desire I feel toward my significant other, and if its a bit awkward or intense, then that does portray the grimey, imperfect and animalistic brutality that comes with being vulnerable with someone else. If we could all be so lucky.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-27

WILT_2024-27

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 30 Jun 2024 to 6 Jul 2024.

  1. Cherry Blossom – Empire Of The Sun
  2. Come To This – Sleepy Jackson
  3. Common Man – Luke Steele
  4. santa calamifuck (Eva, Chucho, Yulian & Nick Hook’s versión) – Run The Jewels, Nick Hook, Eva Peroni, Chucho Llana, Yulian Percs
  5. Seasons (Waiting On You) – Future Islands
  6. Our Pathetic Age – DJ Shadow, Samuel T. Herring
  7. Time Moves Slow – BADBADNOTGOOD, Samuel T. Herring
  8. Seasons (Waiting On You) – BADBADNOTGOOD, Samuel T. Herring
  9. WEIGHT OFF- KAYTRANADA, BADBADNOTGOOD
  10. Play It Cool – Gangrene, Samuel T. Herring, Earl Sweatshirt
  11. Ghost In A Kiss – Clams Casino, Samuel T. Herring
  12. Decades – Wilma Archer, Samuel T. Herring, Laura Groves
  13. Pelican Canyon – Du Blonde, Samuel T. Herring
  14. No Curse Lifted (rivers of love) – MIKE
  15. routine – Medhane
  16. DON’T LET THE DEVIL – Killer Mike, El-P, thankugoodsir
  17. Hunger – MIKE
  18. Gold Man – Maxo
  19. Cloaked Eating – Weird Endgame

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-27

Notes

Empire Of The Sun’s Cherry Blossom music video got recommended to me by YouTube and it had been awhile since I’d heard anything by them. Checking it out did not disappoint, and I felt a sense of nostalgia to listen to The Sleepy Jackson, Luke Steele’s other band, and that’s when I also learned he had released music as a solo artist thanks to the music video for Common Man.Through these music videos one can see and appreciate Steele’s creative vision, as well as their own sonic vision of pleasing and swelling melodic ideas sitting against contrasts of intimacy and melancholic inspiration.

I remember searching for Run The Jewels because I needed music to lift me from some lulls at work. santa calamifuck did not disappoint at all thanks to the beat change in the middle of the song.

Listening to Run The Jewels reminded me of DJ Shadow because of their collaboration on Nobody Speak, which in term made me think of Samuel T. Herring because of his his amazing collaboration with DJ Shadow on Our Pathetic Age. I’d also always been a fan of Herring’s performances because he was truly unique and individual, particularly when I first watched him perform Seasons on their Letterman debut in 2014.. Which is also why this montage of Herring’s iconic dance moves made my week.

I included some of my favourite collaborations that Herring did with BADBADNOTGOOD, and went to explore other collaborations that he did. In particular I love Decades with Wilma Archer and Laura Groves that really contrasts Herring’s unique voice with an arrangement that is laid back and a duet by Groves that sits in a range outside of Herring’s creating an enchanting wind that rustles gently through a forest of thoughts.

Pelican Canyon is a duet between Du Blonde and Herring that takes me back to duos like The Fairport Convention, of which Herring also does a great impersonation of Johnny Cash and Du Blonde channels both June Carter Cash and Joni Mitchell into her own performance. This collaboration also deserves more output and exploration.

From here the playlist switches gears to some indie and lo-fi hip hop because of an algorithm shift. Nonetheless, the energy matches in that there is a high degree of creative energy and direction that create sharp poignant music and lyrical matter.

Finally, I came across Cloaked Eating by Weird Endgame through the 110100100.global label. There are some sonic references to Radiohead and Them Yorke, but also a melancholia that is unique to the artist themselves.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-26

WILT_2024-26

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 23 Jun 2024 to 29 Jun 2024.

  1. TOLKIN YIT – TAICHU
  2. TUMBAO – Lauvre, AKRIILA
  3. La Bronca – Sara Hebe
  4. S.O.S – TAICHU, Lali
  5. BITCHES – AKRIILA
  6. Antes de dormirte – noestemporada
  7. DIAMANTES&KALASHNIKOV – Saramalacara
  8. Asha The First – Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Taj Austin, Ras Austin
  9. Get Lit – Kamasi Washington, George Clinton, D Smoke
  10. Dream State – Kamasi Washington, André 3000
  11. Uiara (Encantada da Água) Vida E Cura – Amaro Freitas
  12. Dança Dos Martelos – Amaro Freitas

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-26

Notes

Some of the previous week’s playlist bled into this week’s, but we also stemmed the bleeding with some listens to the new Kamasi Washington record, Fearless Movement (2024) and new Amaro Freitas’s record, Y’Y (2024).

By new, I mean records that have been released in 2024 thus far. 

After last week’s explorations into the world of Latin and South American beat-making and street culture, it is also tempering to go back to some stalwarts of the contemporary jazz world who are constantly pushing the boundaries of performance, arrangement, and expression. 

The piano performances by Freitas could easily find their way in any avant classical recital, and the collaborations with Washington flit on a spectrum that ranges from the spiritual, gospel, funk, soul, and all manner of celebration of black arts and culture.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-25

WILT_2024-25

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 16 Jun 2024 to 22 Jun 2024.

  1. SAOKO – ROSALÍA
  2. POPPER – AKRIILA, TAICHU
  3. Nanai – Amaia
  4. lunes feriadooOoOO (Garden Remix) – AKRIILA, lilen
  5. Water – Saramalacara, TAICHU, Evar
  6. Hi-C – TAICHU, Molok0
  7. NADA QUEDARÁ – AKACATS, KUINA
  8. MONA XINA – AKRIILA
  9. Finoraro – Intendente, Manuel Matarasso
  10. La Favorita de Dios – Akatumamy, Ovyze
  11. gaZzZzZ – CONDY, AKRIILA

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-25

Notes

I’ve entered into uncharted territory of my listening journey.

A lot of the artists and songs in this week’s playlist come from Latin communities with representatives from Spain, Chile, Argentina, and possibly more that I am unaware of. The influences present touch on sub-genres like trap, cyberpunk, drum’n bass, industrial, neo-soul, hyper-pop, and whatever delicious things are brewing in a cultural melting pot. 

Everything started when I came across the Instagram account, 미라이, and was quite enamoured with their representation of late 90’s to early 00’s polygon graphics paired to an assortment of music. SAOKO by ROSALÍA was referenced in one of these videos and I remember being transfixed by the beat. I’d been living under a rock because I’d never come across Latin-esque music arranged in such fashion before. I went on to listen to more of ROSALÍA’s music.

From there, AKRILLA was recommended to me which also led to more similar artists and musicians in similar experimental veins. One thing that really stands out to me in the music represented here are the rebellion and assuredness of craft. I don’t know what experiences these musicians have had, but their songcraft make me curious about their stories.

I’m quite excited because I feel like I’ve managed to touch a little on one of the sounds of the future. It may not be incredibly mainstream in Western-dominated markets, but this sound has the potential to capture a certain listlessness and somehow channel that into creative aggression.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-24

WILT_2024-24

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 9 Jun 2024 to 15 Jun 2024.

  1. New Fiction – Little Dragon
  2. Suite No. 1: Yanvalloux – Frantz Casseus
  3. Birth4000 – Floating Points
  4. Del Oro – Floating Points
  5. Madres – Sofia Kourtesis
  6. Care – Hana Vu
  7. Find Me Under Wilted Trees – Hana Vu
  8. projections – Night Tapes
  9. Thief Rockers – Thievery Corporation
  10. Letter To The Editor – Thievery Corporation, Racquel Jones
  11. Ghetto Matrix – Thievery Corporation, Mr. Lif
  12. 自分の気分 – Kyoko Takenaka, Tomoki Sanders
  13. Naked – TOKiMONSTA, Channel Tres

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-24

Notes

I started the week residual listens from my time with Little Dragon and Yukimi Nagano, which led me to discovering the guitar work of Frantz Casseus and production work of Sofia Kourtesis.

I also came across a great music video by Hana Vu, Care. While the premise is simple, the execution came across as very earnest to me, and I was captivated by the Vu’s performance throughout the video. It definitely spurred me to listen to the full album of Romanticism. 

While exploring music on YouTube, I also came across a seven year-old performance of Thievery Corporation on KEXP. I listened to some of their music in the early 2000’s, but this performance turned me onto their reggae-inspired 2017 album, Temple of I & I.

Next, Spotify brought recommendations of Kyoko Takenaka and new releases by TOKiMONSTA to my attention. I was rewarded for my curiosity as well as reminded what a nuanced produced TOKiMONSTA is with her ability to fuse so many different styles and rhythms together. Channel Tres’s performance on Naked is also equally captivating and reminds me of Baxter Dury’s flair and swag. Quite the standout song to end our playlist on.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-23

WILT_2024-23

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 2 Jun 2024 to 8 Jun 2024.

  1. El Condor Pasar – Banda Musical Estrella Andina
  2. Ñustas – Processional Band From Carhuaz
  3. Wikkeda!! – General Levy, Hard’n’Pure
  4. Presence (Little Dragon Remix) – Brittany Howard, Little Dragon
  5. Wait & See (Yukimi Nagano) – Jaffrosax, Yukimi Nagano

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-23

Notes

As I was reading/listening to Death’s End by Liu Cixin, there was a narrative plot about sending a probe to meet the Trisolarian fleet. From there, I was reminded of the Voyager projects in the late nineties. In particular, I was curious about the message that humanity had embedded in the probe in the event that extra terrestrial life chance upon the probe in outer space. The contents were embedded on The Golden Record and included a greetings from 55 different languages, as well as some music, sounds and images from earth. I found an approximation of the playlist that someone had put together on Spotify and was quite transfixed by El Condor Pasar by Banda Musical Estrella Andina, which then led me to explore more music from that particular compilation.

At this point, I was still slightly uninspired with my listening choices as I was both listening to the audiobook, or playing the new Destiny DLC, The Final Shape. However, to stay somewhat focused and varied, I decided to listen to some Jungle to both hold my attention while I worked, as well as listen to any new sounds that might be out there.

Finally, I saw that the members at Little Dragon would be pursuing some of their own solo projects, and it spurred the urge to see if Yukimi Nagano had been doing anything new lately. Instead, I came across a compilation of some of her collaborations with many others, and I landed on Presence for its great synth arrangement, and Wait & See for a very captivating beat arrangement to allow both the saxophone and Nagano to shine.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-22

WILT_2024-22

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 26 May 2024 to 1 Jun 2024.

  1. When I Can Read My Titles Clear – Sam Wilkes, Craig Weinrib, Dylan Day
  2. Silver Forest Spirits – Natureboy Flako
  3. Future – Resavoir
  4. Illusion – Resavoir
  5. Watten Koma – Koma Saxo, Petter Eldh
  6. Brem Bo – Gianni Brezzo
  7. Infrahumans – Clats Pesmygz
  8. Underwater Cities – Soccer96

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-22

Notes

Our playlist this week starts with something new from Sam Wilkes and then continues with algorithmic recommendations. When I Can Read My Titles Clearwith Craig Weinrib and Dylan Day is a measured guitar composition that takes the listener on a journey through memories, hopes and regrets. It’s not something I expected from Wilkes, but then he does tend to do many unexpected things and expands my appreciation of the styles and people he chooses to collaborate with. 

The rest of the playlist, while short, contains many soothing compositions in the variety of jazz, classical and electronica. Perhaps a continuation of previous weeks, and who knows for how long. I am feeling a bit uninspired with music for the moment, but I’ve also worked myself into a corner where I cannot exactly take a break from this endeavour, so you will have to bear with the insipidness of this trial. 

However, if you must know, I am currently listening to the audiobook of Death’s End the final instalment of Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy and I must say it has been an amazing read slash listen. The scientific concepts introduced are wildly imaginative and the setting and plot is utterly dystopian and terrifying. Perhaps that is why music seems boring at this cycle. The spiritual depth that I normally get from music is currently at odds with the infinite expanse of cosmic proportions, where that depth seems infinitesimal against the void of space in between the stars. Or shall perhaps the depth of spirt match the expanse of awareness?

Till then, this sort of music currently acts as a sort of balm, without need for words, but wholly reliant on expression. Just barely, it allows me to appreciate the subjective beauty rather than face the objective terror presented by an uncaring and chaotic universe. We blanket ourselves with ambiguity to fend ourselves from the cold and dark universe that lies beyond our atmosphere.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-21

WILT_2024-21

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 19 May 2024 to 25 May 2024.

  1. practicing silence – Mark Guiliana
  2. Who You Are – Francis of Delirium
  3. Just Me, Selling Desires – ||||||||||||||||||||
  4. You Appear – ||||||||||||||||||||
  5. You Give And Give – Dorian Concept
  6. North Of Roswell – Imaginary Softwoods
  7. Unblocked – DjRUM
  8. All The Hours I Spent In Bunkers – ||||||||||||||||||||
  9. Cina – Lucia Furlan
  10. Zoë – Duke Hugh
  11. Living The Dream – Harpsichord Canvas, Orchid Mantis
  12. November, 1st in Detroit – Slow Attack Ensemble

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-21

Notes

I spent half the week in Singapore and half the week in Penang, but I did most of my listening by the start of the week. 

Most of this week’s playlist comes from algorithm recommendations after listening to |||||||||||||||||||| because I needed a strong hit of dopamine to carry me through a short but compressed work week through Wednesday. 

An outlier for this week would be Francis of Delirium’s Who You Are which was a pleasant and shimmering dream pop song with many aching melodies.

Beyond that, we touch and go within the realm of electronic music kissed by classical leanings and synthesisers. Music in this sector helps center me or also opens my thinking toward new pathways while in deep thought or flow.

And then it’s off to Penang where the music in this vein helps calm me down while in the channels of chaos.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-20

WILT_2024-20

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 12 May 2024 to 18 May 2024.

  1. Come On, Be a No-One – The Cribs
  2. A Chore – Tom Vek
  3. Snakes In My Path – Dikembe
  4. Slugs (yeule & Kin Leonn Remix) – Slow Pulp, yeule, Kin Leonn
  5. Infinity – Morgan Guerin, Georgia Anne Muldrow
  6. Kamakura – Mark Guiliana
  7. Images Suite – Red Hot Org, Kronos Quartet, Laurie Anderson, Sex Mob, Steven Bernstein, Marshall Allen
  8. Velasquez and Van Wezel – Coffee Shop Jungle, Makoto
  9. FUKU WA UCHI ONI WA SOTO – John Carroll Kirby, Haroumi Hasono, The Mizuhara Sisters
  10. Scrambled Eggs – Moonchild Sanelly
  11. Look Alive – Hana Vu
  12. REEKYOD – Madlib, Black Thought, Your Old Droog

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-20

Notes

Somehow revisited The Cribs and Come on, Be a No-One stood out for its brazenness and nonchalance when it came to creating great guitar rock paired with the looseness and abandon of punk. 

A Chore and Snakes In My Path followed soon after and I was in this mood of guitar rock for awhile but also not for long. Listening-wise, I was feeling slightly uninspired because I’ve been quite engrossed in The Dark Forest by Li Cixin and have been listening to the audiobook instead of exploring music during my active listening periods. 

But I did take an easy way out by exploring what Spotify’s Release Radar brought to my attention.

Slugs (Yule & Kin Leonn Remix) was intriguing to me. It gets better on repeated listens, particularly the chaotic bits.

I find it difficult to say no to the jazz explorations of Georgia Anne Muldrow and Infinity with Morgan Guerin is an expression of that. 

I particularly enjoyed Mark Guiliana’s Kamakura and its nostalgic synth warbles as well as FUKU WA UCHI ONI WA SOTO by John Carroll Kirby, Haroumi Hasono and the Mizuhara Sisters for its fun electric piano arrangement.

There’s a bit more jazz with Images Suite and some drum and bass courtesy of Velasquez and Van Wezel by Coffee Shop Jungle and Makoto.

Scrambled Eggs by Moonchild Sanely is a new one and it is a great reminder of the attitude that she and her production sensibilities encapsulate. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise of this week’s playlist is Look Alive by Hana Vu whom I generally associate bedroom guitar pop with, but this swelling synth arrangement demonstrates a new confidence in both songwriting and melody. It’s a tremendous shift and makes me curious for her other musical developments.

We end with REEKYOD by Madlib, Black Thought and Your Old Droog, an old school sample-laced hip hop piece with every rapper putting their best foot forward.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-19

WILT_2024-19

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 5 May 2024 to 11 May 2024.

  1. Ninety Seconds for Celeste – Slow Attack Ensemble
  2. Hew – Flaer
  3. Rick’s Dream – Monaqee, Antônio Neves
  4. Rivertribe – halfpastseven
  5. Full Bloom – Josiah Steinbrick
  6. Save My Soul – Salami Rose Jose Louis
  7. FEB 29 FIVE – Johnathan Hulett
  8. Fool Me Once – Qwalia
  9. Tuba Titan – Lowdown Brass Band
  10. Drum and Fife – Gerald Bailey, Harry James
  11. Sound & Reason – Qwalia
  12. guessing game – james schneider jr., aaron khawaja
  13. Introverts – Utlandet
  14. MILTON SUITE – Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes
  15. Con/Sequence – Burnt Pink, Swarvy
  16. Ruse – Henkel
  17. Playtime – Hector Pilmmer, Laura Misch
  18. false self – WILLOW

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-19

Notes

I look out a window and see the endless horizon. 

I spent the week listening to a mix of ambient, jazz, classical and electronica. The songs are variations of the combination and they serve as reminders humankind’s desire for self-expression. 

And for some societies, such expressions are both stifled, un-valued or devalued. Like a cry in the forest, chaos looks back nonchalantly with nary an ounce on concern. 

I’m not sure where this text is going, or maybe I’m just filling space on an infinite canvas. But don’t let it distract you from listening to this week’s playlist. Perhaps The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu is currently what’s in my gaze now as I started listening to the audiobook and it’s all I can think about despite putting together a playlist already.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-18

WILT_2024-18

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 28 Apr 2024 to 4 May 2024.

  1. Harness (The Alchemist) – Black Tusk
  2. Dance On Your Grave – Black Tusk
  3. Blackened – Toke
  4. UTOPIA – SPIT NEHC
  5. Amber Eyes – Daevar
  6. Too Late – .22lr
  7. CREASED – Nü Crosd
  8. Ecchymosis – Lect Drecs
  9. Astral Flowers – Fabiano do Nascimento, Sam Gendel
  10. A Day In The Park – Monaqee, Antônio Neves
  11. Triumphant Buttress – Salami Rose Joe Louis
  12. As The Planets And The Stars Collapse – Shabaka
  13. Mouthfeel 1 – Sam Gendel, Josiah Steinbrick

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-18

Notes

This sounds so cheesy but this week’s playlist is a bit yin and yang and damn does it not feel good to get that out of the way. In fact, it’s so bad it’s actually in the way now. 

But what else can you do when you start the week with listening to the new Black Tusk album, The Way Forward, that featured a few gems and also uncovered a few more from the recommendation engine? Harness and Dance On Your Grave start off strongly as one would expect from Black Tusk with gnarly detuned guitars with a healthy dose of punkish intensity. 

Blackened by Toke takes us into the realm of stoner metal and the riffs are top-notch haze, but then UTOPIA by SPIT NEHC quickens the tempo with some very tasty hardcore. 

Then comes Amber Eyes by Dear that has the kind of low-end guitar growl that always makes me sit up to take notice. I listened to their discography a bit this week and really enjoyed it but didn’t include more than I needed to. Reminds me of True Widow with a bit more shoegaze elements.

The last two songs that round out the chapter started by Black Tusk include Too Late by .22lr and CREASED by Nü Cros, both very intense songs that are heavily influenced by various aspects of post-hardcore and screamo. 

Ecchymosis by Lect Dress is an outlier that I cannot place how I came across in between chapters. However, it is a wonderful exploration of guitar tones with glorious use of pitch-shifting and harmoniser effects. 

I also started listening to the new album by Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes, The Doober, but unfortunately I did not include anything from the album. However, that album led us down recommendations that include Astral Flowers, by Fabiano do Nascimento and Sam Gendel, a beautiful duet of guitar virtuosity and Gendel’s exceptional wind work on the flute. 

A Day In The Park by Monaqee and Antônio Neves offer some early-evening grooves on the Fender Rhodes and saxophone, while Triumphant Buttress by Salami Rose Joe Louis continues with cosmic explorations and beats. As The Planets And Stars Collapse by Shabaka expand the inner cosmos with a searching arrangement, and finally we land and end with Sam Gendel and Josiah Steinbrick’s Mouthfeel 1, a yearning soundscape of sine-waves and dope frequencies.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-17

WILT_2024-17

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 21 Apr 2024 to 27 Apr 2024.

  1. Yip, Yip, Yip – LI YILEI
  2. American Moss – Salami Rose Joe Louis, Flanafi

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-17

Notes

Not much.

I didn’t do much active listening this week due to a rather hectic work week and I needed to hunker down with Endel to get into a flow state. Surprisingly, I also opted for listening to various podcasts on my commutes to work, and also opted for the brain rot of television instead of listening to music for relaxation. 

Despite all that, this week’s two entries are very interesting. They come as algo-reccomendations after an album that I’d be listening to but was not included in this playlist. That album is Songopora #1 by Sun Eye and Faux which includes a lot of samples from Southeast Asian folk music from the Malaya region and is perhaps one of the more interesting representations of the cultural form as opposed to abstract compositions and field recordings. Listening to that album paved the way to Yip, Yip, Yip by LI YILEI and American Moss by Salami Rose Joe Louis and Flanafi, both of which feature bold arrangements and instrumental soundscapes.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-16

WILT_2024-16

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 14 Apr 2024 to 20 Apr 2024.

  1. A Figure In The Surf – Mount Kimbie
  2. BerwynGesaffNeighbours – Fred Again.., Berwyn, Gesaffelstein
  3. Storm Crystals – Four Tet
  4. You are the Eyes of the World – Phét Phét Phét
  5. TrashKat – Special Feelings
  6. Down Goose – Special Feelings
  7. Zone Black – Emil Amos
  8. Insecurities (feat. Moses Sumney) – Shabaka, Moses Sumney
  9. Body To Inhabit (feat. E L U C I D) – Shabaka, E L U C I D
  10. I’ll Do Whatever You Want (feat. Floating Points, Laraaji) – Shabaka, Floating Points, Laraaji
  11. Living (feat. ESKA) – Shabaka, ESKA
  12. Breathing – Shabaka
  13. Feels so Far Away – Amanda Whiting
  14. we’re still at the underpass – Ganavya
  15. Pedra Negra – Benjamim

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-16

Notes

First, let’s talk about Shabaka, whose album, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace was introduced to me on Spotify as a recommended listen. Drawn to its cover art consisting of a portrait photograph of the artist, I was immediately drawn to its intensity and intention. What greeted me were explorations into free-wheeling spiritual jazz through masterful performances of the flute and a host of jazz-centric instruments. However, on songs like I’ll Do Whatever You Want (feat. Floating Points and Laraaji), the boundaries of jazz are pushed further along by synth textures and pulses, creating more ethereal expressions by the musicians versus something more centred or coloured with percussion. The result is a wonderfully vivid galaxy of awe and wonder, a negotiation between finite and infinite. 

But before I was given the opportunity to listen to Shabaka, the listening week was already starting with first encounters with electronica and its peripherals. Mount Kimbie and Four Tet always offer what is on the knife’s edge of taste, but there are also deep bangers that perhaps only more commercial producers like Fred Again.. can envision or put together. Then there’s a 20 minute piece from Phét Phét Phét because it happened to grip me during a particular cycle of work.

The playlist then closes with three short compositions that through sheer happenstance, explore disciplines of classical jazz, sound design, and electronica each on their own, but somehow summarises what this listening week was all about.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-15

WILT_2024-15

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 7 Apr 2024 to 13 Apr 2024.

  1. Transformer – Gnarls Barkley
  2. The Only One – Danger Mouse, Jemini the Gifted One
  3. Backstage Girl – DJ Shadow, Phonte Coleman
  4. War Setib I – Soft Power
  5. Lifeproof Houses (Redux) – A Swarm Of The Sun
  6. Is That Some Sort of Sick Joke? – Chasing the Dragon
  7. Miami Snowband – Foam Giant, Flavor Crystals
  8. Sopra Vento À Lenha – Paus, Cabrita, Thomas Attar Bellier, Iúri Oliveira
  9. Cães Não Voam – Paus, Cabrita, Thomas Attar Bellier, Iúri Oliveira
  10. Da Boca Do Lobo – Paus, Cabrita, Thomas Attar Bellier, Iúri Oliveira
  11. Sentimental – Paus, Cabrita, Thomas Attar Bellier, Iúri Oliveira
  12. Silver bays – Catlynn Klarisse
  13. Introspection – Mister Anderson
  14. Isto É Real? – Mão Morta
  15. my cell (dem0) – upnow!

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-15

Notes

We are starting with Gnarls Barkley because I heard a cover of Crazy by Teddy Swims and that made me a little nostalgic for the 2006 album, St. Elsewhere. From there, it meandered into other work by Danger Mouse and DJ Shadow, pretty par for the course as far as recommendations would go. 

Somewhere along the way I switched to something else that for the life of me cannot remember now, but I did land on the Portuguese band, Paus, and I am liking the avant nature of their rock and jazz explorations. That expedition surfaced a few more left field compositions that I have no complaints adding to this week’s playlist.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-14

WILT_2024-14

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 31 Mar 2024 to 6 Apr 2024.

  1. Uno Antes De Dormir – JXXXO
  2. Lost Work – ATOEM
  3. Day of Pain – BITE THE HAND
  4. Nothing to Lose – BITE THE HAND
  5. Feed – Going Off, Knuckledust
  6. Rob’s Liquor – Jack-Knife
  7. Sold Out – Sinister Feeling
  8. bye – Ako
  9. 新緑の巨人 (Shinryokuno Kyojin) – Kirinji
  10. 偽りのシンパシー – Mondo Grosso, AiNA THE END
  11. IN THIS WORLD (feat. 坂本龍一, Vocals: 満島ひかり)- Mondo Grosso, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Hikari Mitsushima
  12. 春はトワに目覚める (Ver.2) – Mondo Grosso, UA
  13. 迷子のアストゥルナウタ – Mondo Grosso, Hidefumi Ino

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-14

Notes

A bit of a mixed bag this week. We start off with techno remnants from JXXXO and ATOEM. Uno Antes De Dormir antes up with some sick pounding beats with a BPM that chooses not to let up, whereas Lost Work delves into electro territory with a very comfortable pocket that is able to hold a lot of change.

Then, I got recommended music by BITE THE HAND from the YouTube algorithm and that immediately caught my ears for being able to combine the “toughness” of the DC hardcore style but also including throwbacks to classic Metallica breakdowns. Why haven’t I come across this recipe sooner? Because it absolutely works. 

I then got sent down a path of various other hardcore bands because it was what I needed to power through a pretty intense week at work. The aggression is all there, and I think it speaks to that part of my brain that gravitates toward brutal riffs but is also open toward other styles and borrows from them to innovate on the aggression. I think what I’m trying to say is that there are many ways to throw a punch. 

Surprisingly, we also find ourselves in the realm a more contemporary era of Japanese city pop. I don’t know if city pop is even the right genre, but it’s got all the good parts avant jazz, funk and soul, combined with the melancholia that hovers around some of the more attractive pop elements. It all started when I felt nostalgic for BiSH, and poked around AiNA THE END’s discography, there which I discovered 偽りのシンパシー, a Mondo Grosso track that she performed on. This was my first time hearing Mondo Grosso but I was very very intrigued. The music seemed to fuse many elements of electronic music that I loved with many elements of jazz that I loved. Unsurprisingly, I learned that Mondo Grosso existed as an acid jazz band in the 90s, but is now the solo production moniker for the bassist/band leader, Shinichi Osawa. 

This path leads to some slight deviations like KIRINJI which I am also very interested in now, and will listen to more of them im the new week, but also into some more recent albums by Mondo Grosso that showcase the producer’s prolificacy and versatility. The music on display here is nuanced, subtle, bold and sensual. The synths dance around beats and the basslines swirl like planets orbiting celestial bodies. This is definitely a discography to dive deep into.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-13

WILT_2024-13

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 24 Mar 2024 to 30 Mar 2024.

  1. Let Me In – Mosher, Sebastian Mora
  2. Etna – Eleonora Ketanol
  3. Uplifting Rhythms – Primoris
  4. Arp Piano – Johannes Brecht
  5. Serpentine (Fedele Remix) – Darlyn Vlys, Fedele
  6. Like This – Tchami, Malaa, Koos
  7. Hyper – Irène Drésel

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-13

Notes

This past week, I wanted to continue through the theme of Sama’ Abdulhadi following the discovery of her 2018 Boileroom set but work was very demanding for me and I did not get a lot of active listening done. I did manage to put on a mix album that Sama’ did, fabric presents Sama’ Abdulhadi which in turn generated recommendations that fit into this week’s playlist featuring some bangin’ techno tracks that also act as buffers and guardrails for my distracted brain while I work.

I think Sama’ mentioned something about how when she first listened to techno it sort of overwhelmed and took over and shut everything else out. It sort of works similarly for me in that it just empties my brain just so I’m given enough headroom to concentrate on doing that other thing (usually office work, but sometimes life administration or going on a walk). My point is, you don’t always need to dance to electronic music because the dance can be anything you need to enter into that flow state for.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-12

WILT_2024-12

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 17 Mar 2024 to 23 Mar 2024.

  1. Oundikom – Ahmad Kaabour
  2. A Prayer – Rim Banna
  3. That Moment When – Adnan Joubran
  4. Al Bint El Chalabeya – Dorsaf Hamdani
  5. Yalah Yalah Ramallah – Fermin Muguruza
  6. Don’t Leave! – El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe
  7. Fuqaati (My Bubble) – Ruba Shamshoum
  8. Hana – Ruba Shamshoum
  9. Niyalak – Sanaa Moussa
  10. Nijmet El-subeh – Sanna Moussa
  11. Memories Of A Palestinian Wound – Amal Murkus

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-12

Notes

I came across a few techno mixes by Sama Abdulhadi and that piqued my interest into what contemporary Palestinian culture was like. It’s no lie that Palestinian society is undergoing immense hardship at this moment, and it is also uncertain whether both their people, society and culture will survive the constant bombardment, destruction, internment and loss of life that the IDF is subjecting the civilian populace to.

I started exploring traditional and folk music by Palestinian artists and musicians because this was their expression of humanity, their breaths of life, that we are seeing being taken away and extinguished by powers and wills beyond us and not our own. Yet what can we do to peacefully resist these wills that have chosen war, destruction, and inflicting pain and suffering to fellow human beings? I don’t know what peaceful resistance is because this struggle has demonstrated that if wills beyond your own aim to see your demise, your resistance ends in your erasure. But perhaps others will remember, and today I would like to choose to remember, that these songs are real, that these people are real, and that a will beyond our own is choosing to erase them, their culture, and their history.

みんなのきもち (Minna-no-kimochi)

From easternmargins.com:

みんなのきもち (Minna-no-kimochi) is an enigmatic Tokyo-based rave crew pursuing an environmental trance experience.

With its roots in experimental music and ambient music, みんなのきもち (Minna-no-kimochi) has cemented an unique signature style by deconstructing 90s trance music and 2010s EDM with a post-club interpretation.

Since their conception in 2021, they have held raves at abandoned buildings, warehouses, and coastlines in and around Tokyo. As a DJ unit, their Boiler Room has reverberated globally, sending cross-cultural ripples.

Their label project, Mizuha 罔象, is an online platform that explores the next generation of trance, ambient and post-club soundscapes, releasing works from Japan and around the world.

Eastern Margins

Live Sets

Minna-no-kimochi (みんなのきもち) | Boiler Room Tokyo: Tohji Presents u-ha (YouTube)

Minna-no-kimochi (みんなのきもち) | Boiler Room Tokyo: Tohji Presents u-ha (Soundcloud)

Tracklist:

Provided by u/b_lett on r/trance

  • 0:34 A. G. Cook – Xxoplex
  • 0:50 Lorenzi – Back To You
  • 2:20 DJ Break Da Law – Drosera
  • 4:20 Merely – The Killing Sun (Makinarium Remix)
  • 7:45 TRANCEMAN2000 – Falling van Buuren
  • 10:50 Panteros666 – Meteociel (Dirpix Remix)
  • 11:50 Lyra Valenza – Reality Blizz
  • 13:37 + 16:00 AD†AM – NAKED (Uphoria Remix)
  • 15:30 Buga – Hands-Up!
  • 17:00 Trillosta – Crystal Sky
  • 18:11 HDMIRROR – ANTHEM
  • 19:00 adaa – feeling a moment
  • 20:00 Sun Angels – A Drink Before The War
  • 22:01 Sun Angels – 777 (Unreleased)
  • 23:56 Glen S – Superfast XI
  • 25:20 Above & Beyond – Morning In Deira
  • 26:46 Sun Angels – Stilla
  • 29:37 Jam & Spoon – Stella’s Cry (Push – Tribute To Markus Remix)
  • 31:51 Nathan Micay – Ecstasy Is On Maple Mountain
  • 32:49 Underworld – Rez
  • 35:30 Marsh – Lailonie
  • 38:00 Emily Glass – Unreleased
  • 39:46 Team Rockit – Team Rockit (Sun Angels Sommarvisa Edit)
  • 42:24 Negative Architecture – Lighter Than Air
  • 43:50 INZO – Earth Magic

Notes

I cannot seem to get enough of this mix. The journey from the manic and irresistible energy of hyper trance to the euphoric catharsis of trance, みんなのきもち (Minna-no-kimochi) have truly set themselves apart as purveyors and non-conformists of genre. I didn’t think I would enjoy the EDM leanings, but somehow I am acquiesced when the dial turns towards energy and it is both tempered and laced with copious lashings of hardstyle techno and psytrance.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-11

WILT_2024-11

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 10 Mar 2024 to 16 Mar 2024.

  1. Ciao – Georgia Anne Muldrow
  2. Electric Highway – Qwalia
  3. Strenuosities – Aazz Bhens
  4. Moleculefont – Georgia Anne Muldrow
  5. Husfriend – Georgia Anne Muldrow
  6. Vikings Invade the Mediterranean But Don’t Leave – Prefuse 73
  7. Afet – Daringer
  8. Oubladi – GODTET, Mariam Sawires
  9. Haven’t You Heard – Qwalia
  10. Darker Times – Empires In Orbit, Nora Virginia
  11. Folded Space Bounce – GRAVITYLOOP
  12. Trip Trap – GRAVITY LOOP

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-11

Notes

I had a desire to listen to Shigeto at the start of last week and the 2023 album, Hotel San Claudio got put on. However, it was Georgia Anne Muldrow’s 2015 album, oLIGARCHY sUCKS! that shaped the rest of the week’s playlist.

Qwalia was an amazing discovery and I am in love with their brand of psychedelic jazz. The basslines by Ben Reed are also to die for, but really it’s how it all everything comes together. Check out their live sets to know what I mean.

Qwalia – Live Session from our studio in North London

Qwalia – Live on SOHO RADIO

This week’s playlist explores tones, beats and grooves. While this may seem par for the course, there are still some intricacies in each song that make them individually unique, pleasant and exciting for the listener.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-10

WILT_2024-10

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 3 Mar 2024 to 9 Mar 2024.

  1. DRIVE – yonige
  2. bad daydream – BENTENLAND
  3. 幻影 (Genei, Phantom) – kyrie, AiNA THE END
  4. gin and wine (ginuwine) – tg.blk
  5. It’s Gold – dummy Amade
  6. no more of me (Apltn Remix) – Jadu Jadu, TAMBALA, Chester Watson, apltn
  7. SHAKE & MOVE – Pierce Washington, Suede Jetson, Michael Ferguson, Benny The Butcher
  8. Somedays – Beau Zwart, Sykes
  9. H.B.H.F.D. – LOUSELV, Scrambled
  10. Give Me More Faith – Lionel Itchy -#NoGenre #NoLabels
  11. Slug – Matt Champion
  12. Gaddavír – gugusar
  13. Test It – Erika de Casier
  14. Chantel’s Garden – DijahSB
  15. mister misfit but aint missed a fit in months – Smino
  16. Want You – BLK ODYSSY
  17. Take You Higher – Moon Soul
  18. AA BOUQUET FOR YOUR 180 FACE – Saya Gray
  19. God Universe Magic (G.U,M) – Witch Prophet, SATE

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-10

Notes

I started the week by revisiting the band PEDRO because I was slightly game for some grunge-inspired alternative rock and I ended up with DRIVE by yonige which captures that particular sound pretty well. This brand of Japanese rock went on for a few more tunes before we stumbled into the meat and potatoes of this week’s playlist, which is a light skim into the current contemporary of indie soul and hip hop. 

Genres are permeable as different musical styles fluidly weave into each other like watercolours in oil. A myriad of enticing sounds, beats and melodies easily stutter into each other as everything ends up as a sample, as a tone, as an idea, taking shape and taking root, standing both on its own and as a tree amidst the forest. It makes me excited to see if something comes next and knowing that something will come next.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-09

WILT_2024-09

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 25 Feb 2024 to 2 Mar 2024.

  1. Under The Magnolia Tree – Pale Jay
  2. Telephone (What’s Your Name?) – daste.
  3. Ruby Smiles – Reuben James, Conor Albert, Soweto Kinch
  4. Something I’m Used To – DARGZ
  5. My Dirty Desire – Pale Jay
  6. Headspace – Ray Lozano
  7. If You Don’t Want My Love – Jalen Ngonda
  8. Long Beach – B.J. Smith
  9. Just Fly, Don’t Worry – Jungle
  10. Losing It – Bobby Oroza, El Michels Affair
  11. Marieanne – Common Saints
  12. Make Believe – Dead Horse Beats
  13. Darling – Esbe
  14. Typhoon – Ray Lozano, SALOMEA
  15. Got Caught In Amsterdam – Arc De Soleil
  16. Famagusta Port – BALTHVS
  17. Wildfires – SAULT
  18. Into Quietus – Nails
  19. Slaughter Of The Soul – At The Gates
  20. All Hail The Goat – Hellripper
  21. The Javelin – Fugitive
  22. Slime and Punishment – Municipal Waste
  23. Demon – Entombed
  24. Questions – Power Trip
  25. Unfit for Human Consumption – Carcass
  26. Rumors Of War – High On Fire
  27. My Time – Exhorder
  28. Relic of Damnation – Spiritworld
  29. Life Is a Death Sentence – Nails

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-09

Notes

This week’s playlist got out of hand really quickly and that’s simply because there was just so much good music that presented itself to me.

I was revisiting Jungle’s Volcano (2023) and Pale Jay came on as a recommendation after the album finished playing. I proceed to check out Pale Jay’s 2021 album and 2023 album, and that generated a slew of soulful and groovy tunes.

Some standouts include Ray Lozano whose music includes the slightest tinge of melancholy that laces her soulful songs with sharp writing and subject matter that grounds it with an earthiness leaving ready for the next song. 

Arc De Soleil and BALTHVS provide a welcome break with psychedelia-inspired guitar instrumentals, reminiscent of Khruangbin but also their own thing.

Don’t miss Wildfires by SAULT, which has a really spellbinding bassline played in chords that never feels too busy, but somehow roars like glowing embers that is both fierce and gentle at the same time.

After 18 songs, I should have ended the playlist but I had a desire to also listen to Power Trip while I was at work and navigating a particularly complex task. The speed and aggression of thrash metal really helps put me into a state where I can concentrate on my executive functions without being distracted easily. Listening to their 2017 album, Nightmare Logic ended up generating more amazing discoveries in adjacent genres like power violence, hardcore, speed metal and more. If there are bands to check out from this dump, definitely go the way of Nails and Fugitive, both of which write extremely brutal riffs that if you are able to appreciate, are some of the most crushing yet uplifting and energy giving riffs.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-08

WILT_2024-08

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 18 Feb 2024 to 24 Feb 2024.

  1. Far From A Friend – Sophie May
  2. Vashti – Hag
  3. Rest Easy – yeemz
  4. Beau’s Old Bones – yeemz
  5. Life’s Got A While – yeemz
  6. Fly To You (feat. Grimes and Dido) – Caroline Polachek, Grimes, Dido
  7. Animal – AURORA
  8. All is Soft Inside – AURORA
  9. It Happened Quiet – AURORA
  10. Runaway – AURORA
  11. The Seed – AURORA
  12. Myself Nobody Else – Baby Combat
  13. The Ghost – The Infinites
  14. Slime Wave – The Slimetones
  15. Stay Away From New York City – Fig
  16. Your Mess – Charlie Gradon
  17. Finish In Silence – LSSNS
  18. Out In The Sun (slow with reverb) – Little Bird
  19. Fever Dream – junodream
  20. Infinity – Hohen Ford
  21. Clementine II – Hana Bryanne

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-08

Notes

I carried on from the previous week by exploring more material by Sophie May and yeemz and along the way, the wistful Vashti by Hag and the drum and bass inspired Fly To You by Caroline Polachek both stood out with the unique arrangements and approaches.

However, I discovered the music of AURORA through their KEXP performance and was immediately hooked, prompting further exploration. Animal is both visceral and nonchalant in the way love demands and hurts selfishly, yet unabashed in why it can make one feel good. All Is Soft Inside I added for its amazing baritone guitar passage during the performance’s interlude though I’m not sure it really translated in the recorded version. Next comes It Happened Quiet which has really stood out for me as song of the week. Their performance at Nidarosdomen really stood out for me for its intensity, particularly when they sing ”Are your dreams as dead as they seem? / Don’t you speak over my voice / I will return from the shadows / Love is wild.” Truly stupendous. The performances of Runaway and The Seed at the Haik Concert were also very magical having been performed in a forest and as usual, extremely poignant in that AURORA is always so immersed in the performance that you cannot help but be pulled in. One more thing about these performances is that every musician on stage is also incredibly proficient at what they do, and so considered as well. The level of restraint to continue burning like a candle in the wind is such a privilege to commune in such a perfect storm. 

As we progress from AURORA, my friend Baby Combat released a new single, Myself Nobody Else and he does what he does best by finding the melodies that nobody else can, and giving words to displaced observations and disembodied emotions.

The songs that follow Baby Combat tether on the edge of indie rock, never really landing on a particular genre. Whether it’s the “sewer surf” of The Slimetones, the nostalgic synth ballads of Fig, the percussive riffing of Charlie Gradon, the dark electro pop of LSSNS, the playlist journeys through the valleys of creativity and melancholy.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-07

WILT_2024-07

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 11 Feb 2024 to 17 Feb 2024.

  1. When You Mean It (Demo) – Emma Harner
  2. wondering why – yeemz
  3. Same Person – Allison Keeley
  4. Short, Sweet Summer – Jaz Beeson
  5. About It – Raavi
  6. Meant To Be – Ashaine White
  7. W/ Arms Wide Open – Al Menne
  8. graduation? – Timothy Edward Carpenter
  9. Worst Thoughts In The World – Sophie May

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-07

Notes

Emma Harner got on my radar when she performed a cover of Manchester Orchestra’s The Gold and I was quite smitten by her finger-style technique and emotive vocals. 

yeemz followed soon after and it very interesting to come across a cellist singer-songwriter.

From here, I knew that the playlist I wanted to compile was a feature of short songs, another foray into the trend of bedroom musicians that seem to write shorter and shorter, as if each burst of emotion needn’t be dragged on, but felt in as full a capacity but also to to ignite and fade away almost instantaneously. I wonder if this is a result of the post-internet generation that experiences every fleeting trend, that despite the permanence of the Internet’s memory, the collective consciousness of the Internet is especially ephemeral, and somehow that has coloured our youthful perspective. We forget the things we cannot feel.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-06

WILT_2024-06

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 4 Feb 2024 to 10 Feb 2024.

  1. Vlad the Impaler – Kasabian
  2. Club Foot – Kasabian
  3. Atlantis To Interzone – Klaxons
  4. Golden Skans – Klaxons
  5. The Prayer – Bloc Party
  6. Going Steady – Death From Above 1979
  7. Blood On Our Hands – Death From Above 1979
  8. Sabotage – Beastie Boys
  9. Niki & The Dove – DJ Ease My Mind
  10. & Down – Boys Noize
  11. Deadly On A Mission – Alex Metric
  12. I Want I Want – Digitalism
  13. Idealistic – Digitalism
  14. Hearts On Fire – Cut Copy
  15. Mountain at My Gates (Alex Metric Remix) – Foals, Alex Metric

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-06

Notes

This playlist started from me signing up for a spin class at my organisation’s social activities programme. I wasn’t that interested in this particular activity, but I thought I’d see what the fuss about spin was, and also hang out with some colleagues after work hours in a bid to be more social. Incidentally, this particular activity was also open to family and friends, and when I told Jenna she seemed interested to join because the cost of participation was attractive due to the subsidy. With all this cooking in the background, there was also an option to include song requests and Jenna requested that I put Vlad The Impaler by Kasabian because it was one of her favourite songs and for working out. This one song then put me on a path to revisit a particular phase in my life when music was frenetic, dance-y, groovy, full of attitude and a haze that takes me back to late nights, sweat-drenched clothes and the catharsis of youth.

The dirty distorted basslines of Kasabian fueled my fascination with punk-infused dance and rock but with a rising BPM, Klaxons was always up there in the set just before and after midnight, banging in each new day as the night dragged on into infinity. Golden Skans I remember was the recommendation of tastemakers like Juice magazine and that truly shaped my appreciation of nightlife in the years from 2007 with Home Club as the base of most of my social activities till 2014. It was also at this time that I was reminded of the crushing basslines that came courtesy of Death From Above 1979, and hot damn did I want to play in a band like that (and maybe still do).

During this period, the electro genre was probably something I was following rather closely. With outfits like Digitalism and Boys Noize being effortlessly cool, bringing shades of Justice with them and the sound of envelope-filtered basslines that could induce bouts of mass hysteria. The music was so dirty that it still hasn’t dug itself out of whatever hole that punters were digging at that point in time (seriously, just check out & Down by Boys Noize). However, there were also some very melodic anthems with the indie crowd, Hearts On Fire being the obvious choice, but damn did my heart go out to DJ Ease My Mind by Niki & The Dove because I was such a sap for unrequited love.

If I could sum up the Electro sound, it would go to almost anything by Alex Metric, particularly his remixes of indie rock songs. While I leave you with a little sampler in this playlist, what I really wanted to bring to the reader’s attention is Stylo (Alex Metric Remix) by Gorillaz that can only be found on YouTube. 

The next part of this set of notes is that it’s currently nearing the end of day one of the Lunar New Year, and we’re soon entering day two. As usual, I’m in Penang during this period, but I did manage to have a reunion dinner with my family on the eve of the new year and increasingly I sense the significance of being with the people you choose to be with beyond the traditions and practices that you were taught to uphold without context or empty encounters. We might be all on different journeys and at different stages, but coming together is a time when we can potentially be there for each other rather than just walking our own roads.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-05

WILT_2024-05

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 28 Jan 2024 to 3 Feb 2024.

  1. Eudaemonia – Them Are Us Too
  2. Lost Boys – Still Corners
  3. How Do I Know? – Body of Light
  4. Faith – Cold Showers
  5. Midsummer Shadow – Public Memory
  6. Feel – The Soft Moon
  7. Only Human – Cold Showers
  8. Teleharmonic – The Smile
  9. Steamroller – feeble little horse
  10. The Opposite – The Smile
  11. Prosecco – Th&o.

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-05

Notes

I have been in a bit of a dreamy mood from this week’s playlist. A lot of synth-based electronic music continued to emerge from my listening preferences, a residual memory of the previous week’s adventure. However, I do find the music from this week a lot more brazen, if a little less harsh. 

I also listened to the new album, Wall of Eyes by The Smile and enjoyed it thoroughly. Tonally, it is more subdued than the first album, but in its elegance it also sounds more insidious. There are broad strokes of the avant in the music, yet a bestial intellect that ravenously displays its anger. I find it all incredibly well-structured even if it seems meandering on the surface.

I also put on the playlist JD’s Look Joint and absolutely fell in love with the groove on Prosecco, so here it is logged in.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-04

WILT_2024-04

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 21 Jan 2024 to 27 Jan 2024.

  1. Blue Tuesday – Francis of Delirium
  2. Tits & Attitude – My Life Story
  3. Snakes Crawl (East Village Mix) – Phil Kieran, Bush Tetras, East Village
  4. Flashing – Claudio Simonetti, Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli
  5. Squeek and Chatter – Tomaga
  6. Sex And Trouble – Deux
  7. Gensei – aspidistrafly
  8. Sad Song – The Soft Moon
  9. Answers – The Soft Moon
  10. The Pit – The Soft Moon
  11. Stupid Child – The Soft Moon
  12. Lock and Key – Cold Showers
  13. Slices – Spike Hellis
  14. Escape real enemy – Tranceumo
  15. Sound Pressure, Pt. 2 – Surgeon, James Ruskin
  16. M-87 – Silent Servant
  17. New Here Gem – SG Bluie
  18. Eden Trio (Barker Remix) – Planetary Assault Systems, Barker

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-04

Notes

The week started with a Spotify recommendation to listen to Blue Tuesday by Francis of Delirium. Driving, melodic, rancorous, the song had all the makings of a great banger by my standards. Tits & Attitude by My Life Story soon followed and I was immediately taken by the attitude behind the song as the delivery was an easy sell for the punk-like instrumentation that sold the promise of diamond studded leather struts. 

But this direction did not last long as early in the week I came across the news of the passing of Luis Vasquez (The Soft Moon) and Juan Mendez (Silent Servant), both of whom I have come across in my musical discoveries. To remember, I first listened to some albums by The Soft Moon which proceeded to generate a few other recommendations, but the time came to also listen to Vasquez’s most recent album before his death, Exister (2023). What greets is an intensity and anxiety for the hopelessness befalling us. A brilliant piece of art, but perhaps the cost was high.

Other songs followed (and good ones too), and so did another passing through of Mendez’s work as Silent Servant which allowed me to revisit a shade of techno that sees the passing of midnight, the onset of dusk deep before the arrival of dawn. A bit of a lonely place, but also an apathetic unfeeling delusion of catharsis. Does letting go bring peace?

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-03

WILT_2024-03

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 7 Jan 2024 to 20 Jan 2024.

  1. Rock Lobster (Live at the Pavilion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) – The B-52’s
  2. This Is Us – Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris
  3. Red Staggerwing – Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris
  4. Rollin’ On – Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris
  5. Love and Happiness – Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris
  6. High Sierra – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
  7. Do I Ever Cross Your Mind – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
  8. After the Gold Rush – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
  9. The Blue Train – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris
  10. Tears of a Crown – Joel Culpepper
  11. CRY – Jon Batiste
  12. Ain’t Givin’ Up No Ground – Ohio Players
  13. Can’t Hide It – Curtis Harding
  14. Find My Way – Paul McCartney, Beck
  15. Less Is More – Lamar Williams Jr., The New Mastersounds, Eddie Roberts
  16. Culture or Vulture – Shirley Davis, Silverbacks
  17. 1000 Light Years From Here – Prince
  18. Haunted Love – Tal Wilkenfeld
  19. Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers (Live) – Jeff Beck
  20. Brothers In Arms (Live At The Royal Albert Hall) – Mark Knopfler

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-03

Notes

This week’s curation is rather disparate but at least I’ve been taking mental notes.

I thought the week would go the route of more off-kilter alternative inclinations the likes of The B-52’s, but I ended up continuing my love affair with Emmylou Harris, Mark Knopfler, and also re-visited the works of Tal Wilkenfeld through Prince and Jeff Beck.

It all started with coming across a performance of Rock Lobster by The B-52’s, whom I was only familiar with their radio hit, Love Shack. However, Rock Lobster demonstrated that they had a quirky and more expressive approach to music that I was originally going to explore more of, but then the collaboration between Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler got recommended to me through YouTube and I was smitten.

All The Roadrunning is a sophisticated and earnest recording that showcases the talents and sensitivities of both artists, yet it also has them having fun and demonstrating a chemistry born of their collaboration. Red Staggerwingdemonstrates some of this fun, and I am choosing to interpret the lyrics as cheeky. It is also heartening to envision two middle-aged world-class artists professionally flirting with each other. 

While exploring more of Harris’s career, I also came across her collaboration with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, both amazing artists and singers in their own right and how this collaboration was something of a Marvel team-up in its own right as they were all on different labels in the first collaboration and no business representation would budge to make a collaboration happen earlier. 

Still, what a blessing that we get to witness the trio’s recorded works. On Do I Ever Cross Your Mind, the voices are angelic and longing as Parton takes the lead while supported by Ronstadt’s and Harris’s deft touches, particularly emphasised with the fiddle linking everyone’s emotions through its happy-sad notes while being peppered by the mandolin’s flourishes.

And then in the mid-week, I came across this interview with Tal Wilkenfeld on the Lex Friedman podcast and through it discovered that she had recorded on the Prince album, Coming 2 America. As it ran its course, a number of songs got recommended through the recommendation algorithm and I added the ones that I liked. However, I was finally able to watch one of her earlier performances with Jeff Beck on YouTube, and I included Cause We Ended As Loevrs as the performance to check out. 

We end off with a live performance of Brothers In Arms by Mark Knopfler to celebrate his virtuosity on guitar and as I’ve come to appreciate recently, the quality of his voice and the sensitivity of his songwriting and delivery.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-02

WILT_2024-02

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 7 Jan 2024 to 13 Jan 2024.

  1. Single Handed Sailor – Dire Straits
  2. All Along the Watchtower – Bob Dylan
  3. Just Like That – Bonnie Raitt
  4. Sandusky – Uncle Tupelo
  5. Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down – Uncle Tupelo
  6. Black Eye – Uncle Tupelo
  7. Moonshiner – Uncle Tupelo
  8. Tecumseh Valley – Townes Van Zandt
  9. Made Up Mind – Bonnie Raitt
  10. Boulder to Burmingham – Emmylou Harris
  11. Jackson – Gillian Welch, David Rawlings
  12. Where I Come From – Patty Griffin

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-02

Notes

I didn’t really know what to listen to at the start of the week but I decided that I wanted to listen to more of Dire Strait’s discography and so I started there. However, I soon saw that there was a new Ryan Adams album and I listened to it for awhile, and then Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower came on and I realised that I hadn’t listened to folk and country music for a rather long time, and thus I sought out some playlists for the genre. 

I landed on one, and it was a bit of re-discovery of many iconoclasts of the genre, where I’d heard their names being thrown into the hat but I’d actually never spent time listening to them. This was a good a time as any, and I’m glad that I can appreciate the artistry of singers, songwriters, and musicians like Bonnie Raitt, Uncle Tupelo, and Emmylou Harris.

One thing that has always drawn me to folk and country music was the expansiveness and desolation found in the imagery of their lyrics. It’s not in all the songs but the ones that make an impression always sound melancholic and bittersweet, feelings that have been fermented, the kind that you get drunk on.

What I Listened To: WILT_2024-01

WILT_2024-01

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 31 Dec 2023 to 6 Jan 2024.

  1. fish in the pool – yeule
  2. software update – yeule
  3. inferno – yeule
  4. bloodbunny – yeule
  5. Healing – feeble little horse
  6. Kiera ♡ – Pearling
  7. Nothing to Lose – Tanukichan
  8. You Got It Babe – feeble little horse
  9. Callin Me – Momma
  10. My Evil – Palehound
  11. Friendship is Frequency – @
  12. Marie – Cryogeyser
  13. See – Villagerrr
  14. Radiolove – Tanukichan
  15. lucky styles – They Are Gutting a Body of Water
  16. Basement – Cryogeyser
  17. Dolphins – Stove
  18. punkt – bar italia
  19. Safety and Danger – Amber Sport
  20. Wasting Your Time – Indigo De Souza
  21. Blank – Stove
  22. bird – Blue Smiley
  23. Why Do You Feel Nothing? – draag me
  24. Talk Talk Talk – Emily Yacina
  25. Setting Sun – You’ll Never Get to Heaven
  26. The Best of You – Ovlov
  27. 23 til infinity – They Are Gutting a Body of Water
  28. flip – Blue Smiley
  29. Happy Days Are Here Again (Silver Album Version) – Starflyer 59
  30. Their name sticks out – Micah Preite
  31. Dread the Snow – Infinity Girl
  32. Favourite Hate – Weed
  33. Don’t Give Up – Tanukichan
  34. Stick N Poke – Palehound
  35. Brown Eyes – PACKS
  36. Gwen Everest – Panchiko
  37. Fantasy – Happy Diving
  38. Bang Bang – Momma
  39. Young World – Slow Pulp

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-01

Notes

New year, new list, who dis?

I was slightly excited to start this year’s list because I had grown rather bored of the aesthetic format behind 2023’s playlist. Originally I had the idea that you would be able to see the progressive development of the entire year’s journey through incremental graphic design additions, but I think the execution ended up lacking because all I was able to do was incrementally add images I found on the internet to create a collage. That was conceptually more boring than the original intention. However, if you would like to appreciate the entirety of 2023, you can find it here. [Link to WILT_2023-00]

Then came the recommendation by Robin to listen to yeule’s new album and I’m really glad that I took him up on it. I’d always been curious about yeule’s artistic development since they started and particularly when they decided to leave Singapore to pursue their practice. I think the act of leaving your nest, or the act of putting roots down elsewhere, or just the act of putting your roots down anywhere generally helps anchor whatever artistic practice you choose to pursue, rather than just going where the wind blows. It’s not so much that art has to be intentional, but it does help make it that much more of the artist’s own narrative.

Back to yeule and the first playlist of 2024. I chose these four songs from yeule’s 2023 album, softcars, as they were each stylistically different from each other and I think also showcased the artist’s maturity and artistic confidence. Internet culture has truly shaped a new generation of artists and creative boundaries are pretty much dissolving all in the pursuit of something authentic, innovative, or chaotic. 

I did not expect this playlist to reach 39 songs, but somewhere along the line, really great alternative self-produced pop rock songs got suggested one after another and it was just a great opportunity to capture the musicality of these great musicians in one playlist. There’s still a ton of melody in all the songs, but also a great grit and “fuck you” energy that blesses all of these productions. However intentional or not, it is something that truly excites me about music, about how accessible it is in today’s day and age if you remove the false sanctities perpetuated by classism, elitism, gatekeeping, and celebrity culture. At the end of it, you are left with personal expression and the invitation to make song together if you can get over yourself.

What I Listened To: WILT_2023-00

WILT_2023-00

A playlist of songs that intrigued me every Sunday through Saturday for 52 weeks. Year of 2023.

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-00

Notes

I should have posted this last week but here are all 764 songs from of 2023’s WILT playlists as a single playlist. 

According to Spotify’s 2023 Wrapped–

I listened to:

  • 66 genres
  • 5,558 songs
  • 31,572 minutes of music
  • 3,050 artists

My top genres:

  1. Electronica
  2. UK Contemporary Jazz
  3. Indie Soul
  4. Rock
  5. Fourth World

My top songs:

  1. First Light – Ill Considered, Theon Cross, Kaidi Akinnibi, Robin Hopcraft, Ralph Wyld
  2. Invisible Hand – Solomon Fesshaye
  3. Decions (AM Intro) – Anz
  4. PETAL (Foster Hilding Remix) – goneMUNE, Foster Hilding
  5. The Narcissist – Blur

My top artists:

  1. DJ Shadow
  2. BiSH
  3. Lord Of The Isles
  4. The Rembrandts
  5. 結束バンド (Kessoku Band)

What I Listened To: WILT_2023-52

WILT_2023-52

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 24 Dec 2023 to 30 Dec 2023.

  1. Let Me Drown – Soundgarden
  2. Limo Wreck – Soundgarden
  3. Kickstand – Soundgarden
  4. Fresh Tendrils – Soundgarden
  5. 4th Of July – Soundgarden
  6. Like Suicide – Soundgarden
  7. The Wizard – Black Sabbath
  8. Behind the Wall of Sleep – Black Sabbath
  9. Into the Void – Black Sabbath
  10. Sweet Leaf – Black Sabbath
  11. Eye of the Chicken – Butthole Surfers
  12. Butthole Surfer – Butthole Surfers
  13. Sweat Loaf – Butthole Surfers
  14. Wardance – Killing Joke
  15. Tomorrow’s World – Killing Joke
  16. Third Uncle – Bauhaus
  17. Silent Hedges – Bauhaus

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-52

Notes

I was wondering what the final week of 2023 would sound like and I found a response in Soundgarden. It’s a band that I had listened to off and on over the years but nothing really clicked in me till this week. Perhaps it was the amalgamation of appreciating how Soundgarden influenced the bands after them that I can now also appreciate what astounding musicianship the band has. Chris Cornell truly has some of rock music’s best voices and his lyrics are no slouch either. Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd are no slouches on guitars and bass either. Just listen to Fresh Tendrils and tell me that isn’t a great piece of alternative rock music, or in this case, grunge.

I think I was also drawn to Soundgarden’s music because the is a bit of revival in grunge music, particularly with zoomers sharing a fascination with the Deftones, and in particular, grunge and alternative rock are the precursors to nu-metal, and somehow everything gets mixed together to unique sounds like Deftones, Soundgarden, and almost every type of unique and amazing music. 

So with that in mind, I also explored the bands that were listed as influences to Soundgarden: Black Sabbath; Butthole Surfers, Killing Joke; and Bauhaus, all of which are unique and visionary in their own way, and somehow appreciating all these influences resulted in a band like Soundgarden creating their own sound and being part of a movement that also identified itself in a particular sound. 

All in all, it’s a close parallel to the desert/stoner rock movement that was also developing during the same period and it’s interesting and educational to identify where some ideas intersect.